Sedghammer's American Support Doctrine

American Support Doctrine

Attention Private! - the Germans are expecting a rifle spam push regardless of the conditions and terrain. Our aim here is to throw them off with a different strategy by establishing a strong forward offensive front that utilizes our superior range and firepower. "Nonsense! Riflemen are the strength and core of the US army." you say. That might be true greenhorn, but you just haven't seen enough good men die.

This strategy is based around combined arms and a synergistic force composition. The first and most vital step involves fielding an AA halftrack and then using it in a supportive role. So often US players will go for a AA halftrack too late or use it in a way which has them lose it in the first couple of engagements. Two other major problems US players have is losing too much manpower from riflemen attrition and not being able to hold territory. This strategy is one possible approach to both of those problems. The AA halftrack has a huge firing range and now has 360 degree coverage, suppressing while stationary. Use this to your advantage in a supportive position.

Regardless of map, this is the general build order -

Build Core - RE - Rifle - Fuel Cache - Lieutenant - HMG .50 - AA Halftrack

General Cap order - With your first RE, follow the longest capping chain to a fuel point. The second RE will follow the shortest chain to a fuel point. The second RE will place a fuel cache after capping the initial point. The Riflemen squad will join up with the first RE and take the furthest fuel point.
You are going to be floating some manpower, but if you time this right and cap correctly, it will be utilized once the Lieutenant is out and you field the HMG and AA Halftrack, which are both large MP sinks. If everything goes smoothly, your halftrack will hit at around 5 minutes, giving you several minutes of complete field domination.

Immediately after the Halftrack, grab weapon rack upgrade and equip your troops with one bazooka each. You'll screen the halftrack with bazooka support always keep one or two squads in close range. The priority is 2 or 3 bazookas, then BARS.

Rule of Engagement #1 - Don't push infantry forward without halftrack support and don't push your halftrack forward without bazooka support.

Now side tech to Captain - you'll get 2 more bazookas and access to the might of US support weapons.

Support Elements - Grab one Pack Howitzer and one At gun

Rule of Engagement #2 - With your AA halftrack covering your support weapons and infantry nearby, establish a strong forward position. Don't lose your AA. You want to rely on the suppression and range of the AA halftrack, HMG .50, and Pack Howitzer to hold back enemy infantry pushes.

At this point you can really put the hurt on your Ostheer or OKW opponent. Your superior range and suppression will allow you to take and hold territory. If you can manage, this is the time when pushing a OKW building or Ostheer defensive position becomes possible. Continue to focus on preserving the AA halftrack, because soon it will pay off 2 fold.

Now tech to Major - from here you'll grab a Sherman

This Sherman is coming out late you say. Well greenhorn, you've forgotten a key aspect of our doctrine.

Rule of Engagement #3 - Switch out that veteran AA halftrack crew with your Sherman crew. Don't forget to do this, greenhorn! All that time you spent preserving your AA halftrack has now paid off double. With Sherman support, you can now put a lot of pressure on the enemy flanks. Utilize smoke and team weapon synergy to deal the killing blow.

Situational Buys - A couple of purchases timing is situational. When you buy your ambulance depends on how much health your squads have lost and how much of a fuel advantage you have. But I try and hold off until after grabbing a Howitzer and At gun, or ideally if I have not suffered much bleed, after my first Sherman. Grenades are optional in this strategy, and if they're purchased, it's generally better to get them for smoke grenades after getting your support weapons out. If manpower and population allows in the late game, sneak out a M20 and lay a couple of mines.

Now remember to keep your head down, stay within range of your officers and armor, and let's push back Jerry to Berlin!

-Sedghammer

lol anyone else think this was an actual new commander

+1 tho. Good write up. 3 officer strats are da best strats

And I love your enthusiasm..


**** but how do you survive without gettin' dem nades?


**** and rifle company flamers + a zook would work well with this, taking away the "weakness" of getting zook riflemen**

does this work vs standard ai?

I like RE spam with 2 rifles into AA track spam (no more than 4), going recon support so I can spam arty on their base. It's a nice all-in cheese strat.

I don't see your strategy working because of the abysmal early game, 3 RE 2 rifle with optional AE/Pathfinder seems like a more effective early game. I agree with the effectiveness of mid to lategame combined arms, however.

lol anyone else think this was an actual new commander

+1 tho. Good write up. 3 officer strats are da best strats

And I love your enthusiasm..


**** but how do you survive without gettin' dem nades?


**** and rifle company flamers + a zook would work well with this, taking away the "weakness" of getting zook riflemen**

Thanks! This strategy is general, meant to be modified to fit the commander or playstyle that you want to adopt. It does sacrifice a strong early game for a better mid and late game, as BeefSurge was saying.

Replays?

@ Sedghammer - thx man! I've now tried this more then a couple of times - worked like a charm.

[replay]http://workupload.com/file/SP8PP55j[/replay]

I've seen that someone has asked for replays. I haven't saved any besides the latest I've played.

@ Sedghammer - thx man! I've now tried this more then a couple of times - worked like a charm.

[replay]http://workupload.com/file/SP8PP55j[/replay]

I've seen that someone has asked for replays. I haven't saved any besides the latest I've played.

Really great to hear Barkas85! Unfortunately, with the new hotfix I can't view it.

Wasn't aware that they released a hotfix in last 3 days, can you put patch notes prehaps?

no offense, but my first glance fell on the word fuel cache as second unit and then i closed window

no offense, but my first glance fell on the word fuel cache as second unit and then i closed window

None taken. Fuel cache isn't a necessity in the beginning, I know it's an early investment that needs an LT and light vehicle to justify. Thanks for reading.

http://www.coh2.org/replay/42571/vs.-sauercrowd

try this one Sedge

Excellent barakas, I like how you adapted it to rifle company and your playstyle.

Thx for the feedback, I still need polish this, and with time experience will come I hope

So I've been going

RE(starting) - RE- RE - Rifle - LT - MG - Halftrack

instead of building a fuel cache because I figure a RE squad is a better investment fighting and economy wise (just one capped point puts you ahead). Seems to bear out by the fact that I'm floating 300+ fuel at the end of the game lol.

I've also been going airborne and calling in a pathfinder at 1 cp (around the time the LT is building), and using paratroopers to replace the rifles I'd otherwise build.

It's rare that I have the manpower to actually get a sherman and do the swap trick though.

@ Retaliation - put a replay up!

Here's a kind of sloppy one where I made a couple of deviations when I forgot how to play (haven't played for a week or so).

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  1

  VS

  Retaliation

  [SiegHain]MajorSturmgeist

  Sedge's American Support tactic

  by: Retaliation map: Angoville

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Hopefully I can get a better example soonish.

Well played, Retaliation. The extra RE squad is a good choice. This strategy seems particularly effective against Wehrmacht Mechanized Assault because the assault grenadiers have no faust and the Stug is shut down by bazooka wielding infantry.

With the bug update to the .50 cal it could open up further deviations. Cheers!

I enjoyed this read +1, but I do think that it's basically a long-winded way of saying "Build each officer in order, get units from their tiers, pick good engagements." Don't get me wrong, that's my favorite way to play USF.

Aaawh shit no new doctrine Kappa