Maxim Spam

Hey guys!
Had a long absence from the game and in the last couple of months I've been trying to come into 1v1. Before I've mostly played CompStomp and 2vs2 with friends.

To start with I'm not a good player but I'm starting to get a hang of it. The only real problem with playing Ost (which is my favorite faction to play as atm) is I can't seem to find a way to deal with maxim spam ( talking 3-4, basically as a replacement of mainline inf).
I tried Sniper, mortar (tried only 1 at a time to keep a bit of field presence), 222 (which also takes a lot of damage from the maxims and doesn't deal enough itself to kill the 6 man crew fast enough) and Grenadier heavy start. Nothing seems to work reliably and after the early game I usually lose to early Russian tanks cause of fuel advantage.

I tried Stun Granades on Elite Troops Doc with small success but I'm shure the more veteran players here have a better plan for me!

Thanks!

Gonna need a replay to see where you are having difficulties. I have found the 222 is pretty good against maxims and a mortar works okay if your opponent is stuffing them into buildings.

Gonna need a replay to see where you are having difficulties. I have found the 222 is pretty good against maxims and a mortar works okay if your opponent is stuffing them into buildings.

I'll try to provide a replay as soon as I find time to play a few rounds. Maybe a build order or any general advice? Flanking those Maxims is really heard cause of the overlapping fire archs the sheer mass provides.

I would suggest MG, gren, gren, (mortar if your opponent has a maxim or if the map has a few buildings), gren and then maybe another T1 unit before teching to T2. After that you can get a 222, a PaK and maybe another gren depending on things. T3 tank (I suggest P4 against infantry and StuG against heavy armour).

My build order normally has an early sniper but if you have been just getting back into the game you might want to ease back in.

My build order as of late has been HMG, Gren, Mortar, Mortar, Gren. When I get to t2 I need to evaluate am I going to need AT because I'm at a fuel disadvantage, or need AI because I'm at a fuel advantage or they're doing a heavy infantry/support weapon build.

One thing you need to make sure you're doing when you play Ost, is hold 1 fuel, 1 muni, a few regular points on the map, and at least 1 vic point in the early game, otherwise it's difficult to win the round. But just try to maintain control over your 1/2 to 40% of the map early on more than making pushes on his side of the map, you can use your pio to harass points though.

MG spam can be tough to deal with.

So basically I try to lock down one side of the map with my opening MG, Gren, bring up the pair of mortars, and the last gren, bind both squads of grens and mortars to their own keys, and bind the HMG to it's own key.

And basically I just drop mortar rounds on my opponent until I'm ready to make an offensive push.

When I'm about to make an offensive push on his blob and has 2 or more mg's, you need to get your mortars in position, drop some smoke rounds so he can't see, and then you might consider A. Upgrading the pioneer to a flame pio (this can be risky because if he's setting demo charges and mines everywhere this can cost you a lot even the whole round) or B. Getting a flame halftrack.

If you're going to use the flame halftrack your micro needs to be top notch, and always have a finger near the "U" key for reverse and to micro it away from soft counters like conscripts with AT nades and hard counters like AT Guns, it is paramount you keep weapons like your flame halftrack alive when dealing with MG Spam.

After smoking the area, I have the HMG in the rear in case of any rushes towards my mortars, I get my 2 gren squads in 2 different sides of the flanks and in cover of his mg, and bring up the flame weapon on another flank. In the mean time the mortars need to be firing rounds on the mg's right after it's dropped it's last smoke round.

For a Soviet T2 start, you need to keep in mind, your hard counters to a HMG spam strat is your mortars and a flame halftrack. In turn, their hard counters and soft counters for these weapons are their AT guns, mortars, and conscripts. I really prefer 2 mortars instead of 1 mortar, it just seems to get the job done a lot faster than 1 mortar, and double the smoke rounds can block the sight on a large area of the map for a longer period of time and a lot better than a single mortar.

My build order as of late has been HMG, Gren, Mortar, Mortar, Gren. When I get to t2 I need to evaluate am I going to need AT because I'm at a fuel disadvantage, or need AI because I'm at a fuel advantage or they're doing a heavy infantry/support weapon build.

One thing you need to make sure you're doing when you play Ost, is hold 1 fuel, 1 muni, a few regular points on the map, and at least 1 vic point in the early game, otherwise it's difficult to win the round. But just try to maintain control over your 1/2 to 40% of the map early on more than making pushes on his side of the map, you can use your pio to harass points though.

MG spam can be tough to deal with.

So basically I try to lock down one side of the map with my opening MG, Gren, bring up the pair of mortars, and the last gren, bind both squads of grens and mortars to their own keys, and bind the HMG to it's own key.

And basically I just drop mortar rounds on my opponent until I'm ready to make an offensive push.

When I'm about to make an offensive push on his blob and has 2 or more mg's, you need to get your mortars in position, drop some smoke rounds so he can't see, and then you might consider A. Upgrading the pioneer to a flame pio (this can be risky because if he's setting demo charges and mines everywhere this can cost you a lot even the whole round) or B. Getting a flame halftrack.

If you're going to use the flame halftrack your micro needs to be top notch, and always have a finger near the "U" key for reverse and to micro it away from soft counters like conscripts with AT nades and hard counters like AT Guns, it is paramount you keep weapons like your flame halftrack alive when dealing with MG Spam.

After smoking the area, I have the HMG in the rear in case of any rushes towards my mortars, I get my 2 gren squads in 2 different sides of the flanks and in cover of his mg, and bring up the flame weapon on another flank. In the mean time the mortars need to be firing rounds on the mg's right after it's dropped it's last smoke round.

For a Soviet T2 start, you need to keep in mind, your hard counters to a HMG spam strat is your mortars and a flame halftrack. In turn, their hard counters and soft counters for these weapons are their AT guns, mortars, and conscripts. I really prefer 2 mortars instead of 1 mortar, it just seems to get the job done a lot faster than 1 mortar, and double the smoke rounds can block the sight on a large area of the map for a longer period of time and a lot better than a single mortar.

Wow! Thanks for your detailed advice! Definitely gonne try this although my micro is not exactly top notch to say the least. On the other hand I'm doing pretty good in the unit preservation department so I might get it to work.

I was very unsure about two mortars because it limits the field presence so much but with your explanation it makes a lot of sense. Same goes for the Flamehalftrack. Was too afraid of delaying my tanks but my experience is that if the opponent knows how the play Maxim spam decently you won't reach tanks in time. So Flamehalftrack seems to be a good choice.

Once again thanks for your advice. Has definitely helped a lot in understanding how to deal with this!

Any further advice on commanders? Maybe Mortar Halftrack?

If you're afraid you won't have proper AT solutions before they roll out with medium tanks, make sure to plant mines around where your half track is hanging out. The idea is that more often then not, once the enemy gets a shock unit like the first tank on the field, he will feel the need to immediately capitalise on his investment and will go after your flametruck, cause it's the thing that his MGs can't deal with. Then you just lure him to chase over a mine, finish him off with a pal shot or two and your golden. Mines win games.

Build I've borrowed from Luvnest is MG Gren Sniper... from there I usually get a second Gren, a third, then tech to T2.

This build is good against anything and everything.

I really wouldn't recommend getting two mortars in a match. Playing around the 300s (in terms of rank) I actually rarely get a mortar (which probably isn't a good thing) unless if I need it. Some players prefer to get a sniper after they get T2 tech up...

Against maxims, though, going MG Gren Sniper Gren Mortar T2 222 Pgren (or 250 HT w/ Pgren/LMGgren) is a solid build order.

The early sniper will help you force off the first maxim in the early minutes of the game. If your opponent is going hardcore maxim spam (I.E., maxims before cons) this is going to be great, especially if you're being pushed by a single Maxim/engineer. If you can gain territory by fighting the first 2-4 maxims one at a time w/ your sniper, you're going to get a slight resource advantage if he's throwing them at your cutoff/fuel point. If you get your MG in a good building or behind green cover you can suppress the maxim as it walks into your arc, add dps w/ your grens, then drop models with the sniper. That's the ideal situation.

The Mortar isn't necessary unless if you've got Maxims going into buildings and the only significant dps you can inflict is with your sniper. Your MG42 will lose to the maxim. Or, you'll need it if there are several maxims on the field in one spot.

If your opponent is pouring in mp to the maxims/reinforcing them, a fast 222 then pgren is going to help you punish them. You might even want to get two 222s and then get another gren rather than the pgren. If you go with mobile defense (especially if you're losing) you can get two ostruppen (with some chance of LMG42) for 425mp. Assault Grens are also a possibility if you're on a map like semoskiy, although don't get more than one and I don't recommend getting one right away.

Soviet weapon team members reinforce at 15 mp each. Two dropped maxim models=1 Gren model. The sniper will certainly help drain his mp but if your grenadiers are suppressed or caught out of cover, you've got to get out of there as soon as possible (unless if you're going to push the maxim away). There's a lot to 1v1s and it's hard to put into one post, but I can say a few things that will help in general:

1) Be focused. Eliminate distractions
2) Don't be scared. If you have CELO and can see your opponent's rank, don't assume that you're going to win or lose, If you're playing a guy 200 levels worse (higher) than you, he could be on a bad streak and kick your butt. If you're playing a top 100 player, understand that you may lose but try your best and give a good show.
3)Get to know the maps. Have a capping plan. Know where the buildings are.
4) Know your own build order. Know your enemies build order.
5) Use hot keys. If they're confusing, just use grid keys. The panel w/ abilities on the right corresponds directly to the keyboard so it's just eye-finger coordination.
6) Some players use control groups. I like to organize the upper right unit UI from 1-7 w/ each infantry squad...
1. Pio 2. Gren 3. Gren 4. Gren 5. Sniper/Pgren 6. MG 7+ tanks 0. Rocket Artillery.


IN every game I have the UI structured like that. Control groups help you manage units clumped together (whether you're a serial blobber or just moving three squads out of your base together). If you're good enough you'll know where you sent this gren or that gren and know their numbers, so if you hear "Enemy armor, Fire!" or "We are being suppressed!" I just hit the hotkey and hit R and I won't lose a model or get wiped by an ISU round right away.

If you see Triple maxim bullitins in loadout i always go mg(or pio like you want)-gren-mortar-mortar.
2x mortar just wrecks maxims, they cant Set up for more than 1 burst + forces them out of building very fast. Dont worry about field presence since he wont have that much too with maxim spam

If you see Triple maxim bullitins in loadout i always go mg(or pio like you want)-gren-mortar-mortar.
2x mortar just wrecks maxims, they cant Set up for more than 1 burst + forces them out of building very fast. Dont worry about field presence since he wont have that much too with maxim spam

How do people use Maxims? I always use them very aggressively. I don't camp with them until the mid/late game/until it's necessary.

You can use them offensively too when you're capping points. just don't set it up and it'll turn to face the first incoming squad. This works good on the flanks.

I just don't understand how two mortars will help you win in the very early game will help you against two-3 maxims after they suppress and then force a retreat on your single Gren.

Two maxims on 1 MG42 is going to destroy it 9 times out of ten (unless it's in a house somewhere)...but I'm talking about the first 3-7 minutes here.

How do people use Maxims? I always use them very aggressively. I don't camp with them until the mid/late game/until it's necessary.

You can use them offensively too when you're capping points. just don't set it up and it'll turn to face the first incoming squad. This works good on the flanks.

I just don't understand how two mortars will help you win in the very early game will help you against two-3 maxims after they suppress and then force a retreat on your single Gren.

Two maxims on 1 MG42 is going to destroy it 9 times out of ten (unless it's in a house somewhere)...but I'm talking about the first 3-7 minutes here.

Idk it just works. They always go for rather aggressive play, go for your cutoff at langres for example. He will try to push it, my grens in cover. He Set ups eating already a shell, he can fire a burst for some secs but then he needs to Decide if he stays longer and risk losing it (which is pretty much GG) due death loop or retreat. If he retreats you got the field presence advantage which should continue to snowball.
Dont forget to use your pio which are capping on the map to Send in from the side or the back, Pios are kinda fast at killing Support teams in close range.

Im only rank #180 or so so far with ost but it works better for me than maxim spam for my enemy

Thank you all for the awsome tips and advices! Especially gbpirate for the very detailed general tips! Helps a lot!

Spam them back.

As ostheer you can do double mortars or a mortar halftrack. Also rifle grenades are very effective if the maxim is bunched up in cover. But don't bother to rifle nade behind green cover or if the squad is spread out unless you have other squads coming in to deal more damage - you just bleed munitions.

As OKW it is more tricky since they don't have a real counter to maxim spam. Maybe popping jaegers/falls out of buildings behind them and/or using LeIGs could work.

Spam them back.

That's a genius idea!

That's a genius idea!

I haven't tried the double mortar like some people here (with better elo's than mine). I used the pio to scout, tried to have the mg42 set up so that it would fire first (preferably from green cover), and used either grens or the pio to flank. I use about the same build order as GBPirate. I used to never recrew maxims, but found out that they work well against Soviets (especially when supported with grenadiers) and it was dumb to just give them back.

I found prostruppen + mortar is quite effective vs maxim spam.