soviet reserve or shock frontline

so ive finally got the nack for this game, i found it with the soviets. the 2 commanders i enjoy most are soviet reserve and frontline, i have an afinity for infantry. at the moment im good at aiding my teammates, but im not posing a great enough threat, the main problem being lack of a good tank.

frontline gets an is2, but i never seem to have enough furl for it, and even if i did, its just 1 tank, usually vs a swarm of almost as good german tanks. combined arms, i know... basically my best weapon is a freaking mine... su 85's SUCK. they are weak, no turrent, no anti infantry capabilites at all. i also hear t3485's arent very good either. shocks are expensive also, and although i like them i find ppsh cons with at nades and hurah to be alot more efficient.

my build orders are pretty typical. 2 mgs, 2 mortar, 2 shocks or 3 cons with 2 at partysans, 1 su76 or t70, 1 kat, 1 su85, which i find to be pretty standard.

i find with the lack of late game punch, it really comes down to securing the fuel and vps mid game, and laying mines/ relying on usf and ukf. maybe im not investing enough in t3? i like the mobility and affordability soviets, but i find myself game after game holding on by a thread, usually getting decent kills, but suffering badly, and usually not veting up enough. i know i havent supplied any replays yet, but looking at the commanders seperately, what would u suggest?

forget going t1, i find 0 use in it, except for fun.

forget going t1, i find 0 use in it, except for fun.

did you mean T0? You have to have meant T0. Not that I completely agree, but 1 makes more sense than the other.

Either way you come to us now at a crossroads. On the 9th a patch is being released that fixes a long standing bug regarding the long term offensive effectiveness of veteran infantry.

As I am sure you can appreciate, this will make a massive difference for soviet players. Penals that a worth retreating. Conscripts that can hold there own after 30 minutes. And shocks that become terminators even more so than before.

Personally I think soviet reserve is better in most cases because, like most soviet armor, I cannot trust the IS2. Reserve army is best used on crowded urban maps, and I don't just say that because of the partisans. having shot blockers for the ppsh cons is a big deal and it makes it harder to flank your 152 and ALSO gives su-76s and even su-85s more survivability. A vet 3 su-85 has a fire rate of once every 3 seconds. something to think about. It's just too bad it can't randomly cloak itself to avoid killing blows like some tank destroyers

That being said, a t34/85, or rather 3-4 of them can be very useful. Use them to swarm.

good to know about the patch. ill work on keeping stuff veted. im not sure what u meant about shot blockers for ppsh cons. i guess u mean using at partisans to counter stuff around your tanks? i also find reserve army more versatile.

ill never get an su85 to vet 3, but nice to imagine. maybe with reallly good micro... microing a sniper is a cake walk compared to an su85.

and for t3485s, yea wih 3-4 u can do some good. but less, its nothing to write home about, should be already in t4, but there are enough threads about that. i dont want to complain too much i just dont like beig forced to use an su85 as my main tank, it never was that for the soviets in ww2.

i meant t1 as in advanced infantry, i see no use in it. snipers, peanals, scout car... nothing that compares to what t2 gives you.

question, how do u feel about t1 or t2 or both with reserve army?

PS, here is my replay
https://www.coh2.org/replay/50419/seeking-comments-soviet-reserve-army

i just had this game tonight, basically dealing with the same problems i usually have as stated above. please feel free to be as critical as you want.