Is it me, or is it the faction?

Here are my issues with UKF. I'm wondering, is it just that I'm not suited to play the faction or is it the faction itself?

1) Worst indirect fire in the game
Mortar pit does the least damage per manpower of all mortars, it's literally only very slightly more effective than a single Ost mortar but costs more than double. It's immobile. It must be produced on, not off the map. It bleeds the squad inside. Base howitzers are little more than a visual effect. If it wasn't for the recently patched wasp flamethrower, this faction would be unable to attack garrisons and green cover, and it's unable to disrupt things like a pak and mg wall with a mortar flare+incendiary barrage+katyusha combo etc. and can't respond back to indirect fire. This despite its infantry relying on not being constantly shelled since it wants to be static and lacks assault weapons. Even selecting the artillery doctrine still leaves you with worse and (most importantly) much later artillery than even the stock units of other factions.

2) Self-destructive mid game
Every faction has units that help you take advantage of doing well early and establish map control. Every faction, except the UKF. Sniper has the lowest dps of all snipers, in return for marginal vehicle damage and a snare that requires veterancy and so they don't offer any real vehicle defense until later. AEC is a piece of trash against infantry and can't even chase well-used vehicles down anyway because of snares, forcing you to semi-blob or get caught by a low investment light vehicle+faust squad combo. Bofors even if your enemy lets you put it down at a good spot can be destroyed by simple attack ground from outside of its range. I've already spoken of the mortar pit, but in the context of the mid game, it doesn't give you any direct combat ability while being so expensive and so all the enemy really needs to do is take out your machine guns and gg. And there's no way you'll time these units simultaneously - you have to choose what gamble to take.

Switching to Soviets by contrast is like getting a fresh chance at life. Maxims are better than UKF infantry, mortars are much better than mortar pits and come earlier than both them and the wasp, and then you can just keep swarming the enemy adding T3 and doctrines. The Brits mid game, however, invites the opponent to take the game back if you did well or seal the coffin if not.



Point 1 and 2 are my major problems with this faction and they combine together to become worse. Points 3 and 4 just add salt to the injuries, but I have to state them too regardlessly



3) Predictable gameplan
Because of the Brits reactive (ie. counter-based) rather than proactive mid game, it's pretty obvious what to do not as but against them: prepare to scout for emplacements & destroy by denying the map/rushing/mass indirect fire/attack ground AT, make a light vehicle(s) and keep a faust squad around it if you haven't seen a bofors, and then win the game with whatever means you personally like. Is he going to make a T-70? did he get guards? are shocks coming? is he transitioning into SU-76s with that quadtrack or saving up for T4? Nah. With Brits, you know exactly what he's gonna do and what to do against it. Against a quadtrack>su-76 transition, there is no easy answer. Against a mortar pit and AEC, there is.

4) Even worse against doctrines
The stock odds are bad enough, but then he starts busting out doctrines. There are so many things that screw you up. Breakthrough OKW doctrine has the pfusilier flares + ISGs to both keep tabs on you and incessantly bomb your statically minded units. Breakthrough + kubel capping + he attacks = you'll either lose all of your territory, or not have your AEC there to defend when he brings his luchs in to attack. And so on.



I feel like this faction relies on the enemy screwing up, not just you doing well. The same feeling I had about them in CoH1 minus the sheer exploits like ketten spam>marder rush, pio spam, and so on.

Please help me.

Since no one else will answer you I suppose I will.

I think you should post a replay if you're serious about improving your play so somebody can take a look at one of your games and give you pointers.

Now I ain't no HelpingHans but in regards to your comments:

1) I find this to be untrue. In my experience I find the mortar pit to be the most cost effective mortar in the game because it doesn't bleed any manpower and can just be repaired. It does not cost more than double the Ostheer mortar as the mortar pit is 400MP and 2xOstheer mortar is 480MP.

I've never used the base guns yet but I have seen them used to good effect vs OKW trucks + a primary assault. If you have need of flamethrowers and rocket artillery you really should be picking the commander that has the flamethrowers and the land mattress. I know a lot of players complain that you have to pick a doctrine to be able to counter game mechanics but that's just the way it is man. Doctrines exist to fill gaps in rosters and to be used as a response to what your opponent has done, this is true for all factions and in the case of your opponent having an unkillable pak wall and a bunch of garrisons, the land matress is the counter.

The mortar pit in general is actually great at countering other mortars, but I understand that defending emplacements can be difficult when your opponent really goes all in against them. You really need to have an MG and an AT gun around an emplacement to make a strong defense. As a tip, UKF AT guns can shoot through their own emplacements but not get hit in return as the fire will hit the emplacement instead, so position your AT gun behind your emplacement.

2) The UKF sniper is difficult to use, I can agree with you there, but I also kind of love it. A sniper and an IS can completely wreck a Kubel which is actually a huge problem for OKW because the Kubel is their sniper detection unit but dies so easily to one. Use a lot of mines to cover flanks so you don't get 222'd or luchs rushed, you should have a lot of munitions free for mines most of the time. The sniper's stun shot is straight up OP when combined with other units like the firefly. I've insta-killed tigers from chain stuns(sniper + firefly) and an AT gun.

Regarding the AEC, I'm actually consistently surprised with how well this thing does against infantry considering how excellent it is against armour. If you're having trouble vs light armour even though you have an AEC I would suggest getting a 6 pounder, the two of them together basically instant kill light vehicles like the luchs. You could even try to bait your enemy into one by over extending with AEC and having the AT gun into position when their light vehicle comes in for the kill.

The bofors can fire the suppressive barrage if it's garrisoned and target the mortars firing at it. But yes, they will die fast if they are left unsupported, Which is why if you're going the bofors route (wouldn't suggest it in 1v1 against competent players) you should also have the mortar pit. Your opponent will only be targeting one emplacement at a time most likely so the pit can be raining shells down while the bofors takes damage making it difficult for the enemy to stand still to shoot. Combine this with the stand fast doctrinal ability and it becomes so difficult for the enemy to destroy an emplacement, not to mention brace.

In relation to Soviets, if you enjoy them and their playstyle more then just play them instead of getting frustrated.

Brits are their weakest in the early and early mid game but it appears you play mostly 2v2 assuming this is your playercard: https://www.coh2.org/ladders/playercard/steamid/76561197978313162 so why not combine them with a teammate playing US to fill the gaps of their weaker start?

3) This is pretty much true (with a few exceptions) for all factions in all cases, you just learn them with experience. Yes Brits are easier to predict because they have fewer optimal build orders, however if one faction has 3 and one has 6, but you already know them all by heart, then what's the difference?

There are always exceptions to this.

4) Without seeing a replay it's difficult to suggest advice vs specific issues.

You mention that it feels like the faction relies on the enemy screwing up which I find funny because I feel like the only way to win against Brits is for the Brits to throw their toys away in stupid plays.

Some random things:
Royal Engineers are OP as fuck and you should have a bunch of them. They are so cost effective, especially with their vet bonus, that there really is no reason to not use them. I normally only ever have two squads of Tommies and often 3 Sapper squads.

Good sandbag play is a requirement of Brits, if you don't use sandbags it's really no wonder you feel like Tommies suck. Build sandbags against strategic point flags so your side gets cover but not the enemy's. This is important to do if you push your enemy off his cutoff or fuel so when he comes back he has to fight into green cover bonus tommies. I would avoid building sandbags on your own cutoff as occasionally the enemy can benefit from them and then you have to fight into green cover (often on negative cover roads) if they ever secure your cutoff.

Build trenches on VP's (not the center one on most maps) or on your opponents fuel or even your own fuel if you feel like it will come in handy later. Trenches are pretty cheap, just be careful about spamming them in the early game or else it will mess up your unit timings. I would avoid putting MGs in trenches as they have a blind spot and will probably just get flame naded, however putting an IS in them works very well.

Don't throw your shit away in stupid plays. I see Brits players of all skill levels do this constantly. You get your nice, shiny, fast and effective Cromwell and you see that stupid P4 out of position and it's just so JUICY you need to go in there to blow it up - whoops - there's a Pak - whoops - there's a faust. Just play conservatively, only go for something if it's a sure thing.

All I can really think of, I only play 1v1's so this is from that perspective. Hopefully that helps but keep in mind I have no talent.

I actually changed my build order and won every game. Now it's: mg > bren > mg > T1 > sappers > bofors/mortar pit > bofors/mortar pit. I used to never make the bofors because I feared it'd be like in coh1 and just be a useless target, but now I understand T1 and the bofors+mortar pit core is what you're supposed to get ASAP. Previously I relied on all the wrong things: infantry sections and AEC, then tank tech.

What I meant is you need to have a squad inside it for it to be worth the cost, which makes it more expensive than 2 normal mortars. And if you do that, the squad inside will bleed just like a normal mortar.

Yeah, I guess you have to use the mobile assault regiment if you want to take out team weapons. It's funny though how that doctrine has better artillery than the artillery doctrine

I don't consider the sniper or AEC bad at what they're supposed to do, they just don't have the impact I needed them to have.

Indeed, I discovered that sappers and not infantry sections are your core infantry just this last day. Now I don't make a single infantry section more, I have just the one I start with. Sappers are just perfect, especially because I much prefer Anvil and always get it. I already do those things with the sandbags, trenches, mines etc. and people throwing their stuff away is a pet peeve! you send some stuff over to your ally so we can take the fuel point on his side too, then the first thing he does with his tank is send it diving into a faust/AT grenade. Urgh..

I'll post a replay if/when I encounter more difficulty or just for general advice, thanks for your thorough reply! now I'll try if you can garrison medics in an emplacement and still get the bonus...

Nothing is more satisfying than seeing your churchill + crocodile + firefly trio grind down whatever they have and literally sipping tea meanwhile... then when they finally manage to dent a churchill, all you do is press U back to your anvil engineers, right click, relax and smile for a few seconds, and then send it in again... hahaha... ahh, I love UKF.

1v1?

1v1?

Sure, add me on steam, same nick (I know you meant what game mode, I just chose to misinterpret. I do prefer 2v2 but I used to be a 1v1 player and can still play it, just think it's less fun and interesting)

wew nvmnd

(why is delete not a function in this site anyway >_<)