Tips for Improving Your Play

Hey everyone, I know there are some pretty talented CoH players here, so I wanted to ask for some help in making a thread of one liner tips to improve peoples play. There's a lot of complaint about balance right now, but in general I think most players (including myself) lack some of the necessary thought process, tips and mechanics required to pull off some of the comebacks/victories that we see from some of the more experienced streamers. So with that said, if you have a good one liner tip from very basic to more intermediate, please post it below and I'll keep this thread updated with a list. Thanks!

List of Tips below:

Show Spoiler

I guess there is just too much to write to simplify it in to one liners, but I'll do my best to keep it punchy and simple. The key to this is practice. Experience can easily trump skill in this game, and the only way to improve is to keep at it. With that in mind, here are a few basics tips that can improve your gameplay:

1. Stay Alive.

It's not as easy as it sounds. Learn to retreat a unit when it clearly isn't going to win a fight and no back-up is coming. Squads receive veterancy when they deal damage and take damage, but will be lost if your squad dies.

2. Know your battlefield.

Study the maps, learn the cut-offs and find the most optimal capping routes. If you're diligent, you'll know all the possible flanking entrances that your opponent (or you) can use for every strategic point.

3. Learn the counters.

In Company of Heroes, everything comes in three's. Each unit and ability is either a soft-counter, a hard counter, or incapable of defeating an opposing unit. Watch replays, read the forums or experiment for yourselves to find what units to rely on in various situations.

4. The other triangle...

...is your resources. Managing these three incomes is vital to ensure your army is as strong as it can possibly be. You'll need to know how long it takes to get enough fuel for upgrades and vehicles, how much munitions it costs for abilities and upgrades, and when to use these resources or save them. The hardest lesson here is knowing when NOT to use your fuel or munitions. This is a little more advanced, but as long as you are not consistently floating too much, you'll be doing ok.

5. Know your enemy.

Behind the opposing army is another human player. Try and be one or two steps ahead of the curve by imagining what they'll be doing next, and having a step in place to react. Your resources are a reflection of your opponents' - if they have controlled the fuel all game, you can assume that vehicles will be coming (ASSUME. See the point above about fuel).

6...and you're other enemy.

The environment plays a huge factor in the sequel. Bad weather should never cause you problems if you are vigilant and keep your troops warm. They WILL die on retreat if they are freezing, so be warned. The weather also disables many commander abilities for both you and the opponent, so it can be used both offensively and defensively as you see fit.

7. Keep it up!

Facing a string of losses is never fun but it happens to the best players and the worst. Learn from them, analyse your own replays and never make those mistakes again. Sometimes, the other player(s) might be just a lot more skilled, or have some incredible strokes of luck. Take it with a pinch of salt and get over it!

8. Practice good discipline.

Okay, this one won't win you any games, but Company of Heroes has a relatively small player base compared to the market leaders. You'll encounter the same players quite often, and rather than being out-right abusive, try and be a good sport. Everyone here is trying to have fun, so brighten up a fellow gamers' day by NOT being a dick!

Use hotkeys for everything.

- Early game, do not capture points by right clicking on the point itself, not only will your squad be in bad cover but you will also lose time. Instead, micro them to the tip of the capture area and as soon as they are done, order them to the next point to capture. If you think that an enemy might show up, put them behind some cover.

- Again use the area of capture to your advantage, if you are getting hit by mortar while capping, move around the area of capture to keep capturing but dodging mortar fire. If you see where the mortar round are coming from, obviously try to move away from it.

- Practice avoiding grenades/Molotov, listen to the voice over to detect them.

-Learn to use houses and get out of them when hearing a grenade/Molotov and then get back in it.

-Plant mines at choke points

-If you bring your engineers with flame to support your main infantry, try to keep them behind your infantry, since they have less health, you don't want them in the middle of the fight.

-Use Truesight to ambush your enemy.

-Shift que commands whenever possible to save attention/time.

-Dont forget to build Medics on both factions.

-You can "attack ground" with various heavy ordnance to hit things in Fog of War.

-Move units to safe retreat paths before hitting retreat.

-You can Faust/AT Nade Caches.

-HtD BEFORE being pinned, to avoid being pinned.

-Learn to "Reverse" command with vehicles.

-Multiple units capture an objective FASTER than one.

-PGrens have no accuracy penalty when moving.

-LMGs only fire if the unit is stationary.

-Dodge Molotovs by moving sideways or forward. Never backwards.

-You can detonate Teller mines under infantry with RNades.

Support weapons wins games.

When capping points next to a building, put your squad next to the door so that if they get attacked they can jump into the building almost immediately.

Use hotkeys for everything.

A lot of people don't.

Don't lose entire units, control the fuel, and keep your units moving...and keep playing.

These are all great guys, keep going! Hoping these help me as I've just come off an 8 game losing streak!!

-Multiple units capture an objective FASTER than one.

Really???

If a building is within a capture circle, you can cap from inside the building.
Watch your replays and figure out why you loose.

Top post updated to include all tips given so far!

-Shift que commands whenever possible to save attention/time.

-Dont forget to build Medics on both factions.

-You can "attack ground" with various heavy ordnance to hit things in Fog of War.

-Move units to safe retreat paths before hitting retreat.

-You can Faust/AT Nade Caches.

-HtD BEFORE being pinned, to avoid being pinned.

-Learn to "Reverse" command with vehicles.

-Multiple units capture an objective FASTER than one.

-PGrens have no accuracy penalty when moving.

-LMGs only fire if the unit is stationary.

-Dodge Molotovs by moving sideways or forward. Never backwards.

-You can detonate Teller mines under infantry with RNades.

"Multiple units capture an objective FASTER than one"
Are you sure?

- Always use another unit to spot for your ranged unit.
- Don't forget vet abilities. A Vet 1 Ostheer MG with incindiary will rip the very soul from a clown car and transform it into a shadow demon for your army.
- Speaking of which, the vet ability on SU-85s that gives an even more retardedly long LOS is completely, utterly OP.
- Bait your opponent into stuff.
- Put mines closer to your side so you can finish off the thingy easier.
- Shoot repair crews first as they magically become paper mache dolls while repairing.
- the smaller the building, the more likely it will collapse. And don't ever put anything in that broken building south of the western fuel point on Oka River, and I mean never.
- The proper counter to the Soviet sniper is the mortar, according to Relic. We apologize for the inconvenience. It will however force those chicks to move and stop headshotting your dudes.
- Drop incendiary slightly behind the inf blob you want to go away. No retreat bonuses for flames.

Oh and I think the multiple units capping faster mechanic went away in beta? I see no difference, and I always try to blob cap with 4 conscripts .

victory points is not the only way to win the game.

-Multiple units capture an objective FASTER than one.

nope

-Hard to incorporate in game (time consuming) but if you are looking for a retreating vehicle or wondering if units were in an area, use the tracks or foot prints left in the snow.

-Built your infantry building near the edge of your base so you can reinforce your squad closer to the battlefield vs. the middle of your base.

-You can use AT Guns to take town buildings that is housing units/mg

-Tanks have weaker side/rear armor, try to surprise them from the side or the rear.

-Use panzerfaust/At grenades in conjunction with your at gun or tank to slow down your enemy's tank.

-Try placing some mines in front of your at gun so if a tank tries to go behind it, it wont be able to because it's engine will get damaged, it will also stay longer in your at-gun's firing range, giving you more chance to kill it.

Don't throw your units into the meat grinder.

If you attack a point two or three times and make little progress in breaking your opponent's defence then it's time to change tactic.

-Unit synergy. You have X, they have Y. Your X counters their Y but they have a Z to counter your X. Unit synergy is key. You have the counters, they have the counters but using your units in a fashion that compliment each other during battle will win you engagements.

When capping a point held by your opponent, don't stand near the center of the capping circle. This will prevent him from being able to see what type of unit/units you're capping with, making it harder for him to respond with an appropriate counter.

Queuing orders by shift-clicking isn't just for capturing and setting waypoints to force a unit to take a desired path, it's also useful in combat. For example, order your conscripts to throw a molotov, then get into cover right after by queuing those commands as you start your engagement. This will let you focus your attention elsewhere for a short while.