Need advice for Soviets

So after 10 ranked games as Ostheer i focused on Soviet Union. I was really lost the first time, but after playing some 1v1 and team matches, i was going into this match for the first time with head up. I found a good commander to use (Reserve Army) and i didn't lost at the start as my first three matches. Can someone please review and point my errors and give some advice for Soviets overall? I did watched the replay and found out this:

3min - already lost my first Cons (i'm still pretty bad at preserving units)

4min - i built T1 .. but i think T2 would have been a better choice .. i build only Scout car, which i lost pretty quickly and Penals .. maybe Maxim would be a better choice

13min - another Cons lost

The first 15 minutes i was defending left side of the map, while losing VPs. And i totally forgot about right side of the map. If i just sent those Irregulars with Engies to the right side of the map sooner .. but i realized it at about 16 minutes in the match. The next attack at around 18th minute was a success. But a minute later i had to retreat because of unit clumping and one Fallschirmjaeger grenade.

20min - unsupported T34 attacking .. and i did this several times in this match, almost loosing it

23min - i stopped the SU-85 and started to retreat .. and that's why i lost it .. i should have finished the panther and maybe go back through the left side of the map ..

30min - stupid Vet3 Engie lost

32min - T34 doing nothing by uncaptured VP .. it should have captured it .. i forgot about it's ability to do that

33min - another stupid Vet3 Cons loss

34min - lost about 3-4 inf. units at once ...

37min / my last push .. lost 2 Cons and T34 ... unnecessary

So this is what i saw and i hope will learn from it

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  datCoureurDeBois

  Taurus84_SK

  Noob SU replay for review

  by: Taurus map: Langreskaya

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Will find time to watch this over the next 20 hours.

Thank you very much, there is no need to hurry ;-)

Number 1) Shouldnt be - one of the most important things! - Cons - dont lose any unit! Try it!

2) It depends on the situation: Map? Many houses? Against which faction? I play with 3 Strafbats and they beat the shit out of the enemy. Against OKW Maxim spam does well (3-4 Maxims)

3) 13 Min: No!

Key 2 win against OKW in my eyes is destroying their HQ's: You make this with 2 katjushas shooting at once time. ;-) I win nearly everytime with it (in 2v2/3v3/4v4)

Key 2 win against OKW in my eyes is destroying their HQ's: You make this with 2 katjushas shooting at once time. ;-) I win nearly everytime with it (in 2v2/3v3/4v4)

Tbh in 1vs1 you almost never can go for 2 Katjushas. You can to that in 2vs2, 3vs3, 4vs4, where your mates getting the tanks for you.

In 1vs1 you need tanks for yourself

Well, you weren't crushed. You had all the resources to win and you were evenly matched.

T1 vs T2: I've learned that the strength of soviet T1 its in its shock value. You need to go for it right of the bat and start pouring penals with it. Your scoutcar+flamers (AKA the clowncar) didn't have much impact in the game because it had nothing to counter it and you didn't used it aggresively. The clowncar combo its exelent for dislodging infantry on buildings, you can use the M3 on its own for flanking proposes, specialy against okw that lacks panzerfausts until the deploy one of their trucks. Also penals spent their time guarding your ammo point.

Ammo Float: Keep and eye on it. Its easy to float ammunition with the soviets because they dont have many upgrades or abilities to use and the ones they have are dirt cheap. Thus, plant mines and democharges. They bleed the oponent, they slow down the infantry, they get in the mind of your oponent. Demos can get you a 90 munitions wipe against those 4 men squads. Just plant them halfway from the diameter of contested points (be fuel, vp, cutoffs or sometimes ammo) and from the direction you expect them to come (most of the times, their base)

Army composition: in the late game you went for a very AT heavy build even though you killed his panther (great!) and destroyed his command truck (even better!). All he had left was infantry, and the worst kind of infantry, veted okw infantry, they became to much for your conscripts to handle

Going for the command trucks: OKW command trucks are something fun to deal with. Yes, the Schwer panzer command locks down sectors with its 20mm gun, but only for infantry. You can deal with it at range. You destroyed it with your Su85. You could've achieved the same effect with Zis3 at guns or the Su76 (t3, comes early). Both units can deal with the command truck at range with their direct fire, their ground attack (when you dont have visual on the target but you know where it is) and of course, the light barrage (which its also usefull to disperse okw blobs and from time to time get some wipes). Also he is not going to let you wreck his tech, he will start scrambling units to the area to save his trucks, that means you can have 1 or 2 units going around the map capping uncontested(most of the time)

A T70 could've been usefull: the T70 works wonders against okw because its broken anti infantry capabilities make it easy to wipe enemy units, which its key to keep the beasts at bay. High rate of fire, it snipes infantry, fast, can autorepair and cap points with veterancy. Also good for granting line of sight for scouting or using your long range units (Su78, Su85, Zis3)

Support your units: Until the very end of the game you had a winning game composition but you couldn't work it out. Your T34 was getting melted by the strums pzschrecks and your conscripts were getting bleed by fallshirmjaggers. Both units could counter those who countered yours.

You fought well, used cover, attacked isolated units from cover from multiple angles. Try to focus fire on strumpios in the early game, even if you had volks firing at you, they deal the most damage but are easy to kill out of cover (which for some reason okw players forgone compleatly most of the time) and are expensive to reinforce and even more expensive to train. Volks wont be a problem for your cons until they get stgs, and even then you can beat them by going ppsh, after that, volks will outclass your conscripts when they reach vet3 and you will need to use combined arms or better maneuvers to beat them

Seeing that you've already been provided with useful advise based on a review of the replay, I will mark this as reviewed.

You're right with the clowncar - it should have come much sooner. I wanted to harrass the right side of the map with it, but i decided to fend off the attackers on my side of the map first. And then the P2 came. But i was able to destroy it at least, which couldn't be the case, if i sent it right to the other side of the map.

Ammo float - yeah, i forgot about the mines and rapid conscription as well. This is something i need to keep an eye on in the future.

I built a 2nd SU-85 when i saw that KonigsTiger. Thank god he jumped on the bait and i was able to destroy it. I kinda start to like those SU-85s, which i didn't built so much before. That gun has a lot of punch. But again you're right .. both SU-85s sat back doing nothing after that. Oh and i didn't know that the Schwerer Panzer HQ can bring out tanks. I thought it's just a defensive building :-) Now i know that i don't need a T-34 or SU-85 to destroy it. As someone else mentioned in the replay section, the OKW player can't select target for the bulding's gun to attack. That can be usefull as well.

T-70 - now i know it's a "must have" unit.. at least against those Fallschirmjaegers, which cost me a lot of MP. Btw. what about the WBP and T-70? I don't pay much attention to it, because i have to learn other things first. But i already know that Penals will loose their flamers. What about T-70? Is it going to be nerfed?

Thanks for the tip with Sturmpios. It's all about this details which you can't read in any guide out there. And thanks everybody who wanted to help! Much appreciated!