[1v1]USF v OST map lockdown

Hello there
I've been away from the game for sometime, but today I played a game as USF, where the OST guy rushed 2 bunkers to lock down the left fuel + VP and the other one locking down the flank. I kinda needed to spend 2 to 3 smokes to have a fight in the area. My mortar kinda helped there.

I'm really new to the game, some mistakes will scream at your face, but please don't give up on me =) I'm trying to improve.

Anyway, I spent too much ammo and while I couldn't get anymore for nades or weapons, my manpower floated like hell. I made 2 or 3 extra riflemans because I thought "better use that mp for something", but I really don't know what I could've done. My fighting area felt (felt) too small for flanking, my indirect fire was poorly microed, idk. The pressure really did it for me so I threw the game because I couldn't think on anything.

I took the M10 commander thinking that the OST had an early advantage, so I wouldn't have the time to tech up, while a bulldozer could help with the infantry too. Maybe airborne would've been better or I just misanalyze the situation tho. I was trying to push forward the early game but the MG kept me fighting there so I lost too much time.

Any help is really welcome, thanks

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  (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

  Sigilli

  [1v1]USF v OST map lockdown

  by: Sigilli map: Unknown

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I'll be taking this. Thoughts posted shortly.

/set yellow

Alright so after watching the replay I've come up with these main points:

• Decisions
  • Caches
    
  • Teching
    
  • Unit composition
  
  
• Overall micro
  
• Counters
  
• Territory
  

Decision making is something we do all the time, but it is the quality of our decisions that determine our outcome. If I want to counter a panzer 4, I don't pickup a mortar, I pickup an anti-tank gun.

We're going to look at your decision making based on knowledge I was able to collect using your vision ingame.

• If you're floating manpower and you cannot think of something to use it on, build some caches to increase your income of either munitions or fuel. Caen has 2 quite safe standard territory points both great for caches. These points are located along the back ends of the map, to the right for the north player and to the left for the south player. While caches may not be the best decision in a lot of cases, turning that manpower into a resource you may actually use is better than nothing.
  
• Early ambulance and grenades. The ambulance was a bit to early and delayed your tech as well as field presence due to the resources being in the ambulance. Your squads were not in major need of healing either, which did not justify the production of it. Early ambulances can be situational based on how much HP damage you take, but as a general rule you want to tech before your ambo comes out. Grenades are also situational as well. Although you made use of them they're not required. I'm sure you teched them to clear the MG42, which after multiple tries you finally cleared.
  
• For USF you want to follow the rule of 3 units -> LT or 4 units -> CPT. That's generally how it plays out. So you'd want 3 rifles -> LT or 4 rifles into CPT. A rifle is interchangeable with a mortar if the indirect is needed. You could've used a mortar to clear the MG42 but instead went for a pack howitzer. Either works, but the pack howitzer did arrive a bit late.
  
• Selected armor company, that's the most used 1v1 commander for USF currently as the M10s allow you to challenge armor without the cost of teching up and they're also less fragile than Jacksons. This would've been optimal had you used the M10s to counter your opponets panzer 4. This was not the case though, you teched into major and by the time you had enough resources for an M10 after teching, a 2nd p4 was already rushing your lines. Respond to the 1st panzer 4 with m10s, THEN attempt to either close out the game or tech up to so you can get more lategame variety and situational units. The Axis factions become very difficult to deal with when they have multiple pieces of armor on the field at the same time.
  
• Unit composition: Had 1 AT gun. It's good you had an AT gun and some zooks, but 2 AT guns are exponentially more effective than 1. This is explained through multiplication. 1*1=2 but 2*2=4 etc. So if I have 1 AT gun, and it takes 23 seconds to get 4 shots off to kill a panzer 4 that's pretty slow and a lot of things can happen in that time. If I have 2 AT guns and it takes 7.5 seconds to get off 4 shots though it's significantly harder to react incomparison. When in doubt, 2 is a very safe number to fall back on if you're unsure.
  
• Don't forget you can back tech to LT for 50 cal MGs. They're quite mobile and have substantial suppression making it a formidable MG. They'll help you lock down areas of the map like fuel and VPs.
  

Next is micro. I understand you've been away from the game and just got back to it but here are some tips to improve your micro.

• Use control groups (assigned with Ctrl + 0-9)
  
• Use the tactical map (Numpad 0)
  
• Focus on keeping your units active all the time
  

Counters: Use appropriate counters for the situation. If you're having trouble dealing with MG bunkers, get an AT gun or indirect fire to deal with them without allowing them to shoot back. Moving your infantry into range only gets them shot at.

Territory: You need to connect territory to your base inorder to get resources. I'm sure you understand this, but for a large portion of the game your right side cutoff was not in your control yet you continued to push the right side. Unless you're tactifully moving right to out maneuver your opponet and then take the cutoff, the territory there will be of no use for you aside from denying to your opponet.

Overall: Focus on keeping your units busy and using respective counters. You had certain points where you displayed higher level gameplay such as holding a retreat inorder for a grenade to detonate, and then retreat so you wouldn't run through it. Another time was when you tried to perpetually flank an MG garrisoned in the house near your base with your rifle squad so he couldn't fire back. This is an advanced maneuver that requires more micro input. You were successful at first but I believe you went to micro other units and became suppressed and were forced to retreat. Some odd uses of smoke grenades. You used some to cover retreats and to smoke off engagements you were winning. Don't usually need to smoke retreats unless you're indanger of getting wiped. Even then it may be best to just retreat. Spend your resources to the absolute best of your ability.

If you have any further questions, comments or concerns do not hesitate to ask.

/set green