best time to upgrade sweeper?

Hi guys.

In the last year or so I have really made and effort to become better and more confident in 1v1 and it has started to pay of. I have risen from a mid level player on rank 8 to an above-average-but-by-no-means-expert player at 11-12 for three of my most played factions

One thing that I think has brought me forward is that I am an enthusiastic mine-layer and try to ensure to keep my engineers busy with investing munis into this on chockepoints, roads and capture points.

In the lower and mid range tiers people don't use mines very much, but this changes when you meet lvl 12-14 players and feel this being used against you.

For all my mine laying it is kind of ironic that I'm quite a sloppy sweeper, but I think this comes down to three reasons:
1. encountering enemy mines is still kind of new and surprising to me
2. apart from OKW the sweepers will reduce my DPS and potentially exclude a flamer upgrade
3. I heard casters say that sweepers tend to be "a tell" that mines have been planted and start them playing more cautiously.

Of these three reasons I think it is mostly the last one that counts as a plausible argument for withholding sweepers, which (finally) brings me to the question:

When do you suggest building the first mine sweeper?

I thank you for your time

Few things that may help you

• USF M20 -> Sweeper
  
• Against Soviets it's always important to get minesweepers as soon as your opponent gets 30 mun
  
• if you cap territory that has previously been capped by engineers (usually the part of the battlefield where there hasn't been much fighting) send a minesweeper, no regular squads
  
• for adavanced minesweeper usage I recommend remembering where engineers have been walking around on the field
  
• try to avoid buildings, roads with your vehicles in territory that you haven't checked out yet with sweepers
  
• if you don't have a minesweeper in the area, don't cap points in the usual spot (which is usually the one where the squad would go if you give the shift-cap orders) position them so that only one member sits in the capping circle and the others are spread out (to avoid demo wipes)
  

Thanks for the solid advice Luvnest!

I'm a big fan and frequently watch your Twitch streams

Good luck in Leicester.

Luvnest pretty much nailed it as you'd expect from someone of his caliber. Soviets in particular you always want a sweeper squad early because at higher levels you're almost guaranteed to see Demos - I would add that you want to be particularly cautious around VPs and Fuel points because of their high traffic nature. Personally, I always sweep my cut-off after a mass retreat if it gets decapped as well: some players like to mine that as well since some players will try to blob their way out of their base.

If you want to up your game consider using Demos as USF and Brits (very few people expect Ass Engi/Commando Demos and you can get a quick advantage off those cheesey wipes)

And when you play against top players, beware sneaky pios who plan S-mine patch into your retreat path as well.

The best to prevent this is to never allow your opponents pios to make it behind your lines and chosing better retreat paths once you see enemy pios deccaping your cut off and so on.


Also keep in mind that good players hide s-mine signs behind hedges or trees so you cannot spot them so easily. Try rotating camera and buying sweeper then.

And when you play against top players, beware sneaky pios who plan S-mine patch into your retreat path as well.

This is my favorite.
Second is putting democharge inside enemies minefield.

--

Expect if you repair you tank/vehicles in same planes more than once there is going to be AT-Mine

I resently hit my head against OST player who only used AT mines in infantry cover then shooting it with pak or mortar...

I resently hit my head against OST player who only used AT mines in infantry cover then shooting it with pak or mortar...

When my tank is fighting enemy infantry and I see the infantry has moved on a teller mine, I do not hessitate, attack ground my teller and wipe his squad. It´s situational but always worth it

Few things that may help you

• USF M20 -> Sweeper
  
• Against Soviets it's always important to get minesweepers as soon as your opponent gets 30 mun
  
• if you cap territory that has previously been capped by engineers (usually the part of the battlefield where there hasn't been much fighting) send a minesweeper, no regular squads
  
• for adavanced minesweeper usage I recommend remembering where engineers have been walking around on the field
  
• try to avoid buildings, roads with your vehicles in territory that you haven't checked out yet with sweepers
  
• if you don't have a minesweeper in the area, don't cap points in the usual spot (which is usually the one where the squad would go if you give the shift-cap orders) position them so that only one member sits in the capping circle and the others are spread out (to avoid demo wipes)
  

Thanks for your share, it is useful to make a suitable strategy.
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