Newbie Soviet needs some advice on low-level micro

Hello everyone, I have been watching a lot of CoH2 replays, but I just got my copy of it in the latest Steam summer sales. I thought I would enjoy the gameplay too, but after a few matches with the Soviet, I am very disappointed.

It seems that every time I would be outflanked or outmaneuvered by the opponent. In my latest game, while I was still having a minimal army, my opponent (OKW) already has three Strumpioneer squads wiping out my Conscripts easily. I don't understand how they can churn out so many units of high cost in so little time, and the match obviously went to a defeat when I couldn't hold my points with my little army of a T70, a Maxim, a HM120, some conscripts and engineers.

But the most frustrating of all is the seemingly lack of micro on my side, but I was already overwhelmed. I understand that there are many of my units sitting in the base not doing anything, but whenever I send them out, they are very quickly wiped or heavily damaged, and while I was focusing on maneuvering those units facing the enemy (or their anticipated location), some other units creeped up and I will very soon be distracted. I would desperately need some tricks on how to micro with efficiency too.

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  WINTER Freichy

  Telre siegfried3991

  Newbie getting wiped very quickly_Soviet

  by: siegfried3991 map: Gelsenkirchen Refinery

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I have uploaded my replay here, and I would really appreciate any comments from all of you.

I havent read it all but the reality is that there is no tricks to improve the micro, the only way to improve it is playing the game. You can improve your gameplay by using hotkeys (i use grind hotkeys), control groups, the tactical map (it depends on the player, but i think it will be good for you if you have low apm (you need to rebind it with autohotkey or mouse software because relic hotkeys are retarded)). You also watch replays and video tutorials. Also the game is high dependant on RNG and the some maps and factions are not properly balanced atm.

After reading the post i find the problem is that you are using conscripts and they are under power atm, specially on the late game, i recommend you to use penals batallions from tier 1 structure, with these commanders: guard motor tactics (1v1, 2v2), land lease (1v1), ISU152 commander, the one with the guards, i dont remember the name (2v2), k2 commander (1v1, 2v2, for the memes) and kv1 commander too (1v1,2v2, also for the memes).

I will give you some of my current builds for soviets:

Extra engineer for the capping while your other engineer builds the tier 1 structure, 1 penal, 1 penal, m3 scout car (only if its okw and the oponent build a kubel), if landlease 2 dshks, if guard motor 2 guards, then if the fuel income is not really good i go t70 or su76 if he has puma or goes double luchs or multiple 222s (not often seen in this patch), if the fuel income is really good i skip t3 units and i go t4 and i make t34s and su85s. If you go land lease you can also wait for the m4c shermans (you can build t4 to reduce the call in speed). If you go guard motor you can build t34/85s that are really good

I recommend these channels to improve the game:

Tightrope and generalsgentlemen are the best casters atm, they know the game mechanics and the stats really well, and they put a really entertaining show. +Tightrope has tutorial videos.





Hans also has some tip videos on his channel

I have uploaded my replay here, and I would really appreciate any comments from all of you.

Moved your thread to Replay Review Section.

Welcome!

If you want some of our strategist to review your replay you should create a post in the replay review section.

Some more general comments:

First up, the matchmaking really kicks in only after 10 games (for the specific faction and mode that you are currently playing). I see that you didn't get there yet, so you will more often find yourself playing against opponents that are not at your skill level. This will still happen once you did your ten matches, but far less so.

That said, your track record so far isn't too bad, you lost about as many matches as you won so far

A bit more specific to the problem in your description: It sounds like you got torn apart by sturmpioneers, and while you spend your manpower on reinforcing - or worse - replacing your conscripts, he could just spend in on new sturmpioneers. Sending conscripts piecemeal back into the frail doesn't really help then, as you found out.

So, one of the most important rules is: Don't stay in a fight you can't win. One of the really hard things when starting with CoH2 is how to judge a certain matchup given the situation. Well, you found out the hard way now Sturmpioneers >> Conscripts (and in fact, they should be as they are much more expensive).


Edit: Oops. Sturmpanther was faster. So nevermind regarding posting in the Replay Review Section, help is on the way

Luciano's advice pretty much nailed it! Compensate for poor micro and apm by switching to grid keys in options and use the autohotkey program to rebind your strat map so it's convenient at your left hand (I would suggest you rebind it to Capslock. If you haven't used autohotkey before there are plenty of toturals online also specifically for coh 2)

One final piece of advice that I think would help you immensely is with regards to your point of sending men from your base, only to have them wiped by surmpios.

At the stage you're at now, ALWAYS move your men with the attack move! This means that instead of right clicking, you press Q+left click on where you want to go (if you switched to grid keys).

This is not really necessary if you are moving short distances with your eyes on the specific unit, but in every other instance you should use attack move. Using this move will make your soldiers stop immediately and fight whenever they meet an opponent rather than keep moving. for units with non-automatic rifles (like conscripts) this is almost always better, because they won't take a hit to accuracy and also not close the distance to soldiers with assault rifles (like sturmpios).

But at the end of the day it will take a while to get consistently better, so take your defeats as a leaning experience, watch your replays and take note of your mistakes and ask in here if you have specific problems that you can'øt get your head around. Even after years of playing I still learn new things so there is no shame in asking and certainly no shame in losing to better players

Hey Siegfried, are you satisfied with Joshua's Siphon's and Luciano's help or you still need a thorough replay review from one of the Strategists.

Please let me know
Hector

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies! I feel very informed now already, thanks all for the help.

I have just one question though: Having a few more games with the advice in mind, I find myself more capable of dealing with various armies. However, I tend only to use one commander (Guards Combined), leaving the other two (Lend Lease and sth related to Shock) always unused. Is this usual, or am I just going the wrong way?

The only time I used Lend Lease is when I am in a 2v2 and while I am producing primitive units I already see a wave of Pioneers and Grenadiers, so I was forced to go into Lend Lease and use their early DSHKs.

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies! I feel very informed now already, thanks all for the help.

I have just one question though: Having a few more games with the advice in mind, I find myself more capable of dealing with various armies. However, I tend only to use one commander (Guards Combined), leaving the other two (Lend Lease and sth related to Shock) always unused. Is this usual, or am I just going the wrong way?

The only time I used Lend Lease is when I am in a 2v2 and while I am producing primitive units I already see a wave of Pioneers and Grenadiers, so I was forced to go into Lend Lease and use their early DSHKs.

Here you can find a short article about Soviet Meta utilising lend lease tactics.

https://www.coh2.org/news/61212/gcs-round-of-sixteen

It´s in the bottom of the article, the headline is The new soviet meta

Thanks Hector! The guide is very useful, and I immediately put it to use in a few games. Although I didn't win any of them, it seems it is not too bad.

The only problem that I have is between the moment of having Shermans and after OKW/Ostheer has formiddable tanks. Their Panzergrenadiers also shred most of my MGs or Penals to pieces, and even I added snipers to bleed their manpower, they just keep coming...should I get more MGs, or consider building T2 and have some Zis guns?

Hey post a replay where you lose.we will help you

Hi Hector,

I got a win finally! I used the strategy as you suggested, but I forgot to build T2 and above for most of my game until the Shermans came out, so I thought it is not that necessary anymore.

I did run into trouble several times as the opponent builds bunkers to defend the VPs, also I somehow manage to screw up two clown cars which is pretty bad. I also relied heavily on Penals for most of AT, fortunately the opponent did not discover too much of this.

Anything to improve on this? I understand I should build T2/3 next time, but when is a good time? How do I spend the overflowing manpower, just more DSHKs/Penals or some other stuff?

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  neryal14

  siegfried3991

  Finally getting a win with the Lend Lease

  by: siegfried3991 map: Crossing in the Woods

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EDIT: Sorry I do not have time for this, I though I will find some free time today but looks like not.

/set none