Stuck in a rut with OKW

Hello fine folks

I'm slowly inchin my way up the leaderboards from being a pretty average rank 7-8 player a year ago to being between 11 and 13 and with my brits juust occationally etching themselves into top 200

My current focus is the USF, which I just recently started playing, and the OKW. In the latter I feel like I have a hard time diverging from the spec ops and thus potentially not working the faction to it's full potential.

If anyone has time I would really like some constructive criticism on this replay. All things considered I'm not entily unhappy with my performance though I certainly made some pretty bad mistakes.

It would be nice to know what I'm doing right, but also don't be afraid to pound me with som tough but fair constructive criticism. I can take it and it's the only way I'll improve

I thank you in advance for your time, both on this replay in specific and on your ceaseless commitment to this community

•  
  

  0

  VS

  Tordenskjold

  LUCKBAR

  okw close defeat

  by: Joshua85 map: Semoskiy

  1

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Happy to take this one on.

Happy to take this one on.

Thanks buddy!

Start seems fine, but can be a good idea to focus on getting control of buildings in strategic locations as fast as possible. In this game your opponent didnt focus on getting control of those buildings meaning you could have punished him for it.

Also when taking fights it can be a good idea to pull away from a fight before the enemy units have gotten up close to yours; drag out the fight rather than try and do as much damage before retreating. That way you dont lose as much map and can counter attack when the balance of power is in your favour.

If fact i notice you taking a lot of fights you are unlikely to win, inflicting as much damage to the other guy as possible and then retreating with just enough squad health for the squad to survive. That can be a smart play sometimes, like when you have a lot of manpower and they have little. However, as a rule its better to take fights you can win in one go. That way you gain map control and time from winning that fight, and presumably inflict more manpower damage on your opponent. In this situation because you are fighting penal's you will generally come out worse from those 'who has more DPS fights'.

I feel you picked the doctrine too early, and for little reason other than that you like it. Using which ever doctrine you feel comfortable with again isn't a bad thing but if you want to advance your game play you will have to learn to pick the doctrine that is best for the situation. This time that doctrine gave you practically nothing to use at the moment you picked it.

Five Volks is excessive, particularly when you have/are going for an MG and already have a luchs on the field. Given the number of buildings, somewhat static fight in the middle and your opponents choice of Dhsk MG's, an ISG would have made more sense. You have also kinda locked yourself of getting Obers (doctrinal advantage in picking them) simply though having to push so much of your available manpower into reinforcing all those volks.

Hmmm i didnt realise but you actually totally neglected building the Med HQ. Instead going to the Flak HQ. Now the doctrine you have chosen is powerful but not terribly well designed. The Command panther allows you to skip the Flak HQ and still get a powerful tank. However the STG on the obers can only be gotten with the Flak HQ. In Short if you go this doctrine you can afford to wait to get the Flak HQ up because you can rely on the Command panther, get healing up after the Luchs is out.

You need to make sure you arent just throwing your units at the same hard point again and again when there are flanking options available.

Also make sure to target infantry with your Stuka, it wont do much to tanks, and they can be repaired for free.

The KT is the most powerful unit in the game, if you used most of your forces for a large push in the centre with the KT you would have killed all this SU-76's and probably have won the game. At that point you have the advantage by a long way.

On the whole i dont think you didnt too badly, a little too focused on the centre of the map and a little too wayward with the units you build at times, but i think mostly what you need is more practice and to relax a little, let yourself think objectively about the situation and then react accordingly.

You are well on your way, good luck and happy hunting!

Start seems fine, but can be a good idea to focus on getting control of buildings in strategic locations as fast as possible. In this game your opponent didnt focus on getting control of those buildings meaning you could have punished him for it.

Also when taking fights it can be a good idea to pull away from a fight before the enemy units have gotten up close to yours; drag out the fight rather than try and do as much damage before retreating. That way you dont lose as much map and can counter attack when the balance of power is in your favour.

If fact i notice you taking a lot of fights you are unlikely to win, inflicting as much damage to the other guy as possible and then retreating with just enough squad health for the squad to survive. That can be a smart play sometimes, like when you have a lot of manpower and they have little. However, as a rule its better to take fights you can win in one go. That way you gain map control and time from winning that fight, and presumably inflict more manpower damage on your opponent. In this situation because you are fighting penal's you will generally come out worse from those 'who has more DPS fights'.

I feel you picked the doctrine too early, and for little reason other than that you like it. Using which ever doctrine you feel comfortable with again isn't a bad thing but if you want to advance your game play you will have to learn to pick the doctrine that is best for the situation. This time that doctrine gave you practically nothing to use at the moment you picked it.

Five Volks is excessive, particularly when you have/are going for an MG and already have a luchs on the field. Given the number of buildings, somewhat static fight in the middle and your opponents choice of Dhsk MG's, an ISG would have made more sense. You have also kinda locked yourself of getting Obers (doctrinal advantage in picking them) simply though having to push so much of your available manpower into reinforcing all those volks.

Hmmm i didnt realise but you actually totally neglected building the Med HQ. Instead going to the Flak HQ. Now the doctrine you have chosen is powerful but not terribly well designed. The Command panther allows you to skip the Flak HQ and still get a powerful tank. However the STG on the obers can only be gotten with the Flak HQ. In Short if you go this doctrine you can afford to wait to get the Flak HQ up because you can rely on the Command panther, get healing up after the Luchs is out.

You need to make sure you arent just throwing your units at the same hard point again and again when there are flanking options available.

Also make sure to target infantry with your Stuka, it wont do much to tanks, and they can be repaired for free.

The KT is the most powerful unit in the game, if you used most of your forces for a large push in the centre with the KT you would have killed all this SU-76's and probably have won the game. At that point you have the advantage by a long way.

On the whole i dont think you didnt too badly, a little too focused on the centre of the map and a little too wayward with the units you build at times, but i think mostly what you need is more practice and to relax a little, let yourself think objectively about the situation and then react accordingly.

You are well on your way, good luck and happy hunting!

Thanks for the feedback and actually taking your time to sith through a pretty long game.

I think you are right in me struggeling to take initiative and doing full scale counter offensives. That is probably something I should work on getting right

One things I felt like I struggled with immensely in this map, was his high reliance on the DSHK (Something he himself actually called cancer in the post battle chat).

It seems quite incredible to me that this hmg can actally just cap point using attack move and still have time to set up AND supress an enemy squad emerging from the fog of war, before they are able to throw a grenade. If I was a salty person I might say that this seems to undermine what should be the main weakness of hmg teams, namely that they have to be pre-fixed in order to counter infantry.

But seeing that I'm a sunny side up kind of guy who prefers to adapt rather than complain, how would you recommend countering this, especially as OKW where both smoke and cloaked infantry is few and far between? I tried using the Luchs to flush them out, but that means taking it away from the front and out to the corners and I still needed to bring an infantry unit for capping.

But seeing that I'm a sunny side up kind of guy who prefers to adapt rather than complain, how would you recommend countering this, especially as OKW where both smoke and cloaked infantry is few and far between? I tried using the Luchs to flush them out, but that means taking it away from the front and out to the corners and I still needed to bring an infantry unit for capping.

Its exactly that. You have to be extremely active with your luchs. Every single second, it should either be repairing, or in combat. This is a lot easier on most other maps since theyre more centralized and have fewer garrisons. Yes, it takes a while to get your luchs out to where the dshks are, but if your opponent messes up and has them overextended or retreats them too late, then you get a free dshk. Using your luchs like I said above is a high investment of resources (that resource being the luchs, and therefore your field presence), but each of these engagements you bring it into is low risk, with a medium-extremely high reward.

Its exactly that. You have to be extremely active with your luchs. Every single second, it should either be repairing, or in combat. This is a lot easier on most other maps since theyre more centralized and have fewer garrisons. Yes, it takes a while to get your luchs out to where the dshks are, but if your opponent messes up and has them overextended or retreats them too late, then you get a free dshk. Using your luchs like I said above is a high investment of resources (that resource being the luchs, and therefore your field presence), but each of these engagements you bring it into is low risk, with a medium-extremely high reward.

Ugh that dosen't seem like an ideal solution to use a light tank and an infantry section to retreat a ninja-capping mg, but at least it's nice to know that I did it the right way

The Dhsk mg is the most powerful mg in the game, and can shut down an entire push if used correctly. Jae For Jett is right in that using your light tank to control the side of the map is a very good use for such a unit. Its fast and can win pretty much every fight you are likely to get into, once the fight is won you can let the unit you are sending that way do all the capping while you send the tank back to the centre or to the other side to do the same again. The more that MG is retreating or in base the less damage it does to you.

Remember that the resources on the sides of the maps are generally equal or greater than the resources in the middle. Holding the middle of maps is generally only about exerting 'physical' control over the map. By that I mean real control over the map not just having the point be your colour.

The Dhsk mg is the most powerful mg in the game, and can shut down an entire push if used correctly. Jae For Jett is right in that using your light tank to control the side of the map is a very good use for such a unit. Its fast and can win pretty much every fight you are likely to get into, once the fight is won you can let the unit you are sending that way do all the capping while you send the tank back to the centre or to the other side to do the same again. The more that MG is retreating or in base the less damage it does to you.

Remember that the resources on the sides of the maps are generally equal or greater than the resources in the middle. Holding the middle of maps is generally only about exerting 'physical' control over the map. By that I mean real control over the map not just having the point be your colour.

Thanks. Yeah I know that ressourcewise the centre is not of much strategic value, but as you probably saw in the replay this strategy happened at a point in the game where resources were of lesser importance and VP was what it was all about. I had pop-cap control, but he had the strategic advantage (which is partly my fault I admit) so he could slowly chip away by using this rinse-and-repeat strat on the corner VP.