Puma vs Infantry

Good evening, I found myself in a funny situation in a game earlier. I ended up losing because frankly I was outplayed. I was playing as the OKW and my opponent was U.S. I got my mechanized company up and put out a puma first hoping to curtail a Stuart as I had seen a captain on the field. He ended up skipping tier three and going strait for Shermans.

I was wondering what is the best way to use a puma against Infantry in the absence of other vehicles on the field. Obviously this is sub-optimal, but if I can have an impact with a puma vs infantry in support of my infantry it would be very helpful as I'm very fond of the unit and use it as Ostheer too (Mobile Defense).

Is it accurate enough at range to do damage to infantry? Should I just try to use it to explode cover? Is pushing infantry around with it worth it? I would love replays too!

Thanks for any help!

there isn't really effective way to use it against infantry, as it lacks splash damage to hit infantry. might get lucky hits but thats it. its purely light vehicle counter.

Best use in that situation, imo, is spotting for mgs at that point and/or attacking say, a single sneaky squad capping on your flank.

A lucky dive to kill the ambulance can be a great pickup but NEVER worth losing the puma.

But if they go Sherman with your puma alive, you can kite the crap out the Sherman taking pot shots with your range and sight.

Shermans and t34 are puma food under the right conditions.

If youre floatin ammo and dont feel like plantin mines or artying and already have all volks upgraded, u can snipe with the vet1 ability

The coaxial mg is decently effective. You can use it to flank mgs and get right up on them for max dps. It does good damage if they aren't in cover, so you can use it to annoy lone capping squads too. Just make sure you don't get snared, keep it at long range. You wont get wipes with it but you can force retreats.

If youre floatin ammo and dont feel like plantin mines or artying and already have all volks upgraded, u can snipe with the vet1 ability

Didn't they actually remove this silliness in a recent patch?

Didn't they actually remove this silliness in a recent patch?

No, they reduced it's chance to hit retreating units. Instead of an automatic wipe - its a roll of the dice.

Units that aren't in retreat will still get hit 100%; and if you catch a clump together you can wipe multiple at a time. Sniping british snipers with this ability is a blast.

Do you think that a puma i a reliable choice wuth mech truck in the place of the luch ? kike paired with mg's and volks. for 1v1 and 2v2 btw.

Do you think that a puma i a reliable choice wuth mech truck in the place of the luch ? kike paired with mg's and volks. for 1v1 and 2v2 btw.

I routinely use pumas in 2v2 - specifically in situations where I expect my opponent to build light vehicles. Soviets t70 / t34s, brit AE, USF AAHT / Greyhound.

If you go puma, make sure you get an MG34 for infantry control. If you go luchs make sure you've got a rakten to cover it.

I can't speak to 1v1.

Do you think that a puma i a reliable choice wuth mech truck in the place of the luch ? kike paired with mg's and volks. for 1v1 and 2v2 btw.

I'll speak to 1v1s.

Mech is more or less dead in the 1v1 meta.

UKF hard counters it between AT snipers, AT sections with their super long snare range, and the snaring AEC. Obviously the sniper won't 1v1 a luchs, but all of that AT + snares means the luchs isnt worth going, and the puma means that you're going to be bleeding like crazy since you dont have healing; especially since volks lose to 5 man sections pretty handily in a lot of situations.

USF meta does favor either an m20 or AA HT as far as im aware, but even though the puma can end up having an impact, you end up investing way more resources into countering the vehicles than he spends on the vehicles themselves. If you do shut down the enemy's vehicle play without losing your puma, then the enemy can just pivot to an infantry heavy build with weapon upgrades and the puma will go back to doing very little, so its the same case as above: you want to combat infantry and going puma cripples your ability to do that since you'll either lack healing or have to constantly put down medkits when you actually need to the muni on combat abilities and upgrades (incendiaries and stgs).

Against soviets, a puma isnt going to do anything against maxims, and guards will provide a constant threat against the puma, making it more micro than its worth.

Short answer: No. Don't go mech. If you do go mech, then dont go puma first. But really, don't go mech unless you really have something specific in mind.

Do you think that a puma i a reliable choice wuth mech truck in the place of the luch ? kike paired with mg's and volks. for 1v1 and 2v2 btw.

You could get a luchs and then a puma to deal with USF, but it's just not cost effective when you could get medics and a flak track, stall until pIV. Flak + rak + medics is cheaper and will last you all game. Much less risky too. Mech would only work out if the opponent doesn't prepare at all for light vehicles. If they go a doctrine with no AT gun drop, no greyhound, and went LT tech and skipped weapon upgrades, you could possibly annihilate him with a luchs. Just way too risky and short lived to be worth it. Once they get zooks on RE you go back to being at the mercy of the AA halftrack.

Don't bother vs soviets and UKF.

You could get a luchs and then a puma to deal with USF, but it's just not cost effective when you could get medics and a flak track, stall until pIV. Flak + rak + medics is cheaper and will last you all game. Much less risky too. Mech would only work out if the opponent doesn't prepare at all for light vehicles. If they go a doctrine with no AT gun drop, no greyhound, and went LT tech and skipped weapon upgrades, you could possibly annihilate him with a luchs. Just way too risky and short lived to be worth it. Once they get zooks on RE you go back to being at the mercy of the AA halftrack.

Don't bother vs soviets and UKF.

Luchs is still worth vs Brits. They have a hard time killing it even if it builds twice as slow and 75 fuel on aec is 75 fuel not on a centaur

Well thank you all for your answers as i now go everytime on AA HT as OKW i find that a bit boring but sadly it's the most usefull play in 1v1 situation. So well i'll try some commander strat to find new strat as okw. Or i get a smurf and play with mech truck Kappa.

Luchs is still worth vs Brits. They have a hard time killing it even if it builds twice as slow and 75 fuel on aec is 75 fuel not on a centaur

Even with aec stun shot? Getting out the luchs sets you back more than 75 fuel though....

Even with aec stun shot? Getting out the luchs sets you back more than 75 fuel though....

Centaur coming out at 10 minutes vs 14/15 is a big deal, and stun shot isn't super relevant when luchs is as fast as it is. It's more of a Flak HT auto counter.

Centaur coming out at 10 minutes vs 14/15 is a big deal, and stun shot isn't super relevant when luchs is as fast as it is. It's more of a Flak HT auto counter.

No healing when your infantry already loses 1 on 1 is also a big deal... well, that or you exchange that manpower bleed for muni bleed. Not to mention a p4 coming out at 18 minutes instead of 13 minutes.

dont think P4 is as relevant as Centaur in that match-up, one of the units is good one of the units is completely broken. Healing or no healing your volks are basically just cap units anyway vs brits