I want to help my 2v2 UKF partner get better

First I want to start out by saying that I make plenty of mistakes that cost us games so I am not claiming it's all his fault or anything. When we play 2v2 I don't always have time to watch his play so I will watch replays from his point of view. That helps a little to understand his play but recently I got him to do 1v1s with me so I can get a feel for how he reacts to certain situations.

I have probably 20 hours total playing as German factions and 10 as UKF but at least 1600 hours playing as SOV. He has about 400 hours playing as UKF. That said I am completely demolishing him in 1v1s where I play as Ost. It doesn't matter what strategy I go with or what commander. If I play to win, I win.

I know that a 1200 hour differential in game time is massive and 1v1 is not 2v2 in terms of strategy but I want to help him improve without frustrating him.

I have been trying to explain why certain strats don't work against certain factions. For instance he rushed out an Ost sniper one game while I was playing soviets and as a result I had capped the whole map in 5 minutes.

He says he likes to turtle in RTS games and that is why he likes UKF. Watching him play and playing against him though seems to point to this as the reason he isn't aggressive in the early game which leads to my armor reaching the field first. He does not trust the UKF medium armor options and often opts to wait for fireflys. This usually leads to me having a 2-1 armor advantage by 25 minutes.

I think I could be asking for some players to play some matches of 2v2 with us that are comfortable enough with both UKF and German factions to give him (and me) some pointers. Other than that, general advice would be much appreciated.

I think the best way to help new players is to provide them with a top to bottom build order and ask them to execute it to a T.
For example, start with 3 tommies, mg, tech up, get pios, at gun, tech scout car, get scout car, get some doctrinal unit, tech up, get cromwel, get firefly.

This may not be the current meta nor could this build work, but you get the idea.

Once they start feeling comfortable with the timing of the build order, things will start to flow naturally and they will get the idea how to adapt on the fly and try to modify unit selection to react to the actual threats or push the advantage.

Another important aspect is manpower control. Too many model losses set you back tech wise and disrupt your plan. It is better to hard retreat early then stay in an engagement and bleed. Unless you are under critical VP bleed, there is no reason to sacrifice your MP to capture a particular point. Retreat, regroup and send reinforcements that are capable of resolving a particular situation.

Map awareness and understanding importance of strategic points is also important to grasp. I am talking about strategic buildings, cutoffs, and general areas where enemy presence is a pain in the rear end. Making a decision when to leave those areas undefended to chase some harassing units is one of the biggest mistakes new players make. Similarly, taking advantage of such areas when the enemy makes a mistake is also something a new player should pay attention to.

Finally, it's all about practice and learning from the losses. If he is stubborn and wants only to turtle, he is not gonna get far. Sure, he might face some new opponents and beat them, but once he steps up on the leader he will get mowed down hard unless he objectively analyzes what works and what doesn't and why.

I would also not insist on micro perfection and the APM as this aspect of the game will gradually improve with practice. In coh2, it is far better to make correct decisions then to make quick ones.

I think the best way to help new players is to provide them with a top to bottom build order and ask them to execute it to a T.
For example, start with 3 tommies, mg, tech up, get pios, at gun, tech scout car, get scout car, get some doctrinal unit, tech up, get cromwel, get firefly.

This may not be the current meta nor could this build work, but you get the idea.

His opener in 2v2 right now seems to be hmg 1 tommy and a carrier with a wasp. Then engineers or a sniper depending on the situation. I try to compliment this with 4 cons and an hmg if they are blobing followed by 2 su76. This is all the plan going in but it of course changes and we have decent communication throughout regarding what the enemy is putting out and what we are doing to counter it. Our commander picks usually try to fill in gaps of the other. I will get a commander that gives vision if he is going heavy offmap support.

Another important aspect is manpower control. Too many model losses set you back tech wise and disrupt your plan. It is better to hard retreat early then stay in an engagement and bleed. Unless you are under critical VP bleed, there is no reason to sacrifice your MP to capture a particular point. Retreat, regroup and send reinforcements that are capable of resolving a particular situation.

I have definitely noticed it is very easy to distract him with simultaneous engagements on opposite sides leading to squad wipes from rifle grenades. I've talked with him a little about it and when to expect them and it seems to have helped a little. Another downside that has plagued us for years is the fact he lives in NZ and I live in the midwest so latency is always an issue. We often joke when playing rocket league together that he has to let me know he has the shot before he knows he is going to take it because by the time i hear him in curse it is already too late.

The rest is good advice thank you for giving me your time.

I am considering doing drills with him where the main goal is not to win so much as to not loose mp.

His opener in 2v2 right now seems to be hmg 1 tommy and a carrier with a wasp. Then engineers or a sniper depending on the situation. I try to compliment this with 4 cons and an hmg if they are blobing followed by 2 su76. This is all the plan going in but it of course changes and we have decent communication throughout regarding what the enemy is putting out and what we are doing to counter it. Our commander picks usually try to fill in gaps of the other. I will get a commander that gives vision if he is going heavy offmap support.

Get atleast one tommy before getting an MG, unless on very specific maps T-T-Mg-T/ T-T-T-Tech/ T-T-T-MG are the most viable 3 starting options

Id say a first build MG is generally meh unless you guys decided to double team a side and hes solely support your con heavy builds. All other situations Tommy Build Orders are more flexible.

Personally I prefer to open with an MG, particularly if he's a new player and prefers to to turtle, an MG will give him a base to play off which will slow down the combat for him, it will also help him against Mg42 which can really screw over brits as they have no counter until sniper which often comes after the wehr sniper. The vickers will normally beat an mg 42 in even combat. My build order atm for team games is (starterT)-MG-T-T-UC,

If your friend is new to online, play team games, a lot less relies on him then and he'll learn to deal with a lot more units fighting him at once and all he has to do is focus on killing germans which makes it easier on him as well, it makes 2v2 seem less effort in comparison which means he can focus on the parts of 2v2 which are important like unit preservation and field presence.

I mostly play team games and don't really play 2v2s and I haven't seen the replays but things I would mention if he's new, especially if he likes turtling and is good at it:

-I'm not a great 2v2 player but if you are in 2v2, it's on you as his ally to watch his flank, consider going a point and mid rather than trying to push both sides. As brits with a covered flank, once he's set up he can basically make himself unpushable until heavy armour comes out, especially if you as US or Soviets can help him counter mortar spam and infantry support guns. As long as you know what the british player is doing (which I assume you do as he's your friend), you need to play off him, you use his secure point to help you push mid or whatever that way he can help you too.

-Brits get caught short outside of cover, don't cap, do it with your second tommy section or get your teammate/s to do it, dive the capture point/fuel and lock it down immediately, brits can nearly always win first combat that way which will buy him time. Vickers will get you early picks which will pay off later and tommy's are better than all early game squads given distance and heavy cover and will kill sturmpioneers before they can get to them a lot of the time or at least trade in your favour. You MUST get to point first as a turtler or you else you might not be able to turtle for that game, which if that's what you're good at and like to do is a real problem. (most people will cap on their way to the point so it's not that time critical on all maps, cap a fuel/muni on the way for example if you think you have time or after your mg is set up but beware some people like to dive the point against brits to stop them doing this)

-Universal Carrier is your width (unless you want an AEC but that comes later), your squads are expensive and you probably don't want to be moving them out of cover regularly early on in case you run into an mg42 and have to retreat them. wasp is good, vickers k is better in my opinion, especially at vet 2, it becomes a goddamn exterminator, Chase squads back to base to confirm kills before at is prevalent and can help your mgs pin for 15 muni, it beats all machine guns (except US 50 cal if you are playing custom games), even garrisoned at range and gives them less vet as they never kill it. you must not feed their mgs veterancy or they will just incendiary round it and kill it, using the UC and micro managing it heavily will let you vet up quickly and deny them vet which becomes a massive advantage. watch for fausts, every goddamn german unit has one right now and if they get you it's gg no ree UC. If you use it well, it will force them to take AT early or go light vehicles so you can predict what they are going to do and preemptively counter them. UC Vickers also counter the hell out of kubelwagens which stops them cutting you off.

-don't sit and let mortars hit you, you can't afford it, if a shell lands near you, move your squad/mg immediately, just redeploy about 10 metres away and they've wasted a barrage, you can find as brits that you cannot counter mortar spam, especially infantry support guns early on, but remember early on, if they have 2/3 mortars and you don't you almost certainly have more combat units than them so push them. If they sit them behind an mg, use sniper or UC to counter them.

-If he's new, I would say avoid Hammer, the comet is great if you are a good player pulling off crazy flanks with them, comets take a long time to repair as you don't have heavy engineers and since the penetration nerf they dont really do enough to the front of panthers and they die easily if caught out or snared, you may as well get a firefly, it's a lot cheaper and better for turtling and scales better with veterancy. If he's turtling the only useful thing is the tank spotting, normal frag grenades are normally better than gammon bombs aswell and they have no minimum range and a short fuse. Anvil is a lot more user friendly, the churchill is goddamn monster right now, it literally has stabilisers for new players to use, the churchill is cheaper than a lot of tanks, it will quite happily 1v2 panzer 4s and can toe to toe with panthers, it can kill at guns with its grenades and if it gets in trouble it can revers backwards through its own smoke disperser, that along with it slaughtering infantry with it's shells and machine guns (which just got buffed btw). Back that up with a 6 pdr or firefly and you basically have a black prince, the churchill is by far my favourite tank in the game right now and is almost certainly due a nerf... It does... not... die... ever, which is really good if you're new to the game. Heavy engineers act as a lifeline as well as not only are they really good close quarters but they repair things faster than any other engineers which allows your tanks to take more damage without them being out of action for long.

-speaking of sappers, Heavy engineers are good yes, but even regular sappers, especially with 5 man squads upgrade are lethal, they are not like pioneers or rear ecehelon, they are more like defensive sturmpioneers, they are really good... like really really good, even in light cover they can toe to toe most assault infantry and are uber cheap to reinforce, people underestimate them all the time and get wiped, destroy cover is one of them best abilities in the game and every engineer should have it, use it to open up new angles for attack by "cool aid manning" through walls and fences where they are out of line of sight and use them to destroy cover that your enemy can use, especially if you build trenches with your tommies you will destroy most squads before they can reach you as they have no cover. Sappers are one of the best units in the game right now, and they are welsh and the voice acting is hilarious so use them.

-Use trenches, they a really good for tommmies, especially with brens, use them to contest capture points as the enemy have to clear the trench before they can cap which is really gross and really funny. Probably OP tbh.

Other than that, to sum up, Mortar pits really punish heavy weapon spam, (at guns, machine guns and 2 or less mortars) they will munch on them all day, they better to be built conservatively and further back than most people think so you can push anything that attacks them more easily. Remember kills with mortars are low risk to you, they give you kills without getting them veterancy so the kills you get are all free!
The 6 pdr is really good for some reason, penetrate panthers frontally more than comets for some reason. Bren is Stupid good (commandos can run and gun), British grenades are stupid good, churchills are stupid good, vet 2/3 firefly is stupid good.

Most useful regiments right now are royal arty, Dank hunters and royal engys, vanguard is good if you're good, although brits have the advantage of most stuff is pretty viable. GLHF

P.S.- I will add I reckon 90% of CoH2 online is experience, he'll learn over time to scatter whenever he sees red smoke and recognise stuka sirens etc and learn how much damage things can take and how quickly etc. Just make sure he keeps playing and he'll work it out and what works for him, also if he keeps playing, he might discover he's actually really good at something else, my mate started out as a Brit turtle and now he's a much more offense based US player.

Personally I prefer to open with an MG, particularly if he's a new player and prefers to to turtle, an MG will give him a base to play off which will slow down the combat for him, it will also help him against Mg42 which can really screw over brits as they have no counter until sniper which often comes after the wehr sniper. The vickers will normally beat an mg 42 in even combat. My build order atm for team games is (starterT)-MG-T-T-UC,

If your friend is new to online, play team games, a lot less relies on him then and he'll learn to deal with a lot more units fighting him at once and all he has to do is focus on killing germans which makes it easier on him as well, it makes 2v2 seem less effort in comparison which means he can focus on the parts of 2v2 which are important like unit preservation and field presence.

I mostly play team games and don't really play 2v2s and I haven't seen the replays but things I would mention if he's new, especially if he likes turtling and is good at it:

-I'm not a great 2v2 player but if you are in 2v2, it's on you as his ally to watch his flank, consider going a point and mid rather than trying to push both sides. As brits with a covered flank, once he's set up he can basically make himself unpushable until heavy armour comes out, especially if you as US or Soviets can help him counter mortar spam and infantry support guns. As long as you know what the british player is doing (which I assume you do as he's your friend), you need to play off him, you use his secure point to help you push mid or whatever that way he can help you too.

-Brits get caught short outside of cover, don't cap, do it with your second tommy section or get your teammate/s to do it, dive the capture point/fuel and lock it down immediately, brits can nearly always win first combat that way which will buy him time. Vickers will get you early picks which will pay off later and tommy's are better than all early game squads given distance and heavy cover and will kill sturmpioneers before they can get to them a lot of the time or at least trade in your favour. You MUST get to point first as a turtler or you else you might not be able to turtle for that game, which if that's what you're good at and like to do is a real problem. (most people will cap on their way to the point so it's not that time critical on all maps, cap a fuel/muni on the way for example if you think you have time or after your mg is set up but beware some people like to dive the point against brits to stop them doing this)

-Universal Carrier is your width (unless you want an AEC but that comes later), your squads are expensive and you probably don't want to be moving them out of cover regularly early on in case you run into an mg42 and have to retreat them. wasp is good, vickers k is better in my opinion, especially at vet 2, it becomes a goddamn exterminator, Chase squads back to base to confirm kills before at is prevalent and can help your mgs pin for 15 muni, it beats all machine guns (except US 50 cal if you are playing custom games), even garrisoned at range and gives them less vet as they never kill it. you must not feed their mgs veterancy or they will just incendiary round it and kill it, using the UC and micro managing it heavily will let you vet up quickly and deny them vet which becomes a massive advantage. watch for fausts, every goddamn german unit has one right now and if they get you it's gg no ree UC. If you use it well, it will force them to take AT early or go light vehicles so you can predict what they are going to do and preemptively counter them. UC Vickers also counter the hell out of kubelwagens which stops them cutting you off.

-don't sit and let mortars hit you, you can't afford it, if a shell lands near you, move your squad/mg immediately, just redeploy about 10 metres away and they've wasted a barrage, you can find as brits that you cannot counter mortar spam, especially infantry support guns early on, but remember early on, if they have 2/3 mortars and you don't you almost certainly have more combat units than them so push them. If they sit them behind an mg, use sniper or UC to counter them.

-If he's new, I would say avoid Hammer, the comet is great if you are a good player pulling off crazy flanks with them, comets take a long time to repair as you don't have heavy engineers and since the penetration nerf they dont really do enough to the front of panthers and they die easily if caught out or snared, you may as well get a firefly, it's a lot cheaper and better for turtling and scales better with veterancy. If he's turtling the only useful thing is the tank spotting, normal frag grenades are normally better than gammon bombs aswell and they have no minimum range and a short fuse. Anvil is a lot more user friendly, the churchill is goddamn monster right now, it literally has stabilisers for new players to use, the churchill is cheaper than a lot of tanks, it will quite happily 1v2 panzer 4s and can toe to toe with panthers, it can kill at guns with its grenades and if it gets in trouble it can revers backwards through its own smoke disperser, that along with it slaughtering infantry with it's shells and machine guns (which just got buffed btw). Back that up with a 6 pdr or firefly and you basically have a black prince, the churchill is by far my favourite tank in the game right now and is almost certainly due a nerf... It does... not... die... ever, which is really good if you're new to the game. Heavy engineers act as a lifeline as well as not only are they really good close quarters but they repair things faster than any other engineers which allows your tanks to take more damage without them being out of action for long.

-speaking of sappers, Heavy engineers are good yes, but even regular sappers, especially with 5 man squads upgrade are lethal, they are not like pioneers or rear ecehelon, they are more like defensive sturmpioneers, they are really good... like really really good, even in light cover they can toe to toe most assault infantry and are uber cheap to reinforce, people underestimate them all the time and get wiped, destroy cover is one of them best abilities in the game and every engineer should have it, use it to open up new angles for attack by "cool aid manning" through walls and fences where they are out of line of sight and use them to destroy cover that your enemy can use, especially if you build trenches with your tommies you will destroy most squads before they can reach you as they have no cover. Sappers are one of the best units in the game right now, and they are welsh and the voice acting is hilarious so use them.

-Use trenches, they a really good for tommmies, especially with brens, use them to contest capture points as the enemy have to clear the trench before they can cap which is really gross and really funny. Probably OP tbh.

Other than that, to sum up, Mortar pits really punish heavy weapon spam, (at guns, machine guns and 2 or less mortars) they will munch on them all day, they better to be built conservatively and further back than most people think so you can push anything that attacks them more easily. Remember kills with mortars are low risk to you, they give you kills without getting them veterancy so the kills you get are all free!
The 6 pdr is really good for some reason, penetrate panthers frontally more than comets for some reason. Bren is Stupid good (commandos can run and gun), British grenades are stupid good, churchills are stupid good, vet 2/3 firefly is stupid good.

Most useful regiments right now are royal arty, Dank hunters and royal engys, vanguard is good if you're good, although brits have the advantage of most stuff is pretty viable. GLHF

P.S.- I will add I reckon 90% of CoH2 online is experience, he'll learn over time to scatter whenever he sees red smoke and recognise stuka sirens etc and learn how much damage things can take and how quickly etc. Just make sure he keeps playing and he'll work it out and what works for him, also if he keeps playing, he might discover he's actually really good at something else, my mate started out as a Brit turtle and now he's a much more offense based US player.

Thank you very much mate for this comprehensive and well explained general strategy for UKF! I am a fairly new player to online matches and I wanted some general advice for playing the Brits. Your explanations were concise and easy to understand. Cheers!