My thoughts on USF and why it is so hard to play

This thread is inspired by Mittens' thread that "Why must USF be so hard to ..."

I play all the three Allies factions in 4 vs 4 teamgames, and still believe the USF is the weakest faction even after the winter balance patch. And the situation is worse for rookie/green USF player.

I think rifleman is the first problem. USF can only play rifleman (plus mortar) in the beginning. But they are not durable before vet 2 (Received accuracy, RA:0.97) and have to push to mid range to be effective, while losing models/firepower in the close-in process. However, refileman can't beat Strumpioneer or pioneer in close range before they got BARs, so they are quite hard to use for rookies.

Second, the USF has the worst tech design. No non-doc flame solution to clean house. MG and AT exclusively behind different fuel-heavy Tiers. Also, no non-doc spotter to recon before attack (M20 is tricky to use). Rifleman's AT grenade lock behind veterancy. Weapon upgrade cost lots' of MP and fuels. Both HE and smoke grenade are so expensive to use (15 for smoke, 30 for Mk2 grenade).

Third, I think the USF don't have a good way to counter MG spam or MG bunker spam. Soviets and UKF can handle these two things very easily, but for USF, it is a different story. It is very hard for USF to attack fortified fuel/VP point in early game. The snowball effect of losing fuel make the USF later game even worse.

I would suggest rookie USF player to do followings in the battlefield:

1. Carry commanders with AT drop/ Pathfinder, so you have spotter and AT along with MG.
2. Learn to use your mortar smoke to blind the mg, so you can attack him without get suppressed.
3. Practice how to knock out bunkers with M1 mortars or AT plus spotter (M20, pathfinder). Mortar HT and 75mm Howitzer may bleed you heavily.
4. Carry commander with flamethrower for urban fight.
5. Use rifleman wisely. It is hardest thing to do. You have to concentrate them to get firepower, but also avoids being suppressed by MG or rocketed by Panzerwerfer or Walking Stuka.

All are welcome to discuss on my opinion.

I think rifleman is the first problem. USF can only play rifleman (plus mortar) in the beginning. But they are not durable before vet 2 (Received accuracy, RA:0.97) and have to push to mid range to be effective, while losing models/firepower in the close-in process. However, refileman can't beat Strumpioneer or pioneer in close range before they got BARs, so they are quite hard to use for rookies.

USF have many problem but their early game is not one of them.

The rifleman dps profile give them great flexible at both long range and short range, and when they had smoke they can easily handle the wehr early game without the need for mortar. The worst a competent USF can do in the early to to not dominate the axis.

It's really the late game where the USF fail. bars are too expensive. Their artillery suck for late game, and their sherman die easily.

IMO, USF has too many powerful but fragile units for it to be easy to play. I don't think there is a fix for that, other than playing UKF, Soviet, or Ost. OKW also isn't a lot of fun to play right now.

I do wish that instead of a sweeping balance patch, they would fine-tune the existing one. Having Leig's suck means that OKW get's mortared all day, and going mechanized to get a walking stuka means that tanks and TD's are late. Soviets & Ost both feel okay, other than it would be nice if Ost had a non-doc 60-range TD.

Well there was this whole idea of smoking and flanking...

But few maps, especially team game maps, allow for proper flanking.

But then teching nades was apparently too cumbersome for smoke. So they got a mortar, which was allegedly supposed to be for smoke. Then later rifles lost smoke. For reasons.

Well there was this whole idea of smoking and flanking...

But few maps, especially team game maps, allow for proper flanking.

But then teching nades was apparently too cumbersome for smoke. So they got a mortar, which was allegedly supposed to be for smoke. Then later rifles lost smoke. For reasons.

Got mortar for smoke -> instantly becomes laser guided turbo mortar. I feel something went wrong in transition there.

Well there was this whole idea of smoking and flanking...

But few maps, especially team game maps, allow for proper flanking.

But then teching nades was apparently too cumbersome for smoke. So they got a mortar, which was allegedly supposed to be for smoke. Then later rifles lost smoke. For reasons.

USF conundrum:

-Let's remove the option for them to get anything other than Rifles at the beginning. Because whenever we give them anything else it's "cancer".

Useful RE? >>> Volley fire spam or mid game transition to bar/1919/zook spam.
Doge car >>> Cheese
Oh, you had strong Rifles early on? Let me give you elite vet Rifles with flamers as well...................
SU less range mortar tested? >>> Let's release OH mortar with steroid vet for reasons.

-USF release steamrolls OH ? Let's give OH more mp and a T0 MG42 to compensate. Oh wait, now we need to give USF something back because we decided that EFA theme is having non doctrinal flamer. All other factions should had problems dealing with garrisons.

-3rd big issue. Free units and unidimensional tier. Let's make one of their tiers heavy AI and the other heavy AT, because that really worked for SU in the past.
This means you end up with an oppressive tier which relies on snowball or it's completely useless and skipped forever. Or you can take the best of both worlds, tech both and later rely on call ins for late game because getting all the tools is too costly.

Got mortar for smoke -> instantly becomes laser guided turbo mortar. I feel something went wrong in transition there.

One of the biggest failures done by Relic. On the level of doubling rocket damage patch. Test one thing, and later release single player OP OH mortar clone.

USF have many problem but their early game is not one of them.

The rifleman dps profile give them great flexible at both long range and short range, and when they had smoke they can easily handle the wehr early game without the need for mortar. The worst a competent USF can do in the early to to not dominate the axis.

It's really the late game where the USF fail. bars are too expensive. Their artillery suck for late game, and their sherman die easily.

Can you update the DPS file for the latest update? OST pioneer appears have much better DPS in close now.

Rifleman 's problem is they can not hunt down enemy models quickly (8 damage per shot) without BAR or M1919, on the other way, Volks, Grenadier can kill models within one or two volley.

I would rather to give rifleman a 0.75 moving accuracy penalty instead of 0.6, so they can reflect that USF is a faction focused on mobility.

I would rather to give rifleman a 0.75 moving accuracy penalty instead of 0.6, so they can reflect that USF is a faction focused on mobility.

What the fuck

>Complaining about Balance based on 4v4

Yeah pls no

USF have many problem but their early game is not one of them.

The rifleman dps profile give them great flexible at both long range and short range, and when they had smoke they can easily handle the wehr early game without the need for mortar. The worst a competent USF can do in the early to to not dominate the axis.

It's really the late game where the USF fail. bars are too expensive. Their artillery suck for late game, and their sherman die easily.

I'm assuming this is for 4v4 because otherwise wtf man

Usf is zero fun in 4v4, no elephant or mg, just riflemen and mortar spam.

I'm assuming this is for 4v4 because otherwise wtf man

Lol try to play USF vs Ostheer without an early mortar on 4vs4, impossible. If you want to do something on 4vs4 as USF you have to play it as a support faction the same way Oshteer does: bring an early mortar, bring an early ambulance, build an early position to lock down an area.
Key to success on 4vs4 as USF is to not build more than 2 riflemen squads early game (and definitively not 2xRM as first unit). The good point with that is it leave opened the Airborn commander to complete your army and I like to play Airbron atm

Usually
RE
1xRM
1xMortar
1xRM or early position
Ambulance