Been playing about a week and searching for information everywhere so thought I'd collate my thoughts into one place so that anyone else picking the game up doesn't have to go through the same process.
This is in no way a guide from an expert, quite the opposite and I more than suspect the comments after ( if there are any) will be far more useful than my twaddle. I only play UKF so observations on enemy units and whatnot aren't based on stats, just on how it appears to me.
Anyway, here goes.
Infantry Section:
As far as I can tell their biggest strength isn't so much cover as their reasonable reinforcement cost. Combined with 5 man squads and Brens later on they hold their own pretty well, usually outnumbered but make up for it in late game firepower. This is an important point later on in the game as once the Axis load their warmongers up with Shrecks ( which they always do) they seem to lose a lot of anti-infantry ability. Their deadliest foe, other than tanks of course, is the MG42, especially when garrisoned.
Biggest problem is keeping them alive. I now always retreat them once they are down to 2 men, sometimes quicker if there is anything nasty on the retreat path. Binding ATL + . onto my scroll wheel with MouseX ( Logtech software doesn't seem to allow this) has made a big difference as this cycles through idle infantry units, allowing me to keep the blighters busy! As a rule though unless it is temporary until you get a Vickers or to defend a particularly important point, I think they should be out and about capping and harassing. Attacking weakly defended points, retreating, healing up and going out again. Reinforcing seems to cost the Jerries more manpower so you end up with a slight advantage even given equal losses.
If you've already built T3 and run out of IS then go for engineers instead. Too many tanks around and Piats are pretty much useless unless the other player is cooperative. If you choose Anvil then upgrade the engineers with the vickers and add Brens to taste.
Choosing healing over the increased sight range and ability to call in the base 25pdrs is pretty much an instant choice. The only two exceptions I've found are for recrewing ( or just crewing in the case of Tactical Support Regiment) 6 Pdrs guns and scouting for a mortar pit. Increased sight range helps a lot on these, the difference between getting the killing shot off and the tank disappearing into the fog of war with 1 hp left.
As for calling in arty support - it involves waiting a disturbing long time whilst one of the squad throws a flare verrrrry slowly about as far as his toes... Which then prompts the base howitzers to think about firing once they've finished taking a dump. Which then misses.... You are charged the princely sum of 45 munitions for this ability. I did think I was very clever by using it to clear a minefield once, though one of the shells wiped half the squad instead. Thank you RNG god.
Vickers:
I seem to lose a lot of these! Mainly because they tend to be garrisoned somewhere, and the sound of mortars or ISGs hitting their building gets monotonous untill I hear the HMG killed commentary. Saying that I don't recall many games where my Vickers haven't dealt more damage than they take. Stick one in a trench dug by the IS and the Krauts stay well clear unless they are attacking in real numbers or with armour. They take ages to get out of a building, then sit there packing the HMG up again when you ask them to retreat so consider retreating them early. Quite common to see 2 or 3 men left in the squad but very little health shared between them, this is bad. Get them out early or you'll lose all that lovely Vet, else get a med equipped Is in there to heal them.
Taking one along with the ISs and setting it up just prior to contact pays dividends, just don't have them up alongside the infantry or they are easily flanked.
Universal Carrier:
*sigh* I've tried everything with these. Built hundreds of them, wasps, HMG carrier and vanilla. All end the same way (hint: not a good way). Useful for trying to scare a Kubel off but have an alarming habit of blowing up once they hit 50% health, even if it is merely a Kraut using harsh language in it's presence. When the Krauts see a Vickers HMG they back off and treat it with respect, when they see a Bren Carrier with the same weapon they just charge in for the kill. I'm sure microing gods can get something out of them but if you're as useless as I am stay well clear. I do recall a game where I got one to Vet1... Seems a long time ago.
The idea of a very mobile HMG with a 360 arc and backed up by a lighter MG sounds too good to be true. Gawd knows why you can't garrison a HMG in them even to transport, can be used for capping points with an engineer section in. In fact if there is a non garrisoned MG42 then its a good way of getting around them. They are fast, though seem to decline to accelerate out of combat preferring to execute a strange three point turn until incinerating themselves to save the Axis the trouble.
Brit Sniper:
Awesome, if you know what you are doing with it. I don't. Seems to attract Axis infantry like a magnet - which in my case promptly kills him. But that's ok as he's Scottish and therefore probably drunk so would've missed anyway. You probably need 11+ kills to break even so give them a go. You are probably better than me. Bit of a gamble for a nubbins. All sorts of guides suggest they are vital to fight off the early Axis armour. Trouble is you need Vet1 for the critical shot ability to do anything other than slightly annoy a tank or armoured car, which means putting them in the line of fire to get kills. You get the picture.
taking a shot then running away seems like the only way to use them, though putting them on hold fire and just having a snoop around can be fun, especially if you have a mortar pit in range. There's probably some really clever tactics that work well with them. Hopefully someone else can elaborate.
6 Pdr:
Welcome to your new best friend. Axis always seem to get some form of armour out before you ( way before you) and good though Vickers and IS are, they are swept aside easily by anything with wheels or tracks. Pretty much the same cost as the Sniper, I know what I would choose. Only problem is knowing where they are going to come from, especially on large maps ( 2-4 player ). If you don't get at least one you'll end up skulking back at your base until all of those nasty tanks go away, which by the way doesn't happen. Seems you have a good few minutes to survive until you can get a tank out, these are pretty much your only defence. Long range and short sight range is a bit of an issue so keep them well back behind some spotter units, I'm looking at you oh cheap engineers.
Engineers:
Obviously they build stuff and repair, which is nice of them. Also do good damage at close range ( very close) but are utterly useless at long range. Hence always my first choice for upgrading with a Bren. Use the IS at long range and have these blighters running around the sides. Keep them running too( unless you've given them a Bren or two), seems to reduce the damage they take without affecting their accuracy too much.
AEC:
I like it, though in the same way I would like a ginger Welsh stepchild with halitosis. Less than half the price of a Cromwell ( in fuel anyway, criminal amount of manpower) if you build more than 1 and seem to have a decent gun on them. I keep on concocting reasons to buy them, then regretting it. Hell two turreted 6 pounders are better than one surely, even if the armour is paper thin? Buying two worked for me 17 games ago, must be the way I'm using them.
Excellent sight range and a somewhat delayed smoke charge potentially makes them useful. And if the Axis shrecks played ball and didn't appear around the corner of a building this would indeed be useful. Seem to get engine damage even at full health from small arms fire, which would be very annoying on a fast and maneuverable vehicle. AECs however turn like a tugboat. They stop really quickly ( in harms way), then crawl away with engine damage most of the time. Gawd forbid you ask them to turn. Seems to be designed to get into trouble quickly, fire smoke slowly and then crawl away with inevitable engine damage. Might as well add the cost of recovery engineers to their price as salvaging their wrecks might even turn a profit.
Okay, I've had some success using them purely for fire support behind the infantry. Also for scouting, very slowly so the mortar pit can nail Paks and infantry. Seems the vast majority of the Axis forces can't see very far so whilst it takes a while creeping them forward is a reasonable way to gain ground. Annoying Volks who are capping a point works, though it won't kill them. And if there are two squads ( one round the corner of a building) with Shreks then it's in trouble.
Takes out Axis armoured cars and light tanks beautifully, then runs into proper armour quite quickly. Whilst this is gratifying, as those annoying blighters have been killing your troops unopposed for several minutes whilst you twiddle your 6 Pdrs around trying to catch them at it, you probably get two minutes usage out of them. Buying several seems strangely useful... Grrrr, I'm doing it again!
Armour:
The tanks? Well they are all pretty awesome in their own way, the problem is getting enough of them on the field before the clock ticks down. Once you get a couple of tanks out you can have some fun, which makes keeping your first one alive a bit of a priority. Chasing some lone untermensch who is trying to steal your territory = good. Chasing them back to their base where Fritz is wisely waiting with a Pak wall and 2 PIVs = bad. You are still in defensive mode until you get at least a couple, have two teams of engineers ready behind the front line to repair and recycle them as quickly as possible, preferably with a 6 Pdr as cover in case he chases your damaged tank back..
On the nubbins level you are probably going to see lots of Shreck blobs and mortar / ISGs. They are all good but you can't go wrong with a Cromwell or three. Can swarm and flank enemy armour and once they get some speed up are great for getting out of trouble. Throw a Firefly in ( how are you affording this?) and you only find out at the stats screen that it was dishing out huge damage to enemy armour, tends to do it at range though.
If you have some fuel to spare the Centaur is hilarious. Walk it up to a blob of goosesteppers with some infantry support and watch the fireworks show. Can take a pounding but isn't easy to get out of trouble if medium armour turns up.
Repairs are free some usually a good idea to withdraw at about 2/3 health. You'll often find you lose most of that on the retreat....
Emplacements:
Mortar pit:
Annoys Germans. Which gladdens my little heart..
Annoys Brits... Bit of a problem. Offensively it is wonderful, though finding a way to protect them whilst having them far enough forward to be useful can be challenging. They attract Jerrys as though they were sun loungers at 6am in Tenerife. They will run through Vickers fire and mines to get to them, and not just with poxy Volks either. This is how we know it annoys them.
Unfortunately the stats at the end of the game don't give values for your emplacements, but the difference between your kills and his losses will be down to them, and usually mainly to the pit. You might as well make it the centre of your defence as you know he'll be coming for it. It is an excellently nubbins friendly unit as it kills indiscriminately without you having to micro it. Add a single engineer you can't be bothered reinforcing and it increases it's fire rate significantly. Add a command vehicle and you might as well have 4 mortars rather than two. Check the kills every now and again and tell your opponent you are building a second, might induce a rage quit.
Decent range, but outranged by the ISG. Luckily you can just buy some anti-infantry light vehicles to go and take out his ISGs... Except the Brits don't appear to have any. No worries, infantry will do the job... Well, late game when your Tommys have Brens yes, until then they really suck at attacking anything. They can defend against superior forces but attack in the mid game no, and your pit would have died twice over. Once from Shrecks or IDF and again from his early tanks. Mortars enjoy firing on it, though getting something forward to sight them should see the pit win the duel. Course you can ring them with machine guns and AT.. Not much left to go capping with though. So you are left putting them behind buildings or shot blockers which rather limits their placement. Another option is right out in the open with a sniper inside. Might work against a fellow nub but usually means losing 700+ manpower rather than 400.
They do however really annoy Germans.
Bofors:
Either this or the AEC. Mainly I chose the AEC as mobile and armoured is better right? Yes, I forgot I was a nub. My non existent win rate seems to have gone up considerably since using these. Very nubbins friendly. Any infantry daring to look at it gets vaporised in a really amusing way. In the same way that pits attract Germans infantry like flies, the bofors makes them think fuck that for a game of soldiers ( at least at my level). Medium tanks are another matter of course. It likes to tickle them in a please can someone else come and help with me sort of a way before blowing up and giving the Victory point it is guarding away.
Similar weaknesses to the mortar pit, indirect fire and massed assaults. AT guns considerably outrage it, though can't spot for themselves.
Taking a VP early, building a bofors and leaving some other units to defend it is about as good a strategy as I've come up with. I'm certain the experts would tell you it's bollocks, but that's ok cos we aren't playing them yet.
Bofors and AT gun will just about beat 2 medium tanks with one beaten off I find. Three and they don't even get a kill. Pumas, scout cars and Luchs die very quickly. Bofors with a firefly half a map away on the flank? Hillarious. Bofors against garrisoned infantry? My sides are starting hurt. You get the idea...
Oh also excellent at defending pits. Bofors covering a VP and mortar covering 2 VPs seems to work.
17 Pounder:
No idea never used it. Probably nub friendly. Might even be rage inducing. I know it has huge range and hits like a mule but emplacements in general are a bit boring and I suspect this one probably does it offscreen. Like playing a tower defence game. At some point you have to attack and a fifth of your army on one immobile AT gun? Really?
Mines:
I'm sure the pros find really interesting paths through your defences, everyone else just seems to make a beeline for your pit, fuel or base. Engineers planting mines in the opponents third in the middle of a road? Might as well shoot them yourself from my experience as a nub. Not because it's a bad idea, but because they either get caught doing it or forgotten about once they've planted it. Mining the area around the VP your bofors defends whilst every Axis infantryman goes on sick leave when asked to attack it? Much better idea. Mining the sneaky back route to your pit? Well if you want to watch in wide eyed amazement whilst three very expensive stormtrooper squads get vapourised then hell yes. I'm sure offensively planting mines is a really good idea. Just saying that using your repair squads a bit closer to home is probably more productive. Many maps have choke points and if you beat off an attack from one direction you probably don't have to be a genius as to where the next one will come from...
Anyway, corrections, feedback, lolnubs or far better advice very much welcomed.
) whilst, I think, the guns train.
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