Howdy y'all,
After playing OKW for a few months, I want to consolidate my knowledge and rectify any misjudgements I may have made about the faction. So I found the best way would be to create a guide that would simultaneously allow me to share what a know as well as verify the quality thereof (because I am relatively low-ranked). Anyone is welcome to contribute of course; by doing so we might just raise the average skill level of OKW mains on this site.
So basically:
The purpose of this thread is to create a comprehensible introductory guide to Oberkommando West; it will involve a broad introduction to the faction, its strenghts and weaknesses, a brief unit guide and commander choice overview, as well as some basic tactics and strategies.
This way it should serve both people new to the faction as well as veterans who wish to get remind themselves of key points.
I will create the first draft tomorrow. Suggestions and ideas may start dropping below.
___________________
1. General faction overview
2. Unit Overview
3. Commander choice
4. Common strategies and BOs
1. General faction overview: why chose to play as OKW?
Oberkommando West is one of the two german factions in Company of Heroes 2 and while they share some of the equipment their playstyles are different.
OKW is technically the more elitist of the two as most of their units are very expensive to purchase and reinforce. Their tech tree is non-linear and requires at least a decent knowledge of the game to exploit effectively. Combine that with some design flaws such as lack of smoke grenades, no early garisson clearing capability, the wiping power of allied vehicles and you get a faction that picking up may be frustrating at best, and infuriating at worst.
However the upside is pretty much all their units, while costing an arm and a leg, perform at their jobs like no others when used properly. Especially critical is the fact that unlike other factions, OKW infantry and vehicles get up to 5 veterancy levels, potentially giving them a significant boost in effectiveness. Combine that with overall strong offensive capabilities, especially early game, and you get a faction that is great at countering specific threats and applying constant pressure on the enemy. It is not uncommon to end games with the same squads you built in the first minutes, said squads having now 5 stars and dozens of kills, while your coolest toys such as the King Tiger follow behind. Personally, this is what makes it a rewarding experience.
2. Unit Overview
Let's take a look at who and what makes up the faction. I will be sparse with numbers for now and focus mostly on general description.
*HQ Units
Sturmpioneers: hands down the best short range infantry in the early game, out of all factions. Unlike other engineer squads, Sturmpioneers (or Sturms) are a combat unit that is best used to assault enemy positions and flank weapons teams and squads in cover. What they lack in durability they make up in sheer firepower and can shred enemy infantry to pieces when properly positioned. They can also build reinforced wires which will stop anything short of a medium tank which is very useful to block chokepoints.
Sturms are however terrible at defence, especially on open ground, and will drop like flies to focused enemy fire.
Sturms come with two upgrades: a panzerschreck, always useful against vehicles, and a mine detector, the latter of which diminishes their offensive strenght but boots their already ridiculous repair rate.
Volksgrenadiers: the main long-mid range infantry of the OKW. Volks are a five-man squad that is decent at fighting from cover as well as in the field, and are somewhat cheap. And while several squads of Volks are a potent force on their own, you will find them most useful for the utility they bring at tier1. Panzerfausts are helpful against enemy light vehicles and can cripple tanks if you are lucky, and incendiary grenades give that much needed cover denial. However one of the more underrated abilities, especially by new players, is that they can build sandbags.
Volks fall off in lategame where they are mostly used as a meatshield.
Volks come with one upgrade: two machine gunes for extra mid-short range firepower. Be advised that if you purchase this you will not be able to pick up any dropped weapons.
Kubelwagen: cheap, fast and extremely vulnerable to enemy fire, this little car is mostly used as a scouting unit though it can also act as fire support for your squads. It is also the only vehicle in the game that can capture points right of the bat, and do so at 115% normal speed, which is very useful to cap VPs, fuel and ammo caches.
Kubels find no combat utility after tier1 and their use is limited to scouting and ninja-capping uncontested points.
Rakettenwerfer: the infantry AT. It is cheaper and more vulnerable than other factions' guns and can be supressed. It is also not very accurate at vet0. However, this weapons team can be retreated, can garisson buildings allowing you to increase it survivability, to say nothing of the cloaking ability and its surprise potential. Oh, and it can cap points while invisible, which can be a bit useful.
Rakettens are (mostly) useful throughout all stages of the game.
MG34: your HMG. Arguably the weakest one (and cheapest) in the game which is bollocks considering all other OKW units are designed the other way round. Still, its utility can not be ignored and you will find you will need it in some games. It comes with Incendiary rounds at vet1, which is always useful against cover and light vehicles.
___________________
[18/11/2016]-thread created
[19/11/2016]-added Contents Lists, Faction Overview and HQ units overview.
have deployed trucks come with a weapons emplacement addon (hmg or mortar for medic, light AT for light vehicles), or more addons in general.
0
Relic Entertainment
cblanco ★ 
보드카 중대 
VonManteuffel 
Heartless Jäger 
