Profile of Corp.Shephard

When I see this wire I usually need Bazookas when I am playing US forces to deal with it.

If I have a Captain then it's pretty easy to to destroy it as the Captain will do it. Try to get close to the wire so he doesn't miss it.

Lieutenant players will struggle. If you're going LT though you really should use Bazooka research most of the time. The M15 AA Halftrack with an attack order should be able to deal some damage to it but I am not sure how well it does.

Soviets are more difficult. Your best bet is attacking with a ZiS or maybe Guards Infantry. Guards don't have attack ground but you should be able to just use an attack order I believe.

If you're truly desperate then Combat Engineers have demolition charges. Penal squads are a better value for this but who gets Penals?

Is the M8 Greyhound actually more effective at long range than it is at close range? I've made a thread on it, and most people agree that it's rather terrible.

You probably have more experience with it than me, is it any good?

The M8 Greyhound is pretty solid in it's niche which is a light anti-infantry armor unit.

I dunno; I like it? I've had close games against strong opponents where I was able to get 20+ kills on my Greyhound and get to Vet 3. They never last forever but they pull their weight. The Greyhound has strong competition right now between the M15 AA Halftrack and the Stuart. That being said it does things that the M15 AA can't do; it has superior burst damage with Canister shot which has let me wipe Obersoldaten instantly. It has exceptional sight range at higher levels of veterancy which gives it scouting utility and scaling.

I think the unit could be better. It is fairly cheap on fuel but it has a very high manpower cost for a "light tank". The Stuart and T-70 are both 240 manpower now I believe?

It's a really static play style, I'm not sure how do you play it vs indirect fire.

- You base all your anti infantry early and mid game strategy on HMG and M8, but why not a Half-track? It does the same job and better!
I would expect to go T3 if I'm calling a M8.

- Your anti tank strategy is also base on RE, you must be lucky enough or leading your opponent to make mistake to take out his armored and tank units. They have smokes and it counters perfectly well unreliable bazookas.

Your strat is really zookluck dependent. Going 2 M8A1 Howi before Sherman is a huge delay on the only T4 unit that can preserve you from almost anything in the field.
That is only my opinion but USF need to push hard to keep a chance to win the run. Being dependent of zooks and arty shots is a huge bet.

I have the commander, I'll give a try or two but I'm skeptical.

Early game indirect fire tends to be pretty easy to weather. This is some what of a... meta sensitive build? Who actually goes for indirect fire against US forces? You don't really need mortars against most US players. Pumas are more often rushed than Walking Stukas due toe prolific light armor that the US forces enjoys. I think someone picking up a Walking Stuka in a 2v2 or the like could be quite bad but not impossible to overcome.

You see it sometimes but it doesn't help much. The .50 Caliber HMG is just as fast as a Maxim at setting up and tearing down. It's quite capable of weaving into battles with indirect fire and still doing alright.

The reason I don't go Captain with this strategy is that I would probably just pick up a Stuart instead of an Greyhound. Stuart's way more versatile and a better light tank for 25 more fuel. Instead I aimed for Lieutenant tech as to make the M8 more complimentary. M15 AA is really good. No doubt about it. They have different strengths though. Greyhound is good at short engagements. It has better sight range, small arms resistance and it is more mobile. It's also cheaper. It has strengths that can be used. I consider the two close aside from the fact that you can't get the Greyhound until CP3 which hurts it.

The Bazookas and Rear Echelons make for a strangely powerful combination. What makes Volksgrenadiers so good with Panzerschrecks? It's their high durability and low reinforcement cost. Rear Echelons get 5 men in their squad at Vet 2 and are even cheaper than Volks to reinforce. They are a shockingly good bazooka platform.

I also think the Bazooka gets a bad rap sometimes. I tried to hammer out about 10-15 2v2 games with the strategy before I re-wrote this guide (I had written some of it around launch but changes between the Alpha and WFA launch meant I had to wait). I was pleasantly surprised with the Bazooka in all of those games and ended up winning all of them to my recollection.

The Bazooka has the same penetration as the T-34 (might be better, can't remember exactly). With two of them you have the same damage as the T-34. Two squads of Rear Echelons with Bazookas are pretty scary to light vehicles. They can even put some work in on medium tanks and heavier armor. I've killed Panthers and Tigers alike with my Bazookas in those games. Not alone of course but Bazookas can do work with the right micro and positioning.

It's a strategy that takes a good amount of micro to succeed with. The M8A1 really reaps huge rewards if you have good intel and good control. It's worth the risk to keep the enemy's manpower army down. Unsupported heavy armor will not kill you fast enough in my experience.

Djeezes, props for the writer, this is a nice guide!

Well shucks. Thanks ya'll.

That being said Ohme deserves credit too. That guy is getting real sharp at bolstering these guides with good graphics. He puts in a ton of work. Thanks Ohme.

I don't think the low cost had anything to do with the lower income. Because if you lower the price the lower income dosen't become a flaw anymore. Which means it was as it was before, just even more cost effective.

Edit: it means that it should be counted as a 10MU grenade for any faction, before the patch but also after.

The low cost has always been linked two the two minute cooldown that only cools while you are out of combat. You have to be out of combat for two minutes between barrages.

It's a significant weakness as unless you are playing with 4-5 Volksgrenadier squads you will not have a barrage on demand most of the time.

I would advise you to study your own video. The animation is very obvious once you recognize it. I find this ability is easier to dodge than most grenades because:

• The range isn't great. It is hard to be surprised by the range. You can see in the video that his first attempt to use the ability actually cancels because of range.
  
• The animation is very easy to see. Watch the Volks squad. Every single member puts their guns away. When you see the whole squad "hunching over" with no rifles then you know it is coming. This long animation makes the attack quite slow.
  
• It is doctrinal so once you see it the first time you should start expecting him to use it more.
  

It is really strong still. I wrote I guide for Special Operations and I've sung the ability's praises there. Anything with this firepower for 10 munitions will be strong but the ability has weaknesses too.

Probably what's been so bad for the SU-85 was the nerf so long ago that trashed it's frontal armor.

KovuTali you say you got lucky but a Panther will penetrate an SU-85 100% of the time at any range.

LOL? Try Jagdpazer then. Its sucks compared to SU-85

Ah! A great piece to use as a comparison.

The Jagdpanzer IV has 230 armor compared to the SU-85's 140.

The Jagdpanzer IV has a target size of 17 compared to the SU-85's 22. This means it is easier to hit the SU-85.

The Jagdpanzer IV has more accuracy; particularly at long range. (JP4: .04 vs SU-85: .025)

Both tanks have compariable speeds and penetration. JPIV avg penetration: 185, SU-85: 190

The Jagdpanzer IV is basically superior in every way aside from the fact that it has a vision cone (but it has higher base vision to compensate). Not to mention it's wonderful five veterancy levels that give it incredible bonuses.

It's a shame really. I used to really like Tier 4 Soviet play but I've not been able to make it work in so long. The armor on the SU-85 is just such a joke. The Panzer 4 penetrate's it's frontal armor ~80% of the time! It's one of the lowest average penetration weapons that the Germans even have that's capable of anti-tank.

Tank hunters usually need two: armor, mobility, or range to be a significant threat. The SU-85 has range. That's it.

Honestly mobility ain't even that great but it works for the Jackson because it packs 50% more damage per shell. It sort of works for the Panther because the Panther has armor and range.

I like to put it a little bit of a forward position myself. As the power of artillery has been increasing I've sort of started backing it off a little.

I haven't encountered the Katyusha in the wild that much yet which is probably a blessing.

You can sometimes shield it from rockets with the right terrain but not all maps have big enough buildings or hedgerows.