When it comes to Real time strategy games, your counter thinking and reflexive decisions about any situation matter the most. What if you know the tactics and strategies that help you counter the respective situations effectively ? You will be cruising, Won’t you ?
Well that is the basic goal of this Company of Heroes Strategy Guide, to provide you the strategies that will help you play this game more effectively in multiplayer as well as single player mode. Company of Heroes Strategy Guide has the strategies and tactics learned through experience acquired while playing this game online.
We are going to share our experiences with you so that you can benefit from what we learned from our time playing Company of Heroes. This guide applies to every expansion pack of Company of Heroes game so we are good.
Basic Tactics and Strategies
01. Always build extra engineers, because you never know when you gonna lose one in the front lines, and having a quick replacement ready by the base
helps tremendously. In addition, they can quickly fix OPs and create defenses if the enemy tries to cut off a point.
02. Build a halftrack whenever possible. Halftrack with a quad cannon is a very effective infantry killing machine, and your squads can reinforce near a halftrack.
03. Micromanage your Shermans when facing serious threats (AT guns, panzers, etc.). Flanking AT guns from the rear usually takes care of the crew in one shot, and having your Sherman mobile while attacking a panzer will make it survive much longer. Smokescreens help too, so buy them when you have the spare resources for them. In general Shermans cannot go toe to toe with German armors unless they’re supported by engineers or infantries equipped with bazookas.
04. Keep your munition rates high. Munitions are crucial for taking care of unexpected things, and many of the powerful abilities require a lot of munition points to use. Fuel is more important in the beginning when you are still building up your base and buying upgrades. But in the long run, if you keep a good care of your tanks and vehicles, fuel becomes less important. In short, look at the map and be sure to control the high yield points and build OPs (Observation Posts) on them.
05. Always bring an engineer to the front lines so you can fix damaged vehicles. Otherwise you will have to spend a lot more replacing destroyed Shermans and Halftracks, especially if their engines are damaged from enemy attacks and they cannot retreat back home in one piece.
06. Rifle squads with BAR upgrade can hold off their own against most infantry threats except for MG42’s and snipers. In other words, get the BAR as soon as you can afford it. Engineers with flame throwers are good upgrades too because that way they can hold off on their own against infantries to a certain extent.
07. Units often make comments in relation to their current problems. Infantry units will say whether they are being pinned or being wasted by panzers. Shermans will say so when they are attacked by AT guns or panzers. Pay attention to these comments and reactions and you will keep your units longer.
08. Picking up panzershrecks and bazookas for any infantry squads will increase their effectiveness against armor units considerably. Hence, use your Shermans to soak up the damage while your infantries flank around and go in for the kill.
09. On the other hand, garrisoned MG42’s are best dealt with tanks. Leave your infantry squads behind while the tanks make short work of the garrisoned fools. Mortar crew works too, but it might take a while.
10. Snipers can make a short work out of heavy weapon crews out in the open. However, snipers are really vulnerable against motorcycles. Keep an eye on them and pull your sniper out when necessary. A veteran sniper can move much faster while being camouflaged.
Heavy weapons in this case include MGs, mortars, fixed gun emplacements, and AT guns. The converse is also true for axis snipers, and jeeps are your best counterattack for sniper attacks. Although for the most part, I use my snipers to counter snipe the enemy.
11. Snipers are also useful as front line scouts. Make sure they hold their fire so they do not reveal themselves needlessly. This is really useful for infantry command path, because once you obtain howitzers and calliope shermans, their attacks are much more accurate when the area is revealed.
12. Airbornes are much deadlier with their recoilless rifles. Upgrade whenever you can afford them. They are also much more effective if you pair two squads together. Pairing infantry squads usually work well universally,because one can soak up fire while the other goes in for the kill.
13. Build howitzers in a position relatively in center of the map. That way you can cover practically the entire map for heavy barrage. Howitzers require some babysitting, however, so leave some defenses around them so they don’t get steamrolled by enemy attacks. Conversely, if the enemy have nebelwerfers, take these out first because they can potentially take out your own howitzers.
14. Always build a front line barracks whenever possible, so that you can reinforce from that line instead all the way back from the base. It saves time, especially when your army gets wasted by a lucky artillery strike.
15. Prioritize your enemies. Always take out units that pose the most threat to your army. Field artilleries should be taken out immediately because they can rain down punishment from far away, and their Area of Effect (AOE) damage is tremendous. Panzers and AT guns are major threats to your Shermans and armor vehicles.
Snipers, MGs and Mortars are dangerous to your infantry squads. Given the chance, pull the Shermans back first, since your army can always issue retreat to base which makes them more likely than not survive the encounter, whereas Shermans take time to pull out of the hot zone and will take all the punishment when the infantries are gone.
16. Build a triage center right in front of your HQ, so that whenever you have units retreating they will be automatically healed by your triage center. The easiest way to determine the optimum location is to have one of your infantries retreating somewhere close from the base. The point where they stop is best used as a point of reference to where you should build the triage center.
The guide has been written by Omar aka Desperado, who is one the experienced C.O.H player we know. Any suggestions, comments, tactics and strategies you feel can help others are highly appreciated.
