Company of Heroes: Beginner's Guide Company of Heroes Guide

Here are some advices you may find useful during your gameplay:

• For recon purposes use (as in many others RTS games) your camouflaged snipers, shooting only on your command. Sniper kills only most important targets, for example MG-42s, mortars and gun crews. Don't try to kill fresh, outnumbered infantry squads with your sharpshooter, leave them for your mortar following a sniper.
• Eliminate individual enemy snipers hiding in buildings with armoured car if possible, don't use a jeep - it's a nonsense, you will have to repair that jeep after such an action.
• Burn enemy buildings and bunkers with your sapers armed with flamethrowers or use Sherman Crocodile for these purposes. Raging fire proves incorrect when fighting with tanks.
• Secure captured terrain or your flank with MG sections following main forces. Even if main forces were crushed by the enemy these sections can hopefully stop counterattacking enemy infantry trying to recapture the terrain. If necessary, move MG sections forward to support your fighting infantry, to pin down enemy infantry with suppressive fire.
• When attacking MG-42 emplacement with your infantry try to flank it (attack from the dead zone) and to get as close as possible to toss a grenade into it. Use similar tactic when attacking AT/AA gun. To neutralize enemy mortar you don't have to flank it, just try to get closer as fast as you can, then use a grenade too. Grenades are also good against bigger groups of enemy soldiers.
• Don't place several own units in one building - if it crashes in consequence of enemy fire it will bury all units, nobody will survive. Try to hide units in less damaged buildings.
• Remember to collect every light MG-42 or Panzerschreck lying on the ground in white circles to increase the firepower of your infantry squads or to give them more effective weapon against enemy tanks. Squad armed with light MG-42 can effectively pin down enemy infantry so the others can get closer and finish the enemy.
• Don't be afraid to use "Withdraw" command in infantry squad orders menu: squad withdraws to the HQ and you can replenish its human loses there. Use this command when facing superior enemy, when your rifle squad was pinned down by enemy MG-42 fire and there is nobody who can help them - shortly: use it when you're sure that your boys won't gonna make it (especially if they have precious weapons like Panzerschrecks or light MG-42s).
• It's best to place AT guns behind buildings or hedgerows perpendicularly to the direction enemy tanks come from: when Jerry passes by he gets hit from vulnerable side - AT gun he didn't see is shooting at him. Before he'll turn his turret or even entire hull (if it is Stug) it's possible he'll get a second shot.
• Behind every tank you're sending to the battlefield follows one section of engineers with repairs tasks (or one section behind group of tanks heading to the same spot).
• When fighting with enemy armor, especially with PzKpfw V Panthers and PzKpfw VI Tigers tanks, try to ambush them: use one of your tanks or infantry squads as a decoy and when Jerry rises to the bait get off from the side or rear with your second tank and take him out. Arm your tanks with better 76mm gun by clicking on suitable icon in tank factory, in the same way give them possibility to use smokescreens.
• Don't invest in M10 tank destroyers, your Sherman tank with 76mm gun can do the same job. M10s have weak armor, they don't have MGs to deal with enemy infantry and no additional functions/gadgets. Ok, they're cheaper, so what...
• When equipping your tank with the mine flail (so called Sherman-Crab) don't forget to lower it if you're planning to drive across the minefield:-).
• If you see heavily damaged enemy tank escaping from the battlefield take a risk of pursuing him, especially if you know already that enemy Pioneers are waiting for him. Game evidently cheats: Pioneers will repair damaged tank in the twinkling of an eye and you'll have to face a brand-new tank after just a few seconds.
• On some maps you can recognize where is enemy military base by grey, hardly visible squares symbolizing base buildings.
• Start demolish enemy base from HQ building which produces Pioneers (they can repair other buildings or raise new ones), then destroy tank factories to stop enemy tanks harassing you (they're more dangerous than infantry, right?). The AI in this game is overrated: often you can hide behind one of the buildings to burn others and even when there are many armoured units in enemy base they won't react.
• Remember, artillery is a queen of the battlefield: don't hesitate to use arty, especially off-map.
• And the last advice ... how to read my maps. First of all don't rely on units numbers you see on them - I prefer to play slowly and carefully and the enemy has time to produce some units. So in faster game you can face smaller numbers of enemy units. Second note concerns infantry units (these with white Vs): in the beginning I didn't realize that between arms of some Vs are white dots and I've placed these Vs in disorderly fashion. So you'll often see "naked" Vs in spots where should be Vs with dots and inversely - sorry for that confusion ;-). Also don't rely on units "health bars". Finally, if I refer to the worlds directions in my document I have in mind my maps - there is always north at the top of them.
• Sorry for my poor English, I hope this doc will be readable...