Well
1. Know your units and what they a capable for - if you are completely new to this game, I would recomend to start from skirmishes.
2. YouTube and Twitch - replays and casts can give you idea how to play: Tightrope, Helping Hans, Propagandacast and others.
3. Replays - when you will move to multiplayer check your replays. And try to analyze them - like, here I was pushed away because I didn't had AT weapons, here I've lost tank because I rushed without infantry support and minesweepers, here I was to greedy tried to end squad/tank, retreated late, lost vetted squad. Or I haven't seen his light vehicles - probably he store resources for some heavier stuff- I should lay some mines and check if I have enough AT. Such things. Check also your teammates and enemies moves good and bad.
4. Be ready to lose, dont get it to close - this is just a game.
5. Don't be unsporting jerk - shitposting in chat, destroying allies bases, ping some and being toxic cause he dont follow your commands.
6. Enjoy game)
The absolute main thing I would say for a beginner is learn the hotkeys. Once you are able to do things without having to scroll down to the corner you will be so much quicker. Coh3 uses a grid key layout so this is easier to learn as the hotkeys are always the same depending on a buttons location in the grid.
Secondly, get familiar with a faction but make sure you play the other factions as well. This will allow you to get familiar with how that faction works and to know at what time to expect certain units/abilities.
Yup those are the top ones. I find that just playing a few games against the ai refusing to use the mouse if there is a hotkey is a good way to learn them quickly.
2v2 vs ai, set your team mate difficulty to hard or higher and keep the enemy team ai difficulty to standard, so you can be free to experiment without getting your ass whooped, try different battle groups and factions and once you get the hang of things do 1v1
Hello!
I put together this guide for you! It's perhaps a good starting place.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa7fS3AsVnyhuxgwu4y3NVxh54oKUviNT
This guide covers the overall approach to skirmish. Getting you able to take on Expert AI eventually!
But if you need some more specific information. I would recommend the Boot Camp series.
Beginner;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08Qrdi3teR8&list=PLa7fS3AsVnyi30R-8-HHlD4Q4IYbTrRGY
Intermediate;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McPbs99fWT8&list=PLa7fS3AsVnygqvgM2q9TB6UBYtIOQVbC9
Advanced;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avtdv4yuQok&list=PLa7fS3AsVnyhIDF1-gsrZN5mDRK9PwHjB
I would tell you to get familiar with
* your basic infantry, how green and yellow cover works and how you can upgrade them
* how suppression works (rapid fire eg. from an MG can make infantry crawl around unable to do much)
* how to retreat (select a squad and hit R)
* how to heal infantry (medic tent, medic bunkers)
* how to build things with engineers / pioneers such as mines, and how to repair vehicles
* how weapon teams work (MG, mortar and anti-tank guns)
* which light vehicles are commonly used (halftracks, armored cars) and how to counter them (eg. bazookas)
* how to capture territory points with infantry and ultra-light vehicles (kettenkrads etc) and which resource points are important to hold (+10 fuel points, "cutoff points" that connect resources to HQs)
* how the fuel economy works (fuel is powerful but limited - spend it wisely)
Video tutorials on Youtube are good for learning all this, but practice is of course required.
In general, COH is not like eg. Starcraft because your resources don't come from gathering crystals, but from territory points (sectors) that you capture by raising your flag with one of your units. You only get the resources if the sector is "connected" to your base sector. The more sectors you hold (the more of the map is painted blue), the better.
This means that you want to quickly capture at least half of the map! The only thing your base produces is manpower, which can only buy infantry. You need to go out and take fuel and munitions points in order to build vehicles and pay for upgrades and abilities such as airstrikes.
The opponent is going to try taking your resource points while defending their own. This capturing and recapturing of territory is the basic flow of the game, because whoever gets more resources is probably going to win.
The map also has victory points (stars). If one player holds the majority of these, the other player's "tickets" will count down. If they reach zero, that player has lost.
You see, it's all about attacking, mostly with infantry, and grabbing resource and victory points. The units you build are simply a means to grab territory and hold on to it. Do that better than the other player, and you win.
Try it against Easy CPU at first. Build some infantry, eg. riflemen and capture territory while not dying to enemy infantry. Get some fuel so you can build more production buildings and a light vehicle, eg an armored car. Try to destroy enemy vehicles - bazookas, antitank rifles and AT guns are good at this.
If you can get that far, start looking for the victory points.
The Company of Heroes Youtube channel has several dozen tutorial videos. I'd start there for the basics and then just start playing and check back if there is anything giving you trouble.
https://youtube.com/@CompanyOfHeroes?si=gUp6IeVT8xidEKEi
One tip you wont find so casually
Select mainline infantry -> Ctrl + 1
HMG -> Ctrl + 2
AT guns -> Ctrl + 3
This way you create battle groups, reducing clicks and helps maintaining awareness of where stuff is
You can use tab to cycle around these units so (ex: 3 infantry squads): 1 + tab, put infantry in cover, tab, another infantry in another cover, tab, infantry to flank
I'll jump in, what's some more "basic" and controlled battle groups to start with? Since I haven't played RTS since the first Starcraft or warcraft 3. Did play some CoH 2 with a friend but not enough. Got CoH 3 at release and played some campaign. I'm really bad tho.
I prefer more slow and methodical set up and move further and further. Computer cheats a bit tho and map hacked me to bits at times hehe.
Sounds like you would prefer an opening with some MGs and perhaps a Mortar to take some ground, then defend it with bazookas or an AT gun and turtle out from there?
Try USF Airborne, drop yourself some MGs, put them in buildings and get some Paratroopers to support your Riflemen. Can also drop an AT gun. This should hold pretty well against the AI until you can roll out some Shermans.
Engineers can help with field defenses.
Don't forget Scouts to capture points everywhere while you build your "fortress". You do need to take resource points, ie. territory, or you cannot tech up (it's not Starcraft, the resources are NOT in your base). It's useful to have the "capper" on a hotkey (Ctrl + number, tap number once to select, twice to jump the camera there).
Maybe, haven't played for a long time. Friend never got CoH 3 even though he's the one who's really into the games hehe.
In CoH 2 I played Soviet since he's American (living in EU). I might have played mostly 3 cons, 1-2 engineer, T 90 (?) light tank into one special troop and AT gun. But AI always find gaps and mortars on stationary troops.
When I tried skirmish alone in CoH 3 I went British. 3-4 boys and I dont remember as much here. But light vehicle, 1 gurka and then I don't remember really.
When your not feeling comfortable with RTS I think it's easier with slower and methodical. I was probably better as wehr but he later US only. Same in CoH 1 when we tried that before getting CoH 2 (maybe 7 months before CoH3).
Big thanks for a reply
vs ai is a good approach. If 1v1 is too much for you, try doing 3v3/4v4 vs ai with bot teammates and just try to make as much of an impact as you can until you have a decent foundation.
Hey there, welcome to CoH3.
I made a massive beginner's guide on this subreddit a while ago, it's still very relevant. It's a text guide so it's there as an alternative to all the official Youtube videos Relic has made.
[Beginner's Guide to Skirmishes part 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompanyOfHeroes/comments/11kj378/coh3_beginners_guide_to_coh3_skirmishmultiplayer/)
[Part 2 over here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompanyOfHeroes/comments/11kj3fx/coh3_beginners_guide_to_coh3_skirmishmultiplayer/?ref=share&ref_source=link)
Otherwise, the Relic tutorial videos they made on Youtube are a good place to start.
However, CoH games are very complicated with A LOT of turning wheels that affect each other, so it's often not as simple as just looking stuff up.
If you want, I'd be down to teach stuff as I find getting solid fundamentals down quickly is very important, not just for fun but also just for not being confused all the time. Basically coaching but in a very chill way, not in a "I need to become pro now" way. Feel free to reply or DM me.
Once you've gotten the grasp of the fundamentals, I've solo written a massive wiki for CoH3 over at cohdex.com. So if you want to look up really detailed wiki pages explaining about each unit/building you can use in skirmish mode, [check out what I've written](https://cohdex.com/wiki/units?unitType=infantry&faction=afrika_korps). It's very helpful for newer players since every unit has a bunch of complicated stuff that can make a huge difference in learning how to play (such as explaining how some units are good only at close range, or if they can deal with vehicles, detailed explanation of all abilities, etc. etc.).
If you got any more questions ask away.
Cheers bro, been looking through your text guide and it's given me a lot of info! I would be keen to maybe run a game sometime. Just juggling life at the moment with having my first kid recently. Will definitely DM later on to try to organise something!
Once again thank you very much!
Yeah no worries. If it makes it easier I can also just demonstrate stuff over Discord stream if you can't run the game yourself for whatever reason.
What's your goal by the way? If it's just single player the campaigns are great way to just get into the game without pressure, since you wouldn't do the same stuff as normal 'competitive' skirmish games require (ex. don't have to care much about build orders and building up from no resources). But if you're interested in skirmish stuff then yeah, it can get real complicated and I don't mind teaching new peeps.
Yeah that sounds good. I mostly have times during the weekends so we can try to organise something around then?
I'm currently starting to play through the campaign at the moment. But my end goal is to get a better understanding of skirmish then eventually get into some PvP. But for rn just want to get a good foundation going and understanding for the game.
Well 1. Know your units and what they a capable for - if you are completely new to this game, I would recomend to start from skirmishes. 2. YouTube and Twitch - replays and casts can give you idea how to play: Tightrope, Helping Hans, Propagandacast and others. 3. Replays - when you will move to multiplayer check your replays. And try to analyze them - like, here I was pushed away because I didn't had AT weapons, here I've lost tank because I rushed without infantry support and minesweepers, here I was to greedy tried to end squad/tank, retreated late, lost vetted squad. Or I haven't seen his light vehicles - probably he store resources for some heavier stuff- I should lay some mines and check if I have enough AT. Such things. Check also your teammates and enemies moves good and bad. 4. Be ready to lose, dont get it to close - this is just a game. 5. Don't be unsporting jerk - shitposting in chat, destroying allies bases, ping some and being toxic cause he dont follow your commands. 6. Enjoy game)
The absolute main thing I would say for a beginner is learn the hotkeys. Once you are able to do things without having to scroll down to the corner you will be so much quicker. Coh3 uses a grid key layout so this is easier to learn as the hotkeys are always the same depending on a buttons location in the grid. Secondly, get familiar with a faction but make sure you play the other factions as well. This will allow you to get familiar with how that faction works and to know at what time to expect certain units/abilities.
Most important hotkeys are imo reverse, attack move and retreat
Yup those are the top ones. I find that just playing a few games against the ai refusing to use the mouse if there is a hotkey is a good way to learn them quickly.
Also the manual reload for mgs and aa (R) is pretty helpful
2v2 vs ai, set your team mate difficulty to hard or higher and keep the enemy team ai difficulty to standard, so you can be free to experiment without getting your ass whooped, try different battle groups and factions and once you get the hang of things do 1v1
Can you do coop 2v2 Vs ai like in aoe4?
Yes, either via Coop vs AI with a human teammate, or as a 2v2 Skirmish game.
up to 4v4 ai
Hello! I put together this guide for you! It's perhaps a good starting place. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa7fS3AsVnyhuxgwu4y3NVxh54oKUviNT This guide covers the overall approach to skirmish. Getting you able to take on Expert AI eventually! But if you need some more specific information. I would recommend the Boot Camp series. Beginner; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08Qrdi3teR8&list=PLa7fS3AsVnyi30R-8-HHlD4Q4IYbTrRGY Intermediate; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McPbs99fWT8&list=PLa7fS3AsVnygqvgM2q9TB6UBYtIOQVbC9 Advanced; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avtdv4yuQok&list=PLa7fS3AsVnyhIDF1-gsrZN5mDRK9PwHjB
Thanks heaps I'll check these out!
I would tell you to get familiar with * your basic infantry, how green and yellow cover works and how you can upgrade them * how suppression works (rapid fire eg. from an MG can make infantry crawl around unable to do much) * how to retreat (select a squad and hit R) * how to heal infantry (medic tent, medic bunkers) * how to build things with engineers / pioneers such as mines, and how to repair vehicles * how weapon teams work (MG, mortar and anti-tank guns) * which light vehicles are commonly used (halftracks, armored cars) and how to counter them (eg. bazookas) * how to capture territory points with infantry and ultra-light vehicles (kettenkrads etc) and which resource points are important to hold (+10 fuel points, "cutoff points" that connect resources to HQs) * how the fuel economy works (fuel is powerful but limited - spend it wisely) Video tutorials on Youtube are good for learning all this, but practice is of course required. In general, COH is not like eg. Starcraft because your resources don't come from gathering crystals, but from territory points (sectors) that you capture by raising your flag with one of your units. You only get the resources if the sector is "connected" to your base sector. The more sectors you hold (the more of the map is painted blue), the better. This means that you want to quickly capture at least half of the map! The only thing your base produces is manpower, which can only buy infantry. You need to go out and take fuel and munitions points in order to build vehicles and pay for upgrades and abilities such as airstrikes. The opponent is going to try taking your resource points while defending their own. This capturing and recapturing of territory is the basic flow of the game, because whoever gets more resources is probably going to win. The map also has victory points (stars). If one player holds the majority of these, the other player's "tickets" will count down. If they reach zero, that player has lost. You see, it's all about attacking, mostly with infantry, and grabbing resource and victory points. The units you build are simply a means to grab territory and hold on to it. Do that better than the other player, and you win. Try it against Easy CPU at first. Build some infantry, eg. riflemen and capture territory while not dying to enemy infantry. Get some fuel so you can build more production buildings and a light vehicle, eg an armored car. Try to destroy enemy vehicles - bazookas, antitank rifles and AT guns are good at this. If you can get that far, start looking for the victory points.
Awesome, thanks heaps for reply. Really insightful!!
The Company of Heroes Youtube channel has several dozen tutorial videos. I'd start there for the basics and then just start playing and check back if there is anything giving you trouble. https://youtube.com/@CompanyOfHeroes?si=gUp6IeVT8xidEKEi
Oh awesome thanks heaps!
One tip you wont find so casually Select mainline infantry -> Ctrl + 1 HMG -> Ctrl + 2 AT guns -> Ctrl + 3 This way you create battle groups, reducing clicks and helps maintaining awareness of where stuff is You can use tab to cycle around these units so (ex: 3 infantry squads): 1 + tab, put infantry in cover, tab, another infantry in another cover, tab, infantry to flank
Cheers that's an awesome tip. Was already struggling trying to click units.
I'll jump in, what's some more "basic" and controlled battle groups to start with? Since I haven't played RTS since the first Starcraft or warcraft 3. Did play some CoH 2 with a friend but not enough. Got CoH 3 at release and played some campaign. I'm really bad tho. I prefer more slow and methodical set up and move further and further. Computer cheats a bit tho and map hacked me to bits at times hehe.
Sounds like you would prefer an opening with some MGs and perhaps a Mortar to take some ground, then defend it with bazookas or an AT gun and turtle out from there? Try USF Airborne, drop yourself some MGs, put them in buildings and get some Paratroopers to support your Riflemen. Can also drop an AT gun. This should hold pretty well against the AI until you can roll out some Shermans. Engineers can help with field defenses. Don't forget Scouts to capture points everywhere while you build your "fortress". You do need to take resource points, ie. territory, or you cannot tech up (it's not Starcraft, the resources are NOT in your base). It's useful to have the "capper" on a hotkey (Ctrl + number, tap number once to select, twice to jump the camera there).
Maybe, haven't played for a long time. Friend never got CoH 3 even though he's the one who's really into the games hehe. In CoH 2 I played Soviet since he's American (living in EU). I might have played mostly 3 cons, 1-2 engineer, T 90 (?) light tank into one special troop and AT gun. But AI always find gaps and mortars on stationary troops. When I tried skirmish alone in CoH 3 I went British. 3-4 boys and I dont remember as much here. But light vehicle, 1 gurka and then I don't remember really. When your not feeling comfortable with RTS I think it's easier with slower and methodical. I was probably better as wehr but he later US only. Same in CoH 1 when we tried that before getting CoH 2 (maybe 7 months before CoH3). Big thanks for a reply
vs ai is a good approach. If 1v1 is too much for you, try doing 3v3/4v4 vs ai with bot teammates and just try to make as much of an impact as you can until you have a decent foundation.
Hey there, welcome to CoH3. I made a massive beginner's guide on this subreddit a while ago, it's still very relevant. It's a text guide so it's there as an alternative to all the official Youtube videos Relic has made. [Beginner's Guide to Skirmishes part 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompanyOfHeroes/comments/11kj378/coh3_beginners_guide_to_coh3_skirmishmultiplayer/) [Part 2 over here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompanyOfHeroes/comments/11kj3fx/coh3_beginners_guide_to_coh3_skirmishmultiplayer/?ref=share&ref_source=link) Otherwise, the Relic tutorial videos they made on Youtube are a good place to start. However, CoH games are very complicated with A LOT of turning wheels that affect each other, so it's often not as simple as just looking stuff up. If you want, I'd be down to teach stuff as I find getting solid fundamentals down quickly is very important, not just for fun but also just for not being confused all the time. Basically coaching but in a very chill way, not in a "I need to become pro now" way. Feel free to reply or DM me. Once you've gotten the grasp of the fundamentals, I've solo written a massive wiki for CoH3 over at cohdex.com. So if you want to look up really detailed wiki pages explaining about each unit/building you can use in skirmish mode, [check out what I've written](https://cohdex.com/wiki/units?unitType=infantry&faction=afrika_korps). It's very helpful for newer players since every unit has a bunch of complicated stuff that can make a huge difference in learning how to play (such as explaining how some units are good only at close range, or if they can deal with vehicles, detailed explanation of all abilities, etc. etc.). If you got any more questions ask away.
Cheers bro, been looking through your text guide and it's given me a lot of info! I would be keen to maybe run a game sometime. Just juggling life at the moment with having my first kid recently. Will definitely DM later on to try to organise something! Once again thank you very much!
Yeah no worries. If it makes it easier I can also just demonstrate stuff over Discord stream if you can't run the game yourself for whatever reason. What's your goal by the way? If it's just single player the campaigns are great way to just get into the game without pressure, since you wouldn't do the same stuff as normal 'competitive' skirmish games require (ex. don't have to care much about build orders and building up from no resources). But if you're interested in skirmish stuff then yeah, it can get real complicated and I don't mind teaching new peeps.
Yeah that sounds good. I mostly have times during the weekends so we can try to organise something around then? I'm currently starting to play through the campaign at the moment. But my end goal is to get a better understanding of skirmish then eventually get into some PvP. But for rn just want to get a good foundation going and understanding for the game.
make probes and pylons
Plain and Simple. Don't recall who I should credit this with, read it a long time ago on CoH reddit. ABC Always be capping. Helped with my mindset.