How to use Infantry?

[Gisborne]

I play British division but i just can't seem to keep them alive at all. My riflemen just get take out so fast by everything unless they hide in a forest they pop lol. It makes trying to move them forward impossible.

[Jarl]

Infantry should basically be used in combination with other units, and only in urban and forest areas.

It's the job of your artillery, tanks and air units to either destroy or paralyze enemy positions sufficiently for your infantry to roll in and clear up what's left.

Let's say there's a town fortified by 2 enemy rifle units, a machine gunner and an anti-tank unit.

There's no way for your infantry to advance to that target without either being blown to pieces in their trucks by the AT unit or shot to pieces by the machine gunner if you unload them in time. It would be risky to advance with armor too with those pesky AT guns around.

In other words, you gotta bomb the crap out of them, either with artillery or air units.

As soon as the defenders are pinned down/falling back, that's when you send your CQC/flamethrower infantry trucks (which you've kept ready on the outskirts, right?) into the town. For bonus points, lay down a smokescreen between the rim of the town and the direction your infantry is rolling in from.

Clear out any remaining opposition, deploy some cheap units to hold the objective, and continue advancing.

It's hardly ever that simple, of course, since you'll also have to deal with enemy reinforcements, air units, flanking ATs/tanks, etc., while trying to capture the objective. It's just meant to be an ideal example of how infantry are best used for attacking in SD2.

[Gisborne]

Originally posted by Jarl:

Infantry should basically be used in combination with other units, and only in urban and forest areas.

It's the job of your artillery, tanks and air units to either destroy or paralyze enemy positions sufficiently for your infantry to roll in and clear up what's left.

Let's say there's a town fortified by 2 enemy rifle units, a machine gunner and an anti-tank unit.

There's no way for your infantry to advance to that target without either being blown to pieces in their trucks by the AT unit or shot to pieces by the machine gunner if you unload them in time. It would be risky to advance with armor too with those pesky AT guns around.

In other words, you gotta bomb the crap out of them, either with artillery or air units.

As soon as the defenders are pinned down/falling back, that's when you send your CQC/flamethrower infantry trucks (which you've kept ready on the outskirts, right?) into the town. For bonus points, lay down a smokescreen between the rim of the town and the direction your infantry is rolling in from.

Clear out any remaining opposition, deploy some cheap units to hold the objective, and continue advancing.

It's hardly ever that simple, of course, since you'll also have to deal with enemy reinforcements, air units, flanking ATs/tanks, etc., while trying to capture the objective. It's just meant to be an ideal example of how infantry are best used for attacking in SD2.

Problem i have with british artillery is i need to call in a lot of them and they don't seem that accurate but then germans use something that is 1 vehicle that can launch like 40 dam rockets at me that destroy all 5-15 of my artillery almost in 1 go. The second i shoot my artillery the a.i enemy just locks on and goes ape with em.

[DasaKamov]

Originally posted by Gisborne:

germans use something that is 1 vehicle that can launch like 40 dam rockets at me that destroy all 5-15 of my artillery almost in 1 go.

Don't bunch up your own artillery in the same place. :b

[Gisborne]

Originally posted by DasaKamov:

Originally posted by Gisborne:

germans use something that is 1 vehicle that can launch like 40 dam rockets at me that destroy all 5-15 of my artillery almost in 1 go.

Don't bunch up your own artillery in the same place. :b

Well i spread them out but i can;t get my head around the korean micromanagement in this game. There is no rooster at the bottom like total war to show me all my units i just have to guess or zoom out and how i can asian micro manage all my units it pisses me off tbh. there really should be a list of all active units on the side or bottom of the screen.

[Vyllis]

Well the UI is not very great so yeah, lack of labels information.

[DasaKamov]

Originally posted by Gisborne:

Well i spread them out but i can;t get my head around the micromanagement in this game. .

Using control groups (for example, selecting 2-3 arty units and assigning them to "Ctrl+1") helps immensely in this game.

Hotkeys are also very helpful; for example, you can select the previous 2-3 arty pieces with "1", press "T" for "Target Location", and click on a location that needs to be bombarded without even looking at your artillery group. Or you could use "B" to "Bombard with Smoke Rounds" to cover your infantry's advance (going to your original point of "how to keep infantry alive while moving in the open").

After firing a few salvos, you can then press "1" again and quickly move your artillery to a new location to avoid counter-battery or airstrikes.

Also keep in mind you can play single-player games at slow speeds to give you a chance to get used to hotkeys and gameplay flow.

[JDPUK]

Originally posted by Gisborne:

I play British division but i just can't seem to keep them alive at all. My riflemen just get take out so fast by everything unless they hide in a forest they pop lol. It makes trying to move them forward impossible.

I use infantry more than any other unit in the game, I go all in on them. I always send in mixed units, ALWAYS - so for example, I will find a good structure to put a RECON/Sniper element in it, surrounding it, I will have 6-8 other squads, with a mix of 2x long rifles, 2x AT, 2x CQB and a four man lead element embedded, this combined squads of infantry will absolutely destroy anything coming near them. I also put a support truck nearby and flank the area with the following, 2x MBTs, 2x AAA and 4-6 infantry support vehicles, this group will give me positive control of the portion of the map from begging to end - typically 4-6 capture points, each - I repeat this process 2-3 times across the map = WIN.

Bombers and arty will destroy your infantry quicker than anything, in my experience, I keep a slew of counter fire support units, (mortars, MRLs and arty) along with air superiority fighters ready to strike incoming aircraft.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1767481965

[Gisborne]

Originally posted by JDPUK:

Originally posted by Gisborne:

I play British division but i just can't seem to keep them alive at all. My riflemen just get take out so fast by everything unless they hide in a forest they pop lol. It makes trying to move them forward impossible.

I use infantry more than any other unit in the game, I go all in on them. I always send in mixed units, ALWAYS - so for example, I will find a good structure to put a RECON/Sniper element in it, surrounding it, I will have 6-8 other squads, with a mix of 2x long rifles, 2x AT, 2x CQB and a four man lead element embedded, this combined squads of infantry will absolutely destroy anything coming near them. I also put a support truck nearby and flank the area with the following, 2x MBTs, 2x AAA and 4-6 infantry support vehicles, this group will give me positive control of the portion of the map from begging to end - typically 4-6 capture points, each - I repeat this process 2-3 times across the map = WIN.

Bombers and arty will destroy your infantry quicker than anything, in my experience, I keep a slew of counter fire support units, (mortars, MRLs and arty) along with air superiority fighters ready to strike incoming aircraft.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1767481965

As British division i seem to hardly have any AT infantry though, in anti tank i only can take 1 card of at infantry and in infantry theres not many. unlike germans who seem to spam every infantry at me with AT.

[Gamesguy]

Originally posted by Gisborne:

Originally posted by JDPUK:

I use infantry more than any other unit in the game, I go all in on them. I always send in mixed units, ALWAYS - so for example, I will find a good structure to put a RECON/Sniper element in it, surrounding it, I will have 6-8 other squads, with a mix of 2x long rifles, 2x AT, 2x CQB and a four man lead element embedded, this combined squads of infantry will absolutely destroy anything coming near them. I also put a support truck nearby and flank the area with the following, 2x MBTs, 2x AAA and 4-6 infantry support vehicles, this group will give me positive control of the portion of the map from begging to end - typically 4-6 capture points, each - I repeat this process 2-3 times across the map = WIN.

Bombers and arty will destroy your infantry quicker than anything, in my experience, I keep a slew of counter fire support units, (mortars, MRLs and arty) along with air superiority fighters ready to strike incoming aircraft.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1767481965

As British division i seem to hardly have any AT infantry though, in anti tank i only can take 1 card of at infantry and in infantry theres not many. unlike germans who seem to spam every infantry at me with AT.

Take the recon piats, take unvetted infantry spam, drop smoke and advance. Arty anything that moves.

Churchills for fire support, just don't engage in long range duels with them. Hide them behind buildings and trees.

[chriskila2000]

so, it depends on the infatry your using and what your attacking and the aproach too it.
from what i have seen so far you have longer ranged units that exel with their rifles and mg`s, and then you have the more closer in units (aka smg spamXD) in any attack you probably want a mix of the two althought the smg inf should be the primary ones that battle it out in the closer engagments that you will usely get when treing too take a objective, the longer ranged infantry are usely better at supresing the enemy rather then treing too close in, althought you shouldnt need these if you bring some support too supres the enemy. witch is where tanks and artilery comes in, these are (with exceptions for the tanks in some cases) support weapons, use the tanks too supress/kill the enemys, and use the artilery if you want more fireworks being thrown in there. or against AT-guns so your tanks can move forward, and one more thing, USE RECON.
its very important that you know what your attacking so you have a better idea of what you need too deal with, also it helps that your spotting the enemy before they start shooting at you so you can be the first too start shooting witch is particurly important in tank combat because of the supresion that the first shot can give giving your tank a disavantage.
anyway i think that about covers the "basics",
probably.... i hope

[JDPUK]

Originally posted by Gamesguy:

Originally posted by Gisborne:

As British division i seem to hardly have any AT infantry though, in anti tank i only can take 1 card of at infantry and in infantry theres not many. unlike germans who seem to spam every infantry at me with AT.

Take the recon piats, take unvetted infantry spam, drop smoke and advance. Arty anything that moves.

Churchills for fire support, just don't engage in long range duels with them. Hide them behind buildings and trees.

Yeah, exactly on the Churchills, learned that the hard way, not I use them in the concealment of structures to support my infantry entrenchments.