Company of Heroes 2 – All Units Mod: US Forces In-Depth Analysis

A complete analysis of everything that the United States can throw at the Axis in Company of Heroes 2 with the All Units Mod.

Foreword

I have been a fan and player of this mod for many years now. I hold the maker, SneakEye, in the greatest of esteem as he has revived a game that I would have dismissed as poorly thought out, overly monetized and shallow. He has added nearly 170 units to the game and has made it the most in-depth WW2 RTS I’ve ever seen. Even compared to Men of War: Assault Squad 2. However, there is next to no documentation on it, so I took it upon myself to painstakingly analyze every single addition to the United States Forces in the greatest detail possible and write my findings here. I’ve mixed in a good deal of humor because, if you really think about it, every single player of this game would be considered an inhuman monster put on the express train back to Washington for a court martial. War tends not to be a fun place, but from our respective, it is hilarious from time to time. 

That being said, I’d like to address the elephant in the room. Yes, I am biased. And this guide views the death of Axis soldiers with all the respect and reverence of a 3 year old tricking someone into sitting on a whoopie cushion. I’ll cover Germany eventually in these in-depth guides, but they will likely be last. Because they’re Nazis. At any rate, the point I am laboriously trying to get at is that I view the single most important factor in an Allied Power victory in WW2 as America’s involvement. Whether it be from the Lend-Lease program where an incalculable amount of war material, supplies, and munitions was practically given away to the other Allied Nations with no expectation of ever getting it back or even being paid back for it, or General Patton ripping out a German’s still living guts and using it to grease the treads of his tanks, the fact of the matter is that, while their war-time involvement cannot be dismissed, without America backing them up, a lot of countries would be speaking German right now. And anyone who would dispute such a fact is probably really really really drunk. It’s been over 70 years since the last battle of WW2 was fought, and I highly doubt a pack of frothing at the mouth keyboard warriors are going to change history. Politics is, by far, the most divisive thing in this world we live in, and I have a pretty good idea on how these things tend to go once that subject matter is involved. That being said…. let’s blow some ♥♥ up.

Fire Base

The first thing you see in every game. It’s your home away from home and contains all the radio equipment required for you to relay orders from your keyboard and mouse to the troops on the front. Defend it because if it is destroyed, you have lost. The Fire Base has 4 tiers of structures and they are unlocked with the purchase of a unit that proceeds up the chain of command, and each tier offers certain upgrades as well. 

Tier 1 Upgrades

Grenade Package: Costs 125 mp/15 fuel. Brings the Mk2 Pineapple grenades and smoke bombs up to the front. 

Lend-Lease Act: Costs 120 muns/25 fuel. With this unlocked, you receive a new ability on your commander hot bar where you can expend a large amount of floated resources to acquire a random mix of infantry, vehicles, and tanks from any of the allied powers. Might get one of those utterly ridiculous tank destroyers the size of an apartment complex from Stalin, or a quaint light tank from the British. It’s like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to shove down a German’s throat and watch him die from. 

Weapon Rack Unlock: Costs 150 mp/15 fuel. This unlocks 2 of the 3 weapon racks around the fire base for use, and any non-weapon team infantry can pick up a bazooka, providing anti-vehicle fun, for 50 muns, or a BAR for close-medium range shenanigans for 60. Point of interest: from time to time, a Bazooka can hit an infantry figure and insta-gib it. It is hilarious 100% of the time. 

Forward Observers: Costs 125 mp/30 muns. A motto I live by and oft remind others of is that information is ammunition. Most units in this game have a weapons range that is longer than their sight range. With this upgrade, when an infantry unit is in cover, their sight range is increased, providing a direct increase to their overall offensive abilities. This effect is also triggered if an infantry unit is stopped and out of combat, but that is less reliable and dangerous because snipers could be anywhere. 

M1919A6 Browning LMG Rack: Costs 100mp/10 fuel. This unlocks the 3rd weapon rack for use in the base. Any non-weapon team infantry can pick up a LMG for 70 muns, granting accurate long range firepower. 

Riflemen Flares: Costs 125 mp/15 fuel. Fires off a flare to reveal the target area. This is a wonderful ability that, when the game notifies you that a resource point is being taken, you can immediately reveal it through the fog of war, and have artillery on its way before the cap is complete. Once you mop up all the viscera and clean the teeth and hair off the point, you can retake it for Uncle Sam. 

Tier 2 Upgrades

Unlock Mechanized Platoon Command Post: costs 50 mp/20 fuel. I imagine that the United States was a smidge overtuned in previous builds, so Relic was kind enough to slow them down by forcing you to purchase an additional upgrade in order to unlock the vehicles you’d want to use for each tier. 

Tier 3 Upgrades

Unlock Mechanized Company Command Post: Costs 50mp/20 fuel. Same thing are the previous tier except that you can’t even buy a Howitzer without unlocking it, much less US vehicles. 

Tier 4 Upgrades

Unlock Chrysler Defense Arsenal: Costs 120mp/45 fuel. You need this in order to buy tanks. Can deploy the Priest and the Calliope without it though. 

Elite Vehicle Crews Upgrade: Costs 125 mp/80 muns. This upgrades every vehicle on the map, and every crew produced after with increased repair speed, 2 Thompsons, and increased veterancy gain. Pershings and every other vehicle gain exp faster…Never have you needed something so much and never know until you received it.

Rear Echelon Troops

Costs 200 mp
squad size 4
Pop cap 5

Abilities

Hunker Down: This locks down the squad and prevents it from moving, but not retreating. You have to toggle it off with the Get up ability, but this is a small cool down before you can hunker down again. Watch out for grenades when hunkering behind cover. An enemy at close range won’t hesitate to dislodge you with a potato masher. 

Wire Cutters: I’ve never seen the AI craft fortifications of any kind, least of all razor wire, so I’m not sure how useful this is. You can get rid of your own razor wire fortifications though. 

Volley Fire: costs 20 muns. Slowly suppresses a squad over 15 seconds. Useful if you have literally nothing else and need that RE squad to survive a little longer until help arrives. 

Repair: Because Shermans have armor like paper and we have lots of duct tape. 

Builds

Munitions (muns for short. I’m not typing that out 500 zillion times) and fuel caches for 250 mp each. Muns caches increase income by 6 per minute, and fuel caches increase income by 4 per minute, on top of what the point yielded to begin with (10 muns/6 fuel per min. The same as a specialized resource point on the map)

Radio Post (80mp/5 fuel) to build artillery, air force and field support commanders. ♥♥ in’ op. 

Airborne support center (200mp). Calls in Paradrops at a marginally greater cost than recruiting from the fire base, but does so at a much faster rate. 

Fighting Position (125 mp). Basically a foxhole. Holds 1 squad. Upgraded with a machine gun for 60 mun. Rear Echelon squads attack with rifle grenades from inside on occasion. 

Machine Gun Emplacement (150 mp, 60 mun). You have these around your base to ruin a rusher’s hopes and dreams. This, combined with AT guns and Defensive positions provide a good combo for map control.

Wooden Bunker (50mp). Even cheaper than the foxhole. Holds 1 squad and improves accuracy. Might be a good idea to just build these everywhere. So cheap that they’re practically free. 

Watchtower (150mp) holds 1 squad. Extends sight range. Practically begs for a tank round or rocket to wreck its entire existence. 

Slit Trench (FREE) I feel one should build these everywhere just for the heck of it. Holds 1 squad, has no ownership, and only requires time. Yez plz. 

Medic Station(350 mp): Ahhh, a relic from CoH1. Medics from inside this tent supposedly go out and collect wounded soldiers, giving you back a squad of riflemen for 45 muns, or a squad of cavalry riflemen for 60. I might be a noob, but I’ve never really seen this yield any results, and there are plenty of better uses for those muns. 

Defensive Position (320mp, 20 fuel) because German armor needs to learn how to die as well. AT gun surrounded by sandbags. Has 2 upgrades. Improved fortifications for 75 muns, increasing armor and rendering the structure immune to small arms, and extended barrel for 100 muns, increasing penetration power. 

M4A3 Crocodile Sherman (380 mp, 40 fuel): Wow…is that a flamethrower tank buried in a hull down position? The flamethrower itself has a rather narrow angle of coverage, leaving the tank open to flanking attacks, but the turret rotates and takes out enemies just fine. 

Sandbags of the dragged line variety. Having more green cover is never a bad idea. Magnetically attracts mortars though. Nothing to see here. 

Sandbags of the structure variety. Big enough for 1, maybe 2 squads. Has more HP but can’t be extended. 

Razor Wire for hilarious infantry denial whacky fun times. 

Tank Traps for hilarious tank denial whacky fun times. Together, they make a Trump wall. 

M7 light anti-vehicle mines (10 mun per). Cheap price tag but low damage. Slows vehicles for a time. If you have nothing better to do, mine the roads and wait to hear the bewms for enemy movement. 

M5 mine (30 mun per). Costs more but is set off by infantry too. So when Hans and his buddies try to take a point from you, they get a little surprise.

Riflemen

Costs 280 mp
Squad Size 5
Pop Cap 7

Extremely versatile with default ranged options and with upgrades and ability uses, can hit like a truck made of cheese graters and get in your face in seconds. 

Upgrades

Flamethrowers: Costs 60 muns. Unlike most weapons, does MORE damage to units in cover and makes Hans change his name to Bernie.

3x M1A1 carbines: Costs 45 muns. Good middling upgrade for blobbing. 

3x Thompson Machine guns: Costs 60 muns. Otherwise known as the 1945 Homecoming King of Dakka. Shreds anything made of meat that gets close. 

Can also be equipped with a medic OR a sergeant for self-heal/faster exp for 60 mp. 

Abilities

Fire up: This is what makes riflemen so dangerous. For 15 muns for each squad using this, infantry SPRINT at their target for 10 seconds. They will move slower for 8 seconds after, but they will either be in cover, shooting at the enemy and not moving, or their intended target will be dead, so it really doesn’t matter. I should also mention that this ability removes suppression and keeps riflemen from being suppressed, so it might be just what you need to run up to that machine gunner and deliver a cease and desist order via grenade. Apply directly to forehead. 

Defensive Stance: Once you have the squad equipped with a LMG, you can have them go prone to take more advantage of cover and fire more accurately. Also suppresses enemies. As if riflemen couldn’t do enough before. 

Hunker Down: longer line of sight, less received damage. Can’t move. Can only be activated in cover. Screams for a grenade. 

Mk2 Frag Grenade: Gardening shears for blobbing. Costs 30 muns for a pineapple. Click the button, click the spot, watch explosion. 

M23 Smoke Grenade: costs 15 mun to launch a smoke bomb. Vehicles hit by it will be slowed and blinded. Which is where the bazookas relieve them of their burdens of life. 

Anti-Tank Rifle Grenade: costs 25 muns to hit a tank with a bewmy. Requires squad to be vet 1 first. Good if you have literally nothing else and desperately need that Panzer to go ♥♥ up. 

Flare: costs 40 muns. Fire a flare at the targeted position, and reveal that location. Requires vet 1 to use. Information is ammunition!

Builds

Fighting position. 125 mp
Trench. Free. 
Sandbags. Free. 
M5 mine. 30 muns.

Assault Engineers

Costs 280 mp
Squad Size 5
Pop Cap 8

It’s like if America’s awesome infantry was genetically crossbred with Rear Echelons in some kind of sick experiment where everything went horribly right. Their squad size is the same as Riflemen, and, while not as flexible, come equipped with short range fast firing SMGs for no additional muns. They can build everything that an Echelon can, and have a few other unique advantages and upgrades. 

Demolition Package: Purchasable for 25 muns. Allowing AE’s to use…

Trip Wire Flares: Costs 10 muns. Both a tattle tale flare that tells you where the enemy is and a low-yield land mine for cheap damage. 

Demolition Charge: costs 90 muns. It’s C4. Put it on a location, and click again to blow it up. Works on collapsing bridges, blowing up buildings from their blind sides, erasing emplacements, and knocking holes in ice. Use your creativity. 

Repair Critical: Costs 25 muns. If you REALLY need that Pershing back in the fight right now after it’s turret is jammed, or to get its big metal butt moving again when its thrown a tread, use this. It’ll repair a small damage and one critical effect immediately. 

Repair: Flex tape application

Hunker Down: Better sight range, reduced received damage… unless it’s from grenades. Which are inevitable. Like the frosty machine being broken at wendy’s inevitable.

M2 60mm Mortar Team

Costs 220mp
Squad size 4
Pop Cap 6

While not as damaging as big brother in tier 2, the 60mm tries his best. He’s cheap, he’s available early, he fits in most overhead compartments, and the Germans object highly to a mortar of any size and shape being fired at them. 

Abilities

Mortar Barrage: Make like Michael Bay and fill the targeted area with explosions. Good if you want to keep the enemy off a point while you move other units into position

Smoke Barrage: Requires Vet 1. Fill an area with smoke so those inside can’t shoot back, see, or be seen for a time. 

Hold Fire: Plenty of times where you want to time your attack so that all elements of it hit at once. Just reminding you that there’s a button to do that. 

Attach a medic: Costs 40 mp. Gives health regen. Nuff said.

WC51 Military Truck w/.30 cal HMG

Costs 200 mp/10 fuel
Pop Cap 3

Beep beep, it’s a jeep, chief. It’s fast, annoying, has no armor, and will likely go down to even small arms fire if there’s enough of it. It can’t cap points though, as only infantry can do that, and is really just a fast recon vehicle to keep track of enemy movements. 

Upgrades

Mount 50. cal: Costs 40 muns. Bigger gun. Shoots meat bags better. Can even take out a light vehicle if it tries hard enough. This can also suppress the enemy like a MG team, but at this point, it would be more expensive. 

Abilities

Mark Target: Costs 40 muns. Points out a vehicle target, making it more susceptible to damage. A recon flight will also keep track of its movements, letting everyone on your side laugh about it’s imminent demise. 

Step on it!: Increases speed for 20 seconds and turns off the gun. Quite useful if there was a Panzer around that corner when you didn’t expect it.

WC51 Military Transport Truck

Costs 180 mp
Pop Cap 3

It’s a jeep, not for sheep, but a little more cheap. Can carry one squad of infantry, but that’s not what you want to use it for. 

Detection: This activates a radar mode for the Truck, letting you see nearby enemies on the minimap, even if they are camouflaged. Any commander should have one of these spotting incoming targets. Information is ammunition.

WC54 ¾ Ton Ambulance

Costs 250mp/10 fuel
Pop Cap 2

If anyone has ever played Planetside, you will understand when I compare this to a Sunderer. It can replenish troops from damaged squads, and, with its toggled ability, it can also heal them. But while healing, it can’t move and everyone wants to kill it. It’s just cheap enough to always have a few running around the battle, and one should be deployed at the retreat point at all times. When retreating infantry return from the front nursing bullet holes, flamewerfer burns, and moist trousers, they can have their losses reinforced and their still living squad mates healed by the ambulance at the same time with no further attention required from the player.

Medic Squad

Costs 105 mp
Squad Size 3
Pop Cap 3

These guys would be AMAZING at the start of the game for cheap retreat point healing. Sadly, as of the time of writing this, they are bugged and do not automatically heal soldiers the way the ambulance does. SneakEye has informed me that this is a bug within the game’s source code itself and we’re left waiting on Relic to fix it. 

Field First Aid: Costs 20 muns. This seems to lock a squad down and apply a heal over time effect to them, allowing the medics to heal 2 squads at once, but this requires all 3 units to be out of combat, and I would consider this to be a waste of muns. Just buy an ambulance if you need that much mass healing, Chief.

Lieutenant Command Squad

Costs 280 mp/35 fuel(first time)
Squad Size 5
Pop Cap 8

Americans don’t build new buildings or invest in higher tiers of technology in the traditional way. They purchase a new unit and activate the next tier at the same time. Buying replacements of the same unit doesn’t cost the same after the first time. In this instance, purchasing the Lieutenant again will only cost 280 mp. That said, the Lieutenant is a good purchase with many useful abilities that makes everyone around him better, not the least of which is that his squad spawns with a good mix of single shot and rapid fire weapons, making him at least marginally effective on his own at most ranges. 

Abilities

Combined arms: Costs 125 muns. Infantry close to vehicles will gain 20% faster reload, 30% accuracy, and 35% larger sight radius. Vehicles close to infantry will gain 35% larger sight radius, 30% faster reload, and slightly longer range. Both effects last 45 seconds, but for that hefty muns price tag, you won’t be using this very often. When you do, though, your army will become an inhuman monster there to personally kick Hitler in his one remaining testicle. 

Focus Fire: Costs 15 muns. This is another, much smaller bonus that increases the accuracy and damage of the lieutenant’s squad and everyone around him. You’re going to be primarily bound by cooldown with this power and its price is so reasonable that if you are shooting at things and this ability is available, go ahead and use it. 

Frag Grenade: Same as riflemen ability

Smoke grenade: same as riflemen ability

Hunker Down: Same as riflemen ability

M9 Bazooka: Costs 50 muns. Provides some in the lieutenant’s squad with some boomsticks.

M2HB .50 cal Machine Gun Team

Costs 280 mp
Squad Size 4
Pop Cap 7

Pretty standard fare. MG teams can’t fire on the move, and will spray bullets at enemies anywhere within a cone in front of them. Enemies they shoot at take damage (you don’t say), and become suppressed. Suppressed enemies lose accuracy and movement speed, eventually becoming completely immobile. Usually a good thing to have mixed in with infantry blobs and tend to perform fairly well when instructed to A-move to victory backed up by riflemen that can guard its flanks. Until the Panzers show up. Panzers always ruin A-move victory. 

Abilities

Load Armor Piercing Rounds: costs 15 muns. Increases damage output by 25% and penetration by 10%. Meaning that if you are troubled by light vehicles early game, this guy has you covered. Also, when gardening enemy blobs and you start to see squads get suppressed, might as well trigger this to mow them all down a little faster. 

Sprint: Costs 10 muns and veterancy 1. Ah… the Joestar ultimate technique. One last all or nothing gamble. Though in this case, it can be either racing for cover or running for your lives. 

Attach Medic: Costs 40 mp. Grants the squad health regen. 

M1 81mm Mortar Team

Costs 240 mp
Squad size 4
Pop Cap 6

There’s precious little to be said about big Brother here. Costs a little more, does a bit more damage, has a more range, but there is one unique ability that he has over little Brother. 

White Phosphorous Barrage: Costs 25 muns. This stuff is great. It’s blocks line of sight, it does infantry damage over time by burning them, and it’s just glorious area denial. Fun fact: during WW2, some people were unfortunate enough to ingest white phosphorous during bombardments, and found that, aside from massive internal damage, it makes their poop smoke. So this ability is literally hot ♥♥

Sniper

Costs 360mp
Squad size 1
Pop Cap 9

This is either a massive waste of manpower or a white hot finger of death from out of the blue, depending on the skill of his player. He can take out any one infantry unit in one shot, that meaning a single guy in a squad, not a squad all at once. That was only done once by the infamous White Death, Simo Hayha, and the Soviets were utterly convinced that an entire team of snipers had converged on the area. Fact of the matter is, he just waited until a bunch of them were lined up, and shot right through their heads, one right after the other, like a game of Bolshevik billiards. This was back when Stalin was topping Hitler, the two were competing for the cover shot of Evil Megalomaniac Weekly, and we were still politically free to laugh at dying communists. However, I digress. 

Abilities

Sniper Prone: This makes your sniper crawl in a prone position, but he is camouflaged regardless of cover condition. Normally, he would only be concealed in yellow cover or higher. This also extends the sniper’s line of sight to the same as his weapon range. 

Hold Fire: Everytime a sniper fires, someone dies and he is revealed. Naturally, tanks, machine gunners, and everything else that flies, crawls or squats in the mud is going to want his eyes for jujubees. If he doesn’t fire, unless someone gets too close, he is never revealed. This can turn snipers into long range long-term observers for artillery, aircraft, pinpoint mortar strikes, and a whole bunch of other stuff that goes boom. 

Set up Beacon: This is a tiny radar array that a sniper can set up for free. It improves the accuracy of paradrops in the area, let paratroopers reinforce from it, and, most importantly, it reveals the position of every enemy around it on the mini-map. You can only have three of these at any one time, but you can just tear an old one down when you don’t need it anymore. 

Set up Tent: Everyone hates the sniper. EVERYONE. Even your own team because he steals their kills. He’s going to get shot at at some point. And he is often by himself with no medic or ambulance to assist. Fortunately, he brings his own field kit, and can deploy it anywhere he so pleases. Resting inside will restore his hp, and is camouflaged as well, so he can take his power naps without being bothered by inquisitive stormtroopers. 

Fire Incendiary Explosive Round: Costs 45 muns. This ability is absolutely hilarious because what says fun for infantry like being exploded? One shot from this reduces Hans to strips of Sauerkraut littering the landscape and stuns his entire team too. Because….damn, that was cool. 

Hunker Down: Same as the Riflemen ability of the same name, but for the sniper, this extends his sight range a little bit beyond what his prone stance would allow.

Cavalry Riflemen

Costs 280 mp
Squad Size 5
Pop Cap 7

A side-grade to the Riflemen squad. They are spawned equipped with a wide variety of weaponry, but are mostly close range, sacrificing the long range affinity of the springfield for SMGs. They also have a set of other unique abilities to make sure that the 3rd Reich’s reign is laughably short. 

Abilities

Covering Fire: Costs 25 muns. The CR’s will become KINGS OF DAKKA, suffer 90% accuracy loss while using this skill, but 90% less cooldown on their attack, 20% longer burst fire length, and a 75% faster reload speed. Enemy units inside the targeted circle will see their own accuracy reduced by 55%, and are reduced to walking speed for 11 seconds. This is basically a poor man’s suppressive fire that costs muns and the enemy can escape from by walking at a reasonable pace. 

Anti-Vehicle Satchel Charge: costs 45 muns. Think of this as a larger version of the Riflemen’s AT grenade, but doesn’t require vet 1, and actually kills things from time to time when you use it. It’ll even mess up a tank pretty badly if you can get it to connect with the 3 second fuse time, and it’ll do engine damage if the target is at 75% health at the time of the explosion. 

Upgrades

Thompson: Costs 50 muns. Further reduces the long range firepower of the squad for up close butchery. Supplies the 2 guys on the team who didn’t bring SMGs with Thompsons. Fun fact: the Thompson was single handedly responsible for increasing the lead content of Normandy by 5000%, and decreasing the feeling of smug German Ubermensch superiority by 100%

Defensive Stance, Hunker Down, Mk2 Frag Grenade: See Riflemen abilities of the same name. 

Builds M5 Mine, Sandbags, Fighting Position.

M20 Utiliity Car

Costs 240 mp/20 fuel
Pop Cap 4

Make no mistake about light vehicles. Used properly, they scrub the landscape clean of enemy infantry and have all manner of useful abilities. Fact of the matter is that CoH2 is not just a game about tanks. It’s a game about blowing ♥♥♥ up. The crew of the M20 realizes this, which is why they brought bazookas to the fight, forming a bizarre kind of swat van that can be attacked by a light tank, everyone gets out, and then 86 the offender. The vehicle itself is armed with a .50 cal machine gun for everything else of the less metal variety. 

Abilities

M2 Smoke Pots: Costs 30 muns. This launches smoke bombs from the M20 that block line of sight, useful for all manner of shenanigans. Like stopping that Tiger from sending your shiny Sherman to the Great Parking Garage in the sky, letting your team advance to grenade throwing distance on a machine gun position, or covering a daring escape in the face of German technical superiority. Don’t worry, chief. We’ll get em next time

M6 Anti-Tank Mine: Costs 60 muns. This is a lovely improved version of the M5! It’s only set off by vehicles, but if it doesn’t kill them outright, it’ll make a tank throw a tread or be in no shape to fight. Also, if the idea of a car literally pooping out high explosive land mines doesn’t make you laugh and feel all warm and fuzzy inside, you are in the wrong army. There’s the door. 

Upgrades

Armored Skirts: Costs 70 muns. All light vehicles are vulnerable to small arms fire if there’s enough of it. Rocket launchers wreck them. However, the M2 can put skirts over its tires and sides to be slightly less frail, but consider this. For the price of making a fragile unit slightly less so, you could throw 2 grenades, call in an artillery barrage, throw 1 and ¾ of a satchel charge, or any number of other things. Sometimes, the best defense is blowing the other guy up before he can hurt you. But, as always, discretion is left to the field commander. I merely offer my opinion.

M3 Half-Track

Costs 200mp/25 fuel
Pop Cap 5

Oh now this thing is just fantastic. If the Ambulance was a medical sunderer, this is a repair sundy/battle bus. It acts as a mobile reinforcement point, and can fit 2 squads inside its vast bed comfortably with PLENTY of room for extra ammo. Weapon teams will have to walk, however. Once set up on a point you intend on defending, the M3 can distribute all manner of weapons to the grunts it just dropped off at Heinrich Himmler’s Jewish culture appreciation convention center so that concerns and opinions can be voiced. But even getting out of the bed is optional because the troops can fire just as well from there in case you feel like doing some gangland style drive-by executions. 

Abilities

Weapon distribution: The M3 can deploy a bazooka for 50 muns, a BAR for 60, and a LMG for 70, so no matter what party you’re attending, you’re dressed for the occasion. 

Step on it: again, another instance of the Joestar ultimate technique. Gives the M3 a speed boost, but no one riding in it can fire. Quite useful if that Tiger suddenly clapped eyes on you and your advance fire team needs to beat feat back to the land of cheese and wine. 

Handbrake: Toggled ability. This locks the jeep in place and allows it to rotate. Ignoring the fact that tires and drive trains don’t work that way, but whatever. Useful if you want to let the guys in the back have a shot at a new target. 

Upgrades

Area Repair: Costs 30 muns. This is more a side-grade than an upgrade. If troop transport doesn’t thrill you, selecting this package will rip out all the seating in the truck bed so the M3 can carry spare tank parts and create an aura around itself that repairs vehicles. Doing this doesn’t remove it’s ability to spawn in new reinforcements, however, giving the M3 it’s nickname of “Clown Car” 

“Seriously, where did you guys even come from???” – Sergeant Barnes upon witnessing 6 riflemen emerge from a M3 truck bed filled with Sherman gear shift handles.

M3 Half-Track Assault Group

Costs 340 mp/30 fuel
Pop cap 12

What’s better than a M3? A M3 loaded with Assault Engineers, of course! This is literally the same vehicle I just mentioned. He just brings his friends along to the battlefield. This does cost a little bit more fuel, however, and I can assume that’s because Steve has been hitting the whataburger a bit too hard lately. Seriously, screw you, Steve. Assault Engineers are spawned with 140 mp with this arrangement though, which is half what they would have costed normally. So if you NEED AE’s at the front line, why not get a nice shiny M3 to go with it? It even has that new car smell.

M21 Mortar Half-Track

Costs 200mp/30 fuel
Pop Cap 6

Mortars are great, right? Half-Tracks are great. What if you put a Mortar inside of a half-track? Well… mixed results. It loses its clown car ability to spawn weapons and infinite amounts of reinforcements for troops, and it’s range is roughly the same as a mortar team, but it is highly mobile and able to stick a target and relocate instantly for those of the micromanagement persuasion. You also get some additional types of mortar bombardment for your trouble. 

Abilities

Mortar Barrage: click ability pane, click an area that isn’t currently exploding. Fix that. 

Smoke Barrage: Click ability pane, click an area that isn’t mired in smoke. Fix that. Useful for annoying machine gunners that have you pinned, AT guns that are making the lives of your Sherman drivers difficult, and covering retreats. 

White Phosphorous Barrage: Costs 25 muns. Evil weapons that burn enemies and blind them at the same time. Very much area denial. 

M56 Delayed Fuse HE Barrage: Costs 25 muns and requires Vet 1. Now THIS is interesting. Most mortar shells explode when they hit the ground. These little noisy crickets stick in the ground and THEN explode, dealing additional damage to vehicles. I don’t think it will bring down a tank even with a direct hit though.

M15A1 AA Half-Track

Cost 310mp/50 fuel
Pop Cap 6

Why is there an AA weapon on this battlefield? Well, sometimes the Germans like to call in air-strikes and supplies and this puts the kibosh on that. Just try and not get One F Jeff’d while doing this (A situation where you destroy an aircraft and are then killed by its crashing fuselage. YES, THAT CAN HAPPEN). But here’s the question to ask: what would happen if you took those guns that can rend aircraft metal to a falling fiery wrecked mess from hundreds of meters away, and turned them on infantry? Answer: the price of hamburger took a sharp decline this week. Armed with twin-linked .50 cal machine guns, and a 37mm M1A2 Autocannon, this mean motherhubber makes short work of infantry units who find themselves lacking in a vehicle solution, first suppressing and then murdering them with all the calm compassion of Michael Myers at the unsupervised adult massage parlor. It’s only real weakness is the same paper armor that covers every other half-track and the fact that it has a blind spot right in front where the truck cab is located. However, it has extreme range and can swivel, acquire, relocate, and run and gun until whatever meat was giving you a problem has stopped being a problem. It has no upgrades because it doesn’t need them. It has only one ability: where it parks itself and looks for aircraft to take down before going back to the butcher shop. It’s actually kind of a barbaric weapon…but effective, nonetheless.

M5A1 Stuart

Cost 270mp/70 fuel
Pop Cap 6

If the Stuart was a battletech figure, it would be an UrbanMech. It is a light tank with reasonably good speed, just enough armor to gain immunity to small arms fire, but is utterly useless against anything bigger than a half-track in a straight fight. But by God, the little guy tries so hard, and because of that determination, in combination with his abilities, he remains viable well into late-game in the realms of harassment and infantry support. Because of that, he has garnered something of a reputation as a fan favorite amongst US players, and there’s just something kind of endearing about it. 

Abilities

Shell Shock: Costs 45 muns. Because what’s funnier than a light tank completely disabling a super heavy with repeated crits of crew injury, turret jamming, and engine damage while doing next to nothing to its health bar? This skill lasts only 7 seconds, but the Stuart will repeatedly pound its target at a very rapid rate with each shot having a very high chance of a critical hit. 

Point Blank Engine Shot: Costs 60 muns. Puts a round from that 37mm cannon right into the engine block of an enemy vehicle. This skill inflicts extreme engine damage, and is possibly the reason why the Stuart has a reputation for punching above its weight. It does require one to close the distance, but German armor can penetrate the Stuart’s hull regardless if it is 100 meters away or 10 meters away, so it makes little difference.

Captain

Cost 280mp/ 35 fuel (first time)
Squad Size 5
Pop Cap 8

Another unit required for the next tier of technology. The Captain is rather meh is terms of combat potential having only marginally useful abilities for such. His mastery comes from managing the firebase, however, with use of Supervise. 

Abilities

Combined Arms: Costs 125 muns. Same as the Lieutenant ability of the same name. 

On me!: Requires vet 1. Targeted squad will retreat to the Captain and lose suppression. The effected unit will gain 20% accuracy, and enemy squads targeting it will suffer a 20% accuracy loss. 

Supervise: Increases production speed of targeted building by 300%!!! This is why the Captain should be relegated to guard the base, as his skills will increase United States troop production capacity to madness. 

Pathfinders

Cost 290mp
Squad Size 4
Pop Cap 6

Well, isn’t this a neat little hybrid squad? Originally meant to infiltrate enemy territory and flag landing zones for paratroopers, Pathfinders are a mix between Riflemen and the Sniper, having the ability to camouflage themselves when in cover as an innate passive ability. They also have other things that make them a pain in the posterior for unsuspecting Germans. 

Abilities

Set up Beacon: Same as the Sniper’s ability. Detects enemies, makes paradrops more accurate and lets paratroopers reinforce from here. 

Paradrop WC51 and Crew: Costs 240 mp/10 fuel/5 pop cap. Beep Beep, Jeep from the sky. Everyone should do this at least once. Normally, shoving a jeep out the back of an aircraft in flight would be seen as counterproductive, but these guys have found a way to make it work! The absolute MAD MEN!!!

Assassinate: Costs 45 muns. From their position of perfect concealment, Pathfinders are in a unique position to determine who dies, and then make them do so promptly with this ability. One click, and a member of the infantry squad under your mouse cursor has his head suddenly explode. 

Hold Fire: Toggle ability to keep Pathfinders from shooting folks. 

Hunker Down: Same as riflemen ability.

I&R Pathfinders

Cost 250 mp
Squad Size 4
Pop Cap 6

More or less the same as regular Pathfinders. They still cloak in cover, set up beacons, and all that jazz, but lost their ability to snipe singular people out at range. Instead, they have the power to make a whole BUNCH of people die at range via artillery strikes! The I&R part of their name stands for Information and Recon, and they are feeding that information back to the nice guys crewing the artillery guns off the map. Team work makes the dream work. 

Abilities

Decoy Barrage: Costs 20 muns. I doubt this fools the AI, but one should be singing the Trololo song while using this. All it does is throw down flares like a bombardment is coming down, but there’s no boom. 

155mm Artillery Barrage: Costs 140 muns. THIS has boom.

Rangers

Cost 400 mp
Squad Size 5
Pop Cap 10

Some of the finest infantry that can be fielded in this game, and at 400 mp a piece, they ought to be. Rangers exist to end the hopes and dreams of Axis armor. 

Abilities

Limited Demolition Charge: Costs 60 muns. Rangers carry a bit of C4 with them that works the same as for the Assault Engineers. They have only 3 uses of it though, and once they’re done, they’re done. So make them count, Mr. Bay. 

Sprint: costs 10 muns. Squad will move faster for 5 seconds with no down sides. Useful for getting those guns in someone’s face or a demo-charge under a tank. 

Frag Grenade, Smoke Grenade, Hunker Down: Same as Riflemen abilities of the same names. 

Upgrades

4x Thompson Machine guns: Costs 90 muns. Rips German squads apart at close range before they can even scream “MEIN LEBEN!” 

3x M1 Garand Rifles: Costs 60 muns. Turns Rangers into a long range death squad. Just to mess with expectations. 

2x M9 Bazooka: Costs 100 muns. Gives Rangers an anti-vehicle solution that will finally put the argument of German armor superiority vs American infantry to bed. Spoiler Alert: Americans win. 

Can attach a medic OR Sergeant for Health Regen/faster veterancy for 40/60mp

Builds Sandbags ONLY. Price to pay for being awesome, I guess. 

M1 57mm Anti-Tank Gun

Cost 270 mp
Pop Cap 7

Rip off the gun of a tank, put it on wheels, and make a few guys carry it around. That’s an AT gun. It blows up tanks. Not really much to say about this one. 

Abilities

Fire Armor-Piercing Discarding-Sabot Rounds: Costs 30 muns. Those of you who know what these are are smiling, those who don’t are in for an education. After pulling the trigger, a sabot shell’s exterior falls away en route to the target, leaving a long, sharp dart with rifled fins flying through the air. To say that the armor piercing ability of these munitions is extreme is putting it lightly. They tend to smash through enemy tanks like a wet paper bag. Even from rather long range, they can inflict some rather surprising penetration damage. 

Take Aim!: Costs 20 muns. Increases firing range by reducing firing angle. Combined with Sabot rounds as mentioned above, a well hidden AT gun can reach out and touch German armor from very unexpected distances and angles, when being spotted for by snipers and pathfinders. 

Prioritize Vehicles: Toggled ability. As funny as it is to instagib enemy infantry with a 57mm shell, it’s also kind of wasteful. We have people who are better at murdering the meat, so leave that to them. AT guns should focus on poking nice wide holes in tin cans, and this ability will make them ignore enemy infantry in favor of doing that. 

Hold Fire: Keeps gun from firing until your ambush is perfectly set. 

Attach Medic: Costs 40 mp. AT guns tend to attract a fair amount of hate, so healing is handy.

M1 75mm Pack Howitzer

Cost 340mp
Pop Cap 8

A wonderful little long-range doom dealer. Has a narrow, but long cone of fire, and loves more than anything to blow things up. The crew is just lazy and doesn’t feel like hauling this big thing all the way over there. 

Abilities

High Explosive Barrage: Click pane, click an area that needs explosions. Supply. 

High Explosive Anti-Tank Barrage: Requires Vet 2. Same barrage, but bigger explosions, more vehicle damage, tastes good, less filling. 

White Phosphorous Barrage: Costs 25 muns. Blankets the area with burning, stinging, denying white phosphorous.

Attach Medic: Costs 40 mp. This thing has such a long range that it’s unlikely to come under enemy attack, but you never know.

Salvage Truck

Cost 180 mp/15 fuel
Pop Cap 5

A wholly unique vehicle. It has absolutely no use in combat whatsoever, but often follows behind combat. It can park itself and recover enemy scrap, or allied for that matter, for excess fuel and muns. Keep one hotkeyed and keep it moving from wreck to wreck. The war department will praise your ingenuity.

Mechanized Combat Group

Cost 420 mp/30 fuel
Pop Cap 12

This is just like the Assault Group M3, except it carries Cavalry Riflemen! And at a discount as well. 200 for the Half-track, means 220 for the CR’s, saving you 60 mp. Adds up, y’know.

M5 Half-Track Transport

Cost 270 mp/fuel 30
Pop Cap 5

This seems to be a side-grade to the M3 Half-track, and has a top mounted machine gun with the ability to carry two squads that can fire out the back for classic battle bus performance. 

Abilities

Overdrive: Requires Vet 1. Enemies targeting this receive a 25% penalty to accuracy, and those targeting the occupants have a 50% penalty. The vehicle has 60% more acceleration. 

Upgrades

Anti-Air Package: Costs 100 muns. Rips out the seating for an anti-air/infantry quad .50 cal machine gun. Yeah…I got chills just writing that too. It acts exactly like you’d expect. Suppress and exterminate. And, just like the repair package, the M5 doesn’t lose it’s ability to reinforce from doing this. It does, sadly, lose the top mounted machine gun.

M8 Greyhound

Cost 280 mp/40 fuel
Pop Cap 6

This vehicle was actually extremely popular among WW2 troops for it’s speed and maneuverability, and this translates extremely well to the game. The Greyhound can roam from hot spot to hot spot, smiting the wicked with righteous fire and furious vengeance. Please disregard the anachronistic Initial D sound track coming from within during drifts. 

Abilities

M2 Cannister Shot: Costs 40 muns. Turns the top mounted gun into a one-time use gigantic shotgun with predictable results. Everything made of meat in the circle is promptly deleted. 

Upgrades

Pintle-Mounted Browning M2 Machine Gun: costs 70 muns. Adds a nice machine gun that can twist 360 degrees to the top of the vehicle. Good against meat on the ground, and sees limited use against aerial targets as well. 

Armored Skirts: Costs 70 muns. Turns a fragile light vehicle into a slightly less fragile vehicle. I question if it’s worth it, but you do you, chief. 

M8A1 Howitzer Motor Carriage

Cost 260 mp/75 fuel
Pop Cap 10

This thing looks adorable. It’s a tiny TINY stub nosed self-propelled gun that is only slightly larger than the Stuart. The big thing that this tiny terror has going for it is that it can fire while on the move and does so by indirectly pounding the same spot. Once started, it won’t stop until it’s duration expires, it dies, or you give it a stop command. 

Abilities

Mobile 75mm Barrage: Starts pummeling an area with extremely accurate indirect fire while freely remaining on the move. 

Mobile Smoke Barrage: Same as before, but with smoke! 

Concealing Smoke: Requires Vet 1 and 30 muns. There’s times when the M8 is discovered by enemy troops and/or armor. All bad things with no good things in sight whatsoever, which means it’s time for the Joestar ultimate technique. The Motor Carriage has several smoke bomb launchers on its hull, and popping this ability will create a point blank smoke cloud that follows the path of the vehicle for several seconds, allowing for escapes at top speed while mooning a blinded enemy with your tender sensitive rear armor. 

The Major

Cost 190 mp/80 fuel (first time)
Pop Cap 3

The final tier upgrade purchase of the Americans, and, in a straight fight, the Major is pretty worthless. He is, as the vernacular goes, a caster unit that relies on his abilities to make a difference in the fight. 

Abilities

Recon Flight: Costs 50 muns. Directs a recon flight over an area that you want to see, which is useful for cheap(ish) scouting, and for revealing targets for…

Rapid Barrage: Costs 60 muns. Make sure some Germans are inside the circle and watch them get mashed to paste. The Major gains exp from every unit around him, and when he gains veterancy, more shells are dropped during this ability for the same cost in muns. 

Establish Retreat Point: When instructing units to retreat, they flee to the Major’s current locked down position instead of the fire base when this ability is enabled. Combine this with an ambulance, a deployed repair M3 Half-Track, a beacon, and some quick fortifications, and you have yourself a pretty satisfactory FOB that can see any threats coming well in advance, and bring the hammer down on anything that your army can’t outright destroy via rapid artillery bombardments.

Vehicle Crew

Cost 140mp
Squad size 4
Pop Cap 4

Not much to say about these guys. They come with every other vehicle you purchase for free, and if you manage to kill the crew of an enemy tank (congrats, btw), that’s the only time you’ll be buying one of these. I should also mention that, without a crew, a vehicle defaults to a neutral game world object. It is the crew that provides the soul, player ownership AND EXPERIENCE LEVEL for that vehicle. So, if you have a 3 star veteran tank crew, and they run into an AT ambush, they can bail out of the tank before it explodes and swap out of a newly bought replacement vehicle to instantly promote it back to the level it was before. You can also use long range xp farms like the Priest or the Calliope to rack up kills, and then swap the crew out with a Sherman or Pershing that just rolled up. Vets roll up to the front lines, and the newbies crew the artillery. 

Abilities

Repair: if they’re not driving stuff, or walking to something they’re going to drive, they’re fixing their ride. 

Repair Critical: Costs 25 muns. Happens to the best of us. About to launch an attack, and that AT gun you never saw jams the turret. Crew can hop out, fix a bit of damage and a single critical effect, and hop back in. 

Hunker Down: Why you have your team hiding behind cover instead of wrecking face in a tank is beyond me.

M7B1 ‘Priest’ Howitzer Motor Carriage

Cost 480mp/fuel 115
Pop Cap 15

The Priest is an long range indirect fire monster that can give someone a love tap from quite a distance away. If you’re an Axis fanboy and suddenly found that you have a big shiny new hole blown in your precious Panzer with no idea what did it, it was probably a Priest with an artillery spotter. 

Abilities

105mm Howitzer Barrage: This directs the Priest to fire at the targeting circle. While the impact point is extremely small, smaller than even the mortar teams, it hits like the hammer of God, and has an effective range that is 75% of a 1v1 map. 

Creeping Barrage: Costs 50 muns. Instead of hammering a singular point like the kneecaps of Nancy Kerrigan, this instructs the Priest to fire in a pattern, moving from point A to B.

M4 Sherman Calliope

Cost 380mp/140 fuel
Pop Cap 15

It took us quite a while, but we have FINALLY reached the tanks proper. See what I mean about CoH2 not being only about tanks? Look at all that other useful stuff we covered before now. But now… ohhh, we get to the truly satisfying parts. They’re big, they’re metal, they’re here to kick butt and chew gum, and we’re all out of gum. In this case, the Calliope does all of these things from a rather comfortable distance, and the question most people have when seeing one for the first time is “GOOD. GOD. WTF is that”. The thing they are referring to is the MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) unit bolted to the top of the turret. Sadly, the turret doesn’t work anymore, but that’s of little concern because of the Calliope’s one ability. 

Abilities

183mm Rocket Barrage: I have to disagree with the name of this power because it should be referred to as LOCALIZED APOCALYPSE. A single Calliope can turn an area from calm, soothing nature to 100% explosions in seconds, and a group of them can make even the mightiest of graphics cards burst into fiery tears. To top it all off, this has no cost in muns. Enjoy 🙂

M4A3 Sherman Medium Tank

Cost 340mp/110 fuel
Pop Cap 12

Prior to Pearl Harbor, the United States had little desire nor preparation to be involved in the massive globe spanning slap fight it suddenly found itself involved in. Two events demonstrated this in spades: the MK 14 torpedo fiasco (not your concern in this game) and the initial deployment of the Sherman tank. To say that German armor had a bit of an edge would be like describing the depths of space as a smidge unpleasant to skinny dip in. A popular bit of Gallows humor of the time was to refer to a Sherman as a “Ronson” after the cigarette lighter. Because they “always light up the first time”… meaning that when struck, they tended to explode. Amusingly, by the end of the war, Ronson was making flamethrower systems for the Sherman Crocodile variant, and this saying took on a whole new meaning. Gameplay wise, the M4A3 is cheaper than most MBTs and is reasonably quick with a healthy amount of abilities and upgrades, but still lacks the power to reliably penetrate heavier German tanks. Face rolling simply isn’t going to work here. Time to chip away at the boulder, gentlemen.

Abilities

Ammo Swap: Toggled ability. The Sherman can swap out it’s AP ammo for HE rounds, increasing the splash from it’s main gun for gardening blobs. However, HE’s are even more useless against heavy German armor. 

Smoke Screen: Costs 30 muns. The Sherman has a reputation for getting into trouble and needing to beat a hasty retreat. To that end, it’s hull has several smoke bomb launchers mounted to it. Click an area around the tank, and it will rain 4 smoke shells to that area to block line of sight. Useful for the ultimate Joestar technique (GTFO), or blinding an enemy tank for surprise rear armor fornication. 

Radio Net: Requires Vet 1. This is actually a hidden one, but it’s of vital importance for running these tanks and I feel it’s worth a mention. When a Sherman at rank 1 is near another Sherman, it will extend to them a 10% faster reload and 5% sight radius buff. This is on a per allied unit within the aura’s radius basis. Meaning it STACKS. So if you have 3 vet 1 Shermans all working together, they’ll all be enjoying a 30% faster reload speed bonus. 

Upgrades

M1 Dozer Blade: Costs 70 muns. Mounts a literal bulldozer blade to the front of the tank, letting it smash trees, hedge rows, schnitzel carts, small children, LARGE children, basically whatever is in the way. It can also shove up dirt into a sandbag like structure for some green cover for infantry. Good guy Sherman. 

.50 cal Browning M2HB Machine Gun: Costs 70 muns. Mounts a rather large and intimidating machine gun to the top roof of the tank. Because if infantry weren’t having a good time being slaughtered by the front hull mounted gun, or being blasted to quivering bits of disappointment and facistic failure by HE rounds, then the gunner will make sure that everyone who came to America’s “welcome to the war” party gets a slice of cake. By that, I mean bullet cake.

M4A3(105) Sherman Medium Tank

Cost 340mp/125 fuel
Pop Cap 14

This is a sub-variant of the Sherman MBT that seems to have more of a mind toward infantry… in that it wants to kill them. They swapped out the cannon with a Howitzer with a MASSIVE splash radius that can easily delete entire squads. It’s also quite damaging toward buildings as well, but less suitable for vehicle combat. The projectiles are SLOW moving and have a very short range. Aside from this, the 105 has all the same abilities as the regular Sherman excepting that it can’t swap out its ammo.

M4A3(76) Sherman Medium Tank

Cost 380mp/125 fuel
Pop Cap 12

This is another sub-variant of the Sherman MBT that swapped out it’s main gun for a harder hitting 76mm cannon that has more penetration over enemy armor. This variant has the same set of abilities as the prior vanilla tank except that it cannot swap out its ammo, and it lacks the dozer blade upgrade. If you can’t afford a proper tank destroyer or need something that can take a few hits on the front lines, the 76 has you covered.

M4A3E8 Sherman Medium Tank

Cost 380mp/140 fuel
Pop Cap 14

Beginning in August, 1944, the US finally started to get its act together in the art of war in that it understood that you need to have better stuff than your enemy and use it in order to win. The E8 design had employed a sports car style suspension and instead of feeling every little bump, divet, pot hole, German soldier roadkill, and land mine in the road, it carried its crew forward in a smooth, easy ride, hence the name of “Easy Eight”. This translates to a faster tank that is more accurate on the move. To sum up, the vanilla Sherman’s merit is flexibility and marginal cheapness, the 105 blows apart infantry, the 76 kills tanks, and the E8 has accuracy and mobility. They all share similar abilities and upgrades, and deployment really depends on the play style of the commander and what the situation calls for. 

M26 Pershing

Cost 600mp/fuel 230
Pop Cap 19

This is it. The big one. The plumber that unjammed the toilet clog that is the 3rd Reich’s continued existence in Company of Heroes. The John McClane to Hitler’s Hans Gruber. The Superman to Goring’s Lex Luthor. Chris Hemsworth against Tom Hiddleston. If the Pershing had a voice, it would sound like R. Lee Ermy. This is the very best the United States army can field in direct combat under the All Units mod, and for the price tag involved, you can expect nothing less. The game’s tool tip explains that it is on par with the German Panther. “Why not the Tiger?” I hear some of you ask. Because the Tiger was a shoddily designed piece of crap that had a tendency to burst into flames on its way to the front whereas the Panther had a decent mix of reliability, mobility, bang bang, and durability, and I stress that compromise is for losers. It was this homework that American engineers copied and changed a little bit so that it wasn’t obvious. Sadly, the price tag attached to this is so ridiculous that by the time you can get it, you’re already well on your way to winning a match. Should you lose it, you’re well on your way to losing that match. Seriously, you could buy two Shermans of any variety for the same fuel cost or 3 squads of riflemen. Or half a dozen light vehicles. 

Abilities

Fire M93 HVAP Armor Piercing Round: Costs 90 muns. I should mention that, up until this point, the biggest gun on any American MBT was 76mm. The Pershing hit the field in 1945 with a 90mm gun. To the Germans, this was a horrifying surprise that reached out and applied an AP shell directly to their place their Fatherland liked to touch them when he had custody on the weekends, despite their feeling that they were at a completely safe range. One moment, they were watching this new tank they’d never seen before slowly stop some distance in front of them, the next moment they were face to face with God, being informed that an entire new wing of Hell had been opened specifically for them. The HVAP round amplifies that a little further in that it ANNIHILATES everything in a straight line from the barrel to the edge of the map. Terrain will not stop it, it will smash right through buildings, and penetrate tank armor with laughable ease. The only thing that would survive it is a Tiger, and not without significant damage.

Concealing Smoke: Costs 30 muns. In case you ever encounter a situation where the Pershing actually needs to run away from something… never invite me to your games. I don’t need to witness that. But seriously, the tank is equipped with several smoke launchers that can fire off and generate a nice bit of cover for itself. 

Upgrades

M3A1 90mm gun: Costs 60 muns. In case you just weren’t content with the righteous fire the Pershing was dealing out before, you can upgrade it to offer a bevvy of small improvements. Sadly, I can find no data on what improvements are made, so if someone could message me with that knowledge, I would be happy to include it. 

Armored Skirts: Costs 90 muns. Equips the Pershing with yet another generous layer of armor on its sides and treads, because it’s funny to see how far 2nd place can fall behind. Sadly, this comes at a cost to speed and maneuverability, but even the Pershing can’t have everything.

M10 Tank Destroyer

Cost 300mp/80 fuel
Pop Cap 10

Now we get into the more destructive children of Uncle Sam: the Tank destroyers. There are two, and both have certain shared characteristics. They have no machine guns or even the option of an upgrade to acquire them because hunting infantry is neither their job, nor in their title. They have extremely long range, all the better to give enemy armor a swift poke with, and they have paper armor because they are not meant to be used in slug fests. That’s what the Sherman is for. They are meant to sit in the back row and offer fire support (read: kill stealing) on already acquired targets. The M10 Wolverine does a decent job at this, and is even cheaper than a Sherman of any variety, but you get what you pay for. 

Abilities

HVAP M93 Shells: Costs 30 muns. Sadly, these HVAP shells don’t do what the Pershing’s does. No, this is a 20 second long self-buff where their cannon sports increased accuracy and armor penetration. 

Flanking Speed: Costs 30 muns. Fighting a M10 Wolverine is like….well…fighting a Wolverine. A rabid one. Shoved down the front of your pants and you can’t catch him because he’s moving at flanking speed. This is a 10 second long self-buff that increases speed, and accuracy on the move. Combine these two abilities and you have a delicious recipe for surprise rear armor engine block fornication.

M36 Jackson Tank Destroyer

Cost 400mp/140 fuel
Pop Cap 16

Remember when I said that the biggest gun mounted to a MBT was 76mm? Yeah, there’s an exception to that. The Pershing shares its gun size with the Jackson. I’d like to believe that these two are the bestest of Bros on the battlefield. The Simone to Pershing’s Kamina, if you will. The Jackson’s ability to snipe unsuspecting armored targets borders on the outrageous, combining speed, range, penetration and stopping power into the perfect mix for a tank destroyer. Hell, slap a machine gun on it and give it some armor, and this thing would become a Pershing! And you’re often able to acquire a Jackson at a much more reasonable price. 

Abilities

T30E16 HVAP-T Armor Piercing Rounds: Costs 30 muns. Again, NOT what the Pershing has. This is a 20 second long self-buff that increases damage and armor penetration even further because Panzer IV’s need to die in one pull of the trigger.

Radio-Post

Cost 80 mp/5 fuel

This is a simple, small building that can only be built in your HQ territory. It has 3 upgrades, and all they do is unlock the corresponding commander. 

Artillery: 300mp/35 fuel
Air Force: 250mp/30 fuel
Paradrop: 200mp/20 fuel

Heavy Support General

Cost 180mp
Squad Size 3
Pop Cap 6

I’m convinced that this man’s name is General Bay. He loves to blow things up, and his entire strategic doctrine is blowing up everything around the enemy in hopes to kill them. He’s pretty useless in direct combat, but is an extremely powerful spell caster unit. Be careful though. He tends to blow through your munitions stockpile like a Post Office Worker. Another interesting point is that, no matter how many people the HSG murders in the coldests of bloods, he won’t gain any exp for it. He will only rank up by calling in Artillery drops. So keep him safe, keep him stocked on muns, and keep those shells raining.

Decoy Barrage: Costs 20 muns. Throws down flares, and the enemy flees, expecting bewm. But there is none. What a troll. 

Smoke Barrage: Costs 50 muns. Instructs off-map artillery to blanket an area with smoke. Useful for giving Thompson Riflemen cover so they can approach and pop up through the smoke like murderous Jack in the Boxes, or covering an escape when things have gone south. Honestly, every ability that does this is surprisingly useful. 

White Phosphorous Smoke Barrage: Costs 130 muns. Does damage over time to infantry units and obscures their vision like smoke does. Because, not only are the Germans not taking this point, Riflemen are going to leap on said point like meth empowered Praying Mantis men the second that it all stops being hazardous to do so. 

Incendiary Barrage: Costs 120 muns. This ability is why the Heavy Support General never goes anywhere without a pack of marshmallows. Why? BECAUSE IT’S FUNNY. Blankets an area with napalm either for area denial or to garden a blob. 

Pin Point Artillery: Costs 130 muns. Launches a single artillery shell at the targeted area that will land at the exact point that you click. Often used to bust up Tigers that think they have the advantage, slaughter deployed weapons teams that are making your life more interesting than it needs to be, or flatten a structure that has taken on a German persuasion. 

155mm Artillery Barrage: Costs 180 muns. Flattens a rather large area. The shells fall randomly anywhere within the circle, and are quite capable of deleting a medium tank or reducing a squad into a rain of softly pattering meat bits. Sometimes it’ll hit every target in the area with unerring accuracy, sometimes it won’t do squat, but you gotta ask yourself one question: do I feel lucky? Well…..do ya, Commander? 

240mm Howitzer Barrage: Costs 250 muns. If not, don’t worry. We gotcha covered. These shells are even BIGGER, hit a wider area, do more damage to the point that even a Tiger would fear for its life, and the effected area is hit over a rather long duration. 

Anti-Tank Artillery: Costs 180 muns. This ability is unique in that it aims for a specific target as well as can be expected. Every vehicle in the area has a shell with its name on it. So if the Germans are making a push with Tigers and Panthers and Panzers, oh my, this’ll swing things back your way.

Airborne Assault Officer

Cost 180mp
Squad Size 3
Pop Cap 6

The HSG’s best buddy, his mission in life is the oversight of mun point captures and then the depletion of said muns by dropping them from high altitude directly onto a Nazi at high speed. His skill set is more well-rounded than the HSG, and his strikes land faster with a smaller delay, but tend to hit long narrow corridors instead of wide circular areas. It should also be mentioned that some maps have blizzard conditions, which will prevent any kind of air action from taking place. Any currently active ability will still operate until the end of its duration, though. Another caveat is that German AA units will end his air show pretty quickly, so, as with all my advice, which one sees the most action will depend upon circumstance and personal taste. 

Recon Sweep: Costs 60 muns. Recon plane flies over the targeted area and tattles on enemy movement. 

P47 Recon Run: Costs 80 muns. Instead of doing a straight shot across the map and then heading off for greener pastures, planes will circle the targeted area and keep it revealed. This is doubly helpful for ground units as most have a weapon range longer than their sight range, providing opportunities for amusing vehicle snipes and squad slaughters from unexpected angles. 

M83 Cluster Bombs: Costs 80 muns. It’s hard to say if this skill is more funny or more effective. An aircraft drops off what amount to tiny grenades that flutter down much like seed pods. Once they hit the ground, they remain there until set off by an enemy. This is very much a fire and forget weapon in that you blanket a point with mines, and then forget about it until Hans starts screaming that something blew his legs off. 

P-47 Strafing Run: Costs 125 muns. This paints a long, narrow area for a P-47 to come screaming out of the sky and blanket with bullets. Infantry units are instantly suppressed and/or slaughtered. Kind of pricey, and does nothing to vehicles at all. 

P-47 Thunderbolt Strafe: Costs 150 muns. Same as the strafing run except that aircraft hang around and make double extra super sure that all the hostile meat on the ground is thoroughly ventilated via multiple passes over the same area. 

P-47 Attack Run: Costs 180 muns. This is the ability demonstrated at the end of the US Forces trailer. P-47s make a single pass and unleash everything, pummeling a long narrow area with suppressing machine gun and rocket fire. If there’s anything left in the target area, they’ll be in no shape to fight. That ringing sound that they hear is called Shell Shock, and what you’re about to do is called a Coup De Grace. 

P-47 Rocket Strafe: Costs 240 muns. Near the end of the war, most Panther casualties were taken from air-strikes which the tank could not escape from. There was nowhere it could go that allied aircraft could not follow, and no cover that could not be blown to bits around it. I can only assume that Allied AAO’s had unlocked this ability and were using it to punish German Armor crashes. Once you have selected a target area, P-47s patrol it and if they see anything with wheels, treads, or any kind of engine to speak of, they redecorate the surrounding landscape with debris and the charred corpses of its crew like they’re some kind of high speed aerial Martha Stewart. It’s a good thing.

Field Support Commander

Cost 180 mp
Squad Size 3
Pop Cap 6

A more sensible individual than his previously listed bros, the FSC is more of a logistician than anything else. No matter what how the fight has gone, who is winning, who is fighting, rain or shine, day or night, someway, somehow, he always has exactly what you need just when you need it. He is everyone’s best friend because without him, artillery would have nothing to shoot, aircraft nothing to drop, Shermans would run out of gas, and infantry would be hard pressed to operate effectively without muns. Naturally, he works closely with Pathfinders to ensure that every drop goes as smoothly as possible, and with enough battlefield experience, he can perform blind drops into enemy territory, and reduce the cost of all future drops. Even if you have no map control, the FSC will continue to bring in supplies with the hopes that you might be able to turn this war around. 

Abilities

Pathfinders
Cost 290 mp
Pop Cap 8

Calls in a drop of Pathfinders anywhere within the FSC’s effective ability radius. This is exactly the same as recruiting them from the Fire base except you can do it anywhere. It should also be reminded that the Pathfinders’ beacon improves the accuracy of ALL the FSC’s drops and reduces the margin for error. If a drop lands on a tree, hill, or any other natural game world item, it will be instantly destroyed and the game will warn you about this by highlighting the offending obstacle before you hit the button. Your mp cost will not be refunded if this happens, so don’t miss, scrub. 

Paratroopers 
Cost 380 mp
Squad Size 6
Pop Cap 9

If one were to conjure up the mental image of the United States’ invasion of Nazi controlled France, they would be hard pressed to avoid the iconic visage of paratroopers dropping from aircraft under flak fire. In game, Paratroopers have a large squad size and are extremely robust and flexible with a wide variety of weapon upgrades and useful abilities. They are meant to operate behind enemy lines, sabotaging bridges and other related infrastructure, but stand up reasonably well as front line combatants at the same time. 

Paratrooper Abilities

Sprint: Costs 10 muns. Paratroopers move a little faster for 5 seconds. Quite the useful little ability as CQC weaponry + Fast movement speed = death. 

Cooked MK 2 Frag Grenade: Costs 35 muns. The presence of this ability convinces me that CoH2 is not bound in reality and is, in fact, fiction. Because there is no way a parachute of that era would be able to safely carry the size and weight of the sheer brass balls of the paratroopers involved. When you “cook” a grenade, you pull the pin and hold onto it, keeping a mental count down. If you do this technique correctly, your grenades explode almost as soon as they hit the ground. If you do it incorrectly… you won’t have time to care. 

Timed Explosive Charge: Costs 45 muns. Paratroopers set up a detonation pack with a 5 second timer that does a fairly large amount of damage. There’s a large set-up time and combined with the fuse length, it’s not going to be useful against anything that can move to get away from it. 

Suppressing Fire: Costs 20 muns, and the 2 x M1919A6 LMG upgrade package. Suppresses a single enemy squad instantly, letting the paratroopers pick them off at their leisure. 

Tactical Assault: Costs 20 muns, and the 4x Thompson SMG upgrade package. Increases accuracy even up to medium range at the cost of Paratroopers becoming more vulnerable to enemy return fire. I’ve heard that 3x Paratrooper intel bulletins can nullify this debuff and let you use Tactical Assault with no downsides, but citation is needed. 

Hunker Down: Same as the Riflemen ability of the same name. 

Paratrooper Upgrades

2x M1919A6 LMG: Costs 120 muns. This turns Paratroopers into a long range suppression nightmare. Hunkered down behind green cover with the forward observer upgrade and a beacon close-by, you’d have to level the area to dislodge them. 

4x Thompson SMG: Costs 90 muns. Turns the squad into a close-range bringers of doom and sadness. The SMG packages were good in the hands of other squads, but they didn’t have 4 of them. 

3x M1 Garand Rifles: Costs 60 muns. A long range rifle that has 8 shots to a stripper clip, and once it is expended, the clip is ejected with a very distinctive sound. You can hear it in game if you listen for it. This is a great combo with the LMG package and gives every member of the squad a weapon for long range shenanigans. 

2x Bazookas: Costs 100 muns. Combined with Paratroopers tendency to pop up anywhere and be rearmed with so much as taking an unattended enemy point that is contiguous to your territory, this sets up for surprise rear armor fornication. 

Airdropped Combat Group
Cost 350 mp/80 muns
Squad Size 6 + 1 Art. Gun
Pop Cap 9

This is a lovely little present. A squad of Paratroopers are dropped in, and they bring their own Howitzer with them, opening up new and exciting angles of attack that the enemy never saw coming. You will need a beacon on the ground though as the Howitzer will only be ¾ staffed and the paratroopers will be depleted from the split. 

Ammo Supply Drop
Cost 250 mp

Calls in an air drop for a single crate of 75 muns. The HSG and AAO profess their undying love for this boon. 

Fuel Supply Drop
Cost 250 mp

Calls in an air drop for a single crate of 30 fuel. Go buy yourself something nice. 

Paradrop .50 cal M2HB Heavy Machine gun
Cost 125 mp/50 muns

Calls for a drop of a machine gun. Compared to a normal machine gun crew, this is vastly more expensive (125 + 190 for 3 replacement paratroopers = 315 mp vs 280 mp), but it can be deployed anywhere and done so independently of build queues at the base, so, depending on the situation, it might be worth it. 

Paradrop M1 57mm Anti-Tank Gun
Cost 125 mp/60 muns

Second verse same as the first. Drops in an AT gun so you can put armor in a hearse. Like the MG drop, this is also resource inefficient with 315 mp vs the 270 mp of just grabbing one from the base, and that’s not counting the cost in muns either. I guess it really depends on how much you really want that surprise rear armor fornication from your paradrop team. 

Upgrades

Unlock Fog of War Paradrops
Cost 180mp/ 10 fuel
Requires Vet 1

With this, you can drop supplies, paratroopers, and weapons into areas shrouded by the fog of war. I can tell you, already, that this is NOT a good idea. Supply crates are neutral, and the enemy is free to grab them as well, and it is beyond me why you would want fuel and muns crates being dropped anywhere but by the HQ. Especially given the fact that the FSC can coordinate drops anywhere over the lion’s share of a 1v1 map. Paratroopers could drop right into an enemy machine gun nest, and the weapons are neutral as well. DON’T. HELP. THE GERMANS.

Airbone Support Center and closing statement

Cost 200mp

Think of this as like a poor man’s FOB. It can be constructed anywhere on the cheap, and call in all manner of lovely infantry support, unique units, and splatter enemy positions with airstrikes in a limited radius around the center. If lines move up, the center can self-destruct and be rebuilt somewhere else by a Paratrooper of any variety. 

Paratroopers 
Cost 380mp
Squad size 6
Pop Cap 9

Nothing you haven’t seen before. Paratroopers can reinforce from the center just like a beacon. 

Assault Paratroopers
Cost 400 mp
Squad size 6
Pop Cap 9

Paratroopers, but they spawn in with a BAR instead to augment close-medium range firepower. They also have the benefit of AT and smoke grenades. 

Sniper Team
Cost 380mp
Squad Size 2
Pop Cap 9

Because what’s better than a sniper? TWO snipers, of course! 

Airborne Engineers
Cost 260mp
Squad Size 4
Pop Cap 6

Cheap Assault Engineers that spawn with SMGs and can build everything except fuel/muns caches, and the radio post. Useful to fortify the area around the center. 

Weapon Specialists
Cost 200 mp 
Squad size 5
Pop Cap 5

Repair crews that can fix broken vehicles and merge into other squads to bolster their numbers immediately if a reinforcement position is not available. They can use the repair critical skill at vet 1, but it’s unlikely they’ll last long enough to rank up, either to battlefield casualties or their squad being dissolved into other squads. 

Paradrop M1 81mm Mortar
Cost 270 mp 

Drops a mortar on the center’s location. As with most airdrops, this is resource inefficient as the drop already costs more than a fully functional team from the fire base, and it still requires a crew. The merit to this is that, if the center is stealthily constructed within bombardment range of an enemy position, you can start dropping mortars on them within moments. 

Paradrop Pack Howitzer
Cost 270 mp
Same price as the previous and same result, except that it drops a crewless Howitzer instead of a mortar. Useful if you need to start shelling a position yesterday. 

Paradrop WC51 and Crew
Cost 240mp/10 fuel 

Drops in a single squad of weapons specialists and a beep beep jeep with a .30 cal machine gun, which can be upgraded to a .50 cal if you need some extra infantry harassment power. It has the exact same powers and upgrades as the one deployed from the fire base, but for 40 more mp from the air drop. 

Abilities

Air Support: Costs 60/105/150 muns. Calls in a P-47 within a limited radius around the center. There are 3 tiers of upgrades for 80/100/100 mp and 5/10/10 fuel each, and increases it from a simple recon flight, a patrol with machine guns blazing, and a death parade with rockets aplenty depending on its level. It’s also worth nothing that destroying and relocating the center will NOT reset your upgrade level. You only have to buy these once, and they improve your air strike ability for the rest of the game. 

That concludes my in-depth guide on the American forces for the All Units mod for CoH2. I hope you found it as fun and informative reading all this garbage as I did writing it. I claim credit to nothing except my own words and opinions contained herein. CoH2 was developed by Relic and published by Sega, and was saved with all their work done for them by SneakEye with his mod. 

For my next guide, I’m thinking of analyzing the British Forces. So swap out your whisky for tea and German appeasement. It’s time to get my writings banned in the EU.

Created by Admiral Casual

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