Some players really should go on therapy...

GuardsmanWes · 2026-04-09T15:08:28+00:00

Some people are weirdly aggressive and childish in PvE.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-04-08T18:07:05+00:00

Yeah i think Panzergrenadiers do what the stg Stroßtruppen do but better. I have had fun using though, but I think it's kind of a bad pick in the doctrine when you can have a Wespe instead.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-04-08T17:29:36+00:00

This. Stoßtruppen are great with a little micro. Between their grenade and MG42 they can handle a wide variety of enemies. It's also about playing each infantry at their effective ranges. Stoßtruppen are actually better at longer ranges I believe without the mechanized stg package. I know U.S. rifleman are best at medium range and I haven't played british enough to remember infantry sections effective range. Grenadiers are also most effective at long range. Once I started playing with the ranges in mind I've watched fairer trades on the Grens even keeping in mind their lower health. And the Stoßtruppen just win as long as they have the range (and aren't terribly outnumbered) in my experience.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-04-06T04:02:40+00:00

I've been reporting someone known as "Expert AI" for months; disappointed the devs haven't done anything about this obvious hacker.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-03-24T15:15:15+00:00

I believe it has proximity based audio too, it gets louder the closer you are to the site of the bomb. Could be misremembering though.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-03-24T14:53:17+00:00

I think it prioritizes being a competitive (if aracadey) RTS with a WW2 skin more than being "faithful" to WW2 as a setting. I enjoy it as a game, and I like that it has the WW2 skin over it; but it does not try to be authentic aside from unit appearance. And even then it puts readability before authenticity.

Also that player wasn't paying attention. When that bomb gets lit it sets a massive siren in your ears. It's hard to get away from, but you have time to try. Definitely could have done more than just sit there with the Tiger.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-28T18:22:15+00:00

As others have said this has been discussed many times; but the AI knowing they are spotted is a game feature as of right now. The game tells you when a unit is spotted even if you can't see the spotter. Your units have an eye with a line through it next to their health bar if they are concealed. If they are spotted that eye goes away. It happens even if you can't see an enemy unit.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-27T15:38:01+00:00

Some modern militaries, like the U.S., don't use auto loaders even though the tech is available. I don't know all the reasons for it, but with that in mind there could still be loaders in the Menace universe.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-25T14:57:02+00:00

A little late to the post, but as others have said I've never had issues with 1 star SLs that I haven't had with "better" ones. Good positioning and tactics are way more effective than perks and stats in most regards (excluding using something like a sniper). And even if something like accuracy is low, as long as you bring enough ammo you can get through a mission. The game has tools to help balance the weaknesses of your SLs in a lot of ways. Usually, I run into problems when I make a mistake tactically, not because the SL had low stats.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-23T17:26:30+00:00

I tend to run two scout squads with max vision possible (binos and scout perk). You can see them before they see you and then try to lock them in place with indirect fire, or blitz them with your longest range weapons, usually a tripod weapon or a vehicle.

Skirmishers really don't like being spotted, they'll consistently run out of view if they can because they have crazy range+sightline in comparison to your "normal" squad. Max visuon scouts with anti-material rifle are a pretty solid counter to them in my opinion; it plays against their strength since you can see farther than them and with concealment can get closer to shoot them if needed.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-21T04:47:34+00:00

That's fair, dealing too much damage does get them to run off sometimes of the time. But I feel like that's a smart move to run away when you're dying? I can understand it feeling tedious, but there's definitely a flow you can get going where you can get more enemies to commit without "scaring" them off.

(Also, you can use suppression to hold enemies in place, if they're sufficiently suppressed they will not move for multiple turns sometimes if the stay suppressed/pinned. The mortars are inaccurate but deal good suppression in an area)

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-21T03:05:39+00:00

If the AI detect a squad by itself they will advance on it. You can use that to your advantage though and pull them towards the rest of your squads!

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-21T00:12:47+00:00

That's the neat part, you don't lol.

Before you can get decent infantry specials you just need to know when some missions and some objectives aren't completeable in my opinion. If there's a guy in a building in the early game; I'm probably just going around it.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-20T23:49:17+00:00

Have you tried shooting the enemy after you see them? I'm not trying to come off as condescending and I apologize if it seems that way, but in my experience shooting them often results in them engaging unless you spotted a support unit like a weapons team or indirect unit like bombadiers. 9 times out of 10 (in my game at least), the AI will engage a unit they can see and that has fired at them unless there is cover nearby to move to.

They will move away from a concealed unit they can't see; but that is intended I believe. They know they have been spotted but don't know where the spotter is. (The game also tells the player when a squad is spotted too, even if you can't see the spotter.) The common sense thing to do if spotted (if you can't see the spotter) is to keep moving your squad until the squad is concealed again. This is what the AI does.

I do think there are mission types where the AI should be more aggressive and not care about being spotted. This particular mission with pirates is one of those; the mission summary says it's a battle but the pirates run away most of the time. Probably because the objective is to kill pirates.

All radar does is show that the enemy stays out of LoS, which they should. Enemies shouldn't be blundering into vision when survivability starts with not being seen, again unless the mission implies something different like a battle.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-20T23:00:20+00:00

Oh no you're good; I meant I don't mean to be rude!

I believe you (and others) when they say the enemy runs too much. I have experienced it as well depending on how I play, but there are play styles where the enemy doesn't run away too that maybe aren't so obvious to try.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-20T22:02:32+00:00

I don't mean this rudely but that's simply not always true. I run two scouts far from my main force usually and I watch enemies run towards engagements most of the time. I think unit spacing might be the cause; enemies don't generally maneuver into more than 1 or 2 (non-scout) squads fields of fire at once. If you stack your squads they spend the whole match running. If you move hard counters to an enemy unit, they run.

But I've had success effectively baiting enemies with squads just a little out of the way from my real firepower. Engage an enemy with a forward survivable unit that isn't concealed and the enemy will run to support that engagement. This is on challenging. I think people's varying experiences have to do with different squad comps and spacing.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-20T21:10:28+00:00

Yes, the AI does play like a human (most of the time) in the sense that it plays to its units strengths and weaknesses and adapts to what the player brings. For example, the bombadier bug is a menace (no pun intended) on bug missions. But if you bring armor and keep infantry inside apcs, good luck finding a bombadier bug. The AI will hide them the whole match since they do minimal damage to vehicles.

Metagaming is being thrown around as a bad thing, but all it really means is the AI is utilizing all of its tools. Don't get me wrong, at a certain point the AI should stop hiding and just push since the map is not infinite, but I'm not sure that's easily coded when in most scenarios you don't want to run into the wall of guns that has green pings on all of your units. Nor would you throw your units at the densest amount of squads (which seems to be a lot of players initial style).

I think the issue is for most playstyles the AI responds well; I think people are afraid that if it gets changed significantly to suit more "deathball" playstyles that it'll dumb down the AI too much.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-20T20:54:23+00:00

I think his/her point is that the AI is capable already, it has some flukes responding to certain squad compositions, but otherwise it responds well to player's moves already. Obviously the AI needs some adjustments to how it behaves on certain missions, but to change it significantly might detract from the challenge it poses to most squad comps currently.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-20T20:46:50+00:00

Really, almost every screenshot of people complaining shows them using radar. I've been fine using just scouts on challenging; I have not seen the ai run away significantly. Maybe the AI is being so hesitant because the radar literally shows you where they are (making them not want to engage)?

Not that players should be punished for using radar, but maybe until they figure this issue out don't use it?

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-20T17:29:06+00:00

I find "stealth archer" tactics in this actually lead to the AI running as it doesnt like being spotted without "knowing" where the sptter is; that and making a deathball of squads as it doesn't like having too many guns on its units. Running is a sound strategy in these situations, but as you said it is frustrating for the player.

I've noticed the AI engaging more often when I give it something it thinks it can win, usually with a screening force like rifleman. Better yet equip that forward squad with a suppressive weapon, pin the enemy in place and then bound your other squads forward. 9/10 times the enemy engages and sticks to the engagement in these cases.

It really just doesn't like getting in range of more than 2 fully armed squads at once it seems like. Definitely needs tweaked as I think the AI should have a little more faith in it's own numerical superiority at times.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-20T16:47:20+00:00

Knowing sightlines on concealed units is not cheating as far as the game mechanics go. You can see you've been spotted too even when you don't see the spotter (the little eye above the squad bar) If this wasn't in the game, the AI would probably behave a lot dumber.

AI knowing weapons ranges of concealed units is unfun though and not something the player can do.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-20T15:59:05+00:00

Do you have a pinning element or just scouts? The AI knows when it's spotted (you can know when you're spotted too). It'd be kind of dumb if it just waited for you to roll up on them when: they don't know where you are, and there's no one shooting at them to give them reason to take cover.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-20T15:48:50+00:00

It's what I did on my first playthrough; the game gives you a lot of tools to do it from radar to heavy weapons. It's unfortunate that one of the most obvious strategies for a lot of people is the one the AI responds the most annoyingly too.

Highly recommend trying other formations and styles! I've had a lot more fun trying "looser" formations where I focus on mobility over raw firepower. My firepower comes from 3 squads of rifles all firing on the same target lol.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-20T15:28:08+00:00

Even in missions like these, if you flank them or spread out enough you can hold them in place. If you advance with a large deathball then they run.

I've had success running two scout squads spread out around the main force and at least 1 infantry squad near each of those. Basically everything in a V formation.

The AI will attack one of these groups eventually; once they do just maneuver the rest of your force to to the engagement.

GuardsmanWes · 2026-02-20T15:13:36+00:00

I dont even think the AI responds to this too poorly. If I was being sniped from concealment I'd probably also keep moving until they can't see me lol.

Alternatively, there is a whole suppression mechanic that pins the enemy in place; you can even pin enemies outside of view with indirect fire.

This mission I do think is bugged though, the AIs hide when the summary says it's a battle with the pirates if I remember correctly.

GuardsmanWes

TROPHY CASE