Do you even need to build tanks in CoH?

I noticed that games in Company of Heroes are fought almost exclusively using infantry, with the addition of small anti-infantry armored vehicle (and the corresponding anti-vehicle guns). Bigger tanks often do not appear even late in the game (with the exception of game-breaking tanks like a Königstiger).

In my experience, serious tanks are too easily destroyed by a scouting opponent to justify their costs, so unless your secondary resources are outstandingly high I consider it better to stick to infantry and small vehicles.

Various replays verified this theory. In what situations do you really need to build tanks, and what are the advantages over a small-unit-strategy?

Solution 1:

Tanks are required late game if the battlefield has devolved into a static battle around fixed emplacements. It is very difficult for infantry to advance into machine-gun fire, and halftracks/light vehicles get nearly one-shotted by the relevant anti-tank defenses. What you need to do is bring tanks and destroy the enemy emplacements, and try to use indirect fire to suppress/remove enemy AT fire. Once you've broken a hole in the defenses, you can then flood your infantry into the gap to cover/protect your tank.

Also, an early Panzer IV in rapid-fire mode is absolutely devastating against enemy infantry, even their AT stuff. So if you can rush to a tank like that before the enemy gets his AT guns in position, you can force an early win.

Solution 2:

Like most units in CoH tanks are great at the right time and place.

• Most tanks dont cost that much

  Tanks built on the map range between ~300MP to ~600MP. Which is not excessive considering main infantry ranges between ~255MP to ~300MP (elite units around ~400). They do cost fuel, however as the game draws longer you should have excess fuel available.

• Tanks have survivability

  Unlike infantry squads which will constantly loose men and need to be replaced, tanks can be repaired for almost nothing. Hence a tank can pay for itself many times over if properly maintained.

• Tanks are situational

  Tanks are easily taken out by anti-tank units, so using them to rush a heavily defended emplacement is costly. The flip side is that in the absence of anti-tank weapons tanks are almost invincible. Hence they will do very well being brought in at just the right time when the enemy is disrupted or temporarily without AT and can be used to flush out anti-inf emplacements so your infantry can move up.

Tanks are far from useless, but require more attention to be used to their full effectiveness.

Solution 3:

Tanks are good for infrastructure damage. Keeping them back and flushing units out of strongholds. Its all about positioning, especially if there's AT units out. Like any other unit, they require a fair bit of micro-management.