There are four factions within Company of Heroes, two for the Allies, and two for the Axis.

All factions have their own unique units and tech tree's as well as different ways in which they undertake certain tasks in Company of Heroes.

The Americans have the power of American Industry behind them, being able to deploy large numbers of cost-effective infantry and armoured fighting vehicles quickly onto the battlefield.

The British/Commonwealth has the skill and knowledge to create versatile defences, while their units are relatively expensive they can more than make up with it through upgrades and veterancy bonuses.

The Wehrmacht has German Engineering under it's belt, their ability to create the best armoured fighting vehicles in the seen in the Western Front makes them a force to be reckoned with, not to mention their wide range of support weapons available.

The Panzer Elite is summarised by superior speed and maneuverability. With most of their units being vehicles the Panzer Elite can quickly move across the battlefield.

While typical RTS games have you creating some sort of worker or villager to gather resources Company of Heroes does not. The player must capture territory points to increase the gather rate of resources.

Company of Heroes has 3 resources:

Manpower: This resource is the main and most bountiful of resources needed to create virtually any unit and world upgrade. In most games, a player will have a manpower gather rate of between 220 and 300. The gather rate is dependent on a number of factors listed below.

• Territory, the more territory points you have, the more manpower you will recieve.
  
• Number, and type of units on the field. Units take up a certain amount of resources which are needed to keep the unit active, it is called 'upkeep'. Only the Americans can reduce it's rate of upkeep (therefore increasing manpower rate, but only when troops are in the field) by making a Supply yard and upgrading it.
  
• Headquarters, if you loose your headquarters you will get a significant reduction in your manpower rate. A headquarters accounts for around 150-200 of your manpower.
  
• If you deploy a King Tiger, Jagdpanther or use the 'Manpower Blitz' ability your manpower rate is reduced by about half for a couple of minutes.

Munitions: This is a resource which is only gathered by capturing munitions territories across the map. Munitions is used to upgrade single squads with extra weapons (Panzer Grenadiers with G43's), make certain units use an ability (smoke shells from a Sherman, or Grenade throw from Grenadiers).

A Wehrmacht player can also gather munitions by using Pioneers to 'salvage' a destroyed vehicle, friendly or hostile. Note: you can't use this ability on destoryed vehicles which come with the map and are there from the beginning.

An American player can also gather munitions by choosing Airborne commander and dropping a supply drop.


Fuel: This resource is very important as it largely determines the ability for a player to tech. Your HQ gives 5 fuel per minute as a base rate, and to increase rates you must capture fuel points across the map.

The American Airborne commander can once again get extra fuel by selecting a supply drop.

The battlefield is divided into territory, each sector has a corresponding resource that it contributes to.

Command Territory is the term given to the Territory that your HQ is in. The main base structures can only be built in Command Territory.

Only certain units can capture territory such as,

All infantry, including snipers, Stormtroopers and Falsmchjager (must be uncloaked)
Support weapons teams (MG's, Mortars)
Vehicles, Kettenkrad, Scout car and Schwimmwagen type 128 (for Panzer Elite) as well as the Bren Gun Carrier if it has a squad or lieutenant/captain inside.

The American Jeep, M8 Greyhound and M4 Halftrack can also capture points, but only if you have researched 'Raid' under he Logistics arm of the Armour Commander Tree.

Securing Territory varies per factions, and when a territory is secured you and your allies receive a boost in resource rate for that resource provided it is still connected with your Command Territory and it can only be captured if the unit/building securing it is destroyed.

A point which gives you +5 fuel/muntions increases to +8 ( a low point)
A point which gives you +10 fuel/muntions increases to +16 (a medium point)
A point which gives you +16 fuel/muntions increases to +24 (a high point)

For the American to secure a territory all they need is to make a Observation post on top of the point itself. Engineers or Riflemen can do this. Engineers can make it faster. (200 manpower)

The Wehrmacht secure points in much the same way as the Americans with an observation post on the point. Only Pioneers can do this for 200 manpower.

The British have a unique way, they move their trucks around the map to secure a point. This means they can only secure 3 points. However it also means they can secure a point by sitting on the edge of the territory, lets say as far away from the enemy as possible, reducing the risk of attack. They can also boost the resource rate beyond the usual increase by upgrading one of the 3 trucks with the resource boost upgrade. Also by choosing Royal Engineer/Sapper commander a player can further increase the resource gather rate of all field trucks in the territory they are in. Note, these 'extra' boosts do not contribute to your allies increases in resource rate, but merely your own.

The Panzer Elite is similar to the British in which is uses a mobile vehicle, the Scout Car. The Scout car cost 220 manpower and must be upgraded with the logistics upgrade (35 munitions) which gives it a bedstead antennae and ability to secure sectors. The Panzer elite, like the British can secure a territory as on the edges of the territory itself, as far away from the enemies as possible. It also has a MG42 for a degree of self defence and can gain veterancy. One downside is that it costs two population points.

Cover

Cover is a fundamental part of Company of Heroes, it can mean the difference between life and death.

There are three different types of cover, Green, Yellow and Red.

Green is the strongest and offers the greatest defence.

Green cover includes items such as:

• Vehicle wrecks, particularly tanks and armoured cars
  
• Sandbags and Dragons Teeth tank traps,
  
• Tank traps, only if they are map items, for instance the American Tank trap that an engineer can make is not included
  
• Haystacks, brick/stone walls, trees and logs, trucks (those little broken pick-ups), fountains and other rubble.

Note that much of the green cover can become destroyed, either through artillery, AT guns, tanks, or careless vehicles crushing it.

Green cover gives POOR defence against grenades, incendiary grenades, flame-throwers and any of flame based weaponry. I think it is best to be out in Red Cover when versing Flame weaponry.

Yellow cover is the most abundant cover, given by most things such as:

• Craters and indents in the ground
  
• smaller walls, shrubs and wooden fences
  
• small piles of rubble

Red cover gives little/no protection and it usually in areas of open land; roads, paddocks etc.

Your units will typically make their way to cover if it is nearby and some units automatically camouflage when in heavy/green cover, i.e. Sappers with PIATS.

Cover reduces the effects of suppression and pinning from rapid fire machine guns.

Typically cover is only for infantry, but vehicles can use it too. For instance your tank could park behind a wrecked vehicle. The wrecked vehicle will absorb some incoming rounds from other tanks, AT guns and AT infantry, until the wrecked vehicle looses all health and becomes a small pile of scrap leaving your tank to fend for itself.

Buildings

In CoH squads can also enter buildings for extra defence. The best buildings to garrison are those with high health, and made from concrete or stone. Wooden buildings offer poor protection. It is also worth noting where the windows are in the building? Are they facing the enemy or facing your base, that might not be too beneficial.

The Americans, Wehrmacht and Panzer Elite can upgrade most buildings into a forward barracks to reinforce and train limited kinds of units. The building must be in connected territory.

Defences

I try and not make too many defences, they are after all static, cost a decent amount and are usually made too close to your base to defend any points of interest until all hope is lost and you are doomed as your opponent has 75% of the map.

They can, however be good at defending certain points where your army could be better use elsewhere and when combined with Barbed Wire and Tank traps can stop the flow of the enemy.

The British have the most diverse set of defensive structures with the Panzer Elite having few.

Landmines

Mines are handy devices which cost between 25 and 50 muntions depending on type and what unit creates them. All factions can create mines and are very good at causing squads to go into supression and for destorying critical parts of a vehicle (engine, tracks etc).

The Americans can make the basic mine which detonates from both infantry and vehicles it costs 25 muntions for a set and are built by the Engineer squad or Riflemen Squad if you have chosen the correct upgrade under Infantry Commander.

M8 Greyhounds can also deploy mines, at the cost of 50 muntions.

The Wehrmacht can create mines through Pioneers.

The British Sapper squad deploys mines for 25 muntions.

The Panzer Elite has a variety of ways:
Panzer Grenadiers can deploy anti tank teller mines. These mines cost 50 munitions and can only be detonated by vehicles. You must choose the Tank Destoyer Tactics to recieve this.
Muntions Halftracks can deploy convention mines for 25 muntions.
Schwimmwagen (tank destoyer tactics) can deploy conventional mines for 35 munitions.
Schwimmwagen can also deploy incendiary mines (Scorched Earth Tactics) for 15 munitions.

It DOES matter where the mines are facing. If the two mines hit the target first you will do more damage than if the one mine hit the target, and the other two mines follow.

Medics

One good thing to make however, is a medic bunker. the Americans, Wehrmacht and British can all make a structure which spawns medics who run off and bring back wounded soldiers to create a new squad. Riflemen, Grenadiers or Infantry sections are always created, regardless of the units that went in.

The medics are uncontrollable and are not auto-targeted by units (Geneva convention) but can be forcibly shot at. They will re-spawn after time.

A wounded soldier is someone who has been shot and effectively killed but can still be seen moving on the ground, they are unselectable and last a limited time.

Veterancy is an important part of any game.

Veterancy increases the effectviness of squads of infantry or vehicles into much more deadly forces. Veterancy is shown by small white squares above the units icon. From zero through to three squares, the more squares the higher the veterancy.

All four factions recieve veterancy in differing ways.

Americans

Americans achieve veterancy through fighting. The more units they kill, the greater their veterancy level becomes. You can increase the rates of veterancy for riflemen by researching Sticky Bombs, BARs, and upgrading your supply yard.

American Veterancy tends to give offensive bonuses with some defensive bonuses. American Veterancy is therefore typically more powerful that Wehrmacht veterancy so keep those vetted squads alive for as long as possible.

Wehrmacht

These guys have an interesting form of veterancy in that they must 'buy it'. The Kampfkraft Centre is resonsible for resreaching veterancy upgrades in four areas; infantry, support, light vehicles and tanks.

It costs a great deal of fuel to fully vet up a unit type, it is generally advised to get veterancy level one for the troop types you use, and as the game progresses go for extra veterancy levels.

Wehrmact Veterancy generally increases the defensive capabilites of a unit, meaning that they can survive out in battle for longer.

The upgrades affect all future units and already deployed units.

British

The British have a very uniue way of gaining veterancy. Only Lieutenants, Captains and the Cromwell command tank gain veterancy.

These units gain veterancy by being with, and 'feeding' off the kills of the soliders he is commanding. British Veterancy is very powerful and can unlock special abilities.

You can make three Lieutenants, but only one Captain and Command Tank.

At level three, lieutenants increase your population cap by 3 points.
Loosing a vetted unit is really bad news, so don't!

Panzer Elite

These guys earn veterancy by scoring kills, and the veterancy is shared between the units depending on how close they are.

When a unit gains veterancy you can choose to upgrade it with a offensive or defensive bonus, this can be done 3 times in whatever order you like.

Generally it is a good idea to get the first level as defensive bonus as it has more benefit there than at the other two levels. You may only want to give some units, such as mortar halftracks an Offensive bonuses.

Units like the Kettenkrad and Bergtiger automatically get defensive veterancy.

the flak 38 and Quad Flakverling can gain veterancy too.

Only one unit can cap a point, there is no reason to have your whole army surrounding one point, it makes them vulnerable to artillery etc.

Always look for cover.

Keep capturing territory, use SHIFT-Move command to queue up orders for your units.

Keep your tanks front armour facing the opponent, generally tanks have thicker and sloping armour on the front to deflect shells and take less damage.

Retreat your squads if they are getting low on health.

Re-crew abandoned weapons the most cost-effective way. Using a 6man Riflemen squad or 5 man Volksgrenadier squad over engineers.

Flank your opponent.