[bojangles5280]

I'm playing as the Americans, around the 22nd day and I'm getting tired of being steamrollered by the endless wave of Panther tanks.  I'm really not sure how to reliably take them out.  

At close range, they kill me, at long range, they kill me faster.  Neither medium or light AT guns work against them (even from the rear).  My tanks do not work against them (I even feel like they're more of a liabilty sometimes with the pathfinding), my tank killers only work some of the time and air power/artillery is totally ineffective.  I find that bazookas and infantry units are the most effective because they can fire and move but bazookas only come with 4 shots apiece and a miserable range (though this does seem rectified in CCV).  

What tactics am I supposed to be using if not shooting the tanks with stuff labeled "AT".

Is it even worth it to play as the Americans?

Another thing I was wondering about was the overarching strategy of the Americans.  I've fallen back in the center, but managed to rollup the German flanks.  The Panthers still keep on coming though.  Even surrounded Panzer units are extremely difficult to kill off with my own tank units.

Sorry if this sounded like a rant.  I genuinely do want advice though, I want to play the grand campaign because I enjoy the battles so much but this issue is really starting to persuade me otherwise.

[pvt_Grunt]

Patience soldier. The hardest thing about CC4 (or any Bulge game) is to keep loosing as the Americans. It's not much fun!. But, soon the Panthers will be replaced by lesser Mark IV's and they will start to run out of fuel. Let them get all the way to Antwerp, get around behind them and cut them off. When they are stalled from lack of fuel / Ammo, at the same time as you get Jumbo's and 76mm Shermans it will change.

[vonB]

Good advice from Grunt.  

Also, another observation, sometimes it seems (and this can go for all CC games, not just 4) that when you are playing as the Allies, the German Tanks can seem invincible, and yet, when playing as the Germans, your Tanks do not seem quite so invincible.

I wonder if you always try to manually select targets to destroy?  Nothing wrong with that of course, but why not try putting your heavy weapons (Tanks, AT) in 'Defend' Mode (and same for Bazookas), and see if the kill rate goes up?  It can be hard to start with letting the AI choose your targets for you as the urge to select targets yourself is strong, but give it s go?

A common technique I use is to put Units such as AT and Bazookas in 'Ambush' Mode to start with.  Reduces the chances of being spotted.  When the enemy hoves into sight and range, change the Mode to 'Defend'.  With Tanks, have them hidden behind cover to start with (so they do not get killed within the first 10 seconds....), and then manouvre accordingly.  I always put Tanks (well, nearly always) in 'Defend' Mode at the start in case your cover is not quite as good as you thought or hoped...

[bojangles5280]

I typically do start my AT guns in ambush mode so they don't get instantly blown up after exposing their position.  

I find that defend mode is quite worthless actually.  The problem is that my tanks do not prioritize between armored targets.  I understand that it may be faster but my Shermans and light AT guns seem to think it's okay to shoot at the frontal armor of the Panthers and let all the other, lightly-armored targets slip around them (On the rare occasion the AI uses tactics).

I also did not realize that I would get better reinforcements.  I was under the impression that I would be getting the same reinforcements that were getting hammered by the Panthers.

Thanks for the replies.

[vonB]

[bojangles5280]

I've tried defend mode again, all I have to say is wow.  On the whole, they perform much better.  Sometimes though, they still perform horribly (like targeting halftracks and such and giving away their position to all the tanks); I think these instances (really isolated incidents) were leaving me with bad taste of defend mode in my mouth.

I also did not realized that AT guns could actually supress tanks.  I suppose if half the crewmembers are stunned then that counts just as much as infantry being suppressed.  

Thanks again.

[vonB]

[Fiestita]

One word mate: FLAMETHROWER

Flamethrowers are THE weapon for taking out those Panthers. Play strictly defensive and retreat if not having adecuate cover, and AMBUSH.

Well placed bazookas can also cause havoc on german armored forces.

Consider also that american armor was not minted to fight german armor in real life, so don't expect to do it in a game. AT weapons are not bad, they are not supposed to impact the Panther's frontal sheets, place them where you can get flank or rear shots, if impossible keep them for loosing.

As the other said wait for the Krauts to exhaust and then crush them with superior resources, but don't sacrifice your armor in a sure to loose struggle.

[papa_whisky]

Bazooka works particularly well from buildings firing down on a tank, but definitely worth keeping them on ambush and keeping some infantry near them to stop them being over run by enemy infantry. As vonB says attacking from multiple directions increases your chances of success.

[Fiestita]

Yes, but firing from multiple directions is efficient by being good in micro-managing. Practice build up the master, and in this game, clock freezes while scrolling, which helps a lot in what micro stands for.

I'm not sure everybody feels the same, but when playing the german side, I particularly clear out buildings using flamethrowers, on foot or half-tracked because in my green days got A LOT of tank casualties due to the mentioned Bazooka's ambush near buildings. German armor is not invincible at all in close range, in CC3 I usually took down Tigers with T-34 Flame quite easily when ambushed properly.

EDIT: Today happened to me the weirdest. While playing 'Moscow Retaliates' in CC3, was ambushing soviet armor in Strongpoing Ivan with the infamous couple of flameguys. Awaited for a KV1a upon their range and had the bad experience of watching both of them MISS their throws and consequently being shot down by the tank's machine-guns. Later on the operation had to fall back to the 1st fortification ring, where I ambushed a T-34 in the northern breach, and again, both guys missed its first shot. Luckily the T-34 was in steep angle and allowed the pussys flameguys' second chance wich did hit the tank but incredibly the entire crew managed to escape alive from the blast, so it made necessary a third flamethrow to roast them.

Never happened to me, was such a fail, and twice  

Anyways that's a proof that many times luck is also a factor in taking out enemy armor. Flamethrows usually works on the first one, but not this time  

[jockthesock]

Ineffectual American fire is built into the early part of the game. Pretty much all of the CC games seem to have this, but CC4 is more obvious than most. The game is guided to pan out like the real event. I once had 4 Shermans with a side on shoot at a Stg. Not only did it get the first shot off, but it knocked out all the Shermans. Later on in the game my 57mm a/t guns were knocking out Panthers head on half the map length. This was playing it on head to head. Very frustrating as you just have to eat it up until the later half of the campaign.