COH 2 - The Western Front Armies: US Forces

A single panther (Or really anything heavy) with infantry support basically renders this faction near useless. If I wanted to resort to constant infantry support, I would have used the soviets.

[h1]Company of Heroes 2 - The Western Front Armies: US Forces[/h1] [h3]Unbalanced Army Expansion with Unnecessary Game Mechanics[/h3] [h3]Not even worth getting in a bundle[/h3] The United States Forces expansion features one of the strongest infantry armies in the early and mid game. However, it is a poorly balanced faction, with a very difficult scaling in the late game against enemy heavy armored vehicles due to the lack of a good anti-tank gun, as well as the absence of a non-doctrinal heavy tank, such as the Sherman Firefly or the Mk IV Churchill used by the British, or an effective medium tank destroyer like the SU-85. Another issue is the lack of a rocket launcher artillery in the late game, similar to the British. Of course, they have other artillery options such as M175mm Howitzer, however, it is a poor alternative with a low rate of fire and moderate accuracy. Other option is the M8A1 Howitzer but this vehicle has a very low barrage range. USF has a very particular tech-up mechanic. At the beginning of the match, you can choose between two different military structures by training either a Lieutenant or a Captain. Each of them grants access to different units: the Lieutenant focuses more on light vehicles, while the Captain provides access to crew-served weapons. This choice between structures is actually unnecessary, since in most cases you will eventually need units from both places, and you will have to spend fuel to unlock them anyway. Another mechanic for this faction that sounds good in theory but works terribly in practice is the vehicle crew system. Every USF vehicle can dismount its crew to use them in combat or to repair their vehicle. However, the long repair time required for heavily damaged vehicles, combined with the fragility of the crew squad, makes this mechanic only usable in safe territory, with the constant risk of being chased down and eventually ambushed by the enemy. In my opinion, this is the faction that relies the most on the chosen commander, since that is the only way to gain access to elite infantry units such as Paratroopers or Rangers, as well as heavy tanks like the M26 Pershing or the M4A3E8 'Easy Eight' and in the case of rocket artillery there is a commander that provideas a M4A1 'Calliope'. Honestly, it is one of my least favorite factions in all game modes due to its underwhelming and monotonous gameplay.