Choosing a doctrine is an essential part of every game. Of course, sometimes you can win without it, but this case is rare. Usually, you need something else, either to make a comeback or ensure your advantage. Panzer Elite doctrines offer a wide set of special abilities, allowing you to counter anything your enemy can throw at you.
A lot of players choose the doctrine just after the start. Of course, in this case, you would have a strict plan for coming game, and you would feel comfortable if everything goes the way you want. However, most of the time, it doesn’t, and suddenly you realize you can’t adapt to the situation. Your plan failed, and your doctrine is useless now.
How can you avoid this? First of all, you shouldn’t pick the doctrine at the start.
Analyze the situation. Don't forget that it’s not just you playing
Company of Heroes, there is also your opponent. 'Situational thinking' (read more about it
here) is a key to success in this game.
Scorched Earth
Scorched Earth is very powerful doctrine, especially late game. Sector artillery and Hummels can do tremendous amounts of damage to just about everything, and are the best anti-blob weapons. Booby traps punish inattentive players, draining a lot of manpower and slowing their capping. Road blocks are a bit underused, but very useful, because there isn't a tank which can run over them. In addition, they provide green cover. Unlike sandbags, it is possible to delete road blocks at any given moment, so you can use it in infantry skirmishes, getting in cover with your troops while your opponent won’t have such opportunity. Scorched Earth and Booby Trap Building are not often used, but still can be nasty surprises.
The weakness of Scorched Earth is its dependence on resources, especially munitions. You need 200 ammunition for sector artillery, so your munition income should be quite high. There are no special anti-tank abilities here, so you need some fuel to prepare Panzerschrecks and
Marders. The other trouble is the lack of off-map units (except the Hummel, but it comes late and costs 650 mp, making it a support unit), so you have to rely only on panzer grenadiers and some standard vehicles. My advice is to get a balanced mix of units from different tiers. Scorched Earth is a doctrine for long games, and is good for fighting infantry hordes or simcity. In prospect, it’s the best counter to airborne blobs, because recoiless rifles and strafing runs kill everything, but paratroopers are rather vulnerable to artillery.
Luftwaffe
Fallschirmjagers are the basis of the Luftwaffe doctrine. Their reinforce cost is lower than the Panzergrenadier's, and they are extremely good vs infantry, especially with offensive veterancy. Panzerfausts can help a lot against armor, and incendiary grenades are good vs trenches and buildings. What's more, they can cloak in cover. This makes Fallschirmjagers a multipurpose unit that dominates the mid game battlefield.
Butterfly bombs are great against infantry and light vehicles; use them if you have some munitions. However, the other abilities are not so useful, although sometimes it’s worth it to call in Luftwaffe ground forces. Wirblewinds can fight infantry only, and doesn’t seem worth 480 mp. The Henschel Anti-Tank run is a great ability that works well in finishing off half-health tanks or forcing a crucial retreat.
You still need some munitions if you choose Luftwaffe, mostly for butterfly bombs or Fallshirmjager abilities. Fallschirmjagers are especially good vs Americans when it comes to mid game because they counter infantry, at guns, and can kill Greyhounds with 3 Panzerfausts. The only problem is their vulnerability to strafes, so if your opponent went with the airborne doctrine, try to finish the game before you encounter hardcore strafe spam.
Tank Hunter
As its name says, this doctrine is the best vs armor. In fact, you don’t need much munitions or fuel to use it. 3 abilities are passive, the Jagdpanther is free and the Hetzer costs only a few hundred in manpower. Teller mines usually destroy M8's and will immobilize Stuarts. They are the only special way to invest munitions. Sometimes, you can use them not only against tanks, but infantry – throw an anti-tank grenade or fire with your mortar if you see your opponent's squad staying near mine. Enjoy the boom.
This doctrine, however, doesn’t have any special anti-infantry abilities, so it isn’t very good vs American players. Of course, teller mines help a lot with M8s, but are useless if your enemy goes hardcore with infantry spam. Hetzers can do nothing to M8 and at gun combinations. The Jagdpanther also won’t help much if there is an airborne blob meeting it.
On the contrary, it’s great vs British, because British don’t have good at-infantry, and the Hetzer has great accuracy. The tank will actually snipe those expensive Tommies, given the opportunity. It comes quite early and troubles the British a lot. Most British tanks usually can’t penetrate the Hetzer’s front armor. Only the Firefly can penetrate it. Therefore, pushing British players hard with a Halftrack rush, and then calling in a Hetzer is one of the best variants Panzer Elite can do.
The free Jagdpanther is a piece of cake, but don’t overestimate it. It is faster than the King Tiger, and has the chance to get veterancy. However, it is great only against tanks. Infantry don’t fear it much, and the Jagdpanther can't do much to them.
