The Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad Guide to the Classes. The Officers and Tanks.
Welcome to the second part of the guide for RO2. This time we will talk about the officer classes as well as the classes for the tanks. Want to find the full collection of our RO2 Guides? Follow this LINK!
The “Officers”
Squad Leader
Squad Leader
Your Sergeant. Armed with either an MP40/PPSH or SVT/G41. Usually with one or two Smoke Grenades as well as two HE grenades. You lead your men from the front, providing smoke cover when advancing and additional fire power with your primary weapon and grenades. Your binoculars might not be much of a weapon, but you can help your Commander by providing Artillery coordinates for accurate fire, when he cannot mark them himself.
Cooperation between you, your men and the commander is crucial for victory. Smoke Grenades often mean the difference between victory and defeat. Throw them in front of enemy positions to blind them. You should only ever throw the grenades on your half of the map if the enemy can fire at you from some higher location (for example, during Grain Elevator) and as such not let you leave your spawn point safely. Your other key instrument, as mentioned already, are your binoculars. With them you can get a good idea of what is in front of you, as well as provide artillery coordinates. However, if you tried marking an area too close to your or the enemy’s spawn the marker will not appear on the Commander’s map. Stay in touch with him in order to know whether your marker showed up at all. Be careful when marking as sometimes your “Binos” could hit a column or window frame right in front of you marking your exact position. Sometimes when marking a position, especially when you try doing so on some fixed object, like a carriage it could turn out the object is further than expected, or the Bino mark could pass through it.
Of course, you could play the Squad Leader class as another Assault Trooper, with Smoke grenades, but it is useful to provide your Commander with Arty coods, since it makes your life easier and could bring your team closer to victory. If you for whatever reason refuse to provide coods, or you do not feel experienced enough to do so use your Smoke grenades to provide cover. Remember, you have a limited number of them, so if you run out find an Ammo dump, or pick up grenades from other dead officers. They are usually properly marked so it is unlikely you can pick up the wrong type of grenade.
Pros:
-You are essential for any advance to work
-You have a good choice of primary weapons
Cons:
-Very easy to fail at teamwork
Commander
You have the nicest hat of all, at least when playing as the Axis. Your tools do not differ at all from what the Squad Leader can have (occasionally, you will have a pistol) but you will have access to the radio. The Radio is your tool to call in Recon Planes, Reinforcement Waves and different off-map strikes. When using a radio you will see the game map on one side and your “powers” to the right, as well as the list of people waiting to respawn with the respawn timer on the left. Any marked arty positions will show up as big “dots” on your map, and together with the use of a Recon Plane you can decide whether the provided position is sensible, or not. Recon Planes do not see units hidden inside buildings and your own tanks will be marked as “Spotted Armour”, so be careful when overreacting that a tank is dangerously close to your spawn.
Reinforcement Waves allow all those dead to respawn immediately in Territory games. During Countdown rounds this is the way the attacking team can “summon” next waves, but do note you have a limited number of waves available. During Territory games be wary of using a Wave when there are very few people waiting to respawn or when their respawn timers are low, it will be a Wave wasted. In terms of off-map strikes you have three to choose from. Mortars, Artillery and Rocket Artillery. Each one is more destructive than the next. For example Mortars are best suited against infantry in the open or heavily damaged buildings. Artillery strikes can destroy certain buildings or types of cover much more effectively than the Mortars, as well as destroy tanks if a round hits directly on top of it. Rocker Artillery is all that, plus a bit more. When deciding which type of bombardment to use on a position note how much time you have till the end of the round, what are you about to bomb, and whether you will have enough time to use another artillery strike later. The Off-Maps recharge but depending on which one you use the recharge times can last from three minutes to even eight minutes. So, you can either land a few well placed Mortar strikes on enemy infantry, or waste a lot of time on a miss-fired rocket artillery strike. In relation to Mortars and Artillery, the Artillery strikes appear to last longer, so it’s an effective method of cutting off an enemy’s path for about a minute or more. Whichever strike you use do note that enemies could still survive it if they use cover.
If your Squad Leaders do not provide any coordinates and it is up to you to mark your own targets when faced with a choice target bottlenecks the enemy might use, or place artillery strikes directly in front or behind a victory point, depending on whether you are the defender or attacker. You can verify where your strike will land quickly by opening up your map each time you use the Binoculars. This way you can also use Reinforcement Waves, without the need of a radio. In terms of importance the Commander is one of the key elements of any team. A competent commander can tip the balance when defending or attacking with precise use of artillery, sending important information to your team mates on enemy focus points, or reinforcing your team with a quick respawn allowing you to quickly cap or defend a point. At the same time it is very easy to be a poor commander, and instead of using your given powers act as an Assault Trooper, in which case, are you sure you bought the right game?
Pros:
-Same as in the case of the Squad Leader
Cons:
-There are a few SLs, there is only one Commander. If you fail at teamwork be prepared for a lot of rage from your team.
The Tankers
We will now look at the classes which you can select. For a more complete guide see the guide on driving tanks in RO2 HERE.
Tank Commander
In Combined Arms and Tank Only matches the Tank Commander is essentially a player saying “I want to drive a tank”. When you take a slot you have the option of allowing players to join your crew, or leave it entirely to the AI. Do note, that even if there are players inside the tank the “empty” slots will still be controlled by the AI. In Tank Only rounds you are on the level of a trooper, while in Combined Arms matches tanks do not follow a specific hierarchy and although they will form a separate squad they will not have a squad leader. As part of the Crew you can take any of the tank’s positions except for the loader. As the Tank Commander you also have the priority of “not dying”. Or in other words, if a tank crew member dies you will always get the spare crew member position, which means that any other players will be “kicked” out of the tank when spare slots become scarce.
As the Tank Commander you are the only one able to give out orders to the AI crew. You can order the AI driver to move, or the gunner to fire wherever you want him to. The AI being the AI will under perform often as a driver, and over perform as the hull machine gunner. The Main gunner AI will be very wild and unpredictable so I advise to hold that slot yourself most of the time.
In terms of difficulty, controlling a tank is not that hard in a calm environment. You can get used to being the driver or main gunner, and it is a good idea to play the single player mission with tanks a few times to discover the weak spots of enemy tanks and how to drive your own panzer. Crucially however you have to learn your role in the battlefield, and swap around between being a Tank Hunter and Infantry Support tank when the situation calls for it. More on that in our Tank Guide.
The Tank Squad Leaders/Commander
In Tank Only games there will be a division between different tank squads. Squad Leaders are still Tank Commanders as is the Commander himself in terms of controlling their tanks. However Squad Leaders can mark artillery targets, and the Commander can call them in at will. Since the radio is inside the tank already there will be no need to find one (where would you park the tank anyway?). Normal rules for Off-Map Strike recharging applies. The Commander still has access to Reinforcement Waves and Recon Planes. The problem is that most of the time enemy tanks can quickly move away from an artillery strike making it almost an art to destroy a tank with your strike. However, enemy tanks will have a strong tendency to camp in their own points or behind distant hills. When you do not have any other choice mark them with your “Binos” and call a strike down on them.
Despite the added advantages the Commander and Squad Leaders roles are not as crucial in Tank Only Battles when compared to their respective infantry counterparts. Of course, artillery strikes are still deadly, but using them effectively, especially on the Gumrak is asking for a bit of a miracle. If you have no problem with the Tank Commander role these two classes will not be any more demanding.
Tank Crew member
You take the place of any AI inside the tank, assuming the Tank Commander permitted players to do so. You can take any slot that is AI controlled except for the Loader. In terms of usage you are not penalised in the use of any of the positions. However you should always listen to the guy in charge of your tank. Grabbing the driver’s seat and heading off in an unknown direction will quickly make the Commander reselect his class and get rid of any player help.
General Pros:
-In Combined Arms you are a very useful element for any advance or defense work
General Cons:
-You can get XP for increasing your Honor, but there are no Classes or Weapons you can upgrade.
-Very easy to fail miserabely, both as an ordinary tank user, and as a Squad Leader or Commander.
Want to find the full collection of our RO2 Guides? Follow this LINK!
Rating:9/10 Pros:Mildly Realistic
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