What can 3rd armored do?

[PanzerMan7]

I really want to like this division. I have a deep soft spot for it. On the surface, it's a hard hitting mechanized division with heavy tank support. But every time I play it, it just founders. Armored rifiles just suck. At 6 damage, they barely beat panzergrenadier squads in close range, which deal 5 damage. Not even price redeems this unit. The LMG rifles are okay but overpriced too. Right right, it's an armored division, it's infantry should suck. Fine except...it's unique in this regard. 21st, 116, Lehr, and 12th ss panzer have double 42s in their PZgrens. They have availability issues but so does 3rd armored.

On tanks, well, 3rd armored can never really make use of it's armor because of the income. By the time I have the income for tank action, pak-43s are everywhere unless there are panthers in their stead. Sure, I have a 15pt advantage over 12th SS panzer but how can I make use of it when I cannot penetrate his front?

I've tried to play hard and aggressive in the opening with 3rd armor, reasoning that with armored infantry and light vehicles I can overwhelm the enemy in the early stages. This rarely works. I've tried positional play but it's hard when I lack literally anything to put in a hedgerow that can kill infantry and a pak-38 can shut me down. I'd love to mortar it but that 100pt mortar is a lot to soak up and the 60mm mortar comes in a bloody halftrack which jacks the price to 70 pts.

Obviously I'm not playing this deck right and I'm kinda salty. Could someone help? I want to like this division, I really do.

 

[1776ZOOMSNIPE1911]

3rd armour is the best armour deck in the game

 

[PanzerMan7]

3rd armour is the best armour deck in the game

I sense this may be true but you could back it up please? How do I play it to the standard of "best armour deck in the game"?

 

[IronHat]

Rifle LMG is actually a weird beast, they reverse the usual allied vs axis infantry logic. Their combo of semi-auto and double lmg mean they will win even against the panzergrenadier in between 100-300 where both the garand and lmg are active.

However, the lack of smg means they should lose a DPS race against just about every axis infantry in the game at close range, include the Erstaz.

 

[Max_Damage]

Their best units are elite/veteran HE shermans and veteran sherman 76 which are super good for their cost. Aaaaand ofc jumbo and calliope combo.

 

[bjorkrismacho]

I was having the same feelings as Panzerman7, i even started playing the MP as complete noob on release with the 3rd, realising after some time that it was not a deck for a noob

Now after the patch i a have gone full tank and the thing with this deck is that i find that spending points on the rifles are waste and i better spend points on scouts a couple of tanks + mortar and AT guns maybe one AA from start. this combined combo with no or few inf in phase A is ideally a support division, and i had my best games just holding the line thin and supporting one of the teammates concentrating the fire in a 3 vs 3 /4 vs 4 (which is my prefered game). this is how u can hold out imo, if u play defensively in phase A i feel that its easy to lose ground and troops just trying to hold as opposed to supporting ur teammates you can take ground with better chance of succes keeping them occupied holding the line and not attacking you weak thin scout ,AT gun, inf line. ideally you would want to hold your weak line in open ground where a a scout/ inf / AT gun can cover 1000m radius from the start and then just pile on to get some subtance. you just cant lose any troops early on or ur will have to deal with massive salient and probably get a snowballing loss...

its a knifes edge, u have to push but u cant lose to many units, its easier if u combine ur forces with a teamate at begining to just roll over and not let them get your expensive units.

 

[Max_Damage]

3rd armour is the best armour deck in the game

Nah the GA and Pancerna are better simply because they can back up their armor with infantry spam.

 

[Harold Alexander]

Nah the GA and Pancerna are better simply because they can back up their armor with infantry spam.

but 3rd AD have HT with 50 cal, also awesome fire support. And tanks in general are much better.

 

[Aeon221]

3AD is a tough deck and an acquired taste.

A lot of people don't value the m4a1 in A very much even though it is a huge bully of a tank.

The AA is incredible. This deck requires no fighters and can spend all air slots on utility. I routinely bring down inevitable Hs129 at start with just the two AA trucks in A. P38 heavy bomber has gone from slow and vulnerable to quick and dangerous with the speed buff a while back. Not as good as Ju88, but probably better than marauder in ability to survive.

LMG rifles as has been noted are very good mid range combatants. I wish they had a star of vet but they're otherwise excellent. They bully most Axis inf.

Armored rifles are good ambush troops and good defensive troops with their halftrack. They can meatshield but aren't good at it.

Halftrack spam is unreal. If you're good with halftracks this deck will be good to you. 50cal is still OP.

The 105 Sherman is a better crom mk 5, and you can get it double vet. It should be one of your earliest B purchases because it is a beast.

The support flamers are incredibly cheap and good for defending your LMG rifles in towns.

Calliope are good but not as good as they used to be. M7 howitzer is more important for clearing out enemy AT and AA imo.

No deck better at smoke spam than 3AD. 21pz smoke mlrs is close, but can't match the consistency. 3AD mortar is easily best smoke spammer in the game with 30 shells, good range and mobility and even a 50cal for the occasional act of close in fire support.

The m4a3 was already excellent tank, recent price buff makes it best medium tank in game.

76 Sherman and Jumbo both good tanks. Jumbo is a shot catcher that seems to drive axis players crazy. 76 is a nice sniper.

No one unit in this deck working solo can accomplish much. In 1v1 this deck has struggled since beta. Working with them as combined arms force can allow you to bully stronger decks like 3FSJ in team games.

A is weak phase for this deck in solo games but in team games is probably its strongest phase. Axis decks mostly lack the AT to deal with the M4a1, don't have arty to disrupt your rear and can't break through your AA with planes. Best to grab ground in a cautiously aggressive manner in A (A is strong but brittle, losing a key unit can end you), trade ground for time in B when deck is weakest relative to peers (Axis gets good AT and arty, your stuff is marginal upgrade from A without income to buy it), then go onto attack again when C income burst occurs and you can start tossing Shermans around like candy.

 

[Fussel]

3AD is a tough deck and an acquired taste.

A lot of people don't value the m4a1 in A very much even though it is a huge bully of a tank.

The AA is incredible. This deck requires no fighters and can spend all air slots on utility. I routinely bring down inevitable Hs129 at start with just the two AA trucks in A. P38 heavy bomber has gone from slow and vulnerable to quick and dangerous with the speed buff a while back. Not as good as Ju88, but probably better than marauder in ability to survive.

LMG rifles as has been noted are very good mid range combatants. I wish they had a star of vet but they're otherwise excellent. They bully most Axis inf.

Armored rifles are good ambush troops and good defensive troops with their halftrack. They can meatshield but aren't good at it.

Halftrack spam is unreal. If you're good with halftracks this deck will be good to you. 50cal is still OP.

The 105 Sherman is a better crom mk 5, and you can get it double vet. It should be one of your earliest B purchases because it is a beast.

The support flamers are incredibly cheap and good for defending your LMG rifles in towns.

Calliope are good but not as good as they used to be. M7 howitzer is more important for clearing out enemy AT and AA imo.

No deck better at smoke spam than 3AD. 21pz smoke mlrs is close, but can't match the consistency. 3AD mortar is easily best smoke spammer in the game with 30 shells, good range and mobility and even a 50cal for the occasional act of close in fire support.

The m4a3 was already excellent tank, recent price buff makes it best medium tank in game.

76 Sherman and Jumbo both good tanks. Jumbo is a shot catcher that seems to drive axis players crazy. 76 is a nice sniper.

No one unit in this deck working solo can accomplish much. In 1v1 this deck has struggled since beta. Working with them as combined arms force can allow you to bully stronger decks like 3FSJ in team games.

A is weak phase for this deck in solo games but in team games is probably its strongest phase. Axis decks mostly lack the AT to deal with the M4a1, don't have arty to disrupt your rear and can't break through your AA with planes. Best to grab ground in a cautiously aggressive manner in A (A is strong but brittle, losing a key unit can end you), trade ground for time in B when deck is weakest relative to peers (Axis gets good AT and arty, your stuff is marginal upgrade from A without income to buy it), then go onto attack again when C income burst occurs and you can start tossing Shermans around like candy.

Dayum son! This advertisement realy wants me to play them now and all you said is true.

 

[bjorkrismacho]

3AD is a tough deck and an acquired taste.

A lot of people don't value the m4a1 in A very much even though it is a huge bully of a tank.

The AA is incredible. This deck requires no fighters and can spend all air slots on utility. I routinely bring down inevitable Hs129 at start with just the two AA trucks in A. P38 heavy bomber has gone from slow and vulnerable to quick and dangerous with the speed buff a while back. Not as good as Ju88, but probably better than marauder in ability to survive.

LMG rifles as has been noted are very good mid range combatants. I wish they had a star of vet but they're otherwise excellent. They bully most Axis inf.

Armored rifles are good ambush troops and good defensive troops with their halftrack. They can meatshield but aren't good at it.

Halftrack spam is unreal. If you're good with halftracks this deck will be good to you. 50cal is still OP.

The 105 Sherman is a better crom mk 5, and you can get it double vet. It should be one of your earliest B purchases because it is a beast.

The support flamers are incredibly cheap and good for defending your LMG rifles in towns.

Calliope are good but not as good as they used to be. M7 howitzer is more important for clearing out enemy AT and AA imo.

No deck better at smoke spam than 3AD. 21pz smoke mlrs is close, but can't match the consistency. 3AD mortar is easily best smoke spammer in the game with 30 shells, good range and mobility and even a 50cal for the occasional act of close in fire support.

The m4a3 was already excellent tank, recent price buff makes it best medium tank in game.

76 Sherman and Jumbo both good tanks. Jumbo is a shot catcher that seems to drive axis players crazy. 76 is a nice sniper.

No one unit in this deck working solo can accomplish much. In 1v1 this deck has struggled since beta. Working with them as combined arms force can allow you to bully stronger decks like 3FSJ in team games.

A is weak phase for this deck in solo games but in team games is probably its strongest phase. Axis decks mostly lack the AT to deal with the M4a1, don't have arty to disrupt your rear and can't break through your AA with planes. Best to grab ground in a cautiously aggressive manner in A (A is strong but brittle, losing a key unit can end you), trade ground for time in B when deck is weakest relative to peers (Axis gets good AT and arty, your stuff is marginal upgrade from A without income to buy it), then go onto attack again when C income burst occurs and you can start tossing Shermans around like candy.

yeah this is what i meant but in more detail. all the units except the phase A inf (u have to micro the halftracks) and the m8 scott are quality units. the 70 point AA is a beast and the later 100p AA is even better, it makes short work of AT guns even

Since the patch i have changed the deck to rely heavy on 76 sherman and it makes short work of the jagdpanter using combined arms. IMO the jumbos are more suited for inf support. And yeah dont forget that 105mm sherman, it cuts trhough the flaks and AT guns like butter

Today i played several games with the 3rd spearhead and i think im getting to the sweetspot. its so mobile compared to the heavier axis decks which is a advantage easy to forget, just run when the advantage is the axis get reinforcements to set up ambush and counterattack, its really rewarding, i think i will be starting to play this deck more becouse its really fun and well its not called spearhead for nothing.

the bottom line is pile up the units and keep them alive, its even more pronounced in this deck than others i think.

 

[Dundradal]

3rd is a good "breakthrough" division. You can use the Calliopes and 105s to open a hole and then lead with Jumbos to take hits while the 76's pick off targets.

 

[Harold Alexander]

No deck better at smoke spam than 3AD. 21pz smoke mlrs is close, but can't match the consistency. 3AD mortar is easily best smoke spammer in the game with 30 shells, good range and mobility and even a 50cal for the occasional act of close in fire support.

Cant agree here, best unit is german stromgtrupper which can smoke at max.

 

[Think Tanker]

The 3 AD has a lot of amazing tools but lacks the Phase B income to really put it to use...

Plus, its infantry minus the LMG Rifles (and the mediocre Arm. Rifles, if we really wish to consider them) is comically abysmal, seriously, a 30 CP M1917 HMG team with no VET or special points of value, it doesn't even come with a .50 Cal Half track to save it (and even if it did, the minimum deployment cost is so high it isn't worth it, period.)
Arm. Leaders are also pretty comical, no SMGs or smoke to make them a little useful, 4 men, and a minimum deployment cost of 45 CP. Their only saving grace is the .50 cal Half track and the fact that you really need that extra VET they offer to hold some ground in the infantry department.

On the flip side the tank department oozes cost-effectiveness, albeit in exchange for top-of-the-line performance. The M4A3 75mm is still an incredibly enjoyable unit to use, even if it's accuracy, like most 1,000m units, is too low. The M4A3 76mm is also fantastic, but much more of a hold-off tank for Phase C once the tides finally turn, the Jumbo is still lovely despite being pummeled with the Nerf bat, now only if you could actually utilize these amazing Phase B tools...

All in all, it definitely takes getting used to, but then again, nothing quite beats the sight of 6 M4A3 75mm, a Jumbo, two M4A3 105mm, and three M4A3 76mm all charging down the enemy lines punching a massive hole in the front line, annihilating AT guns and lighter AFVs alike along the way.

 

[Yossarian23]

I really want to like this division. I have a deep soft spot for it. On the surface, it's a hard hitting mechanized division with heavy tank support. But every time I play it, it just founders. Armored rifiles just suck. At 6 damage, they barely beat panzergrenadier squads in close range, which deal 5 damage. Not even price redeems this unit. The LMG rifles are okay but overpriced too. Right right, it's an armored division, it's infantry should suck. Fine except...it's unique in this regard. 21st, 116, Lehr, and 12th ss panzer have double 42s in their PZgrens. They have availability issues but so does 3rd armored.

On tanks, well, 3rd armored can never really make use of it's armor because of the income. By the time I have the income for tank action, pak-43s are everywhere unless there are panthers in their stead. Sure, I have a 15pt advantage over 12th SS panzer but how can I make use of it when I cannot penetrate his front?

I've tried to play hard and aggressive in the opening with 3rd armor, reasoning that with armored infantry and light vehicles I can overwhelm the enemy in the early stages. This rarely works. I've tried positional play but it's hard when I lack literally anything to put in a hedgerow that can kill infantry and a pak-38 can shut me down. I'd love to mortar it but that 100pt mortar is a lot to soak up and the 60mm mortar comes in a bloody halftrack which jacks the price to 70 pts.

Obviously I'm not playing this deck right and I'm kinda salty. Could someone help? I want to like this division, I really do.

Vet M5A1 under command influence is the best light tank in the game and it costs 90.
M8 recon, for 80, is better than most German phase A tanks and all of their half tracks.
M4105(W) is a support gun that will reliably strike and pin 88m cannon from range, which deals so much suppression to armored targets that it's a force multiplier regardless of context

*Your MG heavy trucks can't be forgotten after you place your infantry initially. I recommend queuing an "unload here" order, followed by a "reverse" order into some bushes/behind a treeline nearby.
* The armored rifles are weak because armored rifles are two pieces each. Most general infantry have a squad MG which moves with the squad. Armored rifles have a powerful truck-mounted MG which can lay down withering fire from range and from behind cover, while the main squad advances across a field etc. If you advance the truck carelessly, it will be easily picked off by an enemy AT gun or aircraft. You ideally want a recon squad forward of your infantry's position, to prevent surprises. But that luxury isn't always available. What you must always do is bring your men forward on foot to approach buildings, treelines, etc. before revealing your heavy trucks and their devastating top guns.

*Hide your light tanks in light cover and order them not to fire unless fired upon
* Then hit the enemy hard. The first shot matters. But the first shot matters a lot more from an M5A1 when it's delivered from cover at 400m

*Don't bring your armor forward unless you have recon forward of it already. You don't know what's in that treeline and you can't see out of a tank. They will see you coming. You need to know what's there.

 

[PanzerMan7]

Do you even bother with engineers or phase B armored rifles? I've been floating going triple LMG cards in phase B for my infantry.

Does anyone bother with the M8 Scott either?

 

[Aeon221]

Do you even bother with engineers or phase B armored rifles? I've been floating going triple LMG cards in phase B for my infantry.

Does anyone bother with the M8 Scott either?

M8 Scott is poop imo. Range and armor low, cost high, no vet. OTOH I still haven't really adjusted to the Stuart HE nerf since beta. It might be decent as a direct fire HE spammer. Right now my build has tons of suppression with AA trucks and truck MGs and sherman/Stuart MGs, but the only HE chunk power comes from the Sherman. Could be that the Scott is a least bad HE spam option for A. I'm gonna start working it into my build and see.

I like armored rifles for the AT, but I recently dumped engineers and may dump the B card of armored rifles too. Problem is that they're actually your cheap inf so not having them is kind of painful.

I also recommend the B scouts with the half-track for more 50cal goodness.

 

[Yossarian23]

*Engineers: these are vital. Engineers bring close-range firepower, without these you can't safely move your infantry through cities.

*I never skip the M8 Scott. It will pin MG, mortar, and AT squads in one hit. The machine guns hit enemy infantry hard. If your armor package runs into halftracks or enemy armor without dedicated AT support, the M8's HE shells still deal heavy suppression to lightly armored vehicles.

 

[Aeon221]

Dayum son! This advertisement realy wants me to play them now and all you said is true.

Glad you liked it. It's a fun division, but I want to repeat that this deck is definitely an acquired taste and requires some big changes to play style, especially if you're used to playing Scots and Canadians and 352 and 3FSJ. You basically have to accept that unless your teammates are very good that one or both of your flanks are going to be hanging in the wind for most of the game, and that your enemy will always be able to infiltrate units through the wide gaps in your line.

Its also the only deck where I routinely use artillery units like the mortar and calliope for direct fire support at 400m. The pucker factor is real, but you don't have much of an alternative when your shit is super expensive and your infantry needs all the help it can get. Plus that mortar has a 50cal. There's no way I'm not gonna use a 50cal to murder Nazis.

 

[Aeon221]

Cant agree here, best unit is german stromgtrupper which can smoke at max.

But it can't be one shotting allied when allied stormtroopers one shotting???