A Guide to Hometown
Hometown is most likely my absolute favorite map in World in Conflict. This may be so due to the sheer diversity of the map, featuring city, forest, plain, and even some water. Because of the nature of this map and the fact that its setup leads to some very basic, yet powerful movement lines, playing and winning Hometown can be a challenge. The most important part of this map is to realize that you can always know along what lines the enemy is likely to be moving his troops. Therefore, you must anticipate and hinder the progress of enemy troops. Hopefully, this guide will teach you how to do this, as well as some other interesting tactics.
The Classes:
Choosing Classes:
On hometown, class choice is very important, as it determines what you’ll be doing throughout the round. Each class is suited to a certain area(s) of Hometown, and it is your job to figure out where you need to be. On an eight-player team, I would recommend a standard 2-2-2-2 for the sake of balance. On a five-player team, I would recommend having one support player, two infantry players, and two air players. The reason for this is that the absence of armor removes the necessity for a lot of anti-air, and allows one support player to provide artillery and anti-air if necessary. Repair also becomes less necessary. The two infantry players can easily cover the roles of any missing anti-air or tanks, and have great mobility in the forests and town. The air players can also be liberated from worrying a lot about having to make medium choppers, and can thus tear it up with heavies.
Support:
If you elected to play support, you will most likely be focusing on anti-air and repair this round. You could also have a smaller focus on artillery, though artillery is not such a necessity that you would ever need more than one or two. The use of one or two medium artillery pieces for the purpose of early harassment and the burning of key forest positions could also be a good idea.
Back on the topic of anti-air though, you need to follow whoever is playing armor. Be realistic, those choppers are fast, and there is no way you can chase them. Therefore, you must anticipate them and be there for the armor when they do arrive. Splitting into smaller forces is also a tad foolish, as a few heavy choppers could then pick your anti-air apart with hellfire missiles and basic weaponry. If there is no armor to be protecting, or they are sufficiently protected, find a place that helicopters are always flying over and disrupt their travel path. Sitting behind hills, forests, or buildings while lying in wait is a good idea. Don’t forget your smoke either!
Repair-wise, don’t follow a particular player. It’s not difficult to get a starred repair tank that is just amazing for fixing stuff up fast. You can repair helicopters, tanks, vehicles, and fortifications. Try to stay somewhere near the action, but a bit back so allies can fall back to be repaired, then return to battle. The faster you can repair, the better. Just make sure everyone knows where you are, and run around repairing anything that’s damaged.
Armor:
On this map, you can choose what type of units you make yourself. I don’t recommend troop transports in the beginning though, as where the fighting is going to be focused is not known and may not be far. Two heavy tanks and two medium tanks would be my choice, or perhaps one heavy tank, two medium tanks, and two light tanks. In any case, stay close to the anti-air. It’s your job to take out the enemy anti-air first, to allow your own helicopters to help out. Then go after the tanks and such.
As Armor, you are the wall. Stay in front of allied units and just absorb damage. Don’t be stupid about it though, and realize that you can get repaired! You won’t amount to much help if you can’t keep your units in good condition. Beyond walling, you need to take the initiative in capturing and holding those command points that are highly contested or in the open, as you can best hold your own or absorb damage from artillery or tactical aid.
Air:
Heavy helicopters is the ticket here. The only reason you’d want to use medium choppers would be if your anti-air is incompetent, or they are using so many medium choppers themselves that you cannot risk having heavies in the sky on their own. You need heavies, so get them. You also need to keep them, so defend them if necessary. Don’t forget to lead units around or corral them so your allies can help. Your mobility and fire power is key. When the streets become blocked and everything is exploding and pretty much going to hell in a hand basket, you need to sweep in and beat down the enemy tanks. They are your first priority, as once they are gone, your allies can move more freely. Infantry would come next, provided they haven’t been run over. Focus fire with the “F” key here, and blast hellfire missiles at infantry in buildings. If anti-air is in the area, try to give your allies a chance to deal with the problem, then sweep in from behind to force the anti-air to wait a precious second before firing. Target hellfire missiles first, and have the choppers on cease-fire so you can micro which anti-air unit the regular missiles are going to take out.
Infantry:
Hometown is great for infantry, provided they don’t do stupid things. Stay out of the open as much as possible, and try not to ride in vehicles. If you move from forest to forest or building to building, you can get the drop on the enemy and not expose yourself to being run over or otherwise killed. You also don’t always need to be in cover, there are multiple alleys or squares formed by buildings that you can stand in, forcing attacking units to come around the corner and hinder their attempts to run you over. In emergencies, you can also backtrack through the buildings and run off while the enemy has to go around.
Your infantry order should be made up of primarily the type of infantry that best counters the type of unit most commonly used by the enemy. To start off with, two infantry squads and two anti-tank infantry squads along with other squads of your choice is recommended. As infantry, you have to counter everything. Hit the choppers, hit the tanks, hit the anti-air. You are untouchable one second, and dead the next. Your job is risky, and requires thought. A successful infantry player can easily turn the tide of battle though.
The Command Points:
South Town
The South Town is typically the first point captured by the USSR. It requires no effort to access, as no bridge or forest impedes progress from spawn point to command point.
The Bridge
The Bridge is often the most quickly contested command point. It is first usually captured by the USSR, then assaulted by the Americans seconds later. The Bridge may be blown up, and will have to be replaced. This may happen multiple times. Fortifying here is a must if you want to stick around.
Town Square
The Town Square is the only three-circle command point on the map, and is almost always captured by the U.S. first, and requires effort to liberate and hold.
Sawmill
The Sawmill is the command point that is to the left of the map when looking at the megamap as the USA. This point has a ton of forested areas around it, and is thus an infantry site.
Gas Station
The Gas Station is the point on the right of the map, opposite the Sawmill. Its two circles are separated by a river, passable by a bridge. There are smaller forests nearby, but the points themselves are out in the open.
The Dam
The Dam is almost a freebie point for the U.S., as it isn’t worth accessing to the USSR until they control the Sawmill or the Town Square. The Dam goes across the river, and is thus a bridge that can be destroyed. But please, don’t ever, ever, ever use tactical aid points for the sole purpose of destroying the Dam, as there is a walkway just below it that any unit can cross.
Other Points of Interest:
- The bridge from the U.S. spawn zone to the Town Square- This is what connects the Americans to the center portion of the map. Destroy it, and the Americans must replace it, take a lengthy detour, or use amphibious transports to cross.
- The bridge from the Gas Station to the center of the map- This bridge is important because it connects the two points of the Gas Station, as well as allowing units fortifying the Gas Station to come to the aid of allies in the center of the map.
- The bridge from over the river, connecting the USSR spawn zone- While this bridge appears to be the USSR’s only way to get to the Sawmill without going all the way around the map, the USSR can spawn on the other side of the bridge if destroyed. Thus, destroying it isn’t a big deal. It can, however, be used by the Americans as a possibly undefended path to the USSR spawn zone and the South Town
- The River- Just because you can’t always cross it doesn’t mean you can’t shoot across it.
- Forests- Yes, forests. There are many of them. Infantry could be anywhere, and sometimes a forest can be the difference between a unit’s survival or its death. Be cautious and aware of what forests are where, and what they may mean.
Playing Hometown:
First, I’ll go over the stuff that isn’t faction-specific:
- Pick a person to pool points to. This makes using tactical aid much easier. This doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice all your TA points to someone else though. Just consider giving a portion of what you score so that the team has a bank of points to call upon. The “banker” will have to be willing to not use points as willy-nilly as usual though, due to the fact that a reserve is the goal here.
- Capture and fortify points as a team, that way things go faster and everyone gets more points.
- Identify chokepoints and exploit them.
Playing Hometown as the USSR:
The USSR is typically my faction of choice, and that being said, I will probably be better at explaining how to play Hometown as the USSR. I also feel that the USSR is a better team on this map.
As soon as you all get into the game, start planning. Have about two of each role. One of the support players should probably bank points, at least for the beginning. Everyone needs to know the battle plan, and at least five of the eight players need to have a vehicle that can move at a decent rate of travel and capture command points. The more players participating, the better. These units may be deleted later. At this point, begin.
The second the units spawn, move all of them to the command point at the South Town closest to the spawn point, and most in the open. One other unit needs to move into the second point that is near the forest, once all the other available players are in the first point. If you have the recommended five players, you will collect 25 tactical aid points, which need to be in the hands of the support player immediately. The support player should then drop two laser-guided bombs on the U.S spawn bridge.
Then, all the units involved in the first operation need to perform a similar operation on the Bridge. As soon as all are in the first point, one needs to move onto the second. As soon as those points become available, they need to be in the hands of the banker. The banker must then give ten points to each of the two infantry players for the following operation.
Before the match, it should be decided which infantry player will take what command points on the Gas Station and Sawmill. Each infantry player will end up using one airborne infantry unit to take one of each command point. For example, infantry player A could take point one at the gas station and two at the Sawmill, with infantry player B taking the other two. In this way, the ten points that the infantry players are given after the bridge is taken, no point loss occurs.
Observe the following:
If the infantry players are provided with ten points each, they may make two airborne infantry drops each. If they work together to capture the two command points spoken of, they may each make ten aid points from the capture of both command points. Essentially, the capturing of those points refunds your spending completely. At this point in the game, you should now hold four of the six command points, have the points at least partially fortified, have the enemy bridge destroyed! (it may be repaired already, though not likely), and still have at least thirty-four tactical aid points for use.
Now, I’d advise putting those airborne infantry on cease-fire and hiding them in the forests near the command points they took. It is now time to learn another technique I like to call “milking a command point.” It works like this: Pick a command point that is likely to become contested, or may become contested. Fortify the back point, and make that your base. Then, allow the enemy to take the forward point, drive them out, and retake both points, allowing for another five aid points for the players involved. You can, in this way, make an indefinite number of points. In the airborne infantry scenario being dealt with now, attempt to fortify the back point as best you can, and then hide both of the infantry units in a forest within offensive ability range of the other point. When the enemy comes calling, having the infantry drop their barrage, then one will go to the back point and stand in it, and the other will take the front.
In the middle of the map, there is likely a lot of battle occurring, provided the enemy got units across the bridge in a large enough number. Hope they didn’t. If they didn’t, rush into the Town Square and take the command point there, scoring hopefully at least another twenty-five aid points. You can also milk the command point here. If the U.S. players have replaced their bridge or are in the Square in large numbers, fortify the bridge with a few units, and hold off the enemy with the others. In theory, you should be able to hold all those four command points and eventually win. However, let’s push for total domination. Try to collect fifty aid points, and then lay down two fuel air bombs in the Town Square, pulling your units back in the last few moments. The enemy should be obliterated, and you should be able to take the point. From there, advance down the path to the Dam, and try to get that point too. If you can hold them all, you can win.
It is unlikely that all this will work out, but adapt. The general idea remains the same, and the techniques that you have learned can be adapted and used repeatedly until you win.
Playing Hometown as the U.S.:
After doing a standard setup before the match and making sure everyone is aware of what’s going to happen, rush for the Town Square. The U.S. is a bit disadvantaged to begin with because the ground they have to cover to get to multiple command points is much greater than the USSR’s requirements. In any case, fortify the Town Square with as many people participating as possible. Feel free to use the aid points collected in any way you choose. I’d recommend detailing fifteen to two infantry players and have them land airborne infantry on the command points at the Sawmill, Gas Station, and Dam. You should be able to get there first with your airborne infantry, and can then use a strategy similar to the USSR.
Since blowing up the Bridge doesn’t do you much good right now, try to take it. If you can take the Bridge, you can take the South Town, and eventually, the rest of the map. If the USSR blows up the Bridge in desperation, let it go and hold the other points.
Playing the U.S. is more of a scramble than an orderly procession. You must be everywhere at once. Unlike the USSR, your strategy ends up being to cut into the USSR spawn zone and effectively denying them the chance to continue the capturing of command points. Make sure that their sacrifices are greater than yours, and you will win.
Things to Remember:
- Milk command points as best you can, but don’t lose them!
- The airborne infantry technique allows you to capture command points at no cost to yourself.
- Tank busters and other tactical aids that go in a rectangle shape are excellent in the streets.
- Don’t be afraid to blow up the Bridge if you are afraid it will compromise your territory. Better no one have it if your team can’t.
- The team that analyzes and manipulates the paths of movement has a large advantage. Be the better planner.
Focus on Tactical Aids:
Certain tactical aids on this map are more required than others, and some work with grand effectivity. Hopefully you can learn what to use when here.
Airborne Infantry
Use them as demonstrated in the plan to capture points at no loss to yourself, even if the infantry die. You can also restock them for no cost.
Napalm Strike
Good at clearing paths through a forest, and can now burn buildings, effectivity on this map is limited, but priceless in some scenarios. If infantry are going to cross a bridge, this can wipe them out while on the bridge. This also works in the streets.
Tank Buster
Use them in packed streets or high-travel ways to do plenty of damage. They also work on bridges, effectively clearing them and allowing you to cross.
Chemical Strike
Since battle takes place heavily in the town, you will encounter infantry in buildings and may want to kill them without damaging the buildings, or you are unable to take out the buildings. Either way, a chemical strike is great at clearing infantry, especially in buildings arranged in a close proximity.
Laser-Guided Bomb
This aid is a must in the destruction of bridges, and you should make use of it. Just not on the dam…
Fuel Air Bomb/Daisy Cutter
This aid is relatively cheap if you play the map right, and can be used early if desired. Placing one on a bridge or in an area with buildings will wreak much havoc.
Carpet Bomb
This aid isn’t expensive, but it’s not cheap either. Using it on the main road that crosses the Bridge would be my advice, since it will take out anything on the road, and some stray bombs may hit units to the side.
Tactical Nuke
Use it in the Town Square or in the enemy spawn zone. Other places may appear during the match, be intelligent in use.
Wrapping It Up:
With luck, you can now play Hometown with more success. Don’t forget to apply some of these techniques to other games, and don’t stress. Good luck!
If you have questions or comments about Shanks’ guides, let him know by sending him an email at mastamind_130(at)yahoo(dot)com . Also, feel free to visit the Strategy Message Boards to discuss any strategy of your own!
