When playing Company Of Heroes, every decision is crucial, and each can grant or cost valuable time which can lead to tactical advantages or disadvantages depending on how they are applied. Once such area where this will be most noticeable to players is in the variety of available upgrades for each faction and unit.
Some units may first appear weak and valueless, but when upgraded can be some of the most menacing and vicious units in the game. Upgrades can also apply to technology, and can grant passive abilities such as increased armor and damage output. Others will completely reform units and enable them to specialize in certain areas of the battlefield.
8 Flamethrower/Flammenwerfer (All Factions)
Engineers have long been an essential unit in Company Of Heroes, for a variety of reasons. As well as being the cheapest and most accessible units for all factions, they can be produced from the Headquarters and excel at close range combat, construction, and vehicle repairs.
Every engineering squad can be upgraded with a flamethrower to increase their combat effectiveness against rival infantry units from close range. The flamethrower will do extra damage to units in cover, meaning that engineer squads upgraded with them are capable of taking on machine gun teams and even some light and medium vehicles.
7 M1919A6 Light Machine Gun Paratrooper Squad Upgrade (US Forces)
Available as a weapons upgrade for the US Forces Paratrooper Squad, these deadly machine guns are both powerful and mobile, and do not take time to set up like other heavy machine guns. As this unit is deployed via the US Airborne Battlegroup, it can be placed anywhere on the map, even in enemy-occupied territories.
Alternatively, an anti-tank package is available to make the squad deadlier against stronger vehicles. When confronted with infantry and light units, however, the M1919A6 is more than sufficient.
6 Thompson Submachine Gun For Gurkha Rifles (British Forces)
The Gurkha Rifles section, available via the Indian Artillery Battlegroup, are already some of the best infantry units in the game. Particularly effective against other infantry, this unit will excel when equipped with the Thomson Submachine Gun upgrade, which will arm all Gurkhas in a selected squad with deadly close-range firearms.
With their fast movement speed and Smoke Canister ability, the Gurkhas are able to close in quickly on enemy targets. They can handily deal with even the most capable of enemy infantry units when armed with this upgrade.
5 Side Skirts (Wehrmacht)
This tech upgrade, available in the Wehrmacht faction's Panzer Kompanie vehicle building, will fortify all tanks with additional armor, making side hits and even rear armor hits less effective.
Combined with the faction's powerful mid-to-late game vehicle units, this upgrade will give the Wehrmacht a significant edge in tank warfare. It also increases durability against anti-tank infantry units, which can provide valuable time to friendly units advancing up the field.
4 Support Elements (Wehrmacht)
The Support Elements upgrade is available through the Wehrmacht's Luftwaffe Kompanie, and will grant the faction access to some of the most devastating units in the game. This upgrade will unlock new vehicle units for two buildings, and is absolutely essential to maximize the faction's full potential.
This upgrade allows the Luftwaffe Kompanie to produce Marder Tank Destroyers and Wirbelwind Flakpanzer, some of the most powerful vehicle units in the game, along with Stug III General Assault Guns and Nebelwefers from the Panzergrenadier Kompanie. The combined might of this upgrade is sure to elevate the Wehrmacht faction to superiority over most rival factions.
3 M45 Quad Mount Conversion (US Forces)
This vehicle upgrade is available via the Weapon Support Center, and provides a cheaper way of acquiring it than producing the unit conventionally. First, an M3 Armored Personnel Carrier must be deployed, costing 270 Manpower and 25 Fuel. Then, the upgrade can be activated for 75 Munitions.
Given that munitions are generally easier to come by than fuel, this unit can be produced very efficiently without depleting an army's fuel supply too rapidly. In tandem with the other vehicle upgrades available to the US Forces through the Mechanized Support Center, this vehicle can easily rival some of the most powerful anti-air and anti-infantry vehicles of other factions.
2 Guastatori Breakthrough Package (Afrikakorps)
Arguably one of the most fearsome units in Company Of Heroes 3 is the all-new Italian Guastatori engineers. Only available to the Afrikakorps through the Italian Infantry Battlegroup, these infantry soldiers are specialists at close range.
The true potential of the unit is only really unlocked, however, through the Guastatori Breakthrough Package, which will grant the unit two devastating flamethrowers in addition to wire cutters. This means that no blockades or enemy cover will stand a chance. There are not many infantry or light vehicle units that will be able to go toe-to-toe with the Guastatori once this upgrade has been activated.
1 Fire Support Elements (Afrikakorps)
The Fire Support elements upgrade, available through the Afrikakorps Light Support Kompanie building, will unlock Flakvierling Half-Tracks, Pak 38 Anti-Tank Guns and Infantry Support Guns for the faction. At a cost of 125 Manpower and 35 Fuel, the upgrade is relatively cheap, and due to the quick-starting nature of the faction this can usually be unlocked very early.
This upgrade unlocks the true potential of the Afrikakorps as the most powerful faction in the game, capable of fast-moving and devastating vehicle-based assaults.