Vote for: Perimeter Overwatch Change

I don't think it's OP, during this ability is active, every capped or decapped point disables this ability on that sector, it's only good cuz of the duration and it does not require much micro.

Actually i wouldnt change this ability at all, maybe even buff it cause it's expensive, there are much more bigger concerns about balance than this ability

I dont thnik the ability is THAT good is it? I've used it a handfull of times and thought I simply wasted the munitions.

Hold the line however, how is this still under the radar?

Well Tightrope used it incorrectly because none of his base buildings are set up, meaning none of the howitzers participated in barraging the enemy.

Here you see the full effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDf6SDp1uX0

2 base howi's firing + occassional offmap mortar shells + occassional offmap howi shells.

Howitzers also can't barrage every single sector all at once, just focusing on one.

I just did some testing and the ability is actually really good, the issue with it that makes it overperform in that it gives vision to all sectors once activated so the arty just constantly fires on all units.

Still no "lower lethality" option in the poll.

Still no "lower lethality" option in the poll.

Not even sure that that is the issue with the ability though, and what lethality, the AOE, the ROF the alpha damage?

Main issues I can see are then length that the ability lasts, and the fact it highlights all sectors that you own, so if you cap the whole map, you can see the whole map and arty and mortars fire constantly on every point and enemy is within your territory.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/624707027

That is a bit too much vision there

That is a bit too much vision there

And the vision isnt even shared with the enemy nor is their any indication that it gives vision to this extent which really needs to be changed.

I think the second option would be reasonable if the cost stays at 150 or above

Something to keep in mind is that reducing duration, decreasing cost and increasing the cooldown might very well have the unwanted effect of increasing munitions float which would result in spamming the flares and Concentrated Barrage and the Valentine Sexton barrage even more because it'd reduce/eliminate munitions management. Which might not be much of a net improvement.

What if the ability shot wide-radius flares over points rather than just giving full-sector sight?

Gameplay-wise, that would make the ability slightly dodgeable, the sight would be indicated to the enemy, and the user would have to do some scouting (which the Valentine can help with).

Other than that idea, duration is the main issue. I would advise against a triple nerf, too.

Removing Vision would solve the problem; Therefore youd still need scouting or the use of another scouting effect.

Something to keep in mind is that reducing duration, decreasing cost and increasing the cooldown might very well have the unwanted effect of increasing munitions float which would result in spamming the flares and Concentrated Barrage and the Valentine Sexton barrage even more because it'd reduce/eliminate munitions management. Which might not be much of a net improvement.

What about adding 3 red flares to concentrated barrage so the enemy can actually see it if he doesnt have his screen on the current flare at second 0

would make this ability a lot less frustrating.

In relation to this commander the Valentine is also hugely over performing in my opinion, there is basically no reason not to use it as Brits at the minute. Maybe only because the Assault ability in Commandos is also broken.

Removing Vision would solve the problem; Therefore youd still need scouting or the use of another scouting effect.

It only gives a small vision buff to flagpoles and it doesn't target units in the FoW. It mostly relies on either friendly units to spot or sight from the flag poles.

However I figured out that the flag pole sight buff from Anvil Tactics stacks with the flag pole sight buff from PO and can make most of friendly territory visible in smaller maps because flagpoles get like 40 vision in total when PO is active with Anvil researched. Which is a pretty big problem to be honest as it does essentially make the ability mostly self-spotting.

Something to keep in mind is that reducing duration, decreasing cost and increasing the cooldown might very well have the unwanted effect of increasing munitions float which would result in spamming the flares and Concentrated Barrage and the Valentine Sexton barrage even more because it'd reduce/eliminate munitions management. Which might not be much of a net improvement.

The ability should not be in the commander. The sheer volume of arty this commander can produce is simply too much. Replace it with counter barrage that should also not be available in the emplacement commander.

Removing Vision would solve the problem; Therefore youd still need scouting or the use of another scouting effect.

It would also remove the point of the ability, there would be no reason what so ever over using any other offmap.

The ability should not be in the commander. The sheer volume of arty this commander can produce is simply too much. Replace it with counter barrage that should also not be available in the emplacement commander.

Have you checked the name and theme of the commander yet?

It only gives a small vision buff to flagpoles and it doesn't target units in the FoW. It mostly relies on either friendly units to spot or sight from the flag poles.

However I figured out that the flag pole sight buff from Anvil Tactics stacks with the flag pole sight buff from PO and can make most of friendly territory visible in smaller maps because flagpoles get like 40 vision in total when PO is active with Anvil researched. Which is a pretty big problem to be honest as it does essentially make the ability mostly self-spotting.

Its vision is far more than just a buff:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/624707027?t=00h04m24s

Have you checked the name and theme of the commander yet?

Yes and an ability that fires howitzers on enemy artillery fits the commander perfectly.

Its vision is far more than just a buff:

Yes I said that the small sight bonus from PO stacks/multiplies with the small sight bonus from Anvil which unintentionally gives the large LOS. The ability itself only gives an extra ~10 sight around flag poles which isn't a problem without the Anvil sight bonus.

I asked someone in our server to test some numbers. Looks like the first offmap shells from perimeter overwatch land after 8 seconds. Consistent 8s interval for mortars, 16s interval for offmap sexton barrage.

The first barrages from the base/command post come as early as 3.5s, with the reload time for each howitzer being ~7s, assuming they keep hitting a stationary target. If they switch targets, the fire rate understandably gets significantly worse due to traversing/set up.


Shell density for perimeter overwatch is approximately 7.5 mortar shells per minute, 5 offmap shells per minute and ~17.0 shells per minute (at most) for both command post howitzers.

Ability costs 225, iirc.

Comparatively, the sector overwatch from the ostheer version dumps 1 shell every 4s, with each shell coming in faster the longer the target is in sight.

Sector artillery costs 200 muni, and assuming I did the math right, with the interval multiplier (x0.85), Reaches 1s shell interval if the target is kept in sight for 20 seconds. Giving at an approximate maximum number of shots of over 45 on its howitzer shells, with a bare minimum of 10 shells if the interval thing is borked.

Over all, for its cost, while it doesn't have as much magical alpha as sector overwatch, it does last for quite some time.