German abilities rarely seen

Hi folks,

there are some abilities I rarely see used or use (because I don't find them that usefull, and apparently most of my enemies too), maybe you could tell what you think about them and what their best use is in your opinion (and maybe answer some of the questions below).

1. Artillery Officer: the smoke barrage is cool, but I'm not sure about the rest... how does the 20mun ability affect units excatly (stats)?
2. Heavy Strafing Run (AT): the few times I used it, its damage was not that good and I had the impression that it need LoS to be effective. true?!
3. Hull down: massive strategic impact, as you're vulnerable to arty and usually want you tanks to move, but is the bonus worth it? (what is it anyway?!)
4. Command tank: how does it affect the units in its sector?
5. Relief infantry
6. Trenches: what is the exact bonus for units?
7. Arty: when playing OH I never find myself saving the 600mp for this one...
8. Smoke Bombs: Ok their use is quite obviously for blocking LoS, but do you find it useful?
9. The grens in the SdKfz from Mech Supp

1. Concentradet Fire allows infantry units around the officer and the officer himself fire more precisely and vehicles fire faster. I don't know the exact modifier of the ability, but it's quite useful. A shame that I see the officer barely used.

2. LoS is useful but not needed. Well, it is needed for activating the ability, but normally the Ju 87 comes up with its own LoS.

3. It matters on your playstyle. I use it sometimes and it is quite useful if you want to lock down victory points or other vital points. The tank gets 25% more range and more armor.

4. It reduces the damage of all units in the sector it is in, if it is in a friendly sector.

5. For 6 man lost, you gain a free osttruppen squad. Not really worth it imo, but it can be useful for an infantry heavy strat.

6. Gives units the same modifiers as if they were garrisoned, but correct me if I am wrong.

7. Arty is useful, but imo not viable in 1v1, except for some rare situations. The LeFH 18 has a good fire rate and can lock down choke points, especially on Semoisky.

8. Useful for covering an advance, a retreat or just as a distraction. "Oh smoke, there might be something coming." Enemy normally backs away from smoke to gain more LoS between his troops and the smoke.

9. Well, it's a free Grensquad with LMG's. What could be bad about it, except the cost for this ability?

Thanks for your answers!

4. Do you know by how much % the damage received is reduced? And it sounds like it works with inf & tanks, doesn't it?

5. Aaahh so you don't need to lose whole squads? That's what I understood from the description, but your one sounds better.

6. Does the LeFH do significant damage to vehicles/tanks like the soviet one? And how good is it at killing inf? (I know it probably wont do as much damage as the sov one, but it has never been used against me so far)

9. 30 fuel is quite much for the vehicle you get imo, it's not even able to reinforce your troops. And idk if you want to order another Grensquad @3CP. Do you use it?

9 There's a thread on the Mechanised Groups

http://www.coh2.org/topic/14441/uses-for-mechanised-groups


They have their uses and niches but they are not that good nor common

Hulldown also increases the firerate(25%) and gives a pretty good received damage modifier, atleast 35%. Also the mentioned 25% bonus range.

Commandtank works on Inf and Tanks.

Ah, here are the patchnotes:


Hull Down
• Now increases unit rate of fire by 25%
• Hull down now increases unit range by 25%
(defense was already there)

Artillery Field Officer
• Now increases infantry accuracy by 15%
• Now increases vehicle rate of fire by 15%

Hull down is very good because it buffs tank for free and can be instantly broken the moment u need to move.

Use it to set ambushes around corner using true sight enemy units will walk into trap, then move if you need to.


Officer bonus is very good for offence, works perfect with how German faction plays supporting each other.


Myself, I always forget to use interrogate with g43s!!

Myself, I always forget to use interrogate with g43s!!

Exactly this!

Something else I just discovered: when you set up the Opel Blitz, your income rate increases (doubles the sector iirc, but that's not news), but every now and then a "+1 fuel +2 ammo" flashes over the truck. Is this the actual bonus or does this go on top of the doubled sector income?!

Counterartillery, I used it once and then never again.

The combination of a hulled down Ostwind combined with an Elefant (not dug in) can be really potent.

The Ostwind obliterates planes and infantry while the Elefant keeps the tanks away.

Hulled down Ost is great by a pak43 too!


bämbabäm, Im guessing that icon is just to visualise the 'doubled' income.

1. Artillery Officer:

Smoke Barrage is very useful to charge in a heavy covered VP or other sector.
The enemy can't see what's coming, therefore can't suppress your infantry that quick or can't shoot AT at your tanks from far away. This is not used much but is so damn effective..
The mortar can also do this when you want to charge in a heavily defended area, or want to cap a VP without getting pinned.

Also, the second ability of concentrate fire is very useful. Try activating it when charging in, you'll notice the difference hard

2. Heavy Strafing Run (AT): Extremely effective against a big blob of infantry. Stops the attack because the units are pinned for what, 60 sec? (correct me if i'm wrong)

3. Hull down: See replies above

4. Command tank: I don't use it much.. can't give anything on that. I think it's a pretty weak unit.

5. Relief infantry: 1 ost squad / 6 units dead, but don't use it much.

6. Trenches: Great to lock down a certain area BUT doctrinal. Should be non doctrinal I think..

7. Arty: Very useful when the enemy is bunkered up

8. Smoke Bombs: See above about the smoke, but It takes a while to drop the bombs. It can cover a retreat though.

9. The grens in the SdKfz from Mech Supp: Just some grens in a sdkfz with LMG, nothing bad about it, not hing great.
I use the SdKfz to transport units from the HQ to the battlefield, I can't find no other use for it because it is extremely vulnerable.

Cheers

The command tank is not so bad. Its basically just for AI and light vehicles, it will kill inf at a nasty rate, better than p4. It gives defensive buffs to units in same sector, so worth having if being campy. Also handy if you skip t3 and go straight to panthers. That way u can buff panthers and gain some AI.

If u use Blitzkrieg Doctrine and have around 300-400 Munitions, you can do OP push if you go for tactical movement, use Heavy Strafe, and recon for additional view for the strafe and yourself, and if something goes wrong with the fast "blitz" push you can just go back and pop smoke.
The heavy strafe is able to put a 100% HP SU-76 to 5% HP destroying the main-gun/engine

Sounds interesting, I don't use that one that much.
Another question: I guess the PaK43 is not able to take on the ISU, as it will die in two shots, doesn't it?

Sounds interesting, I don't use that one that much.
Another question: I guess the PaK43 is not able to take on the ISU, as it will die in two shots, doesn't it?

Well you generally want to have the PAk43 behing a shotblocker so The isu has to ground fire (less accruate)
The pak43 has superior firerate and will easily destroy an isu if they begin shooting at the same time or in retaliation. It also vets extremely quick so you can use the stun round too which means the isu is dead for sure.
In my experience you lose the pak43 more often to the bombstrike from the doctrine or to sniper infantry pushes than to tanks.

You can try placing the PaK43 behind a shot blocker so it can't be hit by the regular attack of the ISU152. However, the ISU-152 can still hit you with concrete-piecing shells.

You could try to build a PaK43 and have it on hold fire until the ISU152 is close enough that you can land 3 hits (first hit gives you vet1, second hit should be a target-weak-point, giving you time for a 3rd hit) round on it before it escapes. But that is a tactic that you can only try once. If it fails the ISU152 can just stay out of range or sneak in some APR shots when you lose line of sight.

What's the best unit to pair with an officer to make use of his concentrated fire? I think Pgrens work well, but then they are very vulnerable to tanks.
I guess an LMG Gren squad would be pretty lethal too.

officer works with all units including tanks. So he really is very useful.

The times I prefer to use him the most is with a good T1+2 combined arms. When they send a large attack trying to flank and break you down, having the officer buff the MG and mortar really helps out. Its like having For The Father Land from vCoH.

Here are some more tips:

1. The artillery officer buff affects your teammate's units as well. The artillery barrage ability increases the range of mortars/rockets/arty and, I think, makes them fire even if they're on cooldown. Pretty good unit.

3. Other people have mentioned the benefits of hull down. One thing to remember is that to deactivate the ability, you can't just give a move order! You need to click the button that makes them break hull down or else they'll just sit in place.

4. Command tank has those buffs, plus it's good against infantry and light vehicles/tanks. I use it if I'm going to go T2 directly to T4.

7. The LeFH used to be totally insane on small maps like Crossing in the Woods and Langreskaya. You could put one at the back of your base and constantly fire it at the enemy HQ, instagibbing any retreating squads. The cooldown has been increased, which is surely a good thing. I actually think this one is very good for 1v1 because it can generally reach everywhere, does a lot of damage, and will force your opponent to respond and maybe do something he doesn't want to do (eg make katyushas, baserush). Just watch out for commanders that have the precision bomb strike, as that will kill it instantly.

officer works with all units including tanks. So he really is very useful.

The times I prefer to use him the most is with a good T1+2 combined arms. When they send a large attack trying to flank and break you down, having the officer buff the MG and mortar really helps out. Its like having For The Father Land from vCoH.

Hmm, you know I very rarely use him with support units, I should do that more often. How does it work with mortar? Still accuracy or RoF?

It will give exactly the same bonuses, so yeah ups rate of fire and accuracy. Works great on these units with grens hanging around also.

Generally when your T2 build, you bunch forces up to maximise the combined arms power, hence theres more units for the officer to buff. Just like FTFL, it will often sway an enemy assault from being sucessful to not.