Pack howitzer

is it me or this unit should perform better then it does for 480mp. first this unit takes direct hits to his weapon almost every single shot by every rocket or missle. it don't have retreat that's fine, but it moves so slow. it has no evasion always taking bullets. and expensive to reinforce. on top of that its auto fire is suuuuper short range....sadly.it should be more accurate or have more splash on its auto fire. And since u have to be so close to auto fire ur not that far from the enemy retaliating in the next 2 seconds. literally. Then barrage only shoots 3 shots!?? The auto fire shells should be as good as the barrage shells. and barrage should shoot at least 5. This unit has to many weaknesses and not that many strengths. and this is the most expensive howi/mortor any faction can buy.I know it just got a buff but it was so bad I think it needs another. Im not saying this unit needs a huge buff but its needs a buff. I think the splash is very weak on the weapon givin its baby short range. range of mg... I use this unit a lot when I play usa and need arty fast. and this arty isn't doing the job it should at 480. price of a darn 152 and b4 are 120mp away...makes no sense

I forgot to add that almost every usa unit cost a lot of mp so this unit costing 480 should make this unit an effective unit everyone hopes to expect it to be. honestly I get way more out of wer and sov mortors then I do with the PH and there half the price and stay alive waay longer cause retreat and don't take direct hits to weapon every rip

The only good thing is the lovely damage it can deal to vehicles once vetted.

I use the Pack Howitzer every game I play. My BO is 3x Rifles, CPT, Howi, Stuart AT gun. Armor Company for 2x M10s. Then tech to T3 or stay at T2 and use M10s and the Bulldozer Sherman.

The howitzer itself performs much better now from then at the launch of WFA. Its auto fire isn't the greatest but if you get its HE barrage on clumped up infantry it does some nasty damage and squad wipes. The key is you have to fix the enemy or predict their movements so the barrage lands on top of the group coming your way. Fixing can be done with MGs or having rifles just sit there and duke it out a long range vs grens/volks and then have the Howi do a barrage. The barrage itself has a longer range than its regular auto fire.

The default barrage also does insane damage to garrisoned buildings and can flush mgs or lower the HP of the building quite quickly.

At Vet 1 it gets WP rounds, another ability underused. Its great for doing slow damage to crew weapons and provides smoke to screen you inf or tanks moving up on that mg or PAK. I had one kill a PAK 43 in its first barrage of WP on the gun allowing my rifles to steal it after getting past some volks and use it on a KT which was hilarious.

At Vet 2 it switches to HEAT which is basically a dual purpose round. Yes its for AT but it does just as fine against inf. These guns at Vet 2 have the ability to take off chunks of HP of axis armor because they usually get rear hits and top hits. I have had many a game where the axis players got their PV4s or Panthers killed off by a Vet 2 Howi while they were more worried about my M10s and the Stuart stunning them.

Its come a long way but needs a little more tweaking to be cost effective. I mean axis mortars and kill it off quiet easily for half the price.

do you have any replays of it in action? I just cant ever make any good use of it, I'd really like to see how its done.

These guns at Vet 2 have the ability to take off chunks of HP of axis armor because they usually get rear hits and top hits.

there is no top armour.

The only good thing is the lovely damage it can deal to vehicles once vetted.

and a cheaper, more accurate and longer range counter part from okw can to without vet. then get more buffs till lvl 5

I use the Pack Howitzer every game I play. My BO is 3x Rifles, CPT, Howi, Stuart AT gun. Armor Company for 2x M10s. Then tech to T3 or stay at T2 and use M10s and the Bulldozer Sherman.

The howitzer itself performs much better now from then at the launch of WFA. Its auto fire isn't the greatest but if you get its HE barrage on clumped up infantry it does some nasty damage and squad wipes. The key is you have to fix the enemy or predict their movements so the barrage lands on top of the group coming your way. Fixing can be done with MGs or having rifles just sit there and duke it out a long range vs grens/volks and then have the Howi do a barrage. The barrage itself has a longer range than its regular auto fire.

The default barrage also does insane damage to garrisoned buildings and can flush mgs or lower the HP of the building quite quickly.

At Vet 1 it gets WP rounds, another ability underused. Its great for doing slow damage to crew weapons and provides smoke to screen you inf or tanks moving up on that mg or PAK. I had one kill a PAK 43 in its first barrage of WP on the gun allowing my rifles to steal it after getting past some volks and use it on a KT which was hilarious.

At Vet 2 it switches to HEAT which is basically a dual purpose round. Yes its for AT but it does just as fine against inf. These guns at Vet 2 have the ability to take off chunks of HP of axis armor because they usually get rear hits and top hits. I have had many a game where the axis players got their PV4s or Panthers killed off by a Vet 2 Howi while they were more worried about my M10s and the Stuart stunning them.

Its come a long way but needs a little more tweaking to be cost effective. I mean axis mortars and kill it off quiet easily for half the price.

trust me this build order not gona work vs none of the pros I take on or me. u can tryit vs me if u want im positive its not gna go down how u think it is. but any mortor can do the things ur saying here but they arnt as expensive. and yes u can get some kills with it and dmg but its not as much as it should be

there is no top armour.

So does it get max Pen or just rear armor damage when it lands?

trust me this build order not gona work vs none of the pros I take on or me. u can tryit vs me if u want im positive its not gna go down how u think it is. but any mortor can do the things ur saying here but they arnt as expensive. and yes u can get some kills with it and dmg but its not as much as it should be

Its hit and miss but it has work well in my play. I usually play 2 v 2 and sometimes 1 v 1 but in 1 v 1 my BO is very different. I don't think the mortar can do the same. It has smoke but it doesn't damage units with its smoke and the anti armor punch of a mortar does not compare to the pack howi.

* As for the question of replays I have them turned off ever since WFA due to performance issues, I'll turn them back on and see if I can play with them turned on and push them to you Asnekyfox.

if it hits the front box, it's a front hit. if it hits the rear box, it's a rear hit.



i'm not entirely sure on the proportions of the boxes, it may be 2:1 instead of 3:1.

Pack Howitzer is simply awesome. Anti-blob unit. In teamgames I could sometimes reach 60kills with one.
In 2v2 it's also very useful.
For me "must-have" unit as USF, especially if enemy is waiting for King Tiger and use only infatry.

if it hits the front box, it's a front hit. if it hits the rear box, it's a rear hit.



i'm not entirely sure on the proportions of the boxes, it may be 2:1 instead of 3:1.

Well, when I asked what counts as front and what as back armor people said it is actually equally big boxes.

As I understand it, the armor is 50% frontal and 50% rear.

Divide the tank in half: {Front | Back}

The 3 shot HE barrage is worth alone against static strategies, does a lot of damage. i.e. Multiple weapon teams or maps with lots of buildings. You have to bring it up during engagements so its in range to lob some rounds at enemy squads.

The Pack howitzer does insane amounts of damage when it hits. for me it works very well . You should heck Hans VODs and look for the games vs Pqumsieh - that thing gets vet 3 in notime.

Dont really have any thing to complain about the performance . I see it wiping quite frequently. However i agreee it is a very costly unit , is very vulnerable to vehicles and stukas ( one proper barage can oneshot it ).

One could argue for a slight decrease in its price

I usually get them to vet 2 when I play. The Walking Stuka hard counters it. I usually have it do a barrage and make it move to another firing position after it finish to escape doom. At Vet there they seem to get squad wipes more easily.

I don't see why everyone keeps praising their vet. They need to get up to vet 3 to get any stat boosts other then armor pen and tanks aren't exactly easy to hit. Getting a pack howitzer top triple vet with their inability to, retreat no cover, and general slowness is incredibly hard.

I don't see why everyone keeps praising their vet.

For auto attack (barrage only benefits from the second line):

Reload at vet1 is 6.9 seconds. Reload at vet2 is 3.8 seconds.
AOE at vet1 kills full health infantry in radius 1. AOE at vet2 kills full health infantry in radius 1.6.

Adding in other delays in refiring, the thing ends up firing 33% faster while having 250% size lethal area on impact.

I don't see why everyone keeps praising their vet. They need to get up to vet 3 to get any stat boosts other then armor pen and tanks aren't exactly easy to hit. Getting a pack howitzer top triple vet with their inability to, retreat no cover, and general slowness is incredibly hard.

They get double damage at Vet 2 I think, meaning against infantry it's AOE kill radius grows and they do as much damage as an AT gun to vehicles (with better penetration disregarding AP rounds).

Still too expensive and 11(!) popcap.