Close the Pocket Question

So what the hell is this about then? Who cares if units that aren't in the LoS of those points aren't targeted. ...

Well that’s exactly what EffenNoobie was talking about: that units outside of the LoS do get targeted (which isn’t correct). By basing your own point on that wrong statement, you’re spreading misinformation, even if the point you’re trying to make is correct (i.e. the ability self-spots, therefore getting LoS isn’t important, therefore the ability isn’t weak). I could give a real world example of why this is bad, but I hope the point is clear.

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On-topic:

The ability isn’t weak at all. It’s actually extremely overpowered. The cheesiness is exactly why its effectiveness is limited in so many ways:


- The commander itself doesn’t offer much besides the ability, which only comes in at 12 (!) CP. Breakthrough and break supply might aswell come at 12CP too, because their only use is to support the ability. Stormtroopers are lacklustre and camo is good, but available on better commanders.
- Once your opponent knows what you’re trying to do, it becomes very hard to pull off. He only needs to build a cache to force you to make an assault on the sector. After that, he only needs the awareness to fend off said assaults. The ability cancels once the enemy reconnects the territory.
- Its effectiveness greatly depends on the lay-out of the map.


You’re basically putting all your eggs in a basket that relies on you to survive until late game without proper abilities, requires your opponent to be catched by surprise and is potentially a wasted commander slot on certain maps. With that said: while the commander is probably not viable in 1v1, these problems are nothing that a good 2v2 team can’t play around. You have to base your whole strategy around pushing the cut-off with your teammate and have your teammate select a commander that fills in the gaps of your strategy. Jaeger armor especially has nice synergy with close the pocket. Recon + normal stuka + break supply line is a guaranteed (albeit expensive) way of neutralizing a cached point, while you still have the elefant and spotting scopes as options. It’s just that most teams prefer something more reliable.

If you can get it to work tho..

You’re basically putting all your eggs in a basket that relies on you to survive until late game without proper abilities

Maybe if you choose encirclement in 1v1, but as you said its not really viable there. 2v2 and up its very easy to store up those munitions without sacrificing upgrades.

It's 200 munitions. There are a variety of abilities that cost more than that, and most of them can be shot down before they really do anything if you've invested in anti-air. The "if you can get it to work" mechanic is nothing exclusive to Close the Pocket, which at least provides its own vision. It's definitely map dependent, so are a lot of other doctrinal abilties/units.