New 203mm Heavy Howitzer

I'm kind of surprised there wasn't a thread on this already, but what is everyone's opinion of the new howitzer that the Counterattack commander got?

The weapon is essentially a better Soviet 120mm Howitzer + a better German PAK43 rolled into one unit all for the not-so-expensive price (relative to those two units) of 600 manpower. In my opinion, it is much too efficient considering it can one shot a Panther at vet 2. I know it's doctrinal but a 600mp unit killing a 600mp+130fu unit in one shot? Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

Note that the weapon should only require 600 damage inflicted in order to get to vet 1 - thats only 10 infantry kills. Once it is vet one and has its precision strike, the German player can pretty much kiss any HVT immobile for more than a second good-bye. This leads to easy vet 2 which then after is simply "trolololol." If the German player didn't pick a commander with recon run + some call-in bomb ability, he has literally no way to counter this provided the Soviet player plays smart and defends his base well.

I've been on the giving and receiving end of this cheesy unit and I really don't think it adds any fun to the game (maybe in compstomps?).

On a side note, why is it that the Soviets always get these insta-gib units like KV-8 and the 203mm? But now that this is here, I have to say this is far more cheesy than the KV-8 ever was, considering this thing can be easily defended due to its long range.

A vet 2 203mm howitzer with direct fire ability can damage 95% of a Tigers HP with one shot.

Relic has make him so strong because they want everybody to buy this commander.

recon flight + stuka bomber

Im not sure but the "one shot" ability cost 160 munition.

recon flight + stuka bomber

Im not sure but the "one shot" ability cost 160 munition.

That's one commander that has that combination. Any other commander is pretty much fucked (I guess Spearhead with recon + frag might work too).

Both the direct shot as well as the precision strike do the same amount of damage so either one can be used to the same effect. This might be changed in the next patch with the veterancy rework but no details have been really revealed about that yet.

180 munition

It's so terribly slow you can't hit anything that's not being immobilized. Even if it's attacked with a tank it won't turn on time to destroy it.

Repair your vehicles further away, behind your lines and you will be all right. Keep your tanks mobile when there's a recon plane airborne.
The worst unit in this commander good only against bad players in 3v3 or 4v4 mode.

It's not an OP unit at all. Its accuracy with the free single barrage is really bad and the direct fire vs. vehicles is 180 munitions, requires line of sight and it turns really slowly.

But you don't really need to use the direct fire option - you can just use precision strike at vet1, no? It's really not hard at all to get vet (first one, at least) for howitzers since they only cost manpower.

Besides, it doesn't need to be only used against tanks - remember it still does its regular howitzer role quite well (it does cost the same as the regular one so any other features are essentially free bonuses).

...

It's not nearly as good as the other howitzers when using its regular attack, it only shoots once.

If you build it, then it means you've been already way ahead of your opponent such that you're just building it for amusement and humiliation.

not necessarily, sometimes you build howitzers to break deadlock.

not necessarily, sometimes you build howitzers to break deadlock.

^

It's a decent and has pretty much the same drawbacks as any fixed emplacement. It will still die easily to any off-map artillery call-ins.

If built to take advantage of the (expensive) direct fire ability, then it is also likely in an even more vulnerable location. I see it really only being effective in choke-point maps like Pripyat and Rhzev

You really need to pre-aim the B-4 203 ahead of time, otherwise it is far to slow to actually hit anything.

Also, if you see a recon plane flying overhead, move your units around. Treat it kinda like a stuka dive bomber.

It does seem like there might be a bug with it's range. During construction, the yellow range circle seems to cover 90% of even the largest maps. After being built however, it's effective range is considerably less.

stuka bomber or railway cannon, problem solved

I've tested it a couple of times and I think it sucks.

Cons:
It can't fire through forests so it needs a clear path to fire on a tank.
Super slow reload.
Super bad accuracy ( missed 4 out of 5 shots, the 5th shot was a direct hit to a non vetted panther and it did 70% damage )

I didn't get to test the direct damage to a tank but I can only imagine it's not as imba as people want it to sound like.

I looks cool though

It really is only good once it gets precison shot. And its funny when it evaporates blobs of infantry

Yeah, it is quite useful. It doesn't get vet as fast as you think because the shots can be pretty damn inaccurate. The 180 munitions thing can one shot an Ostwind or Pz IV but will only take out like 70% of a panthers HP

Had a game where I built 3, 1 was destroyed to test the AT effectiveness.

I gotta say, in 3v3 and 4v4, it's great for helping against the usual tank spam.
http://www.coh2.org/replays/8840/b-4-203mm-owning-tanks

But it was also a bit much combined with the constant rain of Katys along with this heavy barrage to blow up the big guys.

It's pretty invaluable when fighting the type of German players that plan to sit back and amass tanks.