For the record I tried it again with putting the units as enemy and its works better .
I was trying on cheatmode each ability to put the commander back on my roaster.
Used it 3 times this afternoon but definitively lacking calliope in teamgame :{
Sherman 105 is nice because it is much more accurate than the regular sherman but has shorter range which make it much more vulnerable to pak wall.
240mm has been improved some years ago if I remember well but still to much RNG.
I was testing the 240 mm howitzer barrage from the USF armor company and I find the damage output really low for what it supposed to be.
I did it several times before recording (you can see the craters) and well it didn't even killed a model even when landing on top of it.
Give ML20 and Lefh a X seconds discharge smoke as vet1 ability and remove their current one.
- Discharge smoke last 10 seconds
- Discharge smoke instantly stop the barrage if used and set a XX minutes cooldown on it.
The idea is to give Howitzer a soft counter to recon/offmap combo but should requires a bit of anticipation thus adding some seconds between activating the smoke and its use.
Then lasting only 10 seconds force the player to have AA around to take down the recon plane.
Last using it works like a draw, you saved your howitzer but its barrage cooldown is reset for a longer period of time (to be determined).
If you lose by the time a LeFh destroys your ambu, and this being the tipping point, then it does sound like a L2P issue. Definitely if you are "ahead". An LeFh are 400mp and 50fuel (?) thats a big investment.
A replay would be interesting.
Stock USF M5HT cost 310/50, for 90 manpower more you've got the ability to randomly rape your opponent troops and base from behind your T3. Not to mention that on certain maps You can place quite safely behind you T3 to cover your fuel letting you harrassing his side of the map.
Anyway Howitzer for OKW was a stupid idea since it was first mentioned.
NOTE: This may not be the live version. Last Version I had ready to look at on my PC.
The North has OPEN access and is closer to the middle VP. But the south gets a building(1) that overlooks the VP. So it is a trade off that works for both sides in certain situations? For example a brit can MG the house and demo the sight blockers.
I'm not sure the house is an advantage. It can easily be taken down and a single mortar will deny you its use.
I have the impression north side have quite an advantage to hold the center of the map and their fuel.
Also the gimmick dummy point next to it always trick me as I think its the VP before remembering its more in the north (when I play south) and I definitively don't have this problem when I start north, I always feel the center vp is at reach.
I guess the lack of vision with the blocking house and the fact you need to circle it to reach it make me believe that.
About the fuel, here again it all about vision, you don't really know what's behind the east house making it more difficult to plan the assault.
Anyway I find it much more easier to hold the center area of the map and fuel from the north than the south.
It does not give +1 speed, it gives +1 posture_speed. So a higher speed "level" with a predetermined/standardised speed increase. Tactical Movement increases infantry movement speed from around 3.5 standard (barely able to keep up with a Tiger II at 3.8 speed) to around 5.6 (barely being able to keep up with a Brummbar at 5.7 speed). Around a 50% increase; probably a straight 1.5 because I had to guess the speed values. More than double RS' 1.2 movement speed bonus.
Tactical Movement isn't a very good comparison anyway because it's a meh ability. It's mostly just there to balance out some commanders.
IMO grenadier being weaker than riflemen isn't a vacuum unit vs unit balance issue but a factional design issue that no damage table could solve.
The problem with 5men grenadiers design is at faction level, it is because you suddenly got a mainline infantry as strong/stronger than other mainline infantry with all the remaining beneficial design around it: better support weapon, better field presence, better medium tank and access to stock premium tanks.
I personally always felt that implementing 5men gren is an error because you can't buff grenadiers without nerfing half of the rest of Ostheer roster to balance the faction or you end up with a grenadier squad that's not really buffed like you imagine it deserves it to compete with other mainline infantryies.
Ironically what's missing is a visual warning for the opponent that's the ability is used. The same reason why any off map arty barrage get a smoke alarm or rocket arty a loud sound.
I've been convinced by Lunvest's arguments that no ability should be able to mess up with the game UI so I imagine something similar to what JPA32 proposed
I'd propose instead of making it an aggressive offensive ability that grants sprint, shorten the duration and have it give your units Ambush Camouflage instead. This is both less frustrating to play against since it requires you to initiate a fight to trigger the opponent's ambush, and it's thematic since the point of radio silence is to not give yourself away over comms which perfectly applies to ambush camouflage.
Instead of being an aggressive ability, could be a defensive one. And no more messing up with the player's UI.
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Relic Entertainment
