Well, I mean you usually have at least one or two units providing vision when you drop that down
The intention of the test is to prove that the ability doesn't self-spot.
AT overwatch do wreck heavy tanks absolutely no problem when sight is provided the whole time, and no more than 2 vehicles are distracting the arty hits, but it is also the most difficult thing to do in order to make it effective.
When using it in actual game it is hard to keep vision on the axis tank, since recon overflight would get shot down, flares requires mortar or sniper to be pushed into very risky position in order to be fired, infantry barely catches up the reversing not-snared tanks and often get killed by axis infantry.
When this ability works it usually being effective in helping secure a kill from combined arm push or punishing unsupported over-extending heavy tanks, OP claimed that this ability by its own could demolish any heavy tank without additional effort, I just want to prove that this statement is not true.
T-34 ram + AT Overwatch is the main reason I don't use JT any more. Even the stun is enough time to let the ability ramp up and then self spot with each new dmg instance. GL trying to ram double JP4 before the TDs shoot your face off.
Not sure if it needs a nerf but it's one of those 'skill' abilities that ramps up super fast so \o\
The arty hit doesn't provide renewed sight for subsequent hits, if it does then it would be so broken lmao.
It's pretty brutal vs crippled tanks. Had someone t34 ram into my tiger and then called AT overwatch. I reverse moved immediately but I couldn't even get out of the circle before the tiger was dead. I'd like more tests done but sure felt like I couldn't do anything vs ram + point click.
It could be brutal if engine crits are triggered from ram penetration (160), but overall this is a risky gamble rather than a stable way to combo kill heavies.
AT overwatch hits are limited and are evenly distributed to all armored target visible inside the ability casting circle, which means even if enemy has full vision, it will have trouble kill even one P4 if there are three P4 parked inside the circle.
The only circumstances that AT overwatch could KILL HEAVY TANK BY THE ABILITY ITSELF is when enemy has full vision on the area, AND there is only one axis heavy tank, AND the player choose to not moving the tank out of the overwatched area within 45 seconds.
The ability is hardly effective versus established axis armoured forces supported with proper infantry support and AA vehicle. It is only useful punishing overextended targets, optimally following after snares.
When using it in actual game it is hard to keep vision on the axis tank, since recon overflight would get shot down, flares requires mortar or sniper to be pushed into very risky position in order to be fired, infantry barely catches up the reversing not-snared tanks and often get killed by axis infantry.
This ability is fine, it does not need nerf.
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Btw it would be great if you can provide a replay to show how AT overwatch could kill full health heavy tank by its own in real game, much appretiate
I hope the USF captain's On Me ability won't cause the targeted friendly squad running toward the captain, make it work similar to UKF assault officer's ability.
The issue wasn't USF rushing M8s, it was them getting them later, especially in team games. By mid/late game the dual scotts could be defended by M36s, SU85s, Fireflies, etc. at which point they were untouchable via tank rushes (at least, with favorable econ outcomes). The obvious counter to that defensive tank line was Schrecks and Paks, but double Scotts countered those very well when used correctly. The game needs to be balanced (to some degree, anyway) in all modes, and double scotts were a serious problem in team games.
As for your experience, or sov clown cars; that's fine. However, many other players at both higher and lower levels had problems with it, and more importantly, it was incredibly 'un-fun' to play against; "This is miserably oppressive but I can still win against it" simply isn't good game design.
CoH2 is balanced around stock roster vs. stock roster, with the doctrine abilities adding flavor or countering other doctrine abilities. The goal has always been to make it possible for the game to be played without specific doctrines being 'required' vs. certain factions. This hasn't always been the case, as we've seen with various units and abilities, but it has been the goal; "the basic mainline unit isn't viable, you must use a doc locked unit" isn't a solution.
As for the comparison to MHTs, Mortars and Paks, the difference there is that all of them require being setup, and react to moving units quite slowly (via rotation). The Scott could fire fairly accurately on the move, and could easily react to moving units.
The over-all result was that static units, such as the MG42, Pak and LMG-gren were destroyed extremely quickly by the scott, and moving wasn't viable, as none of them can shoot on the move. Yes, there were other choices such as Pgrens and Doc-locked choices, but having effectively the entire default hard-countered by a stock unit just wasn't good game design.
As a counter example, imagine the impact on USF if the Ostwind did significantly more damage to moving units, to the point where it could wipe a vet 3 squad in less than a second. You'd be safe if you remained stationary, but then could be easily beaten by long-range units such as OST's LMG Grens or Mortars. This would be effectively the same thing in terms of design; horrible, as USF relies heavily on mobility.
Double LMG rifles were annoying, but as you said, could be dealt with; however, their existence also didn't counter an entire factions starting roster. In any event, this was also nerfed because it just wasn't fun to play against; blobs aren't interesting.
Just about every balance issue can be boiled down to "L2P" if you really want to, but it's not good for the game long-term. If the game isn't fun, people stop playing; so over-performing units get nerfed - especially if that performance requires very little user input to attain.
Does USF need a stock arty unit, and some late-game blob control? Sure; but not a form that can delete squads instantly with effectively no cooldown (or user input).
Currently the scott's barrage scatter and AoE profile makes it highly unlikely to one-shot-kill any infantry or team weapon when shooting from safe range, even when the target formation is extremely clumped up. Against moving infantry blob then the player need to invest heavily in ground attack micro to even have a chance to deal damage to the targets. Additionally the ability cooldown is pretty long, the default attack range is pretty small, axis AT gun and panther can easily take them down if scotts are spotted and dived when it is shooting at frontline.
Axis player when getting barraged by scott can easily evade by moving the units when the first couple shots drops, scotts causes nuisances but its power level had been decreased severely, being only partially effective versus team weapons (also requires opponent player unable to correctly micro their unit), this unit is balanced, it does not need anymore nerf.
About the "long-term-game-fun" issue, axis dominating 3v3 and 4v4 (60-65% winrate) for already half a year with their faction design's systematic power superiority is what really destroying player's enjoyment to the game.
This might be irrelevant but current balance state can already being reflected by how long you would need to find a 3v3 4v4 match when searching as axis and allies. It would take usually 8-15 minutes to find an axis game while when searching as allies the time needed won't surpass 5 minutes, 60%:40% to even 70%:30% axis versus allies searching player ratio happens almost all the time.
Just like in the clip shown, very occasionally, you would lose all the control buttons on the right bottom tab, resulting in unable to order infantry to do many vital basic tasks such as retreating and reinforcing. The hotkey won't work too since the corresponding buttons dissapears.
From my personal experience, such a bug happens only on this map and despite all factions may experience this bug but this mostly happened for me when I'm playing soviet.
I don't know what triggered this bug, but it seems very arbitrary, and as I have no idea how to avoid it, I've put this map into my veto list for a long time.
I hope someone can investigate into this and fix this bug.
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