The problem with trying to make a small field arty piece is twofold.
A - that sort of indirect firepower is normally tied to commanders, which allows a certain amount of expectation and counterplay.
B - Howitzers rely on huge shell AoE and area saturation to do damage. Unless you want to severely buff the Pack Howitzer and add a fuel cost, a half size barrage is going to be awful, one way or another.
If the barrage is free, but as good as a ZiS barrage, it'll be crippling to play against.
If it's free and more or less any worse, it'll be worthless against anything besides an OKW truck, because squads can just move, it'll never vet up, and the shells won't have the AoE and spread to be a general sector threat to stand in like an ML-20 or LeFH.
I can't see any middle ground where a 300-400mp howitzer could ever be a good idea. Where the hell is that sweet spot?
Saying make it a barrage is fine, but how? What would the shell spread be, what would the reload be, how big is each shell AoE?
I'm not anything close to a game designer so I wouldn't venture to give exact numbers, but IMO its AoE profile is good enough as is to fit a "mini howitzer" role, but maybe buff the damage slightly so it's better at killing fortifications and adjust the AoE profile so it's more or less the same against infantry, and give it a fairly fast reload (a little faster than it is now) on the barrage and a fairly low cooldown (less than what it is now). Not sure what should be done with HEAT.
Ofc that is all assuming the autofire gets removed and the unit maybe even gets a fuel cost added. |
That's pretty much how I'd envision it personally, maybe with its HEAT barrage turned into a wanabee rocket arty strike (good AOE and fast ROF), perhaps still with a mediocre auto attack (similar to ISG). But I doubt Relic would allow such an extensive overhaul.
I honestly think that's a pretty cool idea, and if that were implemented then I think it'd also be cool if the normal barrage was more like a baby version of an actual howitzer barrage (even longer range, maybe slightly more damage) and just remove autofire outright. USF has a normal mortar now, so that'd be much more interesting and useful IMO and maybe a bit less frustrating to play against. |
Spearhead also makes it move slower (-25% speed) and locks the turret in a frontal 90 degrees arc, so the tank is (theoretically) pretty vulnerable to medium tank dives when in this mode.
Though perhaps on the Ace, the movement penalty needs to be higher since the -25% is originally based on the King Tiger.
That's something I have found to be sort of true, but the ability to wipe AT guns with incredible ease all by itself frontally kind of annoys me (even when I'm using it I feel kind of scummy), and the fact that it suppresses infantry about 3x as fast as a vickers could also take some looking into. IMO the latter needs to go completely, as it's the only tank in the game to be able to do that and we don't really need a 1280 HP flaktrack that also has an 88mm in the tiger ace.
Whoah didn't know it only had -25% movement penalty lol. |
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I like recon support a lot better than tac support, kinda just on a flavor basis. I find it more fun to play with than just spamming a lot of lmg infantry lol, and a well hidden/micro'd/protected ambulance makes reinforcement halftracks kind of a moot point for usf if you can keep it safe and keep it relevant, since any AT will force off a reinforcement halftrack anyway so you might as well do just a little extra walking to go heal at the ambulance. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of halftracks too but I just don't really see it as enough of an advantage to pick it over recon support. Callies are good, but I don't really ever find myself with enough muni to justify a strafing run (even though it's a good ability on paper) and would rather be using it for other things.
With recon support, greyhound is fun to play with, zook paras are actually kinda decent and very fun to use (even though 1919s are probably realistically the better option), it gives you access to mines through the paras, long sightlines and arty through paths, a great light in the greyhound, and clusters for pak walls. |
As someone who loves the ISU a lot - It's great. It's not a direct counter to Ele and JT of course, BUT... BUT IT KILLS INF. Holding a point with an ISU is just great. Baiting Elefants and JT's also works awesome
+1
Blasting infantry to an alternate dimension from almost ele range is definitely something I do not regret picking a commander for and paying lots of resources for. It's also the only allied tank that doesn't get practically hardcountered by ele or jagd so that's a bonus too, and the dshk makes gives it kinda decent AA (lol).
It's not really for AT anyway, that's essentially just a bonus and it shouldn't be anywhere near as good as ele or jagd at AT because it can actually kill inf well. |
20 second sprint on a 5 man 3 zook squad a bit different from 5 second sprint on a 4 man man 2 shreck squad
If this ability is cheap what about valiant assault? It's like 70 muni, lasts for longer than 20 seconds, and makes your infantry terminators in addition to giving sprint. But sure, let's focus on the incredibly OP smoke shell and sprint ability. |
It destroys moving units incredibly well...
The problem is, the pack howie basically hard-counters all of Ost's units with nearly zero user input. The Ost mortar is good, but as with all IDF units, it's best against static infantry - which USF rarely uses. Every single USF infantry unit, short of M1919 upgraded rifles, can fire on the move with little to no problem. Compare this to Ost, which is based entirely around static units: The MG42 is a core unit (unlike the .50), the Gren LMG needs to be stationary to fire, the early/mid AT role is filled by the PAK (compared to stuart, zooks) due to Muni cost, etc.
To counter all of these units, all the USF player needs to do is sit a pack-howie within range, and let it auto-fire. There's zero player input for an incredible amount of power.
Imagine if OST had a unit that auto-marked nearby moving infantry with +33% RA, forcing allied infantry to remain static; it would be absurdly OP. This is basically how disruptive the Pack-Howie/US-MHT is to OST play, except there's also doing MP-drain and squad wiping.
Ost mortar literally does that but ok.
Yes, USF infantry can fire on the move pretty well but they still lose DPS when moving and the irony of the complaint still stands.
Before you talk about how much stronger the pack howie is than the mortar, the mortar comes much earlier, can retreat, is like 100mp cheaper, and doesn't lock you out of getting mgs without backteching. Pack howie also is pretty vulnerable to counterfire because it's got 3 guys clustered right around the gun (so lucky AoE shots will do a lot of damage or potentially decrew it outright lol). At least there is a counter; try playing as brits vs double leigs. |
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Assault engies. |
Tactical assault/advance has also restricted to automatic weapons if im not mistaken. I think its only been on squads with mp40s, thompsons, stgs, etc.
Not saying its not possible, but I think it only on those types of weapons because they are cqc. Would be too strong on g43s which are completely different
Yes. With g43s it'd be a no-brainer to just use when you're in cover all the time because your additional DPS gained is a lot more than the extra damage your squad will take. It's a lot riskier to use with smgs since you have to be so close for it to be effective, which also makes it less potentially powerful than on an all ranges weapon like the g43. |
Try playing with the commander and you will find out that you can spam 4 6men PF at the beginning of the game.
In addition try comparing cost efficiency of Penal and G43 Pgs.
The Tiger timing is a real issue.
4 PFs is definitely doable as an opening, and it'll be a little weaker at the beginning but once they all get g43s they'll win almost every engagement.
Penals and g43 PGs are both more to reinforce than pfusies are and both cost more to make in the first place (although they are a lot better vanilla). With g43s, pfusies are at least equal if not straight up better with high vet than both penals and PGs. |
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Heartless Jäger 
