Canada
United States
Howitzers aren't used in competitive play because they're too expensive and underperform vs. Rocket artillery. As Kallipolan mentioned, rocket artillery saturates the target area.
Howitzers seem good in campy games against friends or AI where you need to smash defensive positions; they're good on those modded maps w/ popcaps of up to 300 where popcap isn't an issue.
I don't think in coh1 there were howitzers present in competitive play, although I cannot say for certain.
Krotentoten, I have to disagree with you about rocket artillery.
If a calliope can wipe two obers next to each other, then so be it. If it's the first barrage, that's some good play by the USF player. If it's fifty minutes into the game and the calliope has been around, that is the fault of the okw player.
A panzerwerfer will not kill a full health rifle squad at full range. With no sight, the scatter is huge. Even with sight, the max range scatter is huge.
When you drive up to the minimum range, the scatter is reduced. That's acceptable. The Wehr player is taking a calculated risk.
Maybe reducing pwerfer suppression or increasing its scatter would be good for balance, idk.
In competitive play, especially 1v1, on-map howtizers aren't used that often and for good reason.
OP mentioned something about howitzers being more accurate the longer their barrage lasts. That's fine and dandy and I assume you mean to account for artillery observers directing fire IRL. The game already implements that; scatter for indirect fire is reduced - on auto fire and barrage - when the target unit/area is visible to the player.
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