Artillery Field Officer (Ostheer)

[ShodaN]

I recently rediscovered that guy and started using him some more in combination with Grens. And even after all that playtime I realized that I never really bothered to look up what his "Concentrated Fire" ability does in numbers. Turns out it's +15% accuracy for inf and -13% reload for vehicles.

So here's the question:
What exactly does it do to artillery units (as the name kinda suggests it should effect)?

Those don't use accuracy, but scatter. Is it just a 1:1 reduction (-15%) for scatter or does it maybe use the reload buff? What about using barrage and stationary artillery under its effect (possible with team mates or in the Joint Operations commander)? Or does it just not buff those at all?

[Nequis]

Originally posted by DarTH ShodaN:

So here's the question:
What exactly does it do to artillery units (as the name kinda suggests it should effect)?

You gain both reload and accuracy (scatter for indirect,works like mortar bulletins) bonus,it affects all infantry units and all vehicles with no restrictions.

Also there is a bulletin that increases range by 8% or something,i used to stack those back when bulletins were stackable.

Originally posted by DarTH ShodaN:

Those don't use accuracy, but scatter. Is it just a 1:1 reduction (-15%) for scatter or does it maybe use the reload buff? What about using barrage and stationary artillery under its effect (possible with team mates or in the Joint Operations commander)? Or does it just not buff those at all?

If you activate effect it buffs allies too,the best use is to first fire all your indirect pieces (mortars,rockets,howitzers) and then fire it again with officer ability,also consider that the barrage from all pieces called from the officer only affects the ones belonging to the player who have the officer and gain almost double barrage range.

[ShodaN]

Originally posted by Nequis:

Originally posted by DarTH ShodaN:

So here's the question:
What exactly does it do to artillery units (as the name kinda suggests it should effect)?

You gain both reload and scatter bonus,it affects all infantry units and all vehicles with no restrictions.

You sure about that? I know the OKW Sturmofficer has a twofold bonus that affects everything around him, but afaik the AFO from Ostheer has infantry and vehicle specific ones from his timed aura.

But I do know the guide I got it from has some other mistakes in it, so I take your word for it.

[Nequis]

Yes,try it out with a Stug which is most noticeable while activating it.

The tradeoff is that Sturmofficer has an always active aura but if he gets sniped early on you miss on the whole engagement and you can't really add him to your fighting force. Also his other abilities backfire if you use them on multiple elite infantry squads.

The Arty Officer activates it at a muni cost and also affects both infantry and vehicles,only difference is that it has smaller radius and if he dies you don't get force retreated. Also his abilities are useful all game long and can be used early on as an effective grenadier squad,the Luger looses dps vs the kar only at extreme range.

Also if you use range bulletin for arty you can hit mortar pits outside their range with grw mortars,not sure if it's still doable now tho since when i used to do that i could stack +24% range.

[Green Stranger]

Originally posted by Nequis:

Originally posted by DarTH ShodaN:

So here's the question:
What exactly does it do to artillery units (as the name kinda suggests it should effect)?

You gain both reload and accuracy (scatter for indirect,works like mortar bulletins) bonus,it affects all infantry units and all vehicles with no restrictions.

So if you use the concentrated fire with the Mortar, the mortar shots faster and more accuarate, right?
I also been playing with the AFO recently, but I use him mostly for the extra smoke barrge (and the acc bonus on the infantry) but never tried to use him with the mortars

[Crystal meth enthusiast]

What are talking about? "Concentrated Fire" is absolutely different ability.

[ShodaN]

Originally posted by Pink Omega:

What are talking about? "Concentrated Fire" is absolutely different ability.

The timed aura ability of the AFO is called Concentrated Fire. Not the barrage, but the inspire aura.

[ShodaN]

Originally posted by Nequis:

Yes,try it out with a Stug which is most noticeable while activating it.

Well the reload yes. But I don't really notice any difference in accuracy.

Maybe it does infact give both benefits at once, but it's not as noticeable through the different firing modes of the weapons involved. like a a faster reload wont be too obvious with small arms and LMGs and a bit more accuracy wont change much with balisitc weapons, which in turn however rely heavily on the reload time.

[Nequis]

Originally posted by Green Stranger:

So if you use the concentrated fire with the Mortar, the mortar shots faster and more accuarate, right?
I also been playing with the AFO recently, but I use him mostly for the extra smoke barrge (and the acc bonus on the infantry) but never tried to use him with the mortars

I wouldn't use it with mortars though simply cause you are narrowing down the chances to hit something on an indirect fire weapon that relies on a degree of RNG.

You use mortars mostly against infantry that even when standing in a relatively clustered zone still moves around a bit,and if you barrage buildings you need no accuracy since it hits almost 100% and after the first 1-2 strikes people leave it.

It's best used to wipe mortar pits with barrage cd reset to call 4x in case you are using 2 mortars.


P.S. If you go scrounging around CoH2 stats theorically using coordinated barrage makes mortar attacks do double damage along with the usual 160 range while other artillery pieces gain accuracy/reload and some even tiny aoe boost but i didn't test this firsthand recently so not sure if it's up to date.