How does the overwatch work? Especially melee.

[clop1000]

I don't completely grasp all the intricacies of how the overwatch works. Especially for melee units.

For instance - if i have a melee unit - does it automatically always have overwatch mode enabled?
Is it related with ammout of unused action points that unit has at the end of the turn?
So is there a difference if an enemy attacked my unit with 3 unused action points or with no action points whatever?

Does overwatch limited only for one attack? Can't a melee unit retaliate several units?

How do I disable enemies melee overwatch unit? I suppose just an attack on this unit is not enough?
Should my attack be with staggering effect? Will flanking work?

[utilityguy]

For instance - if i have a melee unit - does it automatically always have overwatch mode enabled?

Yes.

Is it related with ammout of unused action points that unit has at the end of the turn?
So is there a difference if an enemy attacked my unit with 3 unused action points or with no action points whatever?

I'm not 100% sure about ranged overwatched, but I am under the impression that is the case for some units, as I swear I've seen the Mainframe NPC faction units have an ability that states their Overwatch always count as full power.

Should my attack be with staggering effect?

Yes. Staggering 100% cancels overwatch.

[sandman25dcsss]

For repeating attacks overwatch keeps track of action points remaining. If you spent 1 action point before going into overwatch, the unit will shoot just twice (if overwatch triggers)

[Tuidjy]

Originally posted by clop1000:

For instance - if i have a melee unit - does it automatically always have overwatch mode enabled?

Yes, even if the unit has no action points remaining. So it is sometimes worth it using the full walking distance, leaving the unit unable to act on this turn, but able to hurt the enemy with overwatch.

It works even better if your melee unit has first strike. People underestimate some first strike units, like the Oathbound paladin trainees. (aspirants)

Is it related with ammout of unused action points that unit has at the end of the turn?

For melee, no. As I said, it works even without any action points left.

For ranged, unless you you have "Agile Overwatch" you only fire as many times as you had action points remaining.

But for melee, you need "Martial Artist: Tireless", if you want more than one attack. This said, with "First Strike", "Tireless", "Swoop" and a melee flier, you can theoretically get up to 13 overwatch attacks per turn. I've gotten seven - it's already ridiculous.

So is there a difference if an enemy attacked my unit with 3 unused action points or with no action points whatever?

No.

Does overwatch limited only for one attack? Can't a melee unit retaliate several units?

Ranged overwatch can attack up to three times, if you have three action points remaining, and the enemy survives the first two shots.

Melee overwatch attacks only once per enemy, but if your unit has the set of perks I mentioned above, it could attack all 13 neighboring enemies, if you positioned it just right.

Once I actually landed a champion so it had 11 neighbors. Two died on impact, and two were stunned, so he only hit six or seven of them.

How do I disable enemies melee overwatch unit? I suppose just an attack on this unit is not enough?
Should my attack be with staggering effect? Will flanking work?

Flanking can work to avoid the overwatch attack, against some units, but there are unit abilities that give 360 degree overwatch.

Staggering can cancel the overwatch attack. If you do not have massive impact, stagger resistant units will still retaliate. If you have massive impact, units with "Counterattack" will still hit back. The only thing that guarantees that you will not be hit back is "Ignore overwatch", which is an abilities that some Prime Rank units get.

[clop1000]

An additional question about overwatch for ranged units?

If an enemy put a ranged unit in the overwatch mode, and i don't move my units in the overwatch Sphere (where an enemy unit will automatically fire upon my units), fire outside this sphere of overwatch, will the enemy ranged unit retaliate?

[utilityguy]

Retaliation only happens if a Unit within Overwatch line of sight does anything that isn't a stagger. Overwatch units do not get a free shot any time someone from outside their line of sight fires at them.

[leon feargus]

I think units that are Blinded also lose melee overwatch, but I'd have to check up on that. Maybe it just decreases the chance (which usually is 100%).

[utilityguy]

Originally posted by leon feargus:

I think units that are Blinded also lose melee overwatch, but I'd have to check up on that. Maybe it just decreases the chance (which usually is 100%).

can confirm it eliminates over-watch, the battle a.i always uses that against me lol

[clop1000]

I Played recently and my ranged unit attacked an enemy ranged unit that had been put to overwatch mode, and that unit fired back, even though my unit was outside of overwatch zone (violet titles).

[Stardustfire]

if you move a meele unit up until its grey move, it DONT get an overwatch hit chance as well. with the grey move not used they get only ONE overwatch hit on the first enemy acting in there face, even if they dont used any action points in there turn. like so many other things, melee overwatch got dumped down in strategic use a lot. they tryed to fix it on the last meters with the relentless skill that was BASIC in AoW3, but its only a meager atempt.

[sandman25dcsss]

Overwatch zone is red, not violet.

[Frosty the Pyro]

Originally posted by Stardustfire:

if you move a meele unit up until its grey move, it DONT get an overwatch hit chance as well. with the grey move not used they get only ONE overwatch hit on the first enemy acting in there face, even if they dont used any action points in there turn. like so many other things, melee overwatch got dumped down in strategic use a lot. they tryed to fix it on the last meters with the relentless skill that was BASIC in AoW3, but its only a meager atempt.

this is not accurate, melee units do get overwatch even if they move their max spaces. You are corect that Melee overwatch only allows one attack by default, though with stagger that can have an outsized impact.

Also relentless was not basic in AoW3, in that game units could react to each action (so could retaliate against all three incoming melee attacks) but overwatching used their action points from the next turn, so they did not get unlimited overwatches as a relentless unit would, and would often be completely drained for their next turn (letting you effectively stun a unit by forcing to overwatch against some fodder some fodder). AoW3 did have a relentless equivlent (tireless I think) that got around that limit, but it was pretty rare.