Observer camo bonuses

[krupp steel]

So I was playing against the AI and spammed 10 observer units, blobbed them in a crater for them to get the invisibility bonus. Was wondering if their camo bonus affected their damage like PE falls and their exact values.

[Hendrik 'DarcReaver' S.]

So I was playing against the AI and spammed 10 observer units, blobbed them in a crater for them to get the invisibility bonus. Was wondering if their camo bonus affected their damage like PE falls and their exact values.

Yes, Observers get camo bonuses. They're in General a very unique unit. They're intended to fill the role of a Jeep and are meant as a defensive unit to use against charging enemies and/or enemies in buildings/fortifications/heavy cover. They're mostly useful when used as a static unit, as their Basic damage is quite low and they're bad at fighting on the move.

In Short Observers get:

- +25% accuracy/damage when hitting enemy Units from cloak (so called "first strike Bonus") and they receive a sight range Bonus while Standing still
- they deal increased damage to enemy units in cover - the better the cover, the higher the Bonus. That means they do not care much if their enemies are in a building or in heavy cover. Observers still deal a lot of damage to them, compared to other infantry Units.
- they have heroic criticals. That means that enemy snipers deal reduced damage to them and will not kill the spotter with one shot each
- they got very bad accuracy on the move, and are pretty bad when fighting at Close range.

The unit is still being tweaked and will receive some minor changes in the next patch.

[krupp steel]

I used them in blobs against the Ai so i can take advantage of their increased firing range and sight so i can snipe units such as snipers or incoming infantry from a far distance, and using a squad such as the command squad as the meatshield to cover the fact that they can die like flies quickly. Expensive, yes. But it is a fun tactic to try out and you shouldn't ever have to reinforce them since they are untouchable from afar

I think they actually do do decent damage and accuracy, they are just low on men for their 2 man squad size, which is why i got 20 of them together instead. AI tends to think they are sniper units, so the second a squad loses 1-2 men, they go full speed retreat. They also got a nice quick health regen that other squads dont get.

[Hendrik 'DarcReaver' S.]

Blobbing snipers seems to be more effective, still^^

But yea, Observers are affected by a "negative zeal" aura with a range of 25m, which makes them more susceptible to enemy fire the more you have. That means if you blob mroe than 3 or 4 of them you'll loose them extremely easy to counter units. It also stacks with snipers. That means if you blob a mix of snipers and observers they'll also die faster.

(At least if there has not been a hidden hijack on the files and the negative zeal was removed. But I'm 99% sure that it's ingame and working.)

Edit: And I was wrong... Thanks for posting this, else I wouldn't have noticed that the negative zeal isn't applying properly in the current build. I've already fixed it in the internal and it will be included in the next patch.