Ostheer Command Trees

[Blackbishop]

Hello Eastern Front fans,

This time we will disclose the Command Trees used by Ostheer. We had taken our time because the ones we had weren't final and we preferred to wait until the end to post them. Let's start then.

Support Army Group

As the name implies, this command tree has several support units, on the LHS we have Brandenburgers, Aces High! and Carpet Bombing while the RHS is formed by Prioritized Resources, Ad-Hoc Detachment and Incendiary Rounds.

• Brandenburger ability calls a Ju 52 which paradrops a Brandenburger squad at the desired area. Brandenburgers are specialized in undercover operations, and they use soviet uniforms and soviet weapons. They have also the ability to capture a point instantly if it is neutral and to make neutral an enemy captured point, this ability doesn't work on Secured Points or in Victory Points.
• Aces High! ability calls the Ju 87 with Kanonenvogel over a chosen sector, it also fires at infantry if it is close to the armoured unit it is attacking.
• Carpet Bombing ability calls three Ju 88 in Delta Formation dropping bombs over the selected area, it covers a quite big area so, be aware of the chances of being caught on friendly fire for your or your allied troops .
• Prioritized Resources gives the Opel Maultier the ability to call a Ju 52, which paradrops some resources to your troops. The resources given depends of the secured sector and this ability cannot be used in your Commander Area so, make sure you are in a safe zone while you call this because your opponent can pick it up as well!
• Ad-Hoc Detachment is a call-in ability than enables the commander to call an Sturmfusiliers squads(they are AT infantry squads) and the self-propelled artillery unit Wespe(if you have chosen the support upgrade) or the Panzer 38t(if you have chosen the assault upgrade).
• Incendiary Rounds is an upgrade given to Panzerwerfers, it makes them able to fire incendiary projectiles instead of the normal ones. This upgrade is global , retroactive and automatic so, once you pick this your Panzerwerfers will no longer fire their original ammo.

Elite Army Group

This tree gives your commander the best equipment the Fatherland can grant. LHS has as possible upgrades: Jagers, Panzerkrieg and Pincer Movement while the RHS has the following upgrades: Fire-Up, Ostkrieg and Sturmtiger/Brummbar.

• Jager ability calls a four men squad equipped with kar98 rifles, but capable of being upgrading with Gewehr 41s, StG44s and Panzershreck 54s. When you get the Gewehr 41 rifles, you unlock an ability than let's you snipe an enemy soldier.
• Panzerkrieg ability is a passive one; it allows vehicles to create an aura that boost infantry troops near them. This doesn't work with weapon teams.
• Pincer Movement is an active ability which grants infantry and vehicles offensive bonuses and more speed by a limited time, so they can try to bring down their enemies by trying to apply the tactic of the same name or just take the change to attack from the rear.
• Fire-Up is an active ability than affects infantry troops, it is a squad ability, so you active it on the squad you like whenever you want; it gives offensive bonuses like suppression resistance and improved weapon cooldown, reload, accuracy and damage(only for infantry).
• Ostkrieg is a passive ability than helps Ostheer infantry to get veterancy at faster rates.
• Sturmtiger ability let you call the self-propelled heavy assault gun who bears the same name, you can allocate it once and it has a munition nominal cost required every time it fires, although at the end it is worth it ;). It has as reward unit, the Sturmpanzer IV, also known as Brummbar, and it is a self-propelled heavy assault gun as well, although not as heavy as the Sturmtiger.

Fortress Army Group

As the name implies, this command tree is a defensive oriented one, at the LHS and you will dispose of Panzernests, Cover Camo and the leFH18; RHS grants you Medic Stations, Counterattack and the Elefant.

• Panzernest is a heavy structure unlocked in the Sturmpioniers defensive structures menu. It is a small metal bunker equipped with a single HMG-34, it's fire cone is not very big, due to the nature of the emplacement, but it is very resilant and impervious to small arm bullets.
• Cover Camo is a passive upgrade than, as you might guess, gives passive camouflage to Ostheer infantry units as long as they are in cover. They do not earn first shot bonuses though.
• The 10.5 cm leFH 18 is a light field howitzer buildable by Sturmpioniers on it's defensive structures menu. It's crew can be killed if left unsupported and the enemy could recrew the gun so watch out your gun!
• The Field Hospital upgrade, unlocks the upgrade that bears the same name on the concrete emplacements. As the name says, it makes the defensive structure into a Field Hospital, popping up medics and retrieving wounded infantry units. There is a catch though, instead of getting a new squad when getting five soldiers, you get a small amount of manpower.
• Counterattack is an active ability than works different on infantry laid on enemy territory and the one in yours(or neutral); it gives it more speed and reduces the chances of getting hit while staying on your own territory or increasing the damage output if you are on enemy sectors(excluding enemy Command Area).
• The Elefant is a heavy tank destroyer call-in that can be allocated as many times as you want, but it can be only one at time in the battlefield. It has an ability to jam/break turrets from vehicles(that have those ofc :P).

You can watch several Alpha matches from this site if you want to know more about how different the Beta version is going to be from the regular one.

Before finishing this announcement, you might be wondering what happened to the foreign units, because there is no mention about them and it was because we removed them from Ostheer, so we can make a reward faction featuring these non-german assets of war . We had many of them than we thought it would be too much to put all of that there. Expect more news about it later .

We expect to start the Beta this Friday, so stay tuned !

Regards,
The Eastern Front Team

[boc120]

Looks very good!  Hopefully the time is coming soon for the long-awaited Ostheer!

[BurroDiablo]

Whoo, might want to size down the logo, looks funky on the homepage

[Dot.Shadow]

Okay I've been holding this one in too long now.

The Brandenburger capping ability is going to be OP OP OP OP OP OP when combined with PE Sector Arty.

[Blackbishop]

No need to start with the "OP this, OP that", because it has yet to be evaluated in the Beta by everyone after playing with the build, not after reading a post explaining how it would work .

When the Beta is out and you have played plenty of matches, then you can tell us how OP it is against other human players(but don't forget to save your replay as evidence, this is important!).

[Dot.Shadow]

At least I'm going to have fun with the combo while it lasts

[Alexander 'ApeMen' J.]

and keep ind mind that brandenburgers are just a 2 men squad

[Dot.Shadow]

and keep ind mind that brandenburgers are just a 2 men squad

Aye, I saw, they're instant sniper food, and for a lot of other things.

But they did seem to do real nasty damage!

My opinion might change when I try them in action, but currently I'm thinking "make em a 3 man squad, ditch the instacap".

[Alexander 'ApeMen' J.]

if we would skip this ability they would be just another ost inf squad and they wouldnt be something special
i say check them out befor complaining

[Dot.Shadow]

Well I'm sure you could come up with something else for them! You're a creative bunch, and the fact that the Axis side get paratroopers is pretty cool in itself.

But we'll see, this looks very cool.

[Mad hatters in jeans]

So i'm just having a quick look over the abilities, i'm sure there will be lots of debate about them but the first one that is most notable is this from the
Support Army Group

Brandenburger ability calls a Ju 52 which paradrops a Brandenburger squad at the desired area. Brandenburgers are specialized in undercover operations, and they use soviet uniforms and soviet weapons. They have also the ability to capture a point instantly if it is neutral and to make neutral an enemy captured point, this ability doesn't work on Secured Points or in Victory Points.

I like the idea but balancing it could be tricky.

I am a bit clueless about this one

Incendiary Rounds is an upgrade given to Panzerwerfers, it makes them able to fire incendiary projectiles instead of the normal ones. This upgrade is global , retroactive and automatic so, once you pick this your Panzerwerfers will no longer fire their original ammo.

So some arty can fire incendiary ammo. But by the time this ability is unlocked there's likely to be some big soviet armour rolling around. Doesn't sound that great to me.

The Elite Army Group
Not sure what this does

Panzerkrieg ability is a passive one; it allows vehicles to create an aura that boost infantry troops near them. This doesn't work with weapon teams.

What does the aura do? Which stats are boosted?

Pincer Movement is an active ability which grants infantry and vehicles offensive bonuses and more speed by a limited time, so they can try to bring down their enemies by trying to apply the tactic of the same name or just take the change to attack from the rear.

Sounds like the blitzkrieg ability. Seems a bit boring to me.

Can't wait to try out the Sturmtiger and Brumbar, seem like the ultimate counter to turtle players and deadlock breakers. sounds fun.

Fortress Army Group
This one sounds familiar but with a twist.

The Field Hospital upgrade, unlocks the upgrade that bears the same name on the concrete emplacements. As the name says, it makes the defensive structure into a Field Hospital, popping up medics and retrieving wounded infantry units. There is a catch though, instead of getting a new squad when getting five soldiers, you get a small amount of manpower.

I'm curious just how much manpower is given. Could be interesting.

Yet another global buff ability

Counterattack is an active ability than works different on infantry laid on enemy territory and the one in yours(or neutral); it gives it more speed and reduces the chances of getting hit while staying on your own territory or increasing the damage output if you are on enemy sectors(excluding enemy Command Area).

But at such a low cost i guess it's not so bad.

Aha here we go!

The Elefant is a heavy tank destroyer call-in that can be allocated as many times as you want, but it can be only one at time in the battlefield. It has an ability to jam/break turrets from vehicles(that have those ofc ).

Dis gon be gud


So overall some new units in most of the trees and a few abilities which have been twisted a little that we know already, which is nice.
I'm not a huge fan of the global buff ones like Counterattack, Pincer movement and incendiary ammo for panzerwerfers purely speculation from the descriptions on my part. They seem kinda boring but perhaps things will change or they'll be more important than they appear.

I am glad the Ostheer seem to be on track and progress is being made.

[Blackbishop]

@Mad hatters in jeans
IMO the incendiary rounds for Panzerwerfer comes more or less at the same time you would get it. And remember than these rockets can be used against armoured units as well, just like the calliope or the katyusha.

Also, I really doubt the enemy uses an army of tanks and not spend on infantry/weapon teams because if he does that, it is likely he will lose the match as soon as AT infantry or AT weapon teams attack their armoured units.

@Dot.Shadow
Completely agree with Ape, without that ability, Brandenburgers are less attractive. It is just an ability like throwing a grenade. It is not like you got to the resource point, right click on it and voilà! it is insta-capped. We are not even talking about costs and you are saying to just remove it and add something else because we are very creative XD? I'd prefer to just test the ability in a different environment than Alpha(Beta) before jumping on such harsh conclusions.

[Dot.Shadow]

Does the ability cost anything to use? That might change my opinion of it.

[Alexander 'ApeMen' J.]

ofc it costs
iirc its 75mun per use

[Sotahullu]

Before finishing this announcement, you might be wondering what happened to the foreign units, because there is no mention about them and it was because we removed them from Ostheer, so we can make a reward faction featuring these non-german assets of war . We had many of them than we thought it would be too much to put all of that there. Expect more news about it later .

You son of...

But wait, a reward faction? How is that gonna work?