Artillery Observer Squad Symbol

Artillery Observer Squad

symbol
Infantry
Artillery Observer Squad
Artillery Observer Squad Portrait
US Forces Icon
Faction

Support infantry effective against infantry at long-range. Increased vision range. Captures territory faster than other infantry. Can build camouflaged beacons that call-in artillery on nearby enemy units.

The Artillery Observer Squad is a USF infantry unit. In skirmishes, they are only available as an exclusive unit within the Advanced Infantry Battlegroup (which requires purchase of the Hammer & Shield DLC Pack or must be unlocked via Merit). Unlike most units, this unit is a conversion upgrade for the default , rather than being a separate unit call-in.

The Artillery Observers battlegroup perk has a 1 CP cost to access. Once this perk is chosen, they outright replace Scout squads - any Scouts on the field will be immediately upgraded and require reinforcing their missing soldier, while producing additional Scouts will instead be replaced with the option of producing Artillery Observers from the .

The major difference between Artillery Observers and the other Scout variants is their abilities. Artillery Observers are able to construct Artillery Radio Beacons for a nominal Manpower cost. These can be constructed in any friendly territory and will call artillery on nearby enemies passively. More info on this can be seen in the other sections below.

Stats-wise they are almost identical to the , with the major differences being their available abilities, as well as slower decapture rate for Artillery Observers. This means just like Pathfinders, this unit is essentially a stronger version of the default Scout squads. Artillery Observers individually have 10 more health than Scouts, and their squad size is increased by 1 (for a total of 4 soldiers). This health and squad size increase is a substantial increase in overall durability, and the additional firepower from an extra soldier means an overall increase in damage per second (DPS) compared to Scouts. As such, in terms of combat effectiveness this unit is a significant upgrade over Scouts. However, this all comes with downside of larger costs as they have a higher build cost, build time, upkeep, and reinforce cost.

While Artillery Observers are stronger than Scouts, just like Pathfinders they are ultimately still dedicated recon units that are not suited for heavy combat, as their small squad size and lower durability makes them easier to take out. While very similar to the Scout variants, Artillery Observers certainly are able to put more pressure on the map through constructing Artillery Radio Beacons. Given enough time, having 3 beacons out covering important areas grants a lot of 'free' firepower and forces opponents to constantly move and seek out these beacons.

Veterancy


Veteran Star FullVeteran Star EmptyVeteran Star Empty

750 XP

Unlocks veteran ability choice. Unit is harder to hit and fires faster.
Veteran Star FullVeteran Star FullVeteran Star Empty

2250 XP

Increases accuracy, rate of fire, and unit is harder to hit.
Veteran Star FullVeteran Star FullVeteran Star Full

4500 XP

Increases accuracy, rate of fire, and health.

Veterancy Abilities

All USF units can choose between one of two veterancy abilities specific to them, upon reaching veterancy level 1.

  • Passive Healing: Passive ability. Allows the squad to heal themselves while out of combat for the duration. Activates after around 5 seconds of being out of combat. Entering combat will disable the healing effect.

  • Stealth Reconnaissance: Active toggle ability. When toggled on, the unit becomes camouflaged but at the cost of greatly reduced movement speed, inability to capture territory, and inability to fire weapons. Visually the squad will dive to the ground and crawl during this stealth mode. As with all camouflage abilities, the unit will be revealed if an enemy unit comes too close. Essentially a useful stealth ability that is strictly for recon purposes due to disabling weapons and territory capture. While it cannot be used in combat situations, it is great for hiding the squad even in plain sight, allowing the player to make use of them for intel and await opportunities to toggle off when needed, such as to capture once again or help with a flank.

Upgrades


Utility Package icon
Utility Package
Upgrades the squad with smoke grenades and recon flares.
Munitions Cost

25

  • Utility Package: Grants the unit access to new abilities at a Munitions cost. These are Smoke Rifle Grenade and Recon Flare. Note that Rifle Grenade (the frag grenade ability) is only available to Pathfinder Squads - the Scout and Artillery Observer variants cannot access this frag grenade ability.

    This unit can benefit from the following upgrades available at the Infantry Support Center:

    • Munitions Surplus: Reduces the Munitions costs of all individual infantry upgrade packages by 50%. This includes various packages available to units like the Scout/Pathfinder, Riflemen, and Paratroopers.

    • Advanced Logistics: Reduces the Manpower reinforcement cost of all infantry by 25%, and squads reinforced from Triage Station casualties gain a small amount of veterancy XP.

    • Survival Training: Increases the maximum health of all infantry entities (individual soldiers) by +10 health.

Abilities


Recon Flare icon
Recon Flare
Fires a flare over the target area that will provide vision and reveal camouflaged units for a short period of time.
Provides vision for %1% seconds in a radius of %2%.
Time Cost

180

Forward Observer Artillery Barrage icon
Forward Observer Artillery Barrage
Coordinates a barrage between off-map artillery batteries, converging on the target area.
Munitions Cost

55

Time Cost

120

Rifle Grenade icon
Rifle Grenade
Fires a long-range grenade that deals high damage to infantry in a small area. Effective against infantry in cover or structures.
Munitions Cost

35

Time Cost

30

Smoke Rifle Grenade icon
Smoke Rifle Grenade
Fires a smoke grenade at the target location that can obscure vision.
Smoke blocks vision for up to %1% seconds.
Time Cost

180

Stealth Reconnaissance Disabled icon
Stealth Reconnaissance Disabled
Unit will become camouflaged, but will be unable to fire weapons, capture territory, and will move slower. Unit is invisible to enemies unless they get too close.
Unlock Stealth Reconnaissance icon
Unlock Stealth Reconnaissance
Unit will become camouflaged, but will be unable to fire weapons, capture territory, and will move slower. Unit is invisible to enemies unless they get too close.
Unlock Passive Healing icon
Unlock Passive Healing
Enables the squad to heal themselves when out of combat.
Passive Healing icon
Passive Healing
Enables the squad to heal themselves when out of combat.
Restores +%1% health per second.

Note that Forward Observer Artillery Barrage is campaign exclusive and is not available in skirmishes.

Artillery Observers do not gain access to the Rifle Grenade ability when upgraded with Utility Package (Only Pathfinders do).

  • Smoke Rifle Grenade: Active ability. Requires the squad to be upgraded with Utility Package. Fires a smoke grenade at the targeted area. Smoke is useful for a variety of offensive and defensive purposes, such as obscuring line of sight of enemy heavy weapons like HMGs. Long cooldown.

  • Recon Flare: Active ability. Requires the squad to be upgraded with Utility Package. Fires a flare at the targeted area, revealing a large area once the flare is deployed. Great for easy, low risk intel gathering, but has a long cooldown.

  • Monitor Beacon: Active 'channeling' ability. The unit will move close to a targeted Artillery Radio Beacon and begin 'channeling'. While doing this, the squad will improve the targeted beacon by increasing its range and frequency of artillery barrages significantly. If the squad is ordered to do anything else such as move, attack, or use an ability, this monitoring is cancelled.

Construction Options

  • Artillery Radio Beacon: This unit can construct camouflaged beacons for a nominal Manpower cost. These small structures are camouflaged by default, meaning they will appear invisible to opponents unless it is damaged or an enemy unit approaches too closely. Once constructed, a circular timer will be visible to the player (but not opponents) above the beacon. Each time the timer completes its countdown, it will automatically call artillery barrages on any enemy units that are visible and within range of the beacon. By default beacons will call artillery every 45 seconds, though this can be improved with a nearby Artillery Observer squad monitoring it. A maximum of 3 beacons can be up at a time, and they can be constructed in any friendly territory but cannot be constructed too closely to each other (Must be at least 50 range away from each other).

Weapons


Garand-pathfinder-us
Near
Mid
Far
Accuracy0.8130.7750.713
Range72535
Penetration1.500
12
Garand-pathfinder-us
Near
Mid
Far
Accuracy0.8130.7750.713
Range72535
Penetration1.500
12
  • The default Pathfinder rifles have slightly more DPS at all ranges compared to the default Scout rifles, though this is only really noticeable at maximum range (30-35 meters).

Change Log

1.6 'Coral Viper' April 2 2024

All beacons are receiving an armor reduction, making them easier to be destroyed by small arms. Units will also now auto-attack beacons due to their importance.

  • Armor reduced from 3 to 1.5

  • Will now be auto attacked by nearby enemies