Heavy weapon team very effective against infantry. Must be set-up to attack.
The Vickers Machine Gun Team is the UKF's heavy machine gun (HMG) team weapon. In skirmishes it can be produced from the UKF
Like any other HMG, infantry units fired upon will quickly become suppressed, which can progress to pinned status if they continue taking sustained fire.
The Vickers HMG technically boasts the highest damage per second (DPS) values out of all the equivalent HMG teams from other factions. It is very slightly more damaging than the Wehrmacht
However, on the other hand the Vickers comes with the downside of a smaller arc of fire compared to Axis HMGs, and its slower rate of fire means it does not suppress nearly as quickly as those weapons. As such, it is slightly less forgiving in terms of positioning and thus additional care must be taken.
At veterancy level 1 it gains the Focused Gunnery toggle ability, allowing it to gain additional vision and weapon range at the cost of reduced arc of fire and removal of area suppression. This allows it to gain a substantial safety and fire support advantage, but careful micromanagement is a must as while Focused Gunnery is toggled on the unit will only be able to fire in a limited area while also preventing it from suppressing multiple units near the target.
Similar to other HMGs, they also have a Reload ability that simply forces them to reload their HMG, disabling their ability to fire for a few seconds. CoH features a reload mechanic for every weapon in the game, which essentially is a cooldown on attacking. This ability allows a player to ensure the HMG is ready to fire a full burst, instead of potentially reloading immediately after firing for a second or less. While not necessary to make use of HMG teams, it can be helpful for those who can keep up with additional micromanagement of units on the field, as it can prevent awkward situations where an HMG does not suppress fast enough due to reload timers.
As with other weapons teams, if the entire squad is killed the HMG will drop to the ground and can be picked up by any player, including the enemy!
This unit benefits from the Team Weapons Training upgrade available at the
500 XP
1500 XP
3000 XP
Focused Gunnery: Active toggle ability granted after reaching veterancy level 1. When toggled on, the squad gains +15 vision range (only when set up) and +10 weapon range, at the cost of -50% weapon arc of fire and removal of area suppression. Essentially this toggle allows the HMG team to focus in a narrow arc in front of it, making it powerful for focusing on a single unit at long range. The extra vision and range in particular is significant, allowing them to out-range other HMG teams and suppress a single target from great safety. This can give the Vickers team quite the edge in HMG duels and for granting fantastic fire support, assuming the player's micromanagement skills are up to par. On the other hand, this extra narrow focus means the HMG is even easier to flank if the player is careless, and the removal of area suppression means they can only suppress the target it is actively firing on (it will no longer suppress enemy infantry near the target). As such, proper use of toggling this ability is a must to make good use of it while mitigating weaknesses.
180
4
Reload: When activated the HMG team will be unable to fire for a few seconds as it reloads. This ability helps ensure the HMG is ready to fire a full burst upon enemy contact, helping to avoid awkward scenarios where it only fires a partial burst that is less effective.
Team Weapon Training: Available from the
Lee-enfield-crew-uk-sp | Near | Mid | Far |
---|---|---|---|
Accuracy | 0.4 | 0.25 | 0.2 |
Range | 7 | 20 | 35 |
Penetration | 1.5 | 0 | 0 |
The Vickers HMG technically boasts the highest damage per second (DPS) values compared to all other equivalent HMG teams in other factions.
However, the Wehrmacht
Vickers HMG team
Focused Gunnery changed to a toggle ability and does the following: +10 range, + 15 vision, -50% weapon arc, removes area suppression. Vision bonus is only active when the unit is set-up.
Vicker HMG suppression increased from 0.0125 to 0.0144
Vicker HMG suppression against suppressed targets increased from 0.4 to 0.5
Focused Gunnery: Active toggle ability granted after reaching veterancy level 1. Once activated, the squad will temporarily gain +10 increased weapon range, and significantly improved accuracy at all ranges by +23% to +45% (most notably at long range). As a downside, this comes at the cost of greatly reduced weapon arc by -68%, and -25% suppression while active. Has a duration of 60 seconds that cannot be cancelled prematurely. Useful to extend the HMG's range and killing power especially when focusing on one unit - the extra range and accuracy often makes it unexpectedly capable of winning HMG duels, or even taking out light vehicles like halftracks. Be wary the reduced arc and suppression power makes it far less flexible for suppressing and switching targets especially due to the long duration that cannot be prematurely cancelled. Ideally it is usually best to let the Vickers suppress a target first, then activate Focused Gunnery for increased damage as a follow-up, as they will need to recover from suppression and cannot simply move out of the HMG's arc or range at that point. Otherwise, activating it ahead of time in order to take advantage of the extra range and killing power can be helpful especially as a way to unexpectedly take out units. This ability was reworked in the July 16 2024 Onyx Shark patch.