Howitzer Garrison
| “ | An entrenched Howitzer manned by stationed troops. | „ |
| — In-game description |
The Howitzer Garrison is a player-built defensive Bunker modification that automatically retaliates against artillery if it is hit when garrisoned.
Construction
A Howitzer Garrison can be constructed on any Tier 3 Bunker with the following requirements:
- Not adjacent to a bunker with a Structure Upgrade modification on top
- Must be dry
- Connected to a Bunker Base through trenches or bunkers
- Bunker Base must have unlocked the Howitzer Garrison
and Concrete Structures 
upgrades
The direction of the gun is chosen by moving the Mouse Wheel while your cursor is on the Howitzer Garrison option of the upgrade menu.
Concrete Settling
It must dry off for 24 hours but it already works while wet. The duration increases during Snow Storms and Rain Storms depending on their intensity (up to double with highest intensity).
While very sturdy when dry, it is vulnerable while still wet. The vulnerability depends on how wet the concrete is and functions as a damage multiplier. Wet concrete that's just been placed has a x10 damage multiplier compared to dry concrete. After 8 hours the damage multiplier is roughly x3, and x2 after 12 hours.
Reconstruction
When destroyed, it leaves behind a husk that can be either destroyed or rebuilt. Reconstruction uses the same tool and materials as the construction of its current tier and has the same requirements. It cannot be rebuilt if an enemy base is less than 25m away. The reconstruction restores all small modifications and infrastructure modifications installed inside.
Structural Integrity
The Howitzer Garrison modification slightly decreases the Structural Integrity of its Bunker Network.
Use
Garrison
When its Garrison is active (large flag on top), it automatically fires an artillery cannon on any enemy infantry, vehicle, or structure that attacks it or a connected bunker with High Explosive or Incendiary High Explosive damage. It has a range of 25-600 meters and a 120 degree firing arc. The Howitzer gun takes 2-3 seconds to start returning fire then fires a shell every 10 seconds. Each shell deals its full 500 High Explosive damage in a 4 meter radius. The garrison's shells will randomly land within a 25 meter radius of its target.
The amount of retaliation fire from the Howitzer varies:
- 1 shot if hit by a Mortar Shell from a Cremari Mortar.
- 3 to 5 shots if hit by a Mortar Shell from any vehicle/structure.
- 4 or 5 shots if hit by anything else
If hit multiple times, each hit resets the retaliation series. 4 quick hits won't result in 4 times more retaliation shots.
It does not return fire when hit by enemy Howitzer Garrisons.
The Howitzer Garrison retaliation targets the attacking vehicle/structure rather than the gunner themself. One exception: if the gunner exits before the shell lands then the retaliation will target them instead and only fire once.
It cannot be suppressed.
Infrastructure Bonus:
The fire rate of the Howitzer Garrison can be increased by adding certain "Garrison" type Infrastructure Modifications 
to the connected Bunker Base network. 3.33% increase per infrastructure, up to 66.6% increase. The maximum fire rate is 10 rounds per minute (once every 6 seconds).
Resistance
It is immune to small arms, fragmentation grenades, and 12.7mm machine gun fire. It's also substantially resistant to most explosives besides those dealing demolition damage.
Defensive Position
Unlike some other bunker garrison, friendly players cannot get inside it.
Tactics
Howitzer Garrisons are extremely important, especially during late war, to have unlocked and built in a Bunker Base. Due Artillery's power to destroy structures and bunker bases, they are excellent in providing any Base with decent defense/deterrence for attacking artillery crews.
Due to how long it takes to unlock the Howitzer Garrison upgrade, builders should unlock them ASAP, in order to give your faction some defensive capabilities.
There are a few ways you can build bunker defenses with Howitzer Garrisons: (These are suggestions, not definitive ways to build)
- Built into forward bunker pieces, connected to AT Garrisons, MG Garrisons, and Rifle Garrisons
- Built into a Bunker Core to cover 360 degrees
- This is to protect the bunker core in case of direct shelling
- 'Howi Trap'
- Bunker pieces that only have Howitzer Garrisons on them. These are designed with only artillery in mind, and uses artillery's dispersion mechanic against them. These are used in order to punish attackers if they hit them, with the severity of the retaliation depending on the number of Howitzer Garrisons built
- The number of Howitzer Garrisons needed for a Howi Trap varies depending on space, though having four in a bunker piece is a decent minimum
- Extremely useful in dense places, such as towns, where Line of Sight is mostly obstructed for other bunkers garrisons types, and pillboxes
Trivia
- Howitzer Garrisons are not affected by smoke grenades, and won't attack infantry or vehicles if they hit them
- Previously, they used to retaliate against both Explosive Damage and High Explosive Damage, but was changed to just retaliating against High Explosive damage in Update 0.48
- During one war, there was a incident where a Howitzer Garrison accidentally hit an enemy bunker's Howitzer Garrison, causing them to fire against each other, creating a never-ending 'Howi Duel' as Howi Garrisons kept retaliating against each other. (effectively requiring one of the bunkers to be outright destroy in order to stop firing)
- This was eventually stopped after a server restart, with the bug being patched in Update 0.48.
- The visual and audio effects of the Howitzer Garrison are identical to that of the now-removed Howitzer, but it deals significantly higher damage.
Gallery
A Howitzer Garrison owned by the Wardens (the concrete is completely dry)
