Indirect fire in PC

[Yoozername]

It has already been mentioned that artillery will not have dedicated FO units being represented. There will be an abstracted system where arty can be called in from units. Probably HQ units.

I like the abstraction just due to the unknown factor of wether you can call in artillery or not. In many CM games, I buy multiple FOs and its just a matter of pounding away. The delays and such are that I can uber-control the firepower.

IRL the battery may be called away for a battalion shoot, be under air attack or counter-battery fire, etc. Communications can get jammed or breakdown entirely.

One of the things I would like to see modeled better is the actual spread (dispersion) of rounds. In CM the fire always appears to be a converged fire. The dispersion in range variations also seems too set. IRL, the dispersion depends on the range, weapon, etc. Mortars, for instance, have more variation in breadth (right and left) but are actually shorter in range variations. Mortars are very circular in dispersion while howitzers and guns are very much elliptical.

Better modeling of things like indirect fire smoke shells (and tracking # of shells) would be an improvement. Things like HE creating momentary obscuration (TNT gives off a big cloud of black smoke in addition to throwing ground material in the air). Even in cold conditions, there is a temporary 'smoke' effect. In dry conditions, teh amount of dust and dirt thrown in the air makes breathing difficult further suppressing the enemy.

Arty fire against AFV may model radios being taken out. Tanks will back away from being under bombardment. They have many sub-systems that can be taken out by blast, fragments, heat. Vision blocks, radiators, external gear, antennas, tracks, wheels are all somewhat vulnerable to HE. The actual destruction of AFV is usually rare. A roof hit from a large HE shell set on delay or a perfect hit right under the vehicle (equivalent to a mine) is needed.