AI counter battery

[wodin]

WOW..it seems the AI home in on my Arty all the time even though I let it move positions ( I give the particular barrage order but if the AI decides to move it I let it, so it doesn't stay in one place to long) and the enemy has no LOS of it. Certainly become alot harder with the new patch. As the player we can only get info on possible HQ units that are out of sight yet it seems the enemy AI (the Russians in this case) is getting great feedback on where my Arty is.

[CapnDarwin]

You need to shoot and scoot. Counter-battery is working again in 2.06. If your arty fires a mission and EW is low the chance of detection and counter-fire is high.

[Mad Russian]

Also, do not....DO NOT, override a scoot move or you'll get mail. I do that if I absolutely have to but normally I let my guns fire and scoot without interfering with that order.

Good Hunting.

MR

[wodin]

I never over ride a scoot move..but still getting hit.

How does the AI get the info when it doesn't have LOS? If it does somehow get this info how come we as the player don't get it and only get it for possible HQ's? Or does Counter Battery order do it even though you aren't given the fow intel.

[IronMikeGolf]

Indirect fires are high-angle. They go way up in the air. Counterbattery radars (which are abstracted) will see the rounds in flight. The friing point is spit out by a computer seconds after the battery has fired. It's a race between gun crews, then: Can the firing battery pack up and move before the counter-firing battery can get the mission and fire it.

I am guessing Readiness will play a big role here.

[CapnDarwin]

Jeff hit it on the head. Both EW and Readiness play into the counter battery equation. Also the number of arty units set to CB orders.

[IronMikeGolf]

Yeah, EW for how often the radars are not jammed and can find the incoming rounds. Forgot about that one!

Jim, so the abstraction is each unit set to counterbattery has it's "own" radar?

[budd]

seems to work well now, i get hit but not overly so.

[CapnDarwin]

Jeff, right now each CB arty unit is assumed to be getting a target source from some "external" radar/tracking source. So basically yes, each has its own radar.

[istari6]

Is there a way for friendly artillery units with these Firefinder radars to signal where on the map the enemy artillery is firing from? In Hell on Wheels (first battle), I just lost most of my artillery to CB. Soviet artillery is pulverizing me, and (lacking any attack helicopters), I'm desperate to get a maneuver company into the Soviet backfield to attack the artillery park directly. But I have no idea where they are, and can't afford to have my forces wandering all over the place losing Readiness looking for them.

[CapnDarwin]

There are no on map markers for intercepts and detection. It is on our 2.1 list. You can check the diary and see what was reported and get the hexes there. Not the easiest I know, but we will have it better in the next game.

[istari6]

Ah, didn't think to check the diary. Thanks!

I assume that my artillery have to be given the CB mission first for them to be detecting enemy batteries. They won't detect enemy batteries if they're busy firing their own missions?

BTW - don't mean to be a PITA with all these questions. Hopefully my questions and others here in the forum about various game mechanics can be rolled up into future game manuals for Southern Storm. That way folks don't have to bother the lead developers .

[IronMikeGolf]

ORIGINAL: istari6
...I assume that my artillery have to be given the CB mission first for them to be detecting enemy batteries. They won't detect enemy batteries if they're busy firing their own missions?...

I don;t think so. My observations show that enemy artillery detection does NOT depend on friendly units' orders.

If you get a detection, someone is eventually going to fire at that hex. Missions in the queues get fired first (both player ordered FSCC ordered). I don't know at what point a friendly unit is identified to fire the mission. It might be that the first available gets it. It might be one is picked at random and you have to wait until that unit's mission queue is emptied.

I think of the Counterbattery mission as meaning "only expend your ammo on counterbattery missions."

I have seen plenty of example of batteries with On Call as their posture getting fire missions at hexes identified as source of enemy arty fires.

More testing is needed to see what is happening regarding tasking.