forward Observers out of Contact

Drex · Post by **Drex** » Wed Jul 18, 2001 11:24 pm

I usually purchased motorized FOs but sometimes the rarity factor forces me to buy the FO on foot so I put him in a command car which has a radio. However the FO can not reach the Arty command as quickly as when he is on foot so I dismount him and the arty reaction time improves significantly. come the next turn and I have left him dismounted but still next to his command car and Lo and behold he is out of contact! What gives? If I had gotten him no vehicle at all he would still be able to reach the Arty command with a quick reaction but as soon as I put him in a vehicle the reaction time gets longer, then when I dismount him it returns to normal for one turn only then goes out of contact.

Arralen · Post by **Arralen** » Wed Jul 18, 2001 11:34 pm

Easy thing, and all correct (afaik) :

- you put him on a vehicle .. and it's the vehicle that does the observing, not the FO (hence the higher reaction time, and less precise shooting maybe)

- you unload him .. he should be considered 'moved' and _may_ loose contact.

- next turn .. he _may_ have contact if he has a radio ..

..maybe a bit of bad luck on your side?

if you can confirm that it _always_ happens this way it's something that should be looked after, could really be a bug than

A.

Bing · Post by **Bing** » Wed Jul 18, 2001 11:40 pm

First up, and I stand to be corrected here, I think leg FO's have their own radios.

Next, it is quite common for all FO's, motorized or leg, to be out of contact with offboard arty. If you positively, absolutely must be in contact each and every turn with all arty units, they will have to be onboard.

Last and by no means the least, much depends upon the arty rating of the FO. Below 70 usually will give you subpar performance. 80 and above is best, naturally the higher the better.

But even with arty ratings of 83 to 87 and sometimes higher, there is no guarantee the FO will be in contact with offboard assets. Other than the first turn, that is: I have yet to see an FO or HQ that was out of contact on initial bombardment, but there could be the odd situation here, too.

Bing

Voriax · Post by **Voriax** » Wed Jul 18, 2001 11:57 pm

..or perhaps the battery in his radio ran out.

Voriax

Belisarius · Post by **Belisarius** » Thu Jul 19, 2001 12:01 am

As I've posted in a previous thread some time ago: I've learned to live with not being able to use the offboard arty, no matter how much you try. sigh.

Bing · Post by **Bing** » Thu Jul 19, 2001 2:20 am

Originally posted by Belisarius:
As I've posted in a previous thread some time ago: I've learned to live with not being able to use the offboard arty, no matter how much you try. sigh.

I don't think that has been true of any of the many scenarios and campaigns I've played. You must - wir mussen! - have a well qualified FO, then it don't matter whether he can see past the end of his nose or not, he will get those rounds on the impact area. My experience for offboard arty has been out of contact about 25% of the time, as the battle wears on the out-of-contact time period might increase. But they usually come back, too.

Bing

Drex · Post by **Drex** » Thu Jul 19, 2001 6:07 am

Thanks guys, I should have been more specific. I use onboard arty almost exclusively unless rarity prevents me. So the ground observer has his radio and I put him in a truck with a radio- he has two radios. Whether he is in or out of the truck he has a radio. He is in contact every time without a vehicle and in contact every time with a vehicle( but at a longer reaction) but when I dismount him he assumes the quick response time. the next turn he is out of contact every time I've tried it. He stays out of contact until I remount him on his vehicle or move to the same hex with a vehicle that has a radio.

Warrior · Post by **Warrior** » Thu Jul 19, 2001 8:04 am

I've had an FO go out of contact, and when he's back the Artillery is out of contact. Go figure. Now I always get two FO's, never had them both out of contact at the same time... but the arty still does it's own thing.

Flashfyre · Post by **Flashfyre** » Thu Jul 19, 2001 8:20 am

Originally posted by Drex:
Thanks guys, I should have been more specific. I use onboard arty almost exclusively unless rarity prevents me. So the ground observer has his radio and I put him in a truck with a radio- he has two radios. Whether he is in or out of the truck he has a radio. He is in contact every time without a vehicle and in contact every time with a vehicle( but at a longer reaction) but when I dismount him he assumes the quick response time. the next turn he is out of contact every time I've tried it. He stays out of contact until I remount him on his vehicle or move to the same hex with a vehicle that has a radio.

I think you're missing the point here....the FO, once loaded into a vehicle, stops being an FO. Just like squads, they can't shoot from the halftrack while loaded; the FO performs NO duties while loaded. So, you are using the vehicle (and it's radio) as the spotter, with the Artillery rating of the Private whose driving the truck.

Once the FO dismounts, he becomes an FO again. It has nothing to do with the vehicle or it's radio. As has been stated before, there is no guarantee that an observer will ALWAYS be in contact and that the arty will ALWAYS be available.

Bing · Post by **Bing** » Thu Jul 19, 2001 8:21 am

Originally posted by Drex:
Thanks guys, I should have been more specific. I use onboard arty almost exclusively unless rarity prevents me. So the ground observer has his radio and I put him in a truck with a radio- he has two radios. Whether he is in or out of the truck he has a radio. He is in contact every time without a vehicle and in contact every time with a vehicle( but at a longer reaction) but when I dismount him he assumes the quick response time. the next turn he is out of contact every time I've tried it. He stays out of contact until I remount him on his vehicle or move to the same hex with a vehicle that has a radio.

I've never had this problem with onboard arty. But I don't move the FO around a lot, either, and mostly I take a Jeep FO to make it easier on myself, there isn't much difference in the cost. For onboard, why don't you try just leaving the FO where he is and see if that doesn't help.

I know, there is supposed to be better performance with a LOS to the target area. I'm not saying that isn't true, am saying I have seen no difference in the games I"ve played. I play against the AI, scenarios and campaigns, maybe there IS a difference in PBEM and generated campaigns. Interesting.

Bing

skukko · Post by **skukko** » Thu Jul 19, 2001 10:34 am

my spoon to this cup of tar:

Buy two FOs, set one at LOS of onboard battery and one at the LOS of HQ. THEN you can start to use tracked/motorized FOs. And no, don't move those footed FOs.

I've been doing this a long time and it works for Offboard and Onboard arty.

but to what Drex has in mind: How fast could you unload 30kilos radio from truck,[ draw a cable to the artillery again because its cutted off by enemys bombs (5 kilometers away?)] , locate the map and coordinates to place where you want shells to drop ? not in five minutes, so it takes more that one turn in 'out of contact'.. And it can be that they had no mobilephones at that time

mosh

Drex · Post by **Drex** » Thu Jul 19, 2001 5:54 pm

I'm sorry Skukko, but when I dismount the FO he performs just fine for that turn. Its the next turn that he is out of contact even though he supposedly has his own radio as well as the command vehicles's radio. So for some reason contact has been lost. this even occurs if he is next to the arty! I can't get him back into contact unless I remount him and wait for the next turn or place him in the same hex with a vehicle that has a radio. As for spotting less efficiently in a vehicle, how does that differ from a motorized FO? If I put the FO in a command vehicle he should perform the same as the tracked or motorized FO.