How do you guys handle the organizing of your artillery bombardments? Do you generally assign all targets after having moved all of your infantry? Or, do you assign them as your moving your corresponding infantry units?
Just asking because when I get multilple enemy units that I want to attack via artillery it can get very confusing.
Thanks
adamo
Organizing Artillery??
Moderator: MOD_SPWaW
Both actually. As I discover potential targets I might target them but I always seem to be in a "target rich environment" and there is never enough arty to cover everything. I always (when I remember) check carefully at the end of my turn to make sure I haven't advanced into or too close to a target hex. I took some serious casualties in the opening engagement of MCWT due to advancing too close to a CAS target. I advanced a lot faster than I had originally thought I would and didn't check carefully. Of course the pilot missed the target badly and hosed several squads that I really needed. My fault though and a mistake I won't make again.
Not much help I'm afraid
Not much help I'm afraid
If something's not working you might want to tunk it a dite.
Mojo's Mom
Mojo's Mom
Whichever is yr way of deploying arty rounds, one thing you MUST do, if you don't want, as somebody stated, run in bitter surprises:
check CAREFULLY at the end of each turn if there are arty missions supposed to land at the end of that turn and WHERE!
This is absolutely necessary especially when yr arty missions have a big delay; you could have set a mission 2 turns before and then having moved a bunch of yr troops in that hex later on!
check CAREFULLY at the end of each turn if there are arty missions supposed to land at the end of that turn and WHERE!
This is absolutely necessary especially when yr arty missions have a big delay; you could have set a mission 2 turns before and then having moved a bunch of yr troops in that hex later on!
Federico "Resisti" Doveri
Re: Organizing Artillery??
like you said, its gets confusing at times. my pref is to wait until all movement of units is completed before i assign artillery. that way you can place the most critical bombardments (like inf units about to get waxed) using the best arty available. make sure to use FO (forward observer) units to target arty to decrease response time.Originally posted by Adamo
How do you guys handle the organizing of your artillery bombardments? Do you generally assign all targets after having moved all of your infantry? Or, do you assign them as your moving your corresponding infantry units?
Just asking because when I get multilple enemy units that I want to attack via artillery it can get very confusing.
Thanks
adamo
-
Gary Tatro
- Posts: 1200
- Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2002 10:00 am
- Location: MA, US
Adamo
I all most always assign artillary just before I end my turn/round of play. I do this for two reasons, first if you assign early you may have to reassign do to successes or failures. Second this give you a chance to prioritize targets at that point in time.
As far how I assign my artillary if I do not have a forward observer(FO) I use the artilary's HQ unit for that platoon of artillary. This will generally give you the best responce times. That is unless the art HQ is suppressed, then I will go to each individual art squad and plot my destination points. This requires micromanaging of your artilary but it improves your responce times from 2.1, or 1.1 down to .2 & .4. Which is a huge difference. This means your Art will fire every turn instead of every other turn or every two turns. It is also important to keep your on board artillary near your HQ. The reason for this is if Art is not near your HQ and has low experience it will not be in contact with your HQ and will not be able to plot that turn. This is the reason your offboard Art is greyed out so often.
As far as ploting is concerned this is something that you will have to learn and develop a method for what works best for you. I can give you a few ideas on what has worked for me. First know what the penitration is for each Art peice you are using. If it has no penitration on Hard targes(AFV's) then do not plot against them. Second know what the blast radius and roaming factor is for your artillary. This you will learn through trial and error but I can give you some guild lines I use. Any Art peice that is above 105mm or 10cm has a blast radius of about 4 to 10 hexes and a roaming factor of around 4 hexes. This means that the hex you plot for the artilary to land in draw a circle around it 4 hexs in radius. Then factor in blast radius. This is the danger area for you artillary to land. Of course the higher the experience rating of your artillary the more likely they are to hit the target hex and less likely the Art round will roam. The smaller mortars only have a blast radius of one hex these are good for precision bombardment. Like that KV-1 that is disabled. Bombard it with a couple of 8cm for two turns and whatch the crew bail.
I tend to concetrate my artillary rounds in an area of high enemy density. This is for two reasons. First, multiple hits do more damage and more suppresion, while just one hit is easyer to rally off. Second I go on the assumption where there is smoke there is fire, so if I see a bunch of infantry, there are probably a number of them I can not see.
Hope this helps, good luck and have fun.
As far how I assign my artillary if I do not have a forward observer(FO) I use the artilary's HQ unit for that platoon of artillary. This will generally give you the best responce times. That is unless the art HQ is suppressed, then I will go to each individual art squad and plot my destination points. This requires micromanaging of your artilary but it improves your responce times from 2.1, or 1.1 down to .2 & .4. Which is a huge difference. This means your Art will fire every turn instead of every other turn or every two turns. It is also important to keep your on board artillary near your HQ. The reason for this is if Art is not near your HQ and has low experience it will not be in contact with your HQ and will not be able to plot that turn. This is the reason your offboard Art is greyed out so often.
As far as ploting is concerned this is something that you will have to learn and develop a method for what works best for you. I can give you a few ideas on what has worked for me. First know what the penitration is for each Art peice you are using. If it has no penitration on Hard targes(AFV's) then do not plot against them. Second know what the blast radius and roaming factor is for your artillary. This you will learn through trial and error but I can give you some guild lines I use. Any Art peice that is above 105mm or 10cm has a blast radius of about 4 to 10 hexes and a roaming factor of around 4 hexes. This means that the hex you plot for the artilary to land in draw a circle around it 4 hexs in radius. Then factor in blast radius. This is the danger area for you artillary to land. Of course the higher the experience rating of your artillary the more likely they are to hit the target hex and less likely the Art round will roam. The smaller mortars only have a blast radius of one hex these are good for precision bombardment. Like that KV-1 that is disabled. Bombard it with a couple of 8cm for two turns and whatch the crew bail.
I tend to concetrate my artillary rounds in an area of high enemy density. This is for two reasons. First, multiple hits do more damage and more suppresion, while just one hit is easyer to rally off. Second I go on the assumption where there is smoke there is fire, so if I see a bunch of infantry, there are probably a number of them I can not see.
Hope this helps, good luck and have fun.
"Are you going to do something or just stand there and bleed"
-
Capt. Pixel
- Posts: 1178
- Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2001 8:00 am
- Location: Tucson, AZ
If you can time the artillery to arrive AFTER the enemies turn, he won't have time to rally before your ground units roll into him on your turn. 
Adjust your artillery barrages to a 0.3 to 0.4 delay if you're advancing with this tactic.
Also, pointed out earlier on another thread - constant bombardment is often less effective than lifting the barrage for a turn and then - pound him again as soon as he gets up and starts moving around.
Gary T - you said, "Any Art peice that is above 105mm or 10cm has a blast radius of about 4 to 10 hexes and a roaming factor of around 4 hexes"
My experience with blast radius, (the area affected after impact), has been limited to 0 to 2 hexes except some extreme cases like the Daisycutter). But I agree on the roaming factor.
My best advice is setup a test game to try out any arty your interested in using and watch it's performance - does it scatter 4-6 hexes from target, does it affect adjacent or further units from the impact hex, does it have a radio? These are things best discovered on the firing range - not in actual combat.
But often you're told to take what's given and work it out on the fly. :rolleyes:
Adjust your artillery barrages to a 0.3 to 0.4 delay if you're advancing with this tactic.
Also, pointed out earlier on another thread - constant bombardment is often less effective than lifting the barrage for a turn and then - pound him again as soon as he gets up and starts moving around.
Gary T - you said, "Any Art peice that is above 105mm or 10cm has a blast radius of about 4 to 10 hexes and a roaming factor of around 4 hexes"
My experience with blast radius, (the area affected after impact), has been limited to 0 to 2 hexes except some extreme cases like the Daisycutter). But I agree on the roaming factor.
My best advice is setup a test game to try out any arty your interested in using and watch it's performance - does it scatter 4-6 hexes from target, does it affect adjacent or further units from the impact hex, does it have a radio? These are things best discovered on the firing range - not in actual combat.
But often you're told to take what's given and work it out on the fly. :rolleyes:
"Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible. "
- Stonewall Jackson
- Stonewall Jackson
-
Gary Tatro
- Posts: 1200
- Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2002 10:00 am
- Location: MA, US
Capt. Pixel yes I agree with you the blast radius is 0-2 hexes, I misspoke. What I ment to say is that any Artilary peice that is above 105mm or 10cm has about 4 to 10 blast hexes hit. Meaning that 4 to 10 rounds will be fired from the multiple tubes of the artillary piece. Though now that I think about it is more like 4 to 8. This means that with a one plotted hex of a 105mm artilary round, four hexes will be hit with that round, each having a blast radius from 1-2. I think this is correct. I wanted to impress upon the new players that you need to be careful with how you plot your Artillary strikes our you could end up pasting your own troops. I also wanted to let them know how powerful artilary can be in the game. (personally I think that it is to stong)Originally posted by Capt. Pixel
Gary T - you said, "Any Art peice that is above 105mm or 10cm has a blast radius of about 4 to 10 hexes and a roaming factor of around 4 hexes"
"Are you going to do something or just stand there and bleed"
a couple of more points to consider:
1) the farther from the arty the target hex is, generally the more scattered the impacts. eg 60mm mortar @ 10 hexes distance will almost all impact on the target hex vs sometimes NONE will hit the target hex @ 40 hex. this can be useful if you want general supression of an AREA, with something like 81mm mortar fire, or pitiful if you want to supress a distant bunker with 60 or 81mm mortar fire. this gives you an idea WHY self propelled arty is so useful for pinpoint infantry support.
2) use the appropriate arty for the target type:
smaller mm = more rounds fired per turn, with the caveat that off-board arty generally fires more than on-board; see the rate of fire statistic in the encyclopedia
60mm mortar = enemy unit supression 1-2 hex from your own, short range (1 - 30 hex) target supression
81mm mortar = supr 2- ~35 hex away with some kills and supr of "hard" targets, area supr @ further distances
75mm howitzer = (kinda sux) use like 81mm, but i avoid it in favor of larger / smaller stuff
90mm mortar / 105 mm how = area supr w/ some kills
3.5 in mortar = really sux, cuz too few number of rounds fired for the expensive unit
120mm mortar / 155mm how or greater = area supr with lotsa inf kills, great for stopping massed infantry thrusts dead !
try buying a rocket battery or 3 and fire em into an area you plan to use mech to roll into the following turn, amazing stuffs & superb for rolling barrages supporting an attack corridor.
artillery is at the foundation of my tactics; i buy as much arty as possible and scrimp on special infantry forces if i need to. on the attack, plain jane leg soldiers will kill arty-routed enemies just fine, especially if you mech em so that they can move quickly into pulverized areas. on the defense, massive rocket and 155mm fire will attrite the enemy before it ever arrives.
1) the farther from the arty the target hex is, generally the more scattered the impacts. eg 60mm mortar @ 10 hexes distance will almost all impact on the target hex vs sometimes NONE will hit the target hex @ 40 hex. this can be useful if you want general supression of an AREA, with something like 81mm mortar fire, or pitiful if you want to supress a distant bunker with 60 or 81mm mortar fire. this gives you an idea WHY self propelled arty is so useful for pinpoint infantry support.
2) use the appropriate arty for the target type:
smaller mm = more rounds fired per turn, with the caveat that off-board arty generally fires more than on-board; see the rate of fire statistic in the encyclopedia
60mm mortar = enemy unit supression 1-2 hex from your own, short range (1 - 30 hex) target supression
81mm mortar = supr 2- ~35 hex away with some kills and supr of "hard" targets, area supr @ further distances
75mm howitzer = (kinda sux) use like 81mm, but i avoid it in favor of larger / smaller stuff
90mm mortar / 105 mm how = area supr w/ some kills
3.5 in mortar = really sux, cuz too few number of rounds fired for the expensive unit
120mm mortar / 155mm how or greater = area supr with lotsa inf kills, great for stopping massed infantry thrusts dead !
try buying a rocket battery or 3 and fire em into an area you plan to use mech to roll into the following turn, amazing stuffs & superb for rolling barrages supporting an attack corridor.
artillery is at the foundation of my tactics; i buy as much arty as possible and scrimp on special infantry forces if i need to. on the attack, plain jane leg soldiers will kill arty-routed enemies just fine, especially if you mech em so that they can move quickly into pulverized areas. on the defense, massive rocket and 155mm fire will attrite the enemy before it ever arrives.
Now this is going to sound kind of flakey and all, but I like to use some of my alloted Arty. in a harrassing mode. By this I mean that I pick two or three rear area sites that I think may have enemy artillery in them and cut loose on them. Yeah you have a large roaming factor and all. But on more than one occasion I have had this tactic pay off in spades for my advancing infantry. 