Matrix Games Forums

Hi All,
So I wanted to ask about mortar fire. For me mortars are one of the most important weapons that have been in the whole series.
We have two very different types in the close combat series.
1. CC2/3 style fire immediately when you select an area(as long as unit is dug in/not moving or under suppression)
2. GTC type where it takes a certain amount of time for the team to fire. I understand this is accurate as they need to adjust coordinates.

The question is what will mortars be like in the new game?

If you are placing your mortar squads before the game starts you should have the option of selecting 3/4 areas that you can pre-sight. For example you choose a spot on the map where enemy infantry is likely to advance. Perhaps a circle of 20m around that spot you can immediately get your squad to fire mortars into it. If you move your mortars at any time then you lose this advantage and then you will go back to GTC style waiting for them to sight the target.

This would work best for an infantry/no high rise building sort of maps such as the ones we are going to see in the upcoming game.

I still play 95% of my time on Cross of Iron with various mods. Rarely do I use the 80mm mortars instead focusing on the 50mm. When I see infantry running I immediately fire 2/3 rounds into them and usually results in a kill. This allows me to flank them or I wait until the start running again. I was frustrated in the new games that I could not do this. If you are setting up a defense before the game starts then realistically the mortars squads would have likely avenues of advance pre sighted.

I hope I explained myself well and would invite people to discuss if they think this would be a good idea.

Mortars will work similar to PitF / GtC, with a longer aiming time at new targets. The earlier mortars were, as you describe, very powerful and could suppress movement almost instantly. They were unrealistically responsive, even given the compressed time scale under which things happen in Close Combat.

The idea of pre-registered targets is something we've discussed and considered before, and it may be included. You can do something like this in PitF/GtC now by targeting your mortar team at the area you want to register, waiting for them to fire the two spotting rounds, and then canceling the order. At this point the target is registered and you can fire at it again later without spotting rounds. The mortar will just aim for a few seconds and start firing for effect. Up to three previous targets are tracked this way for each mortar team.

Steve