Artillery in reserve

[BigDuke66]

Afaik artillery in Tactical or Local Reserve will contribute a portion of its bombardment to an attack if in range, but how much is it?
And how much supply is is used in such a case?

[sPzAbt653]

50% of Artillery Strength, and 10 Supply per round fired.

[Lobster]

This is one place where limiting your artillery range can help. Prevents them from burning up all the supplies for places you don't want them to support.

[BigDuke66]

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

50% of Artillery Strength, and 10 Supply per round fired.

10 per combat round?
Isn't this the same consumption as adding such a unit to bombard/attack a target?


I just read the manual and on page 86 it's noted:
"All cooperative Air units with Combat Support
orders, Artillery, and Naval units may automatically
add one-half of their Bombardment Strengths to
each Attack within range."

If only 1/2 is added, would this mean artillery on tactical/local reserve add just 25% of their bombardment strength?

[Icedawg]

ORIGINAL: Lobster

This is one place where limiting your artillery range can help. Prevents them from burning up all the supplies for places you don't want them to support.

How can you limit the range of artillery? I thought they just had a set range, and that was it.

[BigDuke66]

Click on the number below Range on the Unit Report screen and set the range you want.

[Lobster]

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

50% of Artillery Strength, and 10 Supply per round fired.

10 per combat round?
Isn't this the same consumption as adding such a unit to bombard/attack a target?


I just read the manual and on page 86 it's noted:
"All cooperative Air units with Combat Support
orders, Artillery, and Naval units may automatically
add one-half of their Bombardment Strengths to
each Attack within range."

If only 1/2 is added, would this mean artillery on tactical/local reserve add just 25% of their bombardment strength?

You forgot the rest of that:

Artillery units will not
support combats if they have Mobile, Retreated,
or Routed deployments.

The only way they will support is if they are in any deployment other than those three mentioned. And the word 'automatically' should tell you it's not something you assign to the unit. It happens without your intervention if the unit is in the proper deployment. The part about Combat Support only applies to air units. So unless something has changed in the last 20+ years you should get 1/2. I will add that the only way to be sure about anything in this game is to look at the code. Only 2 people can do that.

[mussey]

Artillery units will not
support combats if they have Mobile, Retreated,
or Routed deployments.

I have so much to learn. I did not know this and left my artillery in mobile (too lazy to change deployment). Thanks for the tip.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: mussey

Artillery units will not
support combats if they have Mobile, Retreated,
or Routed deployments.

I have so much to learn. I did not know this and left my artillery in mobile (too lazy to change deployment). Thanks for the tip.

I predict that your games will be better from now on. I learned to use the last round of the turn to make sure there were no "moving" units ( I'd dig them in or put them in "mobile" ) and that everybody was set to a three-dot standing. This will tend to burn the rounds of your opponent's turn as he attacks. Especially when he attacks with a one-dot setting with a unit that can almost push yours out of the hex but not quite, and so each attack causes losses, mostly to your enemy, and he barely scratches the paint on your units. And he burns all the rounds that are allowed for one battle. Usually. And so his turns are much shorter than yours will be. I like to mod scenarios so that the MRPB is 3 or so to prevent burning the entire turn in one battle.

[StuccoFresco]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

ORIGINAL: mussey

Artillery units will not
support combats if they have Mobile, Retreated,
or Routed deployments.

I have so much to learn. I did not know this and left my artillery in mobile (too lazy to change deployment). Thanks for the tip.

I predict that your games will be better from now on. I learned to use the last round of the turn to make sure there were no "moving" units ( I'd dig them in or put them in "mobile" ) and that everybody was set to a three-dot standing. This will tend to burn the rounds of your opponent's turn as he attacks. Especially when he attacks with a one-dot setting with a unit that can almost push yours out of the hex but not quite, and so each attack causes losses, mostly to your enemy, and he barely scratches the paint on your units. And he burns all the rounds that are allowed for one battle. Usually. And so his turns are much shorter than yours will be. I like to mod scenarios so that the MRPB is 3 or so to prevent burning the entire turn in one battle.

Is there a keyboard shortcut to set the various losses' dots, like how you can set units to dug in with "D"?

[StuccoFresco]

Another question: if I add artillery to an HQ, and set them in Tactical Reserve, will they support nearby friendly units under attack just as it was a regular artillery unit?

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: StuccoFresco
Is there a keyboard shortcut to set the various losses' dots, like how you can set units to dug in with "D"?

Another question: if I add artillery to an HQ, and set them in Tactical Reserve, will they support nearby friendly units under attack just as it was a regular artillery unit?

As I recall it's the 'L' key I use lowercase l and it works too. Pressing the 'L' key will advance the number of dots to the next larger number except if it's already the max then it toggles to 1 dot again. I use the keyboard a lot when I'm just digging in units without moving any of them. Especially the Soviet side in FITE2.

And about your second question, um...IF the HQ unit has any organic arty and the range is greater than or equal to the range to the target then yes, the HQ unit and the regular arty unit will both support the front line troops. Be aware however that some HQ units don't have any organic arty and the range arc is an illusion. I've been known to change the range of non-arty HQ units to 0 so that it doesn't show a range on the unit display and there's no range arc on the map for that unit. It saves a lot of confusion later on. Be aware as well, that you can park one of your bombers particularly close to your intended target hex and then trim the range of the bomber so that it just covers the intended target, usually less than 5 hexes away. Then set the bomber on three-dots and let it CS just that area. It's called dedicating some air support to a specific target or specific small area.

One thing that really bothers me about playing the Soviet side in the early period when the Soviet air shock is 5 and the Axis air shock is 120 and all of my aircraft are really low on proficiency and cherry red from being low on supply. The first turn Axis airfield attacks can usually devestate the aircraft parked closest to the front lines and of those that aren't in reorg and can still fly I move to near Moscow to get them out of the frey and let them rest for about 10 turns or so. I don't fly them again until they gain enough proficiency to be above 50%. Then off they go out to the front lines. And after I learn about the proficiency of the Axis planes compared to mine ( my planes are falling out of the sky ) I usually move them back to Moscow and wait for a lot more planes to qualify for combat. And THEN go out to the field stations enmasse.

[StuccoFresco]

Thank you very much for the exhaustive answer.