Matrix Games Forums

You target a hex with your arty,
then next turn, you want to shift fire.
you get message
"cannot shift target out of range"

but yet you can target it directly if you dont use shift button.
this used to just happen with mortars if I recall, but now it is happening with offboard arty as well.
and no the target is not actually out of range...ive checked


this is H2H version, dont know about regular ver 7.1 but I think it happened in it as well.

that you can sometimes shift fire of a piece by using direct fire...the other message (if I remember correctly) is supposed to be taken as meaning that the shells are already inflight...and therefore can not be shifted.

shells cannot be already in flight if I have not yet used the artillery piece.
for instance, I have a priority target hex, I set the arty on that hex, then want to shift 2 hexes. I get "cannot shift target out of range"
even when it is infact in range.

Try using another unit to shift the fire, esp. the arty unit's commander (if onboard). Sometimes this makes a difference, although I've only confirmed such with Company Mortars (eg, the Knee Mortars in a Japanese Platoon).

yes that works with onboard stuff
today was first instance where ive had it happen with offboard arty

Ditto...I've seen that a lot recently, but never with off-board arty. I've also seen the 'cannot cancel fire-mission' bug quite a few times during the summer too...and despite the 'ideas' put forth by some, the country and/or experience rating of the FO and firing-unit is irrelevant. I haven't seen a work-around for the 'cannot shift' problem....with the 'cannot cancel' bug you can shut off the firing unit's tubes, but you still in effect 'lose' the unit since its unavailable for other missions.

I misunderstood the issue...my apologies.

One small way a part of this glitch could be fixed would be to make the US 60mm mortars "mortars" instead of "light infantry mortars " . As I understand this problem Infantry Mortars need to be adjusted by the platoon or company leaders , occasionally they could adjusted , depending on commo links from the AO to the effected Platoon or Company "O" unit being active, by FO's and the AO units .
The Problems with my solution however is that then the US 60mm Mortars would have smoke , which they did in fact have ,( even had WP ammo) , but Japanese , German and Russian infantry mortars didn't have smoke ( or WP), so it wouldn't be fair to the Japanese , Germans and Russians for the US 60 mm mortrs to have smoke in the game ( after all it is just a game) even though they had it in real life. Likewise it would allow US 60mm Mortars to be reliably shifted by FO's and "A0" units , which with the US communication was a real posibility , the German and Japanese and Russians didnt really have that kind of commo in WW2( unless it is landline in a static situation) and it wouldn't be realistic for them to be able to shift thier infantry mortars with FO's and "A0" units .. so it wouldn't be fair ..Fair is important here US Platoons had the portable radios and training to call arty and recieve calls for Platoon assets from FO's and "A0" units, Japanese , German, and Russian didn't , but to be fair thier Platoons can of course call arty ( and sometimes recieve calls ) so that the game is fair and balanced.
btw WP can be easily made in the game by taking the duplicate 60mm Mortar and making it a WP only 4.2 mortar and just changing the weapon type to napalm , and leaving the HE kill the same as a regular 4.2, Like wise it is an easy fix to get the 60mm US mortars to have smoke simply by reclassing them to "mortars " like i mentioned above. I know , I know it would not be fair to give the US weapons they really had when other better, more Profesional, more deserving Armies from other Countries didn't have them , But what the heck I thought I would mention it .

He's talking about OFF-Board Arty

Hi I experienced the same time.

In my experience, not being able to shift has to to with the geographical distance between the FO and the target area.

If you have a closer FO, geographically speaking, than the one that you are using, it should help to shift to that FO.

Otherwise : Move him closer to the target. :p

the 60mm mortar is good ineough in the game IMHO. almost too good, esp. against late war germans who often refuse to rally after some 60mm shells falling on them

Frank yeah I know , no point in making a weapon as accurately modeled as possible if it is already a problem for the Germans to deal with , it wouldn't be fair to the Germans.
As it is a German 50 mm Mortar is HE 4 Pen 8 and the US 60mm with 3 times the explosive weight is a HE 5 Pen 9 , so just because a mortar round is 3 times as powerful there is no reason to actually make it much better than a German weapon because it already is hard for the Germans to handle , wouldn't be Fair and Balanced. And giving the US Mortar the smoke ammo it actually had would just be downright mean and unfair to the Germans. Poor little picked on Germans, life is so hard for them.

okay, as the germans are this overated and supermen in the game ( judging your words ) we will meet on the battlefield.

you ger , me US - after normandy battle.

in 1 week or so i´m ready for the fight !

Lets just look at Mortars in detail for a minute
US 60mm fired a 3 lb shell with about a 160 gram HE filler
German 50mm a 1.5 lb shell with about a 120 gram filler
( I converted wrong a post or so back) but still a third more powerful with twice as much fragmentation weight wise )
in the game the German is 4 HE Pen 8 the US 5 HE Pen 9
Now lets look at German 80 v US 81
German is a 7 lb round with about 1 pound of explosive to a range of 2.4 km ( 48 hexes ) in the game it is a HE 8 Pen 29 with a range of 56. The US 81mm Is a 11 pound shell with a 4.3 pound charge that fires to 3.9 KM ( 78 hexes ) yet in the game it is HE 8 Pen 18 . In real life the US Mortar has 30 more hexes range , but in the game they have the same range and despite having over 4 times the explosive load it has the same HE Kill and only 2/3rd the Pen ..
I have already posted the discrepancies with the US 4.2 V German ( actually Russian ) 120mm .. With the US 4.2 Having a 8 lb HE charge in a 22 lb shell while the 120 has a 6 lb charge in a lighter shell and yet in the game the 120 is more powerfull HE 12 Pen 24 to the US HE10 Pen 22.
It is annoying to see US equipment underrated consistantly and still have to listen the the Tiger Kitties whine about how powerfull the US stuff is . I have given up trying to get the HE Kill and PEN correct , the Folks at Matrix have known for years that US 81mm have almost twice the range and 4 times the explosive power or a German 80mm Mortar , I have posted all this in one form or another plenty of times .. All I am asking for is smoke for the 60 mm Mortars , I have given up on anybody at Matrix wanting any Army but the Germans to have full strenght weapons, better than full strenght in some cases , and the constant dumbing down of US Arty because of the German players constant whining. Just Look at the Russians for a minute and compare the Rusiian and the German 120mm Identical weapons in real life .. Germans captured and copied the Russian 120mm Mortars but the Russian gets HE12 Pen 36 even better than the German stuff .,. It is only the US Arty that is under valued in a straight up head to head comparison of real life range and warhead . Brits use the US 4.2 Mortar with the same US Ammo and it is HE 10 Pen 21 .
The First time I brought this up formally one of the top guys at Matrix started trying to tell me too much explosive cause smaller less effective fragments .. I mean total BS
This is not just true for Mortars, US Arty 105mm and 155mm are significantly larger heavier shells than the German equivalents with significantly larger HE loads in each shell ..
This is real , it makes a real difference in the game , why is Matrix so darn afraid to model the US stuff correctly ?

Frank ya know when 8.0 comes out I might just take you up on that... you might want to ask around about my PBEM record first though ... heheheheheeehehee
But I only Play as the US ... I will not play as a Nazi

Definitely a bug. Usually happens to me with my BEST F.O.

He’ll not be able to shift my rockets to get a 0.2 delay, but the lesser F.O. can shift them without the message, but of course a 0.4 delay.

Now, in my particular case (current game with Viking), the F.O. that gets the “bugged” message is out of range for the type of artillery he’s calling in, were the artillery he's calling for co-located at his location (rockets).

Is it possible that this bug results from the distance to target being measured from the F.O. that’s plotting/calling the fire mission rather than from the artillery piece in question? Just a thought, but it would explain my dilemma.

okay, ammo.

let´s wait till 8.00