Matrix Games Forums

Hello,
I just finished the "A Thin Tan Line" scenario on the NATO side and I'm wondering what was going on with my artillery.

I have 4 Abbot units, each with 4 guns.
In each cycle, I issue 3 barrage orders to 3 units each. The first barrage occurs 6 minutes later according to plan, and the subsequent ones every 5 minutes.
The fourth unit is set to Counter Battery starting with the first cycle.

In fact, however, only one unit fires the first barrage, and the others don't react in that cycle. The timer for the subsequent barrages is simply advanced by 15 minutes in the new cycle.
This cycle continues, and ultimately, at the end of the scenario, I had 0 kills or claims with my 4 Abbot units.

The targeted enemy units, whether mech infantry, tanks, or APCs, were not dug in, had between 20% and 30% cover, were clearly visible, and spotted.
The Counter Battery order didn't help either, even though the enemy Gvozdikas were at least within reach.

On the other hand, the enemy artillery wiped out unit after unit of mine, sometimes unspotted, sometimes dug in the city as they felt like it, almost unbelievable.
Of a total of 134 kills and claims, the enemy destroyed 89 with artillery alone. That's almost over 66% of all kills and claims compared to 0% for me.

This can only be a bug, right?

Best regards,
Juergen

Just tried the scenario (a few turns, at least; wow, that old interface). My Abbots all fired at the target hexes I plotted: both smoke and HE. As for kills, the Brists only have 16 tubes of 105mm, and if those are not concentrated on a single hex, the odds of doing any damage are low. On the other side, Red has 2S1s (18 tubes of 122mm) on-map and 24 tubes of 203mm off-map, along with a couple of MRLS batteries off-map. That off-map stuff will wreck stuff in a city hex with any cover. The best thing is to avoid getting spotted or moving if you can, especially if they see you. NO bugs that I can see or remember. Just a ton of heavy red artillery.

UPDATE: I ran a few more turns and did notice an odd bug where fire times shifted hours forward on some of the Abbots. Once I reset, it seemed to shoot on time. I'm not sure why this is happening, or why it was never seen years ago. Unfortunately, the best I can do is to check the FS Fire Support tab, see if the timings shift, and then replot them.

I've observed this too. Only one Abbot makes the first barrage, the subsequent firing times of this Abbot are delayed by hours, but at the same time, the firing times of the other Abbots are also delayed.

Same thing happens at reset: one fires, the other times are delayed.

I can understand that a 105mm gun has less power than a 122mm or even a 203mm gun.

I also stopped firing at tanks, and targeted only lightly armored reconnaissance units, Mech Infantry, and even the HQ.

But after 7 hours of play in the scenario, 0 kills?

Good advice to avoid being spotted or to move if possible.

Strangely, enemy artillery also hits units that haven't moved for several cycles, are dug in, have 90% cover, and are also unspotted; the white spot dot isn't visible on the counter. And there's not a single enemy unit to be seen in any hex spottable from...

One cycle (NATO) lasts about 20 minutes. By the time my units even consider moving a single hex, almost two cycles have passed. Enough time for the enemy to destroy my unit, or at least decimate it significantly, which they do regularly.