Thoughts on New Arty Routine 3.5
 

Good day Commanders,

My thoughts on the new Arty Routines:

http://www.efour4ever.com/op_enthusiasm.jpg

The new rules have forced several issues to be dealt with realistically from what I’ve seen so far. From the German view of bringing artillery to bear, the Germans relied on FO's and pre-plotting. The Russians relied a lot on preplanned barrages and were not well trained in on call fire and from what I've been reading this did not improve much until after the war which accounts for more and more massed arty. As well from the Game View in regards to AI use of arty, it seems to have forced the AI to use it's arty in a less helter skelter fashion, including actually laying smoke in front of actual troops and HE on troops when spotted. A :doh: no doubt, but certainly realistic.

I have not played UK or US arty yet. I suspect the Brit arty play will come off close to the real thing; Brit rates of fire were their solution to any inaccuracies. I'm curious to see how this change will effect the US ability to call down fire quickly and to simulate TOT, (Time On Target shoots) I suspect in order to insure realism here US Commander will have to buy FO's to service more levels of command.

Please feel free to add to this thread with your own thoughts and tips. I'm especially curious about those who have used the routine with UK, US and other nations.

Bob out:D

Re: Thoughts on New Arty Routine 3.5
 

Don't know if I would call this a problem but something I have noticed with new arty routines.
Getting a full slam on first fire is nearly impossible, hitting with 0.0-1
The old system if wanted to do you would move about till at 1.0
If you try this with new system end up with 1.2-3 normaly
You could I suppose switch the guns off but thats pretty gamey & still gives away that arty has area targeted.
Perhaps a button to delay fire if possible but only if plot is not moved.
It would be nice to be able to make the first FFE count esp if battery has a low ROF as firing 1 shell a gun is a bit pointless.
You have taken the gamble they will still be under the guns & delayed by a turn in return for a decent spread. In fact you will have probably placed the original plot with this in mind.
Cheers

Re: Thoughts on New Arty Routine 3.5
 

But don't you think the current situation is more realistic?

Unless you have a pre-targeted 'gold-spot' (where you will get your 1.0) wouldn't a few ranging shells be required?

Re: Thoughts on New Arty Routine 3.5
 

The current system is far better than the old one. Yes you should have an option to put out out a spotting round but think read its not going to happen. For offboard could micro manage turning all but one gun off for onboard you cant. Also & dont know if correct here spotting round was just that more a smoke pillar than a round to cause damage. So realisticly if case suppose could turn off all guns. Problem again is onboard can AI do it & can replay show it as a diffrent type of fire.


Problem with spotting round also is I feel game commanders react far more quickly to a sniff of arty scattering / avoiding than realy occurs, again could be wrong. Therefore my proposal just assume it occurs & allow a full FFE rather than half a load.
The other option would be to say 0.0-2 is full fire then decreasing for 0.3-5 but not thought about properly.

The idea behind most of my posts is just to suggest alternatives for Andy & Don to think about & dismiss if like. Also keep updating the same stuff it must be hard not to fall in to always looking for solutions the same way. If I make one sensible contribution then its made up for the tat i have made them read

Re: Thoughts on New Arty Routine 3.5
 

Good day.all

I have found that achieving 0-.01 with Soviet Artillery is impossible but realistic. With the Germans I have been managing it with difficulty but it differently requires direct observation and some time in (TI) for the FO's and Arty again is required, I expect as more time goes by and my FO's and arty become more experienced this should be more likely to happen.

I know our present Campaign will show just how much difference just FO's alone will make.

Bob out:D

Re: Thoughts on New Arty Routine 3.5
 

One thing to realize with harassing artillery is that a few random rounds on troops to slow them up is good. If you're being forced to ground/cover every 5-10 minutes with a just a few rounds to keep your range, you might just start trying to push through and ignore the rounds just in time to get a Fire For Effect mission.

I seem to recall a number of games that effected harassing fire vs Fire For Effect as modes that artillery could sustain. You adjusted onto target with one or two rounds and then hit the FOF button to bring down destruction (or neutralization) on a target.

Re: Thoughts on New Arty Routine 3.5
 

............which you can do ( sort of ) by shutting down all but one of the guns in the off map arty and only using that one gun for "spotting" then turn them all on to FFE

Don