[Imp]

Okay are we playing the same game here?
Squaud carried mortars are "quick fired" so cant use the bombardment screen or in game lob smoke & generaly have a low ammo load.

Some of those mortars are small designed to be fired near enough from the hip if you like but some regular small mortars can also be bought either this way or as crewed weapons.
German WW2 for instance intigral or seperate its your choice or in MBT Canadians 80s on D/W Company.
The squad version carries the penalties listed above trading it for speed generally.

My pref is to buy the D/W company & then trade one platoon for intigrated mortars so I have both.

Crewed small mortars can move & fire no problem what they cant do is take time to plot fire while moving.
They can do virtualy everything thats been requested & given your Gods eye view are very powerfull as they can react very quickly to what you want them to do.

You can fire & move if you dont want to plot fire
You can Z fire a sighting round & then walk the fire using the bombardment screen to the hex you cant normally see.

The gods eye view is exactly why you should not have even more control over them, they react fast enough anyway. Especially if you take the risk to expose them to direct LOS or the time to set them up in good spots for z firing simulating the guy forward.
A turn or 2 waiting for your support units to get in place before attacking is normally a good trade.

They fell out of favour but seem to be making a comeback because they are so flexible, they also happen to be one of the best surpressive weapons in the game due to the high ROF & dont tend to kill your troops due to low kill so can be used here other supporting weapons cant.

I for one think they are a great little weapon due to the fact they react fast, can hit hexes other units cant, cause heavy suppression & can be risked in close proximity to your own troops.
Then theres the get out of battle free card when it all goes wrong & they lay a smoke screen to gain time.