Minimal range for indirect artillery fire?

[BigDuke66]

Can anyone tell me where I find the minimal ranges for indirect artillery fire?
I tried to use some 7,5cm IGs for indirect fire but closer than 14 hexes doesn't seem to work, would have been good to know that earlier.

[Imp]

Its in the game guide somewhere & is about a fifth of the maximum range.
Mortars due to higher trajectory vary & have it listed.

[gila]

Are not the 7.5 IG's for only direct fire infrantry support?

[cbo]

Originally Posted by gila

Are not the 7.5 IG's for only direct fire infrantry support?

The two German infantry guns - the 15cm and the 7,5cm were used in much the same way as mortars would later be. Their design was based on WWI experience with mortars - "Minenewerfer" - and the two guns were called Minenwerfer early on in their development.

They differed from howitzers by having a very high elevation, about 75 degrees. I dont know what the shortest range was, but it cannot have been much. The smallest charge gave the 7,5cm a max. range of 800 meters and fired the round at a whooping 92 m/s. Max. range with the largest charge firing HE at 210 m/s was 3375 meters.

The 15cm gun reached 1475 meters max. with the smallest charge and 4700 meters with the largest.

[PvtJoker]

Originally Posted by cbo

The two German infantry guns - the 15cm and the 7,5cm were used in much the same way as mortars would later be. Their design was based on WWI experience with mortars - "Minenewerfer" - and the two guns were called Minenwerfer early on in their development.

It may be prudent to explain here that the WW1 German Minenwerfer were breech loaded and rifled unlike modern Stokes-Brandt type mortars, which are muzzle loaded, smooth-bore and fire fin-stabilized projectiles. So, while the Germans adopted the 81mm Brandt type mortar (Granatwerfer in 1930s German nomenclature*, meaning grenade thrower), they didn't abandon the Minenwerfer principle completely.

* After WW2 Germans started to call Brandt type weapons Mörser (i.e. mortars), which at one time was reserved for heavier siege artillery pieces. Although by Anglo-Saxon usage most WW1 heavy Mörser such as the famous Big Bertha were actually short-barreled howitzers. Confused yet?

[gila]

Originally Posted by cbo

The two German infantry guns - the 15cm and the 7,5cm were used in much the same way as mortars would later be. Their design was based on WWI experience with mortars - "Minenewerfer" - and the two guns were called Minenwerfer early on in their development.

They differed from howitzers by having a very high elevation, about 75 degrees. I dont know what the shortest range was, but it cannot have been much. The smallest charge gave the 7,5cm a max. range of 800 meters and fired the round at a whooping 92 m/s. Max. range with the largest charge firing HE at 210 m/s was 3375 meters.

The 15cm gun reached 1475 meters max. with the smallest charge and 4700 meters with the largest.

To clarify myself,I was asking from the perpective.. "as it is in the game"
I undertand that there will be special varinces in history,i'm just a gamer,not a historian

One thing i might add or caution others,don't buy those IG's if you plan to use them for bombard,they are direct-fire arty..italians have alot of them.

[BigDuke66]

Doesn't look like.

I scanned thru the Artillery Bombardment chapter and thru the tutorial but didn't see min. range mentioned, but I see that mortars seem to use the second range value indicating minimum range just most artillery pieces seem to of none maybe because of the double function that it can also set the range for sabot/AP rounds.

[Mobhack]

Artillery have a built-in minimum range, 20% of their max range and locked to a maximum of 20 hexes, minimum of 5. So only some very short range on-map infantry guns will tend to have a min range of 5-19 hexes in reality. (There has never been any distinction between guns, rockets, or howitzers as to min range in the game series).

It's not spelled out in any detail in any manuals since it is obvious from the fact that the "cannot fire" indicator is shown if you try to plot the gun on too close a target hex in the bombardment screen. Mousing over the red circle gives an explanatory message.

If you really need to fire indirect at close-in enemy targets - then issue mortars to your troops, not infantry guns.

Andy

[PvtJoker]

Originally Posted by Mobhack

Artillery have a built-in minimum range, 20% of their max range and locked to a maximum of 20 hexes, minimum of 5. So only some very short range on-map infantry guns will tend to have a min range of 5-19 hexes in reality.

Sorry tho resurrect this oldish thread, but the manual states that:

UnitClass 154=Infantry Howitzer On map artillery, min range halved, use for indirect capable IG and mountain guns.

Which I gather means that Unit Class 154 artillery units have a min range of 10% of their max range? So, for example German unit 092 - 15cm sIG 33 (weapon range 128) has a minimum range of 13 hexes?

[DRG]

That unit has a 20 hex minimum so either we need to update the GG or the "20% of their max range and locked to a maximum of 20 hexes" code is overriding the "min range halved" code that UC154 is supposed to have