2 questions: Target plotting and MRVs

[Marcello]

Originally Posted by Lt. Ketch

I know that the info bar that tell you the name and range of the unit firing at you has been discussed and that some look for ways to ignore it. I'm curious if there are times when you do have a rough idea as to how far away the person shotting at you is. I realize that it may be impossible with small arms, but I'm curious about larger ordanance. I recently discovered a way that you could plug in your map location i.e. (70,126), the range that shot was taken and an approximate angle from 90 and it will spit out the cordinate points for where the shooter could be located. The intention was to use it for plotting artillary on suspected AA guns and other longer range ordanance. I'm curious as to the realism of such a tool. Any thoughts.

In real life range to target is usually a critical variable, mainly (but not only) in order to calculate the necessary elevation to counter the attraction gravity exerts upon a projectile. Therefore most "big" ordnance has a way to calculate range to target by means such as rangefinders (optical and in modern times lasers), radar or simply stadiametric lines incorporated in the sights. So basically any "big" unit can usually estimate the range of another unit it can see.
Indirect fire artillery is something more complex, as it operates as a system, but even there range is still calculated, being even more critical than in direct fire units.
There are for example specialized radar systems that can calculate the firing position of an enemy gun by the trajectory of the shells it fires.