Artillery Fire Routine

[RERomine]

Don't get me wrong. The AI typically puts artillery on target. Maybe not so much when assaulting, but there it doesn't usually know where enemy units are until contact is made. Until then, it tends to sling shells around hoping for a good strike. I can't say this isn't an unrealistic use in an assault situation.

I still think it needs to weigh the target's value before slinging two regiments worth of artillery at it. In my current game against the AI, one enemy mortar section has caused me more trouble than two regiments of off-board artillery. The mortars just hit one of my forward positions and caught me shifting troops.

So far, I'm 17 turns into my battle and only three different fire missions from off-board artillery have been called. The two massive ones already mentioned and a one troop mission that was short and dropping on their own troops. Other than that, no counter battery fire, no fire on 14 other machine gun positions I have, none on the my 10 ATG or IG positions and and none anywhere along my line unless you want to count the short fire last turn. The AI just has too much artillery that isn't being used effectively and it seems to be confined to off-board varieties. If the AI was dropping artillery in places along my main line, with the volume it has my line would have dissolved by now. I'm only in my second campaign battle so my core is still pretty close to the starting experience of the Italians in June, 1940, which isn't all that great.

Call it a sense, but there seems to be something the AI is doing differently with the off-board artillery. The AI seems to be much more effective with on-board artillery, but I can't really quantify it.