Artillery and smoke

[HellRAYzer]

I've had a couple of instances where I could have used smoke rounds but I couldn't because I had used up all the ammo of the guns or mortars. I don't get it, shouldn't I get the option of using smoke even though I ran out of regular ammo?

[sburke]

I've had a couple of instances where I could have used smoke rounds but I couldn't because I had used up all the ammo of the guns or mortars. I don't get it, shouldn't I get the option of using smoke even though I ran out of regular ammo?

No, long standing bit of confusion. One figure is your total rounds, the other figure is how much of that total can be smoke. You use up all the rounds you have none left to be smoke. It is usually safer to fire off the smoke as soon as you think you need it as odds are once you start the HE, it'll all go too fast.

[Bulletpoint]

It is usually safer to fire off the smoke as soon as you think you need it as odds are once you start the HE, it'll all go too fast.

However, this deprives you of your option to lay down preliminary bombardment, so it's a bit of a tricky decision..

I asked the very same question when I was a newbie, and I've seen others ask it too. Probably should be explained in the manual.

[womble]

And while it's being explained in the manual, it should mention that this accounting method does not apply to on-map assets, where the two ammo types are tracked separately.

[Bulletpoint]

And while it's being explained in the manual...

Still can't seem to find the page where this is explained..?

[HellRAYzer]

No, long standing bit of confusion. One figure is your total rounds, the other figure is how much of that total can be smoke. You use up all the rounds you have none left to be smoke. It is usually safer to fire off the smoke as soon as you think you need it as odds are once you start the HE, it'll all go too fast.

Thank you for the explanation. Now I know and will plan accordingly.

[womble]

Still can't seem to find the page where this is explained..?

I don't believe it is. Didn't say it is. But when they get around to making the edit, they should include the difference between on- and off- map assets which I was raising for the OP's education.

[slysniper]

We all have been there, it is just one of the stubid things to learn about how it works in the game.

But to this day, I dont like it. Why oh why did they just not program it to work like all the other stuff in the game. one minute, smoke is available, but the next it isnt. Just because you could not get the HE fire to stop in time, which is hard when playing in minute increments.

BF, its just stupid , and no explanation will justify that decision on how it works.

It just does not match the rest of the ammo functions in the game.

So there is my rant for the day.

Once you understand it, you learn how to save and get the chance to use the smoke if needed

[sburke]

So there is my rant for the day.

LOL okay let me put that down... rants.... slysniper, May 3rd okay check. Thanks come back tomorrow if you'd like to rant again, we'll be serving coffee and donuts in the morning for the blood drive if you'd like to come by then.

For what it is worth I agree, I wish they were separate. It feels too much like a game when you are calculating what you might have. Breaks the immersion.

[womble]

It's also tricky because it's hard to know how many rounds a given mission will use up (unless it's on "Maximum"...).