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Artillery advices needed


ncc1701e

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Having all of my experience in the Marine Air Wings, and Infantry, I need to ask what is today's definition of a "field gun?" Is it that the field gun has a relatively flat trajectory? I live about a mile from a National Guard Artillery unit, and see them towing their 155mm guns. I assume they are howitzers, but I'm not really sure. How is the Paladin System classified?

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The definition of a "field gun" was highly nebulous in the age of field guns even. You also had things in some armies like regimental guns, infantry guns, or the 25pdr which was labeled a "gun-howitzer". The wars of the 20th century were truly the wars of the high-explosive. Everything and everyone was under pressure to sling some kind of HE somehow and someway. 

Edited by SimpleSimon
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The oddest artillery in CM has got to be the little Italian 65mm infantry gun which can be purchased as off map artillery. The shells come in at a very shallow angle. Its almost useless as on-map artillery due to the flat trajectory. You can maybe clear a low stone wall with it for some non-LOS shooting. The shells of the well known German 88 also come in at a quite shallow angle.

'Artillery' predates gunpowder by many centuries.  Greeks build massive stone throwing and bolt shooting crossbows powered by sinew, the first 'catapult' dating to 399 BC. The more familiar one-armed catapult (or 'onager') wasn't invented till 500 years later. They're considered 'artillery' weapons and were used in that capacity in the field.

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2 hours ago, MikeyD said:

The oddest artillery in CM has got to be the little Italian 65mm infantry gun which can be purchased as off map artillery. The shells come in at a very shallow angle. Its almost useless as on-map artillery due to the flat trajectory. You can maybe clear a low stone wall with it for some non-LOS shooting. The shells of the well known German 88 also come in at a quite shallow angle.

'Artillery' predates gunpowder by many centuries.  Greeks build massive stone throwing and bolt shooting crossbows powered by sinew, the first 'catapult' dating to 399 BC. The more familiar one-armed catapult (or 'onager') wasn't invented till 500 years later. They're considered 'artillery' weapons and were used in that capacity in the field.

The Cannone da 65/17. They're awesome. I love the weird stuff. It was designed to be handled by infantry up and down Italy's steep hills and mountains for fire against strong points. It would almost fit right in at The Battle of Waterloo though. I found them very useful in the Italian campaign in Fortress Italy where they could be used for direct fire, even as anti-tank guns in a pinch. They could also be used for indirect fire but as you say they're not better at that than mortars are. I suspect like many pre-WW1 infantry-level guns they weren't really intended for it. 

Edited by SimpleSimon
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On ‎10‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 12:59 PM, Michael Emrys said:

And also mountain guns, which almost invariability were actually howitzers. The nomenclature was often set by tradition.

Michael

Tradition was important, as was where the weapon was located in the TOE, and also who used it...and why and how.

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I'd be interested in hearing about the Russian mortars in the game that appear to have "smart" rounds. My understanding is it must be called in by a unit with a laser designator. Do you use a point fire mission or can an area or linear fire mission be used. Can these smart round be called in by an observer unit that does not have a laser designator and used as normal rounds? Can the mortar unit just use these in direct fire mode?

How effective would they be against armor? The armor is thinner on the top of tanks and IFV's.

In general what is the overall utility of these rounds and what are the designed for?

 

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2 hours ago, db_zero said:

I'd be interested in hearing about the Russian mortars in the game that appear to have "smart" rounds. My understanding is it must be called in by a unit with a laser designator. Do you use a point fire mission or can an area or linear fire mission be used. Can these smart round be called in by an observer unit that does not have a laser designator and used as normal rounds? Can the mortar unit just use these in direct fire mode?

How effective would they be against armor? The armor is thinner on the top of tanks and IFV's.

In general what is the overall utility of these rounds and what are the designed for?

 

.

Only unit with laser designators can order fire missions for precision munition. It's a 'point' target with 'intensity: precision' iirc. So they can't be used by spotters without laser designator and AFAIK not in direct fire mode. I haven't used the 120mm mortars in directfire mode anyhow. Not 100% sure if you can't use them as normal rounds.

While the 155mm precision rounds are sort of effective against tanks, the 120mm mortar rounds aren't that effective against tanks but are against most not heavy armored vehicles. They are very useful for taking out heavy weapons and or infantry strongpoints and most APC/IFV's

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14 hours ago, db_zero said:

Thanks....as the recipient of precision rounds in h2h games. I can say the American ones have been pretty effective on my Russian tanks. They will knock them out or immobilize them.

 

As Bill H said in his AAR. You better keep them moving...

Yes when the target tank is stationary and while using 2 or 3 rounds there is a decent chance of immobilization and or KO. I prefer to use them against other, more softer, targets though, since rounds are mostly limited. 

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