Artillery question

[noob]

I am a complete novice regarding artillery so i would like to know if it is realistic that FO's can target areas without a LOS to the targeting point/s when plotting artillery strikes during the set up turn ?

[JonS]

Yes it is.

It simulates all sorts of 'out of the frame' activities (such as fully predicted fire, aerial OPs, OPs on hills and in church steeples "over there", airburst ranging, and so on) that allow accurate fire to locations that are out of LOS for anything on the current map.

None of those things really have a place once the scen has started, though, because of the amount of time, resources, and higher-level coordination they require, all of which are out of scope for CMBN.

[noob]

Yes it is.

It simulates all sorts of 'out of the frame' activities (such as fully predicted fire, aerial OPs, OPs on hills and in church steeples "over there", airburst ranging, and so on) that allow accurate fire to locations that are out of LOS for anything on the current map.

None of those things really have a place once the scen has started, though, because of the amount of time, resources, and higher-level coordination they require, all of which are out of scope for CMBN.

Good answer, thanks a lot.

[akd]

It can be abused, and with the TRP system in place it is often unjustified. The ability for an attacking force to, for example, point target the key building on the NW corner of the third street intersection inside a town in the next valley over without observation with 4 converging guns is...extreme. No surprise artillery is often only provided as a reinforcement. Of course TRPs don't entirely avoid that, but at least they give the designer a bit more control and force the QB player to invest in the ability.

[Paper Tiger]

Not to mention that each one of those nifty little US 60mm mortars can drop their lethal rounds directly onto any spot completely out of their LOS on a reasonable sized map with almost pin-point accuracy at the start of a mission. If a player wants to have these realistic, preplanned strikes fall on locations out of his LOS, that is what the TRPS are for. The scenario designer can give the player agreater number of TRPs to represent this forward planning. Hell, it even adds depth to the missions by allowing the player to choose where these TRPs will go. It also means that the scenario designer can deny the player the ability to gamily target the entire map with his onboard assets when the player is supposed to be advancing into unknown territory. Yes, I know that I can keep the 60mm mortars off-board and have them arrive as reinforcements at T+05 but this is an artificial work around. The mortars are part of the Airborne/Glider platoons and it just adds to the micro management of the game having the player re-organise these forces when they arrive on the board.