feature request: vehicles could avoid mortar fire

[SlowMotion]

Currently tanks etc. have an AI defense mechanism that when they are hit by enemy fire, they try to reverse to safety.

Maybe similar thing could happen automatically when a (static) vehicle is targeted by mortar fire? Now it's possible to destroy a vehicle during one turn with a light mortar before player can do anything. Explosions start getting closer to the vehicle, yet AI doesn't do anything to avoid damage. Tanks don't get destroyed so easily, but they can immobilize in same situation.

[mjkerner]

Are you sure, Slow Motion? I'm pretty certain--not completely certain-- that I've had trucks and kubelwagonspull back when threatened, as long as they have a driver, of course.

[SlowMotion]

What about open topped things like Nashorn, Wespe, HTs, M10, M36 - can't remember which ones are in the game already - but one grenade that falls inside can kill the entire crew.

[Paper Tiger]

Yes, he's right. Vehicles don't back off when they are being targetted by mortar fire. I wish they would as I've been playtesting a couple of missions where the AI side would benefit from being able to do this. Not an issue for H2H/PBEM players though as they can make the necessary adjustments themselves.

but one grenade that falls inside can kill the entire crew.

That's probably true in RL too though . I don't know just how frequently this happened in RL but it seems to happen quite a lot in the game (i.e. more often than I'd expect it to happen). What I don't like is that an onboard mortar can fire directly on an AI controlled vehicle and that vehicle can't spot the attacking unit (2 or 3 man crews don't spot terribly well), button up, reducing their chances of spotting and returning fire and either die or get immobilised (most likely).

[SlowMotion]

One more thing: IMO when there is an explosion next to a open top vehicle, the crew probably doesn't know what caused it, so they could think "that could have been a tank shell that barely missed or from arty. Time to change position..."

[ZPB II]

That's probably true in RL too though . I don't know just how frequently this happened in RL but it seems to happen quite a lot in the game (i.e. more often than I'd expect it to happen).

I would guess that open-topped vehicles get far more exposure to mortars than they did in RL due to players and the AI utilizing open-topped vehicles in risky direct fire situations more often than their crews probably would, out of self-preservation. You don't exactly see the AI roll up a Priest to take a peek around the corner, pump a round into a house down the street and reverse to safety. Open-topped vehicles are left parked out into the open routinely.

Also, mortar crews don't exactly have the kind of self-preservation one would expect, either. In QBs the AI routinely places light mortars in the frontline, shooting direct fire as soon as there is something to fire at.

On the other hand, mortars and artillery are one of the few weapons that keep the AI in the fight, so I wouldn't want them to see tweaked too much without improving other areas of the AI.

So, I would suspect that what we are seeing is open-topped vehicles receiving direct fire from mortars more often than would have occurred realistically, rather than mortars being too overpowered against them.

I've seen vehicles back out of mortar fire on their own, but it could happen more often. There's always room for improvement. Creating a plausible AI is notoriously hard.

[SlowMotion]

So, I would suspect that what we are seeing is open-topped vehicles receiving direct fire from mortars more often than would have occurred realistically, rather than mortars being too overpowered against them.

I've seen vehicles back out of mortar fire on their own, but it could happen more often. There's always room for improvement. Creating a plausible AI is notoriously hard.

Yes, improving the AI must be hard. But if you think how quickly AI uses the defense move in tank_vs_tank case, surely it could use it more often when shells start landing close by.