Spotting For Artillery

[CanuckGamer]

Once a forward observer or HQ has called for artillery does the spotting unit have to remain in visual contact with the target for the barrage to take place? I am thinking that if the spotting unit is killed before the barrage takes place the barrage does not happen so to be safe, I would like to move back with the spotting unit and give it a "hide" command. Any comments or feedback would be much appreciated.

[Sailor Malan2]

Once the call is made, the spotter has no input until the spotting round arrives. If there is no response to spotting rounds, the battery will not FFE, as it doesnt know where the target is relative to it's firing solution.

Moving back is dangerous (you have to be sure the spotter can get back before spotting round time). I usually hide in place if necessary.

[A Canadian Cat]

I have had a lot of success with moving away and coming back especially for the long calls: 10min or 13min. I move my spotter back to good cover and then watch the clock. The artillery UI will tell you when you are getting close. If you are off a bit no biggie as long as they get in place soon after spotting rounds start falling. Mine have never been out of place for longer than 1min of spotting rounds so I do not know what the limit is.

However I do have a game where the calling HQ died a minute after the call. There is 13 min before spotting rounds and then the question is how long do I have to wait before the battery gives up and I can use them again?

[Baneman]

It used to be the case that if the spotting unit was killed, the battery he called is permanently DENIED for the rest of the battle.

I don't know if this has been fixed in patches or the 2.0 upgrade - I sure hope so, but have never tested it.

[CanuckGamer]

Thanks for the replies. If the spotting unit can see the target then the target see the spotting unit which many times results in a firefight and the spotting unit is killed. In the scenario that I am currently playing as the Yanks, there is no German armor so I gave the forward observer unit a armor arc command. The last thing I want the FO to do is start shooting at something and get killed.

I am assuming that the spotters have to observe the rounds falling so they can they tell the artillery whether they are hitting anything. Otherwise I don't see why they can't move back out of the line of sight of enemy units once they have called for artillery.

[womble]

If the spotting unit can see the target then the target see the spotting unit...

This is not by any means universally true.

If the spotting unit can see the target, there is a chance that the target will notice the spotting unit. If you keep your observer at range, behind concealment and not firing (use a short covered arc - circular by default, segment when you want them to face somewhere, since Face doesn't impose any fire discipline), using Slow movement to reach their perch, that chance is minimised. I have often had FOs spend entire games calling arty without ever being interrupted by rude strangers.

The last thing I want the FO to do is start shooting at something and get killed.

Why not give them a short (either self-defense range of 30m or so, or "no fire" range of less than 1 AS) ordinary cover arc. At least then, they might return fire if they get surprised at murder ranges.

I am assuming that the spotters have to observe the rounds falling so they can they tell the artillery whether they are hitting anything.

As explained above, that's a correct assumption. But they only have to observe the rounds falling when there are any falling rounds to be observed. So they can

...move back out of the line of sight of enemy units once they have called for artillery.

So long, as explained above, as they get back into LOS of the target area for approximately when the spotting rounds start to arrive. This is another way to mitigate the chance of them being spotted before FFE is called. It adds a small element of risk in that moving FOs are easier to spot than ones that are sitting still, but removes the risk that they are spotted by extended observation of their hide.

[A Canadian Cat]

It used to be the case that if the spotting unit was killed, the battery he called is permanently DENIED for the rest of the battle.

I don't know if this has been fixed in patches or the 2.0 upgrade - I sure hope so, but have never tested it.

Well I am in that situation now in a PBEM game I am playing. I will let you guys know what happens. The calling unit (has one survivor) is denied - they cannot even see how long there is before the spotting rounds arrive. A recently arrived FO team is also denied because the battery is busy but at least they can see that rounds are 10min out. I hope the battery gives up quickly because 13 minute call times are pretty long...

[womble]

Well I am in that situation now in a PBEM game I am playing. I will let you guys know what happens. The calling unit (has one survivor) is denied - they cannot even see how long there is before the spotting rounds arrive. A recently arrived FO team is also denied because the battery is busy but at least they can see that rounds are 10min out. I hope the battery gives up quickly because 13 minute call times are pretty long...

It'll be really good to hear how that plays out. I'm sure BFC have claimed the "never gives up spotting" thing has been fixed at some point; confirmation would be nice, or lack of it could lead to a bug fix sooner.

[A Canadian Cat]

OK I can confirm that artillery batteries will not keep firing spotting rounds when the FO is not there at the end of the radio. Things proceeded just as I hoped. I watched (using the denied FO team) the time tick down as the battery prepared and then a spotting round came down near the beginning of a turn. I think it was slightly before I expected based on the timing I was watching. Since the caller did not respond (again one survivor and no radio any more) the mission was canceled. During the orders phase the battery was available again.

This was in a PBEM game that was started in 2.01.

That will teach me not to make a call without first putting a short cover arch on the calling team. I hope.

[Ultradave]

Sounds right compared to real life too. If you are in the firing battery and have no confirmation of where your rounds are falling, you don't want to keep lobbing them out there, possibly on top of friendly troops who are too busy now taking cover from your rounds to answer :-) Even when you still have an observer on the line, you have to think hard about the response from the FO "Round unobserved. Repeat, over".

..... wait a minute - did you see ANYTHING?

(voice of experience speaking :-) )

[A Canadian Cat]

Sounds right compared to real life too.

Yep, it was nice to see. I am not 100% sure when this was fixed, I think it was a while ago. This was the first time since version 1.0 ish that I lost a FO team between calling and spotting rounds.

Even when you still have an observer on the line, you have to think hard about the response from the FO "Round unobserved. Repeat, over".

..... wait a minute - did you see ANYTHING?

(voice of experience speaking :-) )

Yikes!