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Mortars - Direct Area Fire?


TimoS.

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So Target Light only shoots 2-3 Rounds per Turn?

Didnt know that. Thx for the Info.

But i think Direct Area Fire should be a good Feature. Maybe limit the Target Area to around 100m maybe?

There wouldn't be any point in such a large limit. Single on-map mortars don't carry enough rounds to make a 100m radius a practical target in the first place. On-map direct-lay mortars are point target killers and the ones that are useful for area missions can do them via the support interface. Think of the time delay involved as the crew working out what deflections and charge settings to use to get the barrage right for the multiple points they'll have to aim at.

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There wouldn't be any point in such a large limit. Single on-map mortars don't carry enough rounds to make a 100m radius a practical target in the first place. On-map direct-lay mortars are point target killers and the ones that are useful for area missions can do them via the support interface. Think of the time delay involved as the crew working out what deflections and charge settings to use to get the barrage right for the multiple points they'll have to aim at.

Sure it can. If you can fire it on Area Target with Indirect Fire/Spotting Aid from HQ Team then you can do it with a Mortar Team too.

I read the Mortar Fire Setup Routine for the 60mm Mortars for Modern Day Marines Manual and there is should be no Problem in deviance if my English is good enough to understand it.

I dont know if that deviance is allready modelled as it is in the Game but those Shots are almost Pinpoint.

Tryed to fire on Arma2 with High Realism Mod. Never known how to use that Poles but could manage to set it up and fire without it. I dont know how they are diffrent to WW2 Mortars.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/23-90/ch3.htm

And here the WW2 German Launcher

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-316-1190-27,_Italien,_Soldaten_mit_Granatwerfer.jpg

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Sure it can. If you can fire it on Area Target with Indirect Fire/Spotting Aid from HQ Team then you can do it with a Mortar Team too.

Yes, and it takes about the same time to set up the rounds with their different prop. charges and work out how you're going to turn the range and bearing knobs when the gun crew chief is calling the shots as it does for when the gun crew chief is relaying commands from a spotter. An area fire mission is potentially different to just adjusting as you go, since it's predefined, and pre-prepared. Especially with a small crew, with a fast RoF, you'll have to lay in pre-ringed bombs in the right amount before you even start firing, or the loader/prepper won't be able to keep up.

And still, if you're firing 100m radius area missions with 60mm or smaller mortars, you're essentially wasting your ammo.

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Yes, and it takes about the same time to set up the rounds with their different prop. charges and work out how you're going to turn the range and bearing knobs when the gun crew chief is calling the shots as it does for when the gun crew chief is relaying commands from a spotter. An area fire mission is potentially different to just adjusting as you go, since it's predefined, and pre-prepared. Especially with a small crew, with a fast RoF, you'll have to lay in pre-ringed bombs in the right amount before you even start firing, or the loader/prepper won't be able to keep up.

And still, if you're firing 100m radius area missions with 60mm or smaller mortars, you're essentially wasting your ammo.

If i recall that Right there where diffrent Charges for Ranges of more than +100m so no need to change them for Area Fire. And how did the Indirect Fire Teams do Area Fire? On the Fly too i guess.

And why you know better than me? Any Source?

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Generally, in WWII, all the weapons in a battery were given the same bearing and elevation. Neglecting the effects of slope, this meant that the rounds landed around the target in the same pattern that the guns were laid out on the ground. Small individual variations between rounds, caused by barrel wear, met effects, and manufacturing of projectiles and propellant, ensured that the rounds scattered about a bit at the target end, rather than 'all landing in the same hole.'

It was certainly possible to give individual bearings and elevations to - for example - create a linear barrage, or to increase or decrease the standard area size. But doing that took time, so they usually just fired lines-of-fire-parallel.

Mortars are still used in basically this way.

What was not done, however, was to just leave it to the No.1 on each gun to jiggle the traversing and elevation wheels about a bit in order to sprinkle rounds all over the place.

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Had this problem recently in a CM campaign game. I had ambushed a group of German units coming out of a wood. After taking a few casualties they retreated back into cover. My 60mm mortar had LOS on the area the Germans retreated into but the direct fire all landed in exactly the same spot - I was hoping for even a little bit of scatter to try and catch a few of the disengaging German squads.

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LOL okay I give. Why would you want to do that?

I am trying hard to think of a scenario where I already wasn't completely hosed where I would want my mortar team to be using small arms rather than getting their a**es out of the line of fire.

In answer, the only way I can think of is maybe forcing them to not be deployed.

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Re mortars crews and direct fire. Is there any way to have them simply use their personal weapons while they still have mortar ammo? When I LIGHT TARGET (US 60mm) mortars, they simply reduce the rate of mortar fire.

They will use their small arms for self defense. I also think that if they are out of ammo you can deliberately have them target something with their small arms, but I'm not sure. The reason why I'm not sure is we took a lot of heat for a long time about weapons crews plinking away with their small arms and giving their positions away without doing anything significant to the target. Which is realistic since these are not rifle units so they are not supposed to be engaging targets with small arms.

Steve

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Re mortars crews and direct fire. Is there any way to have them simply use their personal weapons while they still have mortar ammo? When I LIGHT TARGET (US 60mm) mortars, they simply reduce the rate of mortar fire.

If you undeploy the mortar you can avoid using mortar ammo. Whether or not they use their small arms is another matter...

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They will use their small arms for self defense. I also think that if they are out of ammo you can deliberately have them target something with their small arms, but I'm not sure. The reason why I'm not sure is we took a lot of heat for a long time about weapons crews plinking away with their small arms and giving their positions away without doing anything significant to the target. Which is realistic since these are not rifle units so they are not supposed to be engaging targets with small arms.

Steve

I´ve just finished a game in The Road to Nijmegen where I ordered a US 60mm team to fire at a spot about 130 meters away.

As I expected they fired only the mortar (as opposed to before one of the upgrades when they would also had been using their small arms). But I was a bit surprised to see that when they´d expended all their mortar rounds they continued firing - but this time with their carbines.

Is that because of the relatively short range - or a sort of (very minor) bug?

Cheers

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"...these are not rifle units so they are not supposed to be engaging targets with small arms.'

That makes sense. Thanks.

And yes, like umlaut I am playing Nijmegen, and every carbine counts as often ammo runs low for the paras, so same issue. (Not sure why some found the question stupid.)

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"...these are not rifle units so they are not supposed to be engaging targets with small arms.'

That makes sense. Thanks.

And yes, like umlaut I am playing Nijmegen, and every carbine counts as often ammo runs low for the paras, so same issue. (Not sure why some found the question stupid.)

Sorry, if you are referring to my post, it was not meant to imply stupidity. I just don't (or at least haven't) used my mortar teams in a manner that would lead me to wonder how to use them like that. I tend to either have them using the mortar or doing buddy aid for the guys left behind as my rifle teams advance.

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