Pros and cons of on map mortars.

[Macisle]

15 hours ago, Mark_McLeod said:

After reading all this I find that off map mortars are probably better but on map just looks sooo cool!

Yeah, they do look very cool. As for which one to choose, it depends on the situation. If it's human player vs. AI, then I tend to choose off-map for the player to benefit the AI. Also helps with housekeeping regarding unit density if there are a lot of units on the map. The AI gets whatever helps it the most.

One thing to consider with on-map mortars is that they can be heard if close enough and thus give the other side intel on their position.

Another reason that I would really like to see AI off-map assets receive the same AI Area Fire capability as on-map assets is that many kinds of arty do not currently have an on-map option. So, the designer can only use what's available for on-map to use the technique.  In CMRT for example, that means the Soviets are limited to medium mortars.

Another issue is ammo. On-map mortars often have less than off-map. For my scenario, I replaced battalion off-map mortars with a formation of dismounted mech medium mortars and grouped them so that they could access their ammo crates (dismounted trucks from the formations). Now, I have the same number of tubes and a bit more ammo than a battalion of infantry would have had for its inherent off-map mediums--and I can AI Area Fire anywhere at any time. However, if you don't have a formation you can use like that, off vs. on map ammo may be an issue.

15 hours ago, George MC said:

I like on-map mortars.

Overrunning enemy mortar batteries with AFVs is truly a special moment

Yeah, I still remember my first mortar overrun. It was with infantry in Buying the Farm in CMBN. That was one of the first things I played and before I had a good handle on squad splitting and waypoint timing. The German mortars decided to open up just as three of my squads were converging on the same point in the woods to criss-cross and go elswhere. Only a few rounds landed, but I lost half of each squad.

Overunning those bastages and taking revenge is still one of my favorite moments from CMx2.

Edited March 31, 2017 by Macisle

[Macisle]

12 minutes ago, Erwin said:

I recall playing a couple of scenarios where the offboard arty only reached part way across the map.  I wondered is that range be set in the editor?  I thought offmap arty would easily cover an entire CM2 map.

I don't think anything can be set. The designer needs to check his equipment ranges and check those ranges from the friendly map edge to that side. For example, a medium mortar may not cover all of a large map. So, the designer needs to get in there and check.

Edited March 31, 2017 by Macisle

[Mark_McLeod]

6 hours ago, Erwin said:

I recall playing a couple of scenarios where the offboard arty only reached part way across the map.  I wondered is that range be set in the editor?  I thought offmap arty would easily cover an entire CM2 map.

It seems like it can run out of range on larger maps. But I'm not sure sure wether  you can set that or not.

[Combatintman]

22 hours ago, Mark_McLeod said:

It seems like it can run out of range on larger maps. But I'm not sure sure wether  you can set that or not.

You can't - so if your off map artillery has a range of 2km and the map is 4km from the friendly setup direction then it will only be able to target areas up to 2km (ie half way across the map). As a general rule this will affect mortars more than any other class of indirect fire asset.

[Erwin]

So, "Offmap" arty location is assumed be just off the map edge.  So a mortar with range of 1600m will fire 1600m into a map larger than 1600m. 

Which side of the map is the offmap arty supposed to be off?  Can that be set?

[Vanir Ausf B]

The friendly map edge is set in the scenario editor. It can also be a friendly corner if set to an ordinal direction.

[General Jack Ripper]

American mortar crews in particular can make good ad-hoc assault troops when their mortar ammo is all gone, they are a team full of M1 Carbines and a Thompson SMG.

Just pass them some extra .30 Carbine and .45 ammo if it's available.

There's nothing better than box-magazine fed, semi- and fully- automatic weapons when you're clearing houses in this game.