Armor fire mission

[HerrTom]

I noticed some artillery can call in "armor" fire missions. I haven't really noticed a difference, does anyone know what it's supposed to do?

[AlexUK]

Just noticed that myself too.

[MikeyD]

I don't know either. Perhaps it involves fusing. There's air burst, ground burst, then perhaps microsecond fuse delay that allows the shell to penetrate a bit first. Usually used in concrete busting. That's just a guess, though.

[HerrTom]

Maybe BFC is giving us DPICM? One can dream...

[SimpleSimon]

I used to select it back in SF1 for point missions on the belief it was some kind of HEAT or delayed-action round myself. 

[Hapless]

I remember using armour missions in CMSF 1 for building busting.

Don't know if its a bug, but in the demo the 60mm mortars in Day at the Beach have General, Personnel and Armour settings. I mean, it might not be a bug- and a rain of 60mm airbursting bombs is both cool and useful- but it seems a bit optimistic as an anti-armour weapon...

[DougPhresh]

It seems to be HE Delay. Which is fine, and I'd like to see in the other titles, but speaking as a gunner, is not "anti-armour" in any sense of the word.

DPICM would be a welcome addition to the modern titles though.

One suggestion is to have artillery missions renamed the following:

Smoke = Smoke (although there is a difference between carrier shells and WP, that I'd like to see)

General = HE Quick

Personnel = HE VT / HE Timed (depending on setting)

Armour = HE Delay

 

 

I can't be the only gunner to play the CM games and scratch my head at the fire procedure!

 

[domfluff]

The old manual just has "armor missions prioritise anti-armor rounds", which doesn't help.

I've used them before to target through roofs, which seems to have the expected effect (and would be explained by delayed fuses).

From memory, a direct hit from a 155mm should kill pretty much any tank, and the shrapnel will do a number on most armoured vehicles. Delayed fuses sound like the most plausible 155mm mission type, since airbusts would presumably shrapnel too soon. Whether you'd be better taking HE or "armor" is a good question though, and I don't think it's trivial - it might be better to use normal HE if you're trying to take out IFVs and the like?

[DougPhresh]

NATO uses the following fuze settings: Proximity, Time, Point Detonating and Delay, in common jargon for missions those are VT, Time, Quick, and Delay.

Those fuzes can be used with different times of shell, but generally carrier shells (smoke pots and illum) have time, WP is PD, and HE can have any of the other types.

There is not anti-armour 155mm shell in NATO inventory besides DPICM.

To neutralize armour in indirect fire you would use HE Quick or HE VT. HE Delay produces fewer fragments, and as you noted a direct hit will kill armour anyways. Since you can't ensure a direct hit with unguided indirect fires, you want to produce fragments to wreck antennas, optics, external stores etc etc.

He Delay is a great for targeting structures or fortifications though.