Hmm short sighted FO's and Spitfire Pilot

[Wodin]

Playing the first battle in a Campaign which I've played previously and I'm certain I never noticed this last time I played it awhile back. Think there are 7 US mortars each with 20 rounds. I doubt 1 round actually landed where I asked them to land. Then the Spitfire comes to strafe. There is a line of three enemy guns and for some reason the pilot only wanted to shoot at one of them which was taken out first strafe yet he became obsessed with it and every pass ignored the other two guns and blasted away at the by now very wasted gun.

 

The outcome of all this means the mission is way more difficult.

 

SO I'm wondering if there is an issue currently with indirect fire and it's accuracy?

[MOS:96B2P]

14 minutes ago, Wodin said:

Think there are 7 US mortars each with 20 rounds. I doubt 1 round actually landed where I asked them to land.  SO I'm wondering if there is an issue currently with indirect fire and it's accuracy?

Not that I'm aware of.  My first guess would be a problem with the spotter having a good line of site when the spotting rounds were called etc.  At least that is generally where the problem is.  If there was a problem in CMBN with mortar / artillery accuracy @Bulletpoint would probably have noticed and would have some insight. 

 

14 minutes ago, Wodin said:

Then the Spitfire comes to strafe. There is a line of three enemy guns and for some reason the pilot only wanted to shoot at one of them which was taken out first strafe yet he became obsessed with it and every pass ignored the other two guns and blasted away at the by now very wasted gun.  

I've occasionally seen this behavior over many years playing the game (in fact one of the very first CMBN PBEM games I played).  So while it is not good behavior I don't think it is new behavior or very common.  If I notice it I cancel the mission and request a new one.  

[A Canadian Cat]

26 minutes ago, Wodin said:

There is a line of three enemy guns and for some reason the pilot only wanted to shoot at one of them which was taken out first strafe yet he became obsessed with it and every pass ignored the other two guns and blasted away at the by now very wasted gun.

Ah but the air force damage report lists that the pilot took out 5 AT guns and 6 trucks.

More seriously @MOS:96B2P answered well. Air craft suck at hitting what you want them to. Mortars excel at hitting what you want them to - usually. Another option is if those were 60mm mortars is to use them in direct fire. The 60mm mortars with their limited ammo supply are best used - in my opinion - directly. They can drop scary accurate fire themselves. I typically use target light because that uses a slower rate of fire. With normal targeting they can run through a lot of ammo very fast.

[Warts 'n' all]

Firstly, it is always best to name the actual campaign when asking for help. It will save your fellow forumites the trouble of having to guess, and therefore be in a better position to help you.

I suspect that you are describing the first mission from "The Road to Nijmegen" campaign. And the answer is "No", there isn't a problem with the way the game handles indirect fire or it's accuracy in that particular mission, if that is what you are implying.

You have to remember that the fighter boys are not mind readers. Give them an area target and they will look for targets, and normally try to hit whatever they can see. It might be the trucks, the gun pits, or the guns themselves. I've never flown a Spit on a cloudy Sunday afternoon, but I should imagine being able to tell the difference between a knocked out AA gun and a functioning one from x amount of feet when they are so closely packed together might just be a tad on the difficult side.

As for the mortars, I've played that campaign a couple of times and in that first mission both the Company CO and the FO have gotten their stonks on target without any problem.

[Wodin]

Well restarted and again it seems something is odd. HQ spotter has LOS, Mortar unit right next to him. I gave a linear fire order. He procedes to drop rounds in the middle of the field which is half way between spotter and target.

 

Yes it's Road to Nijmegen.

 

As for the Spitfire it was just frustrating seeing him shoot up the same spot every run.

 

Edit: This time he is firing long see save 16. In save 17 I've given more mortar orders. See what happens .

 

Save games

[Bulletpoint]

3 hours ago, MOS:96B2P said:

4 hours ago, Wodin said:

Think there are 7 US mortars each with 20 rounds. I doubt 1 round actually landed where I asked them to land.  SO I'm wondering if there is an issue currently with indirect fire and it's accuracy?

Not that I'm aware of.  My first guess would be a problem with the spotter having a good line of site when the spotting rounds were called etc.  At least that is generally where the problem is.  If there was a problem in CMBN with mortar / artillery accuracy @Bulletpoint would probably have noticed and would have some insight. 

As MOS says, the most common problem is that the spotter doesn't see enough spotting rounds.

In this game, the spotter eventually calls Fire for Effect despite not getting a visual, and then the fire mission goes way off target. It's particularly a problem in the bocage in CMBN, but can happen anywhere you can draw a line of sight to an otherwise mostly hidden area. It's not enough to be able to draw a line.

 

3 hours ago, MOS:96B2P said:

  3 hours ago, Wodin said:

Then the Spitfire comes to strafe. There is a line of three enemy guns and for some reason the pilot only wanted to shoot at one of them which was taken out first strafe yet he became obsessed with it and every pass ignored the other two guns and blasted away at the by now very wasted gun.  

It's typical strafing behaviour in this game. I've often seen planes keep strafing an MG position or a vehicle several times. I don't know enough about the real air war to say if it's realistic/intended behaviour.

[Wicky]

Looking at the save file - a lot of units are tired / exhausted from sprinting around. FO and HQ in building are both exhausted and hiding which won't help accuracy.

[Wodin]

Thanks Wicky. Never thought of that! Of course exhaustion will affect it! Well it's good to see this sort of thing in game I suppose.

 

 

[Warts 'n' all]

Unhide your HQ's and FO's once the spotting commences and give them target arcs as a general rule. 

In the case of this particular mission I would count one AA Gun and maybe some gun crew casualties as a reasonable return from one strafing attack, and possibly the same from one mortar. Count anything else as a bonus. One airborne platoon firing from the flank will make light work of anything left in those gun pits.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Warts 'n' all

[Bulletpoint]

3 hours ago, Wodin said:

Thanks Wicky. Never thought of that! Of course exhaustion will affect it! Well it's good to see this sort of thing in game I suppose.

Exhaustion doesn't affect accuracy or spotting. Hiding your spotter does.

[Erwin]

10 hours ago, Bulletpoint said:

Exhaustion doesn't affect accuracy or spotting.

I vaguely recall that Exhaustion doesn't affect accuracy of weapons either.  Not certain about this.  Anyone remember this discussion?

[Bulletpoint]

3 hours ago, Erwin said:

I vaguely recall that Exhaustion doesn't affect accuracy of weapons either.  Not certain about this.  Anyone remember this discussion?

Here you go:

 

[Erwin]

useful reminder.  Thanks...