Units refuse to shoot

[Sven]

Hello!

I'm playing a scenario (PBEM (which is all I ever play), not that it matters, I think)) in Red Thunder and I see my enemy advancing across a swamp/field in plain view.  I try ordering my Forward observer to open fire (with small arms, since all arty is out), but they won't and haven't for several turns.

The same thing with my on-map-mortar. It still has 4 rounds left, but everything is "out of range" all of a sudden and they, too, won't open fire with small arms towards that same enemy unit in plain view. The mortar isn't knocked out, but has lost 1 man and has one lightly wounded. That, however, didn't stop it from firing rounds earlier in the game.

What am I doing wrong?

[The_MonkeyKing]

Give save file or informative screenshots. This would make it possible to understand what is going on

[Sven]

I can't right now since I'm not at home, but what other information might be lacking? It's within range with clear LOS.

[BornGinger]

You could take a screen shot (you can use irfan view for this if you don't have anything that works) of the battle scene and write down the distance from the mortars to the enemy soldier and other info that could help.

If your mortars and FO are nervous or worse, that can be a reason to why they don't shoot as shooting could reveale their position to the enemy troops.

Edited February 9, 2021 by BornGinger

[Vet 0369]

20 hours ago, Sven said:

Hello!

I'm playing a scenario (PBEM (which is all I ever play), not that it matters, I think)) in Red Thunder and I see my enemy advancing across a swamp/field in plain view.  I try ordering my Forward observer to open fire (with small arms, since all arty is out), but they won't and haven't for several turns.

The same thing with my on-map-mortar. It still has 4 rounds left, but everything is "out of range" all of a sudden and they, too, won't open fire with small arms towards that same enemy unit in plain view. The mortar isn't knocked out, but has lost 1 man and has one lightly wounded. That, however, didn't stop it from firing rounds earlier in the game.

What am I doing wrong?

There could be any number of reasons why your FO and mortar team won’t fire, including moral factor, not being in range, no line of sight, etc. try selecting “C” and give them a “target,” “light target,” or “area” command to the icon of the enemy you want to target. If the target is reddish and black, it means something is blocking your LOS to that target. If your selected FO or mortar crew are reduced moral, broken, or pinned, etc., they might just be telling you to “bugger off, I’m not doing that.” As said previously, without more information or screen shots with the UI showing, there is very little possibility of anyone being able to help you except with a “wild-ass guess (WAG). Sometimes, and  don’t ask me how I know this, one might have reduced or turned off trees (Ctl+R I think) by accident or while trying to plot movements or something, so everything looks open when there actually trees or bushes at the troop level. Again, don’t ask me how I know this after the many times during my 13 years of PBEM play during which I was pulling my hair out trying to determine why my units weren’t firing. Regarding your mortar, the enemy might be within the minimum range of the mortar. Usually 40-50m for say a 60mm mortar.

Edited February 10, 2021 by Vet 0369

[Anthony P.]

On 2/9/2021 at 7:38 AM, Sven said:

The same thing with my on-map-mortar. It still has 4 rounds left, but everything is "out of range" all of a sudden and they, too, won't open fire with small arms towards that same enemy unit in plain view. The mortar isn't knocked out, but has lost 1 man and has one lightly wounded. That, however, didn't stop it from firing rounds earlier in the game.

This is fairly necro, but I came across this thread researching just this problem, and especially these circumstances are of particular interest.

I too have a mortar team with one casualty which I'm trying to get to open fire with small arms (very minor OPSEC violation here should @Andrew Kulin peruse this thread). They've fired HE shells alright, they have riflemen (relevant since the range is >200m, so no SMG fire is possible), plenty of rifle ammunition and LoS to the target with an area target order, but they're positively refusing to use their rifles.

I'll have a go at trying to nail down what the issue is.

[JoMac]

Are any of the Mortar Teams setup ?..If so, then usually only one man (or none) will fire small arms at short range...However, if not setup then they generally operate as normal Infantry. 

Edited Sunday at 01:24 PM by JoMac

[Anthony P.]

In my case it's a non deployed mortar with several riflemen who won't use their small arms. I've tried having it suffer casualties and fire their rifles, suffer casualties and having fired its HE shells and then fire their rifles, as well as both but had them suffer casualties when not deployed. Neither method seems to replicate the issue.

[PEB14]

I think to remember that mortar teams will not fire "offensively". I mean that they will fire only through TacAI, not by player's order.

But I'm absolutely not sure of that...

[Centurian52]

1 hour ago, PEB14 said:

I think to remember that mortar teams will not fire "offensively". I mean that they will fire only through TacAI, not by player's order.

But I'm absolutely not sure of that...

They will fire on the player's orders. I use mortar teams a lot to deal with HMG teams or ATGs (or just massed infantry behind cover) without bringing in an HQ or FO as a middle man.

[Sven]

28 minutes ago, Centurian52 said:

They will fire on the player's orders. I use mortar teams a lot to deal with HMG teams or ATGs (or just massed infantry behind cover) without bringing in an HQ or FO as a middle man.

This discussion isn't about firing mortar rounds. It's about using their handheld weapons.

[Centurian52]

1 minute ago, Sven said:

This discussion isn't about firing mortar rounds. It's about using their handheld weapons.

Sorry. I guess that's what I get for skimming through the bulk of the thread. In your fist post you mentioned your mortar team had four rounds left, which led me to believe you were trying to fire the mortar's HE rounds. But you can order the mortar team to fire using their carbines. You just need to pack up the mortar. The carbines still have a shorter range than rifles though, so it's possible that they still won't shoot if the enemy is too far away.

[Anthony P.]

They do use their small arms if given an area target order, both when the mortar is deployed and firing and when it isn't (this was when I tested it in a test mission). Not so much in the actual mission where I encountered the issue.

The problem is that I'm not able to narrow it down so that I can replicate it, which makes reporting it as a bug difficult.