Arty Flight Time

[Kevin_McCarthy]

In the current test version for the Mac, it is possible to shift arty fire while the shells are (logically) in flight. This is very effective, but unrealistic. Example: shift a 155mm battery 1000 meters, switch from Adj to FFE, and to ICM rounds directly on top of a BMP Company when the time to impact is 7 seconds.

How about inserting a resonable delay, or just make this switch effective in the next salvo.

BTW, I'm glad you found a publisher--you may remember me from a few years back when TacOps was published by Arsenal.

[Guest MajorH]

> In the current test version for the Mac, it is possible to

> shift arty fire while the shells are (logically) in flight.

> This is very effective, but unrealistic.

Off map artillery and air support are handled in a conceptual manner in TacOps. In TacOps, off map artillery and air support are not really meant to represent specific, dedicated units, instead they are shown as momentarily available levels of destructive capability. The TacOps method of calling for fire support is not intended to replicate real world procedures down to the second. In real life you can not shift rounds that are already in the air from one target to another and you can not instantaneously change the ammo being fired. That it appears that you can do this in TacOps is merely an abstraction/playability compromise.

During original development, air and artillery coordination were treated with greater detail but playability suffered enormously and the greater detail was not found to add to the realism of the game combat results.

I tried a different approach in the unfinished TacOps98 engine that was more procedurally oriented. It seemed to work OK except for being distractingly noisy.

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Best regards, Major H

majorh1@aol.com

[mackenzie]

Hello Major!

Glad to see Tacops is back on the map! I played you a couple of times a while back, and I'm interested in re-enlisting as a TacOpser-I'm ready for all comers.

Once again into the breech of the arty discussion of four or five(?) years ago....For playability abstraction is probably a good idea and the TOF thing is not a big a thing for me as the on-map units which can go from march order to indirect fire without even a couple of minutes for the gunners to find out which way the barrels are pointing....and that M 109 battery firing without a command post and support personnel is a bit eerie...but the FOOs are well done and this goes a long way to addressing the expert knowledge and command structure neccessary for effective fire support.

Keep up the good work!

Colin MacKenzie

ex gunner, Canadian Forces

[ltcmayer]

I've found that the anility to make last second adjustments to indirect fires to be a good compromise between fidelity and playability. In real life, you cannot redirect rounds that are already in flight (except for PGM -- which is not played). On the other hand, the real world FO is not limited to transmitting only once each minute. So the rationalization is that the unrealistic redirection capability balances the unrealistic restrictions on calling and adjusting fire.

Re instantaneous unlimbering and set up. The answer is self discipline. Put a restriction on yourself and play that you cannot bout unload and fire in the same turn. Or stop movement of an SP piece as the sole action for a unit in one turn, and not give it a fire order until the next. The game mechanics don't FORCE you to play unrealistically.

LTC Chris Mayer