Mortar command irritation

[Lah]

When I target a unit with a mortar that has been spotted by a HQ unit the mortar keeps pounding away at the same spot when the targeted unit has moved off

This doesn't seem to make sense, the mortar under HQ command should be told to stop firing, after all it stops firing immediately when the HQ line of sight is broken by smoke.

I don't expect the HQ to direct the mortar to track a moving unit but would expect it to stop firing when nothing is there anymore. For 60mm mortars this is a complete waste of most of their ammo.

[Doug Beman]

Targeting with indirect fire weapons (mortars, infantry guns, off board arty) is done to an area, not a unit. The HQ is telling the mortar to fire at an area, and enemies in/not in the area don't matter.

DjB

[Guest JAZZA]

One thing that annoy's me when using mortar's is when I give a target area command and an enemy unit move's near the target area the mortar switches to direct firing at the unit and end's up wasting rounds.

[Wilhammer]

With platoon level mortars spotted by the HQ units, I think it would be "realistic" for the HQ to actually spot a unit for the mortar, and once the target vacates, then said HQ issues the "Hold Your Fire" command.

Slightly related, I noticed that in a recent QB PBEM that my 60mm mortar would fire only one round if I targeted a vehicle directly, and quit (the target was a Hetzer). So, I used the hide vehicle command, and targeted the spot the tank was set on, and then unhid vehicles. That worked better as the 60mm mortar kept pounding the area (just buttoning the tank, but hey, that is good enough sometimes) hoping to get a kill.

This leads me to think that the 60mm mortar asessed that the Front armor was a zero chance kill, so it stopped firing after one round.

[I/O Error]

"You want me to fire at WHAT?!"

[Guest Big Time Software]

Lah, it would be very difficult to do what you are asking. What if I targeted an area where I suspected the enemy was, but there was no indication to me that this was true. So using the logic you are asking for, my mortar would refuse to fire at that spot or stop after a couple of rounds because "there are no enemy units there".

What we really need is some sort of control for how many rounds to drop on a target. This is something that we will hopefully get into CM2. It won't solve Lah's problem, but there really is no way to do that.

Jazza, we have toned down the chances of a targeting switch quite a bit. If you are not using 1.1 this might still be a problem for you. However, even if you are using 1.1 the TacAI is not perfect. Mortars are still allowed to shoot at significant targets of opportunity or threat. Sometimes it gets things wrong, but overall it is a desirable behavior.

Wilhammer:

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>This leads me to think that the 60mm mortar asessed that the Front armor was a zero chance kill, so it stopped firing after one round.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually, a 60mm mortar has almost NO chance of killing any closed top vehicle. It is that feature that the TacAI looks at, not mm of armor here or there. Mortars don't hit frontally in any case

Steve

[Wilhammer]

:::Actually, a 60mm mortar has almost NO chance of killing any closed top vehicle. It is that feature that the TacAI looks at, not mm of armor here or there. Mortars don't hit frontally in any case :::

Thanks for clearing that up. Only you guys can tell us precisely how the AI works, and my (erroneous) thinking was that the TacAi was limited in Kill Chance determination by the armor facing it. We all know that mortar fire is plunging fire, so I am impressed that the TacAI "knows" this. But, a slim chance does exist that it can kill through the deck, and sometimes you need all the chances, no matter how slim, you can get.

Another question, is their any value in repeatedly hitting a target you cannot penetrate?

1, does it have any effect on the crew morale?

2, how well does it work in distracting the target thus making it a viable component of a combined arms approach of killing the tank (I had infantry sneaking in to the area and a M-36 peaking over crest lines as it weaved into the area)? The hope here is that the fire keeps them "pinned" in the AFV and also that the AFV will spot them and lob a few shells at the mortar team, thus not firing at other targets, i.e, the mortar team is moved up to the top of its priority list.

3, what are the chances that a 60mm mortar could take out the tracks? After all, an immobilized SPG is dead meat, mostly.

Thus, my trick to hide the Vehicles and order directly observed area fire is in the hope that sustained mortar fire would contribute something to a combined arms manuever to kill a tank.

BTW, I wanted to save the smoke rounds of the mortar to help with the final assault move, which is the other way to have them contribute.

[This message has been edited by Wilhammer (edited 12-15-2000).]

[L.Tankersley]

I know that you can knock out a PzIV with an 81mm mortar; I've done it. Several times.

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Leland J. Tankersley