Basic question I should know

[buckshyesh]

What is "fire for effect"?

And can you FFE in Combat Mission?

[L.Tankersley]

Fire for effect is what you do when you're done with firing spotting rounds to adjust fire and you're ready to fire ... for effect. That is, fire to have an effect on the target rather than as an adjustment tool.

FFE in CM is when the "countdown timer" changes to "FIRING" and the rounds start coming in 4 at a time.

[Eric Alkema]

FFE means - stop firing single spotting rounds, and start firing the whole battery at the target. CM does it automatically. You will see one or two rounds hit before the full on barrage starts falling.

[buckshyesh]

Aaaaah! I get it.

Thanks!

[JasonC]

"Fire for effect" is the order a forward observor gives to supporting artillery when spotting rounds land close enough to a target to open fire for real. Before then, the supporting artillery is firing one round at a time from one gun tube, then waiting for adjustment "feedback" before firing again, to get the target location right. When the artillery gets the "FFE" order, all guns in the battery fire at the designated target as fast as they can.

In CM, all of this is handled by forward observor (FO) units. They each have a dedicated type of artillery battery to fire. They target locations on the map normally, and in addition can target locations they can't see, if necessary. Then a delay timer starts. That represents the back and forth between FO and battery as the fire adjusts to the target, and during the last part of the "countdown" you will often see 1 or 2 isolated rounds land "early". Those are spotting rounds. When the timer gets to 0, the FO's unit window will instead read "firing", and the shells will come down fast on the designated area.

The size of the artillery pattern depends on the firing guns (rockets are wider spread), whether the FO can see the target (observed fire falls in a tighter pattern, unobserved fire scatters more), use of a target reference point (TRP, available to defenders, results in a faster barrage and a somewhat tighter pattern), and the FO's choice (he can pick "target wide" to get an oversized, thinner pattern of falling shells on purpose - but usually tighter is what you want).

Generally speaking, the shells will fall in a 100x200 meter box, up to 100 meters long or short and off by 50 meters to either side. With rockets the pattern is twice as big and the "oval" is oriented the other way, right to left (greater error in direction than distance). Shells will keep falling until the FO changes the point of aim, cancels the fire mission, loses the barrage due to panic, or the battery runs out of ammo for the mission (25-200 rounds, depending on the type, with more shells from lighter guns).

The delay before a barrage lands depends on the FO's skill level, nationality, gun type (mortars are faster), whether he can see the aim point (if he can't it takes twice as long - the clock "runs" slow), whether he is moving (clock runs slower if he does), and whether the aim point is right on a TRP (several times faster, generally 1 minute or less). Base times range from 2 to 4 minutes typically. Once a barrage is falling, the aim point can be moved about 100 yards at a time, for a modest delay (typically 30 seconds or so), if the FO can see the new aim point. Larger moves take as long as the initial barrage.

FFE is often used loosely to mean "the area covered by a currently falling barrage", as in "put the FFE over there", or to refer to artillery support generally.

Artillery is most effective against enemy infantry type troops, or soft-skinned unarmored vehicles (trucks e.g.). And more effective against troops in the open, obviously, and less obviously against troops in woods. Because some of the shells can detonate on hitting the tree tops, creating an "airburst". Heavy buildings are the best protection against artillery fire, with foxholes the next best thing.

Light mortars and small guns (3 inch, 81mm and 75mm) will generally pin rather than kill, and leave little effect on dug in troops a minute or two after the barrage ceases, unless the troops are poor quality of the barrage lasts a long time. Troops without cover can be broken by light artillery fire, though. Heavier medium artillery (4.2 and 4.5 inch, 105mm and 120mm, 25 lber, etc) can inflict more serious losses and will generally break average troops fired at for any appreciable length of time, even if in cover. Still heavier artillery - 5.5 inch, 150mm, 155mm, and upwards - will kill large numbers of men with every nearby detonation and can panick men instantly, but such types have slower rates of fire and fewer total shells available.

I hope this helps.

[L.Tankersley]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JasonC:

"Fire for effect" is the order...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

LOL. The man asks what time it is, and you tell him how to build a sundial, delve into the way water clocks work, discuss strengths and weaknesses of mechanical vs. electrical mechanisms, and make a brief digression into the perceived time dilation caused by relativistic speeds.

Nice CM artillery summary. The only thing I can think of that you left out is that the artillery oval long axis is oriented east-west (except for rockets).

[JasonC]

Touche. When someone doesn't know what "FFE" means, I figure he needs a primer on the whole subject, or at least that it can't hurt. Call it an old artillerist's trade snobbery if you like LOL. If anyone thought "fire mission" had something to do with red hats and sirens, I'd probably repeat the whole spiel...

[L.Tankersley]

Oh, and you didn't mention VT fuzing.

[Juju]

VT fuzing or not, I enormously enjoy Jason's explanations whenever I read one. Often I'm truly impressed about the amount of knowledge he so liberally tosses about. Thanks for that, Jason!

[Col Deadmarsh]

Can somebody explain VT to me? Why does this arty cost so much more than the regular stuff?

[tenfive2]

Thanks for the info!

[Darwin]

VT are timed to detonate at a preset level creating airburst for extreme effect vs troops in the open.

I am thinking about the graphs someone posted here a ways back showing shrapnel patterns and dissapation of energy from artillery rounds. With the earth itself absorbing most of the energy and shrapnel if a round could be induced to explode prematurely in the air it's area of effect and the concentration of effective shrapnel produced should be much greater... Sound about right?