What is a target refrence point?

[Santosdiablo]

I see them all the time in the setup what is it and what do i do with it?

[Vixen]

They are used to improve speed of called in artillery fire or to improve accuacry of on-board weapons, as long as the weapons don't move.

[Corvidae]

A target reference point is actualy two things,,,,

1) a preregistered off map artilery target point,, and a priority for your off map guns,,, for faster called artilery strikes,

2) a preregistered target for on map guns and mortars,,,, as long as your gun or mortar does not move ,,

you can place a TRP anywere on the map,, even out of LOS and called artilery strikes will hit it fast,,

[Santosdiablo]

Ok thanks, good to know

[Abbott]

TRPs are your friend!

[JasonC]

But the other guy's TRPs are not your friends. They are interactive minefields that go boom when you walk under them...

[Carl Puppchen]

If you play some nationalities with long combat delays or types of artillery that are slow to respond (generally the higher calibers), TRP's are almost the only way to make them work effectively.

In most of the scenarios that I create I give the attackers TRP's because it lets them start bringing down artillery on the defender right away (you don't want to plot it for the initial start because pre-registered fire uses up all of your ammo and cannot be adjusted) which in turn speeds up play.

Also, I figure that the attacker at least knew where they were headed well enough to plot some artillery, else why would they try to take the objective?

I think TRP's also give an accuracy bonus on direct fire but I don't have any stats on this and haven't noticed it as a practical effect.

[RockinHarry]

Scenario designers should be aware that TRP´s are an integral part of any halfway realistic prepared assault/defense CM battle. Same goes for adding an appropiate (non hollywood crap) briefing, as well as enough time to make at least some basic combat reccon.

In case of the germans and a reinforced infantry bataillon to be assumed, there would be a defensive "fire plan" to be worked out for the heavy weapons (HMG´s, mortars and infantry howitzers) first and then coordinated with any supporting artillery assets.

Those kind of fire plans are nicely simulated with TRP´s in Combat Mission, as any stationary (non moving since start of battle) unit has an improved to hit chance on enemy units moving on or close to those TRP´s. As noted further above, that not just counts for artillery units, that counts for all units and heavy weapons surely benefit from them most.

Usually germans (example) evaluated terrain by fields of fire (before cover for defender!) and tank proofness and then tried to anticipate the probable enemy point of main effort (Schwerpunkt). Usually these sectors received a higher unit density (more defenders) and more attention with regard to heavy weapon support, as well as TRP´s.

From studying my sources (HDV 200/6, 130/9 and more) it appears that under normal conditions (available time sufficient) at least 1-2 registered target areas (TRP´s) would be set up for each supporting artillery battery, mainly in view of the "Beobachtungsstelle" (observation post) of each battery. Unobserved "registered" areas could be available as well, dependent upon time (duration of some sort of static frontline condition), ammunition availability and other factors, but are less likely. Now add few TRP´s for the infantry bataillons heavy weapons assets and you would have available about 5-6 TRP´s overall for a typical reinforced german infantry bataillon in defense.

[RockinHarry]

What would be a realistic number of TRP´s for the russkies (Btl.-Rgtl. force size in defence)? :confused:

[Mejsel]

Depends on how much stuff you have that benefits from them. More than one expensive FOs are generally worth 5-8 TRPs, especially if you have the option of placing some in channeling terrain within LOS of AT-units. A somewhat unlikely scenario perhaps but still.

Anyways it keeps your FOs safe as TRPs don´t require LOS.

Nonetheless; 250pts worth of heavy arty one minute away is generally better than 300pts five minutes off.

And remember: keep one TRP on the big flag. In case of you beeing overrun that is. "Fire on our position" may not be historically correct but it helps retaking the flag.

[ December 04, 2005, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: Mejsel ]