Slater Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 I've really got no idea how an FO would call for artillary but I'am guessing he would give a map grid refrence so how would LOS effect this if the FO nows the Grid reference to hit it cant be that he cant see the area because it'll be on the map. Just wondering if this is right :confused: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offtaskagain Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 What makes you think the guns are always pointed at the right grid the first time? The FO likes LOS so he can see where the shells land so he can correct a mistake in the plot. [ January 31, 2003, 12:47 AM: Message edited by: panzerwerfer42 ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slater Posted January 31, 2003 Author Share Posted January 31, 2003 ok so if a FO is out of los then shouldnt he not see the artillary fall? or be allowed to adjust it 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offtaskagain Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Originally posted by Slater_SS: ok so if a FO is out of los then shouldnt he not see the artillary fall? or be allowed to adjust it He never adjusts it on target. It just keeps falling usually in a totally empty area. LOS can be rather frustrating when you want to adjust your fire a 100m into a treeline you can see but cant due to LOS loss. In RL an FO could just say "Up 100" and it would drop there but CM isn't quite so advanced. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonC Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 The FO does not have the perfect, never wrong, God's eye view of the battlefield that you have, complete with instantly updated sighting reports from all units. When he calls arty fire by map, out of LOS, he has no idea if it landed on or off target and so cannot correct it accurately. He just sees a big cloud of boiling dust over in approximately the right direction and at approximately the right distance. If he can personally see the target and the shell impacts, both, and see that they do not coincide, he can tell the battery to adjust the fire. Otherwise, he has every reason to let them continue firing immediately, and none to think a change in the point of aim at the cost of additional delay would be better than the point of aim he's already got. In the real war, calling any artilllery within 500 yards of one's own positions was considered dangerously close, because of the possible errors in impact zone and the scatter of shots within the barrage itself. It was still often done, to protect troops in danger of being overrun, in particular - though generally only when the friendlies were known to be in holes and the enemy wasn't. The smallest adjustment of aim point ever used in practice was 50 yards, and adjustments were normally made in 100s of yards. They did not use artillery barrages as scalpels on individual clumps of trees - especially not by map rather than observed and adjusted fire. If you want to see how they actually fired such unobserved missions, use 3 FOs, 105mm or larger, simultaneously. Call un-observed missions on aim points within 100m of each other, using the "target wide" firing order for each FO. You will see that the difference in where each pattern is centered is a matter of complete indifference in such a barrage. The pattern is simple wide enough to swamp the aiming errors, and the errors of one battery offset the errors of another. With enough shells fired (half to 2/3rds of all 3 FOs ammo loads will do), such a barrage is still perfectly effective, breaking exposed enemy troops over a wide area. Your problem is that you are using a single battery firing a tight pattern, meant to engage well located point targets with aimed and adjusted fire, at a target you can't see. It is perfectly easy to hurt targets you can't see with artillery. But not with just one battery or by using a tight pattern. You are trying to economize on ammo, but it is a false economy when every round you fire predictably misses. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted February 1, 2003 Share Posted February 1, 2003 JasonC Hmmm I sense a graduate of Snow hall here! Or are you a self trained arty man? Redleg 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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