Off screen artilery

[Blue Streak]

When using off screen arty to assult a town, is it best to fire first at the town to try and do some damage or wait untill you can see what your firing at????

[Panzer76]

Depends on the arty response time. If you have to wait 15 min for the arty to fall if you dont use prep fire, it should be obvious...

[Michael Emrys]

I'd also say that it depends on how much artillery you have. If its a proper Soviet assault, you should have enough to turn the whole map into a smoking crater. In that case, shell early and often, any place a Facist might hide.

OTOH, if you have a more limited supply, you might want to wait until you have identified targets.

I use a lot of my artillery more for harassment than for destruction. That is, it's purpose is to make life uncomfortable for the enemy and to keep their heads down while my troops are closing in.

Michael

[Vixen]

And if your advancing across some open terrain to GET to the town...smoke smoke smoke!

[Bone_Vulture]

Since the paved streets of towns rarely offer room for foxholes, sneakier defenders do not move to the key positions near the flags until you've moved your troops closer. So if you're firing pre-planned, it's good to delay the urban bombardments until your troops have moved as close as safely possible to the targeted area.

Also, remember that heavy buildings tend to nullify the effectiveness of light artillery; purchase heavy stuff, like 150/152mm artillery and heavier to cause some true demolishing damage on the terrain.

[Blue Streak]

Thanks for your help

[MikeyD]

" If you have to wait 15 min for..."

Yeh, I wouldn't wait before targetting those big German incendiary rockets (300mm or something like that?). Not only do they take forever to target during the game, they also cover about half a normal game map when they fall! I'd advise using them immediately AND with your troops hiding in the far corner of the map!!

I've been disappointed with area bombardments from smaller stuff like 75mm. Nobody seems to die, nobody gets routed. You're lucky if you manage to supress any troops under the barrage! it might be more useful to keep the little stuff back and use it for smoke screens or supressing a patch of woods containing an anti-tank gun.