81mm Spotter question...

[Erik Rutins]

Hi,

Had a chance to try out the North Africa scenario today - great work on CMAK, gentlemen.

Playing as the Germans, I had my 81mm spotter target a US gun position (this was the first order to him on the turn he entered the map as a reinforcement). Time went by and his display showed that the mortars had started firing at the gun. Problem is that the gun kept shooting. I checked him again and watched the replay - while the ammo count was going down I saw no mortar impacts at all around the targeted position. Please let me know if this is just a mistake on my part or a problem. Thanks.

(I have a save file that should show this possible issue, let me know where to send it if you'd like to take a look)

Regards,

- Erik

[Wicky]

From your description it sounds as if he was spotting without LOS on his target. This will mean the rounds could land just about anywhere.

have a look around for pufts of dust, even on your own troops to see how off target things have got.

Originally posted by Erik Rutins:

Hi,

Had a chance to try out the North Africa scenario today - great work on CMAK, gentlemen.

Playing as the Germans, I had my 81mm spotter target a US gun position (this was the first order to him on the turn he entered the map as a reinforcement). Time went by and his display showed that the mortars had started firing at the gun. Problem is that the gun kept shooting. I checked him again and watched the replay - while the ammo count was going down I saw no mortar impacts at all around the targeted position. Please let me know if this is just a mistake on my part or a problem. Thanks.

(I have a save file that should show this possible issue, let me know where to send it if you'd like to take a look)

Regards,

- Erik

[ November 22, 2003, 05:24 PM: Message edited by: Wicky ]

[Erik Rutins]

Wicky,

Thanks, that was it, I wasn't looking far enough away to see where it might be going. In previous versions of CM, I'd seen inaccuracy when targeting without LOS, but this one took the cake. He was trying to get the mortars to fire at a target around 680m away (basically the AT gun in the central flag position by the wall) and all 120 or so rounds actually landed off the map behind the oasis!

Anyway, glad to figure that one out. I'll move him up next time first.

Regards

- Erik

[Wicky]

Erik,

It seems you might be able to use the spotter to target as soon as he appears as a reinforcement as there's a 3 min delay. But, just as long as you can get him forward to LOS of his original target before the arrival of the first ranging round. Even if you don't get there in time, just retarget (green line) with only a few secs delay as penalty.

PS. Any chance of porting your game to the Mac

Originally posted by Erik Rutins:

Wicky,

Thanks, that was it, I wasn't looking far enough away to see where it might be going. In previous versions of CM, I'd seen inaccuracy when targeting without LOS, but this one took the cake. He was trying to get the mortars to fire at a target around 680m away (basically the AT gun in the central flag position by the wall) and all 120 or so rounds actually landed off the map behind the oasis!

Anyway, glad to figure that one out. I'll move him up next time first.

Regards

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

Wicky,

Thanks, good advice which I'll keep in mind as far as getting that spotter into action quickly without losing much accuracy.

Hey, which game - you mean Battlefields? Ack, I've been caught taking a break. We haven't looked into the Mac, honestly, since neither Ludo or I have developed for it in the past. However, I wonder if it would actually run fairly well in emulation as it is basically a Windows program with some DirectX. I assume you're a Mac user - are there any decent Mac windows emulators that support DirectX 8?

If we get requests, I'd certainly consider it for Battlefields II, but we've got to finish I first. I'd suggest you pop on over to our forums and post an occasional Mac request there.

Regards

- Erik