Does hiding help protect you in an artillery barrage?

[Head Mahone]

I’m not sure if there’s an answer for this out there. At least it looks like it would help…

Head

[Big Ron]

In a recent PBEM game I hid my troops and they seemed to come through it better than when I move them. It's only the one time and I could have just been lucky.

[Dirtweasle]

There's two schools of thought on this;

1) Duck and Cover!

2) Let's get the hell out of here!

My 2 cents; If it's light mortar rain, try to ride it out. If it's big stuff, try to beat feet.

[ColumbusOHGamer]

Only if the shells can't see you.

[JaegerMeister]

I wondered this myself in CM, because in theory if you tell them to hide, they are hugging the dirt or seeking good cover, therefore making them less of a target to the H.E. & shrapnel. Of course, it doesn't help them if a shell lands directly on or near them! Questions like these would really need answering by the battlefront guys, i guess, as they are the ones who wrote the formula.

Perhaps one day they could do a Q&A session on this forum for all our queries like this one?

[Boo Radley]

Originally posted by JaegerMeister:

Perhaps one day they could do a Q&A session on this forum for all our queries like this one?

But I don't want to wait for that day. I want instant gratification and I want it now!

Seriously, I'm thinking that it does help somewhat to have them hidden. Just last evening, I watched some of my regulars ride out a 75mm barrage, hidden in their foxholes. They never got beyond "Alerted". Of course I realize that the foxhole helped them quite a bit, but I've got to think that by keeping their heads in the dirt they were awarded some extra measure of safety.

But, I'm probably wrong.

[Bone_Vulture]

To my knowledge, when infantry goes to "taking cover" mode, it has exactly the same effect as hiding. And obviously, laying flat on the dirt reduces the effect of shell blasts.

Whether you should withdraw or take cover depends on how much time do you have: spotting rounds for off-board artillery might arrive a minute before the barrage, so if you can guess where the enemy is aiming, a quick withdraw might save your troops from casualties.

The catch is that the opponent, a human opponent at least, will obviously cancel or shift the barrage if he sees your troops pulling back; this means timing is critical. In an ideal situation, you give pause orders to your squads so that they'll withdraw only some 15-20 seconds before the barrage, get away unharmed, and the barrage is wasted. I know from experience that this pisses off your opponent pretty much.

[ October 31, 2002, 10:45 AM: Message edited by: Bone_Vulture ]

[PrivateTom]

I had an armored car shooting at one of my MGs last night in a trench, every time the MG would "take cover" the armored car would loose it's target line.

[Bone_Vulture]

Originally posted by PrivateTom:

I had an armored car shooting at one of my MGs last night in a trench, every time the MG would "take cover" the armored car would loose it's target line.

That's exactly how it works. Although it can be pretty annoying, since it's difficult to place an area fire command directly on a visible enemy unit, so that the suppressing vehicle/squad would keep firing on the spot even when the target disappears after it hugs dirt.