filo Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 I can't seem to figure out how to use indirect fire. How does one target? I can see the range banners pop in and out , but they seem to be on my teams units as well. can't shoot at them either.. also , what's in/out of range? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weasello Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 ALL YOU'VE EVER WANTED TO KNOW AND MORE: Indirect fire *can* be used the same way as direct fire (just aim and shoot), but it is best used with the map-fire feature. Hit CTRL-M and you'll be able to move the crosshair around on the map, and lob artillery shells at things beyond mountains or otherwise out of LOS from your hidey-hole. This is best used in conjunction with a Commander in the CMD vehicle, as he can see units you can't and can mark them on the map for you. As commander, I often mark 3 or 4 waypoints that I want my indirect fire guys to lob rounds at. Indirect artillery guys *can* see, without commander aid, enemy turrets that are not shielded by sensor jammers. Usually in the opening minute of the round, I can lob several shells and destroy all of the enemy's turret defenses. The catch with artillery though, is it can take 15-60(+?) seconds for the round to connect.... So you have to be a master at leading your targets, incredibly lucky, or firing at immobile units. I personally use it most often for destroying turrets and for laying suppressive or "discouragement" fire. (in the CTF map, a constant barrage in the valley corridor usually deters most vehicles from passing through) The indirect fire boats also have two types of ammo - High Velocity and Low Velocity. It will automatically select the appropriate round depending on the range you're shooting, so you essentially have 10 long range and 10 short range shots before having to reload. QUIRK/BUG: If you exceed maximum range (somewhere around 8500), it launches a low velocity shell that impacts the ground somewhere near your position, which can be confusing. Hopefully they'll fix this soon. EDIT: You guys need someone to write a tutorial? [ March 23, 2006, 10:00 AM: Message edited by: weasello ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernhardt Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 I don't know if it's range related but when I was testing light mortar the time between launch and hitting the ground was about 16-18 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weasello Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 In the heat of battle, 15 seconds can seem like minutes I'm *pretty sure* it's range dependant but I've never actually pulled out a stopwatch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 If it is range related, it should take actually longer if you fire near yourself. Except ofcourse the low velocity ammo will take shorter to land than the high velocity sort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mace Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 Originally posted by weasello: EDIT: You guys need someone to write a tutorial? I think you already did. You forgot 'relocate once you fire', because if the opponent has a command vehicle the enemy can register your fire and launch a counter-battery mission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
konstantine Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 I just used indirect fire to pretty decent effect in a recent game. My opponents got wise to the fact that I was shelling the lee of a particular rise they were using to support their attack from, so they started moving and hunting me. I extracted myself and started targetting dropships instead--if you time it right, the round lands just as the dropship begins to rise--I'm not sure but I think I killed both the dropship and the dropped player once or twice. After I drop I always used to pause for a second to orient myself, so I won't be doing that anymore, as I am sure I killed a few opponents who were doing just that. A question though: can you kill the automated ATGM turret inside the base (Icefield)/ion beam turret (Raid) when attacking? I lobbed a few rounds into the area of the base where the turret in the opneing minutes was but never got close enought to confirm. Although my team's dropships were landing with impunity. I was very surprised to learn the ion turret in the raid scenario kills mortar rounds--no complaints as long as you can kill the turret right back. :mad: edit: you can kill the ion turret in the "Raid" scenario, as I just discovered. But it took about six shots with the Hurricane aimed in direct mode for it to die. [ March 24, 2006, 01:59 AM: Message edited by: konstantine ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yllamana Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Originally posted by konstantine: A question though: can you kill the automated ATGM turret inside the base (Icefield)/ion beam turret (Raid) when attacking? ... edit: you can kill the ion turret in the "Raid" scenario, as I just discovered. But it took about six shots with the Hurricane aimed in direct mode for it to die. You seem to be able to kill all the buildings except possibly the big concrete ones in Raid objective mode and the fort walls. It's very easy to accidentally level the base in Ice Field if you're mortar-happy like me. For reference, we killed an ion tower with 8 x 120mm HE and 100 x 20mm HE together. Only problem is HE has a very high trajectory, so you can't effectively hit the tower unless you're very close already (and if you're so close and have enough time to unload that much HE then you should probably be taking the thing over anyway). More experimentation is needed, both to check how effectively the ion tower can be attacked without controlling its base and whether the huge concrete things can be blown up. Edit: we also tried attacking an ion tower from range using a combination of 20mm and direct fire plasma bombs (Hurricane). We managed to land several hits, but it took a very long time - so long that we didn't manage to kill it before the map ended. Could be more effective with more 20mms but that might be more trouble than it's worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomm Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Regarding long range ... I think we are all underestimating the ranges at which the vehicles battle in Drop Team. I right-click regularly just to get a feel for the distances to the targets, and most of the time I am very surprised about how far away they are, 800 meters being perceived as 'close' already. I would be most grateful if somebody with CM being ready to load could post the CM stats of a 20mm cannon just to get a feel how much its penetration performance degrades over range. I wanted to do this at home yesterday, but sleep took over ... Best regards, Thomm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filo Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 very helpful thanks.... we DO need more complete docs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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