Artillery vs structures

[imij0607]

I'm sure this has been asked before. however, if there is infantry in a building what is the best artillery to use?

general or personell?

[Eagle2]

I usually use Armor actually. Artillery is pretty ineffective at destroying infantry in buildings with the 1.31 patch. If you dig around there's a really good post full of tests on the effectiveness of artillery on buildings.

And here it is http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=94051

[akd]

Actually, "armor" is best (tighter concentration and some delay action). If a large building, be sure to use an area fire circle so some rounds land next to the building.

[Erwin]

I thought armor would be solely armor piercing and relatively useless vs soft targets like inf.

I know one needs armor to punch through the building roofs. but then HE to damage the occupants, so I use "General." At least that is common sense and (I thought) realistic.

Or, is this another abstraction where arty doesn't work as in RL in the game?

[LUCASWILLEN05]

Artillery is not that useful against buildings and never had been. You need a high volume of fire to have any effect on bigh appartment block type buildings. Having said that, for lower quality construction buildings it can be worth a shot if you will pardon the pun.

If you are facing stiff opposition from a large and well constructed building direct fire is probably better at silencing the enemy. A couple of shots in the right place is usually enough,

Another option is to call up the fly boys. A couple of well placed guided bombs can often take care of problems

Failing any of the above then I am afraid you will have to do it thie old fashioned way and send in the infantry to clear the building room by room and floor by floor.

Luke

[Erwin]

We have to be clear if we talking about THE GAME or RL. In CMSF, roof hits are effective vs units grouped around (and inside IIRC) the building at ground level. Just one of the weird "bugs/features" that one has to learn and understand to play well.

So, in the game is Armor or General arty ammo better vs inf in buildings?

[LUCASWILLEN05]

In general, when firing againist troops in well constructed buildings I prefer to use the General option. Using the Armour option wastes a resource that can be better employed against enemy IFVs or AFVs. If there are enemy in trenches or in the open then use the Personnel option. The trouble is that there may be a significant time delay before the fire mission actually arrives so the target is often no longer there.

On balance I find direct fire far more effective than artillery ever is. Your best bet, particularly if the enemy has poor night vision capability and you have thermal imaging is to call for a smoke missionto blind the defenders in the area (which avoids too much collatorall damage) while you get troops into position. Then put a few heavy rounds into identified enemy held parts of the building and close assault with your infantry asgainst defenders who, by now should be largely suppressed.

[akd]

"Armor" does not use a different ammo type. There are only two indirect fire ammo types in game: HE and smoke.

[Lt. Smash]

"Armor" does not use a different ammo type. There are only two indirect fire ammo types in game: HE and smoke.

Really? Then what's the difference between General, Personnel and Armor when setting up a fire mission? Is it where the shells detonate (i.e., air bursts for personnel)?

Bob

[Major SNAFU]

As a relatively new player of CMSF, based on my observations the difference is whether the rounds detonate in the air on upon contact with the ground.

Personnel is all airburst

Mixed is a mixture of both

Armor is all impact detonation.

This is based on my looking at the replays.

When I have used it on or near buildings, I have used the mixed and I try to draw a line near one side of the buildings. This seems to give a good mix of some hitting the building and some hitting the outside both in the air and on the ground.

[Erwin]

Just so long as we all understand that CMSF arty does NOT function as in RL. Need to be clear if we are talking arty in the CMSF game vs in RL.

IIRC CMSF arty landing on (or above re airburst) a building roof (only) is not that effective vs troops on the roof (contradicting RL and commonsense). It IS however, effective vs troops on the ground floor and around the building. (Unless this has been patched and I didn't notice.)

[Ryujin]

I think It may have been patched a bit. I've been using 60mm's to clean up rooftops in "preserve" objectives and it seems to be reasonably effective and this is the notoriously weak 60mm. I just make sure it's at least a heavy-short fire mission so it gets some decent saturation.

I haven't noticed to many problems with arty vs buildings, but I think I tend to be a bit more liberal in the number of rounds per building to ensure it's pretty well flattened.

[Eagle2]

AKD means that armor shells, general shells, and personnel shells are all drawn under the same pool. There isn't a set amount of armor rounds specifically, but instead a pool of, say 60 rounds available to be used however the player wants, minus smoke.

In regards to the mix of shot, personnel is all airburst, general is all HE, and armor penetrates structures and tanks.

[bodkin]

Currently the most effective way to inflict casualties on enemy troops inside buildings is not to target the roof but target the ground at the base of the building. The lateral blast effect through the walls seems to be a lot more deadly than trying to punch through the roof. Of course this isn't as useful if they're on the third or more floor.

[Boche]

Currently the most effective way to inflict casualties on enemy troops inside buildings is not to target the roof but target the ground at the base of the building. The lateral blast effect through the walls seems to be a lot more deadly than trying to punch through the roof. Of course this isn't as useful if they're on the third or more floor.

THIS

ive been targeting buildings like this for a while and is definatelly better

[toxic.zen]

what "Major SNAFU" typed is along my thinking as well... play thinking that anti-personnel is best for exposed infantry whether on the ground or on a roof. (though when I'm on the receiving end of this i can often get my infantry to lower floors with a few casualties) general for an obscured area that may have both infantry and armor, or for building demolition, and armor i usually reserve for surgical armor strikes.

[LUCASWILLEN05]

Selecting the building s a point target also seems more effective.

Luke