Pre-planned artillery in ME?

[Ranger33]

I just started a pbem game (probably my first and last) on a small ME map. Right off the bat my guys are getting hit by accurate mortar fire and it was only out of sheer luck that I didn't take heavy losses. To make matters worse, on this map the setup zones are very small and in opposite corners, so you know exactly where the enemy forces are starting and their likely route of advance.

The glaring issue here is that accurate pre-planned barrages (with no LOS) don't make any sense in a "meeting engagement" where two forces are supposed to have simply bumped into each other while on the move. Could we possibly see this changed or will we just have to rely on two players agreeing to no pre-planned barrages? The ME maps seem to have been designed without those barrages in mind, since the setup zones are often small and in the open.

In a semi-related matter, I have 3 mortar teams on this map. Two are part of my infantry company and one is an attached team. The attached team is available for fire missions via radio, while the other two teams are "out of contact", despite all of my efforts to put them right on top of the same HQ unit (who has a radio) as the available team. I haven't had a problem with this before, is it a glitch, or am I missing something?

[ParaBellum]

Easiest way to solve this problem is IMO a gentlemen's agreement not to target the setup zones with pre-planned arty strikes for a turn or two because it's cheesy as hell.

[Lets_All_Fight]

Easiest way to solve this problem is IMO a gentlemen's agreement not to target the setup zones with pre-planned arty strikes for a turn or two because it's cheesy as hell.

Agreed. Shelling set up zones always struck me as bad form.

[Pvt. Ryan]

My pre-planned bombardments never land anywhere near their intended targets.

[Blackcat]

"In a semi-related matter, I have 3 mortar teams on this map. Two are part of my infantry company and one is an attached team. The attached team is available for fire missions via radio, while the other two teams are "out of contact", despite all of my efforts to put them right on top of the same HQ unit (who has a radio) as the available team. I haven't had a problem with this before, is it a glitch, or am I missing something?"

This problem might be related to which HQ you are using as the "mortar fire controller" and which HQ you are using as the spotter and the realtionship between them. I think requests for fire can go up the chain (platoon to company HQ), sideways (platoon HQ to platoon HQ) but not up and back down. There was a very good post by a chap the other day which detailed what relationships work, but I can't find it just now. You might also want to check the relationship between the two out of contact mortars and the HQ under whom you are trying to put them.

I am sorry I can't be more helpful but I haven't really got my head around this chain of command lark (it is not terribly well explained in the manual) but I have had similar experiences to the one you describe and did get over them by switching the HQs around.

[Ranger33]

I figured the "honor system" is probably the simplest solution here, but I think the issue deserves to be noted. Should have thought of that before we started the match, since we both agree it's a bit gamey.

@Blackcat Thanks, I will try that next time I have this problem. Right now the only other nearby HQ lost it's radio to the previously mentioned mortar barrage so I can't try it. The mystery was that I was using the mortar section HQ, which is part of the company, but they couldn't receive orders from the platoon HQs of the same company. Perhaps I had them mixed up though, however I haven't run into this problem before.