C2 oddity, i need your help !

[Wiggum]

Hi !

While playing "Cats-Chasing-Dogs" i encountered a C2 oddity that i just cant understand.

So i would need your help.

You can download my savegame here:

http://www.file-upload.net/download-3704379/Cats-Chasing-Dogs-003.bts.html

A picture for better understanding:

Why is the 1st Pl HQ (the Puma at position 2) unable to call in artillery at the buildings (red cross) ?

(Actually he can call them but only at some odd spots although he has clear vision to the red-cross area !)

He can spot the hole area but is not able to call in artillery...why ?

Also, why are the crews at position 3 and 4 able to call artillery ?

They have no radio and no contact at all to anyone with radio contact to the artillery, i would say they should be unable to call for that artillery !

At least the matchup should not be "excellent" (green circle)...or what ?

The (on-map) artillery im taking about is at position 1.

Please help me, i really fail to understand this situation...

[A Canadian Cat]

I had a quick look at your game and 1st Pl HQ has LOS to the area (it can target much of the area itself) but it cannot call in the infantry guns because the guns don't have LOF to the area. This is because the guns cannot shoot over the forested area (they are too close to the target area to lob the shells over given the limits of their barrel elevation).

The other two units that don't have radios are out of command to their next level HQ and I too am surprised that they can call in anything. I was expecting to see the "out of contact" message.

[Wiggum]

Barrel elevation...that sounds interesting !

I always thought that CM dont simulates that stuff, has this changed ?

[A Canadian Cat]

Good point. The answer seems to be: no it has not changed. In CMBN people have noticed that tanks can hit stuff that they should have been able to hit.

It seems that the gun elevation has been modeled for artillery but not for tanks. Which kind of makes sense. How often have you had a tank on a back slope that should not have been able to blast the squad coming at them but can? Not very often - I know it has happened but really it is not very common. But infantry guns that can lob shells at a target 200m away over a hill 100m away? That would happen a lot and the fact that it should not would matter a lot more. So, it seems they have modeled minimum range for infantry guns.

But it is more than that. I mean it is not just a minimum range. I did a test of infantry guns with keyhole LOS through tress on a hill. The gun had LOF to parts of the linear target. Enough that I was able to have the FO call it. Then when the shells started landing I noticed that the fire had a strange pattern to it. When I backed off the camera I could see what was happening. Some shells were making it through the tress and hitting on target but some shells were hitting the intervening tree tops and never making it to the target. I though "wow that is cool".

[Wiggum]

Ok, but there is still the problem with the other two guys (units) who should not have contact to the artillery, looks like a BUG to me !

[Vanir Ausf B]

So far as we know, it is not a bug. It's one of those "engine limitation"-type thingies, in which case it should have been documented in the manual. It is very confusing for players who don't live on the forums.

• 
  
  
• Offboard artillery is available to all FO and HQ units regardless of their C2 status.
  
  
• HQ or FO units out of C2 contact still have access to onboard artillery which is part of another, unbroken chain of command.
  
  
  

Highly recommended reading.