Still having Arty problems

[Faelwolf]

I downloaded the new patch, and while I have seen some obvious improvement in preplanned barrages, I am still seeing mortar rounds falling way off target later in the game.

For example tonight I tried the Buying the Farm scenario, and put a couple tubes of mortars on the trench near the center back of the map. My rounds landed full force on the swamp on the right side of the map. The HQ unit had full line of sight, and should have seen the spotting rounds. This is just an example, arty is still way off target in other scenarios as well. I have seen little if any improvement on it.

I am at the point now of being frustrated enough dealing with this on top of the learning curve, that I don't even bother to play much anymore, and am starting to consider uninstalling the game altogether. It has been weeks since I even bothered to open the game. Is this issue still being worked on?

[Boche]

Its happened to me aswell...(preplanned and only with onmap mortars)

PS: I dont think the mortar issue is a reason to stop playing all together, try and mix it up, do what I did and start playing the Germans!!! or something

[weapon2010]

Artillery was frequently unreliable and off target in WW2 even with good lines of sight to the spotting rounds.This is what the game trys to simulate and I think they have done a good job with it.Try this in qbs.Buy an elite fo with +2 leadership,your artillery should be elite as well with +2 leadership,attach the elite fo to a an elite company commander with +2 leadership.When there are all green lights, the arty goes right where you want it every time, and it come quickly.The extra points spent on crack or eilte forward observers and artillery, their leadership,and their commnders is worth every penny.

[womble]

Well, it's certainly not a general engine problem with all artillery. Since the patch I've not had any really wild missions at all, even when I've been a bit speculative about LOS for the FO to see the spotting rounds. It must be something specific to either your install or some quirk that only gets exposed by a certain method/approach to fire direction. The only thing I can think of (cos it often catches me out with LOS-type issues) is that maybe your observers' LOS isn't as free as you think. If you run with trees off most of the time, you could be suffering from some of the discrepancies in reporting that peering through tree foliage can produce. Sometimes the LOS tool will report a good, solid LOS through a tree canopy which is actually a bit tenuous.

[rocketman]

As far as I remember, the same thing happened to me in that scenario. Has someone done testing how wind conditions affect arty "wildness". It would make sense that strong winds would cause spotting rounds to be off target. I can't check now, but what are the conditions in that scenario?

[LemoN]

I still have the occasional on-map mortar strike go wildly off target when called on a TRP.

[womble]

I still have the occasional on-map mortar strike go wildly off target when called on a TRP.

That's completely bizarre!

[Hessian deserter]

While many of us including myself have encountered Arty frustration in some battles. In other battles it has saved my asterexx and worked so well that it gave me goose bumps.That does not mean there are no bugs with the arty but it is by no means a game breaking issue for me.

But my addiction to CM goes back 10 years and my loyalty runs deep. All of the other games from this gen're I have ever tried,[ and there have been many], end up having totally unrealistic "Point Blank" range tank battles on small maps, that immedietly make me feel like I want to throw up because I have been ripped ofsf for another $50 dollars by some dumbed down suits from a console game company who are only lokking for quick cash and have little or no intention of further development of there products. I am sure there are many here who have had the same experience.

[ParaBellum]

In a current PBEM 2 of my 7 mortar strikes on TRPs so far have fallen way off target. The rest hit with very high accuracy. These were on-map mortars BTW, ordered by veteran FOs.

[YankeeDog]

This is very strange... Just last night I was watching my 81mm strike in Buying the Farm come in right on target, even though the spotter's LOS was kind of marginal (he could see the target point, but his LOS to the surrounding area where the spotting rounds fell was marginal).

In fact, while I try to get a good, broad LOS to the area around the target for artillery strikes, this isn't always possible and I don't remember the last time I had an arty strike come in off target. Maybe I'm just lucky er sumfink.

In the cases where arty strikes fell off target, there was no suppression on the spotter, right? Cowering or Hiding FOs do not spot well, so it's really important to make sure your spotting unit is not being shot at.

[Faelwolf]

Thanks guys, forgive my venting a bit, the frustration has been getting to me. Maybe the break from playing is what I really needed, afterall.

I have been having these targetting issues pretty consitently, if it was a now-and-then thing, I'd just write it off as fog of war or something. It does seem to be more prone to happening in some scenarios and less during quick battles. Another clue perhaps?

I am also having another issue, which may be pointing to something being up with my system specifically, as I have not seen it mentioned on the board. Whenever I play the game, after I am through, if I leave my desk for a bit and my computer goes into screensaver mode it won't wake back up. I have to do a forced shutdown and restart to get it going again. It only happens after CMBN. So, this weekend, I think I will take the morning to make sure that all drivers etc. are up to date, do some system cleanup, and if necessary do a full reinstall of the game.

I'll keep you posted on how it works out.

[Navigator37]

Whenever I play the game, after I am through, if I leave my desk for a bit and my computer goes into screensaver mode it won't wake back up. I have to do a forced shutdown and restart to get it going again. It only happens after CMBN.

Same thing happens to me. If my PC goes into screensaver, I lose everything in the game that has not been saved, and cannot even reopen the game unless I do a system shutdown. Very frustrating.

[womble]

I have been having these targetting issues pretty consitently, if it was a now-and-then thing, I'd just write it off as fog of war or something. It does seem to be more prone to happening in some scenarios and less during quick battles. Another clue perhaps?

One thing I've noted about scenarios so far is that designers seem to like to be 'clever' and close down your options. Sometimes this is good, because it makes you think of a different way to do something than the 'first, natural' reaction. When it happens every damn time, though, it gets a bit wearing. The relevance of this little digression? Well one way designers like to mess with your head is by denying sight lines with screening trees etc. at every chance they get. If you're finding more problems in scenarios, it seems to me that it's evidence that it's to do with LOS not being quite what's reported because of some sneakily placed trees.

I am also having another issue, which may be pointing to something being up with my system specifically, as I have not seen it mentioned on the board. Whenever I play the game, after I am through, if I leave my desk for a bit and my computer goes into screensaver mode it won't wake back up. I have to do a forced shutdown and restart to get it going again. It only happens after CMBN. So, this weekend, I think I will take the morning to make sure that all drivers etc. are up to date, do some system cleanup, and if necessary do a full reinstall of the game.

I'll keep you posted on how it works out.

That does sound like a video driver issue. Good luck.

[sburke]

Thanks guys, forgive my venting a bit, the frustration has been getting to me. Maybe the break from playing is what I really needed, afterall.

I have been having these targetting issues pretty consitently, if it was a now-and-then thing, I'd just write it off as fog of war or something. It does seem to be more prone to happening in some scenarios and less during quick battles. Another clue perhaps?

My own personal impression about the scenarios (and I admittedly could be way off base here) is the designer is paying a lot more attention to the overall situation they are creating and is likely to spend more time trying to create a map either historical or reflecting a specific situation/feel. The QB maps are more generic and I don't think quite got the same level of TLC. Apologies to the QB map makers, but honestly for all those maps I don't think you had the time or inclination to go into quite the same detail level. Simple things like a lot fewer flavor objects are kind of a dead give away.

That being said, which is more accurate in reality to LOS is probably a whole other debate, but Normandy was notorious for having a very claustrophibic feel to the battlefields.

[Cpl Steiner]

Has anyone considered leader skill level yet? I am pretty sure when I had a mission go really badly off target the guy calling it in had -2 skill.

Another thing to consider is how easy the mission is to call in. You need visibility to a lot of the terrain surrounding the target, as well as the target itself, so the guy calling it in can see the spotting rounds.