Offboard or Onboard Artillery?

[brm_3k]

[matxer]

What is FM ?

[Thor]

What is FM ?

Fire Mission i think?

I keep think when peeps say CM they are referring to the game Combat Mission, not Cluster Munitions.......all these abbreviations make my brain hurt.

[matxer]

Fire Mission ? When the fire or smoke button is triggered in the B menu ?

And what if the FM is finished, button unused ? There is a pre-targeted hex from the previous FM. Does it prevent CB ?

[Chipmunk]

I couldn't find counter-battery fire mentioned in the manual. Do you just need to leave an off-map battery unengaged and it will automatically engage in CB fire or do you somehow have to order it to do so?

[Thor]

Am i right in saying that off-map arty units that haven't fired any rounds on-map or engaged enemy arty in counter battery fire are regarded as hidden until they see action?

[wulfir]

MLRS is effective as CB, however the off-board has limtied ammo. I once turned all weapon slots off for my MLRS because I wanted to save the rockets until I really needed them, but the MLRS fired CB anyway, using up my precious ammo (that was a few versions ago, haven't tried this in any recent version):

[Weasel]

I couldn't find counter-battery fire mentioned in the manual. Do you just need to leave an off-map battery unengaged and it will automatically engage in CB fire or do you somehow have to order it to do so?

In order for an off board battery to counter battery fire (CB) it must not have any other missions and must be left alone. The computer will randomly determine when a fix has been acquired on the enemy guns and will then fire a CB.

However, if your guns have less range then the enemy (lets say your 155 has a range of 202 and the enemy 152 has a range of 220) then your guns will not CB since the enemy is out of range. Then enemy, however, can CB you if the player leaves his guns alone.

[matxer]

The manual also says that experience is an important parameter to trigger CB.

[Greybeard]

There seem to be 2 key factors for CB fire to happen..

The experience and artillery command parameters of the battery have great effect.. needless to say, the more the better chance. Having an experienced FO on-map also seems to help.. in a recent game, I had a para FO with experience in the 90's and artillery command in the 80's.. 2 of my off map artillery batteries were also in the mid-70's range, with the rest in the 60's.. I left the 2 most experienced batteries alone, and also the FO alone (there were a couple more).. for a while, those 2 batteries fire CB nearly every turn my opponents off-map stuff fired..

In another game currently running, my off-map artillery has refused to CB.. but then again, I think my lonely FO faked his diploma.. para FO with 90+ experience, and artillery command at around 20.. the FO has delay times of nearly 3.4 turns, and when used to adjust fire will increase the delay by .3 each time the target spot is moved.. I get better results from using the HQ.. and to think this Bozo cost me premium.. :hissy:

Greybeard