A little arty spotter quiz...

[The Coil]

Okay, so if you're like me, you enjoy the occasional use of an arty spotter. Something fun about raining death down upon your enemies from an unseen spot.

If you're like me, you also aren't totally sure what will cause them to drop rounds off target, so once you target them up on something, you freeze 'em in place like a scared bunny rabbit, afraid to move them lest it wreck their targeting. Well, just spent a bit o' time testing what will and what won't make your spotter screw up his target orders. So I bring you this handy "arty spotter quiz" (no fair testing to find out the answers, you big cheater).

For each situation, answer:
A - Rounds will fall on target
B - Rounds will fall off target
C - Rounds stop falling
D - None of the above

1. Arty spotter moves while the countdown is ticking, but stays in LOS of target.
2. Spotter moves out of LOS of the target while the countdown is ticking.
3. Spotter moves out of LOS of the target while rounds are falling.
4. Spotter goes to 'pinned' morale status while rounds are falling.
5. Spotter dies while rounds are falling.
6. Spotter is given a target out of LOS, but moves into LOS during the countdown.
7. Spotter retreats off map during countdown.
8. Spotter retreats off map while rounds are falling.
9. Spotter is given a preplanned target, retreats off map during countdown.
10. Spotter boards a vehicle during countdown.
11. Spotter with a preplanned target dies during countdown.

[McIvan]

1. A
2. A, as long as the all important spotting round already landed while they had LOS, otherwise B
3. A
4. C I think, not sure
5. D
6. A as long as they're in LOS before spotting round
7. Dunno...assume C?
8. C?
9. A
10. D....countdown suspends?
11. A

[Der Kuenstler]

I always keep spotters still in cover and looking so I really don't know for sure but am interested in the answers!

[Ratzki]

1-A
2-A
3-A
4-A
5-Don't know
6-B
7-c
8-Don't know
9-A
10-B
11-A

I am not sure on a few of these as it all depends upon whether the 30 second/1 minute spotting rounds have fallen. I have not had several of these questions happen to me ever, so they will be a suprise when the answers come.

[Marshall666]

one experience from me with point 5:
my 75mm artyspotter(radio)drops his load,and died in that turn,where the first rounds falling down to the enemy.in the further round(s),the grenades keep falling at the same point,till the ammo was empty....

[Aegis]

A - Rounds will fall on target
B - Rounds will fall off target
C - Rounds stop falling
D - None of the above

1. A
2. A
3. A
4. A
5. C - I'd assume, because your radio trans would be 'gone'.
6. B
7. C
8. A - I'd assume that if you're already properly fixed on target, then retreat/or while, your target should be designated..I gotta test this.
9. A
10. A
11. A

-I am putting into question a few of these instances because of logic...If A being the Arty spotter & B - the target, C -will be the outcome:

If A -Has (add instance) and (add instance), THEN B will (=) C (Outcome)

[Fullhouse]

Sorry to hijack, but who here has had an arty spotter killer themselves with there own arty?

I have. A rocket spotter that had his LOS blocked to the target. This was in CMBO.

[The Coil]

Okay, here's your answers:

1. Arty spotter moves while the countdown is ticking, but stays in LOS of target.

A - move your spotter around at will, as long as he stays in LOS of the target.

2. Spotter moves out of LOS of the target while the countdown is ticking.

A or B - as McIvan and Ratzki pointed out, a lot hinges on the spotting round - as long as he's in LOS until the spotting round falls, the spotter can subsequently move out of sight.

3. Spotter moves out of LOS of the target while rounds are falling.

A - run anywhere you want, once rounds are dropping. As before, once a spotting round drops, you're in good shape. A barrage falling on target will never start falling off target no matter what you do.

4. Spotter goes to 'pinned' morale status while rounds are falling.

C - once a spotter is pinned or worse, his barrage stops, whether it's in the countdown or rounds are falling. It acts as if the target order was cancelled.

5. Spotter dies while rounds are falling.

C - when the spotter eats it, the rounds stop.

6. Spotter is given a target out of LOS, but moves into LOS during the countdown.

A or B - again, McIvan nailed it. As long as he gets into LOS in time for the spotting round, it'll fall on target. This one was news to me - you can target a spotter up from anywhere, as long as you can run him into line of sight by the 60/30s mark.

7. Spotter retreats off map during countdown.

A or C - if he leaves the map before the spotting round, nothing happens and his arty is lost. If he leaves the map after the spotting round, the whole module will fall on target.

8. Spotter retreats off map while rounds are falling.

A - same deal - the whole module continues to fall

9. Spotter is given a preplanned target, retreats off map during countdown.

A - pretty much nothing will stop a preplanned barrage.

10. Spotter boards a vehicle during countdown.

D - It stops the countdown in place, or if rounds are already falling, they stop falling while the spotter is in the vehicle. As soon as the spotter exits, the countdown resumes where it left off or rounds continue to fall. This is also true for preplanned strikes. Definitely open to some gamey uses/abuses.

11. Spotter with a preplanned target dies during countdown.

A - as #9, pretty much nothing stops a preplanned barrage. Except loading them into a truck...

[Marshall666]

i dont agree with point 5 with you coil.as i said before,my spotter gets killed while his rounds fell down.next round the barrage coninues and then ended because of no rounds left!

[The Coil]

Hey Marshall - I actually retested that one when I saw your comment. And then I just retested it now, each time with 6 spotters (so 18 times total). In every case, when they died, the rounds stopped falling (a few "in flight" fell a second or two after the spotter died, but then they stopped).

I know that's at odds with your experience. I tested this in CMAK, if you were playing CMBB, maybe it's different?