Artillery spotting

[CountryBoy]

I have a question about artillery spotting. I have two artillery units from the 11th Artillery Division, a Russian formation fighting near Budapest, nearly adjacent to each other. One of the units can fire upon a German occupied hex a short distance away, but the other unit cannot. Why is that? The hex is within range of both units and there must be a subordinate spotting unit if one of them can fire, but why can't the other unit fire? Thanks.

[Zoetermeer]

When you try to fire, what is the message displayed in the bottom lefthand corner? That should give you some insight into why it can't shoot.

[CountryBoy]

I can't remember the exact working, but it is something along the lines of "target is 5 hexes beyond maximum target range" or something. The number changes depending on the target hex, so even if the target was two hexes away the message is "target is 2 hexes beyond maximum target range".

The unit is definitely not unavailable, is not disrupted, is set up and has all its movement points. There's actually a few units in similar situation, where one artillery unit has been able to fire but a neighboring unit of the same division is unable to fire.

[Zoetermeer]

When you right-click on the unit details what values do you see for hard/soft and their respective ranges?

[Ricky B]

Agreed with where Zoetermeer is going - the 11th Artillery has some units with HA range of 1 hex and others that are 10 or 11 hexes. So I am fairly confident the target is a hard target (tanks or something) and one of the units is the 76mm guns with an HA of 14/1.

[CountryBoy]

Ah ok, I will check it out tonight when I am home. The targets are bunkers and/or pillboxes, so that seems to be the most likely explanation.

[CountryBoy]

Yep, you guys are correct, it is a 76mm gun with only a HA of 17/1. Didn't even occur to me that it couldn't hit a hard target. Thanks guys.

[Mr Grumpy]

We live and learn! 

[CountryBoy]

That begs the question though, why does it have a hard attack range of just 1? I'm not in the military so I don't have real experience of such a weapon, but surely it could do some long distance damage?

[CheerfullyInsane]

In theory yes, but try hitting a moving armored vehicle with an indirect fire weapon, using a spotter over a radio.
The ammunition expended would probably weigh more than the target.


And combat-values normally also reflect current doctrine.
The 17/1 value would indicate that it's possible to use it as an AT-weapon, but only in dire circumstances and when able to use direct fire.
I doubt that the real-life commanders would consider an armored unit a worthwhile target for a 76mm HE shell, especially in the later war-years. There's usually plenty of more worthwhile targets around.