The Effective use of Artillery in SP WW2

[2ndLt_Fjun]

Very nice stuff. Now when you gave the tricks away I think the battles will be harder to win :rolleyes:

A few comments:

12. The primary goal of artillery is to pin or suppress the enemy; the secondary goal of artillery is destroy the enemy.

Thus, artillery should be plotted close enough to your own troops to pin the opposing enemy that they will run into first. Your own troops may be hit by friendly fire once in a while, but since you move first after your own barrage, you have the chance to rally them. Suppressed enemy in the rear lines or far away from your own units doesn't suffer much from the suppression, except for in terms of movement. A mistake many players make is to plot the fire too far back to be effective. Remember, what really wins the game is combined arms. Artillery is a key element - fire too far away and you're losing one of the components.

The secondary goal of destruction is rather futile, except for with an extremely dense heavy barrage, open terrain, or best of all, hitting infantry loaded on soft vehicles or tanks. Shooting the tracks off enemy vehicles is also a nice version of "destruction".

13. Almost all of your artillery should be plotted to support one infantry company at a time. Not plotted at multiple targets all over the battlefield.

Depends on the situation. What troops you are facing is important. Elites with high morale would require a heavy concentrated barrage to be affected. Early war Russians run away from a few bursts of medium mortar fire.

A concentration of artillery can often stall or stop an enemy attack. But you will have to switch almost all your guns to hit the enemy attack; which means you may have to hold up your own offensive until the threat has been neutralized and your guns can be turned back to support your offensive.

Remember that a correctly placed barrage on advancing troops give you a great opportunity for local counterattacking. Sometimes it is more effective to pin the enemy and jump him than let him pin you and be overrun, even if he has more troops.

16. Don’t be indecisive or get distracted, use the bulk of your artillery to support an attack or defend a threatened area.

You may switch your artillery to defend an area that is threatened and then switch it back to your offensive once the threat is over. But if you keep changing your mind, or get distracted by every possible target, you’ll spend most of the battle waiting for artillery to arrive, or have ineffective plots all over the battlefield.

This is a general principle for tactics applicable for the whole game and not only artillery. Have a goal, stick with it and stay focused. Follow your plan. Be proactive instead of reactive.

23. Mortars are inaccurate and their bombs land in a wider spread, which means they are not suited for close support (150-200m ahead of friendly troops) or for stonking small targets (Atk guns, MG nests). Use more accurate artillery for close support and small targets.

Very interesting. I don't agree with this one at all. I find light and medium mortars very accurate, in particular if you bring them along with your troops and don't have them firing near the maximum range. With the high ROF they are extremely effective as well.

I am usually relieved when my opponent uses his artillery for counter-battery. Because this means his guns are not bothering my troops at the front, and when my artillery rallies they’ll have more ammunition than his.

CBF is usually equal to giving the initiative away.

34. Never use Fast Artillery, because by watching where each round falls, you will have an idea where the enemy is suppressed and where it’s safer to advance.

In addiition, it is not very sportsmanlike to deny your opponent view of where the artillery lands.