Pre-planned artillery-- when to call it in?

[Jobu88]

I have been experimenting with pre-planned artillery as an attacker & would like to know if others use it much and if so, how you time it.

Do you call it in early in the game to soften up the defender?

Or do you set it for later turns to support the final advance to the flags?

I have tried it both ways with mixed results.

If there's not too many terrain features at the defender's disposal, I will usually time it for, say, Turn 18 of a 25-turn game, with the notion of having it land on those key positions as my boys are making the final push.

If the map allows the defender too many options for where to position his forces for the above approach to be practical, I will sometimes use artillery to clear the route of advance.


But anyway -- I would like to hear other members' thoughts about pre-planned artillery supporting attacks.