Quick Question - Off Board Artillery & Defensive Fire

[ComradeP]

True, but they're already immune to counterbattery fire, so making them able to use defensive fire doesn't really change how those mechanics have worked since Kursk.

The number of times they will fire in support per unit during most scenarios will be low compared to the times they fire during the player's turn. For normal artillery units, counterbattery fire losses also tend to be low with good positioning.

Losses only really go up in situations where you can't move artillery units due to the units being Fixed (a Soviet problem in Kursk), or it's risky to move them due to the high interdiction chance (a potential German problem in Normandy). Both of those situations make it more likely that their units will be spotted as enemy units can get closer to the artillery than they normally would.

There are also not that many scenarios with a large number of artillery units where one side's artillery is predominantly on-map whilst the other side's artillery is mostly off-map, aside from small scenarios where the Germans have numerous Nebelwerfer units.

In that case losses can be reduced through moving their initial locations further to the rear in hexes offering good protection.

Considering that in most large scenarios, artillery tends to be on-map, I don't mind off-map artillery never becoming fatigued or taking losses, as it applies to both sides.