Ranged direct fire in WWI

[Eckerslyke]

Can anyone parse this out for me?

Direct fire at ranges greater than 1 is modified by the Range Effect
Parameter Data Va lue. For example, if the Range Effect value is 1/3, then the
fire value of direct fire at a range of 2 hexes is multiplied by 1/3.

What happens to direct fire at range 3 or 4 under this "rule"?

If fire at range 2 is 2x1/3, or .67 strength, then is fire at range 3 3x/13, or 100% strength? This doesn't make any sense.

It's more confusing even than that - in my current battle (Gumbinnen to Tannenberg), the Range Effect is 1.5, which suggests that the firing effect increases with distance, if I am reading it correctly.

The only parallel I can call to mind is in the Naval titles, when naval gunnery can cause more damage at the extreme edge of the range due to the trajectory causing shells to come down on the target at a steeper angle than they might at shorter ranges.  The shells are deemed to be more likely to fall upon relatively lightly-armored superstructure than to strike the heavily-armored hull.

Might this be a factor in our land battles?