Can you edit

Mike Bowen · 06-24-2010, 06:00 PM,

I know I am stupid but even with the ask before advancing thing I forget in 1914 to plot artillery can you edit that button so it says "Have you checked plotted fire you idiot" ?

If so how?

Mike

**Ricky B** · 06-25-2010, 12:09 AM,

Ah, you had the comm wires cut by enemy arty fire! The alternate problem is friendly fire when you assault and capture a target before the artillery barrage that you plotted falls on it. No real solution I can think of - I usually plot arty first thing, after watching it fall at the opening of the turn - that is a good reminder to me. But it does leave the second alternative as a problem, or my turn will result in a different target being better anyway.

Just have to try and remember to do it/review it.

Rick

Nitram Draw · 06-25-2010, 01:11 AM,

(06-25-2010, 12:09 AM)Ricky B Wrote: Ah, you had the comm wires cut by enemy arty fire! The alternate problem is friendly fire when you assault and capture a target before the artillery barrage that you plotted falls on it. No real solution I can think of - I usually plot arty first thing, after watching it fall at the opening of the turn - that is a good reminder to me. But it does leave the second alternative as a problem, or my turn will result in a different target being better anyway.

Just have to try and remember to do it/review it.

Rick

Always plot artillery fire last! :)

Volcano Man · (This post was last modified: 06-25-2010, 05:06 AM by Volcano Man.)

Yep, there are two issues here: fratricide and forgetting to plot artillery. If you plot artillery fire first, then you run the risk of fratricide. If you plot the artillery last, then you do not run the risk of fratricide, but you instead run the risk for forgetting to plot it altogether (which represents the chain of command breaking down, which happened a lot during this period of warfare) - so there is a nice dilemma here (I love to cause dilemmas for the players to consider).

What I occasionally do is plot artillery just before the end of the turn so I don't forget, then I assault an objective and take it at the end of the turn, and on the following turn my own troops are bombarded. Eek

Sounds like WWI to me! :)

Tide1 · 06-25-2010, 05:25 AM,

Playing Home When the Leaves Fall last night the first turn and the first thing I did was plot arty,then I started shooting and deciding on assaulting when I realised what I had done as a first step assaulting was out:rolleyes: Next Turn :whis:

FM WarB · 06-25-2010, 01:25 PM,

It seems that indirect fire will work best in defensive/counterattack situations or in well staged offensives than in mobile offensive situations, which is correct.

**Ricky B** · 06-25-2010, 02:37 PM,

One other thing to keep in mind. IF artillery that has LOS to good enemy targets can fire as per normal arty except only one shot, and it is quite powerful with that shot. That avoids all the potential plotting issues and brings the firepower in immediately in support of an attack - I did that when I could in testing and got good results from it.

Rick

Volcano Man · 06-25-2010, 02:51 PM,

Yes, Rick is correct. Of course the side effect is that the enemy sees the guns and can plot everything against it - but you are relatively safe at doing this if the enemy doesn't have a lot of artillery in the area (obviously) and it can be effective.

The Germans did this with 21cm guns (direct fire) on the Aisne, and it wasn't pretty.

Mike Bowen · 06-25-2010, 10:20 PM,

Yes I know I am meant to remember but I am old and stupid according to my team here at work.

One thing that does not happen which if I may say so seems wrong is that if you deploy indirect artillery to fire over open sights it does not seem to until its set up. It says use the indirect fire thingy and then you can not as its not set up.

You should be able to cancel the set up and fire with LOS IMO

Mike

**Ricky B** · 06-26-2010, 02:30 AM,

I think that generally the delay still makes sense Mike, although I would say it should be shorter to fire over open sights I guess. As these were bigger guns, they required significantly more time to actually prepare to fire, especially for the really big howitzers and all, than field guns. They don't need comms setup or orientation/test shots, so it should be faster, but probably not leave travel mode and then fire the next turn. The smaller IF yes, bigger no, but since it is all the same to the game, we are stuck. It could use a "setup" factor but that would be a lot of extra work, I think?, for little impact on the overall results.

Rick