calling in artillery fire

[Kurt]

I agree , if players want an " easy " time then they can select [ set enemy arty to weak ] , or if they want realism then select [ set enemy arty to " painfully realistic " ] . I have read a lot of similar AAR's myself .
As regards the counter-battery fire , my idea is that each arty capable unit should have an additional state/status with a tick-box , to allocate that unit to focus only on counter-battery fire . This can be selected by the human and/or AI . This selected unit would automatically search out and engage enemy arty once they fire , but would not be immediately available for other fire missions . Whilst on the subject , I would like a H&I ( harassment & interdiction ) rate of fire option for arty units . This would allow area fire at e.g. something like one round a minute on major road junctions , bridging sites , towns etc , without burning up too much ammo or tiring the arty unit .

 

[Daz]

It was usually the Corps artillery assets that were used for counter-battery fire.
Most of the counter-battery detection equipment (sound ranging, flash spotting, anti mortar radar, radio intercept/DF locating) and personnel were also Corps assets.
I was surprised to find out that air OP's were Divisional assets as well as held at Corps.

 

[Kurt]

Maybe an Enemy Arty Visibility Factor ( prob 1-100 ) could be applied . reflecting such variables as weather , air spotting ( if force has air assets ) , detection equipment and personnel capability . Also , werfer / rocket units were easier to spot with there smoke trails .

 

[Daz]

Yeah, like I said earlier spotting of currently firing artillery needs to be a lot easier, and for a lot longer, including if they move only a short distance. But as you have just said there need to be variables included in the roll to take into account the weather. It would be great if we could have Flash spotting, and sound ranging units, but I think they are too small to be added at this scale, so some sort of abstraction needs to be used.

This would help tame the artillery as you have requested, including that micromanaged by the player, as the AI will be able to counter-battery fire on the assets the player is using, thus mitigating their effectiveness.