Question on Infantry field guns

[Grognerd]

I've seen this in several differing scenario's playing as the Germans.
They have Regimental assets in 7.5 CM field guns, When you control click them into a battalion assault they never seem to take on the role of a direct fire weapon, they get relegated to a indirect fire weapon (or so it appears) and yes they do have a range circle. I thought their primary role was a direct fire weapon.
Am I mistaken or using them wrong?

 

[jimcarravallah]

I've seen this in several differing scenario's playing as the Germans.
They have Regimental assets in 7.5 CM field guns, When you control click them into a battalion assault they never seem to take on the role of a direct fire weapon, they get relegated to a indirect fire weapon (or so it appears) and yes they do have a range circle. I thought their primary role was a direct fire weapon.
Am I mistaken or using them wrong?

If the firing algorithms take into account the physics of firing a round at a distance, the answer may depend on the firing velocity for the weapon and the distance at which they're deployed from the target. In real life, low velocity weapons could use direct fire at relatively short ranges in emergencies, but may hit a target more efficiently by lobbing shells into the area if the direct fire and indirect fire ranges overlap.

The Estab for the specific weapon designation from the Force Data E&S tab for the field gun may shed light on whether the weapons has a high velocity (usually anti-tank) direct fire mission or a low velocity direct fire capability overlapping with indirect fire capability.

 

[Grognerd]

I'll take a look in the Establishments for a clue and this next scenario also has them, I'll pay very close attention to how or if they are used.

 

[Grognerd]

Jim, looked a lot closer at this in various save files. I was expecting it to be a weapon system that uses direct fire, it appears to lob shells at range. I've never seen one actually fire but all the units had expended ammo rounds. Seems like they work in a different fashion than I expected. At least now I'll use them more effectively.

 

[jimcarravallah]

Jim, looked a lot closer at this in various save files. I was expecting it to be a weapon system that uses direct fire, it appears to lob shells at range. I've never seen one actually fire but all the units had expended ammo rounds. Seems like they work in a different fashion than I expected. At least now I'll use them more effectively.

When I was doing the Japanese Establishments for a custom scenario, I discovered some "field guns" which were more like enhanced mortars -- lobbing projectiles the size and explosive power of a mortar round, but at a greater range.

Though it's not recorded in the Estabs, one design aspect for most direct fire weapons in the WWII era is whether the gun tube is rifled -- inducing a spin on the round to stabilize it's flight thus providing a refined aim at distance.