Artillery support

[Mel]

Hi
I would like some advice on setting up artillery support for an attack. I am about to assault an objective with a number of Panzer grenadier units and a Panzer unit.Very close by is a Kampfgruppe which has a large number of artillery units.
How do I set up for this Kampfgruppe to provide artillery support for the assault?

 

[Rob]

Hi
I would like some advice on setting up artillery support for an attack. I am about to assault an objective with a number of Panzer grenadier units and a Panzer unit.Very close by is a Kampfgruppe which has a large number of artillery units.
How do I set up for this Kampfgruppe to provide artillery support for the assault?

Hi,

I usually attach the arty to one of the HQ's involved in the attack or probe and check the "direct support" task option for said arty unit(s). These checked arty units will then fire only in support of the HQ's you've attached them to.
There is also the time honoured way of micromanaging arty fires manually.

Rob.

 

[Mel]

Thanks Rob.

 

[Guy Miller]

in the above example, will those attached ART units try to move with the GREN who are moving into position to attack?

I find myself micromanaging my ART way to much and would like some clarification on using ART, especially when i want to move them around in the OOB and use them for a massive bombardment. Any advice would be much appreciated. thanks.

 

[Rob]

in the above example, will those attached ART units try to move with the GREN who are moving into position to attack?

I find myself micromanaging my ART way to much and would like some clarification on using ART, especially when i want to move them around in the OOB and use them for a massive bombardment. Any advice would be much appreciated. thanks.

Hi,

In the above example they will stay at a (relatively) safe location at a distance far enough to be able to still bombard in support of the HQ (and that HQ's other subordinates) that you have attached it to.
As for mass bombardments, you could try attaching a number of arty units to a single HQ (like a REGT/BRIGADE/DIV) that has no other attachments and then issuing a bombard order to that HQ. You can easily achieve truly massive fires on a single area that way. I recommend that the bombard HQ have no other attachments as they will not be participants to the bombardment and you might have better uses for them elsewhere........

Rob.

 

[Guy Miller]

ok thanks. I will try again, I must have done something wrong the other times I tried. This will really help me if I can get this down.

 

[Keydet]

...you could try attaching a number of arty units to a single HQ (like a REGT/BRIGADE/DIV) that has no other attachments and then issuing a bombard order to that HQ. You can easily achieve truly massive fires on a single area that way. I recommend that the bombard HQ have no other attachments as they will not be participants to the bombardment and you might have better uses for them elsewhere........

Rob.

Dave, would you comment on this? If players are willing to strip a HQ of units and assign lots of arty to it for control wouldn't it better to have the actual arty hq's that did just that in the estab?

 

[Kurt]

Hi Keydet , the KOAD estab has an arty HQ for the Germans , its called an Arko .

 

[Keydet]

Hi Keydet , the KOAD estab has an arty HQ for the Germans , its called an Arko .

Yes, I know. I made it. But it doesn't work for it's intended purpose. AI doesn't see it as an exclusive artillery beast.

 

[Kurt]

Ah I see

 

[mkeogh]

How good is the AI at handling artillery assets? I'd like to avoid the rather tiresome micromanagement of artillery, but I'm not confident in the AI's handling of it.

I have seen the AI using its artillery, but I've also seen it leaving very valuable arty assets sitting idle for lengthy periods of time despite numerous enemy targets and copious ammo. (In the tutorial mission, Return to St. Vith, I kept reattaching two arty units, 22nd and 66th Armored FA, to their command, CCA HQ, in the hopes that the AI would call-in missions for them, but they would be either "resting" or "on-call" but not firing. I did see other arty assets firing without my interference, but not those two units. Was it because the CCA was detached from the 4th Armored? Or was it because I unattached all the battalions from the CCA? Or is the AI just really conservative with artillery?)

I am relatively new to this game (tried out the original HTTR years ago) and one of the things that intrigued me about it is that allegedly you don't have to micromanage your units. (I'm a huge fan of Scourge of War's "headquarters-in-the-saddle" mode in which you give orders by courier and mostly let the AI handle the tactical details. So, I definitely like the idea of the AI doing the nitty-gritty work and let me focus on commanding.) However, so far I'm not really seeing it with the artillery in Command Ops2 which would be a shame because repeatedly dialing-up arty mission after arty mission got pretty darn boring.

 

[Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor]

mkeogh,

Thanks for your questions. In short the AI tries to do a reasonable job. It's never going to be perfect. We do have a series of improvements and enhancements that we want to model for arty but like everything else with this project it has to wait its turn. In CO1 users complained that the arty was too proactive and firing all the time when in their opinion it should have been used more sparingly so it could be available throughout the day. So we added some logic to limit the commitment the more "indirect" the request is - eg if the arty unit is under direct command of a Bde and someone from that brigade want it to fire then there will be a high probability of the Bde HQ agreeing to commit its arty unit. But if someone from that Bde wants one of the div guns to fire then the chances of the Div HQ agreeing to commit its gun unit are going to be less. And it will be less again for a Corps asset.

So if you want to ensure that your attack force is going to get the arty support it needs, then assign it to the attack and hit the direct support only checkbox to ensure it doesn't receive requests from anyone else.

In general I usually take direct control of half my arty and leave the rest to the AI. I find that suits my style best.

 

[mkeogh]

Dave:

Thanks very much for the reply.

Looking at older threads here and on the Matrix site, it appears how the game handles artillery has long been a major subject of discussion in both versions of Command Ops. It's a very complicated issue. So, I'm going feel things out as to where I'm comfortable with my being hands-on or not with artillery.

 

[Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor]

Fair enough but once you arrive at a considered opinion I'd be pleased to get it.

 

[Guy Miller]

artillery is one of the things I've had the hardest time with so far in my brief CO2 career. I use it A LOT, as you can tell from my AAR's. During assaults, I micro-manage almost every ART attached to the Division and Corps HQ's. Often, I want a lengthy barrage, or even a creeping barrage, or I simply want one particular unit to get pounded so my advance can go off. And then if if I want counter-battery fire, I do that myself. I find the AI simply does not do well in an assault. For probes, defending and at night I leave all ART under AI control and it does a reasonable job.

Also, what about smoke? IS there any consideration to that option. There are times when smoke would save the day.

Great game! Clearly, one of the best, if not the best I've played (and that's a lot!). Good job guys

 

[Kurt]

Smoke is in the pipeline ( its a long pipe )

 

[Guy Miller]

awesome. I believe no tactical wargame can be complete without it.
As an avid ASL player, I can only imagine that realistically programming ART (both HE and Smoke) must be very difficult.

 

[Takoda]

My SS Pz Eng Bn is trying to construct a bridge under fire and is taking casualties, a smokescreen would be a godsend.

 

[Guy Miller]

amen