Artillery - High angle fire

[Tranquil]

Is it possible to opt for high angle fire when using artillery units? I find that arty guns are firing mostly at low angle fire, so they tend to hit buildings or obstacles instead of reaching their targets. Mortars are proper high angle firing units. Can we have that for arty?

[Saxhorn]

Artillery does perform indirect fire (high angle).

What particular weapon is using direct fire that you think shouldn't?

[Tranquil]

Technically, high angle trajectories use angles greater than 45 degrees. Low angle is less than 45 degrees. Mortars are a good example of high angle fire in game. You can hide behind a building and still get shells on target.

Artillery guns seem to use low angle fire. It's especially noticeable when you try to shoot behind buildings. The trajectory is still far more curved than direct fire, obviously. And shells fired at low angle of course arrive faster at the target (and are less affected by weather, but that's not relevant in this case). But high angle fire is useful to reach targets behind obstacles that are in the line of fire. It takes more time to reach its target.

I was wondering if it's possible to add the option to switch between high and low angle firing. It makes artillery more realistic and also more versatile.

[Tranquil]

And when I say 'artillery guns' I should probably say 'howitzers'.

[Ch53dVet]

Unfortunately, in this game, they can't. The ceiling in this game is a little bit higher than the tallest building, sometimes artillery rounds appear as if they are ricocheting from the sky downward 90 degrees, like the flight characteristics of a UFO.

P.S. After placing my Artillery gun(s) I zoom my camera to the ceiling then go into direct mode and move forward till the target reticle reaches the max distance, there I can see if there are any blockages in the way and/or if the presumed target I want to reach is within the Arty's range, if not then I return back and try to reposition the gun forward then was rinse and repeat for a clear line of fire to the target area.

[Saxhorn]

No matter how much elevation a weapon has or if it uses "bagged" ammunition for a variable amount of muzzle velocity the game doesn't change the arc the shell flies along.

[Tranquil]

Well, I had a closer look at the firing angle of the German howitzers and it's not as bad as I thought. Then again, it's only at greater distances (at about maximum range) that the barrel is elevated to about 40-45 degrees or something.

I'd think that if high angle fire is possible for mortars, mechanics should be able to simulate high angle fire for howitzers/artillery pieces.

(Btw, your comments are appreciated. :) )

[Saxhorn]

The leFG 18 had a massive amount of elevation which at least in theory allowed it to be used like you enquired about but I see some balance issues if some units can use this and others can't.

Just looking at the model for the Soviet M1927 it seems it would never be able to elevate to the same amount.

Having the Germans able to hide behind a building and shell the enemy but not being able to counter that as the Soviets seems rather imbalanced even if it is historically correct.

[Ober]

Jumping in to say that high elevation would be great to avoid my arty deciding to randomly TK my troops because they happen to be somewhere within the giant cone of inaccuracy, somewhere between the target and the gun. (Looking at you, 15cm Grille)

Seriously, are we firing with warped cannons?

[Saxhorn]

Most of my friendly fire incidents with arty and mortars are when the outgoing round hits a tree or the side of the building or some obstacle just in front of the firing unit.

Having to manually clear every offending tree with a vehicle is extremely tedious.

[Ch53dVet]

Originally posted by Saxhorn:

Most of my friendly fire incidents with arty and mortars are when the outgoing round hits a tree or the side of the building or some obstacle just in front of the firing unit.

Having to manually clear every offending tree with a vehicle is extremely tedious.

We should be thankful this game doesn't employ the German 50 mm mortars of that time era. The fuses where so sensitive the High Command forbid the firing of these mortars in the rain or snowstorms, they would explode right out of the tube when a rain drop struck the fuse head.

[Tranquil]

That's one of the biggest disadvantages of low angle fire combined with the inaccuracy. I understand that they didn't want to make the artillery overpowered. But sometimes it undershoots so much that it seems to make use of a different starting angle, thereby increasing the chance of hitting something along the way.

Concerning the M1927 vs leFG18: having the guns more historically accurate would probably mess up the balance, so I don't expect them to make it more realistic in that sense.

Hoping devs will notice this and maybe agree: my main point is that the possibility to change between high and low angle fire would make for more versatile artillery.

Low angle fire advantages: reaching a target faster, more accurate than high angle because it's less affected by wind. Disadvantage: terrain/obstacles obstruct the shell.

High angle fire advantage: less or no problems with objects in the line of fire. Disadvantages: Shell takes longer to reach the target, less accuracy because it's more affected by wind.