Yes, artillery frequently fired over friendly troops and here are some examples

[Wolves in the Throne Room]

Here are just a handful of literally hundreds of instances of overhead support fire used during the Civil War. The Union actually used this as a matter of doctrine, but the Confederates did it as well and more frequently as the war went on. This is a fantastic game, but it can be even better.

I've attached some in-game images at the bottom that show situations where artillery absolutely would have fired over the heads of friendly infantry during the war, but they won't fire in game; you can see the LOS stopping at troops they could easily fire over, especially with the visual distance representing a greater calculated distance.


"The facts clearly indicate the two batteries located behind the Federal left flank did the worst damage in that sector. Capt. Alexander Marshall’s six 3-inch guns and Capt. Samuel Canby’s four Napoleons let loose with a torrent of fire that gashed and tore the advancing Confederates."

"The Kentuckians were thus certainly striking elements of Patrick Cleburne’s Division as it moved out of some low ground and crested the ridge just south of modern day Downs Boulevard. Incredibly, this also means Thomasson’s men were firing over the two advanced brigades of George Wagner’s Division, who were posted a half mile in front of the main line. Among Wagner’s men there was fear and confusion. They had Confederate troops deploying barely a half mile in front of them, while friendly fire streaked in from the rear, screamed over their heads, and exploded among the enemy ranks."

So this quote above shows just how far artillery would go when they could see both their troops and that of the enemy. The cannon fired from a half mile behind friendly troops into the enemy a half mile beyond.

"To the west, the four guns of Bridges’ Battery fired over the heads of Federal troops in their front and into the Confederates. Archaeological evidence uncovered last year indicates that Bridges’ men were cutting down the fuses of some shells about as close as was possible – perhaps down to as little as ¾ of a second. Hotchkiss, or 3-inch, shell fragments were found less than 150 yards from where Bridges’ Battery was located, which indicates his men were doing everything possible to hold back the desperate, but massive, Confederate assault."


"Union and Confederate armies both frequently used one artillery technique known as “overhead supporting fire” during the war. Union gunners became adept at this practice, which entailed firing over the heads of their own advancing forces in order to weaken static enemy defenses prior to an assault."


"At the Battle of Fredericksburg, overhead supporting fire from the top of Marye's Heights whipped over the heads of friendly rebels into Union lines."


""With the enemy only five hundred yards away and firing over the head of friendly infantry, his number six men would have to be precise in the cutting of the fuzes."


"Several times Croxton ordered Gary and his battery forward, but they were never able to get the timing right between the infantry and artillery. Each time the battery moved forward to engage the enemy, the Union infantry was already falling back, pressed by superior enemy forces. The battery had to withdraw before firing a shot, with the exception of a few ineffective rounds fired high over the heads of friendly forces, merely for effect."


"The guns were not able to hold position long, as the Confederates launched a
fresh division (Stewart’s) which struck near the seam between Palmer’s and Van Cleve’s
forces, driving the infantry back out of the woods and across the road. As Van Cleve’s
men fell back, the batteries fired spherical case over their heads into the onrushing
enemy, and canister once the friendly infantry was clear. As the infantry started to mix
with the guns it caused quite a bit of confusion, to include a case of fratricide when an
artillery battery fired on troops from Beatty’s brigade. There is some confusion about the
incident, because Beatty alleged that the battery that fired the shots was the 19th Indiana
Battery, but there was little proof. Beatty reported that battery commander Captain
Harris, when told that he was firing on friendly soldiers, claimed that he was ordered to
do so. Harris made no mention of a friendly fire incident in his report, but that is
reasonable as artillerymen have never been likely to report such cases on their own.
Harris stated that he fired case over the heads of the friendly infantry, “and when we
could do so without endangering the lives of our own men, used canister, I think to good
advantage.”


"As Cushing fell back, he coordinated with Lieutenant Russell so that Battery M
could give some support to the north. Russell had his battery change front and it fired
over the heads of the infantry, helping to drive the enemy back"


"A brigade commander attacking with infantry would position an artillery battery behind his lines as they moved forward. The artillery was relatively safe since it had infantry between itself and the enemy, and in dense terrain there was only a minor risk of enemy artillery fire. As the brigade had success in the attack, the battery moved forward. If the brigade had to fall back, the artillery became a rallying point on which to establish a defensive line from which to thwart an enemy counterattack.
Retreating attackers would see their artillery as they moved back, which made them more likely to stop and fight, as well as giving an instant increase in firepower of the forming defensive effort. In this manner, the artillery could be used to stop a failed attack, which was a relatively common occurrence, from becoming a rout.
The commander of the defeated attack, with a temporary defensive line established, could
rally the rest of his troops to either renew the attack or continue the defense until a fresh
unit could pass and continue the attack."


Yes there was the occasionally friendly fire casualty, but this did not stop the use of overhead support fire. The only time it seems to not have been commonly used was when the forward friendly troops were in woods and the target was in the woods as well.


I propose (please) a hotfix to correct this, implementing a minimum distance to fire (at Gettysburg Cowan's NY battery, the R.I battery and Brown's battery were firing as close as 50 yards behind Union troops, the latter throwing canister over the 15th Massachusetts) this distance should be affected by the elevation of the troops to be fired over in relation to the guns and the elevation of the target.

https://imgur.com/a/8wkUKnh

[A_P_Hill]

The likely problem you're complaining about though unknowingly is that artillery like infantry is calculated on straight line L.O.S. and not calculating for arching fire from artillery.

[Wolves in the Throne Room]

Yes I saw a dev speaking about the LOS. I hope this is just a current limitation and not one that they have some sort of 'justification' for.

If it is the latter (I saw a number of players thinking it is somehow impossible for cannon to fire over intervening troops because they read that "cannons are direct fire weapons' somewhere) then hopefully it can be modded.

[crono900]

Great news... I knew I had seen a line somewhere about firing overhead... I found it again in unitprefs. These should be what you want to mod.

Min distance to own unit to allow overshooting with arty [>0]
35
Min distance to own unit to allow overshooting with arty if own unit to front is layn down [>0]
20
Min distance from own unit to enemy to allow overshooting with arty
35

These are assuming you are on a level playing field, I believe. If your units are higher than the arty, then they (the arty) might not fire.

[A_P_Hill]

No, I'm sorry, but the straight line L.O.S. is the final mode that I am aware of for your artillery to fire. You can see this in the "Firing Arc" your battery will create when selected. the open end of the arc will "wag", (come and go,) based on a straight line from the muzzle of the gun to where it will then intersect the terrain dependent on elevations. I do not think there will be any change in this.

I will take Crono's advice and go give it a try, but still I don't think it will smooth out the wide end of the firing arc from your artillery over elevated terrain.

Indirect firing was not a thing during the ACW, as there were no forward observers, nor any easy way to communicate with artillery from an advanced observation site.

[Butch]

Wolves in the Throne Room is such an awesome gamer tag! And yes I fully agree that artillery should absolutely be firing over the heads of friendly infantry when they're at a higher elevation.

Crono, did you manage to edit and test these prefs? In any case, I really hope the dev team revisits artillery LOS and especially how it's portrayed in the UI.

[crono900]

Originally posted by Butch:

Crono, did you manage to edit and test these prefs? In any case, I really hope the dev team revisits artillery LOS and especially how it's portrayed in the UI.

A few patches ago, I did and it seem to work but not tried recently. I'll give them another shot tomorrow. It's getting late here, so I'm going to shut everything off for the night.

[crono900]

So, what those values do is change how far the unit in front of arty has to be in order for the arty to fire, but the height of the unit compared to the arty has a major factor. The higher the unit, the farther the unit has to be in order for the arty to fire up hill. The distance required jumps up very fast. So just a little rise in slope and you have to be about the range of a rifled springfield musket long range shot away. The opposite is true when firing down hill.