Artillery observers, artillery leaders and commanders.

[Kadrush]

So, I am trying to learn how to use them and I am experiencing . First I tried to copy some mortar spamm tactics and as they workm the observer dont look like to change anything.

Now I am making rookie batteries with a learder nearby and in range of a commander = free elite status.

Game says the observer has a radio range.

As far as I could found researching the forums, mortars have no radio, so no benefit from observers.

So, the idea is to get all artillery pieces withing radio range of the observer and the target inside the same range as well? which radio range is that? 1km? 2km? 3km?

[Bramborough]

Some leaders & units have radios for purposes of artillery coordination. This is completely different from the Leadership bonus which leaders and commanders impart to nearby units.

The idea is to get a radio-equipped artillery unit to fire within the circle of a radio-equipped leader or artillery observer (who can be far away; there's no range limitation). Such fire benefits from the Corrected Shot mechanic, which dramatically improves Aim Time (approx 4x as fast) and Accuracy (twice as accurate). Well worth doing if you've got the deck for it.

You're right, though, a lot of indirect-fire weapons don't have radios and don't benefit from this mechanic. I've only played Soviets so other nations might be different, but their mortars and rockets don't. Neither do their towed 76mm guns (although the 76mm SPG's do).

[jswarpaint]

There is a manual link in the Sticky FAQ

There is a section in the manual called skirmish the manual is divided up into parts clicking on the + sign opens up that area if you open up Skirmish and scroll down and look at the topic RADIO it reads the following:

Ok paraphrasing this post the manual explains this but imo not accurately to vague so can cause confusion. (They fail to mention the artillery piece must have a radio - they fail to mention in the battlegroup screen what the raidio icon looks like )

[jswarpaint]

This is how it works some or all battlegroups have an artillery section you just have an artillery observer AND an artillery piece to make this work the secret is that there is a green radio icon that one can see in the battlegroup screen - this green radio denotes units that can do this infantry is the observer artillery unit that fires the artillery rounds Must also just have a radio for this to work finally learn the control key

Read below for the long version that goes step by step.

Ok here is how it works what ya can do is make a skirmish set it up to ONLY one division is playing it which is you and your division. So I picked the 14 Infanterie Divsion - German Infantry Division. Go to the Artillery Units section. In the 14th there is the Beobachter and in english it reads Artillery Observer there is also a Batterie FUH unit in english it reads leader then there are various Artillery type units mortars and such. I only tested the le FH 18M 105 the important thing is that each of these units mentioned show a teeny tiny green radio icon looking thing so this is the trick.

You must have 1st an artillery unit the thing that shoots the artillery shell - it must have a radio if your battlegroup does not have this type of weapon showing a radio you are screwed. I also tested the 81 mm mortar it has NOT radio so even though I had the artillery observer on the map clicking on the mortar did nothing.

When I had the artillery piece with the radio AND the Forward observer on the map the magic happened.

When you click on the artillery piece then click on for example Fire Position telling it to fire where you click you then will see a standard cursor like you always do BUT when you put this inside the circle (which you immediately see when you click on your artillery piece) you will see a circle around your artillery piece AND a circle around your artillery observer. So again, when you move the mouse inside this circle where your observer is it reads CORRECTED SHOT - Now, in order to get a smaller shot placement you THEN press the <CNTRL> key this is TOGGLE you press it so that it makes a smaller circle then you fire. or LMB. If you press CNTRL again it goes back larger. You only see Corrected shot when the aim is inside the artillery observers circle that you plainly see.

Finally, the Batterie FUH with a radio - the leader unit - when shooting in this circle the Corrected shot is even SMALLER so this unit gives the best most accurate shot.

So main things is Artillery piece and then the infantry unit must have a radio.

[Kadrush]

Ok, I guess that I got it.

Last game I saw a few allies armored recon units with both the recon and the radio icons.

So, the mechanic for correct shots apply to them as well? I mean, they will allow artillery to get correct shots around their spotting zones?

[jswarpaint]

YES - but since they are recon maybe not but probably so maybe they are arty infantry units did ya look at the 14th infantrie division Germans and checkout the atillery section that has infantry in there ??

As long as the arty has the green radio as seen in the battlegroup its then the black thing you see in the map then it should work

I realized something else to as - I'm in middle of a skirmish - I added these radio equipped arty units to my battlegroup Ok The arty unit with the radio DOES NOT NEED AN ARTILLERY OBSERVER TO FIRE A CORRECTED SHOT - cause when ya click on it the unit you see a circle around it so anything fired in this circle you can use corrected shot BUT then this circle is basically small and WAY inside the units actual artillery range. - BUT using <Cntrl> ya can fire a corrected shot.

So to do a corrected shot at a decent range bring in the observer or the leader observer.

you can also to take up a lot of time find a battlegroup with recon infantry with radios and see if this works .. I may test that later.

[Kadrush]

Yeah, I play with the 14inf a lot, I have seen the artillery spotter and the artillery leader generating corrected shot circles. Also I have seen a corrected shot circle moving around one of those cheap recon planes of the germans (wasnt mine).

Lastly the 105 artie generates its own circle of corrected shot, anything inside it get a precision buff, but since it is a long range one it is better used with spotters close to the front.

[jswarpaint]

Yeah I think we got it having continued this skirmish I'm doing it seems ANYTHING with a radio one can use - I got a tank with a radio it looks like it can be used it has a circle I got an infantry fuh dude with a radio infantry guy it can be used circles around it then I got the artillery dedicated observes now again seems maybe the fuh arty oberver has best or maybe its a rank thing but I think we got it hopefully ANYTHING WITH A RADIO AND AN ARTY GUN UNIT WITH A RADIO

[Kadrush]

Now the issue is, the more experienced the radio guy is the smaller the correction circle is?

[jswarpaint]

I think so my buddy called from Miami I was on the phone still not done with the skirmish lol

[Jam292]

Originally posted by Kadrush:

Now the issue is, the more experienced the radio guy is the smaller the correction circle is?

no, i don't think so. I don;t think it would even change the radius of the corrected shot. Leaders radius will increase with vet probably because they can't be boosted out of their vet level. But, non-leader unit's radius could change if a leader was near, I think they want to avoid stuff like that. The MP unit have radius that don't change with vet levels so I think this would be the same.

[jswarpaint]

Originally posted by Jam292:

Originally posted by Kadrush:

Now the issue is, the more experienced the radio guy is the smaller the correction circle is?

no, i don't think so. I don;t think it would even change the radius of the corrected shot. Leaders radius will increase with vet probably because they can't be boosted out of their vet level. But, non-leader unit's radius could change if a leader was near, I think they want to avoid stuff like that. The MP unit have radius that don't change with vet levels so I think this would be the same.

I did another test the circles look smaller it may be distance away from the arty unit or it may be weird or different map angles camera angles I think it is all the same. The size stays the same period - I did learn if there is a Commander unit if you click on them you see lines going to other leaders if the leaders are close the line is solid yellow if the leaders are far away there is no line shown UNLESS you click on the leader rather than the commander then you see a dotted line.

But this has nothing to do with arty

[coltdug]

I usually use the artillery leader in tank divisions because he functions just as regular infantry leaders but because infantry costs more activation points in tank divisions you can just use artillery leaders for generally 1-2 activation points less

[JDPUK]

Originally posted by coltdug:

I usually use the artillery leader in tank divisions because he functions just as regular infantry leaders but because infantry costs more activation points in tank divisions you can just use artillery leaders for generally 1-2 activation points less

+1