[German] What do you do with your 50mms ?

[runequester]

The americans get the 60mm, the british get the 2", both of which have at least decent range.

But the german 50mm seems to lack any qualities at all. It has a tiny shell, and a 10 hex range, which makes it pointless as the delay in calling the fire mission means the fight will have moved too close anyways

I guess the germans figured this out as well, as they quickly ditched them historically.


So what do you guys do with them? Any redeeming features? Swap them for MG teams ?

[Imp]

Buy the squads that use them in direct fire role then phase them out.
As you say however the US 60 is a handy bit of kit

[pjbandit2003]

I agree with IMP. Use the 50's in direct fire mode. Nothing like rounds falling on the enemy along with a few 98K rounds.
Then if you dont like them phase em out. I actually like to have one platoon with the 50s to suppress before the rest of the units move in closer.

[runequester]

For now, Ive switched them to MG34 groups. I thought about 81mm's instead, or even going with an engineer squad later on.

[Cross]

Originally Posted by runequester

The americans get the 60mm, the british get the 2", both of which have at least decent range.

But the german 50mm seems to lack any qualities at all. It has a tiny shell, and a 10 hex range, which makes it pointless as the delay in calling the fire mission means the fight will have moved too close anyways

I guess the germans figured this out as well, as they quickly ditched them historically.


So what do you guys do with them? Any redeeming features? Swap them for MG teams ?

SPWW2 has given these weapons their historical ranges.
The German 5cm and Brit 2 inch both had a range of about 500M, the US 60mm about 2000M, and the Jap 5cm 650M; and that's what they each have in the game.

As for 'qualities', the German 5cm (and the Jap 50mm) have been given an accuracy of '5', compared to '3' for the US and UK. This is a bit odd, because the Axis mortars had far shorter barrels than the Brit and US versions.

The German mortar did have lots of impressive - but probably unnecessary - dials for adjusting aim. Giving it a hefty weight of about 30lbs, compared to 10lbs for the Brit and Jap mortars.

The German 5cm also gets twice the ammo of the British. So I don't think the German are 'short changed' in the light mortar department.

None of the mortars (except the hybrid - half light, half med. US mortar) gets any penetration value. Making them even less effective than grenades, which is again a bit odd, as these mortars fired rounds weighing:

Brit: 2.25lb
Ger: 2lb
US: 3lb
Jap: 2lb

I wish these mortars got smoke rounds; which was one of the 2 inchers common functions. Does the US 60mm get smoke? But there may be a game/code reason why not.

I mostly use them in the direct fire role. They can be used with supressive 'Z' fire, but with only 12 rounds (UK) this seems like a waste of ammo.


cheers,
Cross

[runequester]

oh, I know its the historically accurate range. The Germans historically phased them out as well, finding them to lack enough of a punch

[gila]

The US 60mmHT has the added abilty to tow a ATG and carry a ammo crate as well

[JohnHale]

[quote=Cross;690194
I wish these mortars got smoke rounds; which was one of the 2 inchers common functions. Does the US 60mm get smoke? But there may be a game/code reason why not.

I mostly use them in the direct fire role. They can be used with supressive 'Z' fire, but with only 12 rounds (UK) this seems like a waste of ammo.


cheers,
Cross[/QUOTE]


Cross,

Monty himself deprecated the 2in mortar as the most useless piece of kit ever foisted on the British Army! (Wish I could find the quote again...) He said its only use was in firing smoke - which we don't have in the game, alas.

[Cross]

Originally Posted by JohnHale

Cross,

Monty himself deprecated the 2in mortar as the most useless piece of kit ever foisted on the British Army! (Wish I could find the quote again...) He said its only use was in firing smoke - which we don't have in the game, alas.

Hi John,

Yes I've heard some of the disdain for the 2 inch. I recall Andy saying that he had a trainer who suggested something like, 'its only use may be to club the enemy'.

However, when it was in trained or skillful hands, I've also heard it could very effective. I heard a claim that it could be accurate to 6 feet at 500 yards! This sounds exagerated, but perhaps its possible - with observed fire - to get pretty close after you've fired a couple of shots to adjust your aim.

The 2 inch could also be fired directly, supposedly, like a grenade launcher.

Here's an interesting excerpt:




cheers,
Cross

[DRG]

Originally Posted by Cross

I wish these mortars got smoke rounds; which was one of the 2 inchers common functions. Does the US 60mm get smoke? But there may be a game/code reason why not.

Originally Posted by JohnHale

Monty himself deprecated the 2in mortar as the most useless piece of kit ever foisted on the British Army! (Wish I could find the quote again...) He said its only use was in firing smoke - which we don't have in the game, alas.

The squad integrated versions don't have smoke becasue there is no way to assign smoke rounds to a "mortar" in that case but the regular version of the 2in mortar certainly do have smoke rounds. 7 - 9 of them in most cases which averages to 66% of their total ammo load


Don