Why are my mortars hiding from the FO?

[hveldenz]

To any one that can answer this. In the saved game, I have many 81mm mortars that are not listed to be available to bombard. They not suppressed, and have ammo.

Any idea why thay are not on the bombardment list to receive orders?

This is from a 1941 German long war battle with approx 3000 core on a 80x80 map.

Thanks

[Captain_Insano]

I didn't look at your attachment but I'd bet you an 88 it has something to do with chain of command. Either your mortars are out of contact due to spotty radio communications or you are trying to order their fire from a unit that is not thier company commander or higher.

As an aside one thing to watch out for is if you plot some fire when your mortars are in contact and then move some of your own infantry in to the fire zone later hoping to redirect or cancel the fire mission - if your mortars have lost contact in the mean time they will still fire as ordered because they can't get the message to stop - quite tragic.

[DRG]

They are out of radio contact. Look at the message at the bottom of the screen. Your unit AE2 IS in contact and can be used for indirect fire but if you click on AE3 and read the info at the bottom of the screen you will see this.........


when they regain radio contact you will be able to use them for indirect fire again

Don

[DRG]

Captain_Insano said:
I didn't look at your attachment but I'd bet you an 88
<snip>

..........after looking at that save game he really could use an extra 88... There's a world of hurt heading for his front lines.

Don

[Captain_Insano]

OK well then hveldenz can keep the 88 he owes me since I'm feeling generous today. I thought it would be the radio contact issue - most of the time it's pretty reliable but sometimes it just craps out on you - in my experience never more than a turn or two though.

[hveldenz]

Thanks to Don and Captain Insano.

I did not check on radio contact, explaining my seeing different mortars in dufferent turns. My two 88's have had two turns of Fire before I ran them back (One KV-1 at least I'll see Insano's 88's and raise him py Pak50 portees!

My Pak50 portee's (or whatever the skdfz designation is) have been less effective than I had hoped. The battle is not going real well. I probably will lose my inf. in a withdrawl to protect my armor and may even lose due to objectives. I have to kill a lot of t-26s and BT-5s to equal over 2000 points of objectives. A draw would be lucky when I am done.

As an aside, I would love to be able to repick my auxillaries for that battle. In an earlier thread I had mentioned planning my core for the eventual Matilda's and T-34s, thus explaining my choice of the Pak50 portee style ATG for now. I picked the auxilliary this time with the mortar and MG support due to past infantry heavy mixes I had seen from past delay scenarios. I was not prepared for a massive weenie tankette rush! I may run out of ammo in all my main AFVs.

To Don and Andy, I assume there is no way to reload the battle to repick the aux. forces for this same battle. I would have to back N-1 in the battle counter to the last tuen save and go through the random assignment of a different mission. Correct?

Thanks

Thanks - I will need to keep my mortars closer to the FO

[DRG]

You would have to save after the end of each game in a different slot then you could reload and repurchase but then you might get a different battle.

Sometimes in campaigns the better part of valour is learning when to retreat in the face of overwhelming odds and save your core assets.
You can hurt the Russian AI in this one but you are so short of infantry it would be next to impossible to hold for long. All those MG teams are nice for holding back waves of infantry but the AI dosen't always do what you expect it to......does it ? The 88's are great but you need lighter AT guns to deal with the Light tanks so you can save the 88's for the T-34's and KV's.

( and no....... there is no "right" force to buy to solve every problem that game may throw at you but experience is a great teacher )

Don

[Sgt_Walrus]

hveldenz said:

thanks - I will need to keep my mortars closer to the FO

Hi
It is the unit commander that helps with "being in contact", not the FO...that is unless your FO happens to be the commander of your mortar platoon.
I tend to use my HQ unit as a way of rallying the arty, not sure if the HQ can help with being in contact though.
I always have my FO as an independent unit so I can get him up to positions with LOS etc. without causing C+C issues.

Also, you mentioned running out of ammo. The AI tends to bring plenty of units to the battle every time, so it is always worth getting ammo trucks if you can. they are magnets for aircraft, so make sure they have some AA cover.

Cheers
Walrus