German 88s

[Lt. Ketch]

My father and I are long time SP fans, still having our old CD from when it first came out. We recently got into a discussion about the proper use of the infamous German 88mm "Tank Killer" flak cannon. We both agree that if you're playing the Germans, having a couple of these is a major advantage early on in the game. However, as I've discovered winSPWW2 and started playing again, the towed 88s only seem to provide targets for enemy artillary. The situation goes like this: I tow the guns into position overlooking the field of battle. They line up on their targets and get off a couple of salvos. I keep them there for an additional turn so they can get full fires and accuracy. With out fail, the next turn they are overshadowed by fire from heaven as my opponet calls down the destrtuctive power of indirect artillary. Even if I try to package them up to move them, they never make it out of the blast zone and end up just getting blow up or losing their prime mover and effectivly immolized in a less then ideal spot.

I've since started useing TD with the 88 mounted on it (I'm currently a fan of the Nashorn) but they generally don't appear until later in the war. Any ideas on keeping my 88s alive and effective?

[chuckfourth]

Hi Ketch
You have two problems here, firstly any artillery unit can hit any target on the map with perfect accurracy without it even needing to be visible to any of your troops.
see

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=37238

for some possible solutions

This makes artillery by far the strongest arm in the game. Which gives you your second problem, people know this and so buy "unhistorically" huge amounts of it.

One day you might see some artillery "rarity" limits, maybe something like
You need to buy a regiment before you can buy the regimental guns.
A limit of 1 artillery regiment of divisional calibre guns per game/division.
Corps level artillery removed from meeting engagements.
etc etc
Not implememtable I realize but I can always dream.

I think there is a thread on this somewhere but I bought two "commando hvy wpn" (formation 298) recently and the included FO's have no FO abilities.
Best Regards Chuck.

[BadCompany]

I too find this happening, Lt.The only way to keep them alive for me is to let them shoot, load them up and move them.Then put them back next turn.And of course you can always find a new position.