Smoking

[Pfor]

I had need of a large smokescreen the other day, and so turned to one of my M270 MRLS (USA OOB12 Unit 159). I turned off one slot, thinking that 6 CM rockets should give some good coverage.

I got 4 widely spaced smoke hexes - a very sparse smokescreen indeed! I deduced that currently a 'smoke' rocket has no sub-munitions and resolved (a) not to 'permit' my class 14 weapons to waste turns firing smoke and/or (b) not to 'permit' my class 31/151 units to waste turns firing smoke.

Does anyone happen to know what real life CM smoke can do?
- For example, can it obscure the entire area that the corresponding CM HE rockets cover?
- Are the chemical effects (WP) bad enough to cause damage to structures and casualties to vulnerable units?

Thanks

[Suhiir]

Due to the way the game handles any rocket type munitions (they scatter a LOT) they make pretty poor smoke screen layers.

I don't believe the M270 MLRS even has a smoke munition available (someone can correct me if I'm wrong).
It's just a game default that artillery gets smoke ammo.
For my part I just ignore it for stuff (like MLRS) that doesn't have the capability.

[Imp]

If you had let it fire for full effect in other words with a call time of zero you would have got a lot more smoke.

[Pfor]

Originally Posted by Imp

If you had let it fire for full effect in other words with a call time of zero you would have got a lot more smoke.

I set up a test fire with a one-slot load of 6 MLRS rockets, fired smoke over two moves, checked that the mission was complete, and saw there were 4 hexes of smoke (1 first turn, 3 second turn), as per my original observation. Am I missing something here?

By the way, the smoke from first turn visually appeared significantly degraded by the time the second wave came in.

[DRG]

What was the delay on the first turn the smoke arrived? Sounds like you only got a partial.

[Pfor]

I created a second test from scratch after clean game start - no observer LOS (relevant?) - same results as first one:

1, Saved Game (attached) commences at start of turn 3

2. Check USA bombardment screen - one launcher unit (HE ROF 12) only - smoke is about to arrive - delay 0.0 - exit USA turn

3. Start opponent turn - no action - exit turn - on exit smoke arrives in 4 hexes

4.Start USA turn - smoke visible 4 hexes - check bombardment screen - mission over - delay back to 1.0

I ran this several times, with the same results except in 1 case there were only 3 smoke hexes assumed to be due to 1 double-up.

Q: Is 4 hexes all that is expected, as per my original observation?

Q: Is it possible that part of the mission is lost between end of turn 2 and start of turn 3, or between 3 and 4?

Q: Is there a precise set-up sequence to get the correct result whereas a wrong sequence gives a 'wrong result'?


I then re-ran the test cancelling the turn 3 mission and plotted a new smoke mission in turn 4 - delay 1.0 which arrived at the end of opponent's turn 5 - 4 hexes only.

I then re-ran the test shifting the mission in turn 3 to create a new delay of 0.3 - which made no difference to the result.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[DRG]

What you found was a "bug" that has existed since we allowed arty units to turn gun tubes on and off so lets say........ 10 years minimum ? Maybe 12....or maybe even more.

The game is counting smoke used by the formation not the individual unit in the formation so if you are given 10 "smoke rounds" and your arty formation has 4 "guns" and you leave them all active when they fire you would get something like 4x4 smoke fired and 4 smoke would be deleted from the smoke total but if you only have one gun active and fire smoke you will fire 4 smoke as well and 4 smoke will be deducted from the total so the "secret" to putting down a smoke screen is to NOT shut gun tubes down ( which, given how long this has been going on and NOBODY has commented ...is a very rare occurrence )

This does point out....... once again........ the value of a save game

Don

[Pfor]

Thank you for looking into this, Don.

Maybe this is related in some way to another smokey quirk I have run into: when an arty unit has one smoke left it will fire 1 smoke hex, whereas all previous missions it would fire '1 x number of gun tubes' hexes!

Anyhoo, leaving all tubes switched on from now on.

Peter

[Pfor]

Re previous post, here's a saved game: Started with 3 smokes, 2 x 4 fired.

[DRG]

It would never occur to me when firing a smoke screen to shut down some of the "guns" or rockets when making a smoke screen so this caught me by surprise when I tested it but Andy tells me that this is NOT a "bug" ....it is the way the game has always worked. Smoke is not "ammo". It is a smoke "point" and you get x number of "points" and they are used up equally if you have one tube/gun or four.

So.... If you want a proper smoke screen DO NOT deactivate any of the weapons and accept this as an abstraction / quirk of the game

Don