Support Fire

[Ballacraine]

OK, like many here, I am coming from a background of Panzer General / Panzer Corps.

Whilst there are instances of support fire being seen to be generated, ( usually in respect of AA fire ), the favoured old tactic of putting Artillery behind dug in infantry doesn't seem to generate support fire?

Or have I missed something?

[Qwer28]

No, suport fire have only AA again planes and antitank again tanks. But I think if you have more units close together they have better defend then alone unit. Im not sure how that work.

[Blathergut]

AT guns will fire in support if the unit in front is attacked by armour/vehicles. No such support for artillery.

[Ballacraine]

How odd.

I thought it would be a no-brainer that artillery would light up in support of a hard pressed dug in unit.

[monkspider]

As a related question, does anyone have any details on how atrtillery/strategic bombers and suppression works? When I use these units I haven't been able to find out how effective they have been in suppressing enemy units.

[Qwer28]

You can support fire when you attack. You use artilery for demoralized enemy and then you use infanty for attack. But arty will not automatic fire in defend. I think this is correct. You cant use artilery for defend becouse you dont have time direct position and in attack enemy and ally are so close together so you will shoot your people too. I think that is good.

[Ballacraine]

@monkspider.

I get the impression the supressed unit gets progressively more disorganised, reflected in the colour of the unit strength.

Your question of 'How Much' is an interesting one I also would like to see the answer to.

[Qwer28]

Strategic bombers are for bombing citys and supply boats. Enemy will lose some supply points. If enemy have more units then supply points so units will lose efficiency.

[Ballacraine]

You can support fire when you attack. You use artilery for demoralized enemy and then you use infanty for attack. But arty will not automatic fire in defend. I think this is correct. You cant use artilery for defend becouse you dont have time direct position and in attack enemy and ally are so close together so you will shoot your people too. I think that is good.

Whilst I can follow your argument on that, I don't agree that artillery would not fire in defence though.
A supressing bombardment slightly behind the vanguard was usually favourite, to soften & disorganise the attack.

[adherbal]

The shock stat (explosion icon) determines how much damage to efficiency a unit does. A shock of 10 means it will do 1 point of efficiency damage.

Note that low efficiency units - including artillery - also deal less efficiency damage to the enemy.

Whilst I can follow your argument on that, I don't agree that artillery would not fire in defence though.

Unless your enemy attacks with highly mobile units over open terrain, you - as defender - should have time to use your artillery before any enemy unit reaches attack positions. I also believe "suppression" in PzC was not permanent, while in OoBP it is.

This means you have to choose ourself which attacking units to focus on. AT gun support represents the fact that these guns would be mixed with the frontline units they are adjacent to, but artillery would not be placed right at the frontline.

[Qwer28]

Whilst I can follow your argument on that, I don't agree that artillery would not fire in defence though.
A supressing bombardment slightly behind the vanguard was usually favourite, to soften & disorganise the attack.

That you can do in your turn. How i understant this game is more tactical, in one turn is less time then in Panzer general.

[Ballacraine]

OK then.

I can follow the reasoning for why it is like it is.

[bobk]

Other artillery differences vs PzC and PG. The artillery has greater range, so you don't have to move it so close to your main line, and it can support several close groups with that range. You can't move and fire though, which makes sense, although I would like to move one space and fire. Another difference would be no wasting a turn to resupply ammo, as long as you are in range, you can fire every turn.

[Ballacraine]

Thanks for the additional info, Bob.

Useful to know.

[bobk]

You're welcome. I was excited to be picked as a beta tester, until I was beaten silly by the AI a few times. I gets better though as you learn the differences from the previous games. One thing I hated about PG2 was attacking and being hit by hidden units all over the map with support fire. Maybe that was just me, but drove me crazy. I do miss moving one space and firing artillery like PzC let's you, although you can move AA and fire. Also, the support fire from AT weapons that are adjacent is very nice, unless they are saying hello to your dinky M3 tanks.
Enjoy the game Ballacraine!