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Mini-guide to Firing Artillery


MH6~SPARTA~
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Here's a copy of a post I wrote as a reply on the ArmA forums (which was quickly buried). For those who would enjoy firing artillery manually, here's a quick diagram of the aiming reticule and how it's read.

 

User posted image

 

 

The middle blue line is your current altitude in the artillery piece. The closer line is your altitude + 1000m, and the further line is your altitude - 1000m. Therefore, the distance between each red hash mark equals about 200m. By reading the topographic map, I can see that my target's elevation is around 135m. So if I aim with the first red hash mark after my current altitude, the shell should land within 5m (since that hash is the 140m mark).

 

I fired the round when the second-hand struck 12 o'clock on my watch. The round will have a 43.16s flight time (41.8+(48.6-41.8)/5), so should arrive two seconds before the second-hand strikes 9 o'clock.

 

Observing the target area...

User posted image

 

 

Kaboom. (Watch reads exactly 43 seconds)

User posted image

 

Accuracy was within 5-10m, at near maximum range of the M119.

 

That truck is toast.

User posted image

 

 

Another good thing to do is setup a game controller to manipulate the artillery piece with. This way, you can aim using the larger map (see first picture) instead of that pansy minimap. This will make you much more accurate. You still have to close the map to actually fire, however.

 

God, I love artillery.

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You have to be a squad/team leader to call in an M119 arty piece

 

and an FAC to use this feature of the arty otherwise line of site only?

 

Good post MH6

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You have to be a squad/team leader to call in an M119 arty piece

 

and an FAC to use this feature of the arty otherwise line of site only?

 

Good post MH6

 

You have to be the team leader of either Alpha or Charlie squad to call in an M119, yes. And the only class I know of so far that can operate it in indirect fire mode are the regular soldiers (i.e. Team Alpha Soldier). There may be more, but I don't know of them. I do know that the MG, GL soldiers, artillery operators, FAC operator, and team leaders cannot, however.

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Ive tried calling an Artillery Piece to be dropped, on several occasions, and nothing has ever appeared. Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

 

Ive seen a few successful drops before (one inadvertent drop right into the middle of the enemy when we thought we were calling in an arti STRIKE...hahahah)... so I know it does actually work...:)

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Ive tried calling an Artillery Piece to be dropped, on several occasions, and nothing has ever appeared. Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

 

Ive seen a few successful drops before (one inadvertent drop right into the middle of the enemy when we thought we were calling in an arti STRIKE...hahahah)... so I know it does actually work...:)

 

It generally takes a long time to appear. 10-15 minutes, I reckon. Other than that, dunno.

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Ive been trying out various different roles when my preferred role isnt available, such as Team Leader and so on. Wasnt sure if I had mis-clicked the drop location, or what, but I will try it again now that I know the delay is normal and not a problem.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

i is lossed - kant undastand sorrie - kan u sho mi wan dai pleez

 

if you have to wait 10 - 15 minutes then thats a bit dangerous - by that time the drop zone will likely be crawling with friendlies.

 

its only taking 20 guys 10 minutes to clear a village now.

Edited by Lightspeed
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i is lossed - kant undastand sorrie - kan u sho mi wan dai pleez

 

if you have to wait 10 - 15 minutes then thats a bit dangerous - by that time the drop zone will likely be crawling with friendlies.

 

its only taking 20 guys 10 minutes to clear a village now.

 

10 - 15 minutes for what? And artillery battery could theoretically begin shelling a town as soon as it turns hostile, but it's better to have a FO parachute in first.

 

granades are real mans arty

 

And pssh. Grenades can't take out heavy armor.

Edited by MH6
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It generally takes a long time to appear. 10-15 minutes, I reckon. Other than that, dunno. ???

 

This is what im referring to from your post above.

 

From the time the shell is fired to its impact is generally never longer than a minute. On average, it takes 50 seconds.

 

Edit: OH, you're talking about how long it takes the airdropped M119 to show up, not how long it takes to hit a target in the artillery piece. They also reduced that so it's more like 5min now. Still, if you airdrop it at the beginning of the game you can still be up and ready before anyone even attacks the main town.

Edited by MH6
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I would like to add that for the past week or two I haven't been able to indirectly fire artillery on any class (I've tried every class) including the classes that I used to indirectly fire artillery on. I simply cannot get the Target Artillery option to appear in my action menu. I'm not sure whether this is just me or if this is a problem with others also, but I figured I'd address it nonetheless.

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I would like to add that for the past week or two I haven't been able to indirectly fire artillery on any class (I've tried every class) including the classes that I used to indirectly fire artillery on. I simply cannot get the Target Artillery option to appear in my action menu. I'm not sure whether this is just me or if this is a problem with others also, but I figured I'd address it nonetheless.

 

Well it is kind of random, due to the fact that the reason only certain classes seem to be able to do it is because the artillery pieces are not synced to the artillery module properly. It's hit or miss. If they were synced, everyone could fire them indirectly. This is why I've added two M119s that spawn at base and are synced, so they can be used by anyone. Unfortunately I can't fix the airdropped M119s to work this way because all synchronizations are "set in stone" so to speak within a few seconds of the map loading (at least according to some people on the BIS forums, but my own testing seems to show the same result).

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just a quick note... Earlier tonight myself and several other players were in the Sparta Domination server and we captured the town of Gorka with 6 intact and fully armed D-30s... the next target assigned was Pusta and we suddenly had an idea.

 

LETS USE THE ARTY!!!!

 

So we did. 6 D30s with 30 rounds per gun. That is 180 rounds for those that are mathmatical inept (like me). 3 or 4 of us firing. We used close to all of it and we cleared the town basicaly using only the Arty (some crazy soul ran for the tower during the barriage and blew up the tower). One sniper mentioned that by the time he got in to position to spot targets the town and everything pretty much leveled. I seem to remember someone made the comment that next time we do that he would like to have a lawn chair and a beer instead of a gun so he could sit and watch the show.

 

From a tactical perspective this is a great idea that we need to us more often while the MHQ is being set up and ground troops are getting in to position as it would seem that it keeps the AI preoccuped with living and not chasing incoming troops.

 

I did look at the damage after and the place looked like a war zone.

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i dont think its a gr8 idea for tactical domination - it defeats the purpose of using infantry to take over villages.

If we included artillery into the server it would only be used as indirect fire support, no one would allow anyone to just fire it into a town. It'd have to be coordinated with a spotter, and he'd tell the Artillery guys when and where to fire, and how many rounds to fire. It'd only be used sparingly. Although for Tac Dom nights I can see what you're talking about, all infantry and no vehicles of any sort, possibly including Artillery pieces. Honestly in my humble opinion artillery is one of the most powerful parts of the game if used correctly.

 

Also yeah, Artillery does work sometimes, just not all the time. I thought the indirect fire aiming was broken for me, however it was just a temporary thing that I've worked around.

Edited by DeltaSierra
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If we included artillery into the server it would only be used as indirect fire support, no one would allow anyone to just fire it into a town. It'd have to be coordinated with a spotter, and he'd tell the Artillery guys when and where to fire, and how many rounds to fire. It'd only be used sparingly. Although for Tac Dom nights I can see what you're talking about, all infantry and no vehicles of any sort, possibly including Artillery pieces. Honestly in my humble opinion artillery is one of the most powerful parts of the game if used correctly.

 

Also yeah, Artillery does work sometimes, just not all the time. I thought the indirect fire aiming was broken for me, however it was just a temporary thing that I've worked around.

 

I agree for indirect support, but it'll be fun, just once, to drive the MLRS to a city and level the lot of it. At present, the in-game arty officers work, and the D-30s work. I don't think anything else will.

 

About all the problems, See Xeno's post, #21, at http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?...ery#post1320485.

 

The gist is that the arty module is part of the game, but it isn't linked or built properly. The arty used by the artillery operators is Xeno's own creation.

 

Crow notes a fix here, post #233

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?...ery#post1398683

 

 

Also a fix noted in post #325

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?...ery#post1420053

 

Anyone know how to install those fixes, or if they're even any good?

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I agree for indirect support, but it'll be fun, just once, to drive the MLRS to a city and level the lot of it. At present, the in-game arty officers work, and the D-30s work. I don't think anything else will.

 

About all the problems, See Xeno's post, #21, at http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?...ery#post1320485.

 

The gist is that the arty module is part of the game, but it isn't linked or built properly. The arty used by the artillery operators is Xeno's own creation.

 

Crow notes a fix here, post #233

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?...ery#post1398683

 

 

Also a fix noted in post #325

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?...ery#post1420053

 

Anyone know how to install those fixes, or if they're even any good?

 

Those fixes just fix the MLRS, and is something I've already fixed in my Domination map. I just need to get off my ass and port the changes to 1.09 so we can put it on the server.

 

Edit: See this post.

Edited by MH6
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Those fixes just fix the MLRS, and is something I've already fixed in my Domination map. I just need to get off my ass and port the changes to 1.09 so we can put it on the server.

 

Edit: See this post.

 

 

1.09? I thought Xeno's map was 1.03, or does the server run a modified version of Xeno's map?

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