Combined Arms Artillery ideas

[Tom P]

Not sure if it's been brought up, but can the artillery get a rework. 
I had a sweet idea of making a call for fire mission but after doing trial and error with my buddy for over an hour it is pretty much a useless system for playable units. I figured I could just give him a grid and walk him on target before giving him the fire for effect. But after finding out that he just aims using a heading tape and elevation pitch ladder which doesn't seem to be accurate at all. We lost hope in any kind of future call for fire missions using Combined Arms.

I'm sorry no artillery unit that I ever worked with just got a heading and aimed at the sky and walked rounds on. Also it seems like the splash damage is non existent as my hellfire had a bigger splash area then all the playable artillery and rocket artillery. So you don't even have to worry about reds. 

Suggestion.
1) Use a map grid system that would automatically dial in the heading and elevation of the gun once the gunner inputs the grid/reference.
2) Give mission editors a option to place known target locations. So the artillery can use them as a reference to adjust from. I.e adjust X and Y from Target reference 2
3) Less recoil, these guns are "supposed" to have hydraulic dampeners, which would also give it more accuracy.
4) Splash damage increase(red zones) 
5) Heading tape that is in mils, not degrees. 

Attached is the tacview file from us doing trial and error. 

Tacview-20221124-181444-DCS-Call For Firev1.zip.acmi

Edited November 27, 2022 by 162nd Pete
tacview file

[Tom P]

bump.

[oyen20]

Hey you can use the combined arms the F10 menu to enter the coordinates for the artillery.

You can see it here in a picture from this video of CasmoTV.

 

[fargo007]

If that were changed to match the coord format the map is already in (e.g. MGRS) it would be a platinum level improvement.

But the other improvements suggested are really good too in terms of making them act like IRL.  Being able to adjust bracketing rounds in, then fire for effect etc.  

[tomcat_driver]

And dont forget, a fix so the artillery doesnt bring the performance to a staggering 10 fps!

[Tom P]

On 12/13/2022 at 10:11 AM, oyen20 said:

Hey you can use the combined arms the F10 menu to enter the coordinates for the artillery.

You can see it here in a picture from this video of CasmoTV.

 

I'm talking about using a real person using the artillery guns with combined arms. Not AI

[LorenLuke]

Dropping this here just so I don't have to retype everything.

On 7/27/2022 at 2:37 PM, LorenLuke said:

Currently there exists the very rudimentary control of artillery via side's commander unit, allowing for the addition of a target, and then the artillery unit waits a few minutes, and then fires. Alternatively, a player can hop in the vehicle and fire on the target themselves, using a relatively simple display for distance to aim.

What I ask for to improve gameplay and enjoyment of utilizing these features is as follows-

• If it's not present already- skill-based dispersion and artillery working times for AI units. A well trained crew should be able to calculate faster and have less spread for rounds on target.
• Special ammunition capability (and a loadout dropdown for it)- Currently weapons only have HE rounds. but the ability to utilize ammunition like Krasnopol, Copperhead, and/or Excalibur munitions for extra precision or additional Forward Observer utility (as well as with helis and the like), with ability for a player to enter in Laser Code/GPS information. Additionally, sensor fuzed weapons (logic/models available from the CBU-97), cluster munitions (CBU-87 and others), smoke rounds, and more.
• Advanced Fuzing for impact, delay, and near-surface-burst HE, and for adjusting height of function for timed release munitions like smoke and cluster bombs.
• Angles of Fire and Propellant Charges- Add the ability to specify low/high angles of fires, and allow players to prepare ammunition with a particular propellant charge value (selected prior to reloading, and requires unloading/firing and reloading to change value). Additionally, possibility of Multiple Round Simultaneous Impact missions for certain platforms.
• Firing tables/Improved angles- Currently only distance to the nearest hundred meters (for low angle fires) and the most imprecise of horizontal aiming (an azimuth tape with an arrow and 5 degree increments) are included for players. The addition of a higher-precision azimuth display (to the nearest 6400 mil, or to nearest hundredth degree), an elevation angle display (in similar units), range to the nearest meter (in both low AND high angles), and a pop-up GUI rangetable as potential toggleable options would be beneficial for players trying to use these platforms.
• Map-Marker/FO/FAC-A integration with AI Artillery- The ability to direct or transmit, somehow, an artillery mission via the F10 map using map markers as aiming points, the F10 menu to list/read off MGRS/Lat-Long coords (or even transfer them via SPI), and control fire-missions from the menu or some sort of interface, including guiding in rounds with a laser designator (as notated above), with either ground or aerial forward observation components. Possible integration of digital fires systems for advanced platforms, should they exist.

 

I feel that the addition of these features would enable artillery (and even the Combined Arms module) to flourish within DCS, and improve player experience overall by adding additional tools to mission makers, additional interactions between CA and dedicated module players, and new dynamics to the battlefield for interaction.

 

[Tom P]

Bump. Just trying to keep it relevant