Mortars...

[ENO]

Eh guys. Did a search for mortar, mortar reload and mortar time and didn't come up with anything newer than 2011.

 

 

Basically I have a mortar team laying waste to a town and the intention is that they do this until they are destroyed- or at least a certain number are destroyed.

 

Problem is, even though I've put each in the direct vicinity of a truck, they stop firing after about 15 minutes or so. Might be less- might be more. When I was in the mission in MP I took it for granted that they would just fire forever.

 

Anyway, in the other thread it was saying that once they're done, they're done... but that other artillery aren't similarly affected. IS the easiest solution to switch those tubes out with artillery pieces?

 

We did fly around and wait for them to open up again for quite awhile... but seeing what was written before I'm thinking that was all they had in them and that they weren't going to open up again.

 

Anyone?

[Wrecking Crew]

There are three mortar groups in White Bird because of what you also observed. I spawn the second and then the third to provide a longer barrage than what just one of these groups would do.

 

edit --> no trucks near these three groups.

 

Yep, arty next to a truck does go much longer.

 

WC

Edited December 5, 2013 by Wrecking Crew

[Grimes]

Mortars have 25 shells and will reload if completely out of ammo after 1 hour. Assuming an M-818 or Ural 375 is within 100m (or 50 can't remember which) then the mortar will be reloaded indefinitely.

 

You either have the wrong truck, its the right truck but not close enough, or the stop condition becomes true and the AI stop firing.

mortar_ammo.miz

[ENO]

Okay- in an effort to save me from having to test this over a multi hour period- currently I have mortars and trucks in the same group- however each truck is (a certain distance) from each mortar. Now, I will go back and see that each truck is in the lap of each mortar- (each mortar is separated so that 1 CBU 97 doesn't destroy them all)... but do I need to keep a truck in the same group within 50m (let's say) or can 1 truck be 50 meters from 1 mortar and keep them all sustained?

 

Funny enough- in my current mission- they did stop firing even though the trucks were there. Now- how long we'd have to wait is another matter... if we had to wait an hour for them to start firing again- I get it... that's the way the mission goes- I just NEED to know they'll stop firing again. If not, I just need to know to look for alternatives. If they won't start firing again for an hour- guys will need to RTB to recharge and come back-

 

In some respects I'd rather that!

[Grimes]

With unlimited ammo a mortar will fire something like several hundred shells in an hour. I think the AI tend to fire slower when the ammo gets low, but with a truck nearby the ammo count remains above 18, so the rate of fire never slows.

 

The rearm distance is 100m and the action is on a per unit basis so only units within that radius will be rearmed. It doesn't matter if they are in the same group or not. As long as the fire at point task is active, the mortars will fire on the target.

[Gloom Demon]

You don't have to sit behind your computer and stare at the mortar team for hours to find out whether they stop firing or not - leave your computer with the mission running for the night and than use Tacview to find out what was happening.

 

Tacview Download

[number3]

Or just run the mission as SP and use time compression. If something needs to happen before the mortars start, then add a debug script to your code to initiate it via a radio menu call.

[NineLine]

Is there a MIST function yet to trigger an action if a unit is out of ammo? Be nice to be able to spawn in a truck for resupply instead of having one just sitting there forever. If you know what I mean...

[number3]

Is there a MIST function yet to trigger an action if a unit is out of ammo? Be nice to be able to spawn in a truck for resupply instead of having one just sitting there forever. If you know what I mean...

 

Is the resupply instantaneous or takes a few minutes to complete?

[NineLine]

Is the resupply instantaneous or takes a few minutes to complete?

 

I'm not sure, I havent messed with resupply from trucks much yet, but I would hope it would be a somewhat realistic time and not instantaneous... must be some way to find that out though...

[ENO]

Or just run the mission as SP and use time compression. If something needs to happen before the mortars start, then add a debug script to your code to initiate it via a radio menu call.

 

I'm hearing what you guys are saying and those are valid points... in some cases I do that- and things don't work but then it turns out that if I'd set them up differently they would have worked- so don't get me wrong, I don't mind doing the legwork but I do appreciate you guys helping me get as close as I can before I run those cycles of tacview or SP.

 

Additionally, and you should all be aware of this... some things that work in SP don't work in MP right now... so sometimes testing things in SP first to see that they work isn't entirely reliable.

 

In this case, you're probably right and it likely would work- however I do appreciate the input.

[Grimes]

Is the resupply instantaneous or takes a few minutes to complete?

 

Its instantaneous in terms of completely rearming the unit, but it runs the check every 30 to 60 seconds, so there is a slight delay.

[ENO]

Just watched an interesting TACVIEW file of my mission involving the use of mortars / artillery that resulted in this thread being started.

 

Basically things seem to start okay and when required the Artillery is set up and it takes a few minutes before they start firing. This is obviously to get their targets and set their artillery related things... it takes about 5 minutes I'd say.

 

Then all the guns but 1 start firing... and they fire for about 15 minutes or so- maybe a tad more... then they stop and the single unit that wasn't firing starts firing. It fires alone for about 15 minutes... and the others don't reload and start firing again for almost an hour.

 

I mean in theory that's not unreasonable... but from our earlier conversation it sounded like it occurs much faster than that.

[Grimes]

How many did you have? Its a quirk of AI that only so many units from the same group will fire on a given target. Place 2 tanks vs 20 and only 4-6 of the group of 20 will engage the enemy tanks at a given time. This is to save ammo but also to not be overkill. Artillery with "fire at point" commands have the same limitations, but I think the max that can fire at the same time on the same target is around 8-10. The same basic rules apply though. Once a "open spot" to fire frees up another unit from the group will fill it immediately.

[ENO]

Okay, that makes sense... it does help to stagger the fire a little so in some respects it works- it just helps to have an understanding.