timshin42
Posts: 63
Joined: 9/6/2007 From: Edgewater, Florida, USA Status: offline
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Mr Roadrunner: Can you please explain to me how this NONSENSE about having a bunch of jeeps running around with FO's ever got started? Are there actually maneuver folk out there who don't realize that EVERY U.S. maneuver unit company Commander, be it Infantry, Tank, or Cavalry, has an assigned Field Artillery LT, or if not, an FA NCO, or if not , an FA PFC, all trained in the fine art of adjusting observed fires, right next to him at all times? Are there maneuver folk unaware that not all fires need to be adjusted? That predicted fire (equivalent to "indirect fire by the map"), with proper registration and meteorogic data, was quite routine, very effective and was developed by the US Field Artillery PRIOR to WWII? And used extensively throughout that war! Are there maneuver folk out there who don't understand that , with properly trained gun crews and fire direction center crews, it is quite normal for a towed field artillery unit to delivery fire to any place on the battlefield within its range, in a matter of MINUTES? And with self propelled artillery even faster? (Yes Virginia, it did take longer with "Pigs" -- 8" towed units!). So if you plan to have FO's running around in jeeps on the game screen, the same logic dictates that you must have a distinct jeep, tank, or foot leader for every company sized unit, running around cluttering up the board. EVERY US COMBAT MANUEVER COMPANY BY DEFINITION HAS ITS OWN FO ASSIGNED, except when it is in reserve. Artillery is never kept in reserve, so now you will have all the reserve maneuver units distinct FO graphical symbols also running about the board at all times, creating an enormous graphicall mess on the board (screen)! The Soviets, on the other hand, did not even bother with "observed fires". ALL artillery fires were preplanned, and massed. Up to 35 percent of all Soviet artillery was centralized in Artillery Divisions and Corps, controlled at Army, Front and even STAVKA level! Not believing in observed fires, they had no need for FOs! In the rare case where fire adjustment was attempted, the Soviet BATTERY commander climbed up on a high spot of land and ORDERED (not requested, there was no real Batallion Fire Direction Center) fires from his own battery! THE SUREST WAY TO MAKE THE ARTILLERY SIMULATION "LUDICROUS" AS WELL AS "REDICULOUS", NOT TO MENTION "SUPERFICIAL" AND JUST PLAIN "SILLY", is to base your model on some formula of varying numbers of graphical FO symols by national doctrine (ie: Americans get 3 FO units per Regiment. Brits get 4 per Division, Soviets get 1 per Corps, Japanese get them ocassionally on a random throw of the dice!) Any change not based on the ability of Artillery units to mass fires (can that be done in JTCS? I hope so!) AND the assignment of unit missions to artillery unit ( attachments, direct support, general support. Keep it simple and forget about reinforcing or general support reinforcing; that is getting too detailed for maneuver folk!) is a step backwards, not forwards! I have provided my Field Artillery credentials to Jason! I will be delighted to discuss the FA subject in detail off-forum with anyone who cares enough to discuss "sensible improvemnts to field artillery in gaming'! In the meantime, please think carefully about the entire scope and scale of the "problem" before making pronouncements or proposals to introduce a very complex "improvemnt" or "change" in a simplistic or illogical or just plain unrealistic way.
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timshin42 "Freedom isn't free"
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