Artilley changes

[Operator009]

I for one am EXTREMELY impressed by the look and feel of the .9 mortar and artillery strike. The timing and radius are really a sight to see in-game, especially when you KNOW you've hit enemy targets in concentration (as made evident by the corpse that just landed 20m in front of you from 150m away).

But like anything else in life, this too can be tweaked and improved. In every map there is either one or two kinds of artillery, for the blufor, usually the heavy (jdam or arty) and the light (artillery or mortars). All of these take what, 40min to charge? This should be absolutely true of JDAMs and Heavy Artillery (I assume from a 'real' firebase or Navy guns), as it seems realistic that these types of area attacks should only be available once or twice
an hour. HOWEVER,

The light artillery needs to be changed. By recomendation is 15min for mortars and 30min for artillery (still 40min for JDAM) but they have to be either the only kind of Arty available or the light versions described above. This is short enough to make artillery of any kind a much more applicable strategy while being long enough that it would not be spammed. As I understand it, US troops call in artillery/CAS on almost every 'objective' or firefight.

The only negative that I can see, is that it might create the formula [Artillery barrage>Move In>Defend>Repeate]. And to those who DO bring this up as a negative, let me remind you that the above formula is as close to 'realistic' as it can get. This is only a suggestion right now, but just imagine the strategies that can be applied if implemented, not to mention the EPIC gameplay.

[Zrix]

With PRs gameplay, I suspect a 15min recharge will feel really short ingame. You would just about have time to get a supply truck, build a FB with appropriate defences and get some teammates over there before it's time to get wiped again. It could really hurt the defensive play, and lead(as you point out) to a much more attack oriented game.
Which would imho be a shame, because I enjoy a good defence.

Sometimes(well, quite often in PR) gameplay > realism.

[Operator009]

With PRs gameplay, I suspect a 15min recharge will feel really short ingame. You would just about have time to get a supply truck, build a FB with appropriate defences and get some teammates over there before it's time to get wiped again. It could really hurt the defensive play, and lead(as you point out) to a much more attack oriented game.
Which would imho be a shame, because I enjoy a good defence.

Sometimes(well, quite often in PR) gameplay > realism.

Your'e 100% correct. Gameplay > Realism, but that is no excuse for bettering BOTH of them. As it stands now, Defenders have the undeniable edge, and we even have a problem of useless FOB placements or obvious ones. This change would ultimately punish the team with those inferior tactics.

Artillery won't benefit the attackers, because the defenders themselves have artillery available as well. It will make the commander a TRUE tactician. He will be responsible for controlling the FLOW of battle. And in this Artillery Enhanced format, the flow of the battle is everything if you want victory. Isn't that how it is IRL?

[kf_reaper]

i agree with Operator009. and i think to it would make more ppl want to play as commander.

edit...
it would be nice to see a UAVwith 2 hellfire for the commander to use and laze targets out there.

[BlackwaterSaxon]

It would make more people go for the role of Commander, but at the same time, I don't play PR so I can be a pawn in a 1v1 RTS game, the Commander has just enough responsibility at the moment to make him an important role, implementing these suggestions would instead make him integral to a game, instead of the Commander being more of an asset as they are currently.

But what happens when an Insurgency game comes up and artillery is getting spammed every 15 minutes? The Insurgency mode makes a fair number of people cringe already, I can see people leaving servers or changing sides quite frequently as a result of these suggestions, unless Insurgency Commander assets could be modified somewhat.

[goguapsy]

Yeah I believe that fast-recharging artillery would really hurt gameplay - firefights is something I enjoy a lot. And artillery, as you pointed out, IS a view, but just because it's rare.

BTW BlackwaterSaxon, matching signatures ^.^

[Hotrod525]

Real Artillery is ready to shoot in less than 5min in real life you know'

[BlackwaterSaxon]

Real Artillery is ready to shoot in less than 5min in real life you know'

Doesn't change the fact that gameplay trumps realism every time, it'll just act as a crutch and lead to many more BLUEFOR > ALL game outcomes.

[Operator009]

Artillery is avail to opfor aswell you know... hell, sometimes blufor only has a jdam, not mortar or arty. Its almost like the game is already set up that way concerning artillery available on every map. 30min arty barrage vs 15-20min mortar barrage on ins = epic

I dont agree with a UAV overhaul at this point unless its an interface or map icon addition to the feature. Some of you are pointing out that firefights would be rendered obsolete in an artillery enhanced game. Not true.

What it WILL do is encourage Foxhole placement (they survive artillery) and hence encourage FOB placement in strategically valuable areas. You want a firefight? Imagine mortars coming down all around you in your foxhole as you and your squadmates crouch and start firing into the tracer rounds coming at your general directions. Imagine when the mortars stop and the carnage of the battle is revealed. And now to plan the counterattack.

[boilerrat]

How often is artillery used IRl in a 32 v 32 situation?

[Hunt3r]

How often is artillery used IRl in a 32 v 32 situation?

How often do soldiers respawn at a FOB in 30 seconds?

[Operator009]

How often is artillery used IRl in a 32 v 32 situation?

ODA team's primary role is to call in CAS or Artillery. If anything, PR is a 32 vs 32 ODA team. Its not even a full platoon either.
So how often is artillery used? Apparent policy is 'Whenever its needed'.

[Operator009]

How often do soldiers respawn at a FOB in 30 seconds?

Hence the importance of callling in arty on enemy fob's (entrenched locations) to cut off re-iforcements or in preparation for an attack.

[BlackwaterSaxon]

Hence the importance of callling in arty on enemy fob's (entrenched locations) to cut off re-iforcements or in preparation for an attack.

Or just to make gameplay even slower?

[Operator009]

Or just to make gameplay even slower?

How would it make gameplay slower? It wouldn't do any such thing. The only issue of timing it would change is that there would be a NOTICEABLE push from OPFOR or BLUFOR. Doesn't this sound better than the current chaos we have now?

[BlackwaterSaxon]

How would it make gameplay slower? It wouldn't do any such thing. The only issue of timing it would change is that there would be a NOTICEABLE push from OPFOR or BLUFOR. Doesn't this sound better than the current chaos we have now?

It would not equate to a noticeable push, it would mean that assaults on positions would only go down every 15 minutes after an artillery barrage, as everyone else would be thinking "Let's not run in there just yet, artillery is back up in 15, we'll hold here", as opposed to "might as well attack this position, artillery still has 40 minutes left on it", why bother risking tickets when you can sit back and wait for the artillery to come in before you attack.

[Operator009]

It would not equate to a noticeable push, it would mean that assaults on positions would only go down every 15 minutes after an artillery barrage, as everyone else would be thinking "Let's not run in there just yet, artillery is back up in 15, we'll hold here", as opposed to "might as well attack this position, artillery still has 40 minutes left on it", why bother risking tickets when you can sit back and wait for the artillery to come in before you attack.

This is not only realistic, but I'm CERTAIN if you play just ONE coordinated round with the Artillery Enhancement you will definately change your mind. Giving the player more Carrots than Sticks benefits gameplay AND realism. I don't quite know if the previous versions of PR or if the DEVs have even given more than a thought on something so trivial, or so I believe. Can we get a Dev's opinion on why the artillery timer is set to the way it is and not longer or shorter?

[Rudd]

I'd rather leave the area attacks be, but additions could be interesting.

for example Sniperdog told me about an idea he had, where you have a artillery spotter vehicle, it fires artillery shells that come from 5000m behind it, so you could say have 2 mags of 10 rounds, takes 120seconds to reload a mag, so in gameplay terms the vehicle would guide in 2 barrages and then return to main, reload and come back.

this would also be a way of bringing MRLS strikes ingame I think.

[killonsight95]

i l;ike that idea, however i think that if we do shorten artillary timer maybe there should be a ticket cost, maybe 10-15 per strike, so it should only be used on valuable assets, such as enemy FOB's and strike points this way artillary may be used in a tactical way and only used when needed not just on the first FOB you see once the strike is ready

[Teek]

I'd rather leave the area attacks be, but additions could be interesting.

for example Sniperdog told me about an idea he had, where you have a artillery spotter vehicle, it fires artillery shells that come from 5000m behind it, so you could say have 2 mags of 10 rounds, takes 120seconds to reload a mag, so in gameplay terms the vehicle would guide in 2 barrages and then return to main, reload and come back.

this would also be a way of bringing MRLS strikes ingame I think.

hmm, that would be interesting, as they do exist in real life as the
Stryker Fire Support Vehicle and M7 Bradley

but, I must call Eddie Baker to the stand to testify on their utilization (and while we are at it can we find out more about that Warhammer Bradley?)