Artillery

[[Ret]Finchy]

Hey noobs, something I was actually looking forward to in Arma was promises of realistic artillery, which never materialised. A while ago now I saw an addon called "Realistic artillery" (http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=2121) by JoneCrusher (I think). I messed around with it myself once and since have been trying to think of the best way this addon can be implimented into Arma gameplay. I thought about it for aTow and I figure why the hell not post it and see what people think about it, if anything it can bring a new dimension to aTow. I think it would be great to have artilery that can be moved around (attached to vehicles) and be fired from almost anywhere. I for one may struggle computer performance wise if the tournament pushed further into north sahrani and I'd still like to be able to stay in the battles in a means other than being a SAM operator.

Thoughts?

Other ideas or use for it could be for flares/smoke shields/mining areas :p

[Jamie]

Flares/Smoke may be a good way of testing it in a battle, then deciding how hard it is to implement, and if HE rounds should be added.

If its a type of arty which is hard to use (ie, would take as much training as a helo/m1a1/SAM) then i think it would be great.

[[ATOW]BarmyArmy]

I've seen and even used some artillery mods for VBS1 which seemed impressive and might give different balance issues than the current LD weapons.

I'll have a dig in my CD collection.

BA

[[UN]SGen.ViperMaul]

-7- and I know Jones and he said he would be willing to help us integrate it if we choose.
But we have to find a way to make it balanced. Out of all the Arty ones out there it seems this one is the best candidate for attempting to balance.

If people like it we can put it in the beta for campaign 2.

[{Ret}Bond]

Yeah when i had a little play with it, it was quite tricky to put accurate Shells down range making it a skillful job which would be a good addition to the toruny.

[[ATOW]BarmyArmy]

Finding a means to prevent people just arty spamming the flags will be the biggest issue...

Mb. well actually force people to do their own projectile math.

Slide-rules out..

BA

[{7}21|Burns]

You could limit the ammo so it costs resources as well as the cannons costing as well.

Then they couldn't just be spam fired.

[[Ret]Finchy]

well the biggest downside to it as it is, is its difficulty to use. Its not a point and shoot system it would require real skill and teamwork to get it to work well.

[Jamie]

well the biggest downside to it as it is, is its difficulty to use. Its not a point and shoot system it would require real skill and teamwork to get it to work well.

That is a good point IMO.

Means you have to be really trained to use it, and not just anyone to use it.

[Moody]

If there was a way, as Barm mentioned, to make it that the operator had to do the math, angles, etc... (e.g. this charge does this flight profile, im shooting this far, so i angle it this way....) I'd be all for it.

There was an addon that added angle/distance/ etc to cannons that offered something close, and i tried to figure out using a graph how to do it accurately but it wasnt easy.

[BazookaBoy]

Yeah it is a mod that requires a lot of practice to get effective with. I think a cost to using would restrict it's use and that coupled with requiring skill should prevent it being too dominating.

[[DI]I|SSGT.Sprite]

if its the arty scripts Im thinkoing of someone has made an excel calculator for it which can be used by someone tabbed out.

[[Ret]Finchy]

Someone did make an excel spreadsheet for it but it is quite ambiguous. Over 1000metres difference between some of the angles he's lsited.

http://nsa01.casimages.com/img/2008/01/26/0801261014402156521.jpg

[{UN}.Nurmdog]

Range finding might be the problem, could take lots of rounds to get it right. We discussed range finders at one point, would help out. Cool thing would be you have limited ammo and need a rearm truck. We would need to make sure the Arty pieces can't sit in the bubble and be protected, and that they could only be hauled by 5 ton or Ural.

[[ATOW]BarmyArmy]

Hmm, I'd also ensure windspeed was factored into any flight, plus elevation of a) shooting position, b) target.

I'd be interested to hear what potential defenders/attackers of say Mercallillo Castle would have made if an arty strike had landed in the middle of their valiant assault/defence.

[{7}9th|GinSoakedBoy]

If people are moaning about tanks and helos, adding arty is only gonna result in more moaning.

[Steveak44]

yup. limited use when we get to 100vs100 would be cool.

[{A}1st|Pvt.WolfFlight]

I have used this addon with the guys I regulary play with

trust me....

this is not a magic bandaid to make one side super powerful against another

one gun only places 1 round in the target area.... not much different from 1 helo or tank placing one round or rocket in an area....

deadly but if you aren't in that spot you don't get hit

it takes A LOT of practice to get the firing right
it takes A LOT of practice to spot for the artillery

with lots of teamwork and practice it would be a very helpful addition.... even in battles of 20 vs. 20

as to the costs... well I would assume that the 'guys' running the tournament would have to balance that.....

but even assuming one side and one side only had the arty at a given time... they would have to allocate personnel to operate the arty and spot for the arty which is of course less people engaged in occupying an objective or flying a helo or in a tank.... so seems to me that in one degree it balances out

the guy in the M119 would be waiting patiently.... perhaps impatiently for his spotter to finally give him targeting info... then he still has to load and fire the cannon... wait for round(s) to impact then do it all over again when the spotter confirms on unconfirms the impact....

[{7}21|Cpt.Call]

I kinda like this whole idea...give an extra dimension to the battle field...just need to fix it so its costly to try and spam a capzone.