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Artillery - The Infantry's Best Friend

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2022-02-12 14:16:16

Introduction

Artillery is a weapon with a profound place in history. It made the stone and mortar castles of old obsolete, proved it worth in its psychological effects, and has remained a mainstay of the modern army to this day.

In Gates of Hell, it is a profoundly effective weapon, both in defense and in offense. Due to its astronomical cost compared to tanks or infantry, more than one unit usually cannot be fielded without sacrificing multiple tanks / infantry squads.

It is for this reason that I heartily recommend MrCookie's 'Conquest Enhanced' mod, which gives you a far greater amount of starting funds to buy units with. This will allow you to field as many as four heavy artillery pieces on your first round.

Now, with all the rigamarole out of the way - let's get into it.

Organization

Now, this might not be what you're expecting. "Why can't I simply get the artillery?"

Well, see, artillery is not a unit that can operate unsupported, unlike tanks.

The only reason they can operate unsupported is because they have enough internal ammo, and matches never last long enough for them to run out of fuel.

Artillery are the very definition of a 'supply-chain unit' - it can technically operate all on its lonesome, but to really reach its full effectiveness, it requires at the very minimum a towing vehicle. To sustain any sort of fire rate, particularly in defense, a supply crate will work temporarily, but it is far better to use a supply truck.

For this reason, you will want to at the very least bring an ammunition crate or trailer to keep your artillery firing, particularly in defensive missions.

Light Artillery / Infantry Guns

It is also worth knowing which 'class' your artillery falls into - 'infantry', 'light', or 'heavy'. This will influence how you use it.

'Infantry' guns are typically guns with short barrels and short range, like the 7,5cm liG howitzer. This allows them to 'lob' shells over obstacles at shorter ranges, and are used in the attack as assault guns, while being able to be moved by hand. Nearly all have gun shields, meaning they can (with difficulty) be used as a mobile shield to hide behind while advancing on a capture point. So long as the enemy has no tanks. Or AT rifles.

'Light' guns are mainly artillery or mortars beneath 122mm calibre; they can be moved by hand, but usually at speeds of less than 5-7km/h. Some can be towed by truck, but most are only moved by hand.

Technically, AT guns like the 3,7cm PaK fall into this category, though they are 'direct-fire' weapons more than artillery, meaning you will not be able to shoot over obstacles or from behind cover. They can work in both offensive and defensive, though not as well against infantry as against tanks.

Medium Artillery

Alright, at last, we come to the real cream of the crop in terms of a balance between cost and effectiveness - medium artillery. Really anything above 10,5cm leFH but below a 152mm falls into the category of 'medium artillery'.

These pieces are not the pinnacle of the doctrine of artillery, but they will get the job done. They can technically be moved by hand, but especially if you are trying to get them to a position quickly, a truck is very much advisable.

Their mediocre destructive power is offset by their shorter reload; they will be able to respond to a changing situation faster than heavy artillery - i.e. the target moved. Especially if you are targeting tanks, it can put more shells down-range than heavy artillery, sometimes with greater accuracy.

Their range is not sufficient to be immune to counterbattery fire - as such, you must be careful with them.Put them in a place where the enemy cannot easily flank or destroy your guns. These places include:

a.) Inside a village (preferably between houses), as obstacles like fences, houses, gateposts and piles of logs all catch HE shells, and hopefully shield the gun crew.

b.) On the reverse slope of a hill from the target. This makes the enemy's AT guns unable to hit it due to their flat trajectory.

c.) Inside a forest. Trees are notorious at eating all kinds of shells without any damage to the surrounding area. This includes yours as well as your enemy's, though, so make sure there aren't any trees directly in front of your muzzle!

The Heavies

You know 'em, you love 'em - give them a hand, folks!

It's the heavy artillery!

The Paris Gun, the Schwerer Gustav, the Long Tom, the Soviet 203mm - all these rank among the most famous artillery pieces in history.

In GOH, the biggest artillery piece you can get without mods is the last, but rest assured - even a 15cm sFH will be more than big enough for your purposes.

These guns can shoot from one corner of the map to the other, can shatter entire houses with a single hit, and make the killfeed scroll to the bottom of your screen. Any more than a few shots against any one area will render it bare of vegetation, trees, structures or fences. They are profound weapons of long-range annihilation, and their lengthy reloads and absurd weight and cost reflect that.

Without Mr. Cookie's Conquest Enhanced, a player could at most bring a single artillery piece, at the cost of at least 2 infantry squads or a tank. For this reason, to fully realize the power of heavy artillery, I highly recommend getting the aforementioned mod.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2741400123

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