Phantom artillery shoots

[Weasel]

Hi guys;

On 3 occasions now I have experienced "phantom arty shoots" at end turn. When I click the end turn button the game will show numerous batteries of the enemies arty shooting at me, but no rounds land and no damage is done. I cannot explain it; has anyone else experienced this?

It has happened in version 1.0 and 2.0, I have not played 2.5 yet.

I have the turn saved if required.

[thatguy96]

I only experience phantom shots when I've engaged the artillery units during my turn and they no longer have any shots. They're still slated to bombard in terms of the game, but they are either too suppressed or no longer exist to shoot at me.

[Weasel]

All of these occasions are within 5 turns of game start, so lots of ammo.

[Sewter]

Sometimes, it appears to happen when mixing HE artillery with AP (cluster type) artillery. Have you noticed this?

[Artur]

I experienced the phenomenon of artillery fire mission making the sounds of fireing but no shells landing...

I don't remember any other circumstances, but it was NOT out of ammo for sure...

Artur.

[Weasel]

Well at least I am not the only one. I know the cluster bombs don't show in the replays, but I should be able to see all arty land at turn end.

[DRG]

Attach the save you have and I'll look at it.

Give me some of your system info ( and anyone else who has had this happen )

Don

[Cameronius]

Yes, I've had this happen. It seems only to happen in the first turn after reloading a saved game and only to the AI's artillery (so I don't mind all that much). But it doesn't happen every time, It is intermitent. Also my system is old and slow.

[Cameronius]

PS I am using version 2.51.

[Weasel]

My opponent confessed that it is some arty trick he is using where the arty is "on call" but never shoots until he calls for it. Thus the game "thinks" the rounds have been shot but they haven't. I asked if he meant that he is plotting and then moving the target marker so the delay is always 1.1 but he said no. Don't know what he means and he hasn't replied to my queries any further yet.

[DRG]

We'll when he does let us know

Don

[narwan]

Could be he has his arty zeroed in but turned his tubes off. Could that show the pieces firing but no rounds actually landing?

Narwan

[Weasel]

Yep he just told me he turns them off. So the target marker is there but no rounds actually fire although the game still makes the arty shoot sound.

[Cameronius]

It's like having 1 round spotting without using up a round. This must be a cheat but at least you can see that he is doing it.

[Mobhack]

cameronmurdoch said:
It's like having 1 round spotting without using up a round. This must be a cheat but at least you can see that he is doing it.



Not reallly a cheat - there is an artillery technique called a "silent barrage" where the guns are laid on various likely targets on a preplanned schedule as with a normal barrage, however no rounds are fired until the observer gives a keyword. The barrage then starts firing live rounds from that point.

Useful when making a "quiet" assault, you only make noise once the cat is "out of the bag".

A rarely seen technique, though.

Cheers
Andy

[Cameronius]

"Not reallly a cheat - there is an artillery technique called a "silent barrage" where the guns are laid on various likely targets on a preplanned schedule as with a normal barrage, however no rounds are fired until the observer gives a keyword. The barrage then starts firing live rounds from that point."

Doesn't the game already account for this artillery practice in the deployment menu with preset artillery targets. IMHO reality= you can't be sure you will have rounds on target until you put rounds on target. But I was in the Infantry not the Artillery. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[SHortreengage]

Well, Crap http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif Weasel outed my Chief of Artillery http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/mad.gif

Yes indeed it is the little known but often employed in real life "Silent Program" A very simple and effective procedure. And no, the rounds will not be on target when they land.

The wooosh sound is also good for psycological purposes but should be removed.

[SHortreengage]

No that is actually different. The math for each target has been computed and stored. The guns are not laid on target. In the silent program the math has been done and guns laid on target (one and only one target) until told to fire or switched to the next target in the program.

[User_no_longer_active]

I know this is an ols post and I was hoping to find one dealing with this problem. I've had it happen quite a few times. Lots of ammo, no tubes turned off. It's happened to the AI as well a number of times. Unfortunately I haven't got any examples of this saved.
Any ideas why this happens in solitaire games?

[hoplitis]

Well, they're working on it (hopefully).
Have a look at:

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=404106&page=2&view=collap sed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=389092&page=0&view=collap sed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1#Post403872

[JamesG]

I realize that they must be aware of the situation. The only work around that I have found is to disable the standoff weapon of the firing aircraft. Doing that prevents the "Phantom Artillery" shots. I found that there is a link between "standoff" shots and the problem with phantom artillery. Awesome game otherwise. Keep up the good work.