Towing Guns

[Dion]

Some guns are too heavy to push, and as such require a vehicle to tow them. These vehicles are marked with an *. Since there are small vehicles, such as Jeeps; larger vehicles such as trucks (three different sizes), and Prime Movers; all terrain vehicles, such as Half Tracks, APC’s, tanks and so on, how do you know what type to buy? I see some guns have two asterisks, what does that mean?

[Suhiir]

Originally Posted by Dion

Some guns are too heavy to push, and as such require a vehicle to tow them. These vehicles are marked with an *. Since there are small vehicles, such as Jeeps; larger vehicles such as trucks (three different sizes), and Prime Movers; all terrain vehicles, such as Half Tracks, APC’s, tanks and so on, how do you know what type to buy? I see some guns have two asterisks, what does that mean?

For the unit being towed you need to look at the "Load Cost".
For the unit doing the carrying look at the "Lift Capacity".

Generally speaking artillery (and some heavy mortars) have an "invisible" 100 added to their "Load Cost" to represent the artillery piece itself. So unless your truck has a "Lift Capacity" of 100+ it cannot tow artillery.

Also check the 10's and 1's digits.

Example #1: A truck has a "Lift Capacity" of 126, your artillery piece has 10 listed as it's "Load Cost". The effective Load is 110 thus will fit on the truck.

Example #2: A truck has a "Lift Capacity" of 108, your artillery piece has 10 listed as it's "Load Cost". The effective Load is 110 thus too large for the truck.

As to the vehicles marked with an "*".
Once upon a time this may have had a meaning but its no longer an indicator to be relied on.

[Dion]

Sounds pretty simple, just add 100 to the gun's Load Cost and compare it to the vehicle's Load Capacity.

Sorry, I made a mistake when I started this thread, I stated that some vehicles have an "*", I meant some gun's have an "*". Though, I'm sure I've seen some guns rated with two asterisks. This might have beenn MBT or WW2, I'm not sure which.

[iCaMpWiThAWP]

You should also note that vehicles are heavier than guns, and you will need a lift capacity of at least 200-something to load them up.

[thatguy96]

Just to note, unless something has changed, the load cost is calculated by figuring out the sum of the unit's weight and its personnel. Weight is generally either 0, 100, or 200, but many vehicles have an arbitrary addition to their weight to help make sure that only certain other "vehicles" can carry them (LCMs and the like usually having the max carry capacity, which IIRC is 256 or something). The real problem as I remember it is that weight is not noted in the purchase screen. I'm not sure whether its mentioned in the encyclopedia screen either.

[gila]

Originally Posted by Dion

I'm sure I've seen some guns rated with two asterisks. This might have beenn MBT or WW2, I'm not sure which.

I know the asteriks concerning arty in WW2,mean they have a higher load-out(ammo)than the same guns in thier class.

[Mobhack]

Originally Posted by gila

I know the asteriks concerning arty in WW2,mean they have a higher load-out(ammo)than the same guns in thier class.

Wrong.

Off-map batteries with a + sign added to their name by the OOB designer have additional ammo (and hence cost). Usually a 50% or a 100% hike in rounds. (With 100% I would usually prefer to buy a second battery for a few points more, since that is 2 channels of fire the enemy have to counter-battery, and you can always leave the second on counter-battery duties for later use in the assault). MBT naming conventions are different - it may be used for bomblets?. Been a while since I looked.

Guns are asterisked if they need a truck to tow, ie load cost is (100+crew). i.e. most if not all of of them, basically. 2 ** is applied to guns with a size > 2. So it just means that is a great big easy to spot target. Size 3+ guns may have needed a heavier truck to carry them in SP1, but I think that was all gone by SP2 times. The asterisk only appears appended to the gun name on the purchase screens as far as I recall - as a planning aid when buying your toys.

Andy