Yep. I posted design the to the fan design boards years ago. The SW3 version is even cheaper. ;)
I think artillery got banned from that campaign partly due to these guys. That and SOMEONE kept going nuts with the Arrow IV infernos.
I usually brought 2 and parked them far enough apart so they could cover each others' dead zones.
Back in the day, I parked 4 Thumpers in a spread out configuration so enemy counter battery couldn't take all of them out in one go. This also worked pretty well for an Arrow battery. It enabled me to use terrain-denial fire (this was before the somewhat insane expanded scatter rules in TacOps, you could actually use PLANNING with your artillery fire, without shells landing on-or-behind your firing vehicles!!)
People on the other end
hated that. Pre-registering the best cover on the map pays dividends, even with BMR-era 5/2 blast diagrams.
Main reason to use Sniper over AIV is ammo endurance per ton, doing those kind of curtain-barrages with multiple firing tubes. (I still recommend a full lance of four in bigger games/maps.)
why else? cost per shot. If you're in campaign, the price of ammo matters, and Sniper ammo is inherently cheaper to buy than Arrow IV missiles. I'm one of those nutters who will lob shell after shell, round after round, whether or not I see an enemy unit specifically in the zone. The concept of 'beaten zone' can influence what the other guy does, if he knows shells are landing, like most intelligent people, he'll hesitate to walk into that unless he is really
committed-and if he's that committed, the damage done by the arty will soften him up for the 'real' weapons in the game.
also gves you a chance for bluffing. If he sees your units shying away from an area, he'll assume it's being shelled after a bit.
Think on how you can use that. I've had Clanners with assault units back off quick from a flank, because they noticed I was pulling back. It let me shift forces to cover a weak flank he'd identified two turns earlier, and it got him to walk right into a barrage. (head games are fun!)
In the game, Artillery is a headgame. This is why solo pieces just aren't that useful, and why having more guns with more ammo per ton is a good idea. If all you have are guided AIV, that's just another AC/20, but with extended range. harder to play headgames with and if you're using 'stock' units, you really can't run all of your force with a TAG, so the tagger becomes your weak link.
lots of Min/maxers also min/max their risk analysis, if you know where the tagger is, you can engage or avoid them. otoh, if you KNOW that hill 'over thar' is having a lot of pretty explosions happening around it-but inconsistently (because BT arty is inconsistent) It becomes a lot riskier, lots of players won't take that risk.
this creates opportunities.
and, there's nothing quite like catching someone's assault omni, with point of elementals embarked, when the dice decide that all four shells are landing in or closely around their hex. heheheh. but that's a treat, it's really hard to plan on, what is easy, is when the odds to him of crossing a particular zone will result in having his precious Clan Ferro eroded by blast damage before he can get into PPC range if he goes down path "a" when he could be 'safe' from that fire by going down path 'b' (where your L-shaped ambush is lying in wait, hidden), that works better. so is having that really good hill/woods hex that's ideal for sniping your back line registered with every gun in your battery when he courageously tries to use the woods for cover while using the hill for partial cover to snipe your command post with his ERPPC/Gauss/ATM/whatever.
with preregistered hexes, you don't NEED a TAG.
but to play "Headgames with artillery" it helps to have slightly to significantly deeper ammo bays firing ammo that costs less.