BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Game Systems => Ground Combat => Topic started by: Colt Ward on 06 November 2016, 09:56:39
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This question occurred to me as a spin off of the artillery fire control/targeting computer discussion. In artillery we have the concept of 'masking terrain' which is when your firing point is on one side of a mountain and your target is in the ballistic 'shadow' of that mountain. How/why the area is masked can be a mix of things- range, munition types, guidances from higher and of course actual terrain.
For instance if I am close to the mountain, depending on the munition, the azimuth could just be cranked really high so the firing arc resembles a upside down 'U' to hit a target on the other side. Some weapons cannot elevate the barrels enough to achieve that sort of ballistic arc- typically howitzers shoot 'out' while mortars shoot 'up' and rockets . . . well, they are a bit more special.
Unfortunately the range for Long Toms, Snipers, Thumpers and A4 are so anemic that when placed on a firing point for anything but a salt pan it should have a few places that due to elevation changes are 'masked' to fires. Typically this is something brushed over on a tactical map but . . . what about the strategic map type campaigns discussed in Campaign Ops, especially the type where two opposing players move across the map like its a chessboard?
In such a situation, depending on the strategic play area you can easily run into range problems for firebases or artillery on the move. Stack on top of that if you have areas of canyons, cliffs or mountains you can easily have a map zone where artillery would not be able to hit targets or even fall on the map sheets. Granted this would not usually be the area that is best to move forces through, but at mechs are all-terrain it would provide another advantage to using pure mech forces (or at least BA limited to Omnis for rides) across a strategic scale.
Anyone used this or even plotted it out on a map?