Here come the guns! Artillery in Battletech

[pokefan548]

Again, though, this narrative falls apart when outside of some states (looking at you Dracs) Mercs have been shown to perfectly legally purchase, salvage, and/or own transportation and combat aerospace assets, BattleMechs of all shapes and sizes, and so on. At that point, I feel that that artillery falls very well within the bounds of established precedent. Really, there are very few things that are widely withheld from non-state actors, usually WMDs and certain experimental technologies.

BattleTech may be feudal, but that doesn't mean that every bit of 9th-15th-century legislature and policy applies in equal measure.

[Colt Ward]

I am not disagreeing they could buy it if they wanted to, but the culture as written and presented by the authors/TPTB is that the military culture of/for mercenaries is against having support assets.  The priority is improving/gaining direct combat assets.  It is the same sort of artificial setting/universe rule that limits the expansion/development of aerospace fighter forces and warships.  More effective artillery threatens mech supremacy . . . especially 3/5 assault waddlers.

Which means we get average/run-of-the-mill merc commands that do not have adequate support elements while special/elite/hero commands have that support.  This is also not a surprise, we get IRL cases where people make decisions that are penny-wise but pound-foolish to operate businesses.  Rent a facility because you do not need it all the time, but not realizing that it costs you annually more than if you had bought a comparable facility and just dealt with it being vacant at times.  Or the flipside, buy something because it is 'cheaper' to own than rent but not factoring in the taxes, maintenance, and all the other attendant costs.

Heck, just like effective use of artillery is math, the effective production (because artillery is math) is itself math and most importantly quality control.  A well equipped BT merc machine shop SHOULD be able to hand build their own artillery systems- you need a long enough lathe and a source of the right material to be proper barrels the lathe will bore.

[Daryk]

All of that says "subcontractors" to me... it seems a small artillery force (by which I mean at least a battery plus security) could certainly hire itself out for a profit on the secondary market.  When you need it, you NEED it...  ^-^

[Elmoth]

Now we need them to be easy to transport as well (light vehicles) and move with the advancing force of mechs.

[I am Belch II]

Can Battletech Artillery do like the all-at-once hit? Like modern Artillery can fire 3 or 4 shots and make the rounds hit a target all the same time??

[Colt Ward]

Not really any more . . . you COULD before if plotted out the distance and moved up a time of flight . . . IE, fire at 3 rounds away, move up and cross the threshold to lower it to 2 rounds away.

Can Battletech Artillery do like the all-at-once hit? Like modern Artillery can fire 3 or 4 shots and make the rounds hit a target all the same time??

As far as I have heard, it is really a 'cool' selling feature right now that I do not know if it is being used by tube artillery.

[idea weenie]

Can Battletech Artillery do like the all-at-once hit? Like modern Artillery can fire 3 or 4 shots and make the rounds hit a target all the same time??

The only way that I could currently see that being done is if the artillery platform can move fast enough that it fires each shot in each closer range bracket.

So first the artillery system is at a range where the munition takes 5 turns to arrive, then the artillery system moves forward far enough in 1 turn so it is at a range where the munition will take 4 turns to arrive, then moves forward again where it is now close enough for the munition to take 3 turns to arrive, etc.  Result is all the munitions arrive at the same turn.

Unless the artillery can only be fired when the mounting unit was stationary for that turn?

If that ability does not exist, then it would likely fall under Fan Rules

[Daryk]

Well, it's trivial to mount a Thumper on a Saladin, so... maybe? ???

[Known Glitch]

 May the blessings of our patron Saint Barbara be upon you all.

[Colt Ward]

Saint Barbara's is October?  I thought it was November, but it has been a long time since I went to a Ball.

[Known Glitch]

Saint Barbara's is October?  I thought it was November, but it has been a long time since I went to a Ball.

It's December 4th.  Just a fellow Redleg showing appreciation for this discussion.

[Minemech]

A pertinent tip for artillery in universe roleplay in Battletech scenarios is that non-mech units also can have artillery units attached and in greater number than the mech regiment that they are supporting. RCTs mislead players on this conception. You do not have to have a dedicated artillery unit as the only alternative way to incorporate artillery guns into your scenarios. Obviously you can play with the fluff as you please. Do not gauge how Houses employ artillery on the basis of what is directly attached to their mech units, though that does matter.

[Daryk]

In the absence of effective mortars, artillery is the only really effective way to attach that level of fire support to any formation.

[mbear]

This is the design I read came from a light tank chassis used in Korea firing a 8in (or 203mm)-

That image doesn't come up for me, but according to Dad (retired redleg) his 8" cannons were M110s. They used the same chassis as M107s.

Also, created the Redleg ArtilleryMech just because I could.

[Colt Ward]

The 8-in of various flavors was in use until IIRC the late 80s- I know that is when my unit traded them in for MLRS . . . just in time for Desert Storm!

With this being from a light tank, I wonder if they used the Sheridan for the base.  The last generation of 8-in was a larger track base and a longer tube.

[Failure16]

With this being from a light tank, I wonder if they used the Sheridan for the base.  The last generation of 8-in was a larger track base and a longer tube.

The hull/chassis is not from a light tank, but rather a light recovery vehicle, the M578 (the "cherry picker"):






There is no way an M551's aluminum hull could take on a howitzer, since it could barely handle the purpose-built 152mm main gun.

[Daryk]

I refuse to believe that tiny yellow block could stop a tracked vehicle from moving...  :D

[Colt Ward]

Caption said light tank . . . but it is not that either unless they modified the length- count the road wheels & sprockets.  Besides, in regard to the Sheridan- if you look closer at the image, it does not have the armor frame/hull on top.

Little more digging identifies that as a M41, which was built on a lengthened M24 Chaffee light tank chassis.  Only 85 were produced out of 250 ordered, cancellation of the order was in 1945.  As I mentioned, they were used almost exclusively in the Korean war after which they were retired from US inventory though said to have influenced the later SP tube artillery designs.

[DevianID]

Just wanted to throw in that the range of artillery in battletech must be longer.  If a shell flies x maps in 1 turn, its easy to calculate a total horizontal and vertical velocity.  While the shells in btech are slow, they also are low angle.  If fired at 45 degrees instead of lile 10, the time in flight goes up but the distance goes up a ton as well.  Even our real arty that goes 50km takes AGES to do it, taking multiple minutes.  So btech artillery can shoot farther, but the speed of the game is so fast that shots from far away would take 12+ turns to arrive.

[Minemech]

Just wanted to throw in that the range of artillery in battletech must be longer.  If a shell flies x maps in 1 turn, its easy to calculate a total horizontal and vertical velocity.  While the shells in btech are slow, they also are low angle.  If fired at 45 degrees instead of lile 10, the time in flight goes up but the distance goes up a ton as well.  Even our real arty that goes 50km takes AGES to do it, taking multiple minutes.  So btech artillery can shoot farther, but the speed of the game is so fast that shots from far away would take 12+ turns to arrive.

Artillery in Battletech is intentionally nerfed to keep it from becoming PBI-tech.

[Daryk]

Lindybeige has a recent video that provides some perspective on the receiving end of artillery.  No links because Rule 4, but he should be easy enough to find on YouTube.