[House Rules] A New Artillery Mission: Time on Target

[plloyd1010]

Does this kind of mission really need to be planned 1 turn, or more in advance?

Yes

There are 2 rational paths you can trace for the requirement.

The first, tracing the reality angle, is that the order, which is coming from battalion control or higher, says put fire on this point at this time. To pick something out of the air, let's say 49°10'08.2"N 7°34'06.0"E at 14:35:00. (it's in the Rhineland near the border, whatever). No the battery staff needs to plot fire, calculate time of flight, count backward to determine firing time so that the shells hit the target at 14:35:00. Oh yeah, synchronize your clock to the time base. All that while doing your regular job. No impose the graininess of game time. So, a couple turns out is not unreasonable.

The second would be the game rational. A ToT mission shifts fire effectiveness up by 1 or 2 columns. Assume that the Americans are calling in 3 batteries of 105mm OBA. That makes 54 points, which will resolve starting with the 42 column. With a ToT mission, that 42 moves to the 70+ column. Now that gain could be normalized, hence no need for a "mission", or it should come with some friction. Since there is already a normal process and resolution, that means friction, in this case a delay. Due to the dynamics of the game, plotting in advance is problematic, thus 1 turn out is reasonable.

Either way, now you have a decision point, which is what these games are all about in the first place. Is the column shift worth the risk of the target not being viable, and thus having weaker OBA fire on that turn, or not?