Indirect Fire in AT-43
by Erik Lind
Using indirect fire can be disastrous for your enemy in battle. Though yes, indirect doesn't sound nearly as menacing as direct fire, but when you see the destruction it can dish out, you'll learn to love indirect fire. So how does one use indirect fire effectively, and why would you want to consider using it in the first place?
For the most part it costs less to equip your AFVs and infantry with indirect weapons, but don't think that because of this you're getting less in firepower! When you use indirect weapons, you get the luxury of dealing out area effect damage. This means that as long as you succeed, everyone caught in the blast damage is effected, which can result (if you're lucky in your rolls) in one-shotting an entire unit!
Before the destruction
The beauty about indirect fire is it ignores cover. Those pesky infantry that constantly dig in behind a cement wall will be surprised when mortar shells rain down on them! In some cases, you can even score some hits on AFVs if your damage rolls are adequate (it's always nice to see Red Dragons on your dice in these dire situations). And don't forget about infantry's grenades. Remember that when tossing these in, each successful hit increases the blast damage radius by one centimeter (throwing a lot of grenades will be devastating!).
The whole unit is hit!
Using indirect fire tactically is something to use to your advantage as well. One thing is damaging a unit that you cannot draw line of sight to. If there is a unit that you can see and is close to the other unit, hope for a miss on your roll. If your shot deviates in the correct direction (make sure to roll for it) you can wreak some havoc on that unit that thought they were in the clear. Also, even if you don't have enough damage to take out some infantry, you can still knock them down, possibly grounding the whole unit. Doing this delays them for the turn and can become an achilles heel for your enemiy's forces. Personally, I've seen three-star infantry grounded for 4 turns because of this, and as a result, watched that side suffer its slow and painful demise. Finally, and most painfully, if you play as the U.N.A., you can laser-target your enemies with your TacArms units. This allows all your indirect fire units to blast away at a unit that cannot be seen!
In the wake of destruction.Though indirect fire isn't as concentrated of a blast nor will it give you that gratifying feeling of rolling a handful of dice on your various difficulty rolls, it will prove useful when you're being overwhelmed by your opponents. One successful blast and in a matter of seconds the scales of war could tip in your great favor!
To sum it up, here's what needs to be remembered when it comes to using indirect fire:
- Indirect fire ignores cover.
- Shots will deviate on a miss.
- Even if you can't take out the whole unit, grounding them will prove just as useful.
- The larger the blast damage, the more chaos you can inflict!
Good luck and fire away!
