some thoughts on artillery units in the mod thus far Thread - Axis & Allies: Uncommon Valor mod for Axis & Allies

artillery units generally have much longer attack ranges in comparison to the original game. max range is a sub-division of the historical maximum range OR at least 20. attack values are based on the weight of the shell being fired. rate of fire is based on the best historical sustained rate of fire. so, if a gun actually took five seconds to load. that's the figure I used. if an obsolete gun required as much as 140 seconds to reload, that's the figure I used.

light artillery has a faster rate of fire, but lower attack values. there is an attack bonus against infantry based on the diameter of the shell. this means that a 15-pound shell fired from a 75 mm gun will only inflict 15 points of blast damage. there will be a 75-point gunfire bonus against infantry. this makes light artillery superb at destroying large groups of infantry. it makes light artillery extremely ineffective at destroying tanks and vehicles.

medium artillery will use the same attack formula. there will be a diameter-based attack bonus. there will also be a smoke enchantment that leaves affected regiments 'stunned'. they will have a larger morale penalty associated with a hit. they will generally damage more targets with a single shot.

heavy artillery will inflict more damage but will NOT have a diameter-based attack bonus against infantry. the reason for this was that one heavy artillery barrage could obliterate an entire regiment instantly. I elected to give heavy artillery a stronger shock/morale damage compared to medium artillery. the smoke enchantment is stronger and lasts a bit longer.

I tried getting artillery to cause damage to friendly units to make players more cautious about using artillery. all of my attempts at making this work have failed.

I tried using the mana level of artillery units to make them run of out ammunition. although the mana level worked at stopping bombardment it created a problem. that artillery unit would not be able to bombard again. the unit would have to be destroyed and replaced before the artillery regiment could use the bombard command. for this reason, infantry-based artillery regiments will have artillery that performs a primary attack against the enemy and a secondary attack that damages itself. if a regiment is located within friendly supply lines, the unit will automatically be replaced. this forces players and the AI to do some micromanagement on artillery during a game. this is to prevent artillery from making indefinitely long barrages.

since halftracks enjoy higher levels of health and speed than infantry, I tried giving them a self-damaging attack. while this can certainly help keep the regiment from being over-powered, it doesn't do as much to prevent artillery mech regiments from easily overpowering infantry. with tanks and armored self-propelled guns this issue becomes even more difficult.

I've decided to eliminate the bombard command from all artillery units that are in halftrack or tank regiments.

this helps prevent artillery tank regiments from completely dominating the game.

in some cases, like the heavy Soviet assault guns or Japanese artillery tanks, they were generally restricted to line-of-sight fire support for infantry. artillery tanks had become so powerful that basically nothing short of air power, or artillery, could defeat them.

Edited by: Gizmotron