Are mortars any good?

[Mormegil]

It seems most people prefer using artillery over mortars every time.

I find on maps like Spartanovka as Allies, I prefer to be able to more rapidly shift indirect fire, since the enemy can be grouped either on the left or right side, or often shift where they're concentrating. Since mortars has a shorter cool-down, I typically use them instead.

I know you get more sustained fire with artillery - but unless you are hitting their spawn exit, they'll stop running into it before the barrage is finished.

Thoughts?

[Mekhazzio]

I generally prefer mortars over howitzers. The shorter cooldown and heavier saturation tends to result both in stronger area denial and more kills. Players can sprint through the gaps in howitzer fire and frequently just plain be missed by them, but the mortar hit area, while smaller, is a guaranteed death zone.

[Frostedfire]

Originally Posted by Mormegil

I know you get more sustained fire with artillery - but unless you are hitting their spawn exit, they'll stop running into it before the barrage is finished.

Thoughts?

it takes a loong time for that barrage to stop though

similar to mehkazzio's method, mortars are for killing things and close support with less fear of tks, arty's for throwing at the back of a point and thinning out the reinforcements to that point dramatically, sadly katyushas only really seem to occupy a niche role where you know that the enemy team is badly-lead and you can try to ruin their entire defence (or sometimes attack) by wiping out a huge %age of the team in 30 seconds, just like I once did on commissars

[Mormegil]

I used Katyushas for the first time (apart from Gumrak) as Soviet on Red October Factory as an experiment.

Recon and experience told me the Axis would be bunched out in front of objective A on the left side in the ruins, so I marked it for rockets, and told my team about it and to go right side. I figure the rockets would wipe them out of objective and we could get a quick cap on A.

It worked pretty well (someone noted it was the fasted A cap they ever had). Problem was the cool-down was so long, we ended up loosing momentum. We barely got B & C before lock-down, and ran out of reinforcements (by 20) on the final objective.

[Keyser_Söze]

I only use mortars. Concentrated fire on a specific area that can be used more often than regular arty.

[Mekhazzio]

The rocket artillery is ideal for offensive barrages. They sweep a point clean in one big hit and let you move right in before the enemy gets a chance to respawn. It's especially potent on the last cap of Red October. That building has terrible roof coverage, and it's a dramatic difference in cap rate to just instantly remove 5-10 of the enemy from the area. If you get your team to play it safe and stockpile for about half a minute before the rockets come in, the surge immediately afterwards is all but guaranteed to get the objective.

I think the long cooldown is justified. Despite how much more often it's used, I've probably been killed less times by howitzers than by rockets. It's pretty easy to get out of a howitzer target area alive, but by the time you hear the rockets screaming, there's not a lot you can do about it.

Also, on Gumrak, mortars have zero cooldown. Not much reason to use anything else

[Holy.Death]

I use mortars when the enemy is heavily concentrated - not only will it strike fast but also will cover the targeted area better than artillery which is larger and longer but too wides when you need direct fire on your mark. In fact I kill more people with mortars rather than artillery fire.

Rockets are good when you are ready to attack - it'll kill multiple targets at once and won't give the defenders time to regroup or retreat. It is underused because of the cooldown and the common thought that "artillery is better" which is not always true.

I use artillery when targets are spreaded in a large area (there is no obvious mark for mortar fire). It also seems to discourage people from going into the bombarded area, so it can be used to slow down the enemy there.

[Mormegil]

Originally Posted by Mekhazzio

The rocket artillery is ideal for offensive barrages. They sweep a point clean in one big hit and let you move right in before the enemy gets a chance to respawn. It's especially potent on the last cap of Red October. That building has terrible roof coverage, and it's a dramatic difference in cap rate to just instantly remove 5-10 of the enemy from the area. If you get your team to play it safe and stockpile for about half a minute before the rockets come in, the surge immediately afterwards is all but guaranteed to get the objective.

Just did exactly that a couple of hours ago. Playing Soviet TL, and at the final objective with 0 reinforcements for both sides. Called in rockets to clear out, we waited for their artillery to run dry, and the few of us alive rushed in, and managed to take it. Also used rockets on the first objective to clear them out. It was a real long wait for the mortars on C though. But at least we got A fast. Great game.

[Johnny Utah]

Concur with all.

Side note: I wish they would incorporate creeping artillery barrages. This was a very common tactic in WW2 so you can move up behind your arty after it wipes 'em out…it'd be a fun option so arty isn't always just area denial.

[LogisticEarth]

Creeping or rolling barrages were usually achieved by having sections (~2 guns) or batteries (~4 guns) of artillery fire on different targets in sequence, not having the actual guns adjust during the salvo. So Battery A fires first, then Battery B fires a bit behind, Battery A then fires behind that, and so on.

This was possible in RO1, as your artillery wasn't restricted by an unrealistic cooldown timer, but instead had a (much more realistic) limited number of barrages you could call in. In RO2, with the cooldown timer, this now becomes impossible, as you have to wait usually 2:30-5:00 minutes in between barrages.

I'd really like to see a return of limiting the number of barrages, rather than this timer. This would allow for a much more diverse selection of artillery strikes. For example, a platoon leader might have 4 mortar strikes (Company-level mortars) and 2 artillery barrages (assigned from battalion command) available. He can call them all in at once, or space them out.

[Colt .45 killer]

katyushas have their purpose.

Red factory cap A is probably the best example, some of my fastest caps have been getting a katyusha wave down onto it within the first 30 seconds and killing ~ 10-20 people in a 64 man server.


Other then that, mortars are nice because of the cooldown and how accurate they are. Arty is great for its area of denial effects, and also for its killing power.