FSG Gunner & Squad Coms

[oberKGBler]

Hi guys,

Im new to Arma 3 and after some try and error only play on your server (my game-nick is Grim). You guys have a really nice community, always someone willing to give a noob like me some help.

Now to my 3. Question.

1.
Yesterday I tried to play as FSG Gunner for the first time. Worked well so far (didnt kill my own guys with the few rounds i fired), but how do you guys handle communication with the squads?
As I see it with my limited experience you have 3 ways to spot fire missions for the mortar.

- direct line of sight
- UAV operator
- Squads on the ground

I would like to communicate with the squad leaders to recieve fire missions and to warn squads for incoming shells.

Do you guys use the command channel for that?

2.
Handling the mortar alone is quite a task. Especially at the spawn when I have to do at least two trips to a transport vehicle without have it taken between the trips. (and after waiting to spawn one)
Wouldn´t it be a good idea to have an assistant gunner? I know from other topics that the FSG slots are often open but you could give the assistant gunner a rifleman kit so he could be played as one when the slots get fuller.

The benefit for mortarhandling would be huge as:

-one guy could handle the vehicle while the Gunner is loading up the mortar
-you can transport the mortar in one go from the vehicle to the firing position
-you could use the assistant gunner as forward observer in a covered firing postion
-the assitant gunner can defend the firing position when engaging from close distance (like i did last night...was quite suprised when those guy spawned in front of me  )

3.
Flare rounds seem to have very little effect. I guess the night lighting settings cant be adjusted a bit?

thx in advance
sry for my english...


P.S.: cudos for the callsign DEATHSTAR!

[Pilger]

The best way to do it is to get a "suitable" person in your team/squad to get a good over-view of the AO and mark the map for you as accurately as possible.  This actually is quite tricky sometimes as the person marking the map needs to read the map and look at the actual features on the ground.  You can also provide mortar support for a larger squad or get you FSG team leader to relay targets to you from other squads as he will hear other squad leaders on the radio.

 

We used to give mortar support to anybody via side chat but that is discouraged now as it leads to too much chatter on the side channel which people find annoying and distracting.

 

If you get a good spotter you can totally annihilate the bad guys and get hundreds of kills.  However be careful its easy to nuke friendlies too.

[Stanhope]

1: You can always type out what you want to say to squadleaders in command channel. Or simply use side channel because some squad leaders might not warn their squad of incoming shells.

 

2: We already have, he's called FSG teamleader.  But as you have noticed that's not really an effective way of doing it.  What i usually do is take a car/truck and put 2x mortar bipods and several mortar tubes in the back.

 

3: I've seen them work perfectly, i've seen them be ineffective. And i don't have the slightest idea why this is, maybe someone else has?

[oberKGBler]

Hi guys, thank you for your replies.

Good that you point the FSG teamleader out. The FSG leader slot was always empty when I was on the mortar and I never played as leader so far. I didnt now they have common coms.
So the FSG TL and the command channel / side channel will provide me with coms. 1. solved  

The FSG TL can help me with the mortar transport. 2. solved

Point 3. is my least issue.

so thx again

[Nibbs]

For point 1, since I never have an FSG team leader, I typically take the mortars up to a vantage point where I can see the AO through field glasses, but place the mortar behind a rock so people can't direct fire at it. When you spot an enemy through binoculars/Laser designator/rangefinder, they show on the artillery computer for a few seconds, so you have time to jump on the mortar and loose a few rounds. Just remember not all friendlies show on the artillery computer so check the map before firing.

 

For point 2, there are arsenal guys you can drive a vehicle to, to load it up. such as the one next to the Hummingbird spawn point. People usually won't take one if they see you loading it up right next to the arsenal guy

 

For point 3, I've never had a flare round appear to do anything from a distance, but I've occasionally heard people closer to the action saying they're useful. But then every squad also has a grenadier position who can fire flares, so they don't seem worth using all that much on mortar.

[oberKGBler]

Hi Nibbs,

@1 Yeah thats what I did. Jumping on and off the mortar/art.computer is quite annoying. When do friendlies appear on the arty computer? I didnt have a single spot in an hot AO...

@2 Thats a good one! I didnt run around the base too much... Didnt want to get in the way of someone who knows what he is doing, so I wasnt aware that there are arsenal guys outside. ^^

@3 Jup, thats true. In RL mortar flare is quite impressive. (Still nothing compared to the 155mm flare rounds of my loved 109´s ) Maybe the find a way to light it up a bit.

thx