Examining artillery behavior

[T-C]

Despite the guide at http://guide.wz2100.net/sensors, I never fully understood how indirect fire works in the game, so today I spent some time examining artillery behavior. Through experimentation, I established the rules of behavior listed below. Please let me know if I got anything wrong.

I find some of the rules to be unintuitive. I've highlighted these in red. They amount to this:

• Artillery often does nothing when it could be doing something. For instance, an indirect fire unit assigned to a sensor tower will be idle if that tower's target is out of range, even if there are other enemy units within range.
• Artillery units assigned to sensor and commander units will not hold their positions; instead, they move within ~10 squares of the sensor or commander and often cause traffic jams.

Can anyone provide insight into why artillery works this way?

-TC


1. Unassigned artillery

1.1. If it is not providing fire support to a command unit, an indirect fire emplacement will...

1.1.1. attack the closest enemy unit or combat structure which is within range and visible to the team
1.1.2. attack the closest enemy non-combat structure (i.e. wall, tank trap, factory, etc.) which is within range and visible to the team
1.1.3. do nothing

1.2. An indirect fire unit which is unassigned will...

1.2.1. follow manual orders
1.2.2. attack the closest enemy unit or combat structure which is within range and visible to the team
1.2.3. attack the closest enemy non-combat structure which is within range and visible to the team
1.2.4. do nothing

2. Artillery assigned to a sensor tower

2.1. A sensor tower's target is...

2.1.1. within its visible range, the closest unit or structure of the corresponding type for a specialized tower (e.g. artillery units for CB towers, sensors for radar detector towers, etc.)
2.1.2. within its visible range, the closest unit or combat structure
2.1.3. within its visible range, the closest non-combat structure
2.1.4. nothing

2.2. An indirect fire unit which is attached to a sensor tower will...

2.2.1. attack the tower's target if it is within range
2.2.2. do nothing

3. Artillery assigned to a sensor unit

3.1. A sensor unit's target is...

3.1.1. the manually assigned target
3.1.2. within its visible range, the closest unit or structure of the corresponding type for a specialized turret
3.1.3. within its visible range, the closest unit or combat structure
3.1.4. within its visible range, the closest non-combat structure
3.1.5. nothing

3.2. An indirect fire unit which is attached to a sensor unit will...

3.2.1. attack the sensor unit's target if it is within range
3.2.2. move toward the sensor unit's target if it has one
3.2.3. move to within ~10 squares of the sensor unit
3.2.4. do nothing

4. Artillery assigned to a command unit

4.1. A command unit's target is...

4.1.1. the manually assigned target
4.1.2. within visible range, the closest unit or combat structure
4.1.3. within visible range, the closest non-combat structure
4.1.4. nothing

4.2. An indirect fire emplacement which is providing fire support to a command unit will...

4.2.1. attack the command unit's target if it is within range
4.2.2. do nothing

4.3. An indirect fire unit which is attached to a command unit will...

4.3.1. attack the command unit's target if it is within range
4.3.2. move toward the command unit's target if it has one
4.3.3. move to within ~10 squares of the command unit
4.3.4. do nothing

[SexViperWheels]

I find the best way to handle artillery is to simply not assign them and have them grouped up with the main battle group you are controlling, and try to keep them back to the side away from any thin paths so that they won't block any retreating units.(assuming you repair low health units) They seem rather useless when assigned to units, as you cannot even control them yourselves.