Brief description
I want to see whether it is modable to build a Mortar Pit emplacement that feels more like a trench, than the immersion breaking "building" that the maligned mortar pit is known for.
The UKF player will be able to build mortars from their T2, and they will have the option of building vacant mortar pits for their mortars. While the mortars are located inside the mortar pit, they can benefit from:
- Some kind of defensive bonus (something better than heavy cover)
- Some kind of offensive bonus
The bonuses could be arbitrary (e.g., -10% reload time. -60% damage taken).
The idea is that if this is moddable and visually-appealing, we might be able to convince Relic to accepting this into the mainline.
Why this is important
Currently, the Mortar Pit is the cornerstone and the cause of the Brit sim city. Suppose you want to build a Bofors:
- Brits lack mobile indirect fire
- The mortar pit is expensive, so that it is not too spammable
- Thus, the mortar pit has to outrange all other indirect fire (otherwise it is useless)
- This creates a problem when you want to take down a Bofors cannon that is flanked by 2 mortar pits.
If we could create a garrisonable mortar pit, we could immediately do the following:
- The mortar pit will have absolutely no more need for its insane range (if you are under attack, you can relocate)
- No more need for brace (overwhelmed? you can retreat)
- No need to retain bofors barrage (if you want to defend your bofors, you can relocate your mortars)
Detailed description
Basically, this mod should give the UKF player the ability to create the following two entities;
1. The Brit 3 inch mortar
If the animations for it exist in the game files, then please do. Otherwise, just copy-paste any existing mortar and call it the 3 inch mortar. I don't think anybody will care.
The stats of the mortar are irrelevant.
2. Mortar Pit
Basically, this is an empty pit. While there is no mortar garrisoned, it would be nice if you could completely remove both the crew and the mortars to simulate a vacant pit.
If it is not possible to remove the mortars, you can simulate this by simply removing the crew.
Garrisoned pit
Since Relic gave us a double-mortar pit, this is where it gets tricky. If you could make the visual representation match the number of garrisoned mortars, that would be awesome.
e.g., if there is only one mortar garrisoned, there should be only one mortar visible.
Mortar Pit buffs
Make them something minor (like -10% reload time etc). However, please be sure that the buffs:
- Apply on each mortar only once
- Are removed from the mortars once they exit the pit
(i.e., no buff stacking)
Pit/Mortar death events
Let's make the Mortar Pit a bit more durable than the trench, so that Mortars will, realistically, die first before the pit is destroyed.
Both the proposed modifications aim to make the mortar pit less of a death trap for the garrisoned mortars (else, why would you EVER place 2 mortars in such a vicinity to one another).
- Mortar dies
When a mortar dies inside the pit, the mortar should drop outside of the pit and be recrewable.
- Pit dies
Both mortars survive and remain where the mortar pit was previously at (just like an MG team does when the occupied trench is destroyed)
Mortar variety (optional)
It is entirely possible that a UKF player may capture other factions' mortars. If it is possible to copy-paste the garrisoned mortar stats into the mortar pit weapons. That would be great.
If it would also be possible to copy-paste the visual style of the garrisoned mortar it would be ace!
In the grand scheme of things, it won't matter as much, though.
Barrage/abilities from within the mortar pit
If possible, it would be nice to be able to access the mortars' barrage ability while the mortars are garrisoned (otherwise, why would people garrison their mortars if it makes their ability less accessible than before?)
If this is not possible, it would be nice to copy-paste the barrage weapon stats into the mortar weapon entity (just like the procedure outlined in the "Mortar variety" subsection).
In the latter case, the mortar pit emplacement would endow a permanent barrage-status ability to the garrisoned mortars, and that would be the only buff that it provides.
What about Bofors/17pdr?
We can solve the Bofors problem easily by making it something between the OKW flak base and the OKW flak emplacement. There should be some middle ground where Bofors can stand up on its own, be counterable by indirect fire and AT fire, and hold up against infantry. Brace is optional here (since there's Popcap requirements).
The 17pdr makes absolutely no sense as an emplacement. It is currently counterable by AT guns and tanks (which it should counter instead). On the other hand, it is nearly invulnerable to infantry rushes (which it should be completely vulnerable to). Copy-pasting a unit that works (Pak43) would be the best idea, I believe.