Indirect fire offers your faction a huge advantage when it comes to moving the fronts in your favour. Not only does it allow you to fire devastating barrages from safety, it can provide your faction infantry with cover and support to make their advances or to hunker down and defend against a push.
Here we'll go through a bag full of tips on how to get the most out of this very fun and rewarding gameplay loop.
15. What you will need
So I'm gonna give you a list of basics for the kinds of guns you're probably gonna be firing. From the small to the large. From that, you can work out your own checklist of items and work your way to getting them.
The Basics
You’ll need a set of binoculars for your spotter. A crate of 5 can be produced at the factory for 75 Bmats. Using them is as simple as equipping them. They fit into the secondary weapon slot. Aim them as you would any weapon and they will extend your vision out for many many metres.
They will also give you an indication of distance and azimuth. If you’ve never heard of the term azimuth before (I certainly hadn’t) it’s the equivalent of degrees/mils (milli-radians) on a compass.
Binoculars are going to be a key piece of equipment for any artillery so don’t forget to bring a few of them with you. If your spotter hasn’t got a pair then they probably shouldn’t be spotting for you just yet. Get them loading shells.
It's also worth having a radio equipped as this will give you real time intelligence updates of friendly and enemy movements at fronts in range of observation towers. You can pick these up at most Logi hub town bases or make a crate of your own for 75 Bmats.
Mortars
All you’re gonna need for these bad boys are a few crates of mortars. You’ll need 100 Bmats and 25 Rmats (refined materials acquired by scrooping competents) to produce a crate of 5.
You’ll also need mortar shells that will set you back 60 Bmats and 35 Emats (explosive materials refined from the same salvage as Bmats but take longer and consume more salvage at the refinery) for a crate for 15 shells. You can also get shrapnel and flare shells for 60 Bmats and 15 Emats, 60 Bmats and 10 Emats respectively.
Field guns
This gun is faction specific to the Colonials. It is a push gun, 120mm calibre field gun for indirect fire. It will need to be pushed into place and aimed by two people minimum. Which means the first thing you’ll need is at least one good friend.
You’re also gonna need a lot of 120mm shells. Thankfully, facilities are capable of mass producing these shells by the pallet and getting them loaded onto flat beds. You’ll just need to put the prep in to get it going.
You can produce these guns for 50 Rmats a piece or get a crate of 3 for 150 at a Mass Production Factory. You’ll then need a few flatbeds to carry them along with their pallets of ammo. Take a look at these chads to see what I mean. Needless to say, you’ll need some more prep work for these bad boys.
Emplaced Artillery
This is going to require even more planning and prep as you’re going to need a base to emplace your guns. It’s not completely necessary but having them placed in the proper octagons will give them an important defensive HP buff.
Emplaced artillery comes in heavy and light guns. You have;
- The Warden Huber Lariat 120mm costing you 35 Rmats a piece or 105 Rmats for a crate of 3 with a range of 100m - 300m
- The Warden Huber Exalt 150mm costing you 175 Rmats a piece or 525 Rmats for a crate of 3 with a range of 100m - 300m but you’re getting bigger shells and bigger bangs
- The Colonial 50-500 “Thunderbolt” Cannon costs you 195 Rmats a piece or 585 Rmats for a crate of 3 with a range of 200m - 350m. This one is also comes in 150mm calibre
You’re going to need some more flat beds to transport these to where you want to site them. Please don’t do what I have done in the past and forget to have a crane waiting to unload your flatbeds at your destination. It made me look rather silly and put a halt on any gunning until we could offload the cargo.
Gun Boats
Gun boats are faction specific but there is little to no difference. Both factions' gunboats cost the same amount of Rmats at 160 a piece or 480 for a crate. Both are 120mm calibre and have a range of 50m - 100m. The advantage that they have is that they can be deployed by boat and without the need to ship your ammo with multiple flatbeds, they serve as a very quick and effective means of harassing artillery fire by sea.
Storm Cannons
Not pictured is the loading room underneath where the shells are loaded by those lovely gun bunnies.
Storm Cannons are the biggest guns in the game. They fire a whopping 300mm shell. To put that into real terms perspective for all you war nuts, that is around a 1 foot diameter shell. Needless to say, it packs quite the punch. At a cost of 400 Concrete Materials a piece for the cannon alone once you have a base for it.
Storm cannons require their very own, topped out teched bunker base in order to be situated and utilised. This is gonna take you and yours because, let’s be honest, you’re definitely not doing this on your own, a lot of planning.
You’re going to have to get started on this project from the first day of the war. Building as you go while you wait for the tech to catch up. You might get all the way to landing your storm cannon only to find that your base isn’t in range of anything worth shooting at. Such is life in Foxhole
Once you do have it all ready to go though, you’ll need to charge it up which will take actual, real time waiting. It will use its charge to move, aim, and fire it. When it is firing though, it can fire as fast as your loaders can load it so make sure you have ammo close by and ready to go. With its range of 400m - 1000m you can hit almost anything. Being on the receiving end of these is a hell of a thing.
Storm Cannon but on tracks!
Don't quite feel like building and teaching an entire base for your storm cannons? Me neither. How about getting one mobile and putting it on a train car?
Well, now you can with the Tempest Cannon RA-2. A storm cannon on rails that can be sited anywhere. Only limited by the tracks that it has to run on.
Coming in at a cost of 285 Steel Construction Materials, 95 Assembly Materials Class 3 (AssMats III. Seriously. Don’t laugh), 105 AssMats IV, 175 AssMats V and that's not including the train to pull it. You also better hope that some good Samaritans have laid the track down for you already. Otherwise, guess what you'll be spending your time doing before you even think of firing a shell.
14. Bring friends
What a fine bunch of Colonials.
This may seem obvious but if you try to field artillery pieces on your own, you're going to have a bad time. You'll also be nowhere near as effective in the grand scheme of things.
Depending on what you want to do, which guns you want to field, and what you're aiming at, you may not need to bring a whole regiment with you. Just a rag tag handful might be all that you need to get the job done.
However you want to make your play, I can't stress enough how much more fun you will have if you have a good bunch of comrades with you to make it all possible.
13. What guns you're fielding
Indirect fire can be achieved with something as simple as a few hand held mortars. A line of bodies armed with these. Pockets full of shells can wreak havoc on front line fortifications with very little planning or effort.
But there are plenty of bigger and badder guns that you can field out there. Push guns, emplaced guns, storm cannons, and even a storm cannon that comes mounted onto a train car.
Obviously, these require a lot more time, resources and planning to use but the results are compounded by the effort you put in. The bigger the guns, the more range and destructive power you get out of them.
Once you reach the realm of emplaced guns and storm cannons, you'll need to have a well stocked and teched bunker base to house them and fire them from. Something that is a whole other effort of its own.
12. Have a spotter
A vital job when using any indirect fire. In the game and in real life as this vet can tell you. Spotting involves the relaying of accurate target information back to the gunners to tell them if they're on target.
There is no damage indicator in Foxhole. If you're the gunner, you aren't going to know if your rounds are actually hitting anything. It's why someone needs to be forward of your position with a set of binoculars, watching where the rounds are landing.
They'll be able to help you adjust and to bring you onto target. A good spotter makes all the difference and makes every single round count.
11. Map grids and how they work
This helpful guide from the official wiki is a useful aid to see how Foxhole’s map works
Using the map and being able to read and interpret it properly is gonna be a cornerstone of your artillerymen career. Not only is it covered in important information. Things that the new map UI update has dramatically improved. It's also quite intuitive and easy to get to grips with.
The map is split into hexes for its different regions. These are further divided into sub-regions based on the towns and relic bases.
Not only that, to make navigation and orientation references clearer, regions have an overlay of grid squares. Each square being 125m square and divided into 9 smaller squares within. This makes relaying accurate coordinates to your teammates very easy.
Simply zoom in and read off the squares coordinates. Horizontal letter first, followed by the vertical number. A good tip from my military days was to remember the phrase "Along the corridor (the horizontal letters) and up the stairs (the vertical numbers)".
As well as a pretty simple to grasp grid system, the map also allows you to place map markers for your entire faction or just squad specific. This is especially useful because you can drop a map pin for you and your gun bunny buddies to see for your artillery op.
10. Calculating
When you're sited and ready to rock, the first thing you'll have to do is calculate the distance between you and the target that you're firing at. Thankfully, indirect fire travels "as the crow flies". In other words, in a straight line.
Using the map grids, you can work out distances relatively easily. The sides of a grid square are 125m end to end. Diagonally across, they're roughly 190m. This information will help you make a pretty good estimation of distance. Your spotter will also come in to play to bring you on to target when you start ranging.
Unfortunately, Foxhole's map doesn't come with map tools that you can place and move around on the map. Shame really as it would be a fun addition to it.
It's worth mentioning that there are community made artillery calculators available. Whether or not you want to use them or see them as cheating is up to you but they are out there. They don't account for wind and you will still need a spotter to make sure you're actually hitting your target.
9. Ammunition
Look at those lovely Wardens go.
To be effective in neutralising your target, you are going to need a lot of ammunition. This is where prior planning and preparation comes into its own.
With facilities giving players the option to mass production munitions on their own, this gives a huge boon to artillerymen. The ability to churn out pallets upon pallets of rounds.
Of course you will require access to a facility with an ammunition factory. Whether it's one you built yourself or a public one operating for the good of the cause.
You can also produce munitions on your own through regular means at Logi hub factories Whichever you choose will take time, effort and planning to stockpile everything before you push the button on your artillery op.
8. Loading
Artillery rounds are heavy. So heavy that you can't just stuff them into your soldiers pockets and fat-walk to the gun. You have to carry them one at a time on your shoulder.
See what I mean about bringing friends? Your very best friends (or maybe the ones you don't like) are going to have to spend a lot of time running back and forward from the ammo pile. Especially if it's a storm cannon you're running.
You can only fire as fast as your loaders can load so make sure your ammo isn't too far away from the guns. And make sure your loaders are on the ball and able to do what they're doing.
A tip, don't leave loose rounds lying on the floor by the gun. They despawn after a while so either get them loaded or put them back in the ammo pile.
Another tip is to not keep munitions in a bunker base stockpile. You don't want your loaders having to assemble each round when they grab them. A good way around this is to have a truck "pull" the rounds out and use that as your mobile munitions pile.
7. Ranging
Whether you used a calculator or worked the distance out yourself, you will still only have a rough estimate of where your rounds are going to land. Artillery is indirect fire meaning that you fire it without direct line of sight. It's not gonna be sniper rifle accurate and that's not the point anyway.
This is where your spotter will come into their own. Once you're ready, you'll want to have your spotter positioned with eyes on the target. Then you'll want to fire 2 to 3 ranging shots.
These shots will sail through the air before landing somewhere around the target area. With your spotter having some good eyes on, they can spot where this small grouping is landing and relay that info back to you.
They can tell you how the wind is affecting the shots and tell you which way to adjust your azimuth and range accordingly. It's important for this reason that your spotter has a good sense of navigational direction.
6. Wind
See the blue flag waving in the wind. Not only does this tell you that it belongs to the Warden faction. It also tells you how strong the wind is and which direction it is blowing in. Not only that, a small flag indicates that the AI defence is no longer active. A big waving flag tells you that it is.
Wind and weather in Foxhole is not just a set piece. Even though it looks and sounds awesome as well as setting the scene perfectly. It genuinely does affect the gameplay.
It can make your soldier wet, cold, and muddy. Encumbers them and most importantly for our purposes, affects the fall of our shots.
The direction and strength of the wind is tiered in 5 tiers. you can spot this on the flags of AI defensive structures. They will fly in the direction of the wind and flap more erratically the stronger the wind is.
While this will give you an idea when you are calculating, it's also important to note that wind can change at a moment's notice so keep an eye on those flags.
Also, don't let your spotter off the hook once the rounds start flying. They are your eyes as your forward observer and should be constantly observing throughout the op for any short rounds and wind changes.
5. Targets
There is a lot to consider when selecting your targets. Especially if you've spent days in Foxhole getting everything ready to lay hate from above. You want to make sure that every round counts and you get the max bang for your mats.
The fundamental thing that you absolutely need to factor in when selecting your target is whether or not it is static. There really isn't any point in trying to land a shell on top of a tank. Unless night time has fallen and they've retreated to rearm and repair.
You want to be aiming to hit static bases and defensive AI structures. If armour and infantry happen to be in the way, then that is a bonus.
The aim here is to harass the enemy and neutralise their ability to fight back. If they're pinned inside their base trying to frantically repair it as your shells land all around them, then your buddies on the line have a chance to advance unimpeded.
This forms the basis of Foxhole's combined arms meta. You may not know or see the people dipping and darting from trench to trench or the armoured columns of tanks advancing. But they're certainly seeing your shells make the enemy into pink mist as you rain hate on their heads.
4. Comms are key
Foxhole is a game that is infinitely better with a mic. Even if you're like me and you prefer to log in solo to find a good scrap or Logi some mats around, being able to communicate with your comrades is what that game is all about.
This applies to virtually anything that you do in the game. The bigger and more complicated the op is, such as artillery, the more players you're gonna need to cooperate with.
Many players will use a combination of local, squad, and discord voice chats as well as the chat box within the game. So make sure you keep an eye on the chat box. Especially for the region chat. Other players may be calling out your shots for you or making their intentions to advance into where your shots are landing.
3. The creeping barrage
A tactic made famous from its fielding in WW1. The creeping barrage is exactly what it sounds like. Rounds start dropping on enemy heads and slowly creep back towards their lines.
It's a great tactic if it can be pulled off but this is gonna require a lot of forethought and close, careful communication so that you don't end up drop-shorting on your own team.
Infantry will have to be on the ball here as they advance up behind where your rounds land. If they jump the gun (which is literally where this phrase comes from) they'll end up in the meat grinder with the rest of the pulpy bits of enemies.
2. Joining a regiment
I've said this before and I'll say it again. Foxhole is a game where you get out as much as you put in. You don't need to join an organised regiment but, as you can probably gauge by now, it's a hell of a lot easier to pull these kinds of ops off with organised groups of players.
The game itself has a very unique community vibe. Before long, you find yourself deeply invested in a war. Constantly checking foxholestats.com, the discords and the subreddit for any news pertaining. It really can absorb your entire gaming life once you sink your teeth into it.
To that end, there are plenty of regiments that are happy to take on any kind of player. Players who want to dedicate some hardcore hours as well as those who can only put in so much. It doesn't matter as long as they show up.
There is no obligation to join up with a regiment but as someone who is part of a very relaxed and fun regiment of dudes, I recommend it if you want to get the most out of Foxhole but you don't have the time to make it a full time job.
It will make learning the ropes of artillery ops, as well as other kinds of ops, a lot more fun and easy.
1. Site set up
Obviously you want to be in range of your target but depending on which kind of weapons you're fielding will depend on the site. If you're using rocket trucks, this can be made a hell of a lot easier. If you use emplaced guns, then you'll have to have a bunker base ready to place them in.
There are lots of things to consider when siting your artillery pieces. You'll want to be watching out for enemy AI counter batteries as well as ones that are manned. Getting into an artillery duel might sound fun but it can take away focus from your objectives.
When you're in range, you should also consider coming at them from an angle that provides you with safety, cover, and a little bit of obfuscation (coming from a direction they won’t expect). You want to give them a hard time working out where you're firing from.
Conclusion.
Artillery is a fun and rewarding gameplay loop in Foxhole that requires a lot of teamwork and planning to pull off well. It’s perfect for those who want to get together with their friends and really put the hurt on the enemy. Together as a fun little unit.
That being said, don’t be afraid to reach out to other people if you’re a casual solo player and you fancy giving it a go. Feel free to ask artillerymen and I can pretty much guarantee that they will be happy to have an extra pair of hands. Ask plenty of questions and they’ll show you all the ropes.
Better yet, if you fancy building up your own stockpile before trying it out yourself, you can always put out a call in world chat for players to come and aid you in your endeavours. You’ll be surprised just how many people will be willing to drop what they’re doing to come and take part in something big and epic.
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