Let's talk mortar troops

[Mr Suplex]

Is anyone using mortars at the Industrial or Global age level, and if so, what is your troop composition and how are you using them? I started playing around with mortars a bit, and they aren't as bad as I first thought. I'm still not sure how to find room for 1-2 in my army, but I want to find a way to make them work as I do see some potential.

Their advantages:

- Splash damage is pretty nice. It seems like a pretty broad radius as well.
- Full damage to buildings does give them an advantage over riflemen in certain situations
- Relatively high HP makes them less vulnerable to mortars

Disadvantages:

- Poor AI: They rarely seem to defend themselves
- Cost: They are expensive (more expensive than artillery!!), take up 6 slots, and take a long time to rebuild. Losing one is costly if you are on an attack run.
- Slower rate of fire when compared to infantry


I'd love to hear from others who have used them how they have been successful.

 

[Sletteer1987]

I am British and use a troop mix of 50 shooters, 4 Tanks, 5 Artillery. I tried adding in a couple mortars but like you stated they are costly and already with my troop mix I can pretty much 4-5 star every base with the addition of planes. The mix I tried and found best with mortars was 51 Shooters, 3 Tanks, 4 Artillery, and 3 Mortars. I always launched the mortars with my shooters for protection but they wanted to wander. With donated troops of a mix of tanks and artillery it worked well. I save more resources though with my original mix.

 

[Quang t legend]

no need to bother. From my info collecting the mortar troop isn't worth even 1 or 2 in an army. In defense it can fit where arty doesn't, but its effectiveness is doubtful compare to special unique shooters.

 

[Mr Suplex]

no need to bother. From my info collecting the mortar troop isn't worth even 1 or 2 in an army. In defense it can fit where arty doesn't, but its effectiveness is doubtful compare to special unique shooters.

Why do you say that? Most say Shock Infantry/Werhmacht is not worth using, yet I find them to be very effective.

How did you use them, and why did you find them to be ineffective?

 

[Brand Marrow]

Don't let him get too close Quang, he'll command grab you and you'll end up pile driven into the ground..... very painful.....

 

[Cbundy99]

They would be alright if their range was 5, but instead its 3.

 

[_Flash_]

The only use we're finding, after trying them out in multiple use case scenarios, is donating them to war bases of our allies in lower ages, who don't yet have the alliance gate limit to receive siege units (those in Iron Age or Classical Age). They don't seem to be super impressive, but, the bases seem to be holding up slightly better than when we donate high level ranged infantry.

 

[GoldDS]

Level 3 gives them a range increase to 4...just recognised it while upgrading, didn't know it before

 

[_Flash_]

Now, with the Heavy Bombardment event, has anybody found the mortar units useful, in any composition?
I tried out a few combinations. Lastly, the composition that had moderate success was: 3 HC, 3 cannons, 3 supply carts, and 9 mortar units, along with barrage to take out defenders if they try to swarm the main army. Though this composition seemed to work, I still had trouble clearing out the base completely (sometimes, not even clearing out all of the defensive buildings). My mortar units are at level 2 (EA level). And, the bases I tried this army on were lower in terms of levels.
If anybody has found a good army composition where mortars are useful, please do share your experience.
Thanks!

 

[kilgore_trout]

Why do you say that? Most say Shock Infantry/Werhmacht is not worth using, yet I find them to be very effective.

How did you use them, and why did you find them to be ineffective?

What age are you? Infantry are only useful up until ea

 

[BV123]

What age are you? Infantry are only useful up until ea

Nope.... I'm late IA and I still find they still have a place in my army. Given that I use lesser of them now but non the less, still very useful.

Ps: I still 5 star late IA bases with them in wars

 

[BV123]

Shock infantry / werhmacht are IA troops. So if Mr S is using them, he must me IA.

 

[kilgore_trout]

Nope what? I didn't ask a question. The main quality I look for is survivability, ground troops have too low of a chance in retrurning. It's easy enough to 5 star without them and not take up 25 spaces with kamikaze units

 

[Ravenlord]

I have so much food I tried a mix of them in some campaign missions - 2, 4, 8, etc, - at one at stage I even tried half mortars and half archers. While they were ok when not being attacked, they're just not effective at defending themselves. Not only can riflemen shoot over walls at greater distances but they can kill defenders quicker - mortars just hurt defenders. And their dps only makes them strong enough to use en masse - yet they can't defend themselves as well as riflemen - but they cost 6x riflemen spaces so you get less of them ...... until I used them I only suspected they would be pointless - now I'm positive.

From what I've seen of the bazookas these may be a much better option, once I have my factory upgraded. They use 2 less troop space than the mortar unit, have more than double the hp and pack a 25% bigger punch and I think, when in a combination army with riflemen to protect them, will make an army tougher. Can't wait to try them.

Sorry, mortars - not worth it for me.

 

[BV123]

The 'Nope' refers to MY disagreement to your comment that infantry is only useful up to EA.
I am entitled to my views ain't i. As much as you are entitled to your view.

 

[Mr Suplex]

What age are you? Infantry are only useful up until ea

Nonsense. I am level 150 and using plenty of infantry at the 2400 medal range. Who cares if they die? They are rebuilt within minutes...

 

[Mr Suplex]

After trying mortars out for a few weeks, I am convinced that they are useless in the current state of the game. My sincere hope is that riflemen will eventually be toned down and unable to shoot over walls, giving mortars a defined role. But with rifles able to shoot at the same range or further (considering a large % of the player base seems to play British), and shoot over walls, I see absolutely no point in the mortar.

 

[Quang t legend]

Mortar was first designed not to shoot over wall. Then the developers see them useless, they add that ability to it, not to compete with rifle but as a supplement for arty in defense donation. (Note they don't correct its ability in attack in the first place! They are failure by design!) But in this game range is big. Better to have 6 British shooters than 1 mortar.

But if they change range mortar to 5 it may become overpower to shoot at defending troops with splash damage! They may change it range 4 or 3 but shoot at defending troops, not at Any.

 

[Mr Suplex]

Mortar was first designed not to shoot over wall. Then the developers see them useless, they add that ability to it, not to compete with rifle but as a supplement for arty in defense donation. (Note they don't correct its ability in attack in the first place! They are failure by design!) But in this game range is big. Better to have 6 British shooters than 1 mortar.

But if they change range mortar to 5 it may become overpower to shoot at defending troops with splash damage! They may change it range 4 or 3 but shoot at defending troops, not at Any.

The fix in the mortar lies in the fix that is needed with the riflemen/archer.

 

[WarrenX148]

Seeing topics like this are always disappointing. There are so many units in the game that simply don't see much (or any) use because units are so widely imbalanced. There is a reason the vast majority of players use the archer/hc/siege/healer combo: it's because nothing else holds up the same way. Mortars are just another example of this. If everything had a use I would be able to scroll through my last 10 attacks and see 10 different army builds. Instead it's 9 sets of 60 krr/7 Howie/3 supply truck and one 51 krr/8 howie/3 supply truck. Doesn't that tell the devs something is wrong??