It also created far greater problems than it cured considering the regularity that spawn traps occurred in that game. It meant that the trapped team couldn’t deploy Mortars to pop smoke to cover a break out (ammo types were selectable in that game and not a separate ‘gadget’) but the trappers could pound them with impunity!
Bad decision!
It should also be noted that BF3 Mortar range was a tad excessive.
BF4 Mortars could be operated ‘remotely’ which again, was a bad decision but other than that were OK.
BF1 Mortars, even with ‘drone view’ were not that bad as their range was relatively short compared to previous iterations because OHKs from full health were very rare. The ‘drone view’ only helped if the target remained stationary.
Oh, and unless you can see the enemy or are at least aware of their presence, pretty much every death can be considered ‘random’, so that is a pointless argument!
As some above stated, BFV has suffered to much from the input of tryhards and the persuit of competitive e-sports resulting in a no fun, hardcore lite game that (relatively) few enjoy.
BF games should go back to be “HAHA everything goes BRRRRR” type of fun game.
BFV indeed put too much effort to place on a pedestal the ADADADADAD dodge + Muscle memory and 1440 144hz monitor, gunplay hero.
Stationary fixed location has a problem as could leave a secure spot for campers out of range. ROF and damage needs to be reasonable but type of targeting is still an issue. Pickup or towable could fix the out of reach problems.
You make a weapon ‘pick up’ or ‘towable’, it has to be worth using in terms of range and power. It then becomes in danger of being another BF1 Mortar Truck and we don’t want that.
BF1 Mortars were fine, in my opinion but ammo type should be selectable like BF3.
Trokey66 Personally I’d rather have them like the BF3 mortars were before the final fire rate nerf but the ammo selection is a hugely important thing. Even after the mortars were nerfed into the ground smoke was still a viable option to drop on snipers to force them to move
I remember them nerfing the mortars in BF3 because of one single map (Seine crossing) where you could almost shoot from uncap to uncap. Always bothered me because the changes made mortars almost useless in every other map
If modes like has breakthrough, airborne or rush. BF3 no mortar in spawn would make some those maps hard to play if 1 team has space to deploy but the other does not. Some appear to have space to deploy outside spawn but range would be a very interesting as I think current BF1 or BF3 might be to short.
The only other issue with BF3 mortar I had was the lack of arc it meant no block shots or allow for some trick shots.
Granted the range at one point was a tad excessive but counter Mortaring was easy and effective. Typical of the average tryhard though, they’d rather come here to whinge rather than change class to deal with the threat.
yeah never saw the problem with bf1 infantry mortar. It was a great tool to use to dislodge enemies from entrenched positions. I thought the short range and the fact you could see the shells in the air made it so it wasn’t cheap. You could also hear the mortar hit and then you knew to stay on your toes. And in some cases, because of the short range, you could rush the mortar and kill the enemy manning it.
Maybe they could have tried to add a little more skill to it but I think the reality was that that was just too difficult or wasn’t worth it. iirc, in BF42, the sniper binocs actually could spot for the mortar vehicle to give the mortar vehicle an idea of what it was doing otherwise the mortar was completely blind. You basically saw thru the sniper’s binocs when you mortared stuff. It made the mortar more effective, but you had to judge where your shots would land still so there was a little more skill/judgement required than aiming at a red circle on a 2d map. But it was pretty much never used on pubs. REquired too much coordination/patience.
They could have tried that in bf1. Probably still wouldn’t be used much but there are squads now and voice comms built in. In BF42 there weren’t squads and voice comms weren’t built in.
OR they could have done another version of it too where a sniper flare gives the mortar a 3rd person camera over the flare area and then the mortar would use that to aim their shots instead of a 2d minimap with red circles. That way the sniper doesn’t have to sit around and coordinate with a mortar soldier.
It was still during the middle of the life of the game where they had committed to not give us mortars.
They have the chance to start with a clean slate for BF6 yet
Mortars were never too big a problem before Breakthrough was introduced, players were too static if they were getting killed regularly by them. Breakthrough really limits where a defender can be though and you’ll often be on top of team mates, stopping easy movement.
As well as the balance problem, like the heavy bomber and the artillery truck, mortars basically taught noobs to stay off the flags in BF1.
BF is meant to be a team game, so mortars could easily be made into a teamwork gadget. We needed coloured smoke in V so you could call in aircraft to hit a specific point, and the same/similar could be done with mortars. Allow the squad leader to assign a target for any mortars in their squad via the mini map no overhead view just blind firing at a point designated by the s/l. At the mo, squad leader is just the guy who gets to call an arty strike, but they could be so much more.
It would have been a hinderance. The PIAT functions as a limited mortar, which I absolutely love, though.
Perhaps a proper mortar pickup, but no gadget.
Yeah, I understand we do not want to encourage a considerable number of people to stand back and just go mortar. Being a gadget also forces the dilution of its power too.