Mortars: Useful or not?

[afallenapple]

I use them all the time now. A firefight is more accurate and reliable, but comes with a much higher risk of catastrophic damage to your pawns. Mortars are a free attack with no risk, so I think it's a nice balance with their unreliability. There is the literal cost of making the shells, but mid to late game they're not that expensive.

So far, they work great for fallen ships and defending against siege attacks. Haven't used em to attack other bases yet, but I imagine they're worth it once you get launch pods.

[ja7833]

Make different shells instead of different mortars

+1

I'd also like to see the mortar replaced with a small field artillery piece that care fire direct and indirect and be moved.

[b0rsuk]

I used 4 incendiary mortars in my A16 game until I built the ship. The incendiary mortars were rather underwhelming. I don't know what they do better than normal mortars. Incendiary IED traps are nice to handle melee attackers and even manhunters, but mortars ? Setting a couple of attackers on fire may cause their group to lose cohesion, but a normal shell would damage them much more instead, making them easier to down and consequently easier to make the entire force retreat.

As for cost of shells I generally get them for free - cargo pods. In many of my games I eventually get lots of free shells, medicine, etc.

[Euzio]

Rarely use it... to me, I don't think its worth the steel cost investment to even make Mortars (unless i'm swimming in steel in the late game). They take a long time to reload, are wildly inaccurate, and thus not exactly useful. Its rather irritating as well since raiders who siege your base seem to be pretty accurate with their shots while our colonists are just atrocious.

One suggestion I'd feel maybe might be worthwhile is that if there is some way the game can be made in that when we have a pawn manning a mortar in base, we have an attack force that goes out to engage the raiders that are sieging us or don't attack immediately. A pawn from the attack force can then be used to like "laser spot" and call down a more accurate mortar strike on the enemy from a relative distance (like just slightly beyond sniper rifle range). That way, we can have the option of taking the battle to raiders and soften them up before we engage.

[leatra]

Oh boy oh boy oh boy is this a "should I buff the mortars?" question? Because it suspiciously sounded like it.

Players don't use mortars because mortars can't hit small targets, such as a small raider siege camp. Raiders use mortars because mortars can usually hit and damage at least some part of a base even if you can't hit your primary target.

[Brutetal]

I use them like... Always.

Usually I build eight normal mortars, in two sets. The sets are divided by walls so they look like a +. I then put an equipment rack on each side which only holds mortar shells.
And for backup I build one EMP and one incendiary.
Until now I defeated sieges up to 15 raiders with ease. The more mortars, the more useful they get.
That's why I always build eight mortars. Or at least six, under that you can't hit the broad side of a barn.

[Perq]

I use them to hit crashed ships, so that I don't have to siege mechanoids, but they instead come to me. Other than that, pretty much never use it to defend - they reload too long to be able to shoot more than once. Offense wise, colony bases are too simple nowadays for them to be much of a use. I can imagine that with better defended raider bases they can be useful.

[hwfanatic]

Mortars are the most fun way to dispatch of enemies. The sound effects, the inaccuracy! The overwhelming joy when a grenade hits the target. If there was one thing I would change about mortars, it would be to create a single type of building for multiple types of ammo. It would make them a bit more useful for the buck (not sure if it was this way in earlier alphas).

[Anxarcule]

In my last base I had 4 mortars set up that I would use to soften up incoming raids - I didn't feel like they were all that great as they would often miss but I would manage to kill/wound a few. 

For me their real use shines in through repelling sieges.  I used to run out to attack them putting my pawns at risk, but a few volleys directly at their artillery shells will force them to charge. 

I tried the EMP mortarts a few times for Mechanoid raids but found them somewhat lackluster - the reload time was too long and the accuracy was too low to make it a viable strategy, although for non-combatants I suppose it would make good use of them.

Another good use I haven't personally used would be against crashed ships, but I generally just lay IEDs around them and shoot them to get them pop out and die - I suggested in another thread to have them pop out if any colonist enters within a 2 square radius to prevent this exploit, so if that is implemented I may need to resort to mortars for that.

Agreed on separate mortar ammunition types making more sense than mortars themselves. 

[SpaceDorf]

I only use them, after I stole them from Sieges

Don't build them myself.

[giannikampa]

I build one of each the 3 options at some point and sometime there is use for them, like when enemy horde spawns enough far away from the base, i'd say that 1 on 4 times i get a good shot and weaken some.. not that useful but something. Against sieges i use long range snipers, maybe just some fire if it does not rain to have them busy estinguishing, not that essential tho

[Shurp]

Until now I defeated sieges up to 15 raiders with ease. The more mortars, the more useful they get.

This is a good point.  The bigger the enemy target is, the more useful mortars are.  Hitting an unopened ship part is virtually impossible.  But a large spread out sieging force is much easier to hit.  Kill enough of the defending pawns, the others rush your base and die... yeah, I can see that working.  Mortars could easily become more useful later in the game when your colony attracts larger raids.

I only use them, after I stole them from Sieges

And this fits perfectly too.  The longer your base has been round the more mortars it can steal... and all the ammo you need too.

[ChuggingClorox]

I dont see a point to constructing them on sight for offense i think they are extremely useful though in defense.

[Karth32]

Definitely defensively. I generally use a standard mortar as well as a incendiary mortar. With those two firing in tandem, and a little luck, I can usually break up sieges before they begin.

You can't build your fortifications if your builders are too busy fighting fires!

[Derp]

I've never used EMP or incendiary mortars - the latter especially seems to be worth trying out on a denser vegetation mod map, where accuracy is less dangerous than the ensuing wildfire - but explosive mortars are terrible.  I built one once and wasted fifteen shots on a poison ship, only to kill absolutely nothing.  If they didn't come with ammo management issues it might be worth devoting colonists to lob supporting artillery fire over the wall, but as it stands a single IED and an ounce of preparation is far more effective.