Seems to me to play out like this. I made a narrative cause I felt like it. Yep I'm bored and I've saved up all my forum words over the past year for now.
Say you're commanding a force in a defensive position not in a CM game, in the big open world. You know you will be attacked, although you aren't really sure exactly when (unless you have some incredibly accurate intel that stays true to the minute...a very long shot. Plus this story isn't about every possible "what if" variation or what if there was a forest fire or a godzilla behind the attacking force, etc, etc. It's about the usual big picture most likely average course of events). You are probably aware the attack is getting close, cause you have a bit of sense. Maybe today or tomorrow? Within the week? Few Hours? Probably not a month. You have some artillery, which is good. One thing you could do is order it to shoot at "that area over there" at 0830 tomorrow morn, then maybe the next day at high noon. Same area or a different one, whatever you're feelin'. You don't really know if the enemy is in that spot or not, just a guess, maybe an educated one. There is a lot of space out there where the enemy force could be staging and waiting, but they really might be in those trees better shoot at them just in case. Man, that pre ordered artillery sure does happen on time, come in nice, and make a lot of noise. And it's so much easier just to call them up the night before and not worry with it once you're actually under attack. You can focus on other things now, arty out of the mind.
But wait. You remember that ammo is not limitless and that if you use all your arty rounds blasting random patches of ground before you actually see any of the enemy that it might be a waste. You also realize that the attack will be coming from areas controlled by the enemy and they have friendly ground at their back and your big guns just don't have enough ammo to carpet the entire area controlled by your foe. Even if you manage to get lucky with your pre-ordered 0900 shelling, hit a couple of their guys, you realize the rest of the enemy force would just back their asses up and hang with their homies in the reserve force, or even just jog over to the other side of the field in order to avoid getting hit. Or maybe the attack was coming in at 10 and you missed your targets by an hour. Hmmm, wouldn't be many dead enemy you think. Advantage attacker, you didn't hurt their force much if any, and you expended your artillery rounds and resupply isn't coming quick enough. Pre-planning blind arty missions seems bad to you.
Dang, maybe you figure it's better to use your remaining days, get some spotters and use a few rounds to range those big guns in a bit. You think yeah the enemy will probably send some troops through that gap in the trees over there. Lets get some guns zeroed on that spot so when things get hot they already have their coordinates and the booms come quick and accurate. You expect to catch some of their guys unaware, do some killing, and you're a bit proud of yourself for making some strategic decisions and look forward to seeing them work. Advantage you. You now have ranged heavy weapons that can be called upon in a timely manner to deliver accurate and precise results when you actually see the enemy and know they are in a certain spot. Feels good. Enemy should be scared as hell.
So now onto a game map in CM. The two choices above still apply, but results play out quite differently. As the defending CO you say hey why not just pre-plan some arty missions? You notice the area your dudes are at and it takes up a whole lot of space in the limited AO. Oh that attack must be coming from that small area of the map where your dudes aren't at, and it's probably going to start exactly now. Hows about you just call up your big guns, give them a fire mission or two you know will come in accurately, require no spotting rounds, and will definitely hit the attacking force en masse. Because even though you can't see them you know they are there by simple deductive logic. They just can't be anywhere else and you know it. You also know they can't just back their asses up to avoid being hit because the map just ends arbitrarily right along that line. Only place they could try and run is right into the sights of your grunts weapons! Perfect setup for an easy victory. Advantage you. Enemy can't run, can't hide, can't do shit except sit and get crushed or advance in a haphazard manner into your waiting sights. What would have been a high likelihood of a losing gamble before sure does pay off once you eliminate those pesky advantages the enemy had in avoiding pre-planned artillery strikes, like organizing good staging areas in their zone of control, doing some scouting, and just not telling you exactly when they would start that attack. Good work, that was fun, you won yay. Now what should you do with the remaining hour you allotted for that game? Doesn't matter cause you won.
Good thing you didn't bother using TRP's. Even when placed well in likely choke points or along potential routes of advance of your enemy, you think about how those actually only cover a limited amount of ground, unlike those nice pre-planned missions. You also realize that the effective area covered by a TRP might have only included an enemy platoon, or worse yet just a squad! No way someone would put their entire force into that small area you zeroed your guns on. And worse yet the enemy could even run away from that area once they realized you had it zeroed. Or they could use a different avenue of approach where you might not have put a TRP! Gosh that would give them a fighting chance. Good thing you didn't do that. You might have even had to resort to actually using a spotter for calling in an arty strike, and who really wants to wait 7 or 15 minutes (or more sometimes!) for that to come about? That would require planning, thought, maybe some stealthiness, and also keeping comm links open. Way too much work, plus the enemy might have even moved in that time and that just wouldn't be helping you win easy. Sure you would probably get your kill on some but just not in the knockout way you wanted. Disadvantage you for using TRP's and not just dropping massive artillery rounds on them when they had no place to take cover. You still might have won, but it wouldn't have been a sure thing and the stress just isn't worth it.
If you didn't want to read my stories, or just want the short version I'm against pre-planned missions for defenders. I also don't think making huge ass maps to compensate for pre-planned missions from the defense leads to better game play. Larger maps just for the sake of having a huge staging area for the attacker would just slow down my machine for no real gain.
Now quote all that someone.
