IRON NEST Counter Battery Guide

The counter-battery problem

Hostile artillery changes when preparation should happen. Release-version footage states that the counter-battery timer begins when the first shell lands, so the quiet period before that impact is preparation time, not an invitation to fire an incomplete solution.

Prepare before the first impact

1. Place the IRON NEST and every observation asset on the map.
2. Solve the initially reported artillery positions.
3. Prepare as many firing lines and calculator cards as the available information supports.
4. Requisition the shells and charges needed for the opening sequence.
5. Arrange cards by barrel and target so rotation, loading and elevation can overlap safely.

The objective is to reduce work after the enemy begins ranging your position. Do not start the threat timer merely to discover that the next target has not been plotted.

Response sequence

1. Engage a confirmed artillery target.
2. Track the timer and shell-flight order; a later impact can resume pressure even after another target is destroyed.
3. Use reconnaissance to find an unreported battery instead of blind firing across a large area.
4. Plot the confirmed position and complete bearing, range and elevation.
5. Use ordinary movement only for deliberate geometry changes; it does not appear to cancel the threat.
6. Use Emergency Move when survival requires the timer relief, then relocate the IRON NEST token before reusing any solution.

Fire-direction centers and pauses

The community basics guide describes enemy fire-direction centers as limited opportunities to pause counter-battery pressure. That creates a tactical choice: destroy one immediately for breathing room, or prepare more targets first so the pause is not wasted on basic plotting. Because challenge balance can change, verify the current mission's behavior rather than assuming every mode uses the same count or pause rule.

No invented timer

Community discussion reports an Emergency Move time bonus and a random relocation, while release footage confirms the first-impact trigger. This page keeps those two evidence levels separate and does not invent one universal countdown for every difficulty or patch.