Overview:

The smoke grenades used in vanilla FO4 are woefully useless when it comes to offering some good fire support.  You can't throw them far and they alert enemies to your presence before the artillery rounds start falling.  This mods looks to rectify all of this. 

Function:

*Changes for v2.2+* The targeting system has been tweaked and refreshed. The binoculars retain the range finder function but now support is initiated via using the Encrypted Data Channel aid item. The Data Channel can be activated either before or after marking a target. The player is then given the barter menu to choose the required support type. This method will allow for future compatibility patches with other mods without conflict issues. You may experience some anomalies if going from 2.1.x to 2.3.0.



Using the PreWar Binoculars as a base you will gain the perk 'Forward Observer' as long as you have have completed the "Here There Be Monsters Quest" or "Old Guns" (other options are possible with external mod patches).  When aiming with the binoculars you can target enemies to open a barter menu and either call in artillery or a nuclear missile on their position, without alerting them to your presence.

Further to this it always annoyed me that if you weren't listening to Radio Freedom then you didn't know what was going on with the status of the artillery request. This mod will automatically tune in to Radio Freedom for the duration of the artillery strike and then revert to the previous state. If the radio was off it will turn off again, if you were listening to Diamond City Radio then it will tune back in to Travis. All without having to enter your PipBoy.

On initial start up the mod will check to see if "Old Guns" or "Here There Be Monsters has been completed". If you have either requirements met already, then it will give you a basic pair of binoculars to use, assuming you don't already have a set from previous mod versions or before it was installed. If you haven't already completed either quest it will monitor in the background until you do, checking on player teleports and save game loads.

How to call in fire support

This sequence must be followed to call in fire support on to a target, the target must be a NPC. Steps 1 and 2 can be reversed, i.e use the item first and then target a NPC.

• Target NPC with binoculars, get the range finder notification top left
• Use the Encrypted Data Item within your inventory (can be hot keyed), within 5 seconds of targetting an enemy
• Select from the trade menu the type of fire support wanted (only one can be selected)
• Accept the 'trade' and close
• Fire mission should commence
  

Version 2.3.0 introduced a manual ability to target. Without binoculars equipped use the Encrypted Data Item, from the menu select Set Target Location. This is based on a bearing and distance from the player, so a bit of practice will be needed to perfect your distance estimates! This use is just intended as a bit of fun.

Load order: *Updated for v2.3*

The masters for this mod is Fallout4.esm and binoculars.esp the plugin is now a ESP marked light (doesn't take up a load slot). You should no longer be asked to overwrite the PreWar Binoculars files - if you are something's gone wrong.

Do not use 4estGimp's compacted binoculars plugins or patches for Fire Support. It
is not compatible with the latest version and will break things.

Horizon patch for v2.3.2 available as optional downloads from this page. Now has one esp plugins flagged as esl (light), needs to load after Horizon.esp, you still need the main file installed.

Other mods:

Why not try this out with my other mod Reinforcement Radio - Militarized Minutemen Addon to call in artillery before storming the enemy with your minutemen squads?

If you use the Stingray Air Support mod then I've made a Call in Fire Support Stingray Version! All the features of this mod plus the ability to call in airstrikes.

My own Full Artillery System Overhaul mod was designed to complement this, by giving you options on the type and scale of artillery strikes. This will also work in harmony with other artillery modifying mods such as Angry Artillery and Configurable Artillery.


Thanks:

Thanks to a_blind_man for the work he did in adding binoculars to the game. Also to all those that create the tools that allow us to mod the game.

Extra thanks to you guys for the support in getting the mod to the hot mods section.