L81 mortar guide

The L81 is an 81 mm mortar built at a Forward Operating Base (FOB). It lobs shells onto targets you can’t see from cover: bunched-up infantry, parked vehicles, the spawn APC and fortifications in the Control Zone.

Community numbers

Bulkhead hasn’t published official tables. The ranges and values below come from community guides and calculators. Always check against the table in the mortar sight.

Quick facts

Parameter	Value
How to get one	Built at a FOB, not carried
Build cost	Large hammer, 91 Building Supplies (plus more consumed while hammering)
Range	roughly 130 to 685 m on level ground
Ammo	The FOB’s shared ammo stockpile
Consumption	30 Ammo Supplies per shot, a 3-shot barrage is 90
Reload	about 6.5 s
Blast radius	about 10 m
Spread	grows with range, around 10 m at max range

The mortar can’t hit anything closer than its minimum range. A target right next to the base is a job for infantry.

The crew: gunner and spotter

The mortar is a two-person weapon:

• The gunner stays on the tube, sets azimuth and elevation, and fires.
• The spotter has eyes on the target, marks it and calls where the shells land.

You can go solo using the shell camera (see below), but it’s slower.

Step 1. Range to target

The mortar has no rangefinder — you work out the distance yourself.

Method 1 — map marker (most accurate). Ping the target (MMB) or ask your spotter to. Open the map (M) and hover over the marked enemy: the game shows the exact distance.

Method 2 — map grid. One tactical map square is 100 m. Count the squares between the mortar and the target. Diagonal targets are harder to count accurately — a map marker or a calculator works better.

Method 3 — a calculator. Use our mortar calculator: place the mortar and target on the grid and get range, azimuth and mils.

Height correction

Tables assume level ground. If the target is below you, the shell flies further (100 m lower — up to about 735 m). If it’s above, it lands shorter (100 m higher — up to about 625 m). Firing from a hill into a valley, correct for overshoot.

Step 2. Direction (azimuth)

Azimuth is the compass bearing: 0° north, 90° east, 180° south, 270° west. Turn the tube onto the target using the compass in the sight. Read the bearing off the map or take it from a calculator.

Step 3. Elevation (mils)

The barrel angle is set in mils. The sight has a table: RNG on the left is range in metres, MILS on the right is the elevation you need.

The L81 golden rule

More mils = shorter shot. The barrel goes up, the shell arcs higher and lands closer. Fewer mils means a lower barrel and a longer shot.

Range not in the table

Interpolate between the two nearest rows. Example: the target sits exactly halfway between rows showing 530 and 520 mils — dial 525.

Step 4. Fire and correct

1. Fire a ranging shot.
2. See where it lands — through your spotter or the shell camera.
3. Correct:

Result	What to do
Short (landed before the target)	take mils off
Long (landed past the target)	add mils
Left of target	turn azimuth right
Right of target	turn azimuth left

4. Once shells land near the target, fire for effect — a volley without changing settings.

Shell camera and the C key

After each shot, a camera automatically follows the shell until impact. That’s handy for solo corrections, but while the camera is flying, you’re not on the tube.

Faster fire

Press C to cancel the shell camera and jump straight back to the mortar. That way you can fire the next round without waiting for the previous one to land.

Volley routine: range in with the camera → fire for effect, pressing C after every shot.

Ammo: where the shells come from

The mortar doesn’t use your own ammo. Each shot draws from the ammo stockpile of the FOB it’s built at. The base’s other emplacements, such as anti-air, feed from the same stockpile.

How much one shot costs

What	Drawn from the FOB stockpile
One shot	30 Ammo Supplies
Full 3-shot barrage	90 Ammo Supplies

In a siege that’s a real chunk of the base’s stock. Plan ahead: 10 shots need 300 units in the stockpile — more if anti-air is drawing from the same pool.

Save the stockpile

Ranging shots cost 30 units too. Three misses in a row is 90 units wasted. Nail the range first (map marker, rangefinder), then fire.

When the stockpile runs dry, the mortar goes silent. To refill it:

1. Buy Ammo Supplies from the vehicle vendor at your faction HQ. It’s a logistics resource that only reloads FOB weapons.
2. Deliver them to the FOB:
   • in your backpack — walk up to the FOB terminal (computer) and deposit;
   • by vehicle — trucks and helicopters haul supply pallets carrying several resource types at once.
3. Transfer them into the stockpile. Dropping a pallet next to the base isn’t enough — the resources have to be moved into the stockpile through the terminal. The same terminal shows how much is left.

Note

Supplying FOBs is a logistics job, and it pays. Agree within your squad who runs mortar ammo, or the tube will sit idle. See Squad roles.

Tips

• Range in on a landmark. A house or crossroads near the zone makes a good reference for the first shot.
• Hit stationary targets. A parked APC, infantry dug in on defence, fortifications. A running enemy will be gone before the shell lands.
• Go after the spawn APC. A destroyed or damaged radar stops the enemy deploying into the zone.
• Keep the FOB close. The nearer the mortar is to the stockpile and terminal, the faster the resupply.
• They’re looking for you too. A firing mortar gives itself away. Defend the FOB and watch for enemy artillery.