Features you'd like to see with SB

[TheBigRedOne]

They would pre-register artillery even in WW1 I think, once they had the tools to do accurate surveys of the area. The option to have different levels of accuracy for artillery would be interesting, since even in WW2, a skilled (and lucky) FOO would be putting it within yards of his own position.

I'd say that was definitely more luck than skill!

Danger close, the cutoff to where an FOs typically would be willing to drop arty or naval gunfire, is ~500-600m, which in SB terms is 12-15 hexes. If you're dropping arty and you're closer than that, all bets are off. If you're about to be over-run, sure you can risk it, but if you're on the offensive, especially in WWII, you aren't going to want to call things in much closer than that before you begin your assault, unless you're in the Red Army and don't care about losses....

It all boils down to LOS and communication. If you've got eyes-on a target, you'll have a greater shot at putting a round where you want to. Having a setup like Mike mentioned is truly optimal and should give the best results. Given the advances in communication, targeting, weapon and GPS technology, one would expect that as the battlefield gets more and more modern, the more the results should improve. Even still, few guys are going to call for a strike that's 100m from their position unless they are in imminent danger of being over-run. Chances are good that you'll either take some shrapnel, or be seriously injured by the shock wave produced by the bigger bombs and shells.