It can still be made basically useless but still there. Less effective but there would be easier to balance than all in on durability give it low traverse speed and rof but something is better than nothing.
Hell even JUST a smoke shell would be better than nothing. Spread out its utility because a 140fuel rocket arty damn well needs to be good some how and if anything above a 2cm is going to pen it and kill it in 2 shots it better nuke everything in its barrage area-but that's not feasible by any means...
Yeah those could work. I just don't even know how true the stories are if it being modified. But with the factory design, the launcher is literally attached to the barrel of the main gun. So fire one single shot and the whole system is in trouble
Its kinda like the isu balancing to me. People bitch and moan about the AP shells but it keeps the cost up and the AI down because it has more to flesh out the cost than just AI. if the calliope can bring more than JUST the barrage then it is easier to justify its cost. There are many metrics that CAN be applied if we widen the scope beyond its durability, barrage power and its price because the odds of all 3 being balanced and attractive are slim.
Yeah the gameplay reasoning for your idea is perfect. It's honestly just me being a stickler. This game is like just on the edge of ignoring history too much imo, which is my only objection to this