Ever since I actually realized that the mortar was not a terribly strange close combat infantry-killer, but actually a medium-range infantry suppression weapon, I've had a liking for firing it, mostly offline, at targets, preferably ones I can't see (blind indirect fire is so much fun in actual combat). Now, short of having a designated spotter, or anyone else in the team who happens to be in view of the impact area, who can tell me how the shells hit, and short of practicing offline, which I consider slightly cheater-ish, there' s no way in-game to help me accurately land shells. I miss the old spotter system in BF1942 where you could see where your shells hit if only a sniper 'marked' the target for you with his binoculars in advance.

I'm thinking maybe the explosion graphic could have an icon on the map, but that'd of course be 100% accurate, and make things a bit too easy. Or maybe I could have the choice, when firing the mortar, from firing advanced 'marker' shells that told me where they landed through some sort of advanced hi-tech Star Wars technology (with an icon) and the ordinary HE shells. I could have three or four marker shells in addition to the HE shells, and some way of switching between them (don't know if that's possible, maybe the two different shell types could be two different weapons, like the M4 in BF2 that has you switch weapons to fire grenades instead of bullets).

Any ideas for ways to make mortar fire more effective, other than trial and error?

Edit: I actually have an idea. Set up a squad so that the Squad Leader is the spotter, and everyone else in the squad carry mortars. Now, the SL will sit in sight of the target, and the mortar infantrymen sit somewhere else, behind a sand dune or fallen tree of whatever the map has to offer. One of the mortars then fires one single shell, with everyone else in the squad taking note of how he aims. When the shell hits, the SL uses the Issue Order feature to tel the squad where the shell hit, and the squad knows that the shell hit where the 'Attack here' icon appears on the minimap. Correcting fire is carried out, one shell at a time, until a shell hits its mark, at which point the real barrage can begin. Provided the spotter isn't killed, it should work.

Edit2: If everything else fails, I'll know my shells are hitting when I start receving messages like 'OMG getting pwn3d by mortars help plz!!1' or 'WTF kick safekeeper he is camping with artillery!!1'