Land based unit spotting

[mikolo]

In the advanced tutorial scenerio two of my scout teams (readiness <70%, all bradleys, no casaulties, good morale) could not spot enemy tank company occupying village, each scout occupied different hex adjacent to this village. Two times this tank company was spotted by helis - Kiowa and Ah-1. Chain of command was unbroken. Scouts were on hold in these positions for more than 45 minutes. Weather was good, low cloud ceiling, daytime.

Some tweaking is needed in this mechanics otherwise it is hilarious and breaks immersion. It is also unrealistic.

[CapnDarwin]

Do you have a screenshot to help us see what the situation was? A save game at that point would also help us see what may be going on. There are too many variables to be able to say something is wrong with spotting.

[mikolo]

Requested files attached.

Look at Weigheim - this is the place I was writing about.

[CapnDarwin]

Looking at the save. There are 7 tanks in this 500m x 500m town with craters from arty, wrecks, and smoke. This is enough clutter, along with nobody moving or shooting in the hex, that both sides are basically blind in and out of the hex. Also, both Cav units are in cluttered hexes, so they too have a reduced window into the hex. The helo is getting some benefit from altitude to see down into the mess and can spot them at times. Unless those tanks move or shoot, or you go into the hex, they will remain very hard to spot. No bugs here. Working as intended.

Screenshot 2024-01-02 155653.png (97.64 KiB) Viewed 988 times

[mikolo]

I can imagine how hard it is to spot 7 tanks in these conditions.

However scout units are trained in doing exactly this kind of job. They are at full capacity and well equipped - including thermal sights in Bradleys. Morover they are spotting form two directions covering 90 degrees angle of view. After some time they should be able to obtain some information about enemy 500 meters from them. Not detailed info but at least spot active enemy armor.

Helis just flew over and spot these tanks no problem. Scouts were sitting there for at least 25 minutes and no contact whatsoever.

[WildCatNL]

Helis just flew over and spot these tanks no problem. Scouts were sitting there for at least 25 minutes and no contact whatsoever.

The game performs spotting in 3D.
The M3 Bradley scouts are spotting from the same elevation/altitude into a 0.5km x 0.5km built up area, so severely handicapped by the buildings blocking their line-of-sight. Training and thermals cannot compensate for this.

The helicopters fly low but still at an elevated altitude (roof height, or higher, when flying over the town), and as a a result have a better line-of-sight in this situation.