Spotting in the 1.0.2 beta

[headcount_slith]

Spotting feels far more believable in the 1.0.2 beta, but I feel there is still some way to go before CCTBF can claim to have a plausible spotting system.

While AFVs are now more obvious to other AFVs at medium/long ranges, I remain disappointed with the way the game insists tanks were short-sighted when it came to spotting infantry.

In the pic below (a spotting test on Mousetrap) a 5-man German MG unit crosses open ground in LoS of a well-appointed, stationary Sherman yet manage to remain unseen until they cross the (sigh) arbitrary 200m line between the game's second and third spotting bands.

However, if I move my tank hunter team onto the summit while the Germans are descending the barren slope opposite the M4, this running, presumably fieldglasses-less two-man team spot the approaching foes the second they crest the ridge!

I'm lucky enough to have a lovely view from the room in which I'm writing this. Slightly more than 500m away from my window is a hedgeline along which people regularly walk. I have no trouble whatsoever spotting the walkers even when they are dressed inconspicuously. A parked tank enjoying my POV would have no trouble spotting them too yet CCTBF tells me that tanks can't spot moving people at 250m let alone 500m.

[GrdAdmiral]

Were is the beta patch? Released on steam? Patch notes?

[zakblood]

Changelog:

Version 1.0.2
• AI no longer causes brief pauses when trying to find a firing position from which to attack a player unit.
• New 'Free Camera' added to game options.
• Basic skybox and horizon plane added for those playing with lower camera angles.
• Unit icons and other in-battle UI updated for better display at lower camera angles.
• Rendering performce when showing ground clutter improved.
• Subsequent shot accuracy bonus increased for tank and anti-tank guns.
• A tank or anti-tank shot that hits the target vehicle automatically informs the gunner of the correct range.
• Very rapid click and double click on and off units can no longer cause a crash.
• Units disbanded as a result of the last battle before a campaign transition now carry forward normally.
• Unit custom names are no longer lost during a campaign transition when the main force converts to a new organization.
• Range factor rebalanced in unit exposure check to extend spotting ranges for most units when they are highly exposed.
• Unit exposure check now correctly handles one-way LOS with flares at night.
• Corrected LOS and targeting check for separated soldiers.
• Vehicles can no longer deploy inside buildings.

[budd]

Is this posted? It's not on my page in the file downloads for CCTBF

[zakblood]

seems it maybe a open steam beta for now, only saw it the other day myself and as of yet not had time either to test it myself, but it's open for all, but steam only atm, unless it gets announced here in the week

[budd]

Going to Steam first, interesting, not a fan. One of the reasons i buy here is the patches are usually released here first.

[Bagpipe]

"• AI no longer causes brief pauses when trying to find a firing position from which to attack a player unit."

Tested and...MASSIVE DIFFERENCE!

[headcount_slith]

Here's a pic showing a CC3 Sherman spotting and engaging moving infantry roughly 500m away (In CCTBF, as things stand, the Sherman wouldn't spot the infantry until they were roughly 200m away)

In CM a Sherman can spot infantry moving across open ground 1km+ away.

[kweniston]

A lone tank without any support spotting infantry over 500m-1k away is ridiculous, unless previously spotted.

[headcount_slith]

"A lone tank without any support spotting infantry over 500m-1k away is ridiculous"

Battlefront, Graviteam, Atomic etc. beg to differ.

[GrdAdmiral]

What about the half tracks spotting and accuracy? Mine always shoot the sky or the ground consistantly. Sometimes it looks like the infantry when shooting is coming from the left or right of the unit, and not straight from the rifle of the infantry unit. Like its off set. Is that fixed in this patch?

[headcount_slith]

I've not tested the spotting abilities of HTs specifically, but I've just run an area fire accuracy test with a T30 75mm HT.

I asked the HT to fire all its HE (53 rounds) at a palm tree (a) 100m away. Perhaps 70% of the rounds landed circa (b), 20% circa (c). The (d) craters were 'first shots' (several times during the test I switched the HT to defend before re-targeting the tree).

You could argue that the (d) craters are highly unlikely, and that some of the rounds should have landed in the gap between the (c) and (b) clusters (I guess this gap is a consequence of some sort of underlying grid) but apart from that the results seem fairly plausible.

[GrdAdmiral]

Thats great news!! Thank you headcount slith.

[headcount_slith]

Running my Mousetrap test with an ambushing M2A1 halftrack instead of an ambushing Sherman produces identical results. The German infantry are able to descend the bare hillside opposite the HT unobserved. Eventually they're spotted at about the 200m mark (a split-second before the screenshot was taken).

Picture what the HT crew would be doing in an ambush situation like this. Unquestionably there would be someone in the 'pulpit' watching the other side of the valley.

[headcount_slith]

Here's the screenshot showing the moment the Germans are spotted.