Forward spotters

[Jaws]

Is there any way to get a unit to hide and be a spotter?

Thinking I could do this, I had a recon unit that I set to defend in-situ (where it already was dug in) with aggro - rof - losses set to min - slow - min. But the recon unit still opened up on the enemy when they were 1.5km away. So then the enemy turns around and goes after and routes them.

Also, were'nt there forward spotters for artillery or should I assume these are incorporated in the HQ unit.

Markshot, remember this, how did they do this to you without firing a shot and getting spotted?

Here goes ... The other day I was beta testing. Now, I had planned a nice little massed force attack. It comprised a rear mortar fire base, an intermediate line of heavy weapons for support, and an infantry attack force. I was pretty pleased with it.

However, it failed miserably! For hours (6-8 hours), as my troops tried to get this organized they got hit by one mortar volley or arty barrage after another! In the meantime, my commanders had not a single enemy contact to report. How incredibly frustrating!

And how did that happen? Well, it happened due to differential LOS/sighting. (By the way, I borrowed that term from the Combat Mission forums where I saw it.) This means that just because they can see you doesn't mean that you can see them. HTTR implements this ... however, I am not too sure of the exact details.

I have used a trick of taking one of my save games (I usually have many given my play style) and surrendering at that point so that I could see what things looked like.

Here you see my forces and an enemy company dug-in to the North at Nicoline. Well, I never saw them until my botched attack was well underway, but by then my operation was already doomed to fail. However, they clearly knew everything I was doing as their brutal bombardments of my forces certainly indicated.

Lessons:

(1) Beware setting up in open ground.

(2) Beware setting up at low elevations.

(3) Beware differential LOS.

Thanks

[MarkShot]

Mind you, I haven't tested this, but here are my thoughts:

(1) The parameters you selected seem correct. One other thing that might be interesting is what happens if a unit is told to rest? Then, are they more likely to not engage the enemy if not threatened?

(2) I would think that you want some high ground with closed terrain overlooking some roads. You don't want your unit to be blocking the enemy.

(3) I would think to pick a location where the visible roads are beyond the effective range of the units weapons. You could try this using the [F]ire command to get a range circle. Visibility range of mechanized units should well exceed the range of small arms fire.

(4) I would think that a smaller unit with a smaller footprint would be a better choice.

(5) I would think that a non-motorized unit would be a better choice as it should have smaller visibility profile.

All of the above is speculative. I have always used my screen/blocking units in an active role as opposed to just passively gathering intelligence. However, differential siting in the game clearly exists. You can see that very clearly when conducting an attack. Before you actually close with the enemy, you will be taking fire and yet not have any contacts producing it.

[MarkShot]

Although not related to HTTR directly, it would seem that having observation over the enemy and their movements can have a profound impact. One of my favorite techniques in playing CMBB is to have some units with a very short covered arc (so that they won't fire unless stumbled upon) with a very wide field of LOS from a tree line or building. You get a tremendous sense of situational awareness. Most valuable of all you see armor moving through rear areas as they prepare to deploy. There is nothing as unbalancing in an armor engagement as knowing when and where the enemy will appear. "Gunner, Tank, Fire!"

[KNac007]

There is a reason (well, various in reality) why IRL battlefield high ground features were captured, one of these was because a good view on the battlefield for commanding issues as well as for artillery spotting.

Artillery FOs are supposed to be modeled with the ability to call artillery with inmediatly response (too much fleibility anyway). As I have said many times this is rather too generic and would like a more in-deep model for artillery, as it was probably the most important feature of WWII and any war (and still nowadays, ground or air artillery).