Questions on air recon

[Cavalry Corp]

Hi Guys,

Does recon spot in mountains, woods, cities etc?
How does it see more than the hex you designate?
Does it help in attacks by ground forces?
Does recon work less well in bad weather?

cav

[Seminole]

Does recon spot in mountains, woods, cities etc?

Yes, but with the caveat: Maximum Detection level 2: Non air base units located in non clear terrain and not adjacent to enemy units.
DL 3 is required to determine a unit's type.
Not sure if all covered terrain is considered equal.

How does it see more than the hex you designate?

Not quite sure how this works, as I often see units several hexes 'beyond' my target hex, as well as between the target hex and airbase. I tend to pick spots between already visible units in the hope of seeing something new and increasing the detection level of those I've already seen.

Does it help in attacks by ground forces?

Yes

Does recon work less well in bad weather?

Yes:

Mud weather also increases the chances that individual aircraft or complete air group units will not participate in missions or that the entire mission might be cancelled due to inclement conditions (16.1.5). Snow represents mild winter conditions with freezing temperatures and snowfall. Movement and supply tracing costs are increased by +1 MP for all units. The impact on air missions is the same as in mud, with an increased chance of aborted aircraft, air group units and entire air missions. Blizzard weather represents extreme winter weather, with temperatures well below freezing accompanied by high winds and heavy snowfall. Movement and supply tracing costs are increased by +2 MP for all units. The adverse impact on air missions is approximately double that of snow or mud, with greatly increased chances of aborted aircraft, air group units and even the cancellation of entire air missions.

I think you can safely presume the fewer aircraft that fly the worse the detection ability of the mission.

[Cavalry Corp]

Thanks - so mech units about to attack should where possible be in woods etc.

[Seminole]

I try to keep units in cover whenever possible mainly for the irreducible fortification value they provide.
I wouldn't fret over the DL of attacking units very much, since they're going to be adjacent for the attack the scouting values of the units in the adjacent hexes will provide a lot of information about them.

To me it's more about making him wonder if those units in the woods (etc.) are just a security rgt, or a cavalry corps...

Also, units under cover might not be noticed at all by recon, and you could halt a carefully planned sichelschnitt by increasing MP costs unexpectedly. This just happened in my current game when my opponent sent his panzers on a JEB Stuart style end around, and then found himself suddenly halted by a motorized division I suspect he was unaware of in the rough terrain. Result will be he gets cut off this turn, and I avoided encirclement (at least for the moment...)

[Cavalry Corp]

ok good advice thanks...