Matrix Games Forums

I have been playing the Black Sea demo and having a lot of fun. With the Easter sale, I decided to take the plunge and buy the game. So I should be getting started on the real game shortly.

One thing I noticed in the demo was just how important sighting ranges are. Does anyone know sighting ranges and percentages in general? For example, what is the max sighting range for a scout team with binoculars? At what range is it impossible for that team to spot an enemy ATGM team? If I set a binocular scout team up to watch an area that is 1000 or 1500 meters away, will they spot stationary infantry or am I wasting my time?

My general impression is spotting stationary infantry is not easy. Spotting armor is fairly easy. However I imagine there are range limitations beyond which you may not spot anything.

Anyway, just wondering if there is any knowledge out there on spotting ranges and limitations.

Think about how our eyes work - we can see the distant stars but might struggle to see someone lurking behind a tree at the end of the street. There's not any hard cut-off range limit - same deal with the CM games. Generally if anything is out in the open you can spot it a long way off, though obviously vehicles will be easier to see than people. It's concealed units which are harder to see at distance, and they can be good at hiding from aerial observation too. If you leave an observer in place for several turns, he'll usually notice more as time goes on than from one single turn. The more optics available the better. While the internals of the program will use hard numbers they've not been made available to players, so to us it's a bit of a dark art.

Yes, I was thinking along those lines. I know in the first scenario August Morning, I was able to spot stationary infantry teams behind a line of bushes/trees at probably 350 yards/meters. I am keeping track of distances at which I spot infantry. I suspect binoculars have some limits at which I wouldn't be able to spot them. I am guessing with experience, I will get a feel for reasonable distances at which I can spot stationary infantry.

Another factor, I think, is that of commander bonuses e.g. an observer with bonuses may detect objects sooner/further than without.

Good point. Always some variability. Although I suspect there are technical limitations as well. At some distance, binoculars or thermal imagining, etc. just won't have the resolution to allow proper spotting.