Matrix Games Forums

Couple questions here

1, is there any units in FCSS pop up IR-Blocking/Thermal smoke?

2, does smoke protect the covered ground units from air raid/helicopter attack?

3, If the smoke can protect ground units from air raid, can M163 Vulcan engage air threat through smoke? (from equipment detail, it shouldn't? it only has air searching radar, and the radar don't have fire control ability?)

4, Can BRM (with GSR ground searching radar) shoot through smoke?

5, Can GSR detect a stationary target?

Thx

1). No IR/Thermal blocking smoke in SS.
2). And 3). William would need to chime in on these.
4). No. The GSR is not a fire control system.
5). Yes. Shorter range than if it is moving. Weather will also impact performance slightly.

Tcao wrote: Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:59 pm 2, does smoke protect the covered ground units from air raid/helicopter attack?

3, If the smoke can protect ground units from air raid, can M163 Vulcan engage air threat through smoke? (from equipment detail, it shouldn't? it only has air searching radar, and the radar don't have fire control ability?)

Smoke in a hex does obscure the defender or attacker in that hex. The smoke stack is 20m high and hugging the ground. The line of sight check is in 3D.

Depending on the angle from which the attack is coming, the line-of-sight travels a long way or a short way through that smoke.
An air plane at altitude would look towards the defender from a steep angle, having to pierce through only 20-50m of smoke.
A hovering helicopter at the same altitude as the defender would have to pierce a few hundred meters of smoke to see the defender.

So, for #2, yes, smoke offers some benefits, but not much obscuration from attacking aircraft. It offers more obscuration from attacking helicopters.

For #3, the attacker is in a smoke covered hex. Unlike defenders, attackers can pick the the optimal attack position within the hex, which typically is at the hex edge. So, the smoke hindrance for the M163 Vulcan would be limited, engaging air threats from the edge of the hex through only part of the smoke stack, even for low flying targets such as helicopters.

William

CapnDarwin wrote: Fri Dec 09, 2022 2:14 pm 1). No IR/Thermal blocking smoke in SS.

But from map objective it looks like the thermal smoke was considered by the dev team?
pic below is from Dev log#3


Also, doesn't White Phosphorus Smoke have thermal blocking ability? I thought at least US Army still have large amount of WP ammunition for 81mm and 105mm back in 80s' ?

thx

It's in the markers and probably should be removed since we have no units using it in Southern Storm. WP and illumination rounds will be a future feature add.

Tcao wrote: Sat Dec 10, 2022 2:52 pm But from map objective it looks like the thermal smoke was considered by the dev team?
pic below is from Dev log#3

Correct, the game is capable of handling the effect of thermal smoke and multi-spectral smoke on sensors, for modern day conflicts / professional use.