Matrix Games Forums

I recently read this article (https://www.twz.com/news-features/russi ... ing-drones) and had some thoughts about how the game implements smoke screen deployment.

Would adding the ability for units to generate a smoke screen (either dedicated vehicles similar to the M58 Wolf or tanks with smoke generators) make sense at the current game scale? This was definitely a capability for individual vehicles, but I'm not sure if it translates to a unit-level effect in terms of laying smoke in a hex.

Additionally, would it make sense to add a smoke feature that is only along individual sides of a hex, rather than covering the entire hex? This would result in LOS into the hex only being blocked through the sides with active smoke.

Subunit-level smoke is a tougher deal at the scale we are at. We already include the effects of smoke dischargers for temporary degrading of vision for combat fires. Smoke pots or smoke-generating vehicles (including the ability to dump fuel on the hot exhaust) would need some review as to the level of effectiveness based on weather and ground conditions and its ability to degrade LOS. I can add this to our list for future consideration.

Another interesting summary of late Cold War technology in this area (on the US/NATO side): https://www.ausa.org/sites/default/file ... arfare.pdf. It does seem like the capability was just coming online in the period covered by FCSS, although it would have been nascent and may not have been widely available until the post-Cold War period. I have found some older FMs (3-101-1 and 3-50) from the 1990s that describe mobile smokescreens in considerable detail.