Spotting recon units at long range is too easy in the NTC map:

[mmacguinness]

I typically place recon units in OPs on higher elevations adjacent to impassable terrain with good fields of view.

These units have an exceeding short life expectancy, they are always spotted at long range (1,500m) by the attacking force and destroyed.

Here is a photo of I-15 just South of the NTC. In terrain like that, surely recon units in an OP would be dug in and camouflaged, and effectively unspottable unless they did something stupid?
This basically how it works in other maps, why not NTC?

[83Reforger]

Keep in mind that in the early 80’s the standard BDU was woodland camo. Not exactly the best in the desert.

I would agree with your logic though. I too have been to the NTC. There is plenty of cover, and many of the adjacent hills allow for both defilade and enfilading fire.

[mmacguinness]

Woodland camo? Agreed, not the best.
But scratch a shallow hole to lie in, rub dirt into the uniform, attach pieces of scrub/vegetation to it, surely you'd be invisible to anyone more than 50m away unless doing something stupid.

But to be identified and destroyed at ranges of +1500 m every single time without exception as in AB, hell no.

[Perturabo]

Woodland camo? Agreed, not the best.
But scratch a shallow hole to lie in, rub dirt into the uniform, attach pieces of scrub/vegetation to it, surely you'd be invisible to anyone more than 50m away unless doing something stupid.

But to be identified and destroyed at ranges of +1500 m every single time without exception as in AB, hell no.

I think the problem is that the game doesn't simulate hasty emplacements.

[mmacguinness]

I do not agree.

The problem is not the lack of hasty emplacements, but in setting the Concealment Factor for desert tiles and desert rough tiles to zero.
Amazingly, even the rough terrain tiles I checked have zero Concealment.

Essentially, AB assumes a smooth or glassy surface where concealment is impossible in the NTC so even recon units are automatically detected once within visibility range.

Madness!

I first posted on this over a year ago. I have stopped doing NTC scenarios because of this.
Long past time someone on the AB team explained this, though I can't imagine any reasonable explanation.