Terrain, cover and concealment

[Bonxa]

Does anybody have a clue about what terrain type is what and what cover and concealment they offer? Back in CMx1 this was easy to nail down and I don't mind if it got a little bit harder but now I'm pretty clueless.

[hoolaman]

I'll try an answer but it is not exactly a science.

Firstly, CMSF is at least in theory WYSIWYG. So the best type of cover in an arid environment, like IRL is dirt, or a ditch, actually getting a "hull down" defilade type position.

If you are not familiar with the terrain by looking, you really should make a little test map in the editor and see what tiles are what, just paint a patch of tree A, B, C etc and see what it gives you.

As of 1.08 I have observed trees give pretty much the concealment you would expect, they also give good cover.

Walls give probably the best cover, with trenches second. Houses give reasonable cover but are a bit "porous" as in some bullets are calculated to penetrate the wall, and windows provide open spaces for bullets. Also at the moment all houses are the same for cover, no heavy and light buildings.

Brush and grasses give the relative levels of concealment you would expect, long grain is very good for concealment, but no cover except that afforded by the fact that you can't area fire into grain because you can't see the ground.

Flat open terrain has a small dgree of fudge factor applied to simulate small dips and ditches that a man would quickly find if a hail of bullets came his way.

All of this is also modified by whether your guys are kneeling or prone. A guy prone behind a wall cannot be touched, but a guy kneeling can have his head shot off. Using a SLOW command at the end of your move will leave your guys in prone positions.

I don't need a %cover value like CMx1 had, but it would be nice to mouse over a terrain tile and see what terrain it actually is. I still can't remember them all.

[Moon]

Keep in mind that what terrain a unit is IN is only one (small) part of the equation. CMSF tracks lines of sight 1:1, so what is more important (or at least just as important) is what terrain is BETWEEN the unit and whoever is firing/spotting.

[Bonxa]

Thanks guys! This rhymes well with what I have observed myself in the game. I became extra interested in the matter recently as I'm playing my first heavily forested game. It's a lot fuzzier than it used to be! Getting units into overwatch positions takes a long time since judging LOS/LOF is rather tough. But I don't complain since that's how it is in RL as well as far as I can remember from my short service time.