so is this hidden or not?

[Magnum50]

I can't tell if this AT unit is hidden or not, how do you tell how well a unit is hidden, or if there at the edge of hidden, or what?

Thx...

[George MC]

It's so well hidden I can't make it out in the image... Maybe a larger image?

FWIW when hiding stuff think about the terrain it's in - long grass/wheat/weeds/undergrowth all serve to camo AT guns. Range is another factor.

An AT gun placed beside some trees with no undergrowth tile will stand out - place it in trees with undergrowth then it is better camoued.

[akd]

They are hiding. Green text in bottom left that shows current actions appears to read "hiding." Also, if you go to the panel with the hide command, the button will be depressed.

[womble]

They look to be "Hiding" in "Brush" in some mediumish grass. They'll probably be fairly hard to spot from lower elevations.

[Magnum50]

thx... i was more looking for a place where it tells me what terrain there on/in... but thx for the info.

[The Steppenwulf]

Although a unit that is commanded to hide by the player is not the same thing as a unit that is hidden from the enemy. Just to clarify; it isn't possible to tell whether your unit is hidden to all enemy units. Camouflage, range, line of sight, size of unit and whether the unit is attempting to hide its profile are all factors taht help a unit go/stay hidden.

Interesting query that popped into my head when reading this though is what contribution binoculars in a unit might make in-game to successfully spotting hidden enemy units. We know that movement types make a difference to spotting the hidden with the 'Hunt' command being the most effective. But what about units with binoculars??

[womble]

Interesting query that popped into my head when reading this though is what contribution binoculars in a unit might make in-game to successfully spotting hidden enemy units. We know that movement types make a difference to spotting the hidden with the 'Hunt' command being the most effective. But what about units with binoculars??

I'd not be so sure that "Hunt" has the highest chance of spotting hidden units. Slow has pretty good situational awareness. But I'm sure BFC have said that bins help spotting, significantly.

[YankeeDog]

Also worth a reminder: In CMx2, what terrain is between a unit and any enemy trying to spot it is often as or more important than what kind of terrain the unit is actually standing in.

[The Steppenwulf]

I'd not be so sure that "Hunt" has the highest chance of spotting hidden units. Slow has pretty good situational awareness.

I was basing that statement purely on what I retained from having read the manual once upon a moon:

[page 80]

HUNT

Infantry - this command maximizes the unit’s awareness for possible enemy contact.

This could be interpreted in an alternative way, but it does strongly imply and thus support what I had stated.

Originally Posted by Womble:- But I'm sure BFC have said that bins help spotting, significantly.

Great stuff, thanks for confirming that!!

[womble]

I was basing that statement purely on what I retained from having read the manual once upon a moon:

[page 80]

This could be interpreted in an alternative way, but it does strongly imply and thus support what I had stated.

Yeah, it does say that. I've gotten so sick and tired of Hunting troops getting prezacktly nowhere, I hardly use it. I think I've gotten better "overall" results using Slow, probably because the truppen aren't as exposed; Hunting troops probably still don't spot as well as stationary ones, so get spotted easier as the "moving half" of a spotting pair, and then shot before they can register a target... But that doesn't invalidate your find: Hunt is meant to give the best vision for movers.

Though the two aspects of your post raise a third question: do bins actually help all the time, or only when static? You definitely see "Spotting" troops holding their vision aids to their faces, but not so much when they're moving. I'm guessing the heirarchy of vision goes:

Best

Static with Binos

Static

Hunting

[Other movement modes in some order or other]

Fast

Worst.

[Sgt Schultz]

I would say the the spotting variable gets its bonus from binocs when the binoc user in that team shows as "spotting" in the info panel.

Having them around one's neck should not increase spotting for the entire team.

-------

Hunt is da shiznit, but only in lots of small waypoints, with a 5 second pause at each one, and staying within concealing terrain.

Woods, smoke screens, any low-vis area is a prime place to use Hunt. Out in the middle of a field that sniper could pin you down in from 400 meters? Not so much.

---------------------

To the OP - I cannot tell from the image size which way that team is facing. If it is facing downhill(enemy is downhill), you may want to re-consider their position. Hiding on the face of a hill in short grass like that will not help at all. Find a wall or a hedge or something. If it facing uphill, it is too far from the crest to bring tanks under fire within their primary weapons range(30m).

Basically, it is not an optimal position, but it may be the best you have. Not enough info to really tell.

[The Steppenwulf]

Hunting troops probably still don't spot as well as stationary ones.

There's no doubt about that. Keeping men stationary definitely improves spotting and also not forgetting the quality of contact ID - the latter of which is another aspect of the spotting debate.

Though the two aspects of your post raise a third question: do bins actually help all the time, or only when static?

I think your supposition is highly likely to be correct and I concur. In fact I would be incredibly disappointed if BF informed us to the contrary. However the game code esp in this area seems suitably sophisticated enough to model such nuances easily enough.

I'm guessing the heirarchy of vision goes:

Best

Static with Binos

Static

Hunting

[Other movement modes in some order or other]

Fast

Worst.

Yes this extrapolation makes a lot of sense.

Based on this reasoning, can one apply a similar hierarchy to vehicles but substitute bins with open hatches?! At first that might seem straightforward enough, but a deeper consideration throws up even more nuances and difficulties:

Slow would likely come before hunting (vehicles don't do belly crawls), yet hatches open during any kind of movement COULD all provide better spotting than stationary & closed.

Furthermore, since a TC is the chief spotter, what if he is killed or wounded?? In which case, is there any point in keeping hatches open in the event of a TC being put OOA?

Some interesting questions but we are in hypothetical territory here with only personal testament to guide us. Any views anyone - concrete or guesswork!!