Idea for unit field of view indication

[puje]

I thought of this idea about how to indicate a units current field of view.

I always found it very anoying how the terrain obstructs my units' ability to target something, when I, the player, cannot really tell how much the terrain is obstructing.

So the idea is that in itself the map is in grayscale. Only the units and vision cones of the selected unit are in full color. Objects obstructing a unit's view would have a gray cone to the rear.

Units not currently selected would have a sepia vision cone, indicating that they are watching, but not activly selected.

And of course all enemy indicators will only show up in color or sepia.

What do you guys think of this idea? Has it been done in another game before? Do you think it would help the playing experience?

[agusto]

I like the idea. IIRC Graviteams Steal Armor Blaze of War has something similar (although it is only available in the 2D tactical view, not the 3D battlefield view), and it often did help me to figure out what my units can see and what they cant see.

[db_zero]

I think someone mentioned this is the past and the general response was no they didn't want to give players a precise way of measuring LOS. They want a "unknown" factor instead of giving the player too much control and knowledge of what you can and can't see.

In a recent h2h game when I was measuring LOS and targeting based on what I could target I was under the assumption that an area/sector was un-target able and my opponent could move units there unimpeded.

I was pleasantly surprised when he rolled tanks through that area and got blasted by my tanks who "could not target" the area.

[Erwin]

Yeah, often you can't target a low target (like the ground) but anything higher - a walking man or vehicle can be seen. That's what makes the cone idea not that useful. Nice try though...