Reconnoiter

[hobo]

So, I am told to reconnoiter a Named Area of Interest. What exactly am I suppose to do and how do I know if I have done it? Do I move to the NAI or is all I have to do is see it?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Thanks,

Hobo

PS - Loving the game.

[JasonC]

It means you are supposed to find out what is there. If you can do that by just looking, OK, but usually it means someone has to get close - eventually. Me, I like to send big chunks of high explosive first. I find body parts easier to recon than live enemy.

[MikeyD]

The very first time I played Red in the game I ordered my T72 to 'hunt' but was in the wrong menu and accidently bailed my tank crew instead! Since they were already out I decided to march my bailed crew over the crest of the hill to see what was on the other side. I spotted an Abrams lying in wait. The crew didn't draw fire. I scampered my guys back to the T72 and reboarded, maneuvered my tank for a rear shot and NAILED the Abrams! THAT was 'reconnoiter'!

[LongLeftFlank]

Originally posted by JasonC:

I find body parts easier to recon than live enemy.

That is almost Robert Duvall enough to be a sigline. Ya smell that?

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by hobo:

So, I am told to reconnoiter a Named Area of Interest. What exactly am I suppose to do and how do I know if I have done it? Do I move to the NAI or is all I have to do is see it?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Basically, the scenario briefing is supposed to explain this to you. I'm assuming you are familiar with page 24-25 of the manual (printed version) outlining victory conditions? Once you are past the briefing and into the 3-D world, you should see objectives "painted" onto the screen. If the briefing is written properly, it will give you a clue if they are Touch objective types or not.

There are also unit based objectives, one of them being Spot. There may well be no way for you to determine during the game which units need to be "spotted", so again, a well-written briefing is kind of essential in figuring this out. The way the game works, though, is that you get "x" number of points - as determined by the scenario designer and not revealed until the game is over - for simply spotting and identifying an enemy unit. (Which means he can usually see you, too.)

There is an old tradition among scenario designers that surprise can be a key element in providing scenario "balance." And it isn't unrealistic to simply tell a player to go out and "spot what's there" and not give the player an idea of what he needs to spot, since in real life, the whole point of reconnaissance is to - - find out what's there.

So basically, part of the tension of the scenario, and your decision making, will be in figuring out if you're spotted enough enemy units, presuming that is the true objective of the game - which a scenario designer may legitimately decide not to disclose to the player.

However - a good scenario designer and briefing writer will still present all this material in a realistic way, hopefully. Reread the briefing and see if there aren't more clues as to what you are looking for. If not, then basically keep going til you spot something then ask yourself if what you've spotted was really tactically significant, and if there might not be more important stuff somewhere else on the map.

In other words, CM:SF encourages you to think like a real life commander.

[JonS]

Originally posted by MikeyD:

... accidently bailed my tank crew instead! Since they were already out I decided to march my bailed crew over the crest of the hill to see what was on the other side. I spotted an Abrams lying in wait. ... I scampered my guys back to the T72 and reboarded, maneuvered my tank for a rear shot and NAILED the Abrams! THAT was 'reconnoiter'!

Excellent! That is exactly the kind of thing I'd hoped to see done with dismounted crews.

[hobo]

Michael - Thanks for the detailed response. I did read pages 24 and 25 and am guessing the answer is you do not really know what is at the locations unless you actually visit it. I will take Jason's advice and blast them for a while before actually doing the visit.

- hobo

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by hobo:

Michael - Thanks for the detailed response. I did read pages 24 and 25 and am guessing the answer is you do not really know what is at the locations unless you actually visit it. I will take Jason's advice and blast them for a while before actually doing the visit.

- hobo

Jason's advice may be useless as far as the victory conditions go, though. Depends on how the scenario designer set up the VC in this particular case. Which mission are you playing?

[MikeyD]

I believe some locations may be designated 'preserve', which means destroying that mosque with 'recon by fire' might give you a negative victory points hit. I *think* the last campaign scenario i played was like that. But you just can't crack open a campaign scenario in the editor to double-check how the victory parameters were set up