Effectiveness of TI (thermal imaging)

EJ · #1 June 3rd, 2013, 03:31 PM

This is a general question open to ANY who want to reply. I recently played a pbem in which tanks had TI. I attempted to ambush a TI tank which was out in the open from behind while my tank was in cover(forest). It went bad....My unit did NOT even get a shot off before being killed in ONE shot...

Is TI supposed to be THAT much of an advantage? I mean is it like a 360 degree "spidey" sense?

Suhiir · #2 June 3rd, 2013, 11:49 PM

Any enemy unit within detection range (either the scenarios max or its own vision capability) may be detected.
Facing, smoke, cover, and many other factors come into play.

So it's not that TI is "spidey sense" but he got lucky (or you got unlucky) and he fired first.

Imp · #3 June 4th, 2013, 06:22 AM

Hard to say from the info given but generally no though they do see better to the rear than they should due to the way the game engine works.
What range
Was the enemy tank stationary or moving, its more likely to see you & get a shot off first the slower its moving.
How fast did you move, anything over 1 hex increases chances of being spotted by a fair bit.
Was any enemy infantry on the ground near the tank to act as extra eyes. This is the best protection vs a sneak attack it will most likely fail.
You can sometimes see this work clearly as a sort of ripple effect, nearby units react.
Any further activity in the area & the words out more units will react especially in a modern game with decent radios.

Probably infantry on the ground or he just got lucky if you only moved 1 hex.

Miketee10022 · #4 June 15th, 2013, 03:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suhiir

Any enemy unit within detection range (either the scenarios max or its own vision capability) may be detected.
Facing, smoke, cover, and many other factors come into play.

So it's not that TI is "spidey sense" but he got lucky (or you got unlucky) and he fired first.

Just a word of thanks! This reply was very helpful!

Rosmarus · #5 June 20th, 2013, 05:04 PM

As for realism. Usually tank commander is keeping an eye out with his periscope so that gives him 360 degrees of visibility (well not real 360 degrees, but you get the idea) while the gunner keeps an eye on the frontal sector of the tank with his imaging equipment.

gingertanker · #6 August 6th, 2013, 07:10 PM

IRL manny(most) tanks with TI dont have an independent TI viewer for commander...But this impossible to model in SPMBT. As for its effectiveness...In my prettey well educated opinion, TI gives you an amazing advantage. In my tank it ran all the time, day and night, even though it made an annoying sound. The biggest surprise to me when I first used TI was how helpful it is in broad day light. Targets that are hardly visible due to their colour or shape still have a heat signature. and with targets looking pretty damned small at ranges above 2000m, they are easier to spot in TI than by normal optics.

EJ · #7 August 15th, 2013, 01:27 PM

Thanks for EXPLAINING the significant advantage of TI. I never knew it was such a game changer in technology!

PPoS · #8 September 29th, 2013, 02:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gingertanker

IRL manny(most) tanks with TI dont have an independent TI viewer for commander...But this impossible to model in SPMBT. As for its effectiveness...In my prettey well educated opinion, TI gives you an amazing advantage. In my tank it ran all the time, day and night, even though it made an annoying sound. The biggest surprise to me when I first used TI was how helpful it is in broad day light. Targets that are hardly visible due to their colour or shape still have a heat signature. and with targets looking pretty damned small at ranges above 2000m, they are easier to spot in TI than by normal optics.

I just thought about something. I don't know if you know this but; how does hot terrain interact with TI ? E.g. hot desert sand or heated asphalt. And I also don't know what generation of TI you have experience with, but how easy would you say it would've been to ID what type of tank you're looking at, etc ?

Suhiir · #9 August 15th, 2013, 09:15 PM

Night vision in general is a real game changer.

Think about Gulf War I.
Night attacks weren't made very often because visibility limited the attacker as much (or more) then the defender. But during Gulf I they were the attack of choice because Iraqi night vision gear (when they had any at all) was much inferior to ours.

EJ · #10 August 18th, 2013, 02:18 AM

Suhiir,

Do you pbem? We should get a game going sometime.....