Fog of war

[Cross]

Yes, the crew number can be a bit gamey. I have often right clicked on enemy tanks to get an indication of how badly it's damaged. I also want to know if it's the same tank I damaged earlier, and then I can better decide if I want to approach it.

That said, it can be realistic to know if a specific tank is damaged. I've read quite a few accounts of tank battles where hit tanks has visible signs of damage, like trailing smoke.

You may be right about the replay becoming more important. That may even be the wrinkle that torpedoes this idea. If it makes the game frustrating, regardless of realism, then who'd want to use it...

But it may just make the game better, like not knowing where unspotted units are. What you don't know can enhance the game, rather than making it frustrating.

It just has to be tested to see how it plays and 'feels'.

[Marek_Tucan]

Originally Posted by Cross

That said, it can be realistic to know if a specific tank is damaged. I've read quite a few accounts of tank battles where hit tanks has visible signs of damage, like trailing smoke.

OTOH I daresay I have read a number of accounts where the tank showed no visible signs of damage yet the crew was killed or knocked out. And the basic rule of ground combat is "shoot till it changes shape and stops moving". Just have a look at the famous Cajone Eh. Burned after a freak SPG-82 hit, then subsequently burned some more by crew, then attacked by Paveways and directly hit by a Maverick... Yet from 3-km it would still look to you like one Abrams keeping guard over the road crossing.
EDIT: And to counter "Yeah, from 3 km maybe, but if I get scouts close..." - would you try to close in to few hundred (max) meters to Abrams? And anyway, you would at the very least stop till the scouts make sure the tank is dead.


Same situation, a tank is reported. You take a look through binocs and if you're lucky, you identify the typical egg-shaped turret. Now what is it? T-54? T-55? Type 59? Type 69? With night sights? With modern ammo? With LRF? Damaged by previous airstrike, suppressed by arty, with green crew not seeing you, with experienced crew playing dead, with experienced crew having a brewski time?