I love Combat Mission

[Bulletpoint]

You really think it is in the "great" category? It seems to be very pessimistic about which unit can see which enemy unit. Especially right down the coax of a tank, where multiple people's optics point. With and without magnification. Still I often have AFVs not see something right in front of them that infantry spotted.

I'm not saying it is a dealbreaker, but for me it certainly doesn't count as "great".

Ok fair enough, by "great" I meant that each unit spots separately and that the game tracks each unit's knowledge of other units, both friendly and enemy. I've definitely had my share of weird spotting issues.

 

[ChuckDyke]

You really think it is in the "great" category?

I agree with you. Recently I played 'Partisan' in Fire and Rubble. You get two marksmen in that scenario one 'Elite' and one Veteran. Found the Elite a nice hide with full LOS on the objective and I could plot a LOF inside a house. Once the firefight was happening, he didn't spot a single German who was shooting out of the windows. Then I realized it is the game. You need the contact icons from other units. If your friendly unit is outside the CO2 of friendly units it is unlikely, they spot independently. Please note it is my opinion only.

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Below is the BFC forum link for Hard Cat rules. They were made by Bil and @A Canadian Cat. They work very well and are easy to use. The basic rule set is a one page PDF document. The advanced rules add a second page to the document. I generally keep the rules open on my laptop, for reference, while I play on my gaming desktop.

Hard Cat Rules v2I - Simple to Use Command & Control Rules - UPDATED 01 JUNE 2022

This thread is an offshoot of the Co-op AAR that @IanL and I have ongoing in the CMFS 2 forum. In that game we tested a set of realism rules we called the Hard Cat Rules. Well I have been doing a lot of talking about perhaps adding some rule additions to that basic set and got some great feedback...

community.battlefront.com

Yeah I helped Bil refine his idea. We did a demo AAR using them (link to Bil's side is above). I quite like them actually. The goal was to have a system that did not require a record keeping system and was short enough to apply without too much referring to the rules book. So, it is nice and short and the actions you can and cannot take are entirely determinable form the current situation in game - you don't need to remember anything from previous turns or record any additional info.

So as much as some details of the spotting system are overly simplistic units sometimes not spotting easily visible targets is concerned thats one of the more realistic parts of it.

Indeed. Steve has said a few times that if they improved the spotting system further to be more realistic people would be upset about how little units would see. The game is very forgiving in this regard - even though most gamers think it is the opposite.

If your friendly unit is outside the CO2 of friendly units it is unlikely, they spot independently.

That is completely incorrect. Units care quite capable of spotting things on their own. They do it all the time. Where do you think the tentative spotting indicators are coming from? Having tentative contact information from C2 helps units to spot those enemy units so it is valuable.

 

[SlySniper]

While training on the simulator of a Leopard2a6 as gunner i had enemy tanks appear 600m ahead of me. I destroyed 2 quickly and went back to scanning my assigned area. 30s later we got destroyed by a 3rd. He was right next to the two i just destroyed and looking at the footage afterwards was comfortably in my field of view the entire time i was engaging the other tanks.
So as much as some details of the spotting system are overly simplistic units sometimes not spotting easily visible targets is concerned thats one of the more realistic parts of it.

I had my own experience of not seeing a tank set up in plain view in front of me, not until I heard tank crew noises did I manage to rescan the area and see it right there in front of me in plain sight.

Shocked that I could miss such a thing for as long as I did

 

[ChuckDyke]

Having tentative contact information from C2 helps units to spot those enemy units so it is valuable.

You're correct I should have put it differently. They need direct contact with a friendly (Like an unbuttoned AFV next to an infantry unit.) unit to share their contact icons. Naturally, every unit is a spotter in its own right.