GPQ: Please explain the new LOS tools !

[Wiggum]

Hi !

What does the new LOS-Area and the LOS tool tell me ?

The LOS Area tool has 3 colors, green, red and dark red...what do they tell me ?
And the other LOS tool (straight line), it shows just 2 colors (i suspect), blue and a little darker blue (bad color choice), but what do they tell me (poor and good visibility i suspect) ?
In CO1 there where gaps in the line to show "no visibility" but i can drag a line across the whole map in CO2 without any gaps visible...

Please Dave, explain it to us...its very confusing !

 

[john connor]

Brighter better, darker worse, I believe, Wiggum. Dave posted that recently. Very bright, you can see them well, very dark you can see them less well. That's all I know!

 

[Wiggum]

Thanks but what about the gaps that we had in the CO1 LOS tool to show "no visibility" ?
Why are they gone ? How is "no visibility" shown right now ?

 

[john connor]

Good question!

Pic from Beda Fomm:



I would also like to know what EXACTLY the bands of colour mean (is there a percentage of spotting chance attached to each band, for example?) And what is the position once past the bands of colour? No spotting there? That would mean that this unit, in a desert, could spot to max around 9km (it says 8.5km in the weather box, so maybe that is right).As Wiggum says, there was a way in which the old shading looked to present a more complex (realistic?) LOS picture as there were always boxes of black in amongst the white etc representing blocked LOS. There is one little box in the above pic, I guess, but overall it looks much simpler. I'm also a bit confused as to what it shows in detail.

 

[Wiggum]

I actually talk about the normal LOS tool.
In CO1 you had gaps in the line that showed you that you had no LOS to that location but in CO2 these gaps seem to be gone.

 

[john connor]

That as well? you mean in CO1 the line LOS tool would, for example, have a large gap in the line as the land went down into a valley (dead ground in the valley) and then would continue beyond that where LOS was resumed. That's gone too?. Hopefully, Dave will answer.

 

[Wiggum]

Yes, its gone as far as i can tell, never saw it in CO2.

 

[Panman]

Isn't that on the tools popup ... LOS ... the lines are gone but it has that semi-transparent overlay.

 

[Wiggum]

...thats just the heights (like the black lines in CO1).

 

[Panman]

Ahhh ... gotcha ... now I understand what you meant by the gaps that were in CO1

 

[Daz]

I think the new tools are an excellent improvement.
I particularly like the new terrain trace for the LOS tool.

It looks to me that the gaps have been replaced by very dark blue, which is the colour that now represents no LOS.

In the image below I have overlaid the LOS tool onto an image with the LOS area tool, so you can see the interaction between the two.

The colours for the LOS Area tool are:

• Green - excellent viz
• Yellow -good viz
• Orange -not to good viz
• Brown -not good viz
• Red - very bad viz

Something to bare in mind is that just because a unit is in the orange zone it doesn't mean you can see it, as the overlay is just a guide and based on a deployed infantry unit in open terrain
If the unit is dug in, it will have better concealment and may not be visible, if it is moving it will be easier to see.
Likewise if it is bigger (a tank for instance) or firing (I think this is modelled),it will also be easier to see than the overlay suggests.
(I'm fairly sure the above is correct, but am open to alternative suggestions)

Distances can be measured as well by the LOS Area overlay by counting the 100m squares of colour, but a ruler is still missing from the game, its a shame it wasn't added as a number to the end of the LOS tool.

 

[Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor]

For the LOS line tool the white filled poly area above the line represents the contour of the terrain. The colour of the line represents the quality of detection, with brightest being best, darkest being worst.

 

[Wiggum]

Yeah but whats "no LOS at all" ?
In CO1 it was a gap in the line, but in CO2 there are no gaps.

 

[DerGrenadier]

Could someone plz explain what the friendly and enemy armor overlay is good for? I cant figure it out.

 

[Daz]

Yeah but whats "no LOS at all" ?
In CO1 it was a gap in the line, but in CO2 there are no gaps.

It looks as though the no line of sight at all gaps. have been replaced with very dark blue.

Could someone plz explain what the friendly and enemy armor overlay is good for? I cant figure it out.

I'm a bit baffled by this as well.

I think it is supposed to filter for combined anti personnel, and anti armour (armoured units can usually fire HE, to the same range as AT munitions) just for units equipped with armour.
But the colours have been reversed!
I.e. the red is for good firepower, and green is for poor firepower.
I think this might be a bug?

Bear in mind that the enemy armour overlay is not going to be very effective until the intel bug is fixed.

 

[Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor]

The Armour overlay shows you the armour value of units projected out to their effective range factoring in LOS and visibility. Basically I like to look it as though this is the area my armour can dominate

 

[Daz]

So have the colours been accidentally reversed for this overlay, or is that the intended colour direction?
Seems counter intuitive considering the other overlays.

 

[Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor]

So have the colours been accidentally reversed for this overlay, or is that the intended colour direction?
Seems counter intuitive considering the other overlays.

For which overlay?