Talking about camouflage mechanism

[Xteam25Boyz]

Although this should be common sense for veterans, I still want to explain the camouflage mechanism (and more importantly, how the camouflage unit is exposed) to rookies (are there really any rookies in this game?) to prevent them from using the camouflage traps discussed in the forum, but find that the trap sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t .

First of all, the simplest and most common one is ground-to-ground: regular units can only detect ground camouflage units at close range (that is, one square around them), regardless of their own field of view. Reconnaissance units can detect camouflage units within their field of view. Note: In rainy and snowy weather, the field of view of units is halved. If the enemy has no reconnaissance units or a few special high-field non-reconnaissance units, then the support firepower units placed in the back row at this time are equivalent to having a camouflage effect (invisible to the enemy). Note: (for AI) any support firepower will not expose the unit's position. AI should not be able to see it.

Then there is air-to-ground: any air force unit with non-reconnaissance attributes cannot detect the position of camouflage units. Reconnaissance aircraft can detect camouflage units directly below. Considering that there are no AI reconnaissance aircraft in your single-player scenario, it can be assumed that your camouflaged land units are invisible to the AI ​​air force.

Ground-to-air/air-to-air: Here are the test results of others borrowed from the forum (thanks to @spotlight2001): Any ground unit (including reconnaissance units) can only detect camouflaged aircraft above their heads, air units can detect camouflaged aircraft at close range, and reconnaissance aircraft can detect camouflaged aircraft within the field of view. Similarly, considering that there are no AI reconnaissance aircraft in the scenario, as long as you do not let your camouflage aircraft perform ground missions, it is invisible.

Finally, one more thing to add: If a camouflaged unit is exposed for any reason, it is equivalent to losing its camouflage characteristics. The solution is to hide the unit in the fog of war, and the camouflage status will be automatically refreshed in the next turn. (If you find that your camouflaged unit has been hit inexplicably/fishing fails, it must have been discovered by the AI ​​reconnaissance unit or ambushed the enemy. At this time, just pull this unit out of the AI ​​field of view, and it will be fine in the next turn)

Another thing (not for sure), if a towed camouflage unit is deployed in AI units’ FOW, it will also lose camouflage.

[Tassadar]

One important thing to consider as well is that in some rare cases, Camouflage is a bane, rather than a boon and that's because ammo is always a limit. It can be tempting to set up the perfect trap and just lure the enemy in one by one, but in some cases especially in Axis Operations or other DLC where the default is slightly higher than the base game, it can backfire. This is even more so if the camouflaged unit has overstrenght or gets a Rapid Fire hero, which causes it to delete enemies in one shot. If there is a large group lurking, it will as mentioned suicide itself into the trap, but once the ammo runs out, opposing forces can start hitting hard and cause a lot of damage. For the AI to take the bait, the units defended by a camouflage support cannot be too powerful, else the enemy will not attack at all. at the same time if they are slightly weaker, they are not as capable of defending themselves without support. Same rule applies for Provocator - if the trap causes multiple enemies in a row to get mowed down by support fire, then once the ammo runs out, there can be trouble. That's why usually using the hero on anti-tanks or artillery is more risky, as it can potentially cause the layer to lose a unit by accident. With anti-aircraft the issue is somewhat mitigated, as multiple planes cannot attack the same ground target.

[Xteam25Boyz]

One important thing to consider as well is that in some rare cases, Camouflage is a bane, rather than a boon and that's because ammo is always a limit. It can be tempting to set up the perfect trap and just lure the enemy in one by one, but in some cases especially in Axis Operations or other DLC where the default is slightly higher than the base game, it can backfire. This is even more so if the camouflaged unit has overstrenght or gets a Rapid Fire hero, which causes it to delete enemies in one shot. If there is a large group lurking, it will as mentioned suicide itself into the trap, but once the ammo runs out, opposing forces can start hitting hard and cause a lot of damage. For the AI to take the bait, the units defended by a camouflage support cannot be too powerful, else the enemy will not attack at all. at the same time if they are slightly weaker, they are not as capable of defending themselves without support. Same rule applies for Provocator - if the trap causes multiple enemies in a row to get mowed down by support fire, then once the ammo runs out, there can be trouble. That's why usually using the hero on anti-tanks or artillery is more risky, as it can potentially cause the layer to lose a unit by accident. With anti-aircraft the issue is somewhat mitigated, as multiple planes cannot attack the same ground target.

Land cruisers are perfect target to attract AI attack. It’s tough so it won’t easily give away its position; it’s expensive so AI will focus on it to maximize the prestige loss for you (but in the late game of course you can afford repairing it); it has low initial value so even infantry could deal damage before the counterattack. Before 1946, if you want to use camouflage, I highly recommend to get auxiliary force, you can even use the cheapest T-26 or FT-17 captured from SCW to be a “provocator”

[Tassadar]

Landcruisers are indeed a late-game only choice, but I like the idea of using cheap "expendable" units based on captured equipment, especially if you are running low values of Limited Stock. I never really considered it, but it would make sense to just give them the heroes but not really worry about experience and potential destruction - even without Auxiliary Force trait you could get some mobile and cheap tanks such as BT-7 or early T-34 for example. FT-17 is probably too slow to use reliably and get it where you'd want to.