Fog of War in deployment phase

[robman]

A modest proposal: I would like to see the fog of war rolled back by two or three hexes from all initial deployment hexes in the deployment phase of each scenario. Surely no commander would go into battle (if he or she could possibly help it) with nearly zero information about nearby enemy units. Allowing limited visibility from the initial deployment hexes (only during deployment) would model advance reconnaissance. In the absence of any information about nearby enemy deployments, I often find myself restarting a scenario (when I play it for the first time) after the first or second turn, in order to correct initial deployment blunders that I never would have made with a little more information. The downside of this approach is that I often learn more than I really want to know about the enemy's plans and deeper dispositions--I do like to be surprised!

This would not involve any significant change in current gameplay. If others like the idea, maybe it could be an experimental cheat, like "reform units."

[KeldorKatarn]

Yeah well, there's numerous such issues, but that's how the game works. I mean in Persia I was also caught off guard my the existance of mine fields. I mean I don't expect to know where exacty they are, but it is a bit unrealistic to start such an operation and not even knowing there are ANY mines. I wouldn't want them to be shown on the map, but the briefing mentioning it might be nice ^^

But yeah, there's a few unrealistic things in the game still, but it is a lot of fun despite that.

[robman]

Don't get me wrong, I love the game! I would much rather know nothing than know too much. I like the way minefields are like invisible rivers that you can only chart as you reach the banks. Even with visibility from the deployment hexes, they would still be invisible unless a field was located right next to a deployment hex.

I liked the way PG handled fog of war at deployment: As you deployed units, you could see what they would be able to see once the game started. So I always began by positioning longer-spotting units around the periphery of the deployment zone. On the other hand, you couldn't "undo" a deployment without restarting the scenario.

[Kamerer]

Robman, this used to bug the heck out of me, too. But then, there's nothing compelling me to deploy in any given hex. I can choose to deploy more forward in un-reconn'd terrain. Or I can play it a bit safer and be one or two hexes back. It's more an opportunity for operational flexibility than a consistent negative feature.

[4kEY]

It'd be cool if we could have a pre-deployment recon mission, or something. We would be able to use one or two recons to probe the front, but they'd be stuck where their movement (less than normal recon movement ability?) ran out, even if they got into trouble.