All the same – I thought I would share it because I think it would make the game play that much closer to real situations. I just hope I can explain it well enough that anyone reading this will be able to understand what I am thinking.
Team Assault already has true Line Of Sight – and that is a claim that sticks in all ways. But I’m looking for “true” Fog Of War. I hope that I can explain what I mean by True FoW, and how it differs from true LOS and why I think it would bring more realism in a game. Therefore, I better set down some basics first.
Below is how LOS works as of now. I’m going to strip off the “true” part to simplify the LOS mechanics. (The only real difference between LOS and true LOS is that normal LOS is for the entire squad and true LOS goes down to each member of the squad.) You can see that squad A can see the enemy squad where as squad B cannot because it is behind a wall that it cannot see over and therefore squad B’s LOS is blocked.
So when it is Squad A’s turn, they can shoot at the enemy squad. And when it is Squad B’s turn they cannot shot at them since they do not have LOS. Simple enough and I’m sure everyone already knew this part – but I wanted to make sure we started on common ground with this.
Now going with the “true” FoW idea.
Below is how the playing field would look when it is Squad A’s turn. Squad A can see and can shot at the enemy squad. They also can see their comrades in squad B. Nothing out of the ordinary here.
Now it is Squad B’s turn with true FoW. Below is how the playing field would now look. They can see squad A but not the enemy squad because of the wall they are behind blocks the LOS. Sounds just like LOS – and it is more or less that – except for the enemy squad is not even on the screen to be seen.
But….
…. because they can see the allied squad A – and squad A can see the enemy – then squad B knows about the enemy squad and their location. They still cannot shoot at them since they do not have LOS. But they could lob a grenade over the wall in to the enemy squad.
Sounds exactly like LOS so far doesn’t it? But now is where it changes….
…. if that solid wall went farther, then below is what Squad B would see. The playing field is now just squad B since it is their turn and they cannot see squad A or the enemy squad. There by, if they still try to lob that grenade over the wall at the enemy squad – they would have no idea where to aim it to land. And thus I believe a more accurate representation of FoW.
And the only reason why they could know about the enemy in the above (not so long wall) example is because squads can signal to each other – as long as, they can see each other. Or if they cannot see each other, but both squads had a radio, then squad A could radio Squad B that there is an enemy squad on the other side of the wall and to lob a grenade 15 meters to their 11 o-clock and thus hitting their target.
Hopefully I have explained this at least well enough that you can understand what I’m trying to get at.
As always – I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
