Spotting mechanics

So while I continue to alternately kick ass // get my ass kicked in lowly Tier I battles, I'm trying to get a grip on some of the mechanics -- spotting in particular.

My summary, please correct where I'm wrong:

1. Vehicles <50m away are automatically spotted ("proximity"). They will always show up, regardless of camo/line of sight.
2. Vehicles >50m away and * whether you have line of sight, based on key features on the tanks
* how good their camo is (based on crew skill, bushes, paint, etc)
* distance from you, to decide how frequently you look at each range
3. Vehicles >maximum spot distance can only be spotted by allies within radio communication.


A point I'm not clear on:
The vehicles have two viewing ports, one up high and one in the front. Are either of these limited by viewing angle? (That is, if I'm looking straight forward, will I ever spot tanks at my 3 o'clock? Will only one of the viewing ports do a 360degree check?)


I've read the wiki to get this far but didn't get a clear answer on that point.

Well Pull, you're somewhat on two separate subjects when you talk about spotting.

There are two kinds of spotting.

1. When you spot a vehicle within your viewing range so you can shoot him
2. When you "Spot" an enemy for you teammates

We'll start with the first one.

Depending on what kind of tank you have, your viewing range can be any where from 50m to 500m. Whatever tank you start with will have a maximum range when you start. As you progress and build XP (experience points) you can use those points to research upgraded equipment for your tank.

Let's say your tank has a max range of 300m, once you build enuff XP you can research a new turret for that tank. If you read closely when you purchase the upgraded turret what you'll find is that the turret will upgrade that viewing distance from 300m to 350m or possibly 400m depending on the tank you're using and it will also increase the traverse spedd (or how fast the turret spins). Now your viewing range will also depend on your crew skills. As you crew skills level up you can get certain attributes that will add as much as 100m to your max viewing distance.

Now if you look at your mini map you'll see a bunch of red triangles or whatever shape that indicate where the enemy is (green will be you teammates) now even though you can't actually see those enemy they appear on your mini map because of radio signals from your teammates. This will give you an indication where you fire power can best be used to help your teammates. If you see 5 red triangles in a certain area and only one green triangle then cautiously head in that direction because your teammate is out gunned and can use some back up.

The second kind of spotting.

When you aim at an enemy to shoot them you'll notice they light up with a red outline. once you have them highlighted if you push the F2 button you'll see a message pop up in the chat area that says "requesting fire at.." and it will show a grid coordinate to tell your teammates (especially arty) exactly where an enemy vehicle is located. If you notice on your mini map, you'll see the red triangles flash from time to time. When you see this you'll also notice that the grid location on the mini map is the same location that will be messaged in the chat area. This is mostly used to help arty line up and find targets.

I hope i didnt make that confusing, but if you have any questions just jump on vent sunday i'll be happy to answer any questions you have. I'm busy the rest of this week but my schedule will lighten up after saturday so i'll have more time to spend in vent and help out with any questions

-Hippie

Great, thanks guys!

Any idea what that viewing angle is?

Burntout -- thanks for the F2 tip, that was one of the next things I had to figure out. I'm guessing the other F# keys correspond to all the other support requests I've seen pop up.

The angles depend. If your in sniper mode (zoomed in all the way) you can only see where your gun is pointed. If you zoom all the way out you can see a wider field of view but you cant always shoot at what you can see, there might be a hill between you and the enemy for instance. But when firing be in sniper mode so you can get a direct line of site of the enemy you're shooting at.

-Hippie

Okay great. One last noob question I think:

Suppose an ally spots an enemy tank sitting somewhere but gets killed in the process. After some time passes and I've landed a few shells on the (stationary) enemy, they become un-detected again. If I fire into that location, can a hit still register even though the tank isn't showing on my screen any longer?

Yup as long as that tank stay there and you know he's there. Its almost like a guess. I've killed quite a few by doing that. Sometime either his tracks got hit or he disable. But that's my guess. It depends on the situation. Sometime they just kept moving.

For Artillery, that is a definite yes.

How can you tell if you hit?
If you fire and you see a "Splash Explosion", He has moved, and you have missed.

If you fire and you see your shell tracer and no explosion, BAM!!! He is hurtin. And if you are lucky "He's Toast, find another Target".

This hint also goes along with your question, In the Artillery part of Battle Tactics...

Sometimes, at the first of the round I will immediately focus my guns on known places where OpFor Artillery set up. I wait and once in awhile I will see the OpFor Artillery shell tracer without a ever seeing the actual Arty. I will lob one in just behind where the tracer started. BAM!!! A Blind Kill.

I have also been taken out that way too.


But, you don't want to stay to long focused on trying to blindly hit OpFor Arty, because your team needs your fire power in spotted targets.

-G