We have to talk about Reconnaissance...

[Thonar]

Good Evening,

Wargame had special reconaissance units which were pretty much the only ones with very-good and exceptional optics.
While even in Wargame that made no real sense, it makes even less sense in a WWII setting, it also influences the game-play negative since own forces are unable to conduct successful operations without the "squishy" recon-units.
Usually this meant that own units were in a defensive line, a recon got pushed forward, other units followed.
In a Frontline environment that makes no real sense, since every company will have its own assets and abilities to scout ahead. Being it a combat-patrol, a sniper-team or just a Half-Platoon of tanks moving ahead.

This way Wargame caused players to have only a kind of "limited view" and information which caused caution instead of maneuvering.

This shouldn't happen anymore in SD:N.

Of course, there should be special recon-units, but they should be cheap, small and exceed in operational-range and camouflage. Some may even have a kind of artillery-observer-role that allows artillery to aim and thus react faster when the target has line-of-sight to a Recon unit.
Their optics are usually not better than everything a normal tank or company has.

sincerely,
Thonar

 

[77Hawk77]

I think that Recon units should mostly be about them being hard to detect, I agree that an infantry squad would have a binoculars just as much as a recon squad would, especially in ww2.

 

[BotBot]

However the Recon is handled in terms of balancing, I really hope that the UI is used to communicate to the player what their units can and cannot see.

I agree that a lot of players were paralyzed by fear of the unknown in wargame; I think this was because there was no communication to the player whether an area was 'clear' of enemy units or not.

 

[UltimateIdiot]

Yeah. Give the player a visual indicator (if it's too much clutter, put it behind a keybind activation) of what his frontline units can and can't see, so that the system is more intuitive. Give everyone similar level of optics, tanks and AT-guns might have slightly better. But give recon the best stealth, so that they can be used for behind the lines scouting, harassment and hit-and-run attacks against unprotected logistics or lone gun emplacements, light vehicles or whatnot.