Dismounts

kbluck

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After playing with the demo, I've noticed that mounted units were spotting dismounts with remarkable ease. Personally, I think that's inaccurate. One of the major advantages of dismounts is their ability to worm their way undetected into the midst of an enemy's formation.

For example, on the Attack scenario, I tried infiltrating some dismounts to attack a platoon so my scouts could slip further into the defense. I found that the enemy was identifying and firing effectively on them as soon as they had LOS. Now, that might be somewhat understandable for a gaggle of infantry just be-bopping along in the open, especially if thermal sights were in use, but I find it hard to believe that mounted vehicle crews were spotting infantry sneaking up behind them in rough terrain more than a kilometer away with such ease.

In almost any scenario, I noted that there are OPFOR dismounts popping up all over as soon as the clock starts. I expected there to be infiltrators, but I didn't expect them to be so easy to spot. If grounded, motionless dismounts are so easy to spot, how did they sneak into those positions in the first place? Speaking as a guy who has gone on patrol looking for those buggers, I can assure you that concealed infantry is *really* hard to pick out if they're trying to remain hidden, even at close ranges. I've seen the sneaky bastards literally bury themselves and be missed by patrols only a few meters away. The only way those defliaded OPFOR fire teams should be getting found (assuming they don't move or fire, of course) is if you put your own fire teams on patrol to look for them and they practically trip over them.

The most glaring example was during the defense. I started the clock after setup, and bang! There appeared a company-sized cluster of OPFOR AT-5 teams right in the middle of my position. Again, how could they possibly have gotten there if they're so easy to see? Also, its a bit ridiculous to have them start there anyway. I think the scenario should have started sooner in the recon fight, rather than making it a preplacement issue. At the least, the computer shouldn't be preplacing enemy forces smack-dab next to friendlies.

Another useful task for dismounts on the attack is pre-breaching obstacles. I was a engineer platoon leader for a while, and one of my most common missions was to slink out into a minefield in the dead of night and prewire a lane with breaching charges for detonation on command. I've also had squads filling in AT ditches with e-tools, belive it or not. Give them a few hours, and they can collapse the walls enough to let tracks get over it. (Speaking of which, are AT ditches included in the full game?) Even if dismounts are capable of these missions, if they can't do it clandestinely, they certainly aren't going to survive long enough to complete the mission.

In short, I think it should be a hell of a lot harder to spot dismounts, especially from vehicles. Dismounts moving tactically should be merely hard to see, and dismounts hiding motionless should be damn near impossible to see.
 
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