Re: (TFT) Line of Sight

[<dwtulloh61@cox.net>]

---- "Craig W. Barber" <craigwbar@comcast.net> wrote: 
> Here in Colorado, we have grasslands which functionally offer
> an LOS of about 5 meters to someone lying down, but which 
> would show that same person at that 5 km range very clearly if
> they just stood up.

Thats true ... posture is certainly a complicating factor, one that 
I was trying to avoid.   :D

>  But up in the Rockies, the evergreen forest tends to have a 
> virtually desert underlayer with no brush, no grass, no dead 
> vegetation even: you look around and you can see right 
> through the trunks of the trees for 1/2 km or more, but if you 
> climb a rocky knob and look at the vista, you see nothing but
> impermeable green tree tops. 

Thats true too.  Its also true that it is often easier to see if both
the observer and the target are in the deep woods instead of
one or the other being outside.  This is because there is
usually a lot of scrub, etc at the boundary of the forest where
the light is better as opposed to deep inside the forest where
the canopy blocks a lot of light from reaching the forest floor.

> Out west and south, we've got that scrubby "tumbleweed 
> desert".  A man sitting still behind a bush would be invisible 
> at 1/2 km but moving around, you can see him at 5 km again.

Well, thats true too ... you're talking about cases where your 
target is actively trying to avoid being seen. (in modelling
terms, he's reducing his contrast)  Another complication I was
avoiding.

> SQUAD LEADER had *some* good rules on the topic, in fact, 
> I believe their "wheatfield" rules and "orchard" rules exactly 
> describe the first two environments I mentioned from here in 
> Colo.  SL even had rules for arroyos.

But they were all kinda kludgy

> But did they have any maximum visibility ranges?

no, not that I recall.

> I believe in SL, the weapon limited the range, while LOS 
> was mostly determined by blocking terrain.

that's true.  LOS rules do prevent broken units from routing
to cover however.  But I don't have a rulebook handy on that 
subject, so I can't quote chapter and verse.

Dan
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