The Tactical Overlay is a grid of colored blocks on the continent map that can be used to monitor friendly troop deployment, detect enemy forces, and visualize the flow of battle. All players have access to this tactical data, regardless of battle or command rank.
To view the tactical data, click on the Tactical toggle on the continent map, or press the A key.
Display
When toggled on, the tactical overlay display shows colored blocks (four to a map square) over areas of the continent map. Cyan blocks indicate areas where your empire can detect enemy forces. Other colors indicate the influence of one or more empires: blue indicates New Conglomerate influence, red the Terran Republic, and purple the Vanu Sovereignty. "Influence" means that an empire has units either nearby or in that tactical block. The intensity of the empire color and the overall area covered indicate how large the force is: the larger the force, the more opaque the color, and the larger the area. When two or more empires' influence overlaps, only the dominant empire's color will be shown; however, if the majority empire is not clearly dominant, the block will be colored yellow to indicate it is contested.
You can tweak the display via the small window that appears while in Tactical mode. Each empire's influence can be toggled on and off (useful in three-way fights), and you can set the intensity of the influence colors and opacity of the detection areas.
Dection
No matter where they are on the map, you can always see your own empire's forces. However, you can only see enemy forces if they are within your empire's detection area. Detection comes from two sources: towers and soldiers.
Towers provide detection to the empire that controls it. However, because of interference, the closer a tower is to a facility, the smaller its detection radius. One consequence of this is that special operations teams can enter an unmanned base undetected so long as they avoid the nearby tower. Towers that are far from any facility (such as those near warpgates) have very large detection ranges, making them good early-warning outposts.
While towers are useful, an empire relies primarily on its soldiers for detection. Each soldier detects enemies in the tactical block they are in, and scout vehicles (mosquitoes, buggies, and ATVs) can detect enemy forces in a wide area.
Undetectable Units
A number of units do not show on the tactical overlay:
- Cloaked: Infiltrators, Wraiths
- Support: AMS, Lodestar, and Router
- Special Operations Transport: Galaxy, Sunderer
- Gate-Shielded: Any unit inside a warpgate bubble
Occupants of an undetectable vehicles are also undetectable. For instance, the soldiers aboard a Galaxy are undetectable (at least until they exit).
Role on the Battlefield
The tactical display complements hotspots and commander reveal functions. Hotspots are still the best way to tell at a glance where the action is, and how intense the fighting is in an area. The Reveal Enemy command function has three advantages over the tactical overlay: First, it shows exact locations, while the tactical only gives a general area. Second, it can detect units that tactical cannot. Lastly, by showing vehicle icons the commander can see force composition, which the tactical overlay doesn't show. The Reveal Friendly function has similar advantages over the tactical overlay.
