The Fog of War

The fog of war is a common gaming term describing the rules which define when enemy units are visible on a map. Most games have simple parameters that define when an enemy is visible, usually based solely on the distance to a friendly unit. Although the PBeM-Engine tries to keep most rules simple and straight-forward, the "Fog of War" is a bit more complex in order to make the game less predictable and to better simulate a number of unit types which define their usefulness not by the weapon strength but by their stealth capabilities.

Sight Range Values

Three values define when enemy units are visible on the map:

• Sight Range
• Sight Deterioration
• Camouflage

Sight Range is a value between 1 and X defining how far a unit can see on the map.

Sight Deterioration is a percentage value defining how the quality of the information within the sight range of a unit deteriorates with every square.

Camouflage is a percentage value defining how visible a unit is on the map (100% = visible, 0%=invisible)

Note 1: Terrain elevation has a direct relation to sight range. Elevation is added to sight range assisting units in viewing more of the terrain if located on a hill or mountain. Terrain though  has not yet been incorporated into sight range blocking calculations. Therefore, hills, mountains or any other terrain elevation values do not block sight (for now).

Note 2: Also note that some units might not profit from this added range. After reading thru the example on the right, you will notice that the sight of Unit A deteriorates at a rate of 20% so giving this unit an added range of 4 or 5 squares does not help much at all.

Example:

Unit A has a sight range of 4 and a sight deterioration of 20%. If unit A looks west, it will see 100% of the square to its immediate left, 80% of the square to the left of the first, and so on. By the time this reaches the square where unit B is deployed the sight will have deteriorated to 40%.

If unit B is visible to unit A will now depend on the camouflage value of unit B. If unit B now has a camouflage value of 65%, then it will not be visible to A since its visibility is 35%, compared to the 40% sight of unit A.

Comment: Although this might seem overly complicated at first glance, it allows the design of much more challenging units. In the "Panama" scenario for example, guerilla units are not particularly powerful, with only light weapons and little armor, but given their "stealthiness" they do represent a challenge since they are easily able to infiltrate areas where other unit types would be spotted quickly. The same scenario also contains a soviet submarine unit type with similar settings. Although the sub is no challenge to a surface ship in either weapon strength, weapon range or armor, its capability to roam undetected gives these unit types very interesting options.