The impenetrable fog of war..

[Embis]

Playing with fog of war I see my opponent faces me with "xxx" troops. 
So this might be 100 troops or it might be 999  troops.

"Caruthers, How many troops are occupying that wood ?"
"Well  sir, I can reliably and confidently report that its either a company or its a regiment."
"Thank you Carruthers. then our attack is either going to be a complete success or a total disaster"

Is my recon so poor that they can't tell whether there are about a hundred troops in that wood or about a thousand? 

Why does fog of war in PzC, in all cases, report the enemy strength so roughly? I know there are plenty of cases in history where intelligence reports have been wildly inaccurate,  and in some situations there might be good reasons for uncertainty, but as a general rule isn't intel a little more precise than Panzer Campaigns might have us believe? 

Wouldn't it be more realistic to have, in most situations, an estimate that was bracketed a little more closely to the actual figure?

[beldurax]

I have thought this as well. I have also wondered if the Quality rating of the recce unit should factor into how accurate the estimate should be.

[larsonney]

I won't get into the weeds of the mechanics of the game in regards to real world...I will leave that for the experts!

However, having played quite a few PzC scenarios, I feel that many times the attacker has the inherent advantage anyway, so I don't mind if I think I'm hitting a company and find a full battalion and have to fall back to reassess.

I usually can tell after the first couple of shots anyway, since larger units usually land a much heavier punch on opportunity fire! So if I'm uncertain, a recce or poor "volunteer' unit will go once more into the breech!

Cheers, J

[Mr Grumpy]

Yes experience teaches you that the power of a units return fire can help you make an educated guess to its size.

[Embis]

Yes experience teaches you that the power of a units return fire can help you make an educated guess to its size.

..and after all these years i still lack experience!

Good points, fog of war not so impenetrable after all. Cant believe i have been quite so slow to catch onto that!!

[MikeC]

Yes experience teaches you that the power of a units return fire can help you make an educated guess to its size.

Gives new meaning to "recon by fire." 

[Mr Grumpy]

The more you play the more you learn this tactic can be used to judge assaults as well, if your opponents return fire is very weak it can also indicate the unit is low ammo or high fatigue (or both) which may indicate an assault might have a greater chance of success?