LOS a Problem Maybe ?

[Huib Versloot]

I would find it very interesting to play if we could not determine LOS by clicking on the map, but could only determine precisely by sending a unit there. It would require some map study beforehand to find out the probable "key positions".
It always amazed me how the commander of the 80th US ID (or it could be one of the regimental commanders, I forgot) could read immediately from the topo map which where the key LOS positions south of the Sure river during the battle of the Bulge. when I visited that area, it was really not easy to see (me being without military training) why "this" hill had priority over "that" hill. Once I visited that actual hill you could see how right this commander had been.
At the same time it also amazed me how some of the higher US officers (Corps and up) neglected proper map reading, not recognizing the obvious value of the Roer river and the dams etc.

However coming back to CS, maybe we should not change it. CS has a hex system and some hexes you would logically expect to have LOS over others do not have it. I remember a peculiar LOS situations in the RS Leeuwilang river scenarios. One would have to step in several hexes to find out which one actually has the required LOS over certain parts of the river. Something that would not be necessary in real life.
The game Conquest of the Aegean has an excellent LOS system because you actually play on topographical maps. The LOS system of CM is not too bad either, but this game too is not based on a hex map.

just my 2 c.

Huib