NGP'85 Patrolling feature....huh?

[Volcano Man]

I know the suppressing of partisan units is mainly being discussed but in regards to the two hex indirect spotting ability for patrolling units:

It is incorrect to say that this two hex, indirect spotting ability of patrolling units only spots partisan units. Maybe I should keep this secret to myself, ;) but this two hex indirect spotting works on all types of units (as it should) and is useful in providing extra intel. One of the primary objectives of a patrol (in real life) is to provide intel on enemy activity in the surrounding area and you can utilize patrols in PzC/MC at night or in bad weather to provide some vital intel, or patrol areas that might be heavily wooded, heavily urbanized, or in hilly and mountainous areas to find the enemy that is not adjacent to you. Try it out. You can probably think of some other uses for it as well. I have patrolled and watched enemy activity who thought they were not being observed.

That said, you cannot use patrol spotting to direct artillery fire, which is a good thing I think. Be careful when using patrols on the front line since units are very weak while patrolling. In my experience this activity is best confined to small recon units (duh!) which might be stacked with other combat units.

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that Patrolling does indeed have other advantages; it is not simply an anti-partisan police feature only like most people think. In other words, just because there are no partisan in DF85, it is still a very useful feature if you know how to use it.