RECON units in MC

[Volcano Man]

As JDR_Dragoon said, Unit_Type: Recon gives the unit the ability to conduct "Recon Spotting", which is made available by the Recon Spotting Optional Rule. It is a very useful ability IMO and the optional rule should be used if you want to give recon units a realistic capability (and further set them apart from non-recon units).

The Recon Spotting rule allows said recon units to use the Recon Spotting command in the Command menu which allows them to locate units within their LOS in the middle of a turn. Normally, enemy units that do not have LOS to your units at the start of the turn can only be "spotted" by bumping into them which can be very deadly (or by using recon aircraft of course). However, with Recon Spotting, a Recon Unit may move forward into an unknown area and then use the Recon Spotting command and any units within LOS of that unit at that moment *might* be spotted and displayed on the map. The alternative is to drive forward a little, end the turn and then see what it can see next turn OR drive around with reckless abandon, crashing into the enemy.

Patrolling has nothing to do with recon units per se, all recon and non-recon units can patrol (but not HQs, supply units etc from what I can remember). I wrote a post some time ago on the uses of Patrolling (which IMO is an extremely useful feature, especially at night, albeit very few people use it or know about it). In a nutshell, it is not just used for anti partisan activities but also used to gather intel on the enemy who are out of LOS (out to two hexes). As I mentioned before though the search feature seems to be broken in these forums though (or at least unavailable to me). :(