Low Ammo OOB

[Greybeard]

IMHO, SPCAMO has addressed the smoke thing nicely.. unlike SPWAW smoke characteristics:

deflector screen - nothing penetrates, not even 'z' fire

too much.. every unit carries some.. up to 16 if I recall for infantry - up to 64!! for artillery

freebie useage.. shooting/tossing smoke costs 'nothing' to use.. that is, you can pop smoke after all your ROF is used up - any unit can fire ALL of their smoke rounds in a single turn regardless of ROF limits.

with few exceptions, smoke does not dissapate.. it hangs on for the entire game.. thus one can construct corridors of safe movement, or havens for ambush w/o fear of 'z' fire, or getting stuck in the open w/o cover.. and in fairly short order once combat begins, visibility is rapidly reduced to 0.. and stays that way - the game turns into hand-to-hand combat...

I like CAMO's approach..

infantry rarely have more than 3-4, except engineers which I've seen with about 8..

gun tanks (75mm or larger), have about 4 - often only the platoon leader has smoke
Support tanks, engineer tank, etc have up to about 10 (still have to be 75mm or larger)

artillery - usually not more than 15 - often less than 10

once your ROF is used, no smoke fire possible.. unless armor with dischargers

smoke disapates in 1-4 turns, and is not a deflector screen.. troops behind smoke, even though temporarily out of LOS, can suffer from 'z' fire effects..which can pin them in the open leaving them vulnerable after the smoke is gone..

CAMO's approach forces the player to plan, and conserve.. make one really think about 'use it now or later' issues..

about all I can think of right now..

Greybeard