Extreme FOW observation

[Steel God]

I have been playing around with Extreme FOW.  I noticed that the "View/Visible Hexes" does not work with this Option on.  That is disappointing.

The intent there is to make you actually have to send units to a hex to scout out the view point.  That is realistic and part of the EFOW I do like.  The part I dislike is the inability to tell if a unit has 100 men or 900 men because all these t gives you is XXX until you get close.  I think even from a distance of 4 or 5 hexes you could tell if a regiment were approximately 100 or 900 men.

I agree to a point, but wonder if it isn't worth just making a compromise in order to get a bit more realism? We can always say the size estimate disparity is due to dust, smoke, haze, mist, etc. Truth is I'd much rather be limited to seeing into hexes that only my units can.

In most scenarios I've played the weather has been perfect with 70 hex visibility. There is a weather option to be sure, and scenarios have been designed using that feature. However, a fair amount of people seem to dislike it citing problems like reduced visibility due to gun smoke when no firing has taken place. I don't know myself because I've never met anyone who wanted to play with weather. I wonder if there are more cons then pros in using it?

OT, but since I'm on roll, thought I'd ask. Some people don't want the artillery capture option used, but I haven't seen a reason why (bet I missed that somehow). It seems pretty realistic to me, so can anyone explain why the dislike?

Apologies for the thread hijack.

Hi Tom;
      You know I love to talk ....  

      On the EFOW thing, I haven't used it enough to make up my mind yet, but on the whole I have to say it is definitely more realistic than basic FOW.  I know when I play with the basic FOW I can, and most certainly do, take full advantage of the ability to use the "drone effect" and scout out where I want to position my troops, dozens of turns before anyone gets there but a field mouse.  That is not realistic.  If forced to vote right this second and choose between playing either basic FOW or EFOW for the rest of my days I'd probably vote EFOW because on balance it's pros outweigh it's cons, and vice versa on the basic FOW.  I reserve the right to learn to hate it with continued play however  

     On weather.....I've played around with it some against the AI to see the impacts on visibility.  The only impact is reduced visibility....so why would anyone complain about that.  Just another tactical situation to deal with.  I'd play with weather if someone wanted.  Or am I missing something from weather effects?  Are there more than just the visibility reductions involved that I missed? 

Paul