Tactics talk: Spotting and view range

Had a battle on Prokhorovka south spawn this morning that inspired me to want to say something. I was in my AMX FL 11, which is really a good little tier 5 scout tank, and went to 1/2 line (like ya do).

We killed the enemy Leopard (their only light tank) pretty early so I had fairly free rein moving up the 2 line. The problem was...most of my shooters were parked back at J2. I got to the north end of E2 and stopped there, waiting. Nothing. They sat there.

Then one of them in chat gently encouraged me to move forward. But there wasn't any point. Anything I spotted north of there was going to be out of render for them anyhow. Sure enough, I lit an enemy TD at C1....and nobody could shoot him because they were too far back.

A point I gently made to them in chat.

Scout lesson - Be aware of who can shoot what you spot

There's no point in putting yourself in danger for zero strategic advantage. Ultimately there were 4 enemy tanks at A2. But until my team moved up to F (or north of that, even) none of them could shoot any of them. So there was no point in me risking my tank just to be hung out to dry.

They did eventually move up. And so did I. We won.

Shooter lesson - Be aware of what your scout can spot and what could spot you

There's no sense sitting 500m away from your scout in most situations. View range is capped at 445 meters. I'll sit right out in the middle of the open field if I'm certain there are no enemies within 446 meters. In fact I've driven out of cover into the open field for a better shot when I was sure the bad guys I was shooting were still going to be out of view range from me.

Be aware of where your scout is, and try to put yourself in a place where you can shoot what he (or she) lights.

Bonus shooter lesson - Anticipate where spots may be

When I'm in a sniper or arty I'm always aware of where my scouts are and what they're likely to be able to see. If my scout is moving left to right, my gun probably is too because I'm anticipating that as he crests the hill, or pokes out from the building, or comes around the hill, that he might suddenly spot some enemies. 


It does me no good to be looking somewhere else, where there are no scouts, hoping an enemy magically appears, instead of watching where my scout is going and anticipating the places he might suddenly reveal a red tank.

GLHF!

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