Just some (advanced) beginner's questions

[tris85]

Since I still haven't understood some of the game's mechanics I'd be greatful if someone could help me a bit:

• It seams like smoke (grandes) don't always work? I pretty often notice this on terrain with multiple levels but sometimes even on "low lands". I know the obvious rules (distance, some quality) but they sometimes don't seam to work. Anything I don't know? 
• Hidden enemies (e.g. Ninjas) don't always seam to hide. I sometimes see them on high ranges and the next turn they are gone. Do they need to actively use their skill?
• What are the requirements for the bughunt mode to turn on? I have no clue!
• The shown accuracy doesn't seam to respect obstacles in their way - is this assumption correct?
• Some missions require concealable equipment. But even if I only use concealables, I cannot use all of them. It seams to differ from mission to mission. Where to check the actuall allowed equipment? The mission briefing often only says: "Dogs (unarmed), Soldiers (unarmed)

Thank you so much! 

[Juku121]

Smoke grenades can be circumvented in a number of ways: heat vision (e.g. Swarmids, Chasers, Floaters, Meridian ); sniper-spotter tactics (many an enemy can shoot outside their vision range), height (explosions are not spheres, they have less height than width), or just not having enough smoke between you and an enemy.

Ninjas are actually visually indistinguishable from BL Warriors, who do not have their stealth powers. So if you can see a 'ninja', chances are, it's not one.

Bughunt mechanics are described here. For XCF, the thresholds are 3 enemies, 20 turns, commanders disable bughunt, the morale check is either disabled or 0 morale (i.e. close to impossible to achieve), the 'stuck' threshold is 65% of TU. Notice that there is a 'no visible enemies' requirement, too!

Yes, accuracy does not count for non-vision-obscuring obstacles. The enemy can have only a small sliver visible at the edge of some apple tree, and the game will report high accuracy while the soldier will miss and miss and miss...

There are several different types of covert missions, and most equipment has filters for that ('Concealable', 'Beach gear', 'Labour gear', etc) in equipment screens (craft, buy). When
you click on a mission marker on the globe, the game tells you which armours are allowed. UNARMORED (DOG) (and not unarmed!) means no armour, or it will be downgraded to UNARMORED (DOG).

[Nerro]

Regarding accuracy, the value displayed is not the chance to hit anyway.
It is some weird value that define the chance of the bullet to no go straight.
If the target is far away, even a hit over 100% without cover can miss because you will still have some small deviation possible.

[tris85]

Super cool, thank you so much guys! Lovely typo with unarmoed dogs btw... 

But just one more question regarding some: I'm quite sure that I often get shooten without any enemy seing me (or satisfying your list). Is this totally not possible? Or do (some) cultists have heat vision? Than that'd be the answer.

[Juku121]

Most likely they are snipers and you were seen spotted by a spotter (which, annoyingly, includes shooting and even killing one even if they're all the way across the map and have their back turned on you). Which is on the 'anti-smoke' list.

No cultist has heat vision, unless you count Mashinobis or Storm Clouds, which are more cult-adjacent than cultist.

[psavola]

Most likely they are snipers and you were seen by a spotter. Which is on the 'anti-smoke' list.

No cultist has heat vision, unless you count Mashinobis or Storm Clouds, which are more cult-adjacent than cultist.

The most likely explanation is that OP shot a spotter.

I would avoid using the verb 'seen' in this context because how it works is not very intuitive.

As I recall, I don't think spotters merely seeing your unit allows snipers to snipe at your units. The spotters just fire themselves. Otherwise in manors (where there are always some spotters which have visual on you) you would be barraged by sniper fire, grenades and napalm at the end of turn 1 - which does not occur unless you shoot the spotters.

[Juku121]

While it's true that getting 'spotted' is not limited to being actually seen by a spotter, are you seriously suggesting that the only way to be snipered is to shoot a spotter? That has not been my experience at all.

Edit: I just checked. Did a Quick Battle, started with a RD Pioneer (who is a spotter) staring right at my squad, checked the save. All of my agents had 'turnsSinceSpotted: 0' and 'turnsLeftSpottedForSnipers: 1'. Coated the area in smoke, ended the turn, someone shot at me while I saw no-one. And their vision isn't any better than mine.

Leaving the spotter alone only made him shoot at me too, in addition to the other guy. Figures, Pioneers are snipers as well.

[psavola]

While it's true that getting 'spotted' is not limited to being actually seen by a spotter, are you seriously suggesting that the only way to be snipered is to shoot a spotter? That has not been my experience at all.

Edit: I just checked. Did a Quick Battle, started with a RD Pioneer (who is a spotter) staring right at my squad, checked the save. All of my agents had 'turnsSinceSpotted: 0' and 'turnsLeftSpottedForSnipers: 1'. Coated the area in smoke, ended the turn, someone shot at me while I saw no-one. And their vision isn't any better than mine.

Leaving the spotter alone only made him shoot at me too, in addition to the other guy. Figures, Pioneers are snipers as well.

You're correct. I also looked at the code (look for setTurnsLeftSpottedForSnipers and getTurnsLeftSpottedForSnipers functions if curious). The sniper-spotter flag is set in TileEngine.cpp:calculateUnitsInFOV() alongside the regular vision spotting information.

I'm stumped why I've almost never been barraged by snipers at the end of turn 1 in Manors where there are usually at least 3-5 spotters who are facing your way and see the agents at the start of turn 1. Maybe all the snipers are hidden away inside the manor and they don't have enough TU to come out and shoot or prime+throw at the same turn.

An alternative explanation could have been that if you kill the spotter with a grenade in turn 1, they would not set the spotted flag (= if this evaluation only occurs during enemy turns). But your testing likely disproves this theory - assuming that you checked turnsLeftSpottedForSnipers before you did anything else (sounds like you did).

[Juku121]

Well, I don't have a good explanation, either. Perhaps some buildings are in the way (I only got shot once during the test, but I had buildings blocking LoS and a lot of angry Dawnites on the other side of those). But there aren't always buildings right between you and the enemy. Perhaps it's the randomness in the sniper flag, but that would also influence all sniping, not just the first turn.

If I were you, I know I'd blame the 'reduce enemy TU on the first turn' minimod, but I assume you are not using that?

And, yes, I indeed checked sniper flags right after starting the mission without taking a single action.