(Answered UPDATED) Searchlights and Visual Spotting (Double Blind)

[arlith]

I'm a little confused about how visual spotting is supposed to work with searchlights.

The rules for visual spotting are in TO pg 221:

Visual Spotting
A unit visually detects an enemy unit whenever two condi-
tions are met. First, the spotter must have a clear line of sight
to the enemy unit. Second, the enemy unit must be within the
visual range of the spotting unit. Use the Visual Range Table to
determine maximum visual range under various atmospheric
conditions.

Then there is a table on the same pages.  It lists visual spotting ranges for various conditions, and there's a ** footnote for nighttime conditions that reads

**If a unit mounts a searchlight, add 10 hexes; for infantry, add 5 hexes.

Then, there's an "additional modifiers table" that lists

Searchlight        Changes Nighttime Conditions to 30 hexes

Finally, the rules for searchlights on TO pg 57 says:

Units attacking illuminated units change the modifiers
for attacking in night-time conditions, based on the specific
weather condition in use: Full Moon Night (see p. 58), Moonless
Night (see p. 58), and Pitch Black (see p. 58).

I think my main issue is that I can't find any description on what the entry in the "additional modifiers" table is supposed to mean.  I think that this is trying to say that units that are illuminated have a max visual range of 30 hexes, but that's not clear.  This is confused by fact that the table says that the visual range is increased by 10 for having a searchlight.

As an example, assume there are two 'mechs A and B that are in clear hexes standing 4 hexes away, with clear hexes intervening.  If the weather conditions are pitch black, there is a max visual range of 3, so without searchlights A and B can't see each other.  Now, if A has an active searchlight, A can see B because A's visual range is now 13 (3 + 10).  Can B see A?  Why (or why not)? 

[Xotl]

You're correct in that the entries were contradictory.  I trust the new errata resolves this?

[arlith]

The new errata does make the table clearer, but I'm not sure it answers my example question. 

In particular,  what is the visible range for a unit that doesn't have a searchlight  (say in pitch black) to a unit that is illuminated (has a searchlight activated, or someone else is targeting it with a search light)?  The visibility table on TO pg 221 is for visible ranges for a "spotting" unit, and I don't recall it taking modifiers based on the target, so it's not clear that a target being illuminated effects the visual spotting range of a unit.

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I had another follow-on question (I can post this as a separate thread if you'd like).  Are off-board artillery units affected by low light to-hit penalties?  If so, do searchlights still negate those penalties?  TO pg 57 indicates that searchlights can be targeted during the firing phase and physical phase, can they also be targeted during the artillery targeting phase?

[arlith]

Bump

[arlith]

Bump

[Xotl]

Visual Range Tables (p. 221)
This ruling has changed from previous errata versions.
Second (double-asterisk) footnote

**If a unit mounts a searchlight, add 10 hexes; for infantry, add 5 hexes.
Change to:
**If the spotter has an active searchlight use the following ranges instead: mounted (30), handheld/infantry (10).  If the target is illuminated by another source (such as fire, or another unit’s searchlight) use a range of 45 hexes.

And offboard artillery is not affected by low-light penalties.