Hey everyone! Sorry for the long post! This is a bit of a follow up / bump to this previous post:
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/tactical-operations/research-aerospace-visual-spotting-in-double-blind-games/I have a few interrelated questions about using Aerospace units to spot ground units in a double blind game. I'm playing using MegaMek lately, so part of what is confusing me is the way it is implemented there.
1) Visual Spotting from the air:
What is the air-to-ground visual spotting range of airbourne units? I see that the rules say "along its flight path." Does that mean that they have a spotting range of "zero" on ground maps along its flight path? Ground units, meanwhile, have 60 hexes (in daylight) visual spotting range to any point along that flight path.
2) Scale:
What scale is the airbourne aerospace unit using for visual and sensor spotting? Their range is on the same Visual Range Table as ground units, which implies the same scale. What is the visual spotting range on Low Altitude Maps? How does that translate? It seems that they have "zero" hex visual range on the Low Altitude Map (which corresponds to about 16 hexes of a ground map) AND "zero" hex visual range on the Ground Map.
3) Visual Spotting from Altitude 1 and grounded:
Reading the notes on the the Visual Ranges Chart, units are considered grounded at Altitude 1. Does that mean that they use visual spotting rules as a mech? Does this apply on Low Altitude Maps? What map scale is being used, and how is it translated between Low Altitude and Ground Maps?
Seemingly, if a unit is at altitude 2, they can't see ground units one ground map hex (or more) hex away from their flight path, but every ground unit within visual range (60 ground map hexes in clear daylight) can see and fire at the air unit. If an air unit lands (or dips to Altitude 1, maybe) it can now spot these ground units within the same visual range. Is that reading correct?
4) Active and Passive Air-to-air Sensors
Do Aerospace Fighters and other airbourne units have active sensors and passive sensors, as in megamek? If yes, where are the rules for them detailed? What's the differences between active and passive in gameplay, what's the ranges and (again) what's the scale? I can only see passive sensors mentioned in passing in StratOps on page 119, which is talking about sensors in space maps. In Megamek, the ranges for passive sensors are vast (I've seen 147 hex range) and active sensors is small (I've seen up to 10 hex range). Is there a rule set for Aerospace Sensors that I haven't read?
Thanks for reading and I hope this is clear enough! :)
