Quote:
Originally Posted by Mack_JB
By quick seat-of-the pants math, 9.5 miles is 15 km -- so ten hexes range.
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Hmm... I wonder if the solution is to change how max Laser range is determined rather than how LLOS is calculated? Lasers primary mission is to fire on Cruise Missiles, which fly over terrain (albeit fairly low), giving lasers a longer range at which they can hit them using real-world calculations. For argument's sake, let's say a CM flies 200 feet off the ground. That's ~17 miles of horizon visibility. A 70-foot Laser Tower has ~10 miles. Round up and call it 30 hexes of range
against cruise missiles. Against ground units? Chop it in half and call it 15.
For Laser Turrets, they're closer to the ground and have a horizon range closer to 5 miles, so chop 5 hexes off those ranges and give them 25 to CMs and 10 to ground units. Towers can still fire over terrain to hit ground units (otherwise what's the point), but turrets are blocked by all but clear terrain or water. If you want to get a little fiddly, when firing on CMs through raised terrain, the raised hex and every hex behind it count double for range calculations for Laser Turrets only - you need a higher angle to get over the terrain, and thus can't hit CM's as far away. Laser Towers have no such restriction. Also, doubling the height of a tower adds ~5 miles to the range, but that's the practical point of diminishing returns on that.
This also makes lasers a little more strategic, as towers no longer have the luxury of being able to hit absolutely anything the moment it enters the board regardless of their location. 30 hexes will still cover almost everything on a single green map (corner-to-corner a GEV map is 33 hexes range, and if it's not in a corner it can hit everywhere), and much/most of a double map if placed centrally. And turrets have to be placed much closer to the potential targets it's guarding to avoid an end-around, but then have a much smaller "guardian" radius where they can help out other units.
There's not much that can be done about LLOS calculations in game without getting too fiddly, but maybe adjusting the ranges (even as a house rule) can make Lasers a little more realistic without being too complicated.