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Old 08-09-2016, 05:07 AM   #1
Celti
 
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Default [High-Tech] Basic Camouflage, optimal terrain, and real-world patterns (OCP)

Page 77 of High-Tech defines Basic Camouflage as giving +2 (quality) to Camouflage in “appropriate” terrain, -1 in “other” terrain, and -2 in “contrasting” terrain. It further defines “most recent military camouflage” as being Basic Camouflage, including the Canadian CADPAT, USMC's MARPAT, and presumably the US Army's new (post-publication) Operational Camouflage Pattern.

For things like MARPAT and CADPAT, they come in discrete defined variants: desert/arid, woodland, arctic, urban. No trouble defining where they are and aren't effective.

OCP, the related pattern MultiCam, and various other recent developments, however, are meant to be multi-terrain — and trials with OCP, at least, bear out that it is no less effective than simple OD or feldgrau in terrains that aren't extremely contrasting.

Should there be a new category of camouflage patterns between (or rather, adjacent) to Basic and Advanced, offering better broad performance? Or are these new patterns something more like a TL9 version of Basic Camouflage (which Ultra-Tech is woefully disregarding of, assuming that everyone will move on to electronics: at least programmable camouflage if not chameleon or invisibility surfaces)?
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Old 08-09-2016, 05:12 AM   #2
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Default Re: [High-Tech] Basic Camouflage, optimal terrain, and real-world patterns (OCP)

If the experiments honestly reflect capabilities, I'd guess that OCP gives +2 in terrains it is rated for, however many types that is, +1 outside of that and maybe -1 in terrain that is extremely contrasting.
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Old 08-09-2016, 05:20 AM   #3
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Default Re: [High-Tech] Basic Camouflage, optimal terrain, and real-world patterns (OCP)

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Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
If the experiments honestly reflect capabilities, I'd guess that OCP gives +2 in terrains it is rated for, however many types that is, +1 outside of that and maybe -1 in terrain that is extremely contrasting.
That's a bit more generous than my estimation, based on the reports; I was thinking +2 in “optimal” terrain (for OCP, either desert, woodland, or a crossover “arid woodland” if one wants to get that specific); +1 in “other” terrains (for OCP: jungle, mountain, plains, swamp, and whichever of desert or woodland didn't get the bonus); and leave it at -2 in “contrasting” terrains (basically, arctic).

A hybrid between the two might be reasonable; call it +2 in woodland and desert, and a +1 in everything else except arctic, which is -2?
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Old 08-09-2016, 05:29 AM   #4
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Default Re: [High-Tech] Basic Camouflage, optimal terrain, and real-world patterns (OCP)

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That's a bit more generous than my estimation, based on the reports; I was thinking +2 in “optimal” terrain (for OCP, either desert, woodland, or a crossover “arid woodland” if one wants to get that specific); +1 in “other” terrains (for OCP: jungle, mountain, plains, swamp, and whichever of desert or woodland didn't get the bonus); and leave it at -2 in “contrasting” terrains (basically, arctic).

A hybrid between the two might be reasonable; call it +2 in woodland and desert, and a +1 in everything else except arctic, which is -2?
Sure.

I note that khaki, olive drab or feldgrau get +1 that apparently applies everywhere. As written, even in arctic terrain.

I'm a bit leery to say that wearing the best multi-terrain camouflage is -2 relative to wearing regular clothes and -3 relative to wearing WWII OD wool, in at least one kind of terrain. Doesn't seem very multi-terrain to me.

On the other hand, I don't know much of anything about these new types of camo and how much they are real improvements and how much they are simply marketing speak.
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Old 08-09-2016, 05:58 AM   #5
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Default Re: [High-Tech] Basic Camouflage, optimal terrain, and real-world patterns (OCP)

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Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
I note that khaki, olive drab or feldgrau get +1 that apparently applies everywhere. As written, even in arctic terrain.

I'm a bit leery to say that wearing the best multi-terrain camouflage is -2 relative to wearing regular clothes and -3 relative to wearing WWII OD wool, in at least one kind of terrain. Doesn't seem very multi-terrain to me.
Okay, wrote a paragraph and a bloody half before it occurred to me to check on Low-Tech.

Low-Tech gives simple “coloured clothing” (e.g., the Lincoln green famed by outlaws of lore) a +1 (quality) against appropriate backgrounds, and also specifies that bright and contrasting colours can instead give a -1 to -3 (quality) penalty. This seems to me like a much-clarified/more realistic version of the “simple camouflage” in High-Tech.

Low-Tech also specifies that a “hunting shirt”, baggy and blotchy, with fringe and cord and loops to break up the silhouette (and attach bits of terrain in the fashion of a ghille suit) gives a +1 (quality).

Given those, I might rewrite camouflage modifiers as follows:
  • Naked on barren sand: no equipment and no way to improvise it, for -5 (quality).
  • Naked in “typical” terrain: you can improvise camouflage paint (or roll in the mud) for -2 (quality).
  • Typical clothing: Anywhere from +1 (quality) for appropriate colours (with olive drab and feldgrau being appropriate for most moderate-to-dark terrains, and khaki for moderate-to-light terrains) — to a -2 (quality) for inappropriate but not loud colours, or a -3 (quality) for completely ridiculous clothing. The implication is that even if you're wearing hunter orange, any clothing is enough to help break up your outline, and thus doesn't rate the full -5 for “no equipment”.
  • Basic camouflage: Gives +2 (quality) in any terrain it is appropriate for, +1 (quality) in terrains it is inappropriate for, and -2 (quality) in terrains it contrasts with. Again: if it's designed for it, it gets +2; if it's not, it gets +1, and if it's contrasting, it gets -2 (effectively improvised, but breaking up the silhouette is certainly better than nothing).
  • Advanced camouflage: Gives anywhere from +3 (quality) to -2 (quality) depending on terrain: if you optimise for a super-specific terrain, you have to give up something!
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Old 08-09-2016, 06:14 AM   #6
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Default Re: [High-Tech] Basic Camouflage, optimal terrain, and real-world patterns (OCP)

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Basic camouflage: Gives +2 (quality) in any terrain it is appropriate for, +1 (quality) in terrains it is inappropriate for, and -2 (quality) in terrains it contrasts with. Again: if it's designed for it, it gets +2; if it's not, it gets +1, and if it's contrasting, it gets -2 (effectively improvised, but breaking up the silhouette is certainly better than nothing).
Just realised I forgot to clarify something, here: the difference between, say 20th century Woodland Pattern or Chocolate Chip, and 21st century MultiCam, OCP, Multi-Terrain Pattern, or various Flecktarn descendants is the number of terrains that they get a +2 bonus for. The older patterns get the bonus in one terrain. OCP gets it in at least two (desert and woodland), maybe three (desert, woodland, and mountain). Maybe as a generic rule say “Basic camouflage can be optimised for (TL-6) terrains.” — thus, one terrain at TL7, two at TL8, three at TL9. TL12 camouflage with passive 3-D nano-structured dye patterns embedded in the fabric is optimal for six different terrains!
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Old 08-09-2016, 07:20 AM   #7
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Default Re: [High-Tech] Basic Camouflage, optimal terrain, and real-world patterns (OCP)

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Originally Posted by Celti View Post
Given those, I might rewrite camouflage modifiers as follows:
  • Naked on barren sand: no equipment and no way to improvise it, for -5 (quality).
  • Naked in “typical” terrain: you can improvise camouflage paint (or roll in the mud) for -2 (quality).
  • Typical clothing: Anywhere from +1 (quality) for appropriate colours (with olive drab and feldgrau being appropriate for most moderate-to-dark terrains, and khaki for moderate-to-light terrains) — to a -2 (quality) for inappropriate but not loud colours, or a -3 (quality) for completely ridiculous clothing. The implication is that even if you're wearing hunter orange, any clothing is enough to help break up your outline, and thus doesn't rate the full -5 for “no equipment”.
  • Basic camouflage: Gives +2 (quality) in any terrain it is appropriate for, +1 (quality) in terrains it is inappropriate for, and -2 (quality) in terrains it contrasts with. Again: if it's designed for it, it gets +2; if it's not, it gets +1, and if it's contrasting, it gets -2 (effectively improvised, but breaking up the silhouette is certainly better than nothing).
  • Advanced camouflage: Gives anywhere from +3 (quality) to -2 (quality) depending on terrain: if you optimise for a super-specific terrain, you have to give up something!
NICE! Consider it yoinked.
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Old 08-10-2016, 02:05 AM   #8
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Default Re: [High-Tech] Basic Camouflage, optimal terrain, and real-world patterns (OCP)

I was doing some more research on this subject, and I found an (highly exaggerated, but) hilarious object lesson on why pattern is just as important as colour.

Consider:
I never realised Sam Axe was such a master of concealment!
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Old 08-10-2016, 06:53 AM   #9
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Default Re: [High-Tech] Basic Camouflage, optimal terrain, and real-world patterns (OCP)

The guy who developed the US4CES camo pattern has a six-part series of web articles on cam effectiveness, including an in-depth treatment of camo patterns as seen under night vision goggles at the end. (It also explains some of the differences between the Army's new "scorpion" pattern and Multicam.) He's a little bitter that he didn't win the recent contract, so take what he says with a tiny pinch of salt, but it's a decent discussion. You can't believe everything he says because he engages in the classic cherry-pick of pasting camo patterns on a picture of vegetation at just the right resolution to make MARPAT look good, but otherwise a decent treatment of camo development and effectiveness, or at least how to think about it. Under his "Why not just use MARPAT" discussion he neglects to give the real reason- that the USMC cried and took their ball home because they insist upon having their own special camo pattern. Children.

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Old 08-10-2016, 10:22 AM   #10
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Default Re: [High-Tech] Basic Camouflage, optimal terrain, and real-world patterns (OCP)

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Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
Sure. I note that khaki, olive drab or feldgrau get +1 that apparently applies everywhere. As written, even in arctic terrain.
It's assumed that simple works in appropriate terrain, which is what the paragraph above it implies. The major distinction between simple and basic is the existence of a pattern. It makes sense to treat advanced as basic in similar terrains, but the special bonus of advanced should really be only for a very specific locale. In any event, the distinction with all camouflage is determining "terrain," and that's a very amorphous definition which even the US DOD seems to fail to get right.
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