Vehicle Smoke

In the vehicle post a few days ago we mentioned the need for a steel can so you can deploy marking smoke for damaged or destroyed vehicles. That's new, and everyone should know why, when they see a smoking vehicle.

We will issue both black and white smoke grenades to each vehicle. Stow them somewhere safe, where they won't get wet, crushed, or overheated.

Depending on the damage to the vehicle in the Vehicle Hit Effects book, you will deploy one of them to indicate what happened. White smoke will indicate damage, and looks like a small electrical fire or a major coolant leak, especially since during repair the hood should be raised.

Black smoke indicates a kill, and looks like the vehicle is on fire.

This is all about improving the war gaming simulation. Smoke drifting across the battlefield always helps with the realism, but it also allows everyone to tell at a glance the status of the vehicle.

A teammate seeing the smoke at a distance knows something happened and whether it is a kill or not. They can tell if they should rush over to help, or everyone is dead and they need to take other actions.

Attackers can see the results of their work, and know if they need to move in to finish the job or not.

The red flag is still used, from the time the vehicle is hit, right through to when the vehicle is resurrected.

Placement of the smoke based on wind etc can change how it looks up close - but at a distance is not that big a concern - the idea is that there is smoke pouring from the vehicle somewhere.

But it can make it look cooler if placed just right ;-)

One caution on placement: make sure that the outlet to the smoke is not pointing at any part of the vehicle. It can get hot so cause damage, so avoid mechanical components, antennas, plastic, and glass especially. It also will eject powdered smoke particles which can permanently stain a small area of the vehicle.