Labels on ground

[steelrfan85]

Is there a way to choose smoke instead of the full/abbreviated or just red dot for ground targets?

[deafaviator]

I think you’d have to manually set the labels that you want (if you want to keep aircraft labels, for example, turn off all labels then turn on aircraft only labels with Shift F2), then set up smoke manually in the ME on the units you want to mark with smoke. You could even set it up with a trigger so you’d only get smoke if you request it or fly close enough to it.

[steelrfan85]

I went into mission editor and clicked on the unit there was no option for smoke. Am I missing something?

[El Vert]

steelrfan85,

 

I'm not the expert here nor am I sure this does exactly what you want, but . . . when I want ground units to make smoke temporarily, I create a static zone into which the units move or are already within, make the Condition PART OF GROUP IN ZONE, and then make the Action either SMOKE MARKER (smoke emanates from the center of the zone) or SMOKE MARKER ON UNIT (smoke emanates from a unit itself), set with an altitude of 1 and whatever of 5 colors you want. Once triggered, the smoke goes for 5 minutes and then cuts off. Note that in both cases, the smoke stays where it was originally triggered, so it doesn't follow moving units.

 

If you want constant smoke instead, you can make the Action EFFECT - SMOKE, which won't time out. This action has more options for density, etc., but none for color. It will also stay only where it's triggered - the middle of the zone - and won't follow along with moving units.

 

Lastly, if you want a more subtle effect and you're dealing with moving armor, trucks, etc., in the open field, in the Weather dialog you can click on DUST SMOKE ENABLE, set whatever parameters you want, and that will cause all vehicles to leave visible, moving dust trails behind them, one trail per vehicle. That trail will not show up for infantry nor for vehicles while on roads or other paved surfaces such as runways.

 

El Vert