Map icons legend?!

[flex0r]

Hi folks, i’m new to the game, I am studying youtube and game manual to try to understand it, so far I only played one scenario, several times to figure some thingsout.

I noticed that in the manual as well on youtube there is no guide/nobody presents a legend of units and icons in the game. I figure out some stuff by myself but I have trouble understanding what are the things pointed in those 2 picture.

I mean those weird shapes/rectangles around the aircrafts. I understand there are hostile targets since are red, but what represent the other shapes around them and why they appear/disapear intermittent on the map?

Also on the first, what does the yellow shape pointed at my submarine represents and why sometimes is green or yellow?

Thanks in advance and I hope you can help me.

[lumiere]

Welcome!

A1: NTDS icon list, extract from pp.19-21 of CMANO manual (for unknown reasons CMO manual lacks it):

ntdsicons.JPG (864.37 KiB) Viewed 519 times

A2: Line/rectangle/circle around unit icon represents the Area of uncertainty (AoU) i.e. all your sensor/unit could know is that contact is "somewhere in this area", unable to pinpoint it (in some cases actual contact is just outside of AoU). AoU color is same as posture color of contact of interest.

AoU can happen when you are using bearing-only sensor (ESM, passive sonar, etc.) for initial detection, older tech radars, or visual sensor for distant target. Larger AoU can keep unit from attacking this contact (no enough firing solution for this target).

A3: This is bearing case of AoU. Your sensor (maybe ESM/ELINT mast of sub against air contact) could know general bearing of contact, but not its range.

Hope it helps

[boogabooga]

You can also change the icons to 'directional stylized' in the options, if you wish. I find those to be less arcane...airplanes look like airplanes and tanks look like tanks, etc. Not all of us grew up with Harpoon.

[flex0r]

Welcome!

A1: NTDS icon list, extract from pp.19-21 of CMANO manual (for unknown reasons CMO manual lacks it):
ntdsicons.JPG

A2: Line/rectangle/circle around unit icon represents the Area of uncertainty (AoU) i.e. all your sensor/unit could know is that contact is "somewhere in this area", unable to pinpoint it (in some cases actual contact is just outside of AoU). AoU color is same as posture color of contact of interest.

AoU can happen when you are using bearing-only sensor (ESM, passive sonar, etc.) for initial detection, older tech radars, or visual sensor for distant target. Larger AoU can keep unit from attacking this contact (no enough firing solution for this target).

A3: This is bearing case of AoU. Your sensor (maybe ESM/ELINT mast of sub against air contact) could know general bearing of contact, but not its range.

Hope it helps

Hi, thank you for very good and comprehensive reply. This is exactly what I was looking for, I don’t know why is missing from the manual, should be one of the first things presented.

Also, to make sure I understand 100%, that rectangle that is yellow in the 1st photo, surrounding enemy and pointing to my ship represents just the AoU and nothing else? Because I see this even on identified and tracked units when I have radars on, then it does not make sense why it still appears since the target is tracked and iluminated.

[artao5]

Hope it helps

Thanks very much for that complete NTDS icons list. There are many there I didn't know. Very very useful.
Perhaps those writing the manual think people interested in playing CMO already know all the NTDS symbols? <shrug>

[HalfLifeExpert]

Also, to make sure I understand 100%, that rectangle that is yellow in the 1st photo, surrounding enemy and pointing to my ship represents just the AoU and nothing else? Because I see this even on identified and tracked units when I have radars on, then it does not make sense why it still appears since the target is tracked and iluminated.

Not all radars have perfect resolution of contacts. Even if your Radar can 'see' the contact, it may not be completely crystal clear. It could be an older set, or you could be being jammed. Or the environment could be affecting it. And with some radars, even if the contact is within range, the contact becomes clearer the closer you are.