no enemy visible in Kursk.

[sgt fury]

hi,
i just bought the game and i would like to know if there is any particular setting to make the enemy soldiers appear in their trenches behind canons etc,i just played the first campaign and i saw one russian soldier.

[Nokturnal]

This is part of the game mate, so i'm afraid this isn't possible. Unless i've misunderstood your request it sounds like you want to eliminate the 'fog of war'? (for lack of a better term).

The game relies on line of sight - Just because you are taking fire, you don't necessarily know where it is coming from, as is the case in real life. Sometimes an enemy might suddenly appear on map because your troops/vehicles spot them when they fire, but more often than not if they are in trenches or operating an AT gun, they will remain hidden until you have a clear shot and have identified the enemy in their current position.

That being said, because you almost always know a trench near the enemy line will be occupied, you don't need to have spotted troops there to start shelling the position. Same goes for an obvious AT emplacement. This is when the attack-ground command comes in handy, or an artillery barrage over the position.

Some people have pointed out there are instances where an enemy should be constantly spotted as they themselves can "see" where the enemy is when dropping the camera down to the unit's PoV. But keep in mind these are WW2 tanks and the view slots are quite small.
Here's an example from (i think) a tiger tank.
Gunner seat:

Driver seat:


As you can see this is going to make target acquisition tricky which is why many people will rely on the attack-ground command on stationary targets such as AT guns or entrenched soldiers. Enemy tanks on the other hand, are usually more easy to distinguish and because of this, can be found and tracked once they make an appearance on the battlefield.

As far as i can tell, your units all share information on enemy positions despite comms not being perfect back in WW2. So if you have 4 vehicles coming over the top of a hill and facing suspected enemy positions, the vehicle on the far left might spot something he cannot yet target due to an obstruction, while the two middle vehicles can target it.
Some people bring infantry units to the front line for this very purpose, less costly to lose and they usually do a good job of staying alive and spotting targets when they are crawling on their bellies towards the enemy.

Coming from ToW2 Africa, i too had to struggle with the more dense environment and easily hidden enemy units - Quite frustrating when on the attack, but great fun when you're laying in wait to ambush.

I hope i didn't misunderstand your question, if so that would be a huge waste of time for me to write and you to read But hopefully it helped.

[sgt fury]

your remarks about the presence of the foe in game vis a vis reality are correct but i am convinced that i saw more troops in the first game in which i played all the campaigns.When i rush up and zoom into the trenches there is no one !!!!!! maximum you'll see one soldier in the whole trench network and an ATC sometimes without any gunners maning it during an attack.I understand that the view option is taken into consideration from the attackers line of site but i still feel they should appear a little more as you move forward, I am going to activate the dead bodies option and see what it looks like after an attack.

[Nokturnal]

I do agree that trenches seem to render opponents a bit too invisible - Though not being on the ground in the same location, at the same time, and looking at the same trenches, i can't really comment on whether it's realistic or not..But it's indeed quite annoying.

One thing i've found useful is, (aside from the attack-ground command for vehicles which can also be restricted to MG fire, just select one of the MGs and you'll save the rounds for your main gun.), using air support when you begin your advance, they generally reveal all enemy positions and depending on the aircraft can devestate a trench position, or perhaps take out a couple of AT guns as they pass over.
Other then that, just keep your tanks far enough away that the AT-rifles cannot penetrate and you should be able to scare them out of the trenches prior to your infantry getting in range. Then as they flee they are easy prey for your tank's MGs and infantry small arms fire.

This game requires a lot of patience and quite a bit of saving/re-trying with new tactics. You'll get the hang of it.