A little help plz?

[Psykeout]

lol...i guess i'm just overwhelmed by the no. of weapon turrets available...guess i just need to practice making design/manufacture keep pace with research...

[3drts]

Note, however, that while CB/WSS have longer range than commanders, regular sensors and commanders actually have the exact same range (12 tiles).

Even after the sensor upgrades? I know the normal "vehicle sensors" that every unit has to determine how far it sees are not affected, but I thought the sensor turret could extend this for the vehicle it is mounted on, and the upgrades extended the sensor turret range.

I'm not sure there are any differences w.r.t. LOS, either. The biggest advantage of regular sensors over commanders is that they're much cheaper. I'm pretty sure commanders aren't detected by radar detectors, too (though that's probably a bug).

As far as LOS for terrain, the sensor turrets seem to have the same restrictions, but it does seem they can target units behind walls or at the back of an enemy formation, that a commander would not, as it would instead designate and direct fire at a wall or unit in the way.
Is this maybe due to a "penetrate" quality to the sensor? or the fact that the commander actually shoots a "projectile"?

Commanders seem harder to manage as far as what they target, relative to sensor turrets.

IMO, the biggest advantage, is that sensor or commanders double the experience from each kill- the unit that kills them gets one kill, the commander/sensor gets one kill - that and you can concentrate the kills of a whole bunch of units into a single unit- this makes it easy to get heroes.
You need not have one unit kill 512 enemies, one commander leading a platoon that killed 512 enemies will do.
Note this doesn't get you a hero commander, but you can recycle it, and get a hero unit, hero commanders/sensors require more kills.
As a hero commander makes all 20+ of its attached units act like heroes, there isn't much point in recyling at 512 to get a hero unit, except to make hero VTOLs (which while they can be assigned to commanders, are not "attached" in the way that confers the benefits). If could also be used to make hero artillery, if there was any need for such units.....
By the late campaign, you don't care about how fast your artillery moves (hero artillery moves much faster), as its long enough ranged that it almost never has to move- unless you want one ground shaker to "shoot and scoot", and zig zag it to avoid the cb fire, while you have a cb near it, so after your hero fires, dodges and dodges the cb fire, the rest of your artillery can then do CB work of their own, once the enemy artillery reveals itself by firing at the hero artillery (which revealed itself by firing)

[Zarel]

Even after the sensor upgrades? I know the normal "vehicle sensors" that every unit has to determine how far it sees are not affected, but I thought the sensor turret could extend this for the vehicle it is mounted on, and the upgrades extended the sensor turret range.

Sensor upgrades affect the vision range of every unit and structure - standard sensors, commanders, lancer tanks...

[kringled]

Note, however, that while CB/WSS have longer range than commanders, regular sensors and commanders actually have the exact same range (12 tiles).

Even after the sensor upgrades? I know the normal "vehicle sensors" that every unit has to determine how far it sees are not affected, but I thought the sensor turret could extend this for the vehicle it is mounted on, and the upgrades extended the sensor turret range.

I'm not sure there are any differences w.r.t. LOS, either. The biggest advantage of regular sensors over commanders is that they're much cheaper. I'm pretty sure commanders aren't detected by radar detectors, too (though that's probably a bug).

As far as LOS for terrain, the sensor turrets seem to have the same restrictions, but it does seem they can target units behind walls or at the back of an enemy formation, that a commander would not, as it would instead designate and direct fire at a wall or unit in the way.
Is this maybe due to a "penetrate" quality to the sensor? or the fact that the commander actually shoots a "projectile"?

Agreed, this is the better way of putting it. It's not quite LOS - the lancer tower behind a wall can shoot at my tanks just fine, but I can't target it with direct fire units unless I destroy the wall first or go around. Commander led artillery is the same way, but a sensor can target it directly with no problems. At any rate, this makes sensor turrets quite nice in the campaign, where building experience is relevant, and you often face well built up sets of defenses. In skirmish, it will probably depend more on the situation as to how useful this ability is.

Keith