Calculating the Camouflage Factor
The camouflage factor is calculated as follows:
The camoFactor cannot exceed a value of 1, so if the equation results in a higher value camoFactor is set to 1.
Let's look at the different elements of that equation in detail:
baseCamo
Every vehicle in game comes with a base camouflage value assigned to it by the developers as part of game balancing. The value is defined separately for moving and for standing still. The baseCamo value is generally lower while moving the hull than while standing still, but for some tanks including most light tanks the values are equal for both states, which is a big advantage for dedicated scout tanks.
The baseCamo values are not shown in game but can be calculated based on the spotting range formula and the formula for the camouflage factor explained here. Allow for a certain margin of error because of differences in the distance display in game and the distance between visibility checkpoints and view range ports plus the fact that in game distance is only shown in 1 meter steps. A near complete list of measured values with different precisions can currently be found in this table.
Note that some fan sites display base camo values dating from the v0.6.2.8 closed beta game client. Nearly all of these values are outdated by now, you should ignore them.
camoSkill
This is your crew's effective skill level for the Camouflage skill.
camoNet
This is the camouflage bonus provided by Camouflage Net equipment, if installed and active (you must have been standing without moving your hull for at least 3 seconds). It currently provides a bonus of 25%, i.e. the coefficent is 1.25.
camoAtShot
This is another value defined by the developers for tank/turret/gun combination individually as part of game balancing. The same gun can have a different value on different tanks (or theoretically even on different turrets on the same tank, although no example is known of that). Gun caliber or existence of a muzzle brake on the gun have no influence on this value.
The value is not displayed in game, but can be determined through testing in the same way as the baseCamo value (see above). The value is on average around 25%.
environmentCamo
Environment Camouflage Schema
You can use the different objects on the map to provide additional cover. Solid objects like terrain elevations, rocks, houses, or other static objects on the map cannot be seen through and thus always provide 100% camouflage, i.e. you will not be spotted. But also half-transparent objects provide a bonus. As soon as you fire your gun, the camouflage bonus provided by transparent objects in a 15m radius around your tank is reduced to 30% of the original value. Objects furter away are unaffected.
Bushes and trees have been tested to add up to 0.64 additional camouflage, depending on the type of bush/tree. See the following table for some bushes and trees that have been tested in v0.7.1:
Type environmentCamo
dense bush on Arctic Region 0.64
bush on Malinovka 0.62
bush-pine on Arctic Region 0.62
bush on Ensk 0.62
bush on El Halluf 0.62
sparse bush on Arctic Region 0.35
pine tree on Malinovka 0.64
tree on Ensk, slightly off-ground 0.56
pine on Arctic Region, slightly off-ground 0.53
Environment camouflage bonuses stack, but special rules apply when firing your gun:
In the illustration to the right, each bush provides the same environment camouflage bonus X. Since these bonuses stack, tank 1 has an environmentCamo value of 3 * X.
However, as soon as tank 1 fires its gun, the environment bonuses within the 15m radius do no longer stack. Instead, only the bonus from the bush with the highest camouflage bonus is taken into account. In addition, the bonus from that bush is reduced to 30% of its original value, so 0.3 * X. Bonuses from environment outside of the 15m radius stack as usual. Thus, while firing tank 1 has an environment camouflage bonus of 0.3 * X + X = 1.3 * X.
No camouflage bonus is provided by:
Fallen trees
Player tanks (dead or alive)
Grass
Camouflage patterns you can buy in game for gold or rent for credits
Anything else
Note that your tank does not need to be fully hidden to take advantage of an environment camouflage bonus, the environment only needs to cover all of your visibility checkpoints in the direction of the spotting tank's view range ports for the bonus to apply.
Examples
Let's look at an example to see how it all comes together.
Say our spotting target has a baseCamo coefficient of 25% or 0.25 while standing still and 15% or 0.15 while moving the hull. The camoAtShot factor is 25% or 0.25 as well. The entire crew of 5 has 100% Camouflage skill level and the commander has 100% primary skill level. Improved Ventilation equipment is installed in addition to a Camouflage Net. Our tank is sitting completely inside of a dense bush and has not been moving for more than 3 seconds.
The camouflage factor is:
0.25 * (0.00375 * (100 + 5 + (100 + 5 + 105 * 0.1) * 4) / 5 + 0.5) * 1.25 + 0.64 = 0.9291 (92.91%)
As soon as our tank starts moving out of the bush, the camouflage factor is as follows:
0.15 * (0.00375 * (100 + 5 + (100 + 5 + 105 * 0.1) * 4) / 5 + 0.5) = 0.2313 (23.13%)
Should the calculation of the effective camouflage skill be confusing to you, remember that you need to factor in both the bonus from Improved Ventilation equipment as well as the commander bonus.
Now to get a complete spotting example, let's add an example spotter with an effective view range of 400m. Spotting range is calculated as follows:
First example: 400 - (400 - 50) * 0.9291 = 74.81m spotting range.
Second example: 400 - (400 - 50) * 0.2079 = 319.04m spotting range.
Tips
A camoFactor of 1 means your tank is invisible up to 50m to any possible spotter.
Looking at the equation you can see that everything relating to your tank itself is multiplicative. That means that the higher your vehicle's base camouflage factor, the higher will be the absolute benefits from all other factors, and vice versa. Because of this there is often little use in training camouflage skills or equipping a camouflage net on vehicles with a low base camouflage factors, e.g. high tier artillery pieces.
Bushes or standing trees within the 15m diameter become transparent to your view. This helps you determine your distance from them.
To maximize your use of camouflage bonus provided by your environment, do not sit inside of bushes while you fire, instead sit more than 15m behind one or even several bushes. This is particularly important for scouts. Firing reveals your position. If you absolutely need to take a shot, e.g. to track your target for your team's artillery, pull back just before you take the shot - your target will stay visible to you even with the bush intransparent for the normal spotting duration. However, don't forget that enemies can see your tracers, so you may see shells homing in on your position despite being invisible to the enemy.
Since dedicated scout tanks have the same high base camouflage values while standing still as they do while moving, they are best for reaching forward spotting positions unseen.
Baiting the enemy to shoot you can be an effective tactic to light them up because of the camouflage reduction while shooting.
As long as you are outside of 445m maximum spotting range you do not need to worry about camouflage, you will be invisible to the enemy team regardless of what you do. The difficulty is knowing whether you are outside of their maximum spotting range - keep paying attention to the minimap as enemy tanks get spotted and memorize their locations/count
