Now you see me: concealment & smoke

June 27, 2026 · naval combat

Until now the sea had no secrets — every ship saw every other ship across the whole map. Now the fleet fights blind: ships are hidden until they're spotted, and that single change turns the sea war into a game of positioning, ambush, and nerve.

Hidden until detected

Every hull has a spotting range — its concealment. An enemy only appears in your picture (and on your minimap) once one of your ships or planes gets inside that range. A destroyer's is tight, so it can slip far closer than a cruiser before anyone sees it. The range isn't fixed:

Firing your main guns balloons it for a few seconds — the muzzle bloom. Open fire from concealment and you give yourself away, so the first salvo is always a decision.
A star shell strips concealment outright: anything under its light is spotted, no matter the range. Now the illumination rounds have teeth beyond just lighting the dark.
Smoke cuts it to almost nothing — see below.

When the enemy can see you, a DETECTED warning lights up, so you always know when you've been made. Vision is shared across your team, so a scout that spots a hull lights it up for everyone.

Smoke screens

The destroyer's answer to being seen: press C to lay a smoke screen — a bank of cloud you sit in and vanish from. Anyone inside is concealed unless an enemy is almost on top of them, so smoke lets a ship break a lock, cover an advance, or shoot from cover while spotters do the seeing. It's on a long cooldown, so when you pop it matters. The AI destroyers use it too, ducking into smoke when they're caught in the open.

A low bank of grey smoke spread across the blue sea, a warship standing off to one side firing blind into it while another hides within — A smoke screen on the water — a destroyer vanishes into the bank while the cruiser shells its last-known position blind.

An enemy you can't see isn't there

An unspotted enemy is truly gone — off your view and off your minimap alike, no ghostly outline to give it away. Your own teammates always show, so a scout on the wing lights the enemy up for the whole team. The AI captains hunt with a clear head, so they'll keep pressing; the advantage of concealment is yours to seize.

The sea finally rewards a cool head: hold fire, use the islands, slip into smoke, and strike from where they aren't looking.