Smoke Screen (Old)

Smoke Screen was a utility module available to the Sunderer. It was unlocked and upgraded using Certification Points.

When activated, Smoke Screen continuously deployed a thick cloud of smoke behind the Sunderer for the listed duration, visually obscuring the vehicle and anything else the cloud covered. This smoke was purely visual, and did not clear or prevent the spotting of the Sunderer or any other units covered by the smoke.

Similar to Decoy Flares, Smoke Screen also immediately caused any lock-on missiles in flight towards the Sunderer to lose their target and, for the listed duration, made subsequent lock-on attempts impossible, resulting in no lock-on marker appearing if attempted.

In the July 12, 2017 Hotfix, Smoke Screen was reworked. The IR Smoke utility module, available to all other land vehicles at the time, was renamed to Smoke Screen and became the standard, with this module being replaced with it aboard the Sunderer.

Compared to the old Smoke Screen, this new module has a shorter cooldown that further decreases with subsequent levels, additionally clears and prevents spotting on any vehicles within the smoke, and shares the lock-on break effect with all affected vehicles, though has a shorter duration in exchange, and the visual effect of the smoke is greatly reduced.

Certifications
''Creates a smoke screen around the vehicle that makes it difficult to see and prevents lock-ons for several seconds. Can be activated once every 60 seconds.''

History

 * Game Update Number 1 (2012-12-12)
 * The Sunderer Smoke Screen will no longer hide decals.
 * Performance Update Number 1 (2013-11-12)
 * Fixed an issue where The Smoke Screen Utility tooltip on the loadout menu has a different duration value than the cert rank for Sunderers
 * July 12, 2017 Hotfix
 * Removed from the game, replaced with Smoke Screen. (formerly IR Smoke)
 * IR Smoke (ANT, Flash, Harasser, Sunderer, Lightning, MBTs)
 * Has been renamed Smoke Screen.
 * Sunderer's Smoke Screen has been replaced with this ability.
 * Now emits smoke for 8 seconds at all ranks.
 * Cooldown from 30/25/20/15 seconds to 40/35/32/30 seconds.
 * Now immediately clears current spot markers for you and and allied vehicles within 30 meters.
 * Now prevents lock-on attempts for 8 seconds for you and allied vehicles within 30 meters.
 * Now masks the vehicle's minimap auto-spot signature for you and allied vehicles within 30 meters.
 * Dev Note: Allowing IR Smoke to affect nearby vehicles increases its value in teamplay, and gives players additional incentive to choose an ability other than the current go-tos. It also allows for some niche strategies outside of teamplay, ie. disappearing behind cover and clearing your spot markers to help set up a flank or make an escape. The cooldown was increased to reduce spamability, while still remaining reasonably accessible.