Recon Capabilities

[kalos72]

Lets ignore fuel/electronics / aircraft survival to start...

I am trying to figure out how a unit gets intell on an active possibly hostile town without making itself known.

1 - You can send 2-3 foot soldiers with binos and watch them for a few days. But you stand the chance of such a small unit getting hit while travelling since it would have limited offensive capability.

2 - A mounted patrol would be faster, bring more firepower but be harder to conceal.

3 - Aerial infrared/photos of the area. But would you get the detail you needed? Whos in command? Are they friendly?

4 - A spy, lone guy wanders into town to barter or something. Again, limited survivability if attacked. What if he is white and the town is filled with Mexican army regulars or vice versa?

5 - Develop a small trade route to the city and develop a wandering caravan type of cover. Again weak if attacked, hard to develop the cover, but you would have unlimited access and would also develop an additional trade route in the process.

How would you recon an area you wanted to know the goings on in before you send troops? Who lives there? What are their affiliations? What resources do they have? What about that coal mine outside of town? All the while limiting your risk of asset lose AND intel that I am there and looking....