Map Scope & Hierarchy Filtering - Airsoft Force Tracking

When dozens — or hundreds — of players are active on the same map, situational awareness quickly turns into visual noise. Every marker, every icon, every position update competes for your attention. Map Scope & Hierarchy Filtering is the AFT feature designed to cut through that noise and show you exactly what matters for your role on the battlefield — nothing more, nothing less.

Table of Contents

The Problem: Too Many Objects on the Map

Picture a large milsim event: 200 players spread across several square kilometers. Each player broadcasts their position. Squad leaders drop objective markers. Platoon commanders add waypoints. By the time everyone has contributed, the map looks less like a tactical tool and more like a cluttered bulletin board.

This is a real operational problem. When everything is visible, nothing stands out. A squad member trying to regroup after respawn has to mentally filter out hundreds of irrelevant icons to find their own team. A platoon commander planning a flanking move can’t isolate their subordinate units without the noise of the entire army in the background. HQ, with visibility over every faction and every TF, faces the most overwhelming picture of all.

The solution is not to show less by default — it is to let each player choose the scope of visibility that matches their role and current need.

How Teams Are Organized: The Hierarchy

Before explaining the filter itself, it is important to understand how AFT structures teams within an army.

Every army in AFT is built as a tree. At the root is HQ — the top-level command element. Beneath HQ you can have Companies, beneath Companies you can have Platoons, and beneath Platoons you can have Squads. The depth and naming are flexible; the structure is always hierarchical.

A typical example might look like this:

HQ
└── Titan Company
    └── Bastion Platoon
        ├── Rampart Squad
        ├── Pillar Squad
        └── Anchor Squad

Every player belongs to exactly one team within this tree. Every map marker (objective, threat, point of interest) is also assigned to a team — its affiliation level. This affiliation determines which scope settings will make that marker visible (read more how to change marker affiliation).

Understanding this hierarchy is the foundation of everything that follows. You can read more about hierarchy here.

Visualisation

The Map Scope Selector

In the top-right corner of the map screen you will find the Map Scope selector — a dropdown (combo box) that controls which teams’ players and markers are currently visible on the map.

The selector does not list every team in the army. It lists only your chain of command — the path from your own team up to HQ. If you are a member of Anchor Squad, you will see exactly four options:

HQ
Titan Company
Bastion Platoon
Anchor Squad

This is intentional. You are not given visibility controls over units you have no command relationship with. The selector is scoped to the teams that are operationally relevant to you.

Next to each option you will notice two things: an eye icon indicating which teams are currently active (visible on the map), and a pair of arrows — one pointing up, one pointing down. These arrows are the core of the filtering mechanism.

Filtering Down: The ▼ Arrow

The ▼ (down arrow) next to a team name means: show this team and everything beneath it in the hierarchy.

If you tap ▼ next to Titan Company, the map will display players and markers belonging to:

Titan Company
Bastion Platoon
Rampart Squad
Pillar Squad
Anchor Squad
…and any other teams nested under Titan Company

This is the most common filtering mode for commanders. A company commander wants to see their entire subordinate structure — all platoons, all squads — without the clutter of HQ-level objects or sibling companies. One tap on ▼ next to their own team gives them exactly that picture.

It is also useful for a squad member who has just respawned and needs to quickly locate their entire platoon to regroup. Selecting ▼ at platoon level shows every friendly unit in the platoon, across all squads.

Key point: the ▼ filter is additive downward. It always includes the selected team itself plus all of its descendants.

Filtering Up: The ▲ Arrow

The ▲ (up arrow) next to a team name means: show this team and everything above it in the hierarchy.

If you tap ▲ next to Bastion Platoon, the map will display players and markers belonging to:

Bastion Platoon
Titan Company
HQ

This filtering mode is designed for situations where you need to see your command chain rather than your subordinates. Typical use cases:

A squad leader who needs to locate the platoon commander and company HQ before a coordinated push.
A player waiting at a respawn point who wants to see where friendly command elements are positioned.
Any situation where you care about what is happening above you in the chain, not below.

Key point: the ▲ filter is additive upward. It always includes the selected team itself plus all of its ancestors up to HQ.

Combining Selections

The ▼ and ▲ arrows do not have to be used exclusively. You can activate multiple teams independently by tapping their eye icons or using arrows on different entries. The map will show the union of all selected teams simultaneously.

This allows configurations such as:

Bastion Platoon + all its squads (▼ on Bastion Platoon) and HQ (eye on HQ) — useful for a platoon commander who wants full visibility downward while also tracking the army command element.
Your own squad plus the company commander — without seeing every other squad in the company.

The eye icons next to each entry reflect the current state: if the eye is active, that team is currently visible on the map.

Understanding What’s Visible: The Explain Panel

As selections accumulate, it can become unclear exactly which teams are contributing to the current map view. The Explain button, located next to the team name in the scope selector header, opens a dedicated panel that answers this question directly.

The Explain panel shows the full team tree of your army, with visual indicators marking which teams are currently active. Expanded branches show which nodes are included; collapsed branches indicate units that are currently filtered out.

This panel is particularly useful when:

You want to verify that a specific team is included before issuing orders based on what you see.
You are troubleshooting why a particular player or marker is not appearing on your map.
You are a new player unfamiliar with the army structure and want to understand what you are looking at.

The Explain panel is read-only — it does not change the filter. It is purely a visibility audit tool.

Task Forces: Cross-Unit Visibility

The chain-of-command hierarchy covers most operational scenarios. But large events sometimes require cross-unit collaboration between teams that are not directly related in the hierarchy. This is where Task Forces (TF) come in.

A Task Force is a named grouping of teams created by HQ for a specific operational purpose. For example, HQ might create „TF Engineering” consisting of elements from different companies who will operate together on an objective. The individual teams remain in their original positions in the hierarchy — the TF is an overlay, not a restructuring.

Task Forces appear at the bottom of the Map Scope selector as a separate section. If your team has been assigned to a TF by HQ, you will see that TF listed. Selecting it shows all players and markers from all teams that belong to that TF, regardless of their position in the main hierarchy.

This is the most powerful scoping option for complex operations:

A player in Anchor Squad who is part of TF Engineering can see all TF Engineering participants with a single selection — even if those participants come from completely different companies.
There is no need to manually activate each team individually.
As HQ modifies TF membership, the scope updates automatically for all members.

Task Forces are created and managed by HQ or the session organizer. From a player’s perspective, they simply appear in the selector when relevant.

Practical Scenarios

Scenario 1 — Individual squad member, routine play You are in Anchor Squad. You select ▼ on Bastion Platoon. You now see all three squads of your platoon plus the platoon command element. You have enough context to coordinate with your immediate peers without being overwhelmed by the rest of the army.

Scenario 2 — Platoon commander, coordinating an attack You are commanding Bastion Platoon. You select ▼ on Bastion Platoon to see all your subordinate squads. You also activate the eye on Titan Company to track the company commander’s position. You have a clean operational picture without noise from HQ-level activity or other platoons.

Scenario 3 — Just respawned, need to regroup You died and are at the respawn point. You select ▼ on your squad to find your teammates. Once you see their cluster on the map, you move to rejoin them. Simple, fast, no extra information.

Scenario 4 — Task Force operation HQ has created TF Engineering for a sabotage objective. You select TF Engineering from the bottom of the scope selector. You instantly see all participants across multiple companies who are part of the TF. You coordinate the approach without needing to know the hierarchy positions of the other participants.

Scenario 5 — Event organizer, full picture You are running the event with the Administrative Army role. You have full visibility over all factions simultaneously by default. You use the Explain panel to audit which teams are active in each faction and use Session Reports after the event to review how the operation unfolded.

Summary

Map Scope & Hierarchy Filtering gives every player control over the density of information on their map — matched to their role, their position in the chain of command, and the current phase of the operation.

Action	Result
Select a team (eye icon)	Show only that team’s players and markers
Tap ▼ on a team	Show that team + all subordinates
Tap ▲ on a team	Show that team + all ancestors up to HQ
Select a Task Force	Show all players and markers from all TF member teams
Open Explain	See a full audit of which teams are currently visible

The feature requires no configuration from players — it works automatically based on the session structure created by the organizer. The chain-of-command options appear as soon as you join your team. Task Forces appear as soon as HQ assigns your team to one.

Less noise. Faster decisions. Better coordination.