Minor correction, Krusty: Even the Shermans were over 30 tons, the Tigers were like in the 60 ton range.
Something of that weight is gonna be loud, and leave tracks.
When they fire, they had "some" residual smoke, even with the smokeless charges of the time.
Having said that.......I miss the days when it was all about combat and fighting.
The 6K icon range was a bit excessive, but something along the lines of 2.5-3K would be worth experimenting with, IMO.
You "should" be able to either spot a GV on the ground, or at least follow their tracks. Any vehicle of that weight is gonna disturb the ground in some manner. What we have now is not "stealth", it's more of a Star Trek cloaking device.
I used to GV some back in the day, when numbers were high, and you had some visual reference to help you estimate the ranges.
Now, just gonna leave the GV stuff to the "experten" who've had time to conquer that aspect of the game. Been sent to the tower too many times these past few months with no sound of a shot, or hit, or anything. Just poof back in the tower with a message of who killed me.
I'm thinking as much about the potential new player who gets that done to them enough, and then decides it's not worth it. The learning curve has always been steep, but how can you learn when you don't see the shot(s) that kill you? Or where they came from?