Companion

...All the while I was bitching why my CHARMs and M833s are playing door knocker on those T-72s. Russian tank armor scheme is like pulling a lottery - one time it shrugs off a silver bullet and the next time a PG-9 sends the turret flying... Yeah, as someone said, a Man's tank it is. :sonic:

But wouldn't AI distinguish between a dead target and a live one and try not to engage the dead one? Anyways, if it's already reported to bugzilla I'll leave it at that.

Sure, but it's nothing; just some crewable missile teams and a few blind targets to try them on. I was looking at T-80U when the missile tracked choppers. And the "two tanks standing alongside" are the westernmost challengers. TEST.zip

I didn't test it myself but shouldn't the road also be invisible too if the trucks traveling on the road are not visible?

So the AI chooses target even if the player is at the sights? That explanation is also strange because at the same test scen, I somehow was able to target one of the two tanks standing alongside each other (I don't know how I managed to shift target from chopper), destroyed the tank, and when I tried to engage the other tank (by laying the reticle onto it), the missiles will for some reason keep track and hit the already dead tank from previous engagement... I fired about a dozen missiles, which all hit the same dead tank, before quitting in frustration.

How can I tell Javelin missile to hit the target I want? I made a test scenario and surprised to see the missile flying almost 90 degrees off-bore to a flying chopper (and missing and hitting the ground)

As a Sovietankiphile, I just love playing this tank. This crude, 70s feeling is awesome.

Saved the scen. until 2.640 and finally gave it a go today. I thought ver. 1.1 had Pizarros rather than CVs? Well, choice of IFV would've made little difference anyways. Started the mission, after some waiting I heard engine noises approaching from the west so I sent 2/B to reinforce infantries to the west. Movement of 2/B was not fast enough and I lost some grunts to CVs but the line held after the 2/B quickly dispatched the CVs After mopping up enemy infantries in sight, I diverted 2/B to the large depression to the South of the infantry line and had them hidden there. When the main thrust finally came along, I waited for the Jaguars to fire the first shots and advanced the tanks to intercept it on the flanks. 1/B advanced SSW from the main defence line to the North and 2/B advanced SE from its hidden position towards flank/rear of the main thrust. To my astonishment, the Brits kept on advancing toward the decoy hill while getting pounded with heavy losses before they finally gave up and retreated. I personally manned gunners positions in both 1/B and 2/B for fun with most of the engagement taking place at 2000m+ Even with the famed silver bullet, challengers' hull sides were very durable unless hit at from more than 45' angle. Hull front was somewhat vulnerable when hit at the "strike zone" near the driver's visor or at the lower hull but those spots were not that easy to score at the angle and range I was engaging. But I'm sure challenger gunners would've felt more miserable since the Charm-1 they had was only marginally better (if what I'm seeing at the ammunition option in the mission editor is right) than what the Iraqis had for their T-72s (BM-15)... The amount of KE hits the Leos endured is truly astonishing. So at the end of the day, most of the spearheading CVs burned in short order. The Challengers lost about half of their strength before apparently expending all ready ammunitions and retreating to the defensive position at the SW corner of the map, immobilizing 2 Leos and destroying 1 during the process. I, noticing the complete lack of resistance from the cornered challengers, casually reloaded in plain sight and administered coup de grace at 1000m. Kinda hilarious and tragic thinking of it now. Reviewing the AAR, it's apparent the battle wouldn't have gone like this against human opponents commanding Brits. After the diversionary attack was blunted, the red infantries would undoubtedly have spotted southward movement by 2/B, warning the main body to organize a detachment to deal with this threat waiting to strike at its rear. Also the main body wouldn't have charged blindly to hill 77 with their flank exposed and under heavy fire. All in all, fun concept and plan. But I think brits could use Charm-3 (well, not THAT great but infinitely better than something with 360mm pen. at muzzle) and some contingency plan routes for AIs to use. Edit: As an afterthought, the Brits are conducting a tactical flanking maneuver to destroy the defending Germans, right? Well, they are doing that within the engagement range of the target force, which is... not so healthy. IMHO, from British point of view, some measures are needed to reconnoiter where german defences are and suppress strongpoints/expected counterattack routes appropriately before commiting the main body to attack on the hill 77. Or they could've just approached from further SW.

Nice to see mech. combat aspect getting a real boost, esp. "crewable" crew-served weapons. Always wanted to fire MG3s in game since I saw those on loaders hatch on leopards. Though new mg ammo types failed to make buzzer beater appearance, I hope they'll be added in near future. Hm, I see Hinds' rockets got reworked, how are they changed? Less deadly now?

Brew a couple of apples with a bit of honey until the apples become very spongy. Eat while hot. I heard it's from NK, before the war when the place wasn't the full fledged dearleaderland yet.

Hm, so T-62s would have to make do with BM-4 for next few (many?) months. I really hope the betatest and bugsquashing to go smoothly to make a little room for new HMG rounds. Edit: alright, BM-4/5/6. but they have similar performance in SB. Digressing a bit, Is there any way to order/script a tank to use HEAT primarily for long range targets? Kinda sad to see 1960s tanks ineffectively lobbing KE rounds at ranges where CE rounds would've made a world of difference.

Ssnake, could you disclose a bit about any addition in ammunition arsenal? esp. 100mm, 115mm and 50cal.

couldn't resist posting this...

Pizarro (maybe with killed stab) might be better than CV9035 as a Warrior stand-in.

RE: Hinds and stingers. Stingers just reduced the effectiveness of Hinds, not negated it altogether. (in that Hinds couldn't loiter around with impunity like they are some flying tanks) And the actual kill count by stingers isn't so astounding. Hit rate may be higher than contemporary systems though. a link and an article of possible interest attached: http://www.skywar.ru/afghanistanen.html The Stinger Missile and U.S. Intervention in Afghanistan - Alan J. Kuperman.zip

Pic #116 Is that MG3? Crewable maybe?

I don't mean to offend you but I didn't find hinds zooming at low altitudes, maybe popping up behind some treeline only to remain stationary, to be that much of a threat (in that particular scen, they can be taken out in pretty quick order before they encircle you) The situation when I find hinds to be dangerous and so painful is when they fly at mid-high altitude, especially at short ranges where you can barely elevate your gun to engage, waltz like crazy, and take pot ATGM shots here and there or strafe rockets when they feel like doing so. (...now that I wrote it, it sounds oddly similar to Soviet rotary wing tactic hmm..) Not only it's more harder to hit them at higher altitudes, frontal aspect of your tank is suddenly vulnerable to otherwise ineffective AT-6s diving onto your roof armor. Rockets are even more dangerous since it does not compel the hind to stay still long enough to present a viable stationary target while at the same time punches hard enough to F-kill, or even K-kill, anything you've got on the ground. Although those hinds eventually drop to earth given time, the ammo wastage and the damage incurred could be quite staggering at times.

The good old Panzer Elite with some mods - PEDG, ostpak, etc... - slapped on it plays infinitely better than that.

Gaunt is a fictional character in a science fiction based on warhammer 40k universe where fascism/xenophobia/anything that's "grimdark" is rampant (well, it's actually quite fun despite it being a cocktail of antitheses of proper "civilization") And... he is a commissar-colonel and a regimental CO (right, those stereotypical soviet style sanctioned psychopathic political officers. But our Mr. Gaunt, being a protagonist and all, is a bit different) His regiment is called "First and Only" since the regiment is the only serviving one from its home planet after the planet blew up. So you guessed the "first and only" part right (except of course that Australia didn't blew up by forces of evil bombarding from orbit) But I threadjack, please continue with the topic. :redface:

Is the difference in performance due to difference in regional characteristic (temperature?) or in manufacture? Could it mean that T-72As (for Russian domestic consumption) or T-72M1s exported to other regions (middle East etc) also show difference in performance as well?

From the wiki, T-72M1: WARNING: Leaving the engine running continuously for about 50-60 minutes will cause the stabilization to be damaged as the hydraulics overheat. What should the player do to prevent this from happening? turn stab on only when contact is expected? Do both the general turret stab and GPS mirror stab affect the overheating? How much time does the hydraulics need to cool down to "reset" the 60min. overheat timer again?

Giving a much sought after 3D interior to an ancient junk tank that blows up spectacularly whenever it meets a pointy stick? HELL YEAH! Take my money!

For data being used in the game: http://www.steelbeasts.com/sbwiki/index.php/Image:Leo2sideLOS.jpg for more pictures: http://www.steelbeasts.com/sbwiki/index.php/Category:Technical_Data The values are LOS values and the picture itself is a few years old so the current ingame values might or might not differ. But it gives you an idea.

your tank is not invulnerable. check your AAR and look at the ATGM hit locations; all tanks have relatively less protected spots somewhere and even the lowly AT-3d can deal quite a pain when hit at those spots. (i.e. a AT-3d hit near chally 2's driver's vision block has a high chance of destroying the tank) but yes, you do have a high chance of brushing off most ATGM hits in say, a leo 2 since most part of its frontal armor is very well protected (turret face, hull front, etc)

Try out at the "tank range" from the main menu. Not only it's more challenging than the tutorial, but also the tank range score is reflected on gunnery skill of Blue AI (but don't be scared about that: any score above 85 will give best possible AI gunnery skill or so I've heard) And don't worry about your gunnery performance too much; it's the right tactical moves that counts