iamfritz

Yep. Great book. I read it about every other year over and over.

They go hand-in-hand. I have them both. Both are great! I cant recall which, but one actually references the other as detailing a certain battle in more detail.

Tom Carhart's "Iron Soldiers" portrays catastrophic T-72 explosions as including the engine shooting out the back "like a wet bar of soap". I wanna see that wet Ruski soap fly along with the turret popping off. Plz.

F5 map to match the F1 map view in IVIS in M1A2 plz.

Whoa! The one star reviews of it are ... powerful. 'Authors didn't include my buddies who got disemboweled from friendly fire' kinda powerful. 'Authors are self-aggrandizing and glory seeking when they didn't actually do all they claim they did'. I'll hold off on this one for a while.

M1A2 SEPv2 on the range, from loader's position, turret interior and top, including CROWS I pew-pew-pewing away. It's hard to tell, but it appears that the IVIS screen also functions for CROWS targeting in the SEPv2.

And could you edit your OP with the link to it?

OBS is free. I film all my gameplay vids with it.

I remember sitting on my grandma's porch in Pittsburgh hoping to see a flatbed hauling M-60 turrets out of town. I wanted to play an M-60 sim so bad. Then we got M-1s and our local armor detachment eventually got those. Seeing flat faced M-1 Abrams tanks parked next to those handsome towering M-60A3s was a sight! And then Desert Storm, and now all these 70 ton mobile castles lurching around.... awesome! But in the back of my mind, was "Ich bein Fritz Gunter, vo ist der deutsche Leopard panzer? Sieht auf jeden Fall cool aus." OK I needed Google translate for the second part of that. But I've always thought the Leopard II looked cooler than Abrams, and thought that it was as good as if not better than Abrams. One of these days Imma start posting Leopard 2 vids. And probably start crying my way through Coyle's The 10,000.

I was gonna say, "Just look it up on YouTube" lol

Wut. OK, good example of over stimulation. That being said... I love commanding tank platoons and F-15 flights. I recently switched from DCS/FC3 to BMS because of this: the BMS F-15C is full fidelity. I have to work the radios, radar modes, flight members, and intercept realistic foes that use tactics and maneuvers that the books say they do and accurately. I don't want "you are there" graphics, but I do want to feel the experience, from the "Gotcha now" to "Oh sh^4!". I want it to be realistic enough for that. Something in me is also saying, "If I can't hear the crunching metal or fortissimo ringing in the ears after taking a hit, or feel the shockwave go through me as the main gun fires or the missile clunks off the rail, what's the point of total graphical immersion?"

Here ya go, Bradley fans:

Curious thing I have discovered about myself, and a few other long-time simmers agree: I have been flying sim planes since MSFS 1, and tanking since Spectrum Holobyte's TANK. And now that graphics are a dry eye away from absolutely lifelike.... I don't like them. I am fine with near-realistic appearance. Let my imagination -developed over 50 years of gaming- do the rest or I can't get into it.

Yes, and I think we all get that. But you don't change the numbers to quiet down the squelch from a majority of players who cry out loud "That this tank is too powerful, my favorite tank that's less powerful in the real world is now not fun to play because it blows up too much!" You change it because you receive new data from an actual battlefield where new data can be gleaned. And by the way I just made a killer taco gulosh.

My teen son plays War Thunder, and the hit/damage philosophy there is , in a word, completely and totally ridiculous. OK, more than a word. I play some times too, only to scratch my World War II itch, but I never last long. Last time I played an M-42 Duster jumped my M-4A3E8 and blasted away at my armor as I put 3 x 76mm rounds into its front hull from 8 inches away. War Thunder style, I died in seconds. Now, he's very involved in the game and he knows how they calculate impact and all the involved math, which he tried to explain to me. But we often have such conversations, and we always wrap up these convos by simultaneously saying, "Russian bias". The way weapon effectiveness, armor effectiveness, track maneuverability, etc., etc. are always changing I have no idea how/why he still plays. I know he enjoys the work/reward of earning new tanks and planes, but he is often frustrated when he tries a well established move to kill an enemy, only to die and then remember "they" changed the values for that certain kind of attack. I ramble, but my point is it's very similar with Armored Warfare and World of Tanks. Values and qualities are always changing. The changes often favor Eastern powers and deny Western weapon fans their gaming truth. It's nice to have a sim where "This is what it is, thank you very much, no we're not changing it." Ah well. </rant>

US Battalion vs Ruski Reinforced Brigade.... made for some interesting MOUT.

===================================================================================== Here's one of the texture glitches I was referring to when my install "got old"...

Could we see a 60 sec video of it?

So I was having problems. 7 rounds to kill BMPs, 4-5 to kill T-72s. M1A2 M2 reloading not showing open M2 or playing tinkle tinkle audio of .50 cal belt fed rounds. Installed vehicle and building textures not showing up or distorting. Etc. So I did a re-install. Now everything is back to normal. PLUS I'm using some new textures. (which has inspired me to create a few textures of my own in the near future) Love the M1A2 in solid green. Plus I got this guy's camo to work right.

*screen grabs and shares to War Thunder forums

I'm posting the video, but as it is from a private Facebook group, I am conflicted. Admins let me know if you don't like this. And I'll let you know if I get kicked out of the Fb group. 2024-03-24 12-22-48.mkv

Sooo... 5.0?

Here's more real world examples:

I saw that someone did a downloadable skin for the M-1A1... so I figured it could catch and spread to these modern camos I see n Abrams: The sim is full of adjustments and things we have to press our imaginations against to enjoy in game. This will just add to the fun and realism factor we all know we wished we could reach but know we aren't. I personally wish the sim came with a cordite scented candle and a fan that would puff the candle some every time a gun fired, or rubber (and variety) burning scent for when I took my platoon through a burning company or Ruski hardware.

Even without the title I was uncomfortable for these soldiers, and how close they are to a fighting tank...