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Tell A.I. gunner or crew where is the enemy position


Japo32

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3 hours ago, Japo32 said:

Well we have different points of view and you are not going to convince me

 

Take my advice, or leave it - your choice. But this is not merely a disagreement of two equally valid opinions.

 

I am arguing from practical experience; practicality and real-life procedures have been the guideline of our user interface design decisions.

We decided to offer the "E" hotkey because the driver has a fairly wide field of view, so it is less of a stretch of the imagination that the commander could describe a reference point for the driver in a short voice command to him. The gunner, on the other hand, is working from a really small field of view, and while you're on the move you can't really use reference points anyway. Anyone who has actually been in the gunner's position in a tank and tried to do the gunner's job will readily agree that it can be quite disorienting at times. In a duel situation, leading the crew by "Gunner, tank, two o'clock, fire!" is one of the better ways to get you killed by giving the enemy every chance to fire first while your gunner still searches for what the hell you may have been talking about.

 

This is not a mere matter of user interface convenience. Some things the M1A1 just can't do, and while observing through the CWS may be marginally possible (it's harder to control in real life than with a mouse or a joystick), designating targets with it definitely isn't. Therefore we're not going to add such a capability. Once that we stop paying attention what limitations the individual fire control systems have we can just as well implement a single, "one size fits all" fantasy UI without any pretense of realism, but with an admirably consistent and functional user interface.

As it happens however, SB Pro bears "Pro" in the product name because it's a training tool first and foremost, and made for entertainment only where that purpose doesn't stand in the way.

 

This may sound harsh to you, and if you take it that way I'm sorry. I'm not here to berate you but to point out the context in which these software design decisions have been made. To most people here this context is well known, but I probably shouldn't take it for granted.

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I would like to know how crew orientate in a tank. Suppose they have maps and follow roads.

I have the option to remove the right botton icon with Alt+h, but still I have the icon in the map F5 view. Is there a way to remove the icon in those tanks that don't have a GPS or whatever in steelbeast?

Someone told me that Steelbeast now have a key to see the compass in the TC outside position... and that is takes some time to have a reading.. But searching it right now I don't remember the key. If exist because a compass inside a tank or near it... is almost impossible to read. Unless is a gyrocompass one.

 

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The problem is this:

 

On the actual M1A0 / M1A1 the gunner has no idea where the CWS .50 cal is facing exactly, and it doesn't counter rotate (the CWS is not stabilized).  So, there is really no way in reality for the commander to look at something with the CWS and have the gunner traverse to it. Before traversing the turret the gunner would have to turn around, look at the position of the cupola, then traverse (once he does then the commander's CWS will now be off sight target immediately). No one will know where the gunner is traversing to at that point, he would have to guess how far he was supposed to traverse to get at the original angle of the CWS's relationship to turret's original azimuth.

 

So, it simply won't work. What does happen IRL though is the commander could put the CWS over the front and override while looking into it. This has been done IRL as a method to scan put the .50 cal quickly on a target. Beyond that, it is useless for directing the gunner. It just won't work effectively, at least not as much as having the commander just grab the override, look through the GPSE and put the gunner on the target himself (you can do this by looking through the GPSE, holding P and traversing the turret).

 

I admit I haven't read the entire thread, so I could be misunderstanding what is being discussed though... :/

 

Quote

Watching the video I think he moves the CWS while the gunner is moving of firing the cannon or the gun. I don't know why in SteelBeast each time I move the CWS the cannon stops moving.

 

The gunner stops traversing the turret because if the commander takes over the CWS then its because he is going to engage a target with it. The CWS is not stabilized, so if the gunner is traversing the turret while the commander is trying to traverse the CWS, then you end up having to fight his movements. The gunner would likely get slapped in the back of the head in real life, at that point. In Steel Beasts you would end up punching a hole in the screen. ;)

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4 hours ago, MDF said:

I think something has been overlooked in this discussion so far, at least as far as the pre-SEP M1 series is concerned.  In the M1 / M1(IP) / M1A1 / M1A1(HA), the commander, when unbuttoned, can use the override function to slew the turret onto a contact.  In other words, when you're in the commander's F1 view and outside the turret hatch, if you spot a target (in binoculars view or otherwise), press and hold the palm switch ('p') key and move the mouse right or left to slew the turret to the direction of the target.  It's not as precise as the override functionality on the Leos or the SEP, but as long as you can get the target into the gunner's field of view, the gunner is pretty good at identifying targets quickly.

 

I believe this functionality is unique to the M1s, though.

What paladin says here is important and probably got missed.

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