Quick guide to the Centauro.

[Hedgehog]

These are my observations of the Centauro so far:

TC Peri:

Palm switch centres the Peri on the Gun LOS Peri follows gun LOS, "P" in the reticule.

Designate activates Peri.

Switches between Designate (1st) and Observation (2nd), in designate mode gun follows peri and is indicated by "D" in the reticule display. In observation mode Peri is independent of the gun indicated by a "O" in the reticule.

Ammo select: Cycles through the ammo in the following order:

Sabot, HEAT, MG, Sabot.

NOTES:

Default Peri mode is "P".

TC weapons override and Ammo Select are only active in "D" mode.

Reticule rotates referenced to the TURRET position

(I.E. The reticule appears on its side if the peri is facing to the turret's 3 or 9 o'clock position.)

Gun Laying method:

1)Track target.

2)Lase.

3)Keep tracking target and hold down lase/Dynamic lead untill reticule display stops blinking.

4)Fire.

5)Release Lase/DL and start over.

Reticule Dots:

Green, Ready to Fire.

Red, Multiple returns.

Orange, Uh dunno, Power is in ON mode, I guess.

GPS has 8x (approx) mag only.

Thermal 2 levels of mag (8x & 12x) switched with Numpad /

MISC:

The armour doesn't look like it could stand up to much, .50" MG or maybe 20mm cannon.

Plus when using the default Ammo loadout you only get 12 rnds of AP, 6 ready.

So no d**king around with this one, Fire and Manouver.

Any other pointers, please feel free to add them.

[Retro]

Thanks, the Peri is a hoot

I noticed that just like in th Leo1 you can just unload/reload the gun but you have to take care to reengage the lead prediction in that case as otherwise the wrong ballistics data is used for the firing solution. Also if the TC overrides your sight he seems to be able to change the ammo as well, so you have to listen to the loader, if he announces some other ammo than you had when you engaged lead prediction you'll have to redo it as well.

All AFAIK, IIRC, IANAL

[Grenny]

Centauro(and Pirania H and C) seem to be realy tough nuts!

Made a few testruns. Today a Centauro took multiple ATGM(Sagger, Spigot etc) hits right on the nose without even a scratch.

Yesterday I tested CV 90 40 and 35 Cannons on a Pirania...nearly impossible to crack from the front,(even below 500m) and hard from the side(flank, 600m...avg. 10-15 hit before it went down)

[Ssnake]

"Without a scratch" shouldn't happen, At least a mobility kill should occur most of the time (though it's not guaranteed to do that ALL of the time). Last but not least, Piranha and Centrauro are pretty large. While the 35 and 40mm APFSDS rounds will easily penetrate at least the flanks, the question remains about the actual effect that they will have inside, especially on a comparatively cavernous vehicle. You should compare it with the MTLB here, or also the BTR. Their protection level is significantly lower but they aren't totally easy to kill either, simply because they are so large and only a relatively small part of the vehicle is actually highly vulnerable.

[BaLrOg_70]

Well I am finding the opposite of Grenny with the Centuaro.

I am building my first mission using piranha's and centauro's against BMP-2's, missile teams, HMG and HE arty spotters and I find they suffer pretty badly in a head on assault predominantly disabled but I am still building the mission and testing configurations.

They do make for great assaults though and speed is the key. As Hedgehog says you leave them in one place for too long at your peril.

The Peri is a great system and I like the selectable controls for the grenade dispensers.

[Gibsonm]

Well I wouldn’t be too surprised if you are suffering losses if you conduct a frontal assault with wheeled AFVs against what sounds like a Mech Inf defensive position with good anti armour weapons as well as supporting arms.

In conventional ops (with is what it sounds like you have) these guys tend to best used for giving the dismounts some mobility.

That is use their speed to get their passengers to a suitable dismounted FUP and then support them onto the objective, not conduct a mounted assault with them.

[dejawolf]

the centauro has a large fuel tank separating the engine compartment from the crew compartment in the front, which acts as a sort of spall blanket. the engine compartment is also very large, providing a lot of spaced armour, which is very effective against HEAT warheads. the engine block and transmission are mounted fairly low in the hull, which means you need to aim low to get a proper mobility kill. hitting high means you get coolant leak damage, which i'm not sure really does anything in SB yet (its supposed to cause the engine to overheat and shut down after a while).

however, if you aim just below the drivers hatch, you'll kill it almost every time.

[BaLrOg_70]

Well I wouldn’t be too surprised if you are suffering losses if you conduct a frontal assault with wheeled AFVs against what sounds like a Mech Inf defensive position with good anti armour weapons as well as supporting arms.

Agreed and I am not surprised at my losses either which was why I was surprised at Grenny's comment but as we have limited choices for amphibious frontal assaults I was just mixing and matching for the benefit of atmosphere.

Currently I am using them along side some engineer units in M113's and am providing smoke and He for support.

The upside is the engineers get a bloody good work out fixing the disabled units.

I had hoped to perform a proper beach assault but as yet they are not coping with beaching at the beach head. If you get my drift?

early days here for this green horn. :biggrin:

[Gibsonm]

The upside is the engineers get a bloody good work out fixing the disabled units.

I can understand that they are working hard given that those “engineers” don’t go that.

Those engineers blow stuff up (demolitions, breaching, etc.) or build stuff (minefields, bunkers, etc.). In the Brit Army they are members of the RE (Royal Engineers).

The engineers that fix stuff, aren’t “engineers” in the military sense. In the Brit Army they were members of the REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) but I think they are now smashed in with all the other logistic guys into the Logistics Corps.

[BaLrOg_70]

argh this is bloody hard enough now with out confusing me with semantics.

OK the engineers are clearing and marking the minefields (didn't we call em sappers once?) , the repair M113 is fixing the damaged vehicles and the whaaaam13bulance is tear arsing all over the field picking up bodies and fixing hangnails. Whilst the Centauro's are jabbering in the backfield about not going into a hot zone with wheels on!

This is the problem with you living on the morning side of the planet and me living on the dog tired and ready for bed side.

But your quite right and I hope I didn't offend any one out there :biggrin:

My apologies for the 'thread jack' normal viewing will now commence.

[Gibsonm]

Well I wasn't offended and also apologise for any thread jacking.

Just didn't know if you were trying to get units to do stuff they couldn't do (sorry no idea as to your background).

Get some kip.

[Hedgehog]

I'll stick the 'how it works' text into the wiki entry later.

Unless someone else wants to...

[Ryujin]

I guess this falls under this thread... apologies if this isn't the right spot.

What sort of TO&E would a Centauro be in? What other vehicles would it be working with? As I understand it, we have the "reconnaissance anti-tank vehicle" version in SB pro at the moment. While I can draw some information from that description, I'm seeking a bit more info about how it is employed by the Spanish army for a plausible scenario focused around it.

[Ssnake]

I think you'd see them operating with VECs.

[Ryujin]

Thanks, I think I'll go for a counter-recon mission :cool3: .