So I've got my feet wet. Have a few questions.

[Lord Thag]

SBPPE finally showed up in the mail a couple of days ago, and I have played through all of the tutorials, and am steadily upping my score on the firing range.

The next step was to fool around with the scenario 'Tanks'. I have to say, this sim is really immersive! The first few tries resulted in a lot of unexpected deaths from out of nowhere. Never realized how much focus and scanning it takes to survive in a modern tank. The engagement ranges are vastly farther (obviously) than the WWII tanks I have played in the past.

So I got me arse handed to me a bunch, and then started to realize the following formula:

Hill + Tank = Sabot in Face :biggrin:

So I started learning about following the valleys, and about narrowing your scanning area to terrain as it appears, and the value of the TC position as opposed to the gunner's seat. Good times.

A couple of questions, if you will though.

1. How do you deal with lazing tanks who are behind scattered woods/shrubs? This is what is usually killing me now. I'll get the drop on a tank, usually hull down and driving, that will pass behind shrubs and what not every second or two. I have both varieties of lasing down decently well (and I am starting to get pretty good with HEAT rounds too), but the shrubbery seems to muck up my range finder, resulting in misses (and subsequent deaths). I have learned to mitigate this by tank positioning (and reversing), but surely, there must be a better way to deal with these kinds of targets. Do you go manual sights, or is there a trick I'm missing?

2. The AI sighting. This seems to do decently well in front of the tank, but terribly on the sides. My ability to spot targets with the TC's binocs is not so hot either. Any tips for sighting or improving sighting skills?

Thanks in advance. What a great game! I can't wait to get the basics down so I can join multiplayer.

[Volcano]

Hello and welcome.

In regards to #1:

You should switch your LRF to "last return" if the vehicle you are in allows this. That way, the first return, which is on the trees and bushes, will be discarded and it will take the last object it returns off of as the range. "Last return" does have its own disadvantages though, so you don't want to use it all the time (ie. lasing a tank with only the turret visible at long range will usually give you the range behind the target, so 1st return works well there).

In regards to #2:

This depends directly on the formation you are in. IRL, tanks are mostly effective only to the front, so this is why there are several different formations that put the the turret in a certain direction. Sure the TC does scan around for targets on occasion, but this is a wide area for him to cover and this is a secondaryd duty to scanning the frontal arc.

For example, a wedge is a relatively good all around 180* coverage of eyes and guns. Once a tank spots a target then it will let the other tanks in platoon (if they are attached) know where it is. Echelon left/right is for your flank as you advance and so on. If you are consistently getting flanked then odds are that your platoon is not in the best formation for the situation, and always because another friendly platoon is not where it should be to cover your flank. Another thing you can practice, if a platoon has to cover a large area, is splitting your platoon into two sections. These sections should overwatch each other as they move, and this will decrease the likelihood of being caught in the flank all the time.

[Lord Thag]

Thanks for the pointers. What about sighting in a solo tank though (which is what the Tanks mission is). Any tips for finding them before they find you, or is it just something that comes with repeated play?

[Ssnake]

Maybe the salient point of the mission is that a single tank lost among enemies is usually dead meat. You either need a lot of luck or extraordinary skill to survive. IIRC, in that scenario the enemy is driving around in random paths all over the place and you're supposed to get them.

There isn't much that you can do except hope for the best, to keep moving (or to hide very well, which isn't easy on that specific map), and to avoid running head-first into engagements. It clearly pays off to stay in the commander's or external observer's position, scan for targets with quick changes of your viewing direction all of the time, and once that you do get a glimpse of the enemy to antivipate his movement and try to catch him from behind or the flanks where his attention is lower and his protection is least.

Finally, it can sometimes help to switch off your engine and listen for the other tanks' noises.

[Toyguy]

One other thing you can do is use manual range entry. I will sometimes lase the tree line then enter that range plus a fudge factor manually into the FCS. That seems to work pretty well for me if I don't feel I can get a clear lase.

[Lord Thag]

Ah, ok, good points. So I can assume that killing five or six tanks in the 'Tanks' scenario, is pretty good for a noob like me? I thought I was missing something, but apparently, I'm playing pretty well. Cool.

I really like that 'lase the treeline' idea. I'll try that out the next time I give the scenario a go.

Now I just have to get my gunnery range score up in the 90s and learn how to properly command a couple of platoons.

Thanks

[Gibsonm]

The other thing you can do is use the map (F5).

The enemy icons usually appear (assuming updating is "on") and from there you can use good old manual range estimation to check what the LASER is telling you.

If the icon is one grid square away (1,000m +) and the LASER says its 200m then you know its picked up the wrong reflection.

Finally if its close enough (depending on the weapon say 800 - 1,500m) you can probably get away with a battle sabot engagement since the round travels pretty flat and you don't need to add extra elevation and all the other goochie ballistic computer stuff.

Just get the target in the cross hairs and fire.

Edited December 5, 2010 by Gibsonm

[Tacbat]

Another method you can try against a target in/behind woods is to lase the woodline as others have mentioned, then aim for the top edge of the turret (this assumes that you're firing KE rounds). If it's moving, then you'll need to add a bit of extra lead, depending on the range.

[Companion]

RE: Woodline targets

If the target is inside woods, you usually cannot get HEAT on it cause the foliage would normally pre-detonate the HEATs whereas Sabots will cut through (in game systems, ignore) trees onto the target.

And when shooting sabot, getting dead correct lase doesn't mean much since trajectory is so flat that you can reliably "turkey shoot" the difference between your "bad lase" returns (lase return from foliage) and actual distance to the target

[Lord Thag]

Good to know. I'll try the 'old fashioned' way when I fire it up next.

Another question. Now that I've got gunnery and the Tanks scenario down, what would be good to try out next? Any scenario recommendations?

[Volcano]

Actually if you have done both of those then you are probably good to get online for multiplayer. Keep in mind that you can take a single vehicle or platoon in multiplayer, so you don't exactly have to have company command experience to join.

Other than that, I would say to play any scenario where you are handling more than a single vehicle and practice controlling a platoon. I don't know of any specific scenarios to recommend unfortunately.

[Gibsonm]

GaryOwen has a good set of escalating ones where you use the sim to conduct "real life" type trg activities.

They are called the "Camp Hornfelt" series.

Have read here:

http://www.steelbeasts.com/sbforums/showthread.php?t=14606

[Toyguy]

I'll second the Camp Hornfelt recommendation. They are a great set of scenarios.

And keep after Tanks, it can be beaten

[Mogwa]

Tanks can be beaten though usually it is not. Even veteran players have trouble beating 9 to 1 odds on a confined map. The reason it is recommended so much to recently arrived players is it teaches tactical operation of your tank. Chances are, the longer you last in that sce the better you are becoming at things like using the terrain to your advantage.

Mog