DarkFib3r Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Hi all, I am a relatively new SB player and I am practicing extensively with the M1A1 to start. While I think I have most of the basics down (gunnery, navigation, waypoints and routes, simple tactics, etc), I am wondering how to best operate as a tank commander (TC) in this particular vehicle.One of my challenges as the TC is spotting units and getting my gunner to fire at them. When I operate as the gunner, the TC will often spot targets 45 degrees or more from what I am looking at. He will slew the gun into position and let me do the rest. But since the M1A1 does not have a CITV, I am wondering how a human can perform at this same level of competence. For example, should I be outside of the turret scanning with binos, and the when I spot a target, drop down, look through the commander's gun sight, manually take over (Shift-P), slew to where I think the target was, and then release control back to the gunner? This seems like it would take a lot of time and I certainly don't think I would be able to quickly find the target again. Or perhaps does the commander simply take control of the gun while looking out the top so that it slews to where he is looking, and then he releases control?Any help about how to be an effective commander in the M1A1 is appreciated![Cross-posted from http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4142641#Post4142641] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ssnake Posted July 3, 2015 Members Share Posted July 3, 2015 Answered there; won't cross-post again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lumituisku Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Well... I personally would just slew AI gunner to targets direction.If there would be real player as gunner I could use command's like..Gunner hard (left /right) and when turret approaches targets directions "Steady" and then "On" when gun points target. Could add there small description where to look, like. "Top of the hill" or distance "2000 meters." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkFib3r Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 ... I personally would just slew AI gunner to targets direction....Thanks for the reply! As the commander, do you do this while outside of the turret, or are you typically looking through the GPSE or the auxiliary sight? Can you slew the turret when you are in an external view? Do you simply hold the middle mouse button (assuming you use the mouse) or do you use Shift-P?As a follow-on question, how do you maintain situational awareness as a TC? Are you outside the turret, looking around with binoculars. Are you glued to the aux. sight and simply scanning around? And if you hear something shoot at you that you haven't spotted while you are in transit, what do you normally do? Stop and pop smoke? Find some cover and hope for the best? Keep going the same direction and frantically scan around for the enemy vehicle (which is my SOP and does not seem too effective :-))I am trying to figure out how to best manage the AI gunner when I am the TC in this tank. The replies so far have been helpful! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grenny Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Shameless cross posting here ;-)Paladin nailed it pretty good:http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4142619/M1A1_Tank_Commander_-_spotting#Post4142619 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkFib3r Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 Awesome, thanks for the feedback. Paladin for sure nailed it!It seems like all the action is happening on SimHQ first, so perhaps I'll post over there for feedback before I resort to posting over here. And I won't be cross-posting again :-P 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lumituisku Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 I play mostly CV90 serie from commanders place that doesn't have peri... so on that I'm most of the time outside of the hatch, looking around. Usually I point gunner to critical directions on far distance. And I take care of short ones. Closing in hill tops I take look with binos before telling him where to scan. (I play a lot with real players.) when not.. I scan far distances from time to time from GPSE view (overriding) And... yeah when I spot target while outside of hatch, I just hold palm-switch key and override him to target.I recently did test and changed my joystick so that usual fire button is palm-switch key... Laze is firing and palm one is lazing. And it works great by what I can tell. I think that this way it would work better on Abrams as well. If you use mouse... Then using mouse button for palm-switch would work best. Using sticky palms is messy at best... and P key is not optimal either if you want to use other firing keys. AI gunner is a little bit dull. I mean.. if you override him to direction. He doesn't scan that area. And he doesn't do that either when telling him to scan (right or left). He only seems to scan front sector. But does that very well, and surprisingly wide area. If you override him to area of target. Unless there is foliage like trees, he will most likely yell identified even before gun is pointing at target.I hope this helps you out. Sincerely. - Lumi 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibsonm Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 (edited) Awesome, thanks for the feedback. Paladin for sure nailed it!It seems like all the action is happening on SimHQ first, so perhaps I'll post over there for feedback before I resort to posting over here. And I won't be cross-posting again :-PWell I'm not sure its a case of post here OR there.There are quite a few people that use one forum or the other.Personally I'd say that here as the "home" of the product is a better place to ask questions about this product, on SimHQ you may or may not get the same level of response (not trying to make out that one is better than the other).Certainly I'd suggest a search prior to posting on either forum though.Also FWIW I use my training. looking out of turret (not F8), use binos, ID target, allocate a priority.If its not urgent call the gunner on:Gunner1800Tank near houseTraverse left/rightSteady ....ON!If its urgent drop done get on GPSE lay the gunFrom my position1800 TankON!Seen?After the first round hand control back to the Gunner. Edited July 3, 2015 by Gibsonm Typos 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKMule Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I couldn't find a cross post for the last reply so I won't post in case I cross post something. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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