UK Armour is the only UK-based virtual unit. Our website email forwarding seems to be on the blink at the moment so please email me direct at 'teejay@clara.co.uk'

I look forward to hearing from you

Best wishes
Tjay
C.O UK Armour.

Lol, yeah, I know a lot of other factors comes into play. Just like the idea of being strong enough to be able to damage opponents from range, hence this question. With modern armor, I guess this is a moot point, eh?

I'm going through the Leopard's tutorial now, but got one nagging Q --- how do you dig tank-sized foxholes? I see this on screenshots... can you place them yourself or are they "pre-placed" by mission builders?

Also, what's the deal with other non-MBT vehicles? Are they there simply for the sake of "completeness" or do they have a battlefield purpose as well? Specifically the infantry carriers, what can they do when faced with an MBT?

Tjay - email sent!

The hull-down dug-in positions are placed by mission editor (and sometimes are re-deployable in pre-mission planning phases).

IFV and APC primarily are battle-taxis used to move and deploy their infantry with less risk to small arms and artillery fragments. Their main weapon when used well is their dismounted infantry section, but some of the more modern IFV can project considerable firepower to long ranges (although with only modest protection and lethality against the front of an MBT, they should concentrate on very short engagements on flanks of MBT, or against enemy infantry carriers or infantry). Rapid firing autocannons can also be more effective as limited AAA weapons against helicopters.

They should be used as part of a combined arms team with MBT support whenever possible, but can accomplish much in close terrain with the infantry deployed on the ground, and the vehicles providing supporting fires from covered positions/ambush.


Although APFSDS rounds do lose penetration potential with range, this is usually far less than the accuracy losses, and to a reasonable level the penetration performance can be considered near constant (80-85% max at the useful range ~2.5km-3km), HEAT, HESH etc have constant performance over range, but can have lower performance against frontal armour of MBT.

At runtime?
You don't. You can create them in the mission editor, and make them "deployable" for the user in the planning phase (so he can shift the position and orientation).


Of course they have their role. Obviously any tank is the 800 pound gorilla in a pure ground fight, and if the environmental conditions in the chosen location of battle favor him and no grave mistakes are made, a tank force should come out of an engagement as the clear victor against any other homogeneous force of equal size.

But what good does you a 6.6m long gun tube if you're in an alley that is four meters wide? What's the point of being able to destroy an IFV at five kilometers range when you're in a thick forest where you can see only a few hundred meters or less? How do you kill seemingly weak and hapless infantry if you can't see them, because they hide inside of the buildings that restrict your field of view, your field of fire, and your freedom of maneuver?
What good is a gun range of four kilometers against a helicopter-launched anti tank missile of eight kilometer range?

There is no weapon that will always dominate all other weapons on the battlefield. If it existed, everybody would use only this and no other. Each piece of equipment, each branch of an Army has special capabilities that make it unique. The art of tactics is to coordinate the different units to maximize their strengths and to cover their (relative) weaknesses with other units that are especially strong in that area.
That's the whole, simple idea of "combined arms". If there's a helicopter threat, you need air defense units to protect you against them. Since the air defense units are usually vulnerable against ground threats, you need to protect them with a layered defense. Where you can't reach a target with direct fire, artillery is needed. Artillery depends on an uninterrupted supply chain. The trucks that are transporting the ammo are highly vulnerable. So a possible strategy against enemy artillery is to target the supply trucks. In order to get at them, you need to break through the enemy's defense line. That breakthrough is done with tanks, with (own) artillery, air support, and maybe also mechanized infantry. Once that you are through that line of defense, tanks are best to exploit a gap by quickly dashing into the rear area, wreaking havoc as long as there is no organized defense.

That's the whole trick in its bare simplicity. A lot is to be learned about each element. And learning is done by playing, and having fun while doing it. Hopefully.

Thanks for the info on foxholes. Main reason I ask about the other vehicles was that I thought I could get the IFV to dismount the infantry to dig a tank-sized fox-hole for me to hide in... and maybe put some wax and Armor All on some parts of the tank. And clean my treads with a toothbrush. Oh well.

Aside from UK Armour, does SimHQ have its own group that does co-op missions?

And is it just me or is the "P" key rather awkward as Dynamic Lead function? Going from CTRL (pinky) and SpaceBar (thumb) to P (index) and SpaceBar (thumb) is like doing finger gymnastics!

Have you tried the right mouse button for laser, and the middle mouse button for dynamic lead?

I bet that'll make things easier. Or try a joystick.

Hehe... you can do that? I've just been "following instructions" based on the tutorials.

Quick questions --- how come there is no tutorial for the Challenger? And how do you get the "outside view" again when playing? I can't seem to do this, only do gunner/TC/driver position, but not that "behind the tank" view. Last, which view is "best" or ideal for just moving from A to B? I'm not sure I can do a very good job as a TC, but I don't want to be in the gunner view the whole time, hence asking about the external view so I can admire my ride before it's blown to bits.

You may use any of the multiple controls that are stored (and can be customized) in the Controls dialog. Check it out.


Technically the Challenger isn't yet considered completely done. There's a very real danger that tutorials could become obsolete or misleading with later changes. The Chally as it is represents our best estimate based on what's publicly available information (which is very little). We hope that with a bit of feedback from UK tankers we can further improve our work.


F8


It's probably a matter of personal preference. I'd say, any position but the gunner or squad leader (for those IFVs that have this position modeled) is equally suitable. Of course they all offer their own distinct advantages and drawbacks. Try the different positions, I'm sure you'll develop a sense of what works best for you. If you can get yourself accustomed to using the commander's position, that would probably be best for multiplayer games where, if you don't occupy the commander's place, another player could jump into it and take control.


The only chance to learn it is by doing it.


That's a good idea, if you do it for the right reasons (=lack of situational awareness, tunnel vision, target fixation). However,


Even though I suspect that it was meant tongue in cheek, this is a somewhat popular mistake of some. It could be an indicator that your attention is focused on your own vehicle, when you should spend most of your attention on the anticipation of emerging threats, and being on the lookout for them. This is probably the prime directive for a tank commander (and platoon leader) in combat - being focused on what the enemy might do next, where it might make its appearance in your field of view and your area of responsibility, what the best terrain features are to help you to maneuver to the place where you need to be, to mask your movement, and your presence.
Looking at your own tank won't help you a single bit with any of these tasks.

Thanks for the heads up Ssnake. I got a TM Warthog and Saitek pedals which I am wondering how I will map stuff to to make it easier. I also have VAC and I'm thinking of mapping the formation commands to that.

Re: outside view. I'm not sure if it's the tutorial or the instant action mission, but I've pressed all the F-keys and it didn't work. Need to try again.

The last comment was meant to be funny, but it's true as well. Obviously I don't spend ALL my time on the external view, but I feel it is the best view that gives a wide view of the surroundings, helps me "orient" myself properly. Pity there is no NVG view except for the gunner and for some fancy modes for the TC.

Oh, in some tutorials the external observer (or other crew positions) are disabled, so you concentrate on what's the point of the specific tutorial.

WRT to the controllers that you have:

1. SB Pro only recognizes the "Preferred device" (which you can set in the advanced properties of the device properties; in earlier Windows version, set the controller ID #1)
2. There's two ways to utilize a game controller. You can use the direct Controls dialog box/configuration interface to try and assign a certain button to a certain function.
   Alternatively you use the programming interface of the controller itself to trigger certain macros that you can define there. The latter option is usually more complicated, but offers a wider range of functions. The former is probably "good enough" for pretty much all your SB Pro needs.
3. Personally, I think that many of the flight stick joysticks are way too stiff to allow successful fine control when in the gunner's place. But again, that's strictly spoken from a Leopard 2 pampered tanker's point of view. In other vehicles the gunner's control handle sometimes is very stiff (ASLAV-25, for example), so it ultimately boils down to the question whether YOU find it suitable, and that's best answered with a bit of practice.