Thanks for that info Norm. Need to try using the throttle--probably faster than the mouse wheel. I finally figured out how to adjust the vertical cross-hair line to right or left for pinpoint accuracy. That's under sights--just like it should be.
Stig--I had that problem with the Gunnery Tutorial. It turned out, for whatever reason, that the Matilda I was supposed to be gun training on had no main gun ammunition at all. The problem seems to have corrected itself--maybe a mod I enabled.
I've been reading up about how to employ WWII gun sights, the Strich system, etc. There is a great web site on the subject which I'm sure y'all already know about, here's the link anyway:
http://pedg.yuku.com/topic/1728/t/Ranging-Turmzielfernrohr-TZF-9b-gun-sight-optics.htmlI've made a little gunnery range mission and have been practicing with targets at various common ranges. There seems to be something funky going on. My commander reports a target at over 1000 m, but my AP rounds dial-in at around 700. ? In the Tiger, my HE rounds seem to have superior (flatter) ballistic trajectories to my AP rounds. ? Oh well, guess I'll just have to adjust. As it is, the sight is not so dependable for range calculations. Might be something I'm doing wrong.
I am absolutely loving SPM 1.5 beta. Those Ruskies know how to do Tanks right. Before the Mod update I hated using the Target Highlight function--seemed cheesy--but I had to for realism's sake. In a chaotic battle, I just could not identify enough targets quickly enough by swiveling the turret back and forth. I got killed a lot. Now, the commander reports the target, estimates range, and gives me a Clock position to seek the target--all done verbally just like real life, without having to use the target highlight at all. Fantastic. Let me say that again with some emphasis:
FANTASTIC! I still get killed a lot, but I get killed realistically. That wasn't in stock, was it? Don't think it was.
And the new tanks are absolutely beautiful. I don't know who modeled them, but they are professionally done. At least as good as the vehicles that came with the game. The skins are beautiful as well. I was doing Rend's Provkhorovka campaign for the first time in an SU 85--didn't know what to expect. I bounced around through the first part of the mission peering through my sight, desperately trying to find a target--nothing. Got all the way to the objective, a small hilltop village, without having fired a shot, or having been shot at then suddenly a German tank fills my gun sight and I blurted out loud:"Oh my God, that's a Panther!" It was maybe 200 meters away.
The first time I saw a Ferdinand I almost crapped myself. Those things are MASSIVE. This game, more than any I've ever played, actually SIMULATES the experience of being inside a tank when the world is blowing up all around you. In many armor sims I have adopted a certain style of play--stay at long range, use cover, snipe the enemy until the enemy is gone, win the game. That's more difficult here, because I don't feel like I'm trying just to protect my own ass, I see tons of friendly infantry and armor moving forward to their objectives and they start getting wiped out by an enemy I can't see and I feel obligated to try to mitigate the carnage--I have to advance with them, which means I am constantly in danger. Very realistic, very challenging.
Why have I never heard of this game until now? This is the game I've been looking for since M1 Tank Platoon. It's been a long wait. Damn shame the CO. went bankrupt.