istari6 Posted October 24, 2020 Posted October 24, 2020 I'm an experienced IL-2 "pilot", with probably hundreds of hours in various airframes. I've played tank games before like Steel Beasts, and trying to get into Tank Crew, but it's challenging in the current state. Hoping for help with any of the following seven questions: AS COMMANDER How to give crew quick targeting orders? If I see a new target appear, I'm fumbling with command menus, then I get a big white circle that turns red (why color change?) Unclear how to select a target quickly to orient the gunner for engaging. OTOH, if I give crew free fire orders as TC, I note that the turret will swing rapidly across the entire frontal arc to engage new targets. How is the gunner seeing what to aim without TC guidance? Put another way, is there anything for me to do as TC under engage at will orders? It feels like I just watch. How to switch between manual and Autopilot smoothly? When Autopilot is off, I have to manually drive, holding forward to keep moving forward. But when I switch on Autopilot, the driver takes over, spins us around and heads us back toward a different point, often exposing our rear. I want to generally give directions (advance continuously), then take over when needed for fine adjustments. Can I eliminate the weird binocular animation? It's slow and looks strange. AS GUNNER Does TC warn of other targets while I'm engaging as gunner? I like the challenge of ranging and shooting accurately, but I really feel the lack of SA in the gunner position. If a new target appears, will TC warn me so I can slew around to engage? Is there anyway to eliminate the floating white markers in scope that show mouse/joystick? VR When I look around from TC position in VR, often I can't see any other objects outside my frontal arc. It seems that hitting T restores objects out of view. Do I need to do this once when I pop into TC view and then I'll have 360 view of objects as long as I'm in TC position? Thanks for any advice on these questions!
LachenKrieg Posted October 25, 2020 Posted October 25, 2020 17 hours ago, istari6 said: I'm an experienced IL-2 "pilot", with probably hundreds of hours in various airframes. I've played tank games before like Steel Beasts, and trying to get into Tank Crew, but it's challenging in the current state. Hoping for help with any of the following seven questions: AS COMMANDER How to give crew quick targeting orders? If I see a new target appear, I'm fumbling with command menus, then I get a big white circle that turns red (why color change?) Unclear how to select a target quickly to orient the gunner for engaging. After hitting the Tilde key, you will see the main command menu popup. Use your mouse to position the targeting icon over the enemy vehicle you want to target (round circle changes to cross-hair) and then press left mouse button to display the secondary command menu. Press the appropriate F-keys for the command you want. When the targeting circle is pointing at the sky it is white, but changes to red as you move over terrain or an enemy vehicle. You use the targeting circle to either move to a point, or attack an enemy, and this gets a lot faster once you memorize a few command sequences. OTOH, if I give crew free fire orders as TC, I note that the turret will swing rapidly across the entire frontal arc to engage new targets. How is the gunner seeing what to aim without TC guidance? Put another way, is there anything for me to do as TC under engage at will orders? It feels like I just watch. Try giving commands to a platoon to increase the challenge a little. I know what you mean, it is a little awkward to move through all the positions yourself. I think the idea behind this sort of game is to multi-crew, but Tank Crew isn't quite there yet. Hopefully as more people join in to support it, we will be able to crew each vehicle with 4 players. At the moment, I think we are limited to just 2. To add a bit more, try giving commands to a platoon without activating autopilot so that you are doing the driving. What I find both fun and challenging is to give commands to a platoon while maneuver my tank from just the commanders cupola view. A 3 or 4 tank platoon attacking multiple targets takes a little practice. How to switch between manual and Autopilot smoothly? When Autopilot is off, I have to manually drive, holding forward to keep moving forward. But when I switch on Autopilot, the driver takes over, spins us around and heads us back toward a different point, often exposing our rear. I want to generally give directions (advance continuously), then take over when needed for fine adjustments. Hit the "A" key from the drivers position to toggle autopilot. Can I eliminate the weird binocular animation? It's slow and looks strange. Yeah they could maybe clean it up a bit, but I really like the binocular feature. Use expert settings to limit your view from just the available visor ports. I find this heightens my appreciation of being able to open the hatch to have a look with the binoculars when I get the chance. The only thing missing here is the ability to give commands from the binocular view. If you hit the Tilde key while using binoculars, you will see the command menu popup, but it isn't functional. I am hoping it is just a matter of time till they get around to adding this. AS GUNNER Does TC warn of other targets while I'm engaging as gunner? I like the challenge of ranging and shooting accurately, but I really feel the lack of SA in the gunner position. If a new target appears, will TC warn me so I can slew around to engage? As the gunner, I don't think you receive commands from the commander, but as the commander you can identify the different targets using the command menus. Is there anyway to eliminate the floating white markers in scope that show mouse/joystick? I will have to try next time I play, but until I do, have you tried toggling the HUD/info buttons. Seems to me the default keybindings are the "H" and "I" keys. Not sure it affects the floating white markers though. VR When I look around from TC position in VR, often I can't see any other objects outside my frontal arc. It seems that hitting T restores objects out of view. Do I need to do this once when I pop into TC view and then I'll have 360 view of objects as long as I'm in TC position? Thanks for any advice on these questions! Welcome, and I hope you enjoy Tank Crew as much as I do. It obviously has a few issues that still need to be worked out, and with very little documentation, you might find you have to play around with it a bit to get comfortable. I have added my 2-cents worth to your questions above.
istari6 Posted October 25, 2020 Author Posted October 25, 2020 7 hours ago, LachenKrieg said: AS COMMANDER How to give crew quick targeting orders? If I see a new target appear, I'm fumbling with command menus, then I get a big white circle that turns red (why color change?) Unclear how to select a target quickly to orient the gunner for engaging. After hitting the Tilde key, you will see the main command menu popup. Use your mouse to position the targeting icon over the enemy vehicle you want to target (round circle changes to cross-hair) and then press left mouse button to display the secondary command menu. Press the appropriate F-keys for the command you want. When the targeting circle is pointing at the sky it is white, but changes to red as you move over terrain or an enemy vehicle. You use the targeting circle to either move to a point, or attack an enemy, and this gets a lot faster once you memorize a few command sequences. Yes, thank you. I figured out that part of my problem is that the VR headset AND the mouse both control the cursor simultaneously. So I was having a very hard time getting control over it until I realized I needed to stop moving my head :). It is getting faster, and I do see the red crosshair now. 7 hours ago, LachenKrieg said: OTOH, if I give crew free fire orders as TC, I note that the turret will swing rapidly across the entire frontal arc to engage new targets. How is the gunner seeing what to aim without TC guidance? Put another way, is there anything for me to do as TC under engage at will orders? It feels like I just watch. Try giving commands to a platoon to increase the challenge a little. I know what you mean, it is a little awkward to move through all the positions yourself. I think the idea behind this sort of game is to multi-crew, but Tank Crew isn't quite there yet. Hopefully as more people join in to support it, we will be able to crew each vehicle with 4 players. At the moment, I think we are limited to just 2. To add a bit more, try giving commands to a platoon without activating autopilot so that you are doing the driving. What I find both fun and challenging is to give commands to a platoon while maneuver my tank from just the commanders cupola view. A 3 or 4 tank platoon attacking multiple targets takes a little practice. Don't I have to have my crew on Autopilot for the gunner to engage? I'd like to command from the cupola and call out targets, but then it seems that driving is very difficult since I don't have manual control. 7 hours ago, LachenKrieg said: How to switch between manual and Autopilot smoothly? When Autopilot is off, I have to manually drive, holding forward to keep moving forward. But when I switch on Autopilot, the driver takes over, spins us around and heads us back toward a different point, often exposing our rear. I want to generally give directions (advance continuously), then take over when needed for fine adjustments. Hit the "A" key from the drivers position to toggle autopilot. Ah, so it IS only from the driver's position. There's no way to activate or deactivate it from the TC position. That seems strange and I hope they change it in an upcoming patch. 7 hours ago, LachenKrieg said: Can I eliminate the weird binocular animation? It's slow and looks strange. Yeah they could maybe clean it up a bit, but I really like the binocular feature. Use expert settings to limit your view from just the available visor ports. I find this heightens my appreciation of being able to open the hatch to have a look with the binoculars when I get the chance. The only thing missing here is the ability to give commands from the binocular view. If you hit the Tilde key while using binoculars, you will see the command menu popup, but it isn't functional. I am hoping it is just a matter of time till they get around to adding this. I noticed the same. No ability to give orders from the binocular view. Thanks for confirming I'm not missing something obvious. 7 hours ago, LachenKrieg said: Does TC warn of other targets while I'm engaging as gunner? I like the challenge of ranging and shooting accurately, but I really feel the lack of SA in the gunner position. If a new target appears, will TC warn me so I can slew around to engage? As the gunner, I don't think you receive commands from the commander, but as the commander you can identify the different targets using the command menus. Does it make any difference if the tank is on Autopilot whether the TC calls out other targets? It just feels dangerous to go down into the gunner view since the FOV is so narrow. Ideally I could set the game so the other positions are "automated", so if I switch to gunner, the TC would call out targets. Or is the Autopilot setting only controlling the driver position? 7 hours ago, LachenKrieg said: Is there anyway to eliminate the floating white markers in scope that show mouse/joystick? I will have to try next time I play, but until I do, have you tried toggling the HUD/info buttons. Seems to me the default keybindings are the "H" and "I" keys. Not sure it affects the floating white markers though. I can confirm it's not tied to the HUD/Info overlay. I can toggle that on and off and makes no difference with the white targeting indicator. Thanks again for taking the time to reply to these questions!
LachenKrieg Posted October 26, 2020 Posted October 26, 2020 On 10/25/2020 at 5:26 PM, istari6 said: Yes, thank you. I figured out that part of my problem is that the VR headset AND the mouse both control the cursor simultaneously. So I was having a very hard time getting control over it until I realized I needed to stop moving my head :). It is getting faster, and I do see the red crosshair now. Don't I have to have my crew on Autopilot for the gunner to engage? I'd like to command from the cupola and call out targets, but then it seems that driving is very difficult since I don't have manual control. Ah, so it IS only from the driver's position. There's no way to activate or deactivate it from the TC position. That seems strange and I hope they change it in an upcoming patch. I noticed the same. No ability to give orders from the binocular view. Thanks for confirming I'm not missing something obvious. Does it make any difference if the tank is on Autopilot whether the TC calls out other targets? It just feels dangerous to go down into the gunner view since the FOV is so narrow. Ideally I could set the game so the other positions are "automated", so if I switch to gunner, the TC would call out targets. Or is the Autopilot setting only controlling the driver position? I can confirm it's not tied to the HUD/Info overlay. I can toggle that on and off and makes no difference with the white targeting indicator. Thanks again for taking the time to reply to these questions! I just did a quick mission to reconfirm and noticed that the gunner engaged the target with autopilot both on and off, while I was in the commanders position without giving any orders. So I don't know if this is something new, but I always thought I had to give the "fire at will" command at least. Also in Quick mission builder, when an enemy is spotted you will get the info regardless of the position you are in. Can't say I noticed that when I make my own missions in the mission editor. Autopilot can only be activated from the drivers position. When it is activated, you cannot drive, you must be in the commanders position to giver your driver a "move" command. If you don't activate autopilot, then you can give commands to your gunner while driving the tank from the cupola. But even if you don't issue a "fire" command, the gunner apparently will engage if he has a LOS on the target and you stop the tank. Knowing when to stop the tank so your gunner can engage the target you designated is an important part though. As I have mentioned, commanding a platoon of tanks to attack multiple targets is how I am enjoying Tank Crew the most at the moment. I find game play to be a little smoother if I drive as opposed to having to give the additional commands to move. Being the commanding tank in a platoon of 4 tanks gets busy especially if you give each tank in your platoon separate commands. Obviously you decide what type and how many targets you want to go up against to vary the challenge to not lose any tanks in your platoon. 1
istari6 Posted October 28, 2020 Author Posted October 28, 2020 LK - very good. Thanks for the additional information. Interesting that the gunner will engage whether Autopilot is engaged or not. I'm looking forward to the next release, where the AI gunners will apparently be far more tied to what's visible through the gunsight rather than having 180 deg+ awareness. Cheers!
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