usefulness of drivable trucks

[super-truite]

I just realized that with the upcoming AAA vehicles, it would be quite easy to have a drivable sdkfz and ford truck without the AA guns by just removing some parts of the model. Even if not supported by the official devs it could be "hacked"  creating skins to hide the guns I guess. I like to find useful new gameplay ideas outside the usual stuff. My current potential use cases:

- repair trucks to allow players to repair bridges/vehicles 

- bringing ammo to gun positions or tanks

- set defenses  

- towing and placing guns would be nice but not possible without adding functionalities to the trucks

- trucks acting as a tank mobile respawn would be useful also but we cannot dynamically change the positions of spawns as far as I know (unless doing some messy copy pasting of fakefields...)

Any other ideas ?

[JG1_Wittmann]

I can remember back in the day  when WW2 Online first came out,,,,   Having 2 separate accounts was very useful  so you could drive a truck  to tow you Flak 18/36  and deploy that for action.  Would be nice if we ever got  a playable   AT  Gun

[Beazil]

37 minutes ago, JG1_Wittmann said:

I can remember back in the day  when WW2 Online first came out,,,,   Having 2 separate accounts was very useful  so you could drive a truck  to tow you Flak 18/36  and deploy that for action.  Would be nice if we ever got  a playable   AT  Gun

Oooh!  Hai Wittman!  ?

[JG1_Wittmann]

I would  like to see some of the  MP  mission builders  use these for rearm and refuel   and repair in the Field.   It could be very beneficial to have a truck  following a tank on a mission,  out of  harms way if possible,  ready to refuel to extend the mission range,    repair the tank  at a faster rate than the self-repair,  and  reload the tank's ammo stores.  I  could see scenarios  online that I had been in where  at  the refuel , rearm and repair  functions would have come in very handy.   I suppose that right now a mission builder could perform all of those functions with another tank.  I know my  squad mate  uses  bridge-repair tanks  in the JG1  Tank and Spank missions.   The only limitation on that I am aware of is that it only works for wooden bridges  on  our  sessions

Edited December 4, 2020 by JG1_Wittmann

[super-truite]

this is something I want to do in my current Advance And Secure mission. It is quite fast paced and it is frustrating to abandon a heavy tank (you don't have much available) when you got rid of the opponents. What I would like is trucks able to reach the immobilized/out of ammo tanks in the frontline and fix them. I have also the bridge problem on my next map. Of course it is doable with another tank but it feels a bit wrong ?. In theory that should work for all bridges though ?. I guess it is a mission designer's choice to repair only temporary wooden bridges

[SCG_judgedeath3]

8 hours ago, super-truite said:

it is frustrating to abandon a heavy tank

Not possible to repair the tank? The only time I abandon a tank is in combat when a shell penetrates, to save the crew or if the damage is beyond repair. 
I know its possible to setup zones where repairs can be done near these refuel trucks but a moveable one would be handy, have it nearby in the back, safe from enemy fire but close enough to rearm the tanks when needed.

Edited December 5, 2020 by SCG_judgedeath3

[Guest deleted@188321]

1 hour ago, SCG_judgedeath3 said:

Not possible to repair the tank? Only I abandone my tank is in combat when a shell penetrates, to save the crew or if the damage is beyond repair. 
I know its possible to setup zones where repairs can be done near these refuel trucks but a moveable one would be handy, have it nearby in the back, safe from enemy fire but close enough to rearm the tanks when needed.

 

some of tigre's sp missions have repair zones bound to trucks

 

if your truck gets destroyed no repair or rearm

[JG1_Wittmann]

It would be very useful to be able to spawn a truck,  drive it to the area your tanks are operating,   and refuel,  repair, Re-arm  them.   If you went on a mission with a few people,  first person to get killed spawns in a refuel/re-arm truck and brings it up.   Is going to be much faster than  the tanks are  so that drive wouldn't be too bad. 

[LachenKrieg]

5 hours ago, JG1_Wittmann said:

It would be very useful to be able to spawn a truck,  drive it to the area your tanks are operating,   and refuel,  repair, Re-arm  them.   If you went on a mission with a few people,  first person to get killed spawns in a refuel/re-arm truck and brings it up.   Is going to be much faster than  the tanks are  so that drive wouldn't be too bad. 

Or they could just make the upcoming AAA trucks so that it could be set as one of the RRR vehicles so that a player could provide AAA cover when he isn't repairing/rearming/refueling his team mates. That could be a real neat role to fill in a group.

[SCG_Neun]

I usually have a trigger for a repair vehicle to spawn once a location has been captured in addition to some flak protection in the area as well.  It simulates all this in a very easy way without drivable vehicles.  But of course I’d be up for as many drivable vehicles as possible, but I’d like some tank destroyers first?

[LachenKrieg]

1 hour ago, SCG_Neun said:

I usually have a trigger for a repair vehicle to spawn once a location has been captured in addition to some flak protection in the area as well.  It simulates all this in a very easy way without drivable vehicles.  But of course I’d be up for as many drivable vehicles as possible, but I’d like some tank destroyers first?

That is a really good idea. I think one of the things that could probably benefit Tank Crew would be more talented mission designers. But is there a way to add support before an objective is captured? There are a lot of instances where your team can't reach the objective.

 

I'm pretty sure we wont see the role of the upcoming collector vehicles go beyond their anti-air role, but it doesn't hurt to suggest something. I personally like the OP's suggestion here to be able to use the vehicles in a support role, and believe there could be a financial upside for the Dev's as it would increase their appeal.

 

2cents spent. 

[Thad]

31 minutes ago, LachenKrieg said:

That is a really good idea. I think one of the things that could probably benefit Tank Crew would be more talented mission designers. But is there a way to add support before an objective is captured? There are a lot of instances where your team can't reach the objective.

 

Absolutely. Much can be done with the games mission editor by a persistent and imaginative mission builder. But, good mission building takes up a lot of time and effort. Playtesting and more playtesting. This time and effort cost is often too high when ones missions no longer work as originally programmed after game updates, (petty annoyance). That is just a cross builder must bear.

 

I desired to create some historically based armored battles of Patton's 3rd Army during the Battle Of The Bulge. I even purchased some reference books for the effort. Unfortunately, none of the villages and towns, where the battles took place, are represented on the Rheinland map.

 

Therefore, no such missions are forthcoming. ☹️

[SCG_Neun]

Yes, you can trigger ai support vehicles to go out in advance of heavier tank support to ferret out ai gun positions as they open up. Heavy tanks positioned then can knock out AT positions as they become exposed in forested concealed positions.  I’m not that good of a mission builder but the combination of real players with trigger locations can easily call in artillery and air support.  I know a couple of guys that have designed in game commander type mods that bring in some real time strategy.

 

The mission builder even with a basic knowledge can give a multiplayer mission builder an endless supply of options which create some neat immersion.  Since I have an SCG member with designer savvy, in addition to our friends with JG1 we come together to share the best to give us the most realistic gameplay.  

Edited December 12, 2020 by SCG_Neun

[LachenKrieg]

6 hours ago, Thad said:

 

Absolutely. Much can be done with the games mission editor by a persistent and imaginative mission builder. But, good mission building takes up a lot of time and effort. Playtesting and more playtesting. This time and effort cost is often too high when ones missions no longer work as originally programmed after game updates, (petty annoyance). That is just a cross builder must bear.

 

I desired to create some historically based armored battles of Patton's 3rd Army during the Battle Of The Bulge. I even purchased some reference books for the effort. Unfortunately, none of the villages and towns, where the battles took place, are represented on the Rheinland map.

 

Therefore, no such missions are forthcoming. ☹️

Hey Thad, thanks for your insight on this topic. I know you have been here pretty much since Tank Crew started, and I can understand how frustrating it must be to pour hours into a project that you know will eventually become de-funked over time.

 

I see it as one of the problems with being a niche segment of the market. The average gamer is less likely going to want to invest so much time into creating content, and therefore rarely sees the benefits of what a real SIM like this can offer.

 

I would like to see the Quick Mission feature in Tank Crew be fleshed out a bit more so that the user could control spawn points, add artillery/anti-tank units, and be able to host the session as a multi-player mission. My feeling is if they would make the QMB a little more robust so that the average gamer could more easily create exciting content without the rigors of having to learn the complexities of the Mission Editor, it would make the module that much more appealing. 

 

Regarding the towns on the German map, its too bad that a lot of this type of detail is missing. One thing I did to try and recreate the Battle of Bautzen was I first looked for a setting on the map that had a similar river formation to the one that passes through Bautzen, and then used historical images of Bautzen to match as best I could some of its landmark buildings with the available content in the Mission Editor.

 

If you ever run out of things to do, I know at least a couple people that would really enjoy seeing some recreations of the historical battles of Patton's march to victory.

Edited December 12, 2020 by LachenKrieg

[JG1_Wittmann]

I would really like to see that truck mounted Quad 20mm  as a player controlled vehicle.   This vehicle would be    much better at player AA role  than a single barrel one.    I  did a test of a couple of these quads,   had some PE2's fly over them,   lower level,  ( Like what a strafer , or dive bomb would need to do vs a tank ! )     and those  quads  absolutely shredded  that flight of PE2's.  I think out of 3 PE2's   only 1 of them wasn't  outright  shot down,   the third  was definately in no mood,  or condition to continue any kind of attack !   

 

My fear of these new collector, single barrel AA guns,  is that their effectiveness  will be limited  and they will  possibly not be up to the task.  I don't know if I want to shell out  cash for a crappy  1 barrel gun,   when I see there is already a 4 barrel truck mounted gun in game that just needs human control.  

 

I would recommend strongly to the devs  to give us   Functional Vehicles,  Jagdpanzer 4,   Quad 20 truck and ground  AA guns,   some Scout cars,  and alot of other AI vehicles already in the game.  If you have to give rudimentarty, non-historic, or copied crew stations or controls,  for now,  then do that !    I  want functionality  first and foremost.  The detailed crew positions are nice and appreciated,  but  give us more vehicles that are already in game.   I know the allies already have scout cars  in AI,  make em available..  Jagdpanzer 4,   etc etc etc.   Detail them when you can !     I don't know about the rest of you,  but I would buy  add-on vehicles, like the JP4, scout cars,  quad 20 on a truck for sure, and more,  not even  dressed up inside just to play,  with the word that more detail is coming !     If someone knows how,  could you  please make a poll here,   and ask just that ?   would you buy add on vehicles not fully detailed ?