Multi-Crew - Take it further?

[Friar]

Salute,

Following on from the "success" of the event we did on Saturday, how do you guys feel about taking it a stage further and actually setting up crews for the tanks, perhaps even split off each tank into their own room on TeamSpeak with Commanders having a central whisper channel to communicate tactics and stuff?

The more I think about the idea, the more I would like to try it. I certainly think it would add to the experience.

There could be  swapping of positions at spawn points (if crews wanted to of course)

Your thoughts..........

 

[FoolTrottel]

Worth a try for sure!

(Indeed it needs separate TS channels... though for me it adds to the fun to hear what others are experiencing in game, whilst in action - gonna miss that! ... )

[Parts]

I really enjoy the team work aspect of Tank Crew. I suppose the clue is in the title (crew) I don't know if TS allows it but is it possible to have joint channels and then at the flick of a switch take yourself into a whisper mode? This might allow for the best of both worlds. I think the comms would ramp up in battle with 2 or 3 in a tank. There would potentially be a lot of chatter between the crew so 3 or four crews trying to manage a situation, I am sure would soon get loud and frustrating.

I would also vote for way more enemy to deal with. This might prove twofold - Plenty of hunting for all, and prevent the lone wolf as it would be much harder to survive on your own. 

I know I haven't been around long, so I choose my words carefully. It does not take long to notice that there are some that prefer to work in isolation. That is cool too, it is after all all about the fun factor otherwise why bother doing it! However if rolling off on your own inevitably meant death would you still do it?

Multi crew tanks - loads more enemy - and clever team speak all the way for me. 

Thank you again for another fun night Col 

[Painless]

Well up for multi crew Saturdays. It has the potential to be way more fun. No problem with single and multi crew tanks in the same mission either. Something for everyone. I would like to team up with the ex fire service crew (Sid, Parts and myself) to avoid being intellectually overwhelmed !? 🤣😂😉😘 🖕🏻
Separate crew TS channels but with whispers between all ?

[Friar]

Was thinking about this last night and my original idea of a whisper channel for commanders will not work as the channel will be empty and you can not whisper to an empty channel. So for this to work we will have to think of another comms set up.

We could all stay in the same channel but mute everyone except your own crew perhaps? Still need to think of a solution for tank to tank comms.

For it to work at the moment, we would have crews in their own room and then the commanders will need to set up a whisper that broadcasts to all other tanks, which may be not too complicated to set up.

[FoolTrottel]

Then set whisper to commanders individually. But the swapping roles is more complex, if we include swapping commander roles that is...

Or use it like we use in P38 campaign (Commanders whisper to channel)- but then communications between commanders must be very brief and to the point.

Hm....

[Painless]

We had a session this morning with two tanks each with two crew. Great fun swapping roles on respawn. Comms were busy even with only two tanks, separate channels will be a must. You have to constantly talk to each other as a crew. With a two man crew in a Panther or Tiger...... Driver picks the tank and spawns in, unlocks all “gunner” positions. Next crew slot is commander. Driver then drives looking through the gunsight in gunners position because the view is much better than through the visor. Commander gives directions, scans for threats and spots for the gunner/driver. 
Three man crew would be the same but with separate gunner. Only problem there would be the terrible field of vision from the drivers seat. You cannot drive from the drivers hatch open position.

[Sid]

Multicrew does take it further.....it is another dimension to the game, a good one.

Pooka, Swep, Painless and I, me hosting, went on the AAS map, the one that ends at the sea with the ship. We went German and ran with Panthers and Tigers, crewing them as a pair and went for driver, gunner and commander positions thinking that anyone could swap positions once in a tank. 

Quite soon we worked out that whoever chooses the tank from the spawn point is able to crew all positions except the one chosen by his partner so when operating as a pair in a German tank, whoever is going to drive also needs to fire the gun so they are the one that selects the tank from the spawn point. The partner doesn't choose a tank from the spawn point and instead chooses a position from their partner's tank by using the 'Become gunner' button on the map screen. However, they can only stay in that position, they can't move positions like the tank 'owner' can. This should be different in a T34 because the commander is also the gunner so should be able to swap from one to the other leaving the driver in that position although we didn't try it. Next test perhaps?

This meant that, for example, in the Panther and Tiger Painless drove and was also the gunner. I stayed as commander and, with my view positions ie out of the hatch, out of the hatch with binoculars or through the visor in the cupola, I was able to guide Painless. I could give him a heading using the compass in the bottom left as we both see the hull direction angle. This worked fine as he could drive from the gunner's position if he chose. When I drove I stayed in the driver's position using the visor zoomed in or out. Bit restrictive but not as bouncy as driving from the gunner's position. When engaging the enemy I swapped into the gunner position. At no time did I have to unlock the main gun when changing positions, it always remained unlocked.

As commander you are able to spot for the gunner HOWEVER don't get too focused on the spotting as tanks can approach you from all angles......a few times we had to go 'AHHHHH.....TURRET RIGHT RIGHT....LEFT LEFT' as we were likely to get taken out by something not nice very close.

As far as the comms went it got to the point where I was pretty oblivious to what Pook and Swep were saying to eachother in their tank although it is inevitable that we talked over eachother. I wasn't aware of individual tank chatter being a nuisance to the other one. There were only four of us though....I'm sure this wouldn't be the case if there were more.

I really enjoyed the session....we didn't progress far and there were many MANY enemy vehicles but it was fun, tense, frantic but mostly very enjoyable.

[Friar]

Thanks for the update Sid, adds to the knowledge base.

Would be interesting to have a 3 man crew in a battlefield scenario, then no swapping required and see how that goes...

[Parts]

Cant wait to give it a go 

[Friar]

So all being well this Saturday, I propose to have a final run of the Agility Test (I have replaced the lorries with Panzer III L and have also off set the bridges so that you can not use the opposite one as a guide.

After that I will re-run the "Town Siege" mission where we all start in open ground and make our way towards the town. I will also add some targets in the town as well this time. 

Anyone that wants to multi-crew can. We can also look at how to set up TeamSpeak with each tank in its own channel with just the Commanders talking to each other.

[Parts]

I enjoyed my Saturday night tanking thanks Col. I made a proper pigs ear in the slalom competition, royally smashing our tank to pieces by crashing into the revetment! Sorry gents! Our only saving Grace was that the final target wouldn’t pop. The field battle was good as a multi crew. I’m not taking anything away from AP Hill (no offence Tom) but it goes to show that running solo makes for easier pickings. More to come I hope. Thank you again Colin

[Painless]

Did another two man crew mission in a winter village this morning. It was very different from an open terrain battle where multi crew gives you no real advantage. Having two pairs of eyes trying to spot concealed enemy tanks amongst buildings was a big help but more importantly the driver can react quickly to an enemy tank turning its turret in our direction by driving the tank behind cover quickly once we had fired a shot at the target which did not knock it out first time. The driver needs to concentration on driving only, always keeping a rapid “take cover” manoeuvre in mind. When we got it right it worked really well.