wow im impressed

[DeadStikBill]

Well i just fired up tank crew for the first time. 

I spent a bit setting up my old hotas since I cant wait till Tuesday for my new one, 

I'm not sure how you guys map your bindings but i mapped my rudder pedals as steering, I tried to use the break axis on the pedal for throttle but as soon as I release them it goes full reverse. so I mapped the throttle to my honeycomb bravo throttle, I setup the joystick to the turret and a few other controls and I have to say this is pretty damn nice.

I use some pretty expensive sims at work and this is pretty real feeling. I don't know what these old tanks were like for real but compare it to now and take away some of the new fancy technology I'm used to and i think this nailed it.

this joystick I have is definitely pretty old and not very fine anymore so i cant wait for the new one. I am interested to see how you all mapped your setups ? also if someone has setup their for throttle i would love to know how.

 

[Friar]

Salute @DeadStikBill,

I am probably (self appointed) Head Tank "Honcho" seeing as how I do the majority of the hosting and generate all of the missions and have loved the tanks from day 1.

I use a Saitek X52 with the twist feature enabled. I twist left and right to turn the turret and forwards and backwards to raise and lower the gun.

I also use the rudder peddles for steering.

The power is also on the throttle. Half way is power off, any thing forward of the middle point is forward and anything negative of the middle point is reverse.

If you do start mapping just be aware that some of the keys double map to your flight settings. For example open hatch is the same command as open canopy. If you change one you will change the other. Main gun is also weapon 1 for the planes etc

We have a tank server that should be running 24/7 which has a very good gunnery range (I would say that, I built it). You will need to have "Mods Enabled" in the game, even if you do not have any at the moment, it needs to be on see the server.

It called DangerDogz Tank Crew Map. When you get the mission briefing screen, zoom in to the map and you will see a number of start points.

There is Battlefield, this gives you a starting position either Allied or Axis either end of an open plane. AI tanks will start moving towards you.

Town Skirmish. This is in the town and is designed for player v player, but if you go Allied and kill the German truck that is by your spawn point the map with randomly generate up to 3 pairs of Tiger tanks and hide them around the town. You then have to go find them and kill them before they kill you, and they will kill you if they see you first.

The most popular option in the Tank Range, located to the south of the skirmish town. Here you can pick any tank you own, allied or axis. You spawn in, start your engine and move into one of the revetments and start blasting away. The first couple of rows of targets re-spawn once they are killed. You will have multiple targets up various ranges up to 3,000m away. Some are moving as well. The map also auto re-starts every hour or so.

I was going to play some Assetto Corsa Competizone (GT3 Racing Simm) tonight but if you wanted to join me on Teamspeak I would be happy to talk you through the main settings.

I will be on Teamspeak from about 20:00 UK time and will probably be on till about 23:30.

Anyone else want to join me for a cheeky Friday night tank session (seeing as how I may not make tomorrow)?

[Sid]

Glad you like it, it's always good to get positivity from someone in the know....

Bit messy but that's a piccie of my X52 and quadrant setup. Like Friar, I also use rudder pedals for steering and throttle for forward/reverse.

A lot of the key mappings, especially those on the quadrant, probably don't get used very much. I did the setup as an exercise to include as many of the available mappings as possible. 

As Friar says, some of the mappings are double mapped with aircraft mappings but it doesn't make any difference to either because they aren't being used at the same time. The key mappings written mext to the action are there to remind me of either the default setting or one I have changed it to.

Cheerzen

Sid

[DeadStikBill]

Thanks fellas,

@Friar sorry just seen your message this morning here.

Some things I noticed that they represent pretty accuratly.

Tank rock when you start and stop how it tilts forward and backwards. This is diffrent on every tank but it's a real thing and they simulate it pretty well.

Now days we have stabilization on our guns so when going cross country the guns stays on target. We can turn it on and off, it's always on for us as it makes no sense fighting this yourself. They didn't have that on these old tanks and driving and watching the targets it's pretty damn accurate to real life.

The acceleration is allot slower but I imagine it was back then. Feeling the gear shift and looking through the sights it's pretty accurate to real life. 

The only thing I seen that really is off and most including the million dollar ones I've used at work is track skipping. If a driver. Doesn't give enough throttle turning especially on high traction surface you will skip the drive sprocket and it causes allot of jitter in the tank. Aswell as very high chance of throwing the track off. This is where a good driver knows how to listen to engine and ensure he gives right amount of torque to negate this issue. 

 

I just took whatever map it gave me and chose a practice mission. I took a couple positions as you would in a real tank. And it was actually probably the best terrain mesh I have really seen in a tank game. Instead of hiding behind rocks or really unnaturale landscape that was just thrown down. The landscape was "rolling" and natural. I can take positions heads up, sights up, turret up and use the ground as protection instead of my armour. The AI were trying to hammer me and all's they were doing was hit dirt infront of me. Pretty awesome and realistic. 

These tanks are old and painfully slow in reverse so jockying positions was painfully slow, which today is hang onto your helmet cuz it's full speed reverse. So taking new position as you would in modern times is much slower. (Teaching point if you didn't know when you jocky you are reversing off your position outside the enemy's view and piping up somewhere else on the crest of the hill but far enought that you would be outside their reticle from where you last were. So that you force the gunner to have to change the gun lay majorly giving you more time to engage)

 

[Friar]

@DeadStikBillNo worries - I only just posted it!. 

As for being on line I will on today Friday 03/12 from 20:00 UK time and also on Saturday 04/12 from 20:00 UK time.

If you are at a loose end.... we can make some stuff go Boom!

 

Its pretty cool getting your take on how these tanks compare to the real thing, I am sure we ARE going to learn from you as well...

[DeadStikBill]

23 minutes ago, Friar said:

@DeadStikBillNo worries - I only just posted it!. 

As for being on line I will on today Friday 03/12 from 20:00 UK time and also on Saturday 04/12 from 20:00 UK time.

If you are at a loose end.... we can make some stuff go Boom!

 

Its pretty cool getting your take on how these tanks compare to the real thing, I am sure we ARE going to learn from you as well...

Unfortunately my video game skills aren't on par with my real life skills LMAO 🤣 also I tend to be alot more braison in a simulator lol

Its still gonna take me a bit to get comfortable with the sim. If you ever have questions on tactics or anything fire away. Do you guys roll out as a team ? Is there a few guys that play together on here ? Do you guys lone wolf or work as a troop ? Do you guys coop or play PvP ?

 

I'm just wondering more so how you guys operate here. 

 

[Crash]

Join in on Saturdays to see Multicrew and teamworking skills are getting better.

[Painless]

 

1 hour ago, DeadStikBill said:Thanks fellas,

@Friar sorry just seen your message this morning here.

Some things I noticed that they represent pretty accuratly.

Tank rock when you start and stop how it tilts forward and backwards. This is diffrent on every tank but it's a real thing and they simulate it pretty well.

Now days we have stabilization on our guns so when going cross country the guns stays on target. We can turn it on and off, it's always on for us as it makes no sense fighting this yourself. They didn't have that on these old tanks and driving and watching the targets it's pretty damn accurate to real life.

The acceleration is allot slower but I imagine it was back then. Feeling the gear shift and looking through the sights it's pretty accurate to real life. 

The only thing I seen that really is off and most including the million dollar ones I've used at work is track skipping. If a driver. Doesn't give enough throttle turning especially on high traction surface you will skip the drive sprocket and it causes allot of jitter in the tank. Aswell as very high chance of throwing the track off. This is where a good driver knows how to listen to engine and ensure he gives right amount of torque to negate this issue. 

 

I just took whatever map it gave me and chose a practice mission. I took a couple positions as you would in a real tank. And it was actually probably the best terrain mesh I have really seen in a tank game. Instead of hiding behind rocks or really unnaturale landscape that was just thrown down. The landscape was "rolling" and natural. I can take positions heads up, sights up, turret up and use the ground as protection instead of my armour. The AI were trying to hammer me and all's they were doing was hit dirt infront of me. Pretty awesome and realistic. 

These tanks are old and painfully slow in reverse so jockying positions was painfully slow, which today is hang onto your helmet cuz it's full speed reverse. So taking new position as you would in modern times is much slower. (Teaching point if you didn't know when you jocky you are reversing off your position outside the enemy's view and piping up somewhere else on the crest of the hill but far enought that you would be outside their reticle from where you last were. So that you force the gunner to have to change the gun lay majorly giving you more time to engage)

 

I think we have our new tactical instructor ! 👍🏻

[Friar]

On recent Fridays myself and Fool Trottel used to go onto the public servers but then lock down finished and he went back to the pub on a Friday night.

On Saturdays we tend to play as a group against AI either on a scenario I have built or using a generated mission.

Myself and FT tend to multi-crew (me driving/commanding in Axis tanks and FT gunning. In T34 I drive and he guns / commands)

Painless, Sid and Parts tend to share the same tank with each taking the role of driver, gunner and commander.

Multi crewing is good fun, for some reason getting blown up with a mate seems more fun!

[Friar]

It is always better to learn on the job "dont just sit there...get one up!"

The sessions on a Saturday always start with us just messing about for 45 minutes or so either on the range on in the skirmish town, then at about 20:30 we will start the event, which are usually a dog fight so it means if we get killed we can re-spawn or people can join later on in the evening if they want.

[DeadStikBill]

32 minutes ago, Painless said:

 

I think we have our new tactical instructor ! 👍🏻

Haha I'm actually currently employed at the armoured school teaching new officer recruits on becoming tank troop commanders. 

[Friar]

Perhaps we need to have a session on tactics so I can program the AI to do things that a tank commander would do rather than just heading straight for the players position!

I think we are going to get along very well....

 

[DeadStikBill]

I can definitely answer questions, anytime you need. I'm more than happy to help you guys out with anything I might bring to the table. 

As for programing I'm still learning how to make my tank move and getting used to the buttonology lol 🤣🤙 so as for the simulators limitations on program you will need to tell me what can and can't be done when that times comes. 

 

Do you guys use discord at all ? I found it works well for verbal and text communication but more so screen sharing if your trying to show someone something ? 

[FoolTrottel]

3 hours ago, DeadStikBill said:

(...) Do you guys roll out as a team ? Is there a few guys that play together on here ? Do you guys lone wolf or work as a troop ? Do you guys coop or play PvP ?(...)

 

Yes.

[FoolTrottel]

2 hours ago, Friar said:

On recent Fridays myself and Fool Trottel used to go onto the public servers but then lock down finished and he went back to the pub on a Friday night.

(...)

Pub closed down again so... yeah!

[Friar]

We have Discord capability, but are stuck in our ways with TeamSpeak

I take it you have been given the details?

[DeadStikBill]

3 minutes ago, Friar said:

We have Discord capability, but are stuck in our ways with TeamSpeak

I take it you have been given the details?

I think i might have seen them mentioned at some point however I was at work, I was hoping there was a discord aswell. I haven't used TeamSpeak in a very long time nor do i have it installed. I personally enjoy how easy it is to keep in communication outside of the pc with discord.  I don't even know if i remember how to teamspeak its been so long lol

[Friar]

We are aware of how discord can be both a communication channel and message thread however we have years of posting in these forums and it would take quite a lot to move us aay from it.

Teamspeak also has the advantage of being able to whisper to different channels which I believe discord does not have.

Download it, its free, I will the log in details again in a PM

[DeadStikBill]

2 minutes ago, Friar said:

We are aware of how discord can be both a communication channel and message thread however we have years of posting in these forums and it would take quite a lot to move us aay from it.

Teamspeak also has the advantage of being able to whisper to different channels which I believe discord does not have.

Download it, its free, I will the log in details again in a PM

Ya no worries wasn't trying to change the world was just saying what I liked. No big deal

[Painless]

1 hour ago, FoolTrottel said:

Yes.

That is funny Arjen ! Yes to all of the above depending on the mood , if I may expand upon your answer 🤣😂😂😂