Originally posted by tofri:
Good idea, funked!
One more that can be changed.
Panzer and Ostwind were tracked vehicles.
They should be able to turn on the point without a forward momentum.
This could be helpful to turn the best armoured side towards the attacker without switching to the driver position.
Actually, the Mark IV panzer chassis can't turn on a point (well, easily)
The brake can engaged (but not locked on anything other then slick surface) for either track, allowing the tank to piviot around. It still has to move foward to do so, and cannot lock the brake from a standing start.
The Mark IV, as most other WWII tanks, doesn't have the engine power to lock a track from a standing start due to the very large force this puts on the drive train (really not an issue for AH but this lead to shorter drive train life) and the engine power needed to drag the tank along on the locked track. In reality, they sort of "rolled" in small radius circle, with the track to the inside of the circle braked tightly, but still allowed to roll some to ease the strain on drive components. IE what you see in AH.
A track CAN be locked while moving already moving for a very tight, sudden turn, but this runs a small risk of throwing the outter track.
This is one respect where the M4A3 got the "mobility/manuverability" advantage over pre-Pz V chassis tanks...it could lock either track to turn almost in place, and the track gear stayed inplace during fairly well.
Now, the Pz V, Pz VI, and VI-B, and all chassis based on those (plus a few other designs) had special drive trains that allowed for track reverse, allowing them to actually turn in place, like a modern tank or bulldozer.
[This message has been edited by Jigster (edited 04-18-2001).]
