Here's some tips for those startin' out. Feel free to comment it up. Please note that I'm not making a statement on the histerical accurazy of ground vehicles, I'm just pointing out their effective use in AH. The "Dweeb tips" are really suggestions for bug fixes.
Lesson one:
Hit ctrl-c when you come into AH. This turns off ground clutter, i.e., the randomly generated sheep, trees, and junk that obscures your vision.
Select your tank, and where you want to go. Please note the difference between Airfields (henceforth Afields) and Vehicle fields (Vfields).
AH's current terrain has 64 "Fields": 1-37 are Afields, 38-61 are Vfields, and 62-64, presumably, are the headquarters (you can't move to them).
For vehicles, Airfields have a single starting place, the Vehicle Hangar (Vhangar). Vfields have several: the hangar, and remote spawning locations near the neighboring fields.
In other words, you'll be taking up a vehicle from an Afield largely for defense, and your armored assaults will normally be leaving from remote spawn locations attached to Vfields.
Loadout:
Panzers in AH currently carry two types of Ammunition: HE (High Explosive) and AP (Armor Piercing). HE are what you want to blow up ground objects -- in AH each HE shell explodes with the same force as a 150 lb. bomb. AP are what you need against tanks (Well, HE will work, but you have to spend plenty more rounds, which usually don't have time to do). AP also has superior ballistic characteristics, which makes it more entertaining to use against halftracks and (gasp) aircraft.
So, pick your loadout according to the mission: if you're defending a base or just screwing around in tank wars, go all AP (or 75/25 AP/HE for the rapid fire AA dweebiness, see below). If you're attacking, go 25/75 AP/HE, unless there's virtually no chance of running into enemy armor (Such as when you're attacking a city), when you can go all HE. If there's a good chance you'll run into enemies, bring 50/50: you can always use excess AP shells for ranging.
dweeb tip #1: fuel consumption on vehicles is not yet modelled, so take as little fuel as possible.
For the M16, set the convergence at 650.
Lesson two: Getting where you want to go
Ok, so click on the proper spawn point in the fly box. If you're spawning near an enemy base, you might want to exit a few times and try spawn points from neighboring vfields. For example, say your country has v39 and v38, and you want to attack v3. If you click around, you'll note that v39's spawn point is farther away, and on the side of a slope; you'll get there much faster from v38.
Press E to start the engine, put the stick forward, and q to shift into first.
dweeb tip #2: you don't need the engine on to move in reverse. If you're starting at the hangar, and need to move out fast, put it in reverse and back into a turn while you start the engine.
Anyway, use q and w to shift through the gears to speed. Holding the joystick forward will accelerate; if you center it, the simulation will more or less try to hold that speed. Moving the joystick back will brake. Once you're at speed (24 mph for panzer, 47 for M16), the best thing to do is go to gunner position (2 key) and steer with the rudder. That way, it will automatically accelerate after your turns.
Please note that very few of the surfaces in the current AH terrain are flat. Over time, vehicles will tend to "drift" to one side or the other, especially if the angle is steep.
Remember too that you'll have to downshift to go up hills. When you hit a slope, keep downshifting until the engine stabilizes in the 2500-3000 rpm range.
It's my experience that you'll go faster up and down hills if you attack the slope directly (laterally stable) than if you try to zig-zag up the side. Generally, you have to make a compromise between the direction of the slope and your direction of travel. Of course, someone can correct me concerning the proper use of switchbacks.
dweeb tip #3 The AH vehicles never throw their tracks, and have no top speed. When going downhill, either accelerate in top gear, or put the vehicle in neutral and shoot down the hill. The latter method may be faster, but requires you to come to a full stop before continuing. Before hitting the bottom, it's a good idea to brake to at least 70 mph, as speeds above that have been known to send the vehicle flying. Also turn with extreme care at high speeds
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dweeb tip #4: To brake in a hurry, shift into first gear and pull back on the stick. Since you cannot damage your transmission or engine, you can stop on a dime this way.
dweeb tip #5: F3 for external view, F8 for pan. Pan up from behind the vehicle. Now you can see over ridges.
Lesson Three: Combat.
Firing in general:
The hash marks on your turret sight indicate range in thousands of yards. Note that this image is fixed to your tank, so if you have any lateral bank at all, the shell is going to drop to one side or the other. Therefore, it's a good idea to pick shooting locations where the tank is laterally level. Of course, you take what you can get.
The idea of ranging is simple: You shoot at the range you think the target is at. You then guess how far off horizontally and vertically you were, double that figure and fire again. Ideally, you should have bracketed the target, and now you can halve those figures until you zero in on the mark.
The turret traverse speed is tied to the zoom angle -- so if you're zoomed all the way in, you can make precision adjustments. If you want to swing the turret around, do so in zoomed out mode. To actually hit a target, go to gunner, turn on zoom, hit f8 to pan, zoom in, and pan down so that you're looking at the hashmarks that indicate the desired range.
Unless you're firing at relatively close ranges (within 1000 yards in this game), always fire from the stopped position. You have no reason to be moving against fixed objects. In a vehicle-to-vehicle setting, if one tank is moving and the other parked, both gunners have to deal with tracking the other guy, but the parked guy's turret ain't bouncin' up and down. The only exception I'd make would be if someone's dropping bombs on you.
Tank-to-Tank
dweeb tip #6: Outside icon range:
The best way to engage an enemy tank is outside icon range. Since AH is primarily a flight simulator, fire from A/C and vehicles is only visible from within 3.2k. This is also currently the icon range for ground vehicles. What this means is that, beyond this range, you can see your rounds, but your victim cannot. Ideally, you'd pull up to a hull-down position (that is, behind a ridge or other obstruction such that only the turret is visible), zoom in, find your target, and start raining shells on them. The other guy won't see you -- perhaps a concentrated scan of the horizon will reveal your turret, but I doubt it -- and therefore won't be able to fire back.
Inside icon range:
The hash marks on your turret gunsight indicate thousands of yards. Take the distance reading, translate it into the proper hashmark and fire.
If the target is moving towards or away from you, try to fire ahead of its current position
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If the target is moving laterally, zoom in on it, and try to match the target's lateral motion with the turret traverse speed. Then adjust the lead angle according to where your shots land.
Don't worry about turret-down and hull-down positions, as the enormous billboard icon above your head will give ranging information to your enemy staring at the ridge. In addition, that ridge will block more of your view, which means that hidden and turret-down you probly won't see the guy shooting at you (unless perhaps you use dweeb tip #5), and he'll have you dialed in when you pull up for the shot.
tank-to-m16
Let him get close and then whack him
m16-to-tank
approach at an angle to the tank, get very close, and, using the rudder to turn, orbit the tank while hosing it down with all your .50s. If the tank's occupied elsewhere, you might get a kill.
m16-to-m16: now that'd be fun.
tank-vs-object
Again, each HE shell does damage equivalent to a 150-lb bomb. The standard damage necessary to bring down most structures is 200lbs. So two rounds will kill everything but the Hangars and the HQ. Acks, of course, only need one round.
Ranging:
If you've gotten to the target, and have excess AP shells, you can use them as spot rounds to determine the range. Establish your bracket with the AP shells, calculate the approximate range according to the hashmarks on the gunsight, then switch to HE for precision targeting.
Anti-ack:
AP shells will also work on acks, but you have to score direct hits. HEs have a nice area effect, so I recommend the latter.
dweeb tip #7 Current ack range is around 2000 yards. Pull into it, back just outside (unless you like that pinging noise), and bracket between 2000 and 1500 yards.
To get acks, you need to move in fairly close in order to see where the shells land. This means that the acks will usually be firing (even if you're sufficiently out of range not to get hurt). Acks firing at some object on the horizon is a dead giveaway to anyone at the base of your position, so be sure to keep yer eyes pealed.
Anti-hangar:
Hangars are big, and you can hit them from further out. If you hit them from say 5000 yards, the field acks won't be firing, and your shells will not be visible to traffic at the base. Then, all of a sudden, -wham- the hangar goes. It takes 20 rounds to destroy a hangar. The panzer fires a round every five (or six) seconds, so it takes two minutes of sustained fire to level a hangar. When you figure in ranging, a single panzer can disable two hangars in 6-7 minutes. So, if you're going for acks and hangars, get the acks first, bring a friend, and coordinate with a bus driver.
m16-vs-aircraft
Keep moving. Open fire early. don't worry about wasting ammo.
Some pilots have learned that if they open up with the 20mm from 1,400 yards, they can destroy the HT before getting into effective range of the .50 cals. You have been warned.
Tank-vs-aircraft
This is the acme of the dweeb's art. Here are some pointers:
As I said above, move as long as your enemy has bombs. When a level bomber lines up on you, turn sideways to ruin his run.
When that's done, stop.
I prefer AP rounds for AA use, as they drop less.
Don't forget the MG in the turret. Currently , you can only turn it on (hose style); you have to go to driver to turn it off. This is actually a fairly good arrangement: you put the stream of bullets on the enemy while you set up for the shot.
At close range, fire the main gun.
dweeb tip #8: Your turret actually has two separate main guns: one for HE, one for AP. Switch between ammo types to get an extra shot in on those pesky aircraft.
If the attacking plane is smart, and chooses a high attack angle, you might as well set up on his vector away from you -- normally they fly nice and low and level.
dweeb tip #9: To instantly traverse the turret back to its forward position, go to driver and back to gunner.
Hope this helps you play the tank dweeb game.
Flame away.
[This message has been edited by Dinger (edited 05-03-2000).]
