Pure Pwnage

[panzerknacker]

I usually hate pure tank maps. But I downloaded the followup to shiessbunker. Played it for an hour. getting used to silouhettes at various ranges, but most importantly I used the sight range finder for the first time. Til now I used SWAG for my shooting and just aimed where I felt like it. I had about a 60% hit rate. But now with the range finder and my skill at judging distance. I am getting first shot hits almost 98% of the time. the 6 misses sinces I started this with the rangefinders can be attributed to moving targets> 500 yards 2, pure miss on wrong range guess 1, and RO not drawing the hill on a hull down 700 meter shot 2. but the enemy always misses their 1st return shot and usually their 2nd. getting 800 yard one shot kills rocks.

 

[Michael_Wittmann452]

Range

Range

Most people don't use the range on tanks, but it's really helpful. Congrats on your discovery!

 

[BuddyLee]

For those long range shots aim, pop out of the turret to fire, then scroll up and view with binoculars. You can fine tune your fire at long range this way.

 

[Mormegil]

Ultimate is a long range "deflection" shot on a traversing target with a one hit kill.

I just want to call it a day then, and end on a high note.

 

[dogbadger]

Most people don't use the range on tanks, but it's really helpful. Congrats on your discovery!

is this true- most ppl usually just use their own range compensation?
There's nothing wrong with that mind, but i always used the range trim, basically cos it's there. I'm suprised if people, threadstarter inc., have overlooked it for so long.

 

[M.R.Maiornikov]

can someone please explain how do you use this finder you speak of? I am very curious to learn to use it.

 

[dogbadger]

Well 1st. you have to guess the distance to your target for yourself - there is nothing that will automatically do this for you accurately.
Rather than aiming above a target thats a long way off, you can aim directly for it and use the trim (?) for the gun- default 'q' and 'e' will adjust sights on tank- you will see the markings change. Just match the adjustment as close to your estimated distance, and aim direct at target.

What the fella a couple of posts up was saying was line up a shot (doesn't have to be a 'live' target), fire while standing out of hatch and immediately get your binoculas out to see where the shot lands, so you can adjust accordingly, and get a feel for distance.

After a while you get use to distances much like a golfer does. If you expect to engage enemies at a certain point you can set your sights accordingly in advance. When i play orel for example, i normally leave them at 400m anyway, then adjust if needed.

I'm more a driver than gunner, but i find it somewhat helpful when I gun, though like i said above i tend to use it cos Its a realistic feature that's there to be used.
Others may well adjust themselves by aiming above, and i see how that could be quicker- you just shoot where you instinct says. Also you wont fall into the trap I have when suprised by a close target, and blasted my first shot way over it cos i'm set for long distance.

I hope thats what you meant and is helpfull- i'm not trying to teach you to suck eggs here. (tell you something you already knew)

 

[Oldih]

Reason why I don't use that range finder\whatever it is called is that it doesn't work for me.

T-34\76 is the only tank where it works as it is supposed to. In any other tanks it just doesn't have any effect, no matter how much you adjust.

 

[Shadrach]

LOL, and I thought this thread would be about the new series of Pure Pwnage that just started;
http://www.purepwnage.com/

Not tanker nerds discussing range finders
(I keed, I keed)

-S

 

[Moleman]

Seeing as there's a bunch of tankers in this thread can I throw in a couple of questions:

1. I hear people say you need to angle the tank to make the most of the armour sloping/thickness. When I'm driving I've been trying to stop the tank so it's kind of diagonal to the enemy tank (half-way between presenting the front and the side). Is that right?

2. Is the bullet drop on the MG close to the shell drop from the main gun? I'm sure I remember reading first-hand accounts from WW2 where gunners used tracers from the co-ax MG as a rough range finder. So in RO as the gunner can you point the main gun at a target, fire a short burst from the co-ax, then if that burst seems to hit the target fire the main gun and be in with a good chance of a hit? Or would it be way off?

@dogbadger - I never knew you could do that, thanks for the info.

 

[Warlord]

Always used the range setter myself. Sometimes for those really long shots I'll set it to an extra 100m and adjust a bit lower so that the sights don't obscure the tiny tank in my sights.

 

[Karabiner98k]

Reason why I don't use that range finder\whatever it is called is that it doesn't work for me.

T-34\76 is the only tank where it works as it is supposed to. In any other tanks it just doesn't have any effect, no matter how much you adjust.

It does have effect, but the t-34/76 has a different sort of sight (unlinked) where you can see the crosshairs changing and you have to adjust your aim. In most other tanks (IS2 for example) there is a linked gunsight. You won't see any change in the gunsight, but you will only have to aim straight for the enemy if the range is set right. IRL the linked gunsight changed the main gun elevation on its own, and it does this in RO but for some reason there is no animation, view or sound to show that it has, thus you thinking it [the range setting] has no effect on linked gunsights.
In short, it does.

 

[panzerknacker]

What sucks now though is making 5 hits with a tiger on a moving IS2 from 800-500 yards watching the rounds bounce off him as his 3 return shots miss with various degrees of hilarity i.e not making it half way to me or hitting the ceiling. And his 4 wild shot 1 hit kills you. Then respawning from oppsitze spawn on arad and getting in a perfect 700meter shot on his flank, only to have some pesky little panzer iv's shot from 300 beat yours and explode him.

 

[[3.SA]Shchekurov]

Damn, 'knacker.
And here I was thinking you were a serious tanker after all that gospel about range settings!
Arad?

C'mon. You know no self-respecting tanker plays that map (unless in tournament, of course)!
[just kidding ,fella]

The range settings are da Bomb. One of the first things I do after getting in the cupola is switching them to 200 or 400m, depending on the tank or map.

[[Sshh. Don't tell anyone. I love watching my opponent's round kick up a cloud of dirt in front of my tank as I zero for the kill!]]

 

[noshens]

Rangefinder is the only way to fight tanks at a range that a few meters further, the tank would disappear. Which in this game is what, 1000-1200m? Their usefulness also comes when you hop from one tank to another with different shell trajectories- as long as you get the distance right, you don't have to worry about that.

 

[Oldih]

RL the linked gunsight changed the main gun elevation on its own, and it does this in RO but for some reason there is no animation, view or sound to show that it has, thus you thinking it [the range setting] has no effect on linked gunsights.
In short, it does.

I find it easier just to guess the distance and shoot rather than play around with the rangefinder.

 

[dogbadger]

Seeing as there's a bunch of tankers in this thread can I throw in a couple of questions:

1. I hear people say you need to angle the tank to make the most of the armour sloping/thickness. When I'm driving I've been trying to stop the tank so it's kind of diagonal to the enemy tank (half-way between presenting the front and the side). Is that right?

2. Is the bullet drop on the MG close to the shell drop from the main gun? I'm sure I remember reading first-hand accounts from WW2 where gunners used tracers from the co-ax MG as a rough range finder. So in RO as the gunner can you point the main gun at a target, fire a short burst from the co-ax, then if that burst seems to hit the target fire the main gun and be in with a good chance of a hit? Or would it be way off?

Your right about the importance of angling tanks. It makes a big difference in Ro, as some have pointed out (and I wouldn't argue) more so than real life. This is probably the case with it's ability to deflect the more powerful later guns, at least.

If you want to throw a golf ball through a thick glass window you are much better off trying to hit it straight on (90deg perpendicular) than at an angle, say 45deg, as all of the forward motion will be applied as a force onto the glass.
So applying the same to tanks, if a tank had equal armour on it's front and side, you would want to show 45deg of each face to an incoming projectile(with 0deg being straight on, 90deg side on)

The generally accepted aproximation of this seems to be that if your gun is sitting at either 10:30 or 1:30 from the front of hull, and pointing at the direction of the threat (showing right or left sides respectivly) you have got the 45deg angle right.

However, as the case is that most tanks have a great thickness of frontal armour, I tend to think that perhaps you don't want to show quite as much of the side.
I also believe best angle can differ from tank to tank though, based on the game's tank armour values, my own observations, and a preconception of how it 'should' behave in real life. I have limited knowledge of the true ingame calculations mind, so it's only opinion that may not be totaly correct.

Taking the Tiger and Panther as examples, the game stats give the tiger armour values of 6 for front and 4 for side, but states panther armour at 10 front and 3 side. You can see that while obviously both have more armour at the front, its less of a relative drop in side protection for the tiger, which infact has better armoured sides than the panther despite being inferior frontaly.
So I angle the Tiger slightly more - approaching the 45deg angle as opposed to the Panther, that is better off more straight. In fact facing guns weaker than the IS2 and '85 ,especially at range, you may often want the panther facing almost straight, as the opponant will need to manouver further to get a shot at either of your weaker sides.

Clearly the Panther already does a good job deflecting shots with it's naturally sloped front armour (reflected by the 10 score) but the square box Tiger (with a value of 6 despite armour thickness) needs the driver to actually create the slope for it.
It doesn't like being hit face on-just ask the guy driving it out of the konigsplatz spawn late in the game.

However this is so far only dealing armour penetration which does not necessarily knock a tank out straight away. As the datasheets show you tanks have critical hit areas in the form of the ammo storage and engine, a penetration that hits here knocks out the tank.
Thats another matter but does explain why a frontal penetration can be so deadly - the shell's got practically nowhere to go but the ammo.
The tank stat sheets I mention are in the downloads/art section, if you haven't got them already.

I have also heard that in some early tanks tracer rounds were used in a co-ax mg, that were ballistically similar to the main gun, allowing easier sighting.
I've never tried this, and indeed dont use the co-ax at long ranges, but the bullet drop seems more pronounced than the main gun.
If you look at the range trim dial on sights, the settings are different for the main gun and MG. (although i only use it for main gun and haven't really taken the extra calibrations on board- I really should check them all out).
I was however informed that the bullet drop was actually approx double that of the main gun on the T34. If thats true, for example, where a shell hits a wall with +400 trim , you would need +800 trim to land MG fire on it's scorch marks. So I guess if you allowed for the difference, yes you could use it as a guide. However the Mg fire in game is subject to bullet spread that is realy noticable at long range.
But I am saying this without really checking it out myself- best bet is to play a practice game of orel or morgmeil's tank range map, and make observations yourself.

Don't take all my post as gospel, but I hope it helps you to some extent, and again, sorry if I'm lecturing on stuff you already know.

 

[Colt .45 killer]

mg sighting works well in the t34 76 up to abou 800m, no other tank works all to well.

 

[cooperr]

I never use the range selector actually.. It's not that I miss much but I just hate tanks..