New 'Hull Down' Command

[Josey Wales]

Happy New Year all,

has anyone got the hang of the new Hull Down command?

When I use it in conjunction with a target command, my understanding is that the vehicle should move in the direction of the movement line (red) until the gunners position can see over the hill crest to the targeted area, but the drivers position is to remain obscured by the hill itself (hull down).

When I try this, the vehicle stops prematurely before the gunners position is clear of the hill crest and so therefore does not have LOS to the targeted position. It seems I have to target below the area I want to see for the Hull Down command to work properly?

Note: I am giving the vehicle plenty of room to move forward ie the hull down waypoint is almost on the crest.

Anyone else encountered this or am I doing something wrong?

JW

 

[Dutch Grenadier]

I haven't used it much yet. Read the manual again and don't really inderstand how it works. Will need to be tested more in combat I think.

 

[Unknown]

Haven't upgraded to 4.0 yet - but I read that you are very concentrating on the gunner's position. Maybe the hull down position is now also calculated in respect /in view /
in relation to the tank commander's position. ?

 

[Josey Wales]

Well that would seem to explain what I am seeing but I would need to investigate further. If that is the case then this is a 'Turret Down' command.

A 'Hull Down' command should give the gunner LOS to the target point.

 

[Dutch Grenadier]

A 'Hull Down' command should give the gunner LOS to the target point.

Indeed. Hull down means that only the turret (not just the commander) is vissible. This to keep the remaining of the tank in cover.

 

[Rico]

Indeed. Hull down means that only the turret (not just the commander) is vissible. This to keep the remaining of the tank in cover.

I agree ... without the gun & gunner having LOS to target and being able to fire, "hull down" is pretty pointless.

 

[Nelson1812]

Wonder if it works better with a face command... or ark... so it more directional.

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Happy New Year all,

has anyone got the hang of the new Hull Down command?

When I use it in conjunction with a target command, my understanding is that the vehicle should move in the direction of the movement line (red) until the gunners position can see over the hill crest to the targeted area, but the drivers position is to remain obscured by the hill itself (hull down).

When I try this, the vehicle stops prematurely before the gunners position is clear of the hill crest and so therefore does not have LOS to the targeted position. It seems I have to target below the area I want to see for the Hull Down command to work properly?

Note: I am giving the vehicle plenty of room to move forward ie the hull down waypoint is almost on the crest.

Anyone else encountered this or am I doing something wrong?

Your description of how the command works is correct. Keep in mind though that it is taking a hull down position to the target area relative to a tank sized target being at that location. You will not always have LOS to the ground that that location but you should be able to hit a tank that shows up at that point.

 

[Josey Wales]

@A Canadian Cat

Ah ok thanks for the explanation.

 

[Gnarly]

I am quite liking this command thus far. Saves a lot of guesswork and rough eyeballing.

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Yeah same here. I have been doing it manually for so long I wondered if I would really use it but it is a lot faster.
One thing I just discovered is that it is disabled when you select multiple tanks. That was a drag because I have two platoons of Sherman tankss moving across a field and I wanted them to take up hull down positions behind the crest against the bocage on the opposite side. I had to set the move command for all 10 one at a time. Sigh. Still better than fiddling around with the end points of 10 move commands.

 

[Fredrocker]

Yea me too, I have been using it a lot in CMRT and CMBN... I need to upgrade to 4.0 in CMBS... I am hoping it helps with some of the deficiencies in the T-90s getting killed by the Abrams, maybe between that and some of the other updates to CMBS they might now have at least a 2 or 3 to 1 chance instead of 3-5 to 1...

I do say it works great with the T-34's against some of the Big Cats... now the 34-85 becomes super lethal... I use to manually do this but I would do the old FandF 'Fiddle and F..k Up' when trying to achieve Hull Down... lol

 

[A Canadian Cat]

I need to upgrade to 4.0 in CMBS... I am hoping it helps with some of the deficiencies in the T-90s getting killed by the Abrams, maybe between that and some of the other updates to CMBS they might now have at least a 2 or 3 to 1 chance instead of 3-5 to 1...

I don't now if there will be much difference there. If an M1 can hit a T90 it is nearly always toast. So, getting a better hull down position for the T90 might decrease the changes of a hit slightly. I am not sure you will even notice though because modern FCS are so good how often do they miss?

The fixes to the T90 that they made will help vs Bradley IFVs and other smaller tanks though.

 

[Fredrocker]

On

I don't now if there will be much difference there. If an M1 can hit a T90 it is nearly always toast. So, getting a better hull down position for the T90 might decrease the changes of a hit slightly. I am not sure you will even notice though because modern FCS are so good how often do they miss?

The fixes to the T90 that they made will help vs Bradley IFVs and other smaller tanks though.

one can dream, cant one...

 

[Gnarly]

Hull Down allowed me to easily achieve this with 4 tanks will LOF onto the Stug in the foreground. Suffice to say a lively exchange of main gun rounds ensued (my first real WW2 tank battle, yippee!!!)

 

[Meat Grinder]

Haven't read the new manual yet. So, the Hull Down is a move command, but it must be used in conjunction with a Target command at the end of the waypoint?

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Haven't read the new manual yet. So, the Hull Down is a move command, but it must be used in conjunction with a Target command at the end of the waypoint?

It has two ways of working but I wouldn't dream of doing anything other than using a target command with it.

One way is to set the movement command across the crest to where you want your tank to be hull down to. The tank is then supposed to move until is finds a location where it is hull down relative to the end point. However if it does not find a hull down position it will continue until it reaches the end point.

I think this is a bad idea because by definition if for some reason it never finds a good position your tank will drive to where you expect the enemy to be located. That is not likely to end well for you. All it would take is small bug (none known) or a mistake your your part (the rise is not actually big enough and your tank is already in a partial hull down position) and things will go sideways.

The other way is to set the movement point slightly farther than you expect the tank will need to go and then set a target from the end point to the area where your tank wants to be hull down to.

What I usually do is set this up so I am getting "partial hull down" messages for my target line. That way worse case my tank will be in a pretty good spot.

 

[rocketman]

It has two ways of working but I wouldn't dream of doing anything other than using a target command with it.

One way is to set the movement command across the crest to where you want your tank to be hull down to. The tank is then supposed to move until is finds a location where it is hull down relative to the end point. However if it does not find a hull down position it will continue until it reaches the end point.

I think this is a bad idea because by definition if for some reason it never finds a good position your tank will drive to where you expect the enemy to be located. That is not likely to end well for you. All it would take is small bug (none known) or a mistake your your part (the rise is not actually big enough and your tank is already in a partial hull down position) and things will go sideways.

The other way is to set the movement point slightly farther than you expect the tank will need to go and then set a target from the end point to the area where your tank wants to be hull down to.

What I usually do is set this up so I am getting "partial hull down" messages for my target line. That way worse case my tank will be in a pretty good spot.

I have yet to try the hull down command with a target command at the end. Reason for this is that if my tanks only have tentative spotting icons to target at, what assures that the target command aims at the right spot? The target might have moved slightly or the spotting inaccurate. Hull down without target command seems to work quite well but less so with a gentle gradual slope which in my experience so far causes the tank to stop too soon.

 

[A Canadian Cat]

...Reason for this is that if my tanks only have tentative spotting icons to target at, what assures that the target command aims at the right spot? The target might have moved slightly or the spotting inaccurate.

I am usually not targeting actual units or ? contacts but rather trying to setup to be ready for when the enemy arrives. As such I am just looking at being hull down to an area.

Hull down without target command seems to work quite well but less so with a gentle gradual slope which in my experience so far causes the tank to stop too soon.

Well if it works keep doing it.

 

[Buckykatt]

For what it's worth, I still use the old move, check target, move, check target again til I get hull down, then hit the appropriate move command.