New 'Hull Down' Command

[Gnarly]

I'll concur with and reinforce the two important aspects of @A Canadian Cat 's application of Hull Down:

1/. My Hull Down move point will still stop short of the crest, so even if things go wrong, the tank will still be partially hull-down at movement end.

2/. I always place the associated target command on a area, not an enemy target. The enemy may vanish, my tank may not spot him quick enough, etc, all which may lead to a failure of the hull down algorithm. But a physical area of the earth ain't gonna change...

 

[Meat Grinder]

@Gnarly By "area", do you mean you can give the Hull Down target an "area target" command, like arty?

Edit: I'm guessing no......

 

[Gnarly]

@Gnarly By "area", do you mean you can give the Hull Down target an "area target" command, like arty?

Exactly. I'm giving the tank an area fire command from the Hull Down end movement point.

 

[rocketman]

But won't an area fire command cause "area fire" once in hull down, making the tank vulnerable to attacks because it is committed to area fire for the entire turn? Or is the target command deleted once hull down for that target view is achieved?

 

[Josey Wales]

@rocketman The tank won't actually fire on the area, its simply a reference point for the Hull Down command so 'Yes' to the second part of your question.

 

[A Canadian Cat]

I read somewhere that target briefly will be honored. I have not tested that yet.

 

[MOS:96B2P]

@Gnarly By "area", do you mean you can give the Hull Down target an "area target" command, like arty? <Snip>


When using the Hull Down command to stalk an OpFor tank I attach a Target Briefly from the Hull Down waypoint to an action spot. This Target Briefly action spot location becomes the reference point. Basically Target the action spot the OpFor is in (or you think will be in) from the Hull Down waypoint. Your tank most times (all the time?) can't see the OpFor tank at the beginning of the minute or they would probably already be shooting at each other. So you can't target the OpFor tank directly but just the action spot the OpFor tank is in.

 

[PhilM]

From the Manual (!) ... specifically, point 5:

This command allows a vehicle to move forward until only the turret is exposed to a specified target, and then the vehicle stops moving. Here is how to conduct a Hull Down command:
1. Select a vehicle and give it a Hull Down Movement Command. This is the furthest point that the vehicle will move forward to if it doesn't establish Hull Down for any reason.
2. Optionally assign a Target Command to the point that you wish the vehicle to become Hull Down to. This target can be either a point on the ground or an enemy unit.
3. If you don't assign a Target Command, then your vehicle will attempt to become hull-down to the waypoint location you set in step 1.
4. The vehicle will follow the Hull Down Movement Command and move forward. When the vehicle is Hull Down to the designated target (or waypoint if there is no target), the Hull Down command will be automatically canceled and the vehicle will stop moving.
5. If the designated target is an Area Target, the vehicle will cancel the Target command upon reaching Hull Down. If the target is an enemy unit, the vehicle will begin attacking the target once it reaches Hull Down.

And, IMO, the effect of point 4 means that it always best to do this via assigning a target ... because if there is no target assigned, and by some chance the tank never gets in a hull down position v the HD waypoint, then it will carry on moving to the HD waypoint ... which is somewhere you may well not want it to be, IF it's located in the target area you were trying to get HD to ...

 

[Gnarly]

Thanks @PhilM though i must admit option 3 seems pretty useless to me.

 

[PhilM]

Thanks @PhilM though i must admit option 3 seems pretty useless to me.

This way does work, but is IMO a lot more "iffy": you have to be sure that there is indeed a HD position between the tank's current location or penultimate way point (if it has a multi-waypoint path) and the HD waypoint; if there isn't then you get the continued movement to the final HD waypoint thing happening ...

I find myself using the new command via gauging the HD point I would have tried to use anyway under the old "manual" system, but - now - being prepared to be bolder in putting the (with-target) HD waypoint nearer the ridge etc top, confident that the tank will stop HD ... avoiding formerly being over-cautious at exposing the tank and stopping it short of being able to see over the ridge at all!

Circumstances permitting, I usually try to have the TC unbuttoned as the tank reaches the HD position ... the pair of more effective eyes, added to the gunner, helps compensate for the lack of spotting from the (now "blind") driver / WOp / gunner positions.

 

[SlySniper]

I messed with it over the week-end and did a bunch of testing to see how to make it work.

First , not assigning a target to the end of the way point is asking for problems, there is many things that can go wrong with what you think it will do with what it actually will do if no target is given.

Where as, assigning a target works perfectly and I had no problems with the tanks doing exactly what I wanted.

Anyway, when it was all said and done, I will only use the command with a assigned target to hulldown to.

 

[Herroberst63]

Agree, do it the old fashioned way, get out of tank (virtually) and check lines of sight from the tank and looking at position from enemy's perspective if you have the luxury of time. Be nice to have boresighting someday. Historically, I think Panther turret was less well protected than hull so in that instance maybe you didn't want to be hull down (?). I get hit from opposing tanks I still cannot see which remains highly annoying LOL