Training mission botched up

[mmalias]

Hello. I just registered because I have a couple of questions regarding this game.

First: In the 2nd training mission, at the shooting range, the first objective is messed up, as the gun you are supposed to take out has already been abandoned. I see artillery crewmen running around, and I can complete the first objective by taking them out, but I can't believe this is intentional.

Then the convoi training mission. The AI seems to me to be a bit flawed, as the line of trucks, plus the escort (the AFV and my tank) are too close together and my tank so much faster. It took the game 3 seconds before the line was a heap of trucks when I gave the order to move out, following the road. Simply put, there was no way I could get them to move along the road in an orderly fashion.

Another attempt at the same mission: I ordered the convoi to seek cover. The AFV did try, but all the people and the fuel truck rushed over to the edge of the map while the last truck went missing altogether. My tank turned 180 degrees and BACKED up into the open where it got blown up.

In the campaign, I have noticed the "seek hull down" command is not working at all, and the behavior is bizarre at best, and downright suicidal at worst, reversing towards spotted enemies.

Is there a patch out there somewhere that addresses these isues, or am I the first to have experienced this?

[Mortarman Deke]

Hi mmalias,

Sounds like you just need some time to get more familiar with this game. The shooting training mission is really just target practice & the B-11 antitank gun is never manned, nor do the vehicles & infantry shoot back. It's just uncomplicated target practice.

This convoy training mission you speak of sounds like the T-55A mission where you escort a couple trucks and an MTLB. What you need to understand is in this game you can play these missions on your own terms. Leave your convoy and take your T-55A into the mountains off to your left as the Driver of the tank. Command your convoy to head to the south side of the town you start in and have them remain there until called for. ( in other words have them head the opposite direction that you are facing when you begin and then stay put). Head into the mountains as the driver of the tank and allow your AI crew to engage the numerous RPG Gunners distributed on the north side of the town. Continue north in the mountains and engage the few enemy Sherman tanks and MTLB from long range as the Gunner using your night vision/thermal vision to see through the fog. Command your convoy to move north along the road to the fork in the road. Next approach the river with your T-55A. Opposite the river you will have to contend with at least one additional infantry squad, and I recommend that you try your best to find them as the Gunner before you cross the river, and blast them with OFS shells (HE Fragmentation) from long range.

As a starting player my advice is when in doubt stay in the Driver's postion and let your AI crew do the shooting. When you take postion of the Gunner or Commander, guess what, you have an AI Driver and that AI Driver will make driving decisions at times just like your AI Gunner and Commander make the decision to shoot without you telling them.

Give it time and you will love this game too.

[mmalias]

Thanks for the reply, Mortarman Deke. Appreciated.

It is true, I am green when it comes to tank sims, but about that training mission, I still wonder if it's supposed to be that way.

First, the 1st assigned objective is to take out the gun in the camp, but as you know, that is not the real objective, which is to take out the crew. What puzzled me was that this is not mentioned anywhere. The gun I can spot with the sights but if I'm to follow orders, and not engage "scan", then I have little to no chance of spotting the crew, which is what I'm supposed to take out. In fact it was pure luck that I did engage scan at the first position, after several re-installments of the game (I thought my installations were botched up). I knew there was something going on, so I went "ahead of my time" and engaged the "scan". That's when I saw the crew, and it turned out they were the target I was to take out.

It was frustrating, and what made me think this was a bug, was that these sorts of bugs (if that was what it was) are in fact not uncommon in complex games (i.e. not reporting a hit).

About the convoy: I did a slight variation: I had them standing in their start position whle I went up the hillside to the right. The MTLB survived and took out quite a few soldiers, making my job easier. I completed the mission with no casualties btw

The issue with "take cover/hull down" remains though, as when they got the order, they dd not take cover, but exposed themselves to the enemy or vanished out of the map. The same problem occured on another trainer, where I chased some soldier out of a village, only to be faced with 2 T-72s. The "hull down" order had my tank drive randomly until I was told I was leaving the combat zone. On another occation: The AFV accompanying me positioned itself out in the clear wide open and got killed off immediately.

So I guess: How does the "take cover/hull down" order work? After all, it's one of the (potentially) most usefull and important orders in the game.

[Mortarman Deke]

Hi mmalias,

Personally, I've found that the move to hull down command doesn't work unless you have an available hull down position right behind you. In my personnal experience I've never used that command in battle. I've stuck to the Driver and Gunner positions ran them manually. I leave the Commander postion to AI. The best way to take cover is to take over the Driver position and do the manuevering manually. The thing is you are giving orders to AI crew members, and the decisions that the AI crew makes are not necessarily going to be the best decisions nor are all aspects of the current situation taken into account before executing commands. The bottom line is if you give a command and it is not followed or executed properly, take over and correct to your liking. My advice, take care of the driving yourself, periodically stop to scan as the Gunner, and never wait for your Commander to spot the enemy targets. All of your enemys are going to be visible from the Gunner's postion long before your Commander is going to identify them. Especially if you use the night/thermal vision.