Can you transfer ammo between tanks?

[Da_General420]

Hello, if a tank has it's main gun destroyed or is immobilized. Is there a way to transfer the ammunition from that tank to another non-damaged tank?

[MOS:96B2P]

Welcome to the forum.  No tanks cannot share ammo.  Infantry teams can share ammo if they are in the same platoon and within about 16 meters of each other.  But not tanks.

[Myles Keogh]

That was a feature that was on the drawing board to be included in the 3.0 upgrade, but BFC couldn't get it to work so it was dropped.

[Erwin]

A lot of are hoping that eventually units will be able to ACQUIRE/SWAP ammo between adjacent units (with a time delay penalty for realism's sake).  The current system if you play WEGO is an awful waste of clicking and time.   eg: Turn one: Split unit if needed to fit on vehicles and race unit to vehicle and embark.  Turn 2: ACQUIRE and disembark, race back to main unit.  Turn 3: Recombine to share ammo.  When you have a bunch of units trying to do the same thing, it makes playing this complex game quite irritating.  Enabling ACQUIRE from an adjacent vehicle (or inf unit) would greatly streamline (cut down on unnecessary clicks and actions) and speed up play.

[Childress]

Better than having the option of transferring ammo is to make all the crews fungible. IOW, they can man any vehicle for which they are assigned. For example, Wittmann and his team during the Villers Bocage battle.

[Erwin]

The official reason given for not allowing tank crews to swap tanks is that it would lead to gamey behavior. 

[Da_General420]

Thank you all

[Bulletpoint]

A cool thing might to make it possible only for very high quality and very motivated tank crews to swap tanks. I never play with that kind of tanks in my games, I prefer green/regular level troops, but it might be a good option for people who want to recreate the Villers-Bocage battle.

[Childress]

Agreed, BP. That an elite, or especially a command crew would sit around playing crossword puzzles next to their disabled tank and not hijack another ride stretches credulity. I submit it was a common occurrence.

 

Edited June 6, 2016 by Childress

[Abbasid111]

Much of my tank warfare reading has been from Commwealth sources over the years since I am a big North Africa and Brit operations in Europe fan.

It seems to have been standard practice, or it occurred so often that it seems like standard practice, that an unwounded troop or squadron commander would attempt to take over the nearest tank to him.

Just the commander mind you, not the entire crew being replaced. I am not sure how often an entire crew got replaced in the middle of a battle. I have not come across a single example in my reading. Usually the crew of a knocked out tank was treating their wounded and trying to make it safety not trying to hijack another tank.

[spawncaptain]

2 hours ago, Bulletpoint said:

A cool thing might to make it possible only for very high quality and very motivated tank crews to swap tanks. I never play with that kind of tanks in my games, I prefer green/regular level troops, but it might be a good option for people who want to recreate the Villers-Bocage battle.

That would obviously lead to some people buying elite Halbkettenfahrzeuge and crewing originally conscript Königstigers with them.

[Bulletpoint]

2 hours ago, spawncaptain said:

That would obviously lead to some people buying elite Halbkettenfahrzeuge and crewing originally conscript Königstigers with them.

Well, the idea would be that you would need the right crew for each vehicle... so to crew a tank, you would need a tank crew.

So, if somebody bought an elite Panzer 4 and switched crew with a conscript King Tiger, they would end up with an elite King Tiger and a conscript Panzer 4. But what if the total points cost were the same? Then it wouldn't matter.

Or maybe for the most powerful tanks, rarity would actually go up for low quality crew, since it would be extremely rare to find powerful assets with rubbish crew.

Just some ideas, I'm sure there will be many good arguments against them.

But hey, there will always be ways to game the system. If people want to do that, let them. I won't play like that way, and I won't play against them either. So I say let them have fun on their own

 

[transporter]

Kinda along the same lines, I had a quad 50 run out of ammo.  I disembarked the crew, sent them into a halftrack, acquired 50 cal rounds, and returned to remount the quad.  However, they did not reload it.  Is this inherent in the game or did I miss something.

Thanks

[MOS:96B2P]

2 hours ago, transporter said:

<Snip> However, they did not reload it.  Is this inherent in the game or did I miss something.  

The vehicle ammo and extra ammo can be found in the UI under: Details panel - Reports - Ammo.  The ammo count listed on top in one color* is for the vehicle’s weapons systems. The ammo count listed on the bottom in a different color is the extra supply ammo that can be Acquired by troops.  If the vehicle’s ammo runs out the vehicle will take ammo from the extra supply.  The crew ammo is listed on the left under unit info panel / ammo.  A vehicle will not take crew or passenger ammo.  Crew and passengers can’t Acquire vehicle ammo.  All can take or Acquire extra supply ammo. Example: A tank crew could Bailout, Acquire .50 cal. ammo and re-crew their tank.  The tank would however not be able to use the .50 cal. ammo.  Or a halftrack could run low on .30cal ammo for the machinegun, take .30cal ammo from the extra supply and use it. 

*The color of the ammo counts can be different depending on which Combat Mission title you are playing.

 

Edited June 6, 2016 by MOS:96B2P

[kohlenklau]

I have found in many of my PBEM battles that enemy tanks CAN transfer ammo to my tanks but always just one round at a time for the main gun.

[Michael Emrys]

2 hours ago, kohlenklau said:

I have found in many of my PBEM battles that enemy tanks CAN transfer ammo to my tanks but always just one round at a time for the main gun.

I hope you were duly grateful for the gift.

Michael

[transporter]

Thanks MOS:96B2P.  Perhaps the replenishment of ammo is something that can be addressed down the road.  In combat, a bullet is a bullet is a bullet and the gun certainly does not care who it belongs to or where it came from.

[eniced73]

On ‎6‎/‎6‎/‎2016 at 1:47 PM, spawncaptain said:

That would obviously lead to some people buying elite Halbkettenfahrzeuge and crewing originally conscript Königstigers with them.

you mean like this?  The Brew crew who is Elite decided to punt out the conscript crew in the King Tiger to take over control.  They lie in the snow trying to determine who will have to be the odd man out riding on the back of that PSW!  My conscript Tiger is now Elite!

[spawncaptain]

Okay, I had just assumed that wasn't possible right now due to what people said before me. Obviously I have never tried such despicable behavior. 

[Erwin]

That's interesting as I have never been able to recrew a tank with another crew.  Is that something to do with a new patch?

[iluvmy88]

Switching ammo between tanks is not an easy and a very time taking task especially when under fire, each round has to be transfered indiviually and "trained" over to the next tank leaving the crews in the open, i dont think this would be a common occurance in a heated battle, maybe behind the lines.

[Baneman]

8 minutes ago, Erwin said:

That's interesting as I have never been able to recrew a tank with another crew.  Is that something to do with a new patch?

Le "bug" I believe

[womble]

Does the Tiger function, once you hit "Go" for the first time? I know you can do things like this with trucks, in Setup, but there's a point at which it stops working; maybe it's if they Dismount... Can't go check...

[hank24]

8 hours ago, iluvmy88 said:

Switching ammo between tanks is not an easy and a very time taking task especially when under fire, each round has to be transfered indiviually and "trained" over to the next tank leaving the crews in the open, i dont think this would be a common occurance in a heated battle, maybe behind the lines.

It is not done under fire but normal procedure during quite intervals. I read that the Wehrmacht tankers did it and it is still taught today. Exchange ammo until all are at the same level.