Crew armament and effectiveness

[MacMogul]

I get really annoyed when my bazooka/schreck/AT gun team get shot up by the crew of the tank they just killed and I think it happens a bit too often. I also hear people complain about misuse of crews as infantry (which doesn't seem all that bad to me, mostly because they aren't armed well enough to be effective unless the combat situation has already gone completely to hell).

What I'm wondering is if it would be possible to model realistic weapon load outs for all crews (so that a bazooka team had a rifle or two, say), but perhaps make crews behave as green or conscript level when not operating their crewed weapon? Would that provide enough of a disincentive for gamey tactics, while balancing the times such crews have to use small arms?

I wonder how hard it would be to code such behavior?

--Bill

[This message has been edited by MacMogul (edited 07-23-2000).]

[PvK]

Some vehicle crews had SMG's and grenades (British Crusader crews often did, for one example), but on the other hand, I really don't think they were often called upon to fight much, nor were they made priority targets by the enemy. Generally they'd try to scurry back to their unit to eventually get into a working tank. Pressing them into service as infantry, especially if they only had some pistols, wasn't generally done unless they dismounted and immediately had to protect themselves.

So ya, I'd give them maybe an SMG or two sometimes, but also try to reinforce the message that they're only to defend themselves and get back to safety, perhaps with TAC AI tweaks, and making units not fire at dismounted crews unless the crews are within a certain short range or are themselves attacking.

Tracking their fate is kind of atmospherically amusing, but when they start attracting lots of fire and being used as troops, it seems like they're detracting from the realism more than they're adding to it.

On the other hand, bunker crews would (AFAIK) generally be infantry, and I would expect them to have decent weapons in addition to the bunker weapons, not just pistols. I'd also give them army uniforms and not crew uniforms.

PvK

[Formerly Babra]

So far, vehicle crew casualties seem to be much higher than the numbers I've read historically, but in all cases that I've seen it's due to being vaped after exiting the vehicle. Survival from the vehicle seems to be at about the right ratio, but survivability drops drastically after that, usually measured in seconds.

I personally try and get them to cover immediately and then get them to the rear. I even keep a vehicle or two handy specifically to pick them up and shuttle them back, but most of them end up dead before they've stopped routing or panicking. They do seem to draw a large amount of fire.

Also, I would think that most (though not all) crewmen would end up unarmed after a bail-out, due to the panic situation, or just the urgency to get out before it all goes up in flames. I'm not sure how their armament is modelled currently.

I've read that crew casualties in armoured units tended to average around ten to fifteen percent (compared to about sixty or seventy percent for infantry). In CM, crew casualties are closer to fifty percent or more.

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