WW2 engine deciding loaded round?

[Vacillator]

After reading the bit below on another forum, I wondered how CM titles (WW2 at least) handle this:

'Ken Trout a British tank commander of a Sherman in Normandy states that the round in the breach is always an HE round. If you turn a corner and are facing a tank you fire it anyway. Load AP. Gunner checks alignment fires foot pedal fires. Load AP, fire, Driver back up. Load AP fire.'  Of course it was Ken Tout, not Trout .

Does it vary on situation?  The above is one scenario, but if you are sat behind a house and know a gaggle of T34s are going to come round the corner that's different.

I have no issue but am curious...

 

[Erwin]

Hmm...  For some reason I thought that the Allies had Smoke loaded so they could immediately blind an enemy tank while they backed up (and had a cup to tea to discuss the situation).

But, interesting question.

[Vacillator]

2 hours ago, Erwin said:

For some reason I thought that the Allies had Smoke loaded so they could immediately blind an enemy tank while they backed up (and had a cup to tea to discuss the situation).

LOL, surely not although I do like a nice cup of tea .

Edited October 14, 2020 by Vacilllator

[George MC]

I have a vague memory (don't quote me!) that the crew of the AFV will always have the appropriate round loaded and ready to fire (except smoke) i..e if they turn a corner and its a tank they'll fire AP, if infantry HE. So you could argue 9assming my recall is accurate) that the crew always make the best choice what to have loaded! As I said smoke not being a default option though - least I've never noticed a AFV fire smoke rounds when making contact with enemy unless told to do so by the player.

[altipueri]

Having a cup of tea led to the Villers Bocage "brew up" didn't it?

[Vacillator]

56 minutes ago, George MC said:

I have a vague memory (don't quote me!) that the crew of the AFV will always have the appropriate round loaded and ready to fire

Sorry George for quoting you .  Fine by me, but slightly abstracted if the gun always has the right round ready?  Having it otherwise might be difficult, so okay.

53 minutes ago, altipueri said:

Having a cup of tea led to the Villers Bocage "brew up" didn't it?

Allegedly, but I think they were actually catching up on sleep, knowing advance units were ahead of them.

[George MC]

8 hours ago, Vacilllator said:

Sorry George for quoting you .  Fine by me, but slightly abstracted if the gun always has the right round ready?  

I’ll let you off

Yup it’s abstracted. My recollection is it was discussed in the early days but most likely not implemented die to various issues. 

[A Canadian Cat]

16 hours ago, George MC said:

I have a vague memory (don't quote me!) that the crew of the AFV will always have the appropriate round loaded and ready to fire (except smoke) i..e if they turn a corner and its a tank they'll fire AP, if infantry HE.

You should get quoted because you are correct. In order to keep things simple and avoid long discussions about how a tank's commander should have known to have X type of round ready because it's obvious that Y. Etc.

Really smoke rounds are the same. If you give a tank a smoke order they don't have to first fire the HE round they have loaded they just start firing smoke.

It's just an abstraction that makes game play smoother.

[Vergeltungswaffe]

Tankers from the Western Allies and the Soviets did tend to roll with HE loaded on the advance, because for most of the war they were much more likely to have to respond to an AT gun and/or infantry than a Panzer/StuG/JgPz.

[Vacillator]

6 hours ago, IanL said:

It's just an abstraction that makes game play smoother.

And it works fine in my opinion, so no problem here.  Good to know all the same .