Unit facings

[Stefan Fredriksson]

Playing a QB as Axis inf against Allied Armor. I noticed something; one of my infantry squads(with 2 PzFausts) is shooting at a crew.

At the same time, without changing facing, the very same squad fires said 2 Fausts in a totally different direction (in fast succession, killing a Sherman but that's a different story).

Now comes the question: if a squad can fire in two directions at the same time, why can't tanks do that (or can they?!)?

I mean, you have bow-MG, TC-MG and maingun/coax-MG (in theory 3 directions).

[Chupacabra]

Bow and coax MGs are fixed forwards. They can only fire in the direction the tank is facing. The flexible MG can be fired in a direction other than the direction the tank is facing.

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Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

[Spook]

For clarification, a co-axial or "coax" MG, mounted in a tank's turret next to the main gun, is not "fixed forward" but rather fixed with the direction of the main gun. So what Stefan has queried on should be true about tank MG's firing in different directions at the same time. (I believe I've seen this too in CM play, but I can't remember when.)

And from what I've observed in my last CM game, the M4's bow MG actually has a reasonable arc from the hull's forward direction. I don't recall if CM accounts for different arcs-of-fire for the bow MG's of various AFV's, but it might be.

[Guest tero]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chupacabra:

Bow and coax MGs are fixed forwards. They can only fire in the direction the tank is facing. The flexible MG can be fired in a direction other than the direction the tank is facing.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

In theory one would think that the coax MG would be able to fire at the direction the turret is facing while the bow MG is able to fire at the direction the hull is facing only. As things stand there seems to be no provision for the tank to fire the MG's at separate targets. Yet another abstraction in the game ?

As for the flexibles: IRL at least the M5A1 light tank TC MG is/was restricted to firing backwards at an angle UNLESS the TC climbs out of the turret to handle it.

[Chupacabra]

Yeah, Spook's correct. I was a bit unclear in my post.

The bow MG in a Sherman is located in a semi-flexible sponson (made out of what looks to be rubberized or otherwise weatherproofed canvas), and as far as I could tell from eyeballing it, has about a 20-30 degree field of fire, both horizontally and vertically.

Again, that's just from looking at the thing. I'm no tank grog

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Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

[Mikeydz]

Tanks can fire in multiple directions using thier MGs. While I can't say I rememebr ever seeing three different targets attacked at the same time, I do know I have seen main gun/coax attack 1 target while mg fire goes toward another target.

[Splinty]

The coax and the bow mounts can fire in different directions,I have seen this in a PBEM game I am currently playing. A Jumbo was attacking a bunker;the bow of the tank was facing the bunker which the bow MG was happily spraying rounds at,while the turret MG was suppressing infantry at about 90 degree angle off to the left of the tank.

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Nicht Schiessen!!

[Guest tero]

I have taken out a Sherman with a Pzschreck team which was in the frontal arc of the tank. The tank was firing at an area target at the time (in fact the last spotted position of the said AT team) and the team got off 5 (five) consequtive shots. The hull gunner did not fire his gun at the team which lit up after the first shot AND the main gun was on target with the area fire order, firing repeatedly at the soil until the tank was KO'd.

[Stefan Fredriksson]

Thanks for input guys. I will keep a closer watch for that in the future.

Still a newbie, so I have so much else to think about, like coordinating bridge-crossing with infantry and Churchills. Da*n, timing is difficult.