Hull down.

[Abbott]

What is the best technique for achieving “Hull down” status in game?

How many ways can a unit become hull down?

What vehicles do not benefit from being Hull down?

[RenoFlame 36]

If you are trying to set up an "overwatch" position, you just have to creep forward each turn until you have a line of sight. Drop down to the comander's level to check for this.

If there are targets in the direction you are headed, you can use the "hunt" command. Your vehicle will move forward and stop (hopefully) as soon as it sees a target, exposing no more of it's self than is needed to get a clear shot.

Just as in the "real world", there is always the chance your tank commander may not see the enemy as well as you do. This is especially true if he is "buttoned up".

Causing your enemy tank commanders to "button up" is a good reason why mortar and artillery fire on armored vehicles can help you.

[Kestrl]

I believe anything with a small silhouette has a better chance of being in a hull down position behind gentle slopes and small hills or might be easier to position in hull down. Hey the best technique for achieving hull down is park your armor behind a hill and slowly move up until it says hull down, there is no magaical way to get hull down, I'd say good judgement is the best.

I'd have to say every vehicle gets some sort of benefit from hull down position. I've never had a scout car or halftrack in a hull down position might be for only armored vehicles.

[ParaBellum]

IMO one should be carefull to position a PzKpfw IV in a hull down position. Its turret armour is much weaker than its hull armour. So if just the turret is visible to enemy AT assets, they can only hit this "weak spot". If the Mk IV is not hull down, chances are higher that shells don't hit the vulnerable turret but the better armoured hull, which is better protected.

Ah, and if you place the non turreted Stugs and Jpz hull down on a reverse slope, the combined effect of the armour slope and the slope on which the tank is sited can make them nearly invulnerable. At least to frontal hits...

[offtaskagain]

I don't suggest putting the Pz IV in hull-down, as that makes it's extremely weak front turret armor the only thing the enemy can hit.

[Pvt. Ryan]

But it's a smaller target overall. Isn't that the point of going hull down? If the PzIV is not hull down then the enemy can hit the hull, turret, tracks, etc. The turret is just as vulnerable whether hull down or not.

[ParaBellum]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Pvt. Ryan:

But it's a smaller target overall. Isn't that the point of going hull down? If the PzIV is not hull down then the enemy can hit the hull, turret, tracks, etc. The turret is just as vulnerable whether hull down or not.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

A big problem is that the the Pz IV's turret can even be penetrated by 37mm. Stuarts and Greyhounds with their accurate gun and their high ROF will score a turret hit faster than you can say "hull down".

If the Pz IV is not hull down, most of the shells will hit the center of the tank, normally the front hull and thus fail to penetrate the armour.

[David Aitken]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Pvt. Ryan wrote:

If the PzIV is not hull down then the enemy can hit the hull, turret, tracks, etc. The turret is just as vulnerable whether hull down or not.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think it's half and half, and whether the results are realistic depends on how the game is programmed.

The only advantage of not being hull down is that it encourages enemy units just to aim at your tank in general – whereas if you are hull down, they can only aim at your turret. They do not have a greater chance of hitting it, it's just the only target they've got. If you're not hull down, they can still aim at your turret, so the only difference is in the psychology of the enemy gunner. An experienced gunner would presumably go for the turret whether your tank were hull down or not.

[ParaBellum]

I remember the debate about the "hull down bug", which is when your tank is hull down its target automatically gets hull down status, too. I tried the search but it still doesn't work.

I just placed a Pz IV in a hull down position on a reverse slope and 3 Stuarts 400m away on open ground. The Pz IV got the hull down status as well as the Stuarts. I really don't know how the Stuarts on open ground could hide their hull from the Pz IV on higher ground!!

In front of the Pz IV was a wall, so I also got the "bow MG blocked" text. Funny thing is that the Stuarts' MGs were also blocked. By what? The hill 400m away???

Was that bug fixed? Was it a bug?

Any comments?

[Pvt. Ryan]

I thought the hull down bug was fixed, but I could be wrong. David, I was presuming that an experienced enemy gunner would target the turret if he knew it was weaker. But a PzIV isn't an ubertank, so a hit on the hull, at least by a 75mm or 76mm, could still kill it.

[Kestrl]

Here you go was playing a QB probe against allied armor and had one veteran Jagdpanzer IV and it knocked out 3 M4 Shermans, 1 M4A1(76)W Sherman and caused 8 infantry casualities all in a hull down position behind a small hill.

I never used one before because a Hezter is cheaper. I like that it has more HE and AP rounds and also faster ROF.

[David Aitken]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>ParaBellum wrote:

I really don't know how the Stuarts on open ground could hide their hull from the Pz IV on higher ground!!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I just tried this for myself. I don't see a problem:

[ 05-27-2001: Message edited by: David Aitken ]

[Paco QNS]

a) Best Tech: I usually go to Level 0 and looks from various sites until I "see the other side of the hill". Then go back until you can´t, and the previous one is the hull down position. (Same as RenoFlame, so.)

Forms of "hull down": I suposse you can

(1)from reverse slope;

(2)from the top of a plateau -against units sited down-;

and (3)from a stone wall.

(I recomend the web mentioned below. It is an excellent theory of "Hull-Down-logy"

Categorization of Intervisibility Lines

c) Vehicles not allowed: I think only the half tracks not turreted. Not completely sure about others, though.

A few tactics I use:

One -for fragile vehicles-: "Hunt" until you get to the HD point and "Reverse" to obtain a "Turret Down" position of safety; and repeat the same orders -changing a bit the HD point to left or right-.

Two -to surprise your enemy-: Give a "Pause" of 30 to 45 seconds and apply the tactic One. Employing enough vehicles, it gives you concentration of fire and flexibility.

and Three -just invented, must try it-: Use Tactic Two alternating vehicles with different times of "Pause".