Vehicle turning ability.

[transporter]

In the new CM the vehicles really slow down and even stop when making a turn especially a 90 degree one. I did not see this in the earlier CM series and as a former member of the military I can say with certainty that virtually no vehicle has to stop and pivot to turn. In the game this makes it a sitting duck. Short of placing lots of movement directions is there another way to get a little more realism?

[Pvt. Ryan]

It's best to avoid 90 degree turns, especially at fast speeds. I try to make turns in increments using a couple of waypoints if I want a sharp turn and I use the move command instead of quick or fast. The game does this on its own to some extent, but I like to give it some help.

[YankeeDog]

With vehicles, the game usually assumes that you want it to stay very close to the waypoints & legs that you plot for it, so if you plot a very hard (say 90 degree) turn, the vehicle will slow, and even stop and pivot, in order to make that turn EXACTLY on the spot you tell it to. And some WWII vehicles (e.g.: Shermans) pivot VERY slowly.

IIRC, early on in CMSF development, the vehicle pathing was set so that vehicles would vary more from the strict path set by the waypoint & movement legs, but this created more problems than it solved, as vehicles would sometimes enter unexpected terrain, or clip buildings and the like when they tried to swing wide on a turn.

So, if you want your vehicle to make a tight turn without pivoting, there are two things you can do: (1) Plot the turn with several paypoints, so it's more "curved", and (2) sometimes it's a good idea to use a MOVE or even SLOW order heading into the tight turn -- otherwise, you're telling the vehicle to take the turn at top speed, which may not be possible with a really tight turn.

[c3k]

Whereas I'd like to see a bit more fidelity with regards to vehicle turning, perhaps defining how they turned back then would be a good place to start before we jump into the game's mechanics.

As far as I understand it, only German Tigers and Panthers had a zero radius turning ability. Due to the paucity of specific metals, and a desire to increase the production numbers, the gears used to perform this action were weak and easily destroyed. Performing a zero redius turn was not something done commonly. It could render the vehicle immobilized. They wouldn't waste the ability on a road march (unless geometry necessitated it), nor would it be used while directly under fire (imagine risking destroying your final drive as rounds bounced off the hull?).

The different gear ratios provided specific turning radii. The drivers were expected to select the proper gear based on their estimate of the turn required.

Allied tanks used skid steering.

Current tank motive technology is so far advanced beyond 1930's and 1940's automotive technology, that it is almost too hard to describe the differences. The steering effort, forethought, and skill needed to get a 60 ton, 1,500 horsepower Abrams (or Challenger, or Leopard) where you want it is negligible compared to how WWII tanks had to be wrestled, coaxed, or manipulated into a similar movement. (This is purely regarding driving technique, not the tactical eye for terrain, or how to best position a tank: this is only what it takes to drive it.)

Seeing pictures of the tread marks left in grain fields by reversing Shermans during Goodwood as they frantically wove in a vain attempt to throw off the aim of German guns shows how skid-steering could be used by skilled drivers. Not that it helped.

Having thrown that out, let's talk about the game. If you've plotted waypoints using FAST, the game will overshoot as it tries to turn the vehicle. A better technique is to use a slower movement order as you approach a turn, say QUICK or MOVE. That will allow a smoother turn. However, if the vehicle gets stuck close to an obstacle, well, then you get to watch it try to extricate itself. You'd best hope the enemy cannot target it.

Ken