A bit much?

[czarejs]

So I have a Panther sitting in the middle of the road when it spots the crew of a brewed up American vehicle. Here's the problem, instead of ripping away with its machine gun, the Panther repeatedly fired its main gun. Would they really blast away with their main gun at just a couple of guys running away?

[dieseltaylor]

Depends on how far away the crewmen are. There are some US army figures for chances to hit with crewed and tank mounted MG's that can be referred to for a rough idea. However my guess is that firing HE or MG;ing two men who may be crewing the tank that kills you tomorrow is a tricky proposition and many tankers would not bother, and some would.

However if HE shells are not necessarily abundant due to supply generally or within a game one might get upset.!

[RockinHarry]

So I have a Panther sitting in the middle of the road when it spots the crew of a brewed up American vehicle. Here's the problem, instead of ripping away with its machine gun, the Panther repeatedly fired its main gun. Would they really blast away with their main gun at just a couple of guys running away?

In RL? If the crew thinks it could be an enemy AT team, maybe...but I rather think not.

I remember having read some recomendations (by Guderian..could be) concerning tank unit tactics as reported by armor commanders, that more use of a tanks machine guns should be made. If that indicates that tank commanders too lavishly use HE at soft targets, that could be well or better dealt with by MG fire, then there´s some RL relation to what we see in the game.

I´ve seen Shermans engaging german infantry at closest of range, in foxholes, buildings and odd gun elevations, which I think isn´t quite that realistic as well.

[czarejs]

The more I think about it, I guess it would come down to what the crew perceives. I knew it was an escaping crew, but only because of the game. In RL maybe the Panther guys think they've spotted a bazooka team or spotters for an AT gun.

[M1A1TC]

So I have a Panther sitting in the middle of the road when it spots the crew of a brewed up American vehicle. Here's the problem, instead of ripping away with its machine gun, the Panther repeatedly fired its main gun. Would they really blast away with their main gun at just a couple of guys running away?

I have read several actual real life accounts of US combat veterans who saw tanks fire 88 main rounds at a single person.

[Georgie]

That depends, if the target is viable from the AI stand point then they will be shelled. For the AI to differentiate between tank crew and regular enemy troops would be hard to program and it wouldn't, as far as I can see, be AIWIRL. The the tank doing the shelling isn't keeping track of where the enemy came from, they are aware that they are there and that they are a threat. The potential problem that I see is that if the tank continues to shell the crew of the disabled tank if another tank or anti tank gun becomes a threat.