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Originally Posted by Fercyful
(I think you deserve a FREE upgrade from them!  ) |
I agree, but they never answered to my invitation to discuss this.
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so you can actually "click" on the systems inside the Leopard cockpits? that have to be great! 
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Partially, on some you can, as buttons are relevant for the optics of TC and gunner. But in practice, you do not use that often, at least I don't. I have all relevant controls mapped to a HOTAS I use. In case of emergencies and system failures it helps to iknow where an emergency function can be activated in the cockpoit, if that ius a rare command not mapped on the HOTAs and the keyboard command is not remembered. But truth is that in usual gameplay you use hotkeys to access the various optics, not the click-interface. The 3D interior is helpful in bthe Leopards, becaseu it allows oyu to keep an eye on the monitor with the map and the second monitor with the TIS at the same time, while easily and quickly being able to stick the head out of the turret, and then go back to the inside again. One needs to find a good combination of using the 3D interface, mouse, joystick and - if available - HOTAS. A question of taste, and routine.
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you can also play as the driver or "just" give commands to an AI driver? 
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You can drive directly from the driver's seats both with your head outside, or buttoned up. Also, night vision goggles are available since 2.538. but the driver's function are simplified, since it is a concession to gamer sonly, no order by their customers. There is no manual gearbox, for example, and no instruments. Manual driving is the one thing that was better done in Steel Fury. In SBP, you can also give speed and direction commands from the TC and gunner's station: conitnues turns left or right, 22°-turns, three speed settings, one revewrse setting at max speed, full stop, continue of preplanned route, find best hull-down position up to 300 m away from current position (the AI does that autonomously, then). The rocking back and forth during combat from a battle position, forward for firing, back during reloading, is done autonomously by the driver. You can 3. control the tank via "remote commands" from exterior view (if that is not deactivated by the mission designer), and you can let the tank follow the preset, preplanned network of routes with embark-conditions attached to them.
Much mission play is done before nthe mission starts: if this sim teaches oyu one ting above all others, than tactically planning ahead. Fail here, and you get blown up faster than Rambo can say amen.
If that is information overload for you, think of it as this: you can define either unlimited degree of freedom for the player how to control the tank's movement, but you can also limit player to just interior stations, just the gunner's seat, or just the TC's seat.