Going to take the dive...

[Sledgehammer427]

P.S. There is a shooting test in the menu. Do it, and do it rpeatedly. The score you get detemrines the overall IQ of your AI buddies. Practice gunnery there with a Leopard model (easier than the Abrams), and try to bring your score to a 100% mark sooner or later.

In Steel Beasts Legacy, I scored a 91 out of 100 in the Abrams, but I was on fire that day and I had an easy time of it for some odd reason.

Tip for beginners: after you spend the first one or two days trying all the different vehicles for curiosity what they look like, start to focus on just one tank, preferably a Leopard-2A5 or higher (they offer better situational awareness for the TC than the Abrams), and then stay with that one for a long time to come.

I will probably latch onto a Leopard. My mainstay is gunnery, I'm not a great commander yet, but in SB 1, I was much more adept with the Abrams PGS, when I lased the target it automatically compensated for lead and range IN THE SIGHT ITSELF, where the reticule moved around, I got a sense of actually doing something, instead of the Leopard (2A4, I think it was) which had fixed sights, and I had to hold down the middle mouse (no joystick here yet) in order to add the Dynamic Lead and I had a harder time with targets.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Sledgehammer427

In Steel Beasts Legacy, I scored a 91 out of 100 in the Abrams, but I was on fire that day and I had an easy time of it for some odd reason.

100% is possible. Key is to not miss a single time, and get the shot off within a reasonable timeframe (some seconds). Also, aiming Sabots is easier than Heats, and I seem to remember the Australian Leo-1AS is equipped with Sabot exclusively.

I will probably latch onto a Leopard. My mainstay is gunnery, I'm not a great commander yet, but in SB 1, I was much more adept with the Abrams PGS, when I lased the target it automatically compensated for lead and range IN THE SIGHT ITSELF, where the reticule moved around, I got a sense of actually doing something, instead of the Leopard (2A4, I think it was) which had fixed sights, and I had to hold down the middle mouse (no joystick here yet) in order to add the Dynamic Lead and I had a harder time with targets.

Both tanks handle lead differently, so does the sim. The movement in the Abram's GPS when lead is active, can be irritating. You also need to manually switch off lead in the M1 (it gets activated automtically by lasing), and the gunner also has to remember the called-out loaded round, and set the ballistics switxch accordingly. If he forgets to de-lead or to set the ammo selector correctly, he misses. In the Leopard it is easier and more fail-safe, you have lead only as long as you keep the button pressed, it is indicated by no sight shift but a light going on in the display, and no ammo selector for the gunner needs to be set - the loader does it. The TC also has an indepedent thermals and periscope, while the early M1A1 and HA, that can be mounted in SBP, lack both. That gives the Leopard superior scanning options.

I think the later versions of the Abrams at least got the indepedent themal sight for the TC. But the M1A2 which now also is in the sim since the latest upgrade, is not yet crewable.

Certain things between the Leo2A4 and later Leo2s (A5 and higher) are different in keyboard commands. Pick the A5, E or 122, while being different in ammo, map screens and GAS, they still all handle basically the same way. The Leo-2E is probabbly the most heavily armoured tank you can mount, followed by the STRV-122, then the Leo-2A5 and the two mountable Abrams (A1 and HA). The Leo-1s again are a bit different, and the Australian Leo-1 is slightly differently equipped than the Danish one, it lacks thermals even for the gunner.

The other combat vehicles you probably focus most on are the three CV90s, the Bradley, the Pizarro and the Centauro. They all have unique fgeatures and fiully modelled 3D interiors. the CV-9035's interior is a frame hog on my old machine, though, I avoid it therefore. Do n ot underestimate the fun to gte from IFVs, they are as much fun to play with as are the MBTs. You miss nothing if you play scenarios that set IFVs versus IFVs only, it is a different kind of fighting, and you can have more action-filled shoot-outs, depending on which vehicles meet.

Don'T be irritated by the Challenger 2s. They are incredibly tough, but are depicted with the first gun they were equipped with, and that gun seriously lacked punch, that'S why they later equipped a different, better one. In the sim you will note that the Challengers are hard to kill, but also find it hard to deliver the kill to the enemy. But that is a finding that eSim stubbornly defends on the basis of the data it based it's models on.

Later Challys with the new gun became more lethal.