Giving Tanks & SPGs a more unique feel

[Butcher]

well, this came to my mind when i was playing the other day: there is barely any difference when you are operating in some tanks and SPGs. especially using a stug or hetzer. even a jagdpanzer IV doesnt feel any different. of course they all differ a bit in armour and armament but i think you should give them a more unique feel. im not talking about tweaking their armor or firepower which is quite realistic atm. but other things; like this:

1) SPGs

- the hetzer could have a longer reload time compared to the stug (because it was so cramped inside)
- the jagdpanzer IV was very "head-heavy", thus it was hard to steer
- also the loadout of shells could be tweaked, stugs had quite more room for shells than hetzers

this way it would feel like you are driving that certain SPG and not just another SPG. it would also balance them because these suggestions are all nerfs to german spgs.

2) tanks

- the churchill should have better climbing-performance on hills. i remember i couldnt drive up a hill on totalize with it, while a cromwell could.
- churchill with the 75mm gun needs more HE
- the hellcat is unique atm, however the lack of a proper reverse gear is annoying

3) for immersion: radio communication in the background for german tanks and late war allied tanks. this would really give you the feel of being in a battle and cooperating with other tanks.

what do you think? thx for answers.

[THeTA0123]

All of these are excellent suggestions

[IrishReloaded]

I might also add that you cant cross the ditches at Cobra with the Panther, while the Panther was one of the  tanks with the best offroad performance.

2nd) The sdkz 251 flipps more easily than the Marder eventhough the Halftrack was more wide.

3) Normal 251 has nice interior when sitting on the driver seat, 251 Stuka.z.F. does not have it, and with 250 neu, you cant even see through the window when they are closed.

---
Just a sidenote, can we see in the next patch that all scope view of tanks have the same dimension?
Right now almost every Sherman is different, IIRC also the Panther types vary a little bit.

[Kelmola]

If anything, they should make 251 harder to flip (instead of making Marder more flippant). Or any and all vehicles, for that matter. Especially the Marder, it still - even though 2.4 supposedly improved it somehow - flips over if you even look at it badly.

Even driving up a slope in a Marder is a nail-biting thriller ride, driving into rough terrain at any speed is nigh-impossible. This is especially pronounced if you try to navigate your way into the town in Ramelle, or try to cross the cratered field directly to the east of German main in Cobra. If it was like this IRL, so be it, but right now, it feels like the game engine thinks that the centre of gravity is in the geometric midpoint of the 3D model, while IRL it would have been somewhere inside the hull (the only "heavy" part above centreline is really the cannon, the fighting compartment's walls could not have been much compared to the total weight).

[VonMudra]

Right now, I've had Panther's flip because i was going up a steep hill at a slight angle...they really need to fix the flipping |:

[Natty]

Right now, I've had Panther's flip because i was going up a steep hill at a slight angle...they really need to fix the flipping |:

let me guess, on Cobra? 

[VonMudra]

Actually, it was on Meuse River....

[Josh094]

Yeah it'd be cool if all tanks, spgs etc were given unique characteristics like the planes now have.

[matthewfarenheit]

Back OT:

- the hetzer could have a longer reload time compared to the stug (because it was so cramped inside)

Agreed.

- the jagdpanzer IV was very "head-heavy", thus it was hard to steer

I find the jagdpanzer already hard to steer, especially when trying to properly hide it on a forest treeline (eppeldorf, ie). Also, the already skiddy physics of the game make it hard to keep it stable after properly steering it, because it's so loong. Should it be even harder?

- also the loadout of shells could be tweaked, stugs had quite more room for shells than hetzers

Another good point, but I think the loadout is pretty good now: some SPGs like the marders have very little ammo. Have you checked all?

this way it would feel like you are driving that certain SPG and not just another SPG. it would also balance them because these suggestions are all nerfs to german spgs.

Implying that you know better than the devs about balance is not a good way to get to your point

- the churchill should have better climbing-performance on hills. i remember i couldnt drive up a hill on totalize with it, while a cromwell could.
- churchill with the 75mm gun needs more HE

Both of them are good points.

- the hellcat is unique atm, however the lack of a proper reverse gear is annoying

The hellcat reverse gear is a balancing feature. Just don't use it: keep going forward and turn around. As you said, it's what makes the Hellcat unique, and we need more uniqueness for SPGs, not less!

3) for immersion: radio communication in the background for german tanks and late war allied tanks. this would really give you the feel of being in a battle and cooperating with other tanks.

Radio equipment was an advantage over other tanks, and you want to turn it into useless noise: a disadvantage, decorative as it may be. Please don't, radio spam is annoying already when a spot spammer gets on the servers.

[JA_nx01]

Tanks in FH2 already have more unique feel than any mainstream garbage games *hints at BF3*.

I can't express enough how I love getting into my Cromwell shortly after driving German tanks. It feels like I'm on drugs (I mean good stuff).

[Butcher]

thx for the answers!

Radio equipment was an advantage over other tanks, and you want to turn it into useless noise: a disadvantage, decorative as it may be. Please don't, radio spam is annoying already when a spot spammer gets on the servers.

well we have some of the effects of radio communication ingame; when you spot an enemy in your tank and it appears on the minimap. so there is no way you can make it an advantage for only one team anyway.

the "decoration-sound" would be cool because i imagine it as a background sound that actually sounds like chatter. i in no ways mean that it should be as loud as the real commo rose sounds but somewhat in the background every now and then and rather hard to hear.
another thing which would be cool for immersion would be your loading-gunner shouting inside the tank: "loaded!"

[Raziel]

Great suggestions.
+1 For the radio-chatter as a background noise. (It shouldn't be loud just some ambience for the cockpit)

[IrishReloaded]

could be something like
Loading HE AP shells.
Reloading MG
OMG Mg overheated, we need to cool it down.
^^

[Neighbor Kid]

tanks should have a slower rate of speed to get to max speed if that is understood. not just hold down W and get to max speed in 2 seconds..  and make engine sounds reflect the tank gaining speed or gearing up etc..  that would be a unique feel to most tanks.

i remember the word i was thinking of.. corresponding sound for the tanks moving..

[djinn]

Readily, the idea that comes to mind would be BGF tank system.. But I hear that's impossible. Alternatively, it needs to simply be edited, their rate of speed.

But that will be still moon-motion, but in slo-mo.

Still great idea.