How to realistically operate a vehicle in generalA vehicle (Latin: vehiculum) is a mechanical means of conveyance, a carriage or transport. Most often they are manufactured (e.g. bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft), although some other means of transport which are not made by humans also may be called vehicles; examples include icebergs and floating tree trunks.
Vehicles may be propelled or pulled by engines or animals including humans, for instance, a chariot, a stagecoach, a mule-drawn barge, an ox-cart or rickshaw. However, animals on their own, though used as a means of transport, are not called vehicles, but rather beasts of burden or draft animals. This distinction includes humans carrying another human, for example a child or a disabled person. Means of transport without a vehicle or animal would include walking, running, crawling, or swimming.
Vehicles that do not travel on land often are called craft, such as watercraft, sailcraft, aircraft, hovercraft, and spacecraft
Land vehicles are classified broadly by what is used to apply steering and drive forces against the ground: wheeled, tracked, railed, or skied.
Vehicles may be powered by fuels, such as petroleum or diesel, nuclear power, wind, waves, batteries, electrical power, solar energy, gravity, human or animal power and other chemical reactions and physical sources of energy have seen some use.
The power is converted into some kind of motion by a "motor". Engines commonly include steam engines, internal combustion engines (including jet engines and gas turbines) or electric motors. Muscles perform this function in animals. Other schemes are sometimes used. Vehicles use different means to permit or ease movement. These are commonly in the form of wheels, boat or submarine hulls, skis, caterpillar tracks, skates, wings, rotors or cushions of air or jets of air. Lighter than air lifting and rocket power have also been used. Trains use tracks, either with wheels resting on them, or in a few cases using magnetic levitation. Cable cars are suspended from cables which move. Legs are used on experimental mechanical systems.
Propulsion is achieved in different ways. It can be achieved by an animal's legs that pulls a vehicle or by wheels that provide torque, by jet propulsion, a propeller or sometimes linear electric motors. Cables can also be attached to a vehicle, as in some funiculars. Wind powered vehicles such as yachts are nearly always directly propelled by the wind, but some unusual forms use the power of the wind to turn wheels.
Some gravity powered vehicles such as glider aircraft, street luge and soapbox cars have no in-built propulsion system.
Sophisticimacated pieces of technologyVehicles are sophisticimacated pieces of technology, with a lot of components. Now on to the real stuff. Basically, all Vehicles have limits- this is in range, durability, and comfort. An important factor is the concept of fuel consumption. Each vehicle has a miles per gallon or kilometers per liter rating, or if extremely fuel inefficient, the reverse. While driving across a 3 mile island with 500 miles of fuel isn't such a harsh thing, when moving across open terrain that is hundreds of miles long, or when you move hundreds of miles, fuel consumption becomes a problem. Obviously, it would be unrealistic to attempt to drive 3000 miles in a 300 mile range tank. Oil tankers, refueling, and cooling the engine are all important things to consider on extended battleground events, or basically anywhere. Remember, you vehicle also has tracks or wheels, and some form of maneuverability, and these might give out or blow out for any reason- such as a bunch of land mines going off and tearing off the tracks of your vehicle.
Secondly, Durability is a huge factor. A Tank is just that, a Tank, but that doesn't mean that one good AGM-114 Hellfire missile to the face isn't going to put it out for good. That also doesn't mean that a 1000 rounds of explosive armor piercing incendiary 12.7mm x 99mm BMG rounds isn't going to take a toll on your vehicle. Be realistic, anything can take damage. Flying off the edge of a cliff, getting shot, or running over a tank mine is going to have a detrimental effect on your vehicle. Be realistic- if your driving around an 8mm armor APC and you get hit, then you get hit. If you go flying off a cliff, that's 100 feet high, then even if you survive the crash your vehicle is going to be torn to shreds, and at least have the suspension and tracks of wheels broken.
Other Things you need to remember when roleplaying is that air conditioning, having enough room, and wearing comfortable clothes are all very important things. While these minor details may be overlooked, being submerged underwater and having water overflow the compartments of the tank is going to be really annoying for the people inside; not mention possible flashbangs or incendiary grenades dropped inside. Remember, it's people operating the machinery, and people get shot and blown up inside of a tank, the tank itself doesn't just explode for no reason.
Including fuel consumption is ammo consumption. This isn't Halo- you don't have unlimited rounds in your anti-air gun. Leaving behind a wake of destruction and mayhem is fully possible and fine and dandy when facing a single infantry unit, but the expenditure of all your ammunition to do so is a bit extravagant, inefficient, and quite logically unrealistic. Remember, you have limits, and just becuase you have a 120mm cannon doesn't mean that you necessarily need to use it- and just becuase you have 4000 rounds doesn't mean that you need to fire hundreds of countless rounds.
Remember, your playing a character, not a tank. Given the fact that you might have several NPC's, you would be roleplaying several characters, and not just a tank. Each character is as important as the last, and without one the entire vehicle group as a whole would collapse. Your a human being- so play by the limits that human beings have, your not just a floating tin can.
How to realistically roleplay a modern warfare combat scenario in generalYour interacting with other players, that is other people. This isn't simply a story or an event that's occurred solely inside your mind; you'll be expected to respond and accurately assess other people's actions. Therefore, things like turn orders, methods of attacks, and believability in methods of action will occur. For instance, you can't simply drive across half the map just becuase you want to. Secondly, you can't fire unlimited amounts of ammo at someone, and thirdly you don't ever assume that you've hit anything. You have to aim, you have to reload, and you have to fire; at the very minimum. Approaching your target and gaining a good field of view is also vital. Basically...
1st Turn- Approach the Target, and Acquiesce it
2nd Turn- Verify it's locations and determine if it's capable of being attacked, then Aim
3rd Turn- Aim, aim some more, add in some detailed descriptions of doing so, then attempt to fire
4th Turn- Assuming your gun didn't jam, you didn't get shot, and everything went A-okay, you might roleplay your weapon firing
First of all, you never see a target and shoot at it in the same action. Secondly, you always have to aim- and aim with more then saying "I aimed", include details of the event and of the angles of fire necessary, things like that. Thirdly, you never actually fire until after your enemy responds. So basically, you find your target, aim at it, aim some more and attempt to fire, and after your enemy doesn't roleplay firing for you OR present how you jammed (probably due to some mistake in your handling of the necessary processes, such as loading) then you may roleplay firing. Remember, a shell explodes, sends a large projectile down the end of the barrel, and then flies directed towards a target. It basically takes a ton of roleplay before you even pretend to shoot at somebody.
After acquiescing a target, you may choose to fire again. Rather than using the previous method acquiescing a target, you would-
1st Turn- Load/Reload, Begin Aiming
2nd Turn- Verify the new position of the target, aim some more
3rd Turn-Aim some more, and then attempt to fire
4th Turn-If successful, fire as normal
How to use loaders, driving, and coordination properlyYou are a Vehicle operator. You sneeze, you cough, you breath, you blink, your heart beats, your muscles twitch, your eye wiggles, your fingers are never perfectly steady, you are a human. You are not a vehicle, you are operating one, and given all the jobs that are required, you must do a lot of things in order to keep the vehicle moving and functioning properly.
Specifically, an offensive unit typically has several actions that needs to be preformed- Loading, driving, aiming, firing, navigating, and communicating. That is, someone must drive, someone must navigate and handle technical information, someone must aim and someone must load- whether that means that a person loads and aims with an automatic loader is irrelevant, which ever the case, these five main jobs need to be kept up, if we presume that all other things (such as mechanical hardware and software) are preforming properly. It is very important to remember roleplaying loading- not doing so can result in a misfire, were a large click occurs, and then nothing fires. Forgetting to aim can result in a miss, or a friendly fire accident. Forgetting to drive can result in a stand still. Forgetting the orders or decisions made verbally among the crew can lead for a disbelief in a magical telepathic situation, which is almost godmodding.
Basically, be realistic. Your loader has to load (machine or not), your directing fire unit has to direct fire, your driver has to continue driving, and your communications and navigation expert (whether or not it's the driver or not, or even every unit), all have to preform their duties. A vehicle cannot simply 'roll into battle' and then 'A round went off with a bullet going down the barrel heading towards it's target'. You have to aim first- So a single post takes the necessary preparation time it takes to approach the target in visible, hittable field of view. Then after doing so, if you have not loaded already, or during this time period, you would load your weapon with the correct round, specifically stated, at least to begin with. Then, once you had a lock, and were sure of it, including all present variables, you would fire. Three turns must pass before you can even pretend to fire a shot. Why? Becuase realistically, any number of things can stop you. You could have a misfire- or a jam- or have forgotten to load. For every step in the process, you need to give a good, long time for others to examine your actions and decide whether or not you should proceed. You don't simply get to make mistakes; you make mistakes that no-one else catches and get away with them, you don't get to simply get away with them.
You do not get to choose whether or not you have actually fired or whether or not you get to hit the target. You can aim, load, count your rounds, move, roll, navigate, crap yourself, pick your nose all you want without enemy interference, but you never explicitly aim and fire in the same sentence. You would have aimed and previously loaded in your first post, you would have aimed and then pushed the button which caused the reaction which hopefully would lead to the weapon to fire, and if no opposition is present, your round/s would travel down the barrel and head for the previously aimed at target.
Very seldom do you roleplay actually hitting someone, rather, you roleplay it going down the path to the opponent, and then the opponent decides what that weapon does- make no mistake, if your opponent even pretends to doge all attacks or dodge an attack that's impossible to do so, such as an explosion, he will be immediately reprimanded, possibly punished, and possibly even banned for his actions (if repeated infractions occur).
Basics Physics
That is, Energy(Joules) = (Mass)x(Velocity^2). Mass is measured in kilograms, velocity is measured in meters per second, and energy is measured in joules. So, that is that 1 gram, traveling as 1000 meters per second, would be like this.
.001g (.001 becuase one gram is 1/1000 of a kilogram), x 1,000,000 (That is, 1000 squared), multiplied by .5 or divided by 2, would be equal to 500 Joules. So, (.001 mass)(1,000,000 velocity) = 500 Joules.
This is the basic ballistic trajectory of each of your rounds. Typically, they are represented in parabolic arcs, no matter how steep they are. You won't necessarily need to understand this, although it can be helpful. Disregarding area resistance, a ballistics trajectory is mainly dependent on the velocity and angle of fire. You calculate the angle first, Sin, being the Y portion, representing the highest the object will go under the conditions, by multiplying the angle by Sin. Multiplying the angle coefficient of sin you have just achieved by the meters per second, you then subtract the gravity meter per second squared, or 1/2 G^2 (9.81 m/s^2). You then calculate how high the round would theoretically go. By achieving this, you move on to the next part of the equation, which would be determining the distance that the round traveled.
Basically, it's relatively unimportant, just say that your round 'arced' or 'preformed a parabola' and you'll be good, but if your interested, you can search it up, basically ballistics trajectories.
What kind of round are you usingWhile operating a mechanized vehicle, typically, you will experience a very limited amount of ammunition choices, especially when compared to other ground forces, such as Infantry. While does not mean that you will only experience the use of one or two rounds, or a couple hundred, it is still crucial to understand the kind of ammunition you'll be using in your kind of tank. Certain specific rounds can outdo or out preform others in certain basic criteria, and very specific information for each kind of ammunition can be extremely important and decide the outcome of a battle, rather than you just "Shooting Tank shots". It's also important to remember that you'll probably using a mix seemingly small armed fire with that of Anti-Tank and building weaponry; such as a Tank using a 120mm cannon and a 7.62mm x 51mm NATO machine gun. In general, the basic divide is among the primary weapon, the secondary weapon, and then the basic weapons thereafter. Primary weapons are usually single shot or single fire target oriented weapons, which are usually the most powerful and long range weapon of the vehicle. Secondary weapons and the weapons thereafter tend to be basic small arms or Anti-Infantry weaponry, or light or heavy machine guns. Typically, Secondary weapons are used both in conjunction with eliminating infantry and other armored vehicles, such as a 7.62mm x 51mm NATO M240 Machine guns or a Browning 12.7mm x 99mm Machine guns, most armored vehicles carrying both, or even automatic 40mm Grenade Launchers. These weapons allow a much more versatile approach at attacking Infantry, Aircraft, and even other Armored Vehicles than that of just using it's primary weapon. The general often Automatic or repeated nature of the secondary weapons allows for greater flexibility and better combat techniques usually suited for closer range combat, where quick, and often imprecise but heavy fire can be used to suppressed or disengage enemy combatants. Conversely, they also allow a mechanized vehicle a greater advantage upon attempting to hit moving targets, such as flying vehicles or relatively fast moving ground units. Some mechanized vehicles primary weapons will or might be automatic weapons, and in this case their primary weapons will probably extremely powerful or somewhat slower than usually small arms, with their primary ammo usually being less numerous, more important for specific roles, or simply less effective at engaging enemies at which the secondary weapon can do so more effectively or at a much quicker pace.
7.62mm x 51mm NATO
12.7mm x 99mm NATO
14.5mm x 114mm Russian
15.5mm x 115mm 20mmx102mm (100 gram at 1,035 m/s).
85mm Tank Cannon120mm Rheinmetall Gun125mm Russian
