This article was written by mlespaul from the Darkest Hour forums.

An example of the M10C Periscope targeting an object at 1600 yards (not meters)

Seems like the manual needs more explanation of the American tank sight reticles (the lines type, which was known as the Anti-Tank Reticle). These comments show that some players are unfamiliar with how to use these sights which are known as “Ballistic-Type”. Some comments I noted:

[50pc.]_Morbius:”yeah and the allied tank sights are useless.if you aimed at a German with the crosshairs you would end up hitting a barn or something that was 20 feet to the left/right of the German tank,LOL yeah it was actually quite comical,looking back on it,LOL….when i hit the default buttons to adjust the tank sights (Q/R) nothing happened/happens, .Is there some sort of bug? or do the sights not adjust for range like in regular RO?”

Langnasen:”The allied aim seems to be an intermittant issue. I’m being hit plenty of times, but I’m also seeing rounds go way high, too short or sometimes off to the side. The first two are down to inexperience with the sights. The last is probably an intermittant bug.”

And my personal favorite, pablouk: “Yeah,Uncle Sam knew dumbass Texan tank crews were cheaper than decent optics”

I think all know by now that tank gunnery is and was a very complex MANUAL (= done by hand) process that involved fairly difficult mental and physical prowess in determining proper laying of rounds to the correct target. RO as a whole starts to approach that in a realistic way, in its Russian and German telescope models but even then there is still a lot missing, as Jeff Duquette, Alan, Amizaur, and I have discussed exhaustively. There MAY be bugs, in the firing models, but it is also worthwhile to revisit a couple things:

In basing tank gunnery on a set of realistic principles, the American Anti-Tank Reticle is different than what many RO gamers are used to in the German and Russian models in that there is no “magic range adjustment” in hitting the Q and E key (or whatever you’ve mapped). The actual sights also had additional adjustment controls that are not reflected in the game.

  • To begin with, the + that you see at the top of the graticule display is NOT your crosshair, it is the boresight, or the marking used by tank crews to align the centerline of the cannon to assure the cannons fire control systems were in alignment. There were additional controls used in zeroing and aligning the sight picture, which is something you luckily do not have to do.
  • Directly beneath are the actual scales to use in determining range. The lines with the marked scales denoting range is brought up to bear with the target.
  • Bringing up the range line to the target is also raising the elevation of the cannon at the same time in conjunction with the pre-engineered ballistics of the cannon and the packed round you’ve selected. Hence, the importance of a properly set and locked-in boresight!
  • When the target and YOUR estimation of the correct range and matching horizontal scale line are brought together, and aligned with the dashed center line in the middle, you’re ready to fire.

The left and right extention of the horizontal lines reflect the amount of right or left deflection.

Additionally, tankers, even dumb Texan ones, had to memorize complex firing tables and have them ready in their heads to quickly and mentally apply the correct range based on the different types of ammunition being used as soon as an enemy target presented itself. I can provide an example of such a table if anyone would like to see for themselves. Modern-day Red Orchestra/Darkest Hour gamers should recognize the relative ease with which they enjoy targeting electronic armor.