This update, the amphibious 2S1 Gvozdika was added. On the devblog, it was promised to be an amphibious vehicle, but this feature was never even added to it on the dev server. This issue was bug reported today and was closed because it “required swimming equipment”.
I believe this highlights a general problem with amphibious vehicles in game. The requirements for an amphibious vehicle to float in game are far too strict, and it gets removed too easily from historically amphibious vehicles.
For the 2S1, the preparation required was very minor. As indicated in this source:
Before entering the water, the bilge pump is activated (this would pump out water that enters the hull, the trim vane at the front of the hull is raised, shrouds above the drive sprocket and front roadwheels are installed, and water deflectors on the rear track covers are lowered.
Preparations like these are very minor, and on most amphibious vehicles in game, these are already modeled in the form of animated trim vanes or shrouds that are pre-installed. Ammo carried was also limited when swimming, but this was already addressed in the bug report, this is mainly to increase the stability of the vehicle. You can see the vehicle swimming here, and the amphibious preparations were clearly very minor:
The reason I make this post though is not because of the 2S1 Gvozdika alone. Several other vehicles have also had their amphibious capabilities removed for frankly unfair reasons.
The M163 had its amphibious capabilities revoked because it “required preparation” However, the preparation it required was very minimal, and arguably not even necessary. You can see the vehicle about to enter the water in this photo:
All that was done was a short canvas screen was added in front of the turret. It does not fully surround the turret and cannot contribute to buoyancy. The only purpose to it seems to be to reduce the chances of water splashing into the vehicle. Actually, for this variant specifically, float tanks were added to the sides which are visibly modeled in-game for the express purpose of ensuring the vehicle kept its amphibious capabilities.
The M901 had its amphibious capabilities removed as the manual advised against attempting to swim the vehicle. While the manual does advise this, it consistently warns the vehicle may flood and sink rather than explicitly stating the vehicle is no longer able to float. This is because the addition of the launcher made it unstable in the water, which is not the same as making the vehicle non-buoyant or unable to float in the water. Yes, this vehicle is not stable in the water, but that does not mean it should sink and drown unless it tips over.
All other M113 variants had their amphibious capabilities removed for unknown reasons. No variant of the M113 in-game, an APC that was designed to be amphibious, is able to float anymore.
This was not just removed from the M113 variants either. The Ikv 91 had its amphibious capabilities revoked as it requires a special screen over the engine compartment vents in order to swim safely, seen here:
Yes, this is necessary to stop the engine compartment from flooding, but it’s a very small screen compared to vehicles that required full float screens and extensive preparation in order to float. Please note that I am not talking about vehicles that required very large float screens that obstructed the gun here, like the M551 Sheridan. While it would be nice to see a feature for those vehicles to set up the float screen, the vehicles here require much more minor preparation if any to enter the water.
Does it not seem unreasonable to remove the ability for these vehicles to float? Realistically, almost all amphibious vehicles, even ones explicitly designed to be amphibious, require at least some preparation to swim. These kind of requirements unfairly limit what amphibious vehicles can actually be amphibious in-game. Even if some preparation is required to swim through water safely, it is equally if not more unrealistic to model them as immediately drowning as soon as they entered the water; especially because amphibious capabilities are modeled as an on-off switch, with no consideration for how fast vehicles would sink. The only exception I can find to this in the entire game is the BMP-2D, which currently slowly sinks unless you keep moving forward in the water.
Amphibious features are already very niche in-game, so it feels highly restrictive for all amphibious vehicles to require no preparation at all in order to be able to swim. What I suggest to rectify this is both a reconsideration of the requirements for a vehicle to swim in-game as well as a remodel of the way amphibious capabilities are represented.
First, vehicles that require some but very minor preparation in order to enter the water, such as the M163, 2S1, and Ikv 91 should be modeled as being fully amphibious. It is not realistic or fair to limit these vehicles for requiring very minor preparation that is not unusual for amphibious vehicles and stop them from swimming, when they were realistically were designed to do this.
Second, amphibious vehicles in game should account for instability and flooding or slow sinking. A vehicle like the M901 should be able to float, but should be unstable and prone to tipping over in the water which would cause it to drown. If flooding were modeled, water should be able to be pumped out with the built-in pumps these vehicles have, similar to how it is already modeled in naval.
My last suggestion on this is to provide a way for vehicles that require more extensive amphibious preparation, such as the M551, to set up their float screens and make other preparations so they can enter the water, and then remove them upon exiting to engage in combat. I won’t touch on this too much because it’s not the focus of this post, but I do feel it’s important that vehicles designed to be amphibious with more extensive preparation still have this modeled, with a short timer for preparing the vehicle that must complete before entering the water.
The current requirements for a vehicle to float in-game are too strict, and it is both unrealistic and un-fun to model vehicles that needed minor preparation as these as sinking immediately upon entering the water.