Why don’t the early Centurions have any range finding equipment? Can they get rangefinders or was it not possible? (I’m tired so that’s why this post probably doesn’t make sense).
They had to have it irl. Im not that well informed in cents, so i cant help in that matter, but if you have a source they had it report it right away.
I have a feeling that early Centurions didn’t HAVE range finding equipment. The three types of range finding equipment in game are as follows: laser, stereoscopic, and mils / intuition. Some tanks coming out of WW2 had stereoscopic rangefinders (Panther II if it was ever built, probably some others but I’m blanking atm), but lasers weren’t a thing and Cents didn’t have stereoscopes. This leaves Cents with using mils or intuition to range enemies.
You can get a custom sight that has range funnels on it for any tank (you may have to make it yourself) or you can use the mills on the basic provided sight and do the math. Cents may have had some handheld ranging equipment but I’m not familiar with their exact loadout so I didn’t go into it, but it would probably STILL be mil based.
If you do have a valid, non-classified source that’s open to the public that reports otherwise, you can make a bug report (I forget where).
- The centurions have been out of service for probably around 25 years at this point so I don’t think there can be any still classified sources.
- The mk 5 AVRE would be capable of getting a LRF from a handheld device. They could make it so it doesn’t automatically range the gun in that case.
- If the Chieftains and FV 4202 can get a stereoscopic rangefinder then I’m pretty sure the Cents are missing out on something.
Yea, most docs should be declassed, so you can look for them on the net or you can go/ask someone to go to the archives and look for manuals
I’m not sure when it changed but early centurions were designed to use their coaxial for fast range finding. It was a pretty big deal at the time and was considered to give the centurion the first shot first hit probability.
The AVRE already has an enhanced rangefinder in game, it doesn’t auto range the gun but takes like a quarter the time. Stereoscopic rangefinders in tanks are usually pretty obvious (protrusions on the sides of turret near top with glass), so I don’t think the FV 4202 or the Chieftains have that, they may have the handheld one like the AVRE. I’m not at a computer with the game installed at the moment but Stereoscopic rangefinders are actually modelled in game (look at M103, Panther II, I think some japanese tanks have it), and they are CLUNKY. Lots of distance is needed between the two optics to get good ranging.
1 Like
I know for a fact the Chieftain and Mk3 Vickers MBT have a secondary coaxial ranging MG for use with HESH. It’s there in game (but for the longest time had incorrect ballistic properties).
They also came later
The Brits clung to ranging “machine guns” for a long time. Usually a .50 cal that was ballistically matched to the main gun.
Coincidental rangefinder rely upon parallex, that is why they are usually “ears” sticking out of the sides of the turret. They are the fastest range finders before you get LRFs. No Centurion or Chieftain ever had one.
Centurions weren’t fitted with rangefinders, but many were fitted with ranging guns.
A lot were retrofitted with laser-rangefinders by countries that imported them & later upgraded them.
Britain retired Centurions in 1973 before laser range finders, and Centurion was never given coincidence rangefinders as that’d require a turret redesign.
Britain just moved onto Chieftains.
