Ok tankers, I'm going to present a scenario:

Platoon of M1s, You are in the TC position on tank one. You are in desert terrain at night. You are designating and engaging BMPs and ZSU AA guns in the distance. Your scout section reports over the next crest a group of BMPs and dismounted infantry 1000m on the next hill over. As you crest the hill at 2/3 speed you are using the CITV to designate your targets. Firing HEAT rounds you destroy two of the BMPs within a second or two of clearing the hill. The third retreats over the hill and is engaged and destroyed by the scout section. A quick sweep reveals three T72s advancing in the opposite direction at two clicks paralel to your route. You designate the lead T72 with the CITV and the gunner fires a HEAT round (already loaded) into the side of the lead T72 with no effect. You switch to sabot and fire an additional TWO Sabot rounds center mass on the lead T72's flank at a 90 degree angle. Your rounds strike right below the turret on the lower hull. No affect on the T72. T72 number two engages you and fires a single round to take off your left track while T72 number one fireds a round that hits the front of your turret, and destroys your tank.

Please tell me if this is BS.

Not a tanker and not sure what you are looking for here, but I guess its plausable. I would think your wingman or anyone else in your platoon for that matter would notice the T-72s coming on, but I understand fog of war and all. I'm having a hard time reconciling all of those hits. If the T-72s are close enough to hit you, then you are well within range to kill it, especially in two direct hits. Many sabot rounds have enough kinetic energy in them to punch clean through a T-72 and destroy its ammo load and blow the turret off on a one-shot, one-kill basis. Also, the DU frontal armor of an Abrams would 90 out of a 100 times protect the turret from penetration.

In the end, I wouldn't go so far as to say its BS, but I would say...unlikely. Just my opinion.

Jeff

From what I know about current US armor and the T-72, I also find it highly unlikely that would happen. The HEAT round might not cause damage to kill the T-72, but a Sabot would tear it up at the range you noted. A T72 actually causing damage enough to kill your track is the hard part to say is possible. Your platoon should have been able to take them all out prior to them getting off a shot. Also you are night and unless you were fighting a top notch Russian division, not many of the export tanks had decent if any night vision.

Then put in the J-Stars Aircraft over the battle field and the odds of the 72’s sneaking up on you go down. But, all that being said, anything is possible in war.

Well, the T72s didnt really sneak up on me- they crested a small rise and I fired first. (I think they were looking for the scout section as it was on the other side of another hill)One HEAT and two sabot rounds, and no kill. This was a classic case of when my tactics were working at their best, and whatever logic the program had was unable to process that. I swear these things hate to lose! By the way this is a tank simulator I have on the old PC and it spun me into a fit when it did that.

SteelBeasts? If so there is your problem. That game, while absolutely outstanding, has a host of AI issues that make detecting and killing the enemy darn hard. To say the least that my wingman can't find crap, let alone kill it and even if anyone in the platoon finds an enemy it is usually after half my platoon has been destroyed. That game lacks the implimentation of exterior detection sources such as JSTARS which definitely favor the friendly side of the battlefield.

Jeff

Actually, this is a bit embarrasing but it is "M1 Tank Platoon II"... thats old but even older is the original that I really really miss. I also miss the old Lucasarts "Battle of Britain" and "Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe"... those three contributed to my low grades in high school!

Well, now this makes more sense. Sometimes games can be totally 100% right on. Other times they are way off.