A tank gets hit, and only one crew member is killed. Next, the foolish AI decides:
“Yes, instead of the commander’s seat—which provides overwhelming situational awareness and dramatically improves the tank’s usability and survivability—the hull machine gun position, which has only a very limited firing arc and contributes almost nothing to combat effectiveness, should be prioritized!”
When the player forcibly switches to the commander’s seat, surprisingly, the loader then moves to the hull machine gun position! It doesn’t matter that the absence of a loader extends the reload time to something on the level of a KV-2! Why on earth is the hull machine gun position treated as something so important?
I have never seen anyone argue that the hull machine gun position is more important than the commander’s or loader’s seat. In fact, the inconvenience caused by the hull machine gun position has long been pointed out by players who use Japanese tanks—where hull machine guns have been standard—even before the update that added hull machine gun positions to many other tanks.
Eventually, the addition of hull machine gun positions will be applied to all tanks that have a hull machine gun. That means widely used and iconic tanks such as the T-34, KV-1, Sherman, Panzer IV, and even the Super Pershing and Tiger II will all be burdened by this inconvenience under the current system!
The hull machine gun itself is a cool addition, but if it undermines the core functionality of tanks, it is not just pointless—it is purely a downgrade. So how should this situation be improved? Simply changing the AI’s seating priority would be enough! Ideally, the seating priority should be something like the following:
Most important: Gunner / Driver
Next most important: Loader
Next: Commander
Next: Hull machine gun position
Not important: Other positions
Alternatively, players could be allowed to customize the AI seating priority in their tanks themselves
- The seating priority should be changed to: Gunner = Driver > Loader > Commander > Hull machine gun position > Others
- Players should be able to freely customize seating priority
- No, seating priority should not be changed; the hull machine gun is more important than the commander or loader