Imagine this combat scenario: You’re driving a Panzer IV forward when a Sherman hiding behind cover, out of range of your machine gun, ambushes you from the rear flank and wipes out every crew member in your turret.
What would you do in this critical situation?
A. Immediately switch to the gunner’s seat to fire back
B. Reverse and expose your entire vehicle to enemy fire
C. Abandon the tank and flee
Nearly all players would pick option A.
However, DF’s current crew switching system has a major flaw. When only one or two crew members remain alive in the tank, the game’s underlying code forces the player’s controlled character to move to the driver’s seat first before you can switch to any other position.
Every time all my turret crew get killed and only a couple of crewmen are left, I hit the number 2 key instantly to switch to the gunner and counterattack the ambushing enemy. Even with all crew mobility speed skills maxed out, the game’s logic still shoves me into the driver’s seat first before letting me switch to the gunner.
This makes me lose my window to retaliate and get finished off by follow-up enemy shots, which is extremely frustrating. I’ve manually selected the gunner position myself, yet the game’s code forces me over to the driver’s seat to get picked off — this design is completely unreasonable.
It’s infuriating to watch the game’s forced mechanics practically send me to my death. For that reason,
- It’s absolutely necessary.
- There’s no need for this change.
- I don’t care either way.
Furthermore, most maps are fairly small and open, with most fights taking place in wide open ground head-on against opponents. There is almost no cover to reverse back into for protection, so retreating is rarely a viable escape option.