Sim: For beginners (and anyone alike!)

How to play sim and not shoot your teammates!
a guide on how sim plays and how to be better prepared to hopefully not send someone to the underworld
For new players especially and even long time players who may not have ever touched sim before!


#WTGuide1

Introduction

You've probably seen the sim game mode, never tried it or tried it once died or shot a teammate and then never went back to it.


lots of things in sim can be a turnoff like your camera being stuck to the commander's general position on a tank or the gunner's view actually being where the gunner's optics are which can be challenging for certain vehicles

Probably the biggest challenge in Sim gamemodes is the threat of friendly fire which I will cover the most


You also might find yourself playing a bit differently / furtively since you can't peek around corners or look over hills / obstacles too well or even see out of the cockpit easily

This guide is here to give you a bit of insurance and confidence so you can make the most out of the sim game modes in Warthunder


matchups in sim are supposed to be historically based meaning that the nations you usually fight with are gonna be locked to either an axis - allied powers setup or they're gonna be Cold war styled with china - soviet union / russian federation vs NATO

Sim is also a "Markerless" Gamemode meaning Enemies AND Allies will not have their usual tags above them, This applies to ground and air

The first and foremost thing I wanna tell you about is how to not shoot your friendly vehicles
Your allies in this mode are just as vulnerable as your enemies, meaning that you CAN machinegun a friendly open topped tank destroyer to death and shoot your allies to pieces.
This will result in you losing lions as well as the player you just shot losing lions.


The Sim game modes are located in the "Events" tab on the right hand side of the screen while in the hangar.

Playing sim isn't too hard or stressful if you follow this guide! I hope to expose newer players to sim as I think it's a very fun gamemode!




firstly, If you see a vehicle you SHOULD double check before you fire because you could be sending a friendly to the hangar. You will also lose Silver Lions for destroying a friendly vehicle which is also a big incentive to learn how to identify vehicles

Ways to check for friendly tanks / aircraft / anything else

• looking at the player list / player statistics
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A quick demonstration, I am on the axis side playing a Japanese tank destroyer and have spotted a sherman acting friendly next to me, I quickly identify it using this method
  
  
  
  
  
  this will show you all the players but more importantly their vehicles, It doesn't show enemy vehicle choice but will show you your own team's vehicles and also a small sideways profile of their vehicle choice, Foreign / captured vehicles will have a symbol before their name indicating their captured / foreign status
  
  This is basically the holy grail for making sure you don't shoot a friendly
  It can also help you get familiar with the tanks / aircraft your allies are using if you're not already
  
  
• Using your range finder key Ground vehicles only
  While hovering your main-gun's reticle directly over a vehicle and hitting the range finding button, You will be shown a second bar that when it completes itself it will tell you if a friendly vehicle is at that location or not, If not fire away!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  (wait for it to tell you first This function can be kind of tricky if the target is moving or if your reticle slips off of the vehicle by even a pixel, This function also will not work in binocular view you must be using the scope of a weapon)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Look for identifying markings on the vehicle
  Certain iconography is instantly recognizable, the iron cross, a red star, Roundels, a white star, or a flag. Familiarity with each nation's vehicle markings helps lots
  
  
• Aircraft
  Aircraft are a bit harder to discern from their distance and also speed, Binocular zoom helps lots but if you can't tell what it is double check player statistics, It will tell you if they're friendlies in the air or not.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A soviet Biplane with red star markings
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  An american aircraft with "Invasion stripes" and a similar star marking that is instead white with blue detail
  
  
  
  
  
  
  (nations have specific doctrines they followed which is usually reflected even down to their livery, Some if not all allied aircraft have black and white stripes on their wings / body called "Invasion stripes" that can help you tell allied vehicles apart from axis)
  
  
• Crew models
  Some vehicles may have exposed vehicle crew like open topped tank destroyers or SPAA vehicles
  allowing you to see the vehicle's crew, They are unique to each nation. Soviet and German crew are especially distinctive due to their helmets and uniform, They appear to look like infantry of the respective nation
  
  
• Other misc ways of figuring out what you're shooting / about to shoot is friendly or not
  
  Sometimes if you've opened fire on an ally on accident (I have before too it's a bummer when it happens) you might notice that you didn't get the module destruction view, Take big note of this when it happens because that means the vehicle you just shot is a friendly.
  
  The same can happen if you machinegun an ally too, hitting tracks and optics won't show up in the module destruction view.
  
  (Don't 100% rely on this since hitting another ally in sim WILL do damage and you may be hitting softer parts of their armor if you try to only use this to see if what you're hitting is an ally or not)
  
  
  Over time of playing warthunder you'll also get more and more familiar with the vehicles of each nation which also helps a lot too.
  
  

Identifying friendlies from hostiles can be difficult here and some people might even try subterfuge by obscuring their markings with different ones or even placing another nation's markings onto a captured vehicle. Tanks and especially aircraft may have this done to them by a plucky individuals who live on the edge of friendly fire and confusing enemies

Also watch out as you being shot by what you think is a target could actually just be a confused ally, if you're being shot at tell them to stop or try to expose an identifying feature to them like a roundel

(Also some people have weird codes of honor / are openly hostile to their team in sim so watch out for that, don't pay attention it's just a game and gaijin ultimately doesn't support those people just do your best to elevate each other's experiences in-game)

Ground Sim

Ground sim is like RB except Sim modifiers are applied. The matchups for ground sim change pretty regularly opposed to air sim

Some nations can be stronger and some tanks will be omitted randomly it changes on a daily basis. at some ranks / historical eras some nations may be stronger than others like at a 1.0 - 2.0 battle rating germany tends to be stronger because of their pak wagons and Sdf.kfz's which have a high battle field mobility and a decently dangerous gun

Some vehicles may also appear in some odd places like the soviet BTR-152 SPAA appearing sometimes in the cold war era (Which is historically accurate)

Sometimes the wait time for sim can also be a turn-off as the daily sim changes and increases in rank fewer and less players appear and the matches can even be only a handful of people distributed in a potentially asymmetrical match on a large map. because of this most of the matches in sim tend to end because of the timer


Beware as shooting Friendly vehicles will result in you losing lions as well as the other player.


playing SPAA can be difficult in this mode
Mostly due to the fact that you can't easily identify aircraft as both friendly and hostile aircraft might look like specks in the air.

If you're at a loss as to who's who in the air just remember the identifying tips from before, Statistics will even show you a profile view of your ally aircraft too

another method really only works if the allied aircraft in question is close enough to you on the map, Markers on the map for the ally aircraft are visible minus enemy team ones. If you look at your mini map / hit the M key as an aircraft passes over you or near you you'll notice a blue marker for it indicating its allegiance.

You can also try to remember the airbase direction on the map as the arrows on the map usually in a corner point towards airbases

beware as enemy aircraft sometimes travel around the map and approach from your spawn's rear direction

(Just remember to try and be 99% sure before you open fire that it's an enemy or not)

Things to watch out for

• Gunner view and driver view
  
  You should try to look out for the dissonance between the gunner's view and the cannon. Some vehicles may have an extreme distance between the gunner's sight and the gun (XM-1, Gun carrier 3-inch) At more extreme ranges it is not that noticeable but at closer ranges 300m and below it becomes more problematic and you will have to adjust your aim accordingly, If you're brawling with tanks at like 20m and below I recommend that you aim the gun in the default view instead of the gunner sight
  
  Driver view may come in handy as you can look around corners a little bit while not exposing the entire vehicle. On some vehicles the driver's view can be very unobstructed like on trucks and other certain vehicles
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A typical gunner sight view compared to the view of the "Gun Carrier 3-inch" the distance between the sight and the gun is so extreme that the barrel cannot be seen in the gunner sight.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Vehicle design
  
  Some vehicles you will encounter in sim will not look like they belong to their respective nation, A very good example is the JSDF (Japanese-Self-Defence-Force) These vehicles look incredibly western some even using US technology like the Type 60 SPRG, ST-A1, M36B2, and many others. some of these vehicles can match up with late war axis vehicles and can confuse your allies.
  
  Nations vehicle design in general seems to follow a trend as well, Early Japanese vehicles tend to have lots of obsolete rivets across their surfaces, German vehicles tend to be pretty boxy with fewer curves than most tanks, French vehicles tend to have more organic rounded shapes due to their cast armor (early on in the tech tree that is) , and all nations have specific colors used on all tanks for their default camouflages, Their other unlockable / buyable camo's also have distinct patterns and designs which can be another way to tell as well.
  
  Some vehicles are also incredibly iconic and recognizable due to their prominence like Tigers, Shermans, T-34's, and some other vehicles which may come to mind. Beware though as captured vehicles do exist but they will often have some way to tell them apart like a camo difference or some difference in the vehicle's overall apperance.
  
  Their armament can also be somewhat telling as some vehicles may have roof mounted machine guns, people who have an eye for detail will be able to tell apart these MG's as they tend to be distinct, Like the distinct M2 Browning compared to the DSHK with its own distinctive muzzle break and busy looking reciever or a boxy M1919 compared to a german MG-34 or MG-42.\
  
  
  
• Camouflage
  
  Bushes and other tank decorations can potentially be debilitating if you do not test the vehicle first, Placing bushes onto the front of the vehicle may obscure the gunner's sight completely as in sim your tank is rendered entirely decorators included
  
  
  
  
  A bush placed onto the front of a tank is visible while aiming
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Tactics
  
  Some real tactics are more effective in this mode as visibility that the players have is stunted meaning that hiding is more effective than it would be any other gamemode
  
  Some stuff that applies to specifically warthunder is that audio is incredibly important, tanks make lots of noise and you will want to rely on audio when watching corners or in urban areas where tanks are in close proximity but have lots of cover between them.
  
  You may also want to turn your engine off and set up an ambush while watching points or corners where enemies may pass
  
  
  Some vehicles were designed with a specific doctrine or use which may come into play in sim.
  
  Heavy german vehicles like the tiger line and stug line were intended to sit in mostly static defensive positions owing to the former's slow speed and incredible heavy armor.
  
  Heavy tanks in general will have the advantage of range, That meaning you being farther from your target is where you're going to be most effective as your targets will be unable to penetrate your armor while your strong gun will be able to penetrate theirs
  
  Medium vehicles tend to be very average, having no extreme advantage over one aspect or the other which means they're good at many things but they're usually not going to be the best at them
  
  Light vehicles tend to have speed on their side while having poor armament, They're best at flanking and out-manuevering heavier vehicles and getting hits on their weak spots. They also have smaller profiles which makes them easier to conceal and harder to see.
  
  There's also a tactic that was used in WWII by German Stuka's specifically. They would fly over a battlefield, invert their plane upside-down, pick a target while inverted, and then dive bomb that target.
  useful to any dive-bombing aircraft as picking targets out from the air can be difficult.
  
  
• You can spawn in aircraft
  
  You can spawn in aircraft in Sim mode, This is a tricky choice since by doing this you'll potentially have the upper hand destructive capacity wise but also be exposing yourself to potentially confused friendly AA and hostile AA (Which might also confuse you for being a friendly vehicle) One of the other problems is that identifying vehicles from the air may be hard especially from inside the cockpit, Some tanks may be more identifiable than others thanks to camouflage coloration or even some markings being visible from the air.
  
  You'll also run the risk of being attacked by fighters or aircraft,
  
  Taking evasive action from AA or aircraft machine guns confused ally or not must be done carefully as a jerk of the virtual joystick-mouse may cause you to stall or enter into a deadly spin

Air Sim

Air sim takes place over an operation game mode in which different events / fronts and objectives appear and are completed / destroyed.

There's lots of events that happen where you'll be shooting down AI most of the time too since there'll be convoys, recon aircraft, and other targets marked on the map when they appear.

most of the time these matches can last for potentially hours
Don't worry though, you can jump in and out as you please.
Just remember to try and join the same server / match you were playing previously if you wish to continue the battle

Respawning in this gamemode takes SL to complete along with regular points for some specific aircraft (You can earn points to spawn these by playing and completing objectives)
your SL gain will outweigh the respawn cost if you bomb enemies and complete objectives

The biggest change in this game mode is controlling the aircraft and also aircraft flight dynamics as even Realistic gamemodes have somewhat different handling. Getting into flat spins and stalls is much easier and the virtual joystick can be a challenge if you're more familiar with the way your mouse controls your aircraft in realistic or other gamemodes as in sim your mouse controls a virtual joystick.

You can set the difficulty in test mode to see how your aircrafts will control in sim mode

People with a VR headset and joystick / HOTAS are at a distinct advantage here since their headsets generally afford better visibility than a regular monitor. The HOTAS / joystick also kind of unlocks an aircraft a little more allowing them to pull of especially tricky manuevers that a regular keyboard and mouse player might not be capable of given the player has experience with the aircraft and joystick / HOTAS.

Things to watch out for

• Start up
  
  When you spawn on an airfield you may have to manually activate your engine before you can take off, Keep this in mind if you find your plane is unresponsive on spawning.
  
  You may also pick your spawn from many airfields by clicking on them on the map / selecting them from the drop down menu.
  
  
• AI gunners
  
  AI gunners can help you distinguish enemies and friendlies, Even AAA or AA batteries of any kind can help you since their large tracers usually indicate that they're shooting at an enemy and can help you find the locations of enemies who might be in an area where the AI AA is
  
  The same is true backwards, If you are being shot at by AI you may become more visible to enemies around you
  
  Your AI gunners also might catch something before you do given you have one or more of them
  
  
• Flight dynamics
  
  Aircraft in sim can get into flatspins and stalls a lot easier if you're not gentle enough with the controls, Evasive action can land you into a death spin that could cost you
  
  Getting out of one is most evaded by turning your throttle to 0 and moving the joystick / virtual joystick forward so that your nose goes down while also pushing your rudder in the opposite direction of the spin.
  
  If you don't have enough altitude you may not be able to fully recover before you hit the ground
  
  You'll also have some difficulty landing and taking off which is best practiced in test mode, flight is also a little difficult as the propeller torque slightly turns the aircraft.
  
  
• you are more difficult to spot if you silhouette yourself against the ground
  
  This is true since against an enemy you are a small speck that's moving against a varied backdrop, The enemy is also moving and looking in many directions. Sometimes altitude may not be everything as you can become more visible the higher up you are, especially if you begin to release contrails
  
  Keep this in mind if you're running away or trying to get the drop on someone or hiding in general
  
  
  
  
  
• Remember to set your fuses
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is a little dependent on how you bomb, for some aircraft you may only have only one accurate option which is to dive onto the target and release the bomb and pull up. Setting the fuse will allow you time to get away from the explosion so it doesn't damage you or even kill you
  
  
• Radar
  You're not gonna be running into radar in the lower ranks of air sim as much, though some special aircraft like the US Navy aircraft F6F-5N and german Do 217 J-2 have radars, This might not exactly apply to you however since IFF(Identify friend or foe) hadn't been developed yet for (Some) radars back then.
  
  
  
  By mousing over the aircraft's radar in X-ray mode it'll tell you what the radar's capable of doing.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is a modern aircraft compared to the earliest available radar in warthunder, Notice how it's not capable of the things the modern aircraft is, But regardless it would have an advantage over other aircraft because of this.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is how IFF would look like to you, The markings on the scope that look like a " = " symbol with two marks are friendlies, and the singular symbol are enemies
  
  Just remember, Two marks for a target on your radar is a friendly, and a singular mark is a hostile target Given that your radar is IFF capable, Check before hand
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  At some higher ranks you may want to turn your radar off until you think you need it or use it sparingly since radar warning systems could point someone towards you, You should also fly lower and against the ground as radar will begin to have issues detecting you.
  
  Last thing to note is that the radar you have might not actually be a proper radar but a gun sight setup that generally detects something in-front of it, These were usually used for air to ground type stuff and had some limited use in air to air combat in real life. Always try to check what your radar's capable of

How to not get shot for ground (Most of the time)

You being familiar with tanks and aircraft might not help you with getting shot since other people playing may not be familiar with the vehicle you play, Especially if it is a captured / foreign vehicle

Here's a list of ways I usually keep myself from being shot at by my own team

• Decal / Identifying marking placement
  Sometimes the way a vehicle looks is not enough, especially so for captured / foreign vehicles which may be the one thing you want to play since they may be a better choice than the nation's immediate vehicles
  
  I try to follow a triangular decal setup for my vehicles, I place two identifying markings on the front of the turret / hull so they're visible from both the side and the front and one marking on the rear of the turret or hull so I am identifiable from the rear
  
  (Don't worry if you do not have a flag for the nation you're playing, There are other equally identifiable decals)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Ro-Go is not often seen, especially so by new players who could mistake it for a tank of a different nation clear identification is key here. Here on my vehicle I have used a mixture of one rear facing hull flag and two turret flags
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Rear Shot showing the rear facing hull mark
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Japanese Walker bulldog might be confused for western allegiance but three flags on the turret at a glance show the nation it fights for
  
  
  
  
  
  
  From the front, Very japanese
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  On the M24 "Chaffee" I have had to make a compromise as the odd turret and hull shape meant I could not place a flag upon the rear faces properly, I have reversed the triangular setup here with one flag upon a clean part of the tank and two flags on the rear of the turret, Visiblity is quite low but a turn of the turret would allow an ally to see the flags
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Poor visibility
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  It is also important to note that if you are being shot at by an ally, It is handy to have a flag on the turret so you may turn the corresponding face with identifying marks towards the ally to alert them to your friendly status (On the M24 I may turn the turret a direction that allows the flags to be seen)
  
  
• Behavior
  
  Most allies and including you may take the direction an unknown vehicle is heading in as an indicator as to if it is a hostile or a friendly, Beware of this and if you are retreating front-first towards and ally you may want to turn the barrel skyward or to the side, or even turn the turret so one of your flags is plainly visible.
  
  (Speaking from experience many people are paranoid enough to see an allied tank retreating as a threat, Even going towards an ally on a point may prompt an friendly fire incident)
  
  
  
• Radio Callouts
  
  Using your radio wheel to call attention to your current location ( "Cover me" and also "Follow me" ) is very useful for telling your team that you are at that location, If you are being fired upon this may help you, And also using these callouts at the start of a match will alert your team that you are using the specific vehicle you've chosen (Foreign / captured or not, Some vehicles may not be very easily identifiable)
  
  
• Chat
  
  Simply telling your teammates that you're using this type of vehicle (Foreign or not) can help loads, Some may not speak the language you use however, You may also ask if someone is using a Foreign or captured vehicle aswell

How to not get shot for air (Most of the time)

Identification of vehicles in Air sim is difficult since you'd have to be standing right next to the aircraft in question to be 150% positive on the ID of the vehicle. Which is why identifying markings exist

• Identifying markings
  This has been said A LOT through out the guide but that's just because it's one of the better ways of making sure you don't get shot down, If you do have an aircraft that lacks the appropriate markings on its default livery you will want to put them onto it, roundels of the aircraft's nation or any distinctive markings most associated with the nation are the best way to do it
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A particularly confusing looking aircraft until the Chinese PLAAF roundels are visible
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Behavior
  
  Trying to get a better look at an aircraft that may be friendly can be challenging, don't open fire until you get a positive ID on the aircraft since you could be making someone lose lions including yourself and also if you're approaching an ally don't fly too aggressively towards them since this could tell them you may not be friendly
  
  
• Chat and Radio messages
  
  Using chat to simply tell where you are and what you're flying if you're being shot at by an ally can stop you from being friendy fired, You can also use your radio messages to quickly tell other allies where you are on the map ("Need cover" and "Follow me") are super useful for this

other tips, tricks. Closing

I think that Sim modes can be pretty daunting, much more so with the threat of friendly fire coming from your own team and you potentially sending someone's tank to the underworld.

Obviously no-one wants to mess anything like that up or step on anyone's toes or give someone a sour taste from sim.

I'm hoping that this guide helps many people with playing sim game modes, I can't 100% outline every single thing that sim might change like how players act or anything like that but I do hope I can increase people's confidence in sim if they read this guide. Especially newer players who might end up loving it!

I think the biggest problem in sim is friendly fire and I look to try and inform as many people as I can with this guide on how to avoid it in ground Sim and air Sim so that people can really have fun with it as I don't often see that many people playing it

(These apply to game modes other than sim too!)

• Range finding with your machine gun
  
  If you have your mouse wheel set so that it changes the range of your gun you can switch to a top mounted machine gun if you have one and range find by setting it's range, shooting and slowly scrolling up or down until the tracers land on and around the target.
  Once you have the range of the target remember the distance because when you switch back to your main gun it will not be set to the range the machine gun was, dial it back to the range you remembered and then open fire
  
  
• Ammo stuff
  
  Survivability in any tank can be increased by taking fewer shells than the max capacity of the tank (20 or 30 maybe? look at the vehicle in test mode when you take this amount and watch the ammo racks with your component view-key which is mapped to "O" by default to see how many shells you can reliably take before your tank becomes a hotbox for trouble), You might not end up using them all if you took the maximum amount anyways. An added bonus is that ammo weight is taken into consideration when the tank is moving so less ammo = faster acceleration and speed
  
  I also usually reserve a few rounds to HE and smoke, HE especially since the trajectory on HE shells is less flat than other rounds meaning you'll have the ability to lob them over cover and obstacles. Even if the HE round is barely penetrating you might come to want the ability to hit a squishier target that thinks it's safe by hiding just behind a hill
  
  (Also my favorite is that smoke can be used offensively, striking tanks directly obscures their vision better and also makes their area more visible to aircraft who may bomb them)
  
  
• Other tiny bits
  
  
  - If the round you're using has sufficient penetrating power you can shoot through wrecks and destroyed vehicles, potentially getting the drop on an enemy hiding behind one. Especially light wrecked vehicles may be shot through like armored cars, light tanks, and even the side areas of some regularly armored tanks as their side armor is usually weak
  APHE rounds won't work usually since their fuses cause them to detonate inside the wreck
  
  Certain high penetration ammo like modern Sabot rounds or high penetration APCR rounds will usually go straight through these meaning you can ignore light wrecks almost entirely when dealing with enemies while using these types of ammo
  
  - bombs, rockets and some other weapons can be shot down before they impact their target. Large bombs can be shot down by even machine gun fire due to their large size
  (This has saved me like 20 or something times lol)
  
  - running over trees or anything large and tall enough can telegraph your movement and location to enemies who may be watching the area, Be wary when traveling through the Japanese map since the bamboo is very tall and easy to see fall.
  The same works backwards, Trees falling or objects being destroyed that you see could be indicators of enemy movement.
  
  - if you set your driving mode to manual in the options you'll be able to manually select the gears you want your tank to move at, potentially useful for advancing while keeping the capacity to return fire immediately as your gun will bounce around a lot less, Some early tanks even have single plane stabilizers in the form of gyros and simple man power allowing them to drive at a more decent speed while having a stable shooting platform.
  
  - Smoke rounds and smoke grenades can be used as distractions and to even potentially draw out snipers who may take a random shot into the smoke cloud, Enemy players will generally shoot into these clouds expecting a free kill and usually refuse to advance into them until they dissipate.
  
  - There is a useful pinging feature that works between squad-mates, If you go to your controls and bind "Set target for squadron" you'll be able to put a yellow marker at the location your cross-hair / where you're looking at is, It only works for squad mates which includes the random one you get paired with given you have the option active.
  
  - You can use artillery as something else other than as a weapon, If you don't have the capacity for smoke or need some form of cover, Artillery deposits orange smoke which may help to obscure you but the real cover comes when the bombardment happens which kicks of loads of dirt and dust which will obscure you for a solid few seconds, this could help you get the upper hand if a lane or area is locked down by a tank that's aware of you and is refusing to letup the staring contest as the brief cover generated could let you pop out and shoot them.
  
  You can use artillery to see if an enemy is near an area as artillery shrapnel may hit vehicles in the area designated. While it won't tell you where they are exactly it will tell you they're near the area which is potentially useful.
  Pay lots of attention since a point may be neutralized but not actively being captured, your artillery hitting a point would tell you if an enemy is present on it given you dropped artillery on the point.
  
  Depending on the map too you may also get early artillery that reaches an area the enemy may be, Be wary though and try to plan ahead by at least 10-12 seconds if you want to try and get an early kill or critical hit.
  
  - The point markers tell you how far you are to them exactly in km (Only to around the edge of the capture zone, Larger capture zones can be misleading) so 1.6km is 1600m, You can use this very accurately in range finding in relation to a target that is around or in-between you and the point (These do not appear in Sim however)
  
  - Having friends and co-ordination is incredibly useful in all gamemodes, sticking close to your team in any game mode and not "Over extending" raises your chances of survival, Just be wary if an enemy aircraft is getting dogpiled by your team since it might be an easy kill but the amount of your allies tailing it could lead to aircraft collisions which is a big risk.
  
  - You can choose to stop grass from being displayed while in sniper-mode, This is an option you can toggle in the settings menu and gives you a much better field of view while sniping from just over a hill top.
  
  - The option "Camera from tank gunner sight" may be toggled from the vehicle settings so the view takes effect in game modes other than Sim, This can be useful if you want to get used to the view in other game modes with less perceived pressure or just prefer the option over the default view.
  

Happy thundering!!!!!

[Daleks2377]

just make sure your allies don't shoot you blind!!!

[Vi]

Step 1. Play the german KV-1 or T-34
Step 2. apply russian decals
Step 3. drive far away from friendlies and laugh at confused enemies.

[T0NKA]

The only thing people really need to take away is not to shoot their teammates.

[Daleks2377]

updated, added a bit about the radars and their IFF

[Indie06]

I blind shot a German sherman in a sherman simply because i forgot i was in SIM
and a german KV-1 not the KV-1B

[whirldstar]

very usefull, it definately motivates me to play this gamemode.
a nice addition would be to talk about custom sights for sim.
also congrats on the 2600 GE prize

[Daleks2377]

gonna add later

[Maj_ChowCheeBong]

At air sim higher tiers with radar, IFF is a thing which helps immensely with identifying friendlies. Some planes have IFF in all radar modes while others only have IFF in the default radar mode

[Daleks2377]

You could definitely try a clan / platoon who're open to helping people, Try out the chats and ask around for people who're looking for squads to join!

[Zhang Wong]

can u carry me to the t55