The Fight for Sight: How Germany Set Unparalleled Superiority in Tank Optics During WW2

[goodcigar]

The optical aiming systems installed on German, Allied, and Soviet tanks varied significantly in their design and quality.Among these, German tanks stood out with multiple advantages in their gun sights.With meticulous design and unparalleled quality, German gun sights boasted advantages that set them apart from their counterparts. From wider fields of view to superior magnification, these optical marvels offered tank-crews a crucial edge on the battlefield. Designed by the renowned German optics manufacturer Zeiss, these devices became synonymous with precision and excellence on the battlefield. Whether prowling the deserts of North Africa or the snow-covered plains of Eastern Europe, German tank gunners could rely on their sights, to deliver accuracy and lethality when it mattered most.

Wish HOI4 Tank Designer had optics.

 

[Henry IX]

The optical aiming systems installed on German, Allied, and Soviet tanks varied significantly in their design and quality.Among these, German tanks stood out with multiple advantages in their gun sights.With meticulous design and unparalleled quality, German gun sights boasted advantages that set them apart from their counterparts. From wider fields of view to superior magnification, these optical marvels offered tank-crews a crucial edge on the battlefield. Designed by the renowned German optics manufacturer Zeiss, these devices became synonymous with precision and excellence on the battlefield. Whether prowling the deserts of North Africa or the snow-covered plains of Eastern Europe, German tank gunners could rely on their sights, to deliver accuracy and lethality when it mattered most.

Wish HOI4 Tank Designer had optics.

This is correct in the main, German optics were pretty good and Soviet optics were rubbish. When it comes to American optics the picture is a little more complex. In 1942 the M1 Sherman had inferior optics to a pz IV, with lower (or no) magnification and a tendency to fog up. By 1944 the 76mm armed Sherman had arguably better optics with the ability to shift between a 1X magnification telescope with 42 degees of vision and a 6X times magnification scope with an 11 degree arc of vision. In contrast the Panther had a single gun sight with 2.5X magnification and a 28 degree field of view. While the optics of the Panther were excellent they were less flexible than the American sight which allowed faster target aquisition and more accurate targeting by switiching between scopes.

Optics are one of those soft factors that are often ignored when assessing how good a tank was, and could make a huge difference in an environment where the first to shoot usualy won an engagement (most WWII tank guns were capble of pentrating most contemporary tanks at normal ranges).

I'm not sure how you could implement tank sights into the designer in an interesting way. Just giving a modest buff to a stat (e.g. HA) for a small cost increase feels underwhelming to me, and something existing design choices already allow. The sight is just one of many small changes that make a tank incrementally better. It falls into the same area in a game as adding 'steel anealing temperatue control' as a modifier to the tank design. Hugely important in real life but just not interesting, it can just be rolled into 'improved armour'.