Last updated 2024-10-05. Image credit: Rossmum.

HOW TO USE THIS FAQ PAGE:

As the number of topics here is quite large, it is recommended that you use your browser's search function (usually Ctrl+F on a PC) to find the keywords for the topic you are wondering about. For example, if you are here to learn about plans for a mission editor, you could search mission editor or scenario and immediately find the relevant answer on the page.

This page is updated over time as community feedback indicates trends in what people are wondering about GHPC.

Overview of GHPC

Q: What's the point of this game?

A: We want to play a tank game that hits a satisfying level of realism without imposing free-to-play economy limitations or sacrificing playability and accessibility. The options for that set of goals seem limited, so we're making it happen ourselves. For detailed info, see our Steam store page description. Please note that the purpose of GHPC is not to replace or "kill" any particular existing game, and we have never pitched it as such. We believe people who enjoy tank games will enjoy adding GHPC to their rotation.

Q: I'm lost. How do I control the tank systems and play the game?

A: There is a complete guide linked in the main menu under "Help". You can also find it here on the website.

It's also highly encouraged to read the gunnery guides and play the training range missions (select Instant Action and choose the Grafenwoehr range from the drop-down list at the top of the mission list). Every tank design in GHPC handles a little bit differently during gunnery, and your effectiveness and enjoyment when using each vehicle will rely on a good understanding of how it works.

The guide links are also available from the "Help" button in the game's main menu.

Q: I want to make a video/article/etc. about GHPC, but I have some questions for the team first. Who do I talk to?

A: You're free to cover any build of GHPC at will, but if you require additional information, email info@gunnerheatpc.com or ping @Media Contact on Discord. As a rule of thumb, we allow gameplay footage and commentary on official teasers, videos, etc., but re-uploads of our team's videos are not allowed. 

Q: How do I get the game?

A: As of September 2022, GHPC is now in Early Access on Steam.

Q: Is the game free?

A: During earlier phases of development, a basic alpha demo was free to play. However, this version was phased out when we entered Early Access. Currently, the only way to get GHPC is to buy it on Steam. 

Please note that GHPC has no distribution deals with any vendor aside from Valve, and any keys for sale on other sites are either fake or fraudulent. If you purchase GHPC somewhere other than Steam, 100% of that payment goes to criminals, and we receive no support.

Q: Are you going to do DLC?

A: We hope to in the distant future. Once the roadmap has been completed and the game is in full release state, and assuming we have the necessary resources to continue development, we would like to add more content as old-school expansion packs. Each pack would have a significant set of new additions (no $60 tanks here!) and follow a theme.

Q: Are you going to add premium vehicles, loot boxes, or other F2P game mechanics?

A: Never.

Q: Do you have an update schedule?

A: In general, we aim for at least one update per month. Sometimes, there are two, especially if we release a minor update to follow a regular one. However, please note that the game has no fixed update schedule and we prefer to delay rather than crunch.

Q: Where can I see a roadmap / todo list / change history?

A: Past release notes are listed on Steam. We also have a public roadmap that lists major milestone goals for the Early Access phase.

Q: How long has this been in development? How many people are working on it?

A: The lead developer started working on it alone in 2017. At the time it was called "Josh's Unnamed Tank Game". During the course of development, it was renamed to Gunner, HEAT, PC! and in late 2019 and early 2020 a few team members were added for the pivot to a new vertical slice build for Patreon supporters. In 2022, we released on Steam in Early Access, and the 4-person Radian Simulations LLC team is working alongside several contractors to finish the game.

Q: How long will it take to reach full release?

A: There's no way to tell for sure, and we do not share our internal estimates. We would rather leave ourselves space to work effectively, avoid crunch, and achieve a high level of quality. The game will be finished when it's finished.

Q: Are you going to add multiplayer?

A: Yes, though the main focus is currently on making the single player core more polished and efficient. Multiplayer will come later. 

Q: Will there be PvP?

A: We can't answer this yet. For now, only PvE is confirmed. Game modes are likely to be asymmetrical, objective based, and co-op focused.

Q: Will there be multicrew?

A: Yes, one of our goals for multiplayer is to allow multiple players to operate the same vehicle together if they wish. Multicrew will be optional, not mandatory.

Q: Will there be interiors?

A: A detailed interior view will not be possible given the team size and funding level we have available. The research and labor costs involved are excessive. Instead, we will depict important optics and viewfinders in a dark "void" interior perspective or some similarly obscured environment. This will allow the use of periscopes and sights in a physically useful context while avoiding the issues with full interior modeling.

Q: Will there be mod support?

A: The game is moddable by default to those with the right skills. Official mod tools are highly unlikely for the foreseeable future, as we have no interest in taking time away from core feature development to create a modding framework. For those who want to check out the current selection of mods for GHPC, there is a dedicated modding forum in our Discord server.

Q: Will there be a mission editor or some other way to make custom scenarios?

A: This is something we're interested in adding in the future.

Q: Is the game going to sacrifice single player content in favor of multiplayer?

A: No. The objective is to provide an enjoyable single player content base, such as a campaign mode and interesting skirmish missions. Multiplayer will be optional and complimentary to the base game, not dominant.

Q: What vehicles are going to be in the game?
Q: Can you add this specific vehicle?

A: The game's focus is on a fictional war centered on the "Fulda Gap" in 1985. The Fulda '85 theater will feature units from the US, USSR, and East and West Germany, in the CENTAG area of operations. (While we hope to expand to other times and places in the future, it is too early to promise anything.) In general, we only consider vehicles adopted into service and serial production; prototypes are not eligible to be added. We also do not take requests. Future vehicle and theater plans are not publicly available, but for convenience, there is a spreadsheet showing what has been openly confirmed or added so far.

Q: Are there going to be helicopters / aircraft / infantry?

A: The main focus is on armored fighting vehicles. We intend to add non-playable infantry for use by APCs and IFVs. There are also helicopters and fixed-wing Close Air Support, but they will not be player-controllable.

Q: Will I be able to give commands to infantry after deploying them from my APC?

A: If AI ordering mechanics are added, this would also apply to infantry. However, in general, infantry will not be under player control.

Q: Why is it called "Gunner, HEAT, PC!" and why is there an APFSDS dart in the logo if the name says HEAT?

A: "Gunner, HEAT, PC!" is a fire command used by US tank crews when targeting a personnel carrier, or "PC". It was chosen for two reasons. First, it's a play on the letters "PC" since this is a PC game. Second, it's much better for SEO than "gunner, sabot, tank" would have been. There's a dart in the logo because a dart looks way cooler.

Common Vehicle Questions

Q: Where are the West Germans? I want Leopards and 120mm guns!

A: When GHPC entered early access, it only had two factions: the US Army and the East German National People's Army (NVA). The USSR Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG) were added in early 2024 to complete the Warsaw Pact side. The West German forces remain in development and will be released when ready.

Q: Why no T-80BV? Will there be explosive reactive armor (ERA)?

A: There are reports from 1985 suggesting some T-80BV tanks were sighted in the German border region that year. This often leads people to ask for us to add the tank. However, the old prototype ERA system in the game needs serious work in both the programming and art departments before we would consider it up to standards and suitable for release. Considering that we have a tiny team with numerous other critical features to work on and this would all be for a single tank, we have determined that working on a T-80BV is not a prudent use of our resources. When we release the game and move on to expansion content, we will likely revisit this question.

Q: I read on Wikipedia that the T-80U was accepted into service in 1985. Will you add it to the game?

A: No. The T-80U was not deployed to central Germany in 1985. The on-paper service date of a piece of equipment is usually not an indication of when it actually arrived in combat units, let alone a guarantee that it was sent to a relevant location.

Q: Why no M1A1 or M1A2 Abrams?

A: The M1A1 was not yet deployed in the CENTAG region in 1985 and so is not eligible to be included. The M1A2 was still in the distant future at this time, so it too is excluded. After the game releases, if we are able to work on expansion packs, we will see if there's a place for the 120mm armed M1.

Q: What about T-55AM and T-62M?

A: These were not in use in the area being depicted in 1985. The Soviet forces in central Germany did not use this T-62 configuration, and the East Germans had not yet fielded any T-55 variants newer than the A model.

Q: Challenger? Chieftain?

As the UK forces are not involved in the game's current theater of operations (Central Germany / CENTAG), there are no plans to add these tanks to GHPC.

Q: Will there be flyable helicopters or planes?

A: No. This is a game about armor. All other assets, including aircraft and standard infantry, will be under AI control only.

Q: Will you do a World War 2 (WW2) theater?

A: While we do not reveal content plans ahead of time, it's safe to say there is no plan to do any setting older than the Cold War.

Gameplay and Options

Q: The motion blur is really annoying. Can you get rid of it?
Q: I'm having performance/FPS issues. How do I make it run faster?

A: You can disable motion blur (but not vibration blur) in the settings menu. It's also a great place to tune other video, audio, and input options. Reducing vegetation distance and shadow quality can help weaker systems. As a rule of thumb, a strong CPU will have the largest performance impact as long as the GPU is suitable for gaming. Laptops are also more likely to suffer from performance issues. As with all other aspects of the game, performance will be improved gradually during development.

In order to determine whether your system is CPU or GPU bottlenecked, pay attention to the game's performance during AAR mode. If it's smooth during AAR but not during an ongoing mission, you are CPU bottlenecked, and lowering graphics settings will probably do nothing or even harm your performance.

Q: How do I turn off the blur and shaking in gunsights while moving?

A: This is designed to make the gunner's sight deliberately difficult to use as a primary observation tool while on the move, especially in older vehicles. We suggest using the commander's hatch view and binoculars to look around while driving.

Q: How do I lower mouse sensitivity?
Q: How do I remap controls?

A: Settings menu. Press Esc, click on Options, then Input.

Q: Can I use a joystick or other analog controller?

A: Yes. You will need to map the controls yourself in the settings. The aiming axes are in the first tab, and you will also need to bind an aim button ("palm switch") to activate aiming. Please note that using keyboard/mouse and a controller at the same time can cause glitchy behavior.

Q: How do I aim, look through sights, etc.? Where's the controls list?

A: You can press F1 to show the controls list during a mission.

Q: How can I change the aiming to use mouse position directly (shooter style) instead of the velocity-based system?

A: You can't. We made a deliberate design decision to prioritize holding consistent traverse speeds. Many of the fire control systems in modern tanks rely on smooth gun handling for features like automatic moving target lead to function properly, and we are not willing to compromise on this to enable a "twitchy" aiming style. Most players report that they get used to the GHPC aim system quickly, so we encourage you to keep practicing until it becomes intuitive.

Q: How do I use the moving target tracking or other fire control system features?

A: There are gunnery guides listed in this compilation post. It is highly recommended to learn and practice gunnery in each vehicle, as this has a large impact on combat effectiveness and ammo efficiency. The tank range is equipped with several stationary and moving targets for this purpose.

Q: My tank ran out of ammo but I see there's more ammo listed in the HUD. How do I move it to the ready rack?

A: You can start and stop ammo restocking in the quick menu, accessed via the Q key by default. You can also queue different ammo types from the ready rack with the number keys. Tanks usually carry 2 or more ammo types. During ammo restocking, your turret crew will be busy and unable to aim the weapons.

Q: Why is some of my audio muted?

A: If you're experiencing audio glitches, try muting and then un-muting audio from the Esc menu. If this does not work, drag the volume slider to a different number. If the issue is still not resolved, try restarting your PC.

Q: How do I use the commander's heavy machine gun on the roof of the turret?

A: Most of these are not yet implemented. You can cycle through the available weapons on your vehicle with a hotkey (default: F), and if the heavy machine gun is available, it will come up in this sequence. The un-implemented roof guns are planned for later on in development, possibly around the time that visible crew and unbuttoning are added.

Quality and performance

Q: Why are the physics / terrains / UI / etc. the way they are?

A: The game is in early development and many elements are unpolished or still in need of optimization. You can help by contributing! If you have a high level of skill in character animation, environment art, or other game development areas, contact the team via Discord or info@gunnerheatpc.com. Otherwise, consider buying GHPC on Steam or subscribing on Patreon. Your support helps us fund the game's development.

Q: Why does the game run poorly on my system?

A: The game is not optimized for performance yet. It's recommended to have at least a mid-range gaming system with a strong CPU and RAM reserve to play it at this time. However, if you notice a specific part of the game is causing performance to suffer, let us know! This information can help improve the experience for everyone.

Q: Why do I not get improved frame rates when lowering the graphical settings?

A: Your system may be CPU bottlenecked when running GHPC. In order to determine where performance bottlenecks are for GHPC on your PC, compare the performance of the game during a mission vs. the performance during After-Action Review (AAR) mode.

If the game runs smoothly in AAR mode but not in a mission, your CPU is likely the limiting factor, as it is under high load during missions but not during AAR. If the game's performance is similar before and after entering AAR mode, you may be GPU bottlenecked. Lowering graphics settings on a CPU bottlenecked system will likely have little or no effect, and it may even harm the performance.

For many people, grass render distance and shadows could have some impact on performance, but texture size and miscellaneous settings (e.g. anisotropic filtering) will not make much difference and are best left on high presets.

Realism

Q: Is this a simulator or a game?

A: Ideally, it will feel compelling and immersive while also letting you have fun. We believe applying a strict label to games of this genre is reductive and misses the point.

Q: Why does this specific weapon system not perform the way it does in real life?

A: Could be a bug, could be an oversight on our part. If you have information about real life performance that contradicts the results you get in the game, tell us about it in #feedback on Discord. Most valid and properly cited corrections from public sources will be considered. Any undocumented or subjective feedback will be discarded.

Q: Why do I keep getting destroyed in this tank even though it's the best in the world in real life?

A: The game simulates the weapons and armor it depicts as accurately as possible given available public information. No tank is invincible, no matter how big its reputation is. You may need to adjust your strategy to play to its strengths and guard against its flaws.

Q: Do you account for different types of armor?

A: Yes. Armor performance is based on separate RHAe estimations for kinetic and chemical attacks, with each part of the armor model tagged according to its thickness and material composition. There are also modifiers in place for specific types of armor with special properties, as well as ammunition types that are stronger against specific armor types. While the real-life interaction of composite armor and advanced penetrators is too complex to fully capture in this way, it's close enough for game purposes.

Q: Is armor penetration modeled in detail like a Finite Element Analysis physics simulation?

A: No. The game needs to run in real time with multiple shots flying at once, so there are some necessary shortcuts taken. We simulate things like projectile diameter, ricochet, normalization, nutation, overpressure, and spalling, tuning the results as close to real life as possible. We do detailed research and construct formulas to make armor and ammo performance line up with the documentation. All results are based on real-world testing summaries and research papers where possible, and missing data is sourced from "best guess" extrapolation.

Q: Is GHPC a viable platform for testing vehicles and drawing conclusions about their real-life performance?

A: No. Despite our best efforts, we cannot guarantee completely accurate results, especially for systems that are still classified. Nothing you see in this game should be taken as an authoritative indication of a real system's performance.

Q: Will there be additional optics such as commander's independent sights?

A: Yes. This is a planned feature when the crew stations roadmap phase is completed.

Q: If the game was truly realistic, this thing would happen, but it's not implemented!

A: Let us know in #feedback on Discord and we'll see if it's something that can be added without sacrificing playability or derailing development. Please note that the purpose of GHPC is not to be a meticulously correct, rivet counting recreation of real vehicles - and keep in mind that if an idea is obvious, we've probably already considered it. We reserve the right to discard feedback if it does not line up with our goals for the game's development.

Documentation and sources

Q: Can I send you secret documents to help out?

A: Please refrain from posting anything that's going to get either you or us in trouble. If you're not sure, email us a question about it, or directly message a developer. Items marked classified or restricted are not allowed unless you can prove that they have been since approved for unlimited public distribution.

Q: I'm a tanker in real life. Can you take my word as fact?

A: If you're an armor crewman, your input is welcome! However, any unbelievable claims are subject to review, and we won't take a sole word-of-mouth source as evidence. Always back up your personal experience with documentation if possible. 

Q: Do you accept documentation from all nations?

A: Yes, although if there are reasons (e.g. politics, propaganda) to doubt the veracity of a source, we reserve the right to discard it or hedge it against other data.

Q: Can you share your sources for optics design, armor performance, etc.?

A: No. As our focus is on making the game, we are not interested in diverting resources to catalogue and share the data we base the game's tuning on. We also have a high degree of confidence in our research team getting information complete enough for our purposes, and therefore we will not present their work for critique. The overall feel of the armored combat experience does not depend upon a few millimeters of steel here and there.

Q: How do I submit reference material or sources for my realism feedback?

A: We are open to reasonable corrections, but please note that we reserve the right to discard feedback based on contradicting info or development priorities. If you have information that is well sourced and legal to share, you can submit it to https://forms.gle/NhjzRyNVVfQmpK7RA

Future plans

Q: Are you going to simulate damage to fuel / optics / etc.?

A: Most systems currently depicted in the X-ray models will be given damage effects as development progresses.

Q: Will we be able to use repair kits or otherwise repair damage in combat?

A: In general, we're focusing on realistic consequences for component damage. Since tank repairs are time-consuming and performed outside of combat when the immediate danger has passed, they have no place in GHPC mission gameplay. There are other options, such as switching control to another friendly vehicle if your current one is too badly damaged to continue fighting. You can also manually order the crew to bail out in order to avoid further casualties in a stricken vehicle.

Q: Will we be able to lock on to targets?

A: If the vehicle could do that in real life, sure. Most fire control systems before the advent of modern digital FCS with thermals did not have this ability.

Q: Will there be other kinds of missions? Will campaign mode be improved?

A: Yes. Missions will be fleshed out and different scenario types will be added later in development. The early campaign mode is essentially a placeholder for a more structured, game-like experience with strategic and management elements. Stay tuned for more development!

Q: Will the game be released on consoles?

A: There are currently no plans for GHPC to take any other form than a PC release on the Steam platform.

Q: Will you add the game to GeForce Now or similar streaming services?

A: There are no plans to publish GHPC on any streaming service.

Q: Will the soundtrack be added to Spotify or other streaming services?

A: No. The GHPC soundtrack is available for purchase on Steam.

Q: Will there be translations of in-game text into languages other than English?

A: Localization is a planned feature.

Legal and Copyright

Q: Can I use GHPC crew voices, music, 3D models, or other assets for a mod or other project? What if I'm not making money from it?

A: No. We do not grant permission to use any of our assets, and we will pursue available options against unauthorized uses by third parties. This applies regardless of whether there is profit involved. If you think you have a special use case that we should consider granting permission for, reach out to us directly in advance.

Did we miss something that should be on this FAQ page?  Got more questions?  Let us know on Discord or via email!