Optics
Contents
What are optics and where to look for them
Optics are used by your crew to look at enemy. For you, they are used whenever you use sniper (gunner) scope, or commander's binoculars (from commander's cupola).
When you use Gunner scope, you initially see things with minimal scope zoom. You can toggle zoom between minimal and maximal by scrolling mouse wheel, or go to maximal zoom by pressing "zoom in" key (default key is Z).
You can always see optics on X-ray overview in vehicle preview. When you point cursor at them, they say "optics", though they often come without description and don't say their magnification levels at all. Generally, only one of them tells zoom levels, and it's usually the one in front of the gunner (could be any of them, though, so keep looking).
Some vehicles are half-filled, and only say one zoom level (presumably, it always means maximal zoom):
A lot of vehicles do not have zoom specified at all.
Optics and viewports are also sometimes a weakspot of super heavy tanks, such as IS-7, though they are extremely hard to target, as they are very small.
Just damaging the optics does nothing to the tank or player's effectiveness in game so far.
Differences between different optics in the game
Optics zoom levels are important and one should keep in mind what they're using. Fighting dedicated sniper tanks with X12+ scopes, while you have only X4 is extremely dangerous, as they probably can see your tank in detail, while you can barely notice their profile.
It's important even in arcade mode, as it's easier to fine-tune gun aim with stronger magnification, especially if an enemy tank has only one small weakspot, and you are limited on time. Also, the stronger the zoom is, the futher apart the shell drop marks are, making it slightly less confusing.
It is also worth noting, that certain nations and/or vehicles have much cleaner scopes. As in, your vision is not blacked out all the time, and it's easier for you to judge shell drop distance, as scope marks are much bigger, despite zoom level being the same.
Commander's binoculars always have about X6 zoom and same lenses across all vehicles.
Examples of zoom levels for different confirmed vehicles
Screenshots are made in test drive map, always from a certain position on the edge between E-4 and D-4 (seen on minimap), hull front is always aligned towards the target to minimize collision.
Weather settings: 16:00, overcast. It surely would be easier to spot enemy at good weather, but in RB they have camouflage, and often tanks engage at 2km range, at which on some maps fog may set in regardless of weather, so it's only fair if we make target a bit harder to see.
The target is at a distance of exactly 1 km on these screenshots, as should be seen by indicators. The enemy tank, which spawns at the back of the practice map, is always different, depending on vehicle chosen for test-drive, but it's generally standing exactly 1.2 km away from testing spot.
If you cannot figure out the zoom level visually, sometimes you can relate to the compass on top of the screen - its size changes accordingly to the zoom level.
Click on an image and browse them with arrow keys/buttons on screenshot sides to make them easier to compare.
X1 - no zoom, 3PV in front of gun. Made with Ho-Ri Production.
X2.5 zoom. Made with Tiger II (H) Sla.16.
X3 zoom. Made with Calliope.
X3.5 zoom. Made with Object 120.
X4 zoom. Made with M46 “Tiger”. The lenses on this one are cleaner than average.
X5 zoom. Made with T20.
X6 zoom. Made with Binoculars (same for everyone).
X6 zoom. Made with Ho-Ri Production.
X6.8 zoom. Made with AMX-30.
X7 zoom. Made with Object 120.
X7.5 zoom. Made with AMX-13 (SS.11).
X8 zoom. Made with AMX-30.
X8 zoom. Made with T-55AM-1. This variant has better lenses.
X9.2 zoom. Made with Panzer IV/70(A).
X10 zoom. Made with Challenger tank line.
X10.3 zoom. Made with Leopard A1A1 (L/44). (Not to be mistaken with the "normal" Leopard A1A1).
X12 zoom. Made with Leopard A1A1 (L/44). (Not to be mistaken with the "normal" Leopard A1A1).
X16.1 zoom. Made with ST-A1. So far, the strongest scope a tank can have.
User-made scopes
Some players may be annoyed with cross hairs blocking out the view on target, it being too big or small, historically inaccurate, or just simply plain, especially on higher rank tanks. As such, default scope can be replaced with a custom one. For more details relate to this specialized article. Custom optics looks do not change zoom level. They also share a common trait of being static (being unable to adjust to the changes of ammunition or the gun elevation) and forcing player to use manual gun adjustment at longer range, especially with default HEAT rounds.
For use around Wiki
Since a lot of tanks don't have specified zoom level, you can check its actual zoom level here, or by using mentioned vehicles to compare. Then, you can write about it at "main armament" section of chosen vehicle, either by simply noting the minimal and maximal zoom levels, or by filling it with small table like this:
| Optics (Xmagnification) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Which ones | Default | Maximum (zoomed in) |
| Main Gun optics | X4.3 | X12 |
