The gun stabilizer is a system that improves the tank gun’s aim at the target and preserves (stabilizes) its aim even when the hull vibrates during movement, which allows it to perform effective aimed fire during vehicle movement or when temporarily stopped. This reaction time and accuracy between target detection and effective hit draw the line between life and death in tank warfare. Read more about the gun stabilizers in the article.
General Info
There are three types of stabilizers in the game: Single-plane, Shoulder-stop, and Two-plane.
Single-plane
Single-plane stabilizer is a simple stabilizer system that only stabilizes on a vertical axis. As such, the sights will still bounce quite a bit if moving fast on cross-country terrain, but it still provides a stable fighting platform when stopping to fire.
Stability while on the move is only effective up to a certain speed on most tanks with the system. If the tank moves faster than the speed limit, the stabilizer disengages and the gun starts bouncing with the terrain until the vehicle slows down again.
Shoulder-stop
Shoulder-stop stabilizer is not truly a stabilizer in real life, but follows a principle due to the elevation mechanism on smaller calibre guns. This affects tanks with a small calibre gun such as the 2-pounder, which uses a shoulder rest for the gunner to manually elevate the gun. Due to the liberty the gunner had in the elevation on his shoulder rather than on gears, he could hold the gun steady as the tank was on the move and fire with relative ease. Aside from this description, its function in the tank is not dissimilar to the single-plane stabilizer, just not as fine.
Stability while on the move is effective only to around 8-9 km/h before the stabilizer disengages.
Two-plane
The ultimate in gun stabilizing system, the two-plane stabilizer represents very stable steadiness with a stabilizing function of the horizontal and vertical axis. This gives a very smooth gun sighting when traveling on cross-country terrain.
Stability on the move is effective on all range speed, though one should caution in firing after moving around rough hills as while the sight remains on target, the gun may still be unaligned for a few seconds before returned to on target.