Tank Movement Controller

// Per-arm suspension force (simplified)
float compression  = 1f - (hitDistance / m_RestLength);
float springForce  = compression * m_SpringStiffness;
float damperForce  = Vector3.Dot(m_RB.GetPointVelocity(hitPoint), hitNormal)
                     * m_DamperCoefficient;
Vector3 force = hitNormal * (springForce - damperForce);
m_RB.AddForceAtPosition(force, hitPoint);

The gearbox runs in a coroutine at 20 Hz — an intentional performance decision. Gear state evaluation does not need to happen every frame; running it every 50 ms keeps it responsive while freeing the main thread. Four gear states are defined:

// HUD — gear indicator at 50% speed

The turret yaws by projecting the camera's look direction onto the turret's yaw plane via Vector3.ProjectOnPlane, then constructing the target rotation with Quaternion.LookRotation and interpolating to it with Quaternion.Slerp. The ProjectOnPlane guard is what prevents gimbal lock at extreme camera pitch — without it, aiming steeply up or down causes the turret to spin erratically as the look direction becomes nearly parallel to the yaw axis.

The barrel pitches independently from the turret yaw. A target pitch angle is extracted by projecting the camera forward onto the turret's local vertical plane, then an AngleAxis rotation is applied around the turret's local right axis. This separation means the turret and barrel can run at different Slerp speeds for more natural feel.

// Turret debug gizmos: yaw arc, Barrel Forward, Hull Forward

// Turret yaw — ProjectOnPlane guard prevents gimbal lock
Vector3 flatLook   = Vector3.ProjectOnPlane(cam.forward, m_Turret.up);
Quaternion target  = Quaternion.LookRotation(flatLook, m_Turret.up);
m_Turret.rotation  = Quaternion.Slerp(m_Turret.rotation, target,
                       m_YawSpeed * Time.deltaTime);

// Barrel pitch — AngleAxis on turret's local right
float   pitchAngle = Vector3.SignedAngle(m_Turret.forward,
                       Vector3.ProjectOnPlane(cam.forward, m_Turret.right),
                       m_Turret.right);
m_Barrel.localRotation = Quaternion.AngleAxis(
                       Mathf.Clamp(pitchAngle, m_MinPitch, m_MaxPitch),
                       Vector3.right);

1. Bug 01

   Suspension arms fighting each other

   Early iterations applied suspension force at the rigidbody centre, causing arms to compete. Each arm's response to compression overwrote its neighbour's contribution. Fixed by computing force strictly per arm from the exact raycast hit point — AddForceAtPosition distributes the torque correctly from that world-space location, so arms cooperate rather than interfere.

2. Bug 02

   Slope seams causing the hull to catch and halt

   The tank would snag on terrain mesh edge seams at speed, killing all momentum abruptly. Fixed by the SlopeTransitionAssist component: a forward sphere-cast constantly probes for upcoming seams and applies a pre-emptive lift force plus a forward nudge to carry the hull over cleanly before it contacts the geometry edge.

3. Bug 03

   Turret gimbal lock at extreme pitch

   Aiming steeply caused the turret to spin erratically. Root cause: the camera's forward vector was nearly parallel to the yaw axis at steep angles, making LookRotation degenerate. Resolved by always projecting onto the yaw plane first — ProjectOnPlane ensures the look vector is always perpendicular to the up axis before it reaches LookRotation.

4. Bug 04

   HUD DebugPanel chunks not showing

   An identical quirk to other projects: UI Toolkit VisualElement children not rendering because the parent panel reference was wrong in the UXML binding. The DebugPanel container required an explicit reference to its parent panel element — the same UMG Canvas Panel equivalent issue documented in the C++ project.

5. Bug 05

   Pimp My Tank body drifting off

   After multiple Pimp mode toggle cycles, the visual body drifted progressively off its attachment point. Residual offset accumulation from incomplete bounce frames. Fixed by hard-resetting localPosition to m_BodyBaseLocalPos at the start of each bounce calculation — base is always authoritative.