M1 Tank Platoon and M1 Tank Platoon II

Started by Lowenstaat, July 02, 2022, 04:34:25 AM

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Lowenstaat

I had no idea M1 Tank Platoon and M1 Tank Platoon II were available on Steam and Epic Games. Looks like they've been on the storefronts since early May. We had an internet outage for three weeks in May due to a construction crew who cut through a line in town. So I guess that's why I overlooked these old games publishing on Steam back in May. Oddly, I don't see them available on GOG.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16031/The_M1_Tank_Platoon_Collection/

https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/m1-tank-platoon-eef993

https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/m1-tank-platoon-2-2d2c31
"Initiative compensates for a lack of skill."

fran

M1 Tank Platoon one of the first PC games I played. Good times...

Jarhead0331

I played the crap out of both, but dont think they would hold up well over all that time. Probably best left as very good memories.
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Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Grim.Reaper

Probably one of the few that never played them...no idea why.  Might pick them up just to see what others always talk about even though unlikely to play long...who knows

Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

SirAndrewD

I agree with Jarhead.  Both of these games were revolutionary for their time, but they're very primitive by today's standards, especially the original. 

The first game is essentially just a handful of the same missions repeated over and over again.  The force composition and terrain changes, but no matter what you're just repeating the same engagement with an interface limited by 1980's joystick given glory. 

The campaigns, as far as I can remember, just strings these quick missions together and adds crew management between engagements. 

Awesome fun in 1989.  I played it till my eyes bled.  Not so much in 2022. 

More can be said for the sequel, a lot more, however it's still limited compared to what modern games can accomplish.  The amazing Open GL graphics of the late 90's that inspired me to save my pennies and purchase my first Voodoo 2 card in no way are going to hold up on modern monitors.

If you're going to spend a few bucks on modern armor sims and are dongle adverse, I'd suggest looking up Gunner HEAT and joining their Patreon to participate in the Beta.  It's coming along nicely and I think you'd get more enjoyment out of it than what these oldies can offer.
"These men do not want a happy ship. They are deeply sick and try to compensate by making me feel miserable. Last week was my birthday. Nobody even said "happy birthday" to me. Someday this tape will be played and then they'll feel sorry."  - Sgt. Pinback

Gusington

I see that Gunner, HEAT, PC is due for early access very soon on Steam...[im]patiently waiting.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Lowenstaat

Yep, so  many memories from both games. A typical M1 Tank Platoon mission started with a briefing map for one of six mission types: Blitzkrieg (breakthrough action), Meeting Engagement, Hasty Attack, Assault, Defend Position, or Rearguard Action. Then the player would get a overview of friendly and enemy forces. The player might just have their M1 Tank Platoon or HQ might supplement the player's force with infantry or scouts in Bradleys or M113s, other tank platoons like M1s or M60s, mortars, off map artillery, and scout or attack helicopters. The maps were simple: four polygon hills and mountains, water obstacles, roads, limited buildings and vegetation. It was enough to develop a tactical plan no matter the mission. 

Once on mission, the player had time to maneuver and improve positions of his assets on defense or scout and adjust planning on offense. The Offensive Red force AI (and by red force I mean really red, as in red vehicles) was almost always guaranteed to send three waves on attack: a first wave of BTRs and BMPs, a second wave of mixed mechanized infantry and tanks, and a third wave of tanks that would try to exploit any successes of the first two waves. The Defensive Red AI would position hull down tank sections and APC sections in forward observation posts. The remainder of defensive Red forces would locate in elevated terrain to form converging defensive pockets of fire covering their objective. 

Second line and first line enemy troops had older equipment, were a bit slower to react to the player's forces, and seemed to have trouble effectively using its support assets like attack helicopters and artillery. Veteran and Guard level enemy forces had great equipment, were better at using standoff AT missiles, and would quickly call in artillery strikes and attack helicopters on player forces. On offence their attacks were more tenacious than greener troops. On defense, they often had a platoon or two in reverse slope to counter player attacks.

It was usually easy to disrupt the attacks of the greener AI, but facing a veteran AI attacker required careful positioning of your M1s and support units. I remember rolling M113 infantry sections and platoons from covered reverse slope hillsides up to defilade firing positions to let them pop off some TOW missiles, then loading them back up and getting their "little green waffles" (the infantry map icon) the heck out of Dodge before the Veteran AI dropped artillery on them.  Similarly, on attack versus veteran AI I remember having to neutralize enemy OPs with artillery (smoke or explosive) or helicopters, then setting up flanking attacks to be successful against their main defensive lines. Even so, if I did not properly scout the enemy's positions, sometimes  even one of my M1 sections would roll over the hill on to the objective only to find itself in a close fight with enemy BMPs or tanks that were sitting in reverse slope on defense.

If the player lost a tank in a single mission it might affect the score performance for that mission, but that was it. However, in a campaign the player would have to replace the tank or sometimes even individual crew who were wounded or killed.   For example, the player might have to deal with the death of a skilled 1SG whom he'd previously awarded the Bronze Star. Before the next campaign mission, the player would see a new PV2 join the deceased 1SG's tank crew as loader while the other crew members moved up to assume new responsibilities as driver, gunner, and tank commander. That might mean that a Corporal or Sergeant with fair crew quality who was the gunner suddenly found himself in the tank commander position for that crew after having replaced the 1SG.

Also, victory or defeat in a campaign mission affected the remainder of the campaign. If the player failed to hold his objectives on defense and lost his support elements, HQ might task his M1 platoon to conduct a rearguard by itself during the next mission. Losing a rearguard action usually meant losing the campaign. Conversely, a successful meeting engagement might lead to the subsequent mission being a hasty attack, assault, or even a breakthrough.

M1 Tank Platoon II kept the cycle of play from the first game, but added more detail to the systems, graphics, and sounds.

Well I've rattled on enough about the old days of Microprose sims (and their fantastic manuals). I certainly enjoy the detail and fidelity of the simulated machines and equipment in DCS, ARMA, Steel Beasts, and am supporting and playing the development version of Gunner, HEAT, PC! Games like DCS and Steel Beasts are military platform proficiency training simulators. They certainly have a huge following and are successful. But I remember the Microprose games fondly because they put players in the boots of the pilot, soldier, spy, ship commander, etc. as though they were already trained and proficient. Of course, they accomplished this through a bit of abstraction and simplification, but not to the degree of turning their MIL Sims into arcade games like Ace Combat (which also looks fun, by the way). They were immersive military profession simulators (without the PowerPoints!) whereas more detailed sims like DCS are military equipment simulators. I'm just happy that I can play both now!

"Initiative compensates for a lack of skill."

JasonPratt

Many fond days playing M1TP2! -- and its predecessor on the C64. Lowenstaat's recollections are in no way exaggerated.

My most searing memory was of having a tank platoon on a defensive mission, and setting up an enfilade (with my back to the map's edge more or less) to cover, hull down, the valley I expected the Red thrust to come through. This was my only hope as I only had my four tanks for this mission, and the enemy had an elite group making the thrust (though only one wave as I recall), outnumbering me by four to 1 easily.

So, nervously, I set up and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

This did not help my nervousness, but it added perplexity. Had the game broken somehow? That had never happened before. Had they chosen to advance all the way on the other side of the map? But I should have still been able to see something, and they would still have had to come back toward me to exit (if I recall correctly) so I would have still had some chance to at least knock out some armor.

Eventually, I took the tank nearest the top of the hill, backed it up behind the slope edge, turned east and edged up over the perpendicular slope to see if I could spot anything happening masked by my hill...

...oh, there was the enemy, CREEPING UP THE SLOPE TOWARD ME ABOUT TO HIT MY PLATOON FROM THE SIDE!!

I started popping shots with AP at close range to see if I could make them stop to shoot back, and have hasty redeployment orders.

I don't recall our troop casualties, but I don't think I lost a tank and I know we pulled off a win.
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