GrogHeads Forum

Digital Gaming => Computer Gaming => Topic started by: SirAndrewD on January 10, 2023, 05:16:37 PM

Title: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: SirAndrewD on January 10, 2023, 05:16:37 PM
I've been following this one for a bit and it's got a release date for 2023.  Never seen it discussed in a topic but I figured it'd be releative to everyone's interests. 

Apparently this will be a WW2 Armor "Tactical Combat Action Game" that will have simulator elements and an in depth repair/logistical management element.

The devs have compared the Armor sim element to be inspired by Panzer Elite, which instantly raised my eyebrow. 

They've been doing regular dev blogs and updated recently in December, so I'm hoping we'll see this one in our Christmas Stockings and it delivers.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1498130/Tank_Squad/
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Skoop on January 10, 2023, 05:35:50 PM
Been watching this for a while on steam too.  Looks good, kind of reminds me of the tank game from the graviteam guys when they weren't graviteam. 
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Gusington on January 10, 2023, 08:33:30 PM
Sigh...wishlisted.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Jarhead0331 on January 10, 2023, 09:18:25 PM
http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=25550.msg691532#msg691532 (http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=25550.msg691532#msg691532)
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Sir Slash on January 10, 2023, 11:20:47 PM
Looks good, I loved Panzer Elite.  O0
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Destraex on January 11, 2023, 06:17:53 AM
Playway. Looks good though. Fingers crossed.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: SirAndrewD on January 11, 2023, 10:58:50 AM
Quote from: Destraex on January 11, 2023, 06:17:53 AM
Playway. Looks good though. Fingers crossed.

Exactly why I didn't really think to mention it till now. 

With Playway titles I tend to like to wait to see if it's in active development or if it's just a cinematic concept demo. 

In this case it looks like it's actually making some progress, so, cautiously optimistic.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: SirAndrewD on October 08, 2023, 12:36:44 AM
The Demo for this one is out.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Skoop on October 08, 2023, 04:40:37 PM
I downloaded the demo, but didn't get around to it as I was too busy with starfield.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: SirAndrewD on October 08, 2023, 06:29:02 PM
Quote from: Skoop on October 08, 2023, 04:40:37 PMI downloaded the demo, but didn't get around to it as I was too busy with starfield.

It's rough, very rough, around the edges but has potential.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: JasonPratt on October 11, 2023, 08:00:06 AM
"Grim and realistic depictions of the horrors of war."

....I'm not gonna say pass, but nowadays I've about got my fill of that already.  :buck2:

Otherwise the game looks interesting. Glad it got out of concept-video stage!
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: ArizonaTank on October 11, 2023, 09:47:58 AM
If the game becomes Armored Commander II with nice 3D graphics, that would be something very nice.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: JasonPratt on October 11, 2023, 11:15:18 AM
Holy crap! -- I can't even imagine that, but I'd sure like to see that for ArmComIII!  :smitten:  :smitten:  :smitten:  :smitten:  :smitten:  :smitten:
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Destraex on October 12, 2023, 04:49:29 AM
Enjoying this demo although they call it a vertical slice...
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: SirAndrewD on October 12, 2023, 09:52:07 AM
Quote from: ArizonaTank on October 11, 2023, 09:47:58 AMIf the game becomes Armored Commander II with nice 3D graphics, that would be something very nice.

More like a modern version of Panzer Elite.  The Developers have stated they're directly inspired by that game. 
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Jarhead0331 on April 28, 2025, 05:28:14 PM
This game is developing nicely. You guys should check out the latest demo. It is still a bit "janky" but it is fun and exhibiting a lot of potential. Looks like there is some pretty impressive ballistics, penetration and terrain destruction details. Also models combined arms with armor, infantry and off-map support. It is sort of a mix of War Thunder, Gunner, Heat, PC! and Steel Fury Kharkov 1942.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1498130/Tank_Squad/ (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1498130/Tank_Squad/)

Apparently, release is fairly imminent.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Destraex on April 28, 2025, 10:29:57 PM
Really happy to hear that this game is still in development. I will wait to see if they achieve coop mode though.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Jarhead0331 on April 28, 2025, 10:56:35 PM
Quote from: Destraex on April 28, 2025, 10:29:57 PMReally happy to hear that this game is still in development. I will wait to see if they achieve coop mode though.

There already is a coop mode in menu system. I haven't tried it though.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Destraex on April 28, 2025, 11:07:03 PM
Oh wow. Good news.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Skoop on May 02, 2025, 03:43:42 PM
I played the coop last summer, it works and was fun.  Interesting to see what's been added since then.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Jarhead0331 on May 02, 2025, 07:41:10 PM
I've been playing this a lot. It really is a blast. Takes some time to figure out the UI and the way to interact with other squads, but stick with it and will come together. There is so much to do with your vehicles between missions too. Really neat stuff. It sort of like combines a tank combat simulator with a tank mechanic simulator and then wraps it up in a really cool Eastern Front battle simulator with infantry, support guns and vehicles and offmap assets.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: DesertFox on May 08, 2025, 01:36:56 PM
Looks like this released today!  Reviews for it are pretty negative, although there aren't many and I always take those with a grain of salt.  I'm sure most people are comparing it to World of Tanks...

I'm still going to eventually try it out if I ever can find the time.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Jarhead0331 on May 08, 2025, 02:57:21 PM
I bought it based on my positive experience with the demo. I wish it was released as an EA title with the promise of further development. The developers seem to be active in the forum and promise to work on polish and quality of life stuff, but they do concede that they needed to release regardless of bugs due to money concerns. Hopefully, they get enough in sales to stay afloat and continue support.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: DesertFox on May 08, 2025, 03:00:16 PM
I'm glad you said that...  I will buy the game to support them as soon as I can.  There are a lot of promising games/devs out there right now that are worthy of support.  It's getting tough to figure out where to spend my time/money!  :)

Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Jarhead0331 on May 09, 2025, 08:00:15 AM
I'm glad I bought it. The game is just as fun as the demo. Yes, it has problems. The UI is pretty ill-conceived.  The AI is off. It is hard to coordinate forces and friendly AI. There are some LOS issues and ballistics are questionable. But man, few games let you assault a village on the eastern front with armor, infantry and off-map support. I was attacking a village outside of Kursk last night and as I was advancing, I heard the scream of a dive-bombing stuka, as artillery was exploding in the distance around the objective. Infantry was moving up on the left flank and armor was swinging around on the right and straight up the center. It was pretty damn epic.

I'm still trying to figure out the supply point system and how recovering tank wrecks from the battlefield and repairing them in between missions works. When not in battle, you're at your little base that has different tent areas. HQ for requesting reinforcements from reserve. Quartermaster for requesting new equipment and upgrading tank. The repair area for bringing damaged vehicles back into combat.  The developers are the same guys who made the Tank Mechanic game and they have tried to incorporate some of those systems into Tank Squad. It is sort of like a game within the game. In these sequences, you're controlling your tanker outside of the vehicle in sort of an FPS mode. So you actually walk around the base area and interact directly with the various systems...and yes, you can do this in battle too. You can exit your tank and move around on foot.

I like developers who try new things, even if the implementation falls short. This game falls into the "let's try something new" category.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: DesertFox on May 09, 2025, 11:46:42 AM
That sounds amazing, and you definitely just chalked them up another sale with that description!
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Jarhead0331 on May 09, 2025, 01:35:43 PM
Was just playing around with the tank customizer and the repair and recycle options. It is a pretty in-depth system. All of the major components of the tanks are modeled. Turret, hull, gear box, fuel tanks, wheels, treads, etc. These can be damaged or destroyed in combat and in between operations, you can directly repair, recycle, sell, disassemble and assemble them. This can be tedious working on them one at a time, but I believe there is a way to do it automatically. The customizer is cool too. In my last battle, I capture a platoon of T-34s and two KV-1s. I could have sold them, but instead, I repainted them into German field colors and added German markings from the 2nd SS Panzer Division.

I could lose hours in just this part of the game. I mean really...lets say I have a tank with a destroyed engine. I need to either repair it, or replace it. If replacing, I need to first spawn it in the vehicle repair area. Then disassemble it and use a crane to install the new engine. Cool, but a bit nuts if I'm going to be honest.

Also, in order to make the tanks combat ready after battle, you also need resupply fuel and ammunition. You do this by loading up an ammo crate from the ammo dump and a canister of fuel from the fuel truck. You then go over to each tank and replenish. Nuts!

Like I said...points for trying new things!
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Jarhead0331 on May 09, 2025, 03:21:12 PM
Here is a shot of me working on one of my captured KV-1s. You can see I have already repainted it in German colors and you can also see the detail of some of the internal components.

(https://i.ibb.co/bRMJKdgd/20250509141029-1.jpg)
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Destraex on May 09, 2025, 03:33:18 PM
Sounds amazing. I will consider getting this after giving it a go with a mate.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Jarhead0331 on May 09, 2025, 04:03:02 PM
One thing that really disappointed me in the last battle was the enemy spawn system. I already did not like how Russian infantry seemed to charge out of nowhere when you reach an objective and are about to take it. They always appear danger close and start lobbing molotov cocktails. Not fun.

In the last battle, I'm assaulting a Soviet airfield and there is a well defended river crossing with many dug in tanks, gun positions and infantry. I literally watched T-34s multiplying, with some sometimes nearly falling out of the sky and bouncing next to other tanks in the line. This really ramped up the difficulty unnecessarily and I found it really frustrating.

It's still an otherwise awesome game, but I have to report the bad too!
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Destraex on May 09, 2025, 05:18:46 PM
Sounds like mechwarrior5 which had a very similar spawn system. Really denying the player the opportunity to plan or scout for enemy units properly.
Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Destraex on June 05, 2025, 04:15:31 AM
I just got it as well and am enjoying it. It's packed full of goodies and should be the panzer elite I have wanted for a while and never got to play.
Lots of goodies to play with.
- infantry support and other call ins like artillery
- The option to have your friends in your tank of one of their own beside you in missions
- Working sights
- You can get out of your tank and walk around firing your machine pistol or pistol.
- You switch to the different positions in the tank if you want.
- Call in infantry and then get them to mount the tank and dismount
- You can crew the tiger 1, panther, pzmkIV, Stug III and PzIII H iirc. Plus their seems to be some salvage mechanics where you can capture and crew enemy tanks??
- Get too close to infantry and they start throwing molotov cocktails onto your tank

I mean this is kind of what I wanted when il2 tank crew came out.

(https://i.imgur.com/QkkjVNp.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/rfzWSaA.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/UHU1tMT.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/9NJONFH.jpeg)

(https://i.imgur.com/fbI0AF7.jpeg)

(https://i.imgur.com/KFA7lk6.jpeg)

(https://i.imgur.com/nuhAZuJ.jpeg)

Title: Re: Tank Squad - WW2 armor and management sim
Post by: Destraex on June 05, 2025, 06:05:41 AM
Brutal... a mix of Russian and German infantry in front of my tank... Jarhead is right, the interface is a little clunky but damn their are so many options.. also the devs are trying to work a way around stopping the AI from being able to see through grass, that old chestnut.
(https://i.imgur.com/DuYXNs7.png)