Steel Beasts Pro Discussion Thread

[Nefaro]

Warrior ODS[/b]

But he just came off a 2.5 hour mission where he controlled 3 x platoons and support as well ...phew . Well done JD  O0

Nice.  You got JD running a Company now, do ya?  8)


I just purchased the full-on frontal dongle this evening.  Goodbye gaming budget!

[Asid]

Nice.  You got JD running a Company now, do ya?  8)

He handled it well  O0

I just purchased the full-on frontal dongle this evening.

The Grogheads platoon is expanding

Goodbye gaming budget!

Quality over quantity  O0

You will get a lot of use from Steel Beasts. I play with guys who have been playing since the original was released in 1999!

[JudgeDredd]

Warrior ODS[/b]

But he just came off a 2.5 hour mission where he controlled 3 x platoons and support as well ...phew . Well done JD  O0

Nice.  You got JD running a Company now, do ya?  8)


I just purchased the full-on frontal dongle this evening.  Goodbye gaming budget!

I was not great at the end. Well, first off Asid pointed out I lost a Challenger in one of my units I thought I had kept back in safety. Then there was the tank I lost. Don't forget running out of ammo at the wrong time (I really need to be more careful with ammo) and also the poor captain and gunners I lost!

I really liked the addition of the supply truck, bridge layers and ambulances - they came in quite handy

I'm still wondering about the cost effectiveness of a dongle. I don't (and won't) play this on another PC - so the download option kind of looks cheapest. On the other hand, I'd love the manual (though I thought you could buy that separately - is that the case?) What happens with your "online" licence if you change hardware?

I think I too am ready to take a longer plunge into it. I haven't had much in the way of gaming time - but the fact that when I have I've been playing this says something I guess. I've got Elite Dangerous waiting (to be fair for more meat really) and I bought the F-86 Sabre from DCS which I haven't touched bar the initial fire up to see what it's like...so I don't know - maybe this is the one.  :o

[Ssnake]

does the AI have that ARMA III style 'never miss' ability or is it a fair fight?

It's highly dependent on your chosen difficulty settings. "Easy" difficulty gives your onw forces an advantage in spotting, and makes enemy gunners rather bad at aiming. "Medium" gives a balanced situation, and guess what "Hard" does. ;)

In addition, there's the question how good your own troops are. The quality of their gunnery derives from your own gunnery rating at the tank range. You score 100% there, and your troops will be crack shots. You score low, and they'll punch a lot of holes into the air.

Then there's the question of range, and particularly the hit location. All shots are subject to random scatter that approximates real life (typically about 0.3mil standarddeviation, some more, some less; IOW, about two thirds of all shots will land in a circle of 30cm diameter at a range of 1,000 meters; nineteen out of twenty in a circle twice that diameter, and 999 out of 1000 in a circle of 90cm diameter). This natural shot deviation is something that you cannot influence through your gunnery (and neither can the computer-controlled units). Since Steel Beasts is rather specific when handling the exact location of the impact, sometimes the computer is lucky and might strike a weak spot in your armor (a "ballistic hole"). Good tank designs minimize the chances of a lucky punch, but if you check out the various tanks in the Steel Beasts wiki you will see that the protection level is never uniform across the entire silhouette (by necessity there must be a hole to stick the gun through, or optical instruments, or coax MGs, also crew access points, etc.).

Finally you can fine-tune any scenario in the editor to your liking by picking less potent ammunition. There's HUGE difference if you give your T-80s obsolete BM-9 rounds from the 1960s, or the latest BM-46 (and there's a wide spectrum in between).

[Ssnake]

Infantry.

This is a tough one. On the one hand we want to make them realistically survivable, on the other hand we have to render the scene truthfully. So there can be cases where the infantry hasn't been spotted by the computer even though, due to limitations in our ability to render terrain with the required amount of little details, you as a human player with an uncanny ability to recognize shapes (the result of millions of years of evolution as a predator (and hunted)). Our brains are really made for this.

The terrain in Steel Beasts (like in any computer game) is artificial, and with artificially few variation in it. That makes it much easier to spot infantry at a distance in SB Pro than it is in real life. As long as you're playing from the map screen you would never notice and not even question it, it's like "spotting rules" in a tabletop game. Yes, the pieces are there but the die roll says that you can't engage them yet. So there's always going to be a discrepancy between the abstracted mechanisms going on under the hood of the simulation, and what YOU as a human player can recognize.

The alternative would be to render infantry invisible until it has been spotted by some computer-controlled units, but then you as a human player could basically do nothing except to rely on the results of some spotting algorithm. You probably wouldn't like that either.


In SB you can announce "Hey, I spotted something!" to the computer by holding the shift key before you lase the target (also works from the commander's place, even while unbuttoned/using the binoculars. Hold shift, hold lase, move lase crosshairs on target, release lase). This is also a nice mechanism when running a "scout" scenario where you aren't supposed to fight, just to observe and to report. Plus, with map updates enabled, it will make enemy icons appear on the map for all players on your side.

The easiest solution however when detecting infantry while your computer crew is still oblivious to the threat is to override the gunner, order coax, and to engage them yourself. If you do it from the gunner's seat, the clueless computer commander might yank you on some other target of lesser importance simply because he isn't aware of what you're shooting there. Of course, if you press "T" for "I have a target" you can stun the commander from overriding you for about ten seconds. HOWEVER, there's of course the danger that the commander DOES see a bigger threat after all while you are target fixated.

Combat is risky and chaotic business.

[Asid]

I really liked the addition of the supply truck, bridge layers and ambulances - they came in quite handy

There are many other vehicles... look in the wiki here: http://www.steelbeasts.com/sbwiki/index.php/Main_Page#Vehicle_information

I'm still wondering about the cost effectiveness of a dongle. I don't (and won't) play this on another PC - so the download option kind of looks cheapest.

If you buy a yearly license for $39.50 then all paid upgrades are included. I think it was worked out that this license would cost the same as buying a dongle and paying for the upgrades in a 5 year period. That is to say they would end up costing the same :)

I'd love the manual (though I thought you could buy that separately - is that the case?)

You can buy the manual separetely. You can buy a DVD with the software on it also. The new printed manual is about to be released.

From the Esims store:
DVD with SB Pro PE v3.0 (Requires v3.0 license.)       US$7.00

SB User's Manual (hard copy)(2.654) (An electronic version of the manual is included with the software.) US$15.00

What happens with your "online" licence if you change hardware?

You will have to contact Esims support concerning licensing. I prefer the dongle as i'm always changing, installing, reformatting etc. With the dongle you can install on any number of PC's and just plug in the dongle or remotely access the license over a Lan/internet.

I think I too am ready to take a longer plunge into it. I haven't had much in the way of gaming time - but the fact that when I have I've been playing this says something I guess. I've got Elite Dangerous waiting (to be fair for more meat really) and I bought the F-86 Sabre from DCS which I haven't touched bar the initial fire up to see what it's like...so I don't know - maybe this is the one.  :o

I have many sims/games and this offers something unique  O0

Hope this was helpful.

Regards

[Asid]

There have been a few incidents involving failed bridge crossings recently.

There are several types of bridges of differing load bearing capabilities (PDF attached)

[JudgeDredd]

^ God - bang on will ye!!

It was an ACCIDENT!  ;D

[Asid]

^ God - bang on will ye!!

It was an ACCIDENT!  ;D

[Asid]

Armour Model

Unlike most other games, Steel Beasts does not use a hitpoint system. Instead it uses a complex model that takes into consideration armour angles, armour thickness, and then calculates whether a round penetrates or not. If a round does not penetrate, it will not cause damage. However, if the round does penetrate, depending on the surface that is hit, a variety of damages will ensue. On the inside of each vehicle, all of the most important components are located, such as crew, turret drives, fuel tanks, ammunition, radios, engine, gearbox, etc. SB also has surfaces that will never cause damage to the tank, as damage to things like stowage boxes, external stowage, and such would be merely cosmetic.



Note:  (added to post 1. Taken from SB wiki)

[Asid]

Updated DRM section post 2 (reply1)

[PanzersEast]

Well... I guess now I have to purchase.  No fun setting on the sidelines.
I'll enlist in the grognard mech army.


PE

[Asid]

All are welcome  O0

[Asid]

Well... I guess now I have to purchase.  No fun setting on the sidelines.
I'll enlist in the grognard mech army.
PE

You are most welcome  :)

[JudgeDredd]

Well... I guess now I have to purchase.  No fun setting on the sidelines.
I'll enlist in the grognard mech army.


PE

Woohoo....
Lets go blow crap up!