I am thinking of shelling out 125 for SB Pro... I am wondering if it is really worth it....

I am looking for a good tank sim, all I have palyed so far are a horrid affair called ww2 battle tanks or something like that, and "t72 Iron Warriors" which was mearly "ok"

I know that pro has more playable units than normal SB. Is there a patch for SB that allows you to access more units?

The only crew-able vehicles in SB:Gold, IIRC, are the variations of the Abrams and Leo. You could also gun from the .50 spot on the M113 variations, I think. All the other vehicles could be indirectly driven from an external view.

If you can afford SP:Pro, get it. It LOOKS a lot better, for starters. There are more crewable vehicles, a more versatile mission editor, and the whole community has mostly moved on to that game for competitive matches.

The folks at steelbeasts.com will probably be able to provide a lot more detailed reasons why you should take the plunge...

The original Steel Beasts simply is obsolete - technologically, without technical support, let alone further development. SB Pro PE offers everything that the original did, and then a lot more, and countless improvements.
(Well, technically one could count them all, but just all the new features and bugfixes over the past year fills more than seven pages, and that's not counting all the stuff that happened between SB Gold (1.27) and the initial release of SB Pro PE (2.251)).

There's going to be new playable vehicles, and SB Pro will receive updates for years to come. Even if I were not biased I wouldn't say that there was another PC based simulation on the market that came even remotely close to the package that is on offer with SB Pro. Just read some of the older threads in this board here.

Is SB Pro perfect?
Certainly not. But hey, show me something that comes even close in breadth, depth, fidelity, and which is available to the general public.

Does it have bugs?
Sure does. But how many reports about crashes did we receive over the past year that were not discovered by beta testers? Less than a handful.

Is it expensive?
It depends. Sure, it's three times the price of a new PC game. If you play it three times as long and as often (and I'm pretty confident you will) it no longer is. Play it even more (again, I think you will) and it's going to be pretty cheap. Looking at the price requires a look at the value for balanced judgement. The price tag is supposed to make you think twice since, as far as instant gratification, wanton lust for eye candy, and similar qualities are concerned, other games offer more. But for those who finally decided to buy it, customer satisfaction is exceptional.

Yeah, SBPE is well worth it. You want to command a tank, a tank company, a tank battalion...well SBPE is the way to go.

Here, in fact have a look see. Look at all the fun you can have...

Hours of Fun

If you scroll down after the AAR, you will see a post I made with links to reviews and screenshot threads.

Hey Enigma,

I looked at your screen shots...how did you get tank data on the screen? The pics looking through the sight shows rounds (or something).

Xanth,

I purchased SB Pro a week ago and loving it. Plenty of great mods, sounds, and learning armor tactics.

Gx007

gx007,

If I'm guessing right, I think you are referring to my commander's GPS extension and the commander's TRP periscope view. That is what you see when you play as the commander and not as the gunner. Those buttons you see are the different types of ammunition I can order the loader to set the main gun up with.

Xanth,
hands down get SB Pro PE. it is well worth the money, and it will be far superior to 'just o.k.'.

Thanks for the feedback guys......just placed my order for pro

Enigma,

Well, I referring to the screen pic that the TC sees thru the gun sight... it has colored buttons on the lower left and right sides and a toggle switch in the upper left corner. How does one get to the GPS extension and TRP? Are you in a Leopard? I just got the sim so pardon my inquiry since I'm still on the M1A1 Abrams tutorial and haven't gone thru any others.

Much appreciated,
gx007

It's a Leo 1 thing... a workaround for the time being since at the time of implementation a 3D interior was out of the question.

I'll take what-ever answer I can get. But, any chance we'll be getting an interior for the Leo1 soon?

Hi gx007,

As Snnake had mentioned. Since there is no current 3D interior in the Leopard-1, when you button up, you immediately get a "default" view of looking through view ports in the cupola ring. I believe I have a screenshot of that about two screens right up from the one you were referring to as the commander's GPS Extension. In fact, I mention this in the text with the screens in the AAR. In order to move from the default "view port" view to the commander's GPS extension view, you just hit F2. In order to move to the commander's TRP Periscope sight, you hit F3. To go back to the default "view ports" in the cupola from the various "sight views," you just hit F1.

Unfortunately not. I'm confident that we will see it at some point, just not in the immediate future.

Enigma, was that a single player scenario?

In general, is SB Pro worth it for mainly single player games? I very rarely play games online, but SB looks amazing.

I think that you are the norm of a player rather than the exception. Most people play in solitaire mode, so it's always a big concern of mine to provide good single player content. Having said that, SB pro will come with about 30 unique single player scenarios plus about 50 tutorials, and then some of the scenarios are designed for multiple replays with a somewhat randomized enemy.

In addition there's about 140 scenarios for download at http://www.SteelBeasts.com, many of which however are multiplayer scenarios.

So, even though we released SB Pro PE only with a "minimal" stock of scenarios I think that it's a pretty solid offer even for those who don't play online.

That sounds great. I had sold my Nintendo DS a few days ago, and I've been going back and forth between getting SB Pro or not with the money. I think I'm sold.

Yes it is but one can also play it as multiplayer. It was a scenario from a player with the tag name JanTog. I believe it is called Danish V1.1. Defense of Laaga City. I really like this scenario, well done, exciting to play and easy to play with only an hour of time available due to routes already set for your armored force...up to a point. By that I mean he has waypoints and routes already set up to a certain Phase Line, you can use them with triggers, setting your units on those routes or manually move your units on different routes of your choosing. You must create your own routes in the other phase lines so outcomes tend to become very different. He has good randomness of opposition forces and their maneuvers as well. You play it different every time.