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#4024050 - 10/18/14 09:45 AM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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33lima Offline
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Graphically yes I agree, even modded, PE is dated compared to SB Pro PE. SB Gold was/is even more dated graphically than PE - but SB was still far from primitive, functionally. Likewise, however the Wings folks managed it, functionally and/or features-wise, PE is far from primitive.



Most of the progress in PC sims/games of the last 10-15 years seems to have gone into graphics, to the extent the fatures of many of the older sims, like Mig Alley, BoB, Falcon 4 and Panzer Elite, remain superior to more modern sims.

For tanksims, to invoke 'primitive and unsophisticated' I think we'd have to go back slightly further, to Panzer Commander, tho it was technically primitive, the good vehicle set and campaign system was outstanding:



I dunno if with more funds for SF we would have got 'just' more campaigns and playable tanks (as we have now) or whether we would ever have got better platoon command with hotkeys and the representation of radio traffic. What they delivered actually suits Soviet operations pretty well; in fact I think the result is slightly too good for Soviet kit and practice, but somewhat poor for German/Western (due to kit and doctrinal differences, mainly lack of radios, poor vision when buttoned up and the emphasis on following the pre-ordained plan rigidly, not just because anything else was tricky, once the Start Line had been crossed). I think PE's command, control & comms is way too sophisticated for the Red Army, which is fine as it was designed for US and Germans. SF's is fine for the Red Army and with care and good mission design ok for the rest. It's way ahead of T34 -v- Tiger in that respect, good tho that sim is for individual tank operation. And it looks great.



Anyway no reason to have and play only one tanksim; most have features which make them enjoyable - the Full-Metal Jacket-style instructor voiceover from Armored Fist 2 was a hoot! (AF3 pictured)..



...while the comprehensive training, from Fort Knox to the NTC, and the'MPS News' broadcasts, did a lot to lift the repetitive but intense M1TP2 campaign missions:



Having played most of them, I still rate SF as one of the very best.














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#4025121 - 10/21/14 04:35 AM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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Brit44 'Aldo' Offline
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I think you both missunderstood me. I was agreeing with you. By screaming into the madness, I ment that if you are a rivit counter like me and look at the combustion cycle of this engine. It is truly horrific number of rivits missing.

smile I am old and fat, so I am happy with a gray haired beauty.

#4025289 - 10/21/14 06:55 PM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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33lima Offline
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No misunderstanding here I think Aldo. I can count rivets like the best of them, and one of my gripes with PE was 1944 Panzer IIIs and IVs with no skirt armour, not even around the turret, by default, where it was a fixed feature from about Kursk onwards. That was a pretty big rivet missing, in fact a hole bunch of them and the armour plating to boot smile But still, the grey haired beauty still looks good for her age and she can still show the youngsters many a useful trick or two they can't manage, while taking you through a comprehensive set of campaigns.




SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)

#4025628 - 10/22/14 02:23 PM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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A riveting conversation....

#4028649 - 10/29/14 02:17 AM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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453Raafspitty Offline
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Only have the SF demo but was wondering if they fixed the annoying "you are wounded" and end the mission while watching your tank drive off randomly.If your wounded you should still be able to fight although under reduced effectiveness.
Panzer Elite isn,t that far behind if you had some serious modders put the effort into putting in new 3D models and some higher res terrain.Brit44 has done a tonne of work in regards to updating the hard code in behind the game to bring it up to current specs and other guys who have been with her from the start have all done wonders as well.

Last edited by 453Raafspitty; 10/29/14 02:22 AM.
#4028697 - 10/29/14 04:35 AM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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frinik22 Offline
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I watched Daskal(Kempet)'s video of Panzer Elite with the PP2-X 1.1 mod enabled and I must say I have to swallow my own words and retract.What Brit44 Aldo and others have done with that mod is nothing short of amazing.The Ole Girl looks very modern and spritely...I am not one to pretend that iam right when obviosuly I am wrong so I publicly retract and say that Panzer Elite is not primitive nor no longer unsophisticated.Mea Culpa Mea Maxima Culpa!

Still Steel Fury and Panzer Elite are both worthy of being played in their own right .What Lockie has done for Steel Fury is nothing short of amazing in terms of new models, new objects( vegetation, buildings etc)ansd new missions.Guys like Brit44Aldo and Lockie both dedicated and selfless are the bliss of the gaming world...

At Raafspitty: if the commander is killed then you are no longer able to play your tank and it's mission failed.Is it what you were enquiring about?If it is no they haven't fixed that because it's part ofd the game.

#4029051 - 10/29/14 10:44 PM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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33lima Offline
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Given that SF, like most tanksims, casts you in the role of a tank commander (who is also usually a tank platoon leader) it is quite correct to end the mission if you are killed or wounded (anything above inconsequentially). Where PE does it better here is allowing you to take over another tank in your platoon if you wish when your tank itself is damaged, which a platoon commander would do as a matter of course in real life in those circumstances.

SF, even tho lacking PE or M1TP2-style campaign features like man-management, awards, loadout decisions etc and also having only limited platoon control and almost no radio traffic, could and would be better if it had better briefings and missions with more event-triggered, simulated radio traffic, like the force comander is coming on the radio encouraging or directing, or other platoons are calling in contacts or other events. Some mission designers attempt this but mostly it's not there.

I recently started a stock German campaign and on the second mission, I'm pitched into an attack without as usual being told what the attacking force consists of (below what regiments are involved, which is really no help). Just that my platoon is in the centre of it. The map symbols - for light armoured vehicles - give me a clue but to my dismay, my 'platoon' is just a single Panzer IV (maybe I need to adjust force balance to get the platoon I'm promised? Dubt it as I had a 3-tank platoon in the first mission, right before this one. Or contrary to what I expect in an SF campaign, is it actually dynamic, with platoon tanks I lost or had damaged in the first mission, still under repair or awaiting replacement? Don't believe so. Anyway no other tanks). And the rest of the attacking force, which comprises panzergrenadiers in Hanomag SPWs, just charges the first objective, leaving me struggling to catch up, never mind provide them with fire support, and thus suffering avoidable losses from a concealed AT gun which I eventually locate and knock out by lobbing HE at 1000m, finally finding the range after about 5 rounds...

But it was a heck of a battle, all the same, complete with artillery falling noisily on the enemy positions and Stukas screaming in, albeit in rather shallow dives. Sounds, visuals and ambience all great. With better briefings, more cautious AI scripts and simulated radio traffic, it could be even better...I just need to get off my a** and make a serious effort to get to grips with the mission editor, see what can be done.









SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)

#4030619 - 11/02/14 02:20 PM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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453Raafspitty Offline
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Australia,Sandstone Point
Quote:
At Raafspitty: if the commander is killed then you are no longer able to play your tank and it's mission failed.Is it what you were enquiring about?If it is no they haven't fixed that because it's part ofd the game.

Yes that is what I meant..Pity I would think "We are hit bail out" would be a better option..

#4030737 - 11/02/14 07:54 PM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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33lima Offline
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Yes that would have been better, maybe a modder could create a soundfile that would play, the TC telling the crew he was hit or if killed, the boys lamenting his demise in suitable terms. More frustrating is missions that finish with a sudden 'Mission failed' screen, especially if it's not clear what victory condition hasn't been met, tho that's largely down to mission design I'd guess (in PzC I hand-edited mission files to remove the silly low time limits, to avoid this sort of thing). A suitable radio message from the imaginary company commander would at least help; Panzer Commander had these, and M1TP2 also had the boss come on the air when you quit the game. It's a minor thing but it helps with the immersion.

Despite some limitations I find it impossible not to like Steel Fury and to rate it highly, for the many things it does well.



SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)

#4030933 - 11/03/14 06:01 AM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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Brit44 'Aldo' Offline
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Quote:
Guys like Brit44Aldo and Lockie both dedicated and selfless are the bliss of the gaming world...

I can't speak for Lockie, but my motivations were/are not selfless. I want the perfect WW2 tank simulator. SB would not make it and TvT came along after I had entrenched to learn in hopes of earning something from the effort. smile SF came as a shock to some of us.

Now I realize it will only be a hobby and PE suits my needs for virtual 1:35 modeling smile Some day PEx will look as beautiful as SF and TvT. wink but by then even MicroSoft will not know what DX9 was.

#4030994 - 11/03/14 12:34 PM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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frinik22 Offline
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B y selfless I mean you are not charging for your work and you are sharing it with all. Unlike Zeewolf who charges for the work he does on TvT( no criticism intended; it's his right)

Last edited by frinik22; 11/03/14 12:35 PM.
#4034799 - 11/11/14 09:47 PM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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33lima Offline
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Re-reading my last couple of posts on Steel Fury, they perhaps gave a slightly less favourable impression of the sim than I think it deserves, so to balance it out a bit....

...I'm still not as brave (or mad!) as players like Kyth who think nothing of tackling T-34s in pre-war Czech-built light tanks like the Panzer 38(t). But recently, I decided finally to forgo the pleasure of beating up Ivans with my Tiger or Panther in user-made missions and instead, to play through for the first time the stock Steel Fury German campaign. And so far it's been a lot of fun, and quite well done...

Fighting in the see-saw attacks and counterattacks in the May 1942 Battle of Kharkov, the opening mission puts me in a Panzer IV with just a short-barrelled 7.5cm gun, but to my surprise we do quite well and soon I've got a 'Mark 4 Special' (as the British called the up-gunned Panzer IV) with a long-barreled gun. The missions are all small-scale platoon-to-company scale battles which is fine. In the absence of any kind of role-playing or crew management, it would be nice if the briefings at least told me that I was Leutnant so-and-so commanding a platoon in such-and-such a Kompanie of such-and-such a Panzer Abteilung, detached to support such-and-such a Kompanie of such and such a Panzergrenadier Abteilung - instead of giving me mostly only the less relevant picture 'one [level] up' or 'two up', what the Regiment or Division is doing.

But while you have to work out who you're working with from the map screen symbols, the briefings are not bad at all and the missions quite realistic, with pre-programmed artillery and or Stuka support and representing fairly typical military operations at that level. And telling me at least whether I'm expected to be left, right or centre of the attacking force. Plus what our phase 1 and phase 2 objectives are. Typically, fight thru the enemy positions here and then occupy the ground there. Then hold off any counterattack.

If you have any sense of your responsibilities as a platoon leader (and perhaps depending on your game settings, as they affect morale) you have to watch you platoon mates carefully to keep them right and curtail the occasional exuberant but foolhardy charge at spotted enemies. But with care it is possible to do so, fighting your own tank while keeping the platoon moving together and even getting them all through in one piece. As in this mission...

...I've checked the map, put an HE round up the spout and ordered my Panzer IV platoon - two long guns, one short - into line abreast. I lead us down to the bridge that's our phase 1 objective, using a row of trees leading that way as our axis. By not dilly-dallying, I have managed to keep slightly ahead of the platoon of panzergrenadiers in half-tracked SPWs that I'm co-operating with on this mission. Friendly artillery has hit the town across the bridge, whose clearance will be our phase 2 objective.



From the halt and playing from the gunner's sight I engage and destroy a dug-in artillery piece my tank commander has indicated to me. There's some shooting off to my right but no more targets do I see. So I slip on and cross the bridge. My two platoon mates, without being told, hang about on the bank while I cross but a quick command from the map/orders screen has them crossing over to rejoin me, as I wait, hull-down from the village and watching my arcs. There's more firing going on over there but I'm going no-where till the boys are back with me. Running the whole platoon is my job, not winning the war on my own.



Moving off again and leading the platoon to a position from which we can see and fire into the nearest edge of the village, things hot up suddenly when a T-34 trundles into sight. I let him have the HE round I have up the spout and order an AP round loaded next, hosing the Ivan with the co-ax in the meantime but expecting to be blasted into oblivion at any moment. But all is well. Perhaps hit also by one of the platoon-mates I'd wisely waited for, the T-34's hatches fly open and the crew bails out and goes to ground. I spray them with more rounds from the co-ax and they lie still. Phew! That was a near thing!



At this point my number 3 - the bloke with the short gun - trundles forward as if he's on the scent of something and I call the platoon to a halt...something you seem to need to do regularly if they're not to get off the leash.



Scanning the village I spot and put a couple of rounds into a T-60 light tank that was struggling through some rubble. Firing seems to die away a tad. Looking back, I can see the SPWs have begun to cross the bridge, accompanied by some now-dismounted panzergrenadiers.



OK, back to my mission...I need to clear this hovel. Leaving my two platoon-mates halted either side to cover me from where they sit. I swing half right and make for a track which I see runs through the village, parallel to the river. I edge up to it and scan for targets. Even if there are no more tanks, the Soviets have powerful anti-tank rifles which are dangerous to a panzer's weak spots at close range.





I trundle along the track and catch a glimpse of a tank turret crossing from left to right where the ground dips on the far side of the village. I swing right off the track and halt, ready to ambush him if he tries to penetrate or flank the village.



There's an outbreak of heavy weapons fire and I see no more of the Ivan. Has he been knocked out? Or has he pulled back? I have no idea. But I'm reasonably hopeful he can't outflank or get in behind me, because my comrades are just behind me on either side, where I left them, to cover me.

I roll ahead again, just as cautiously as before, and emerge on the far side of the village. All is clear! Halted and observing towards the high ground ahead of me, I call my platoon mates forward, to rejoin me.





At this point, I spot and shoot a T-60 light tank which emerges from a dip in the open ground ahead of me, in full retreat. As if to avenge him, a T-34 suddenly drives forward from another fold in the ground and the whole platoon engages him, as do some other friendlies I can't see from my own position. The short firefight is soon over and we settle down to hold our newly-won ground.



In the heat of battle I haven't managed too many screenshots but using SF's post-action tour facility I do the obligatory tour of our little battlefield, starting with my own tank's statistics. Not a bad 'bag' - I was credited with the T-34 at the village, as well as two light tanks and an ancient field gun.



My platoon-mates had accounted only for some troops but their presence had definitely helped, if not actually saved my bacon. And perhaps best of all, I had brought my platoon through the fight without loss - to me, as important as winning the battle and more important than my personal score.



Here's the old field gun I knocked out early on...



...while this Maxim gun was likely a victim of the panzergrenadiers:



This is the T-34 I clobbered first, its crew scattered where I rather meanly mowed them down:



Here's the other T-34, with one of the knocked-out T-60s in front:





There were also some casualties I hadn't been aware of, namely another T-34, a Panzer III I hadn't realised was even on my side somewhere...and a hulking great KV-1, which had lost a track and therefore been unable to test its mettle against our special AP-40 tungsten-cored shot...though it's crew didn't seen too unhappy.







I'm really looking forward to concluding the stock German campaign, which benefits from being fought on real maps from the area as it was in mid-1942, as well as SF's excellently-modelled stock vehicles. The missions are quite realistic and exciting battles, without straying into Space Invaders territory, providing some scope for a reasonably cautious, tactical approach, rather than just drive and gun. One of the marks of a superior tanksim, in my book.


SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)

#4034953 - 11/12/14 06:16 AM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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Kyth Offline
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Good work!
The original campaigns (and tutorials) are a good way to learn the basics of the game.


"It's fascinating to think that all around us there's an invisible world we can't even see.
I'm speaking, of course, of the World of the Invisible Scary Skeletons."

#4035012 - 11/12/14 01:45 PM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: Kyth]  
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Looks amazing guess what my next game purchase will be.
Just wish it had MP capability.

#4035341 - 11/13/14 08:21 AM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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frinik22 Offline
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Just for the dozen campaigns and well over hundred user-made missions not to mention those you can make yourself once you get the hang of the mission editor it's worth the price.I have been playing the game for almost 6 years so whatever you pay will be well invested.

Last edited by frinik22; 11/13/14 08:21 AM.
#4035510 - 11/13/14 08:17 PM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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33lima Offline
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Yes, and it's not all Panzer IVs and T-34s...









SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)

#4035809 - 11/14/14 10:37 AM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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Land of the Morning Calm
---DELETED, covered in other post----gotta open my eyes a bit more. copter

Thanks Brit44, 33Lima and frinik for posting the mods for this gem. I also saw gunnyhighway's gunnery manual too. Looks like a definitive essential read.

Matt

Last edited by strykerpsg; 11/14/14 06:13 PM.

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#4036164 - 11/15/14 04:13 AM Re: Latest mod for Steel fury now available [Re: 33lima]  
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frinik22 Offline
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strykerpsg ;I have seen your handle somewhere. Do you play Steel Beasts by any chance?

In another post I listed my Nvidia control panel settings for you. Try them out!

Last edited by frinik22; 11/15/14 04:14 AM.
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