Your best/favorite armour related campaign/mission

Have noticed it's been very quiet in the Armour sim section of Sim HQ lately.
So lets post some accounts of mission that stood out.
please make them armour related missions that challenged you as a player or your team if it was MP
It does not matter which sim it was.
believe it or not my personal favorite mission was from the original M1 tanks platoon from back in the early nineties.
When i get some time i am going to type up a full account of same.
If you have pics of videos of yours please post or link. and try to include details of the mission.
What was it that made it stand out for you.

Hehe, Just playing M1 Tank Platoon on real Atari STFM (8Mghz CPU game is bit choppy but I love it on real HW). Got game on Ebay and reading that full manual was like be in time machine. It's dynamic WWIII campaign is just awesome. I really like it awards slow progress when you are using terrain to mask and hull down position behind crest and how fast thinks come bad for you if you made bad decision. Amazing.

I like M1 Tank Platoon more than M1 Tank Platoon 2. I don't knot why but for me first game is more charming for me.

In the past I liked first Steel Beasts Gold. Panzer Elite and from recent Steel Armor: Blaze of War. Last one is bit strange how to operate but it got my interest. Anyway I like first M1 Tank Platoon most.

It would have to be M1 Tank Platoon for me also (Atari ST,an early one). I didn't like the DOS version I bought some time later. No other game has since engrossed me as much as this one did. Looking at it now it looks terrible.How did I ever enjoy it? At the time of course it was cutting-edge and I wish we had a modern-day sequel with the same game-play but nothing I've tried has come even close to it.

I played so many campaigns in that,it was just awesome. Support units were randomly assigned and I always eagerly checked out what I got at the start of a mission Air support was always welcome,especially for spotting.

After all these years I couldn't pick out a mission that stood out apart from one. My support was a platoon of TOW firing vehicles (can't remember the exact vehicle) but I was well into a mission when one of my M1 tanks suddenly took a hit and was knocked out. I was mystified as to why because all my tanks were hull-down and not under direct fire at the time. Checking the map I zoomed in on the stricken tank and just happened to see one of the TOW missiles strike the ground nearby. Yes,I got a blue on blue incident. I was gob-smacked at the time because I knew the game inside out and had never seen it before or since. The TOW units were actually firing over me but they were off a bit.It's nice that that was coded in whether they meant for it to happen or not.

So thanks Microprose for an excellent game,you almost cost me my first marriage

It was the original M1 Tank Platoon game that started my interest in all things armour.
I started to visit military museums and the like, collect armour books and manuals
Bovington tank museum in the UK is a Armour enthusiasts mecca.

There's a guy over on the SB forum doing something similar to what your doing playing the original M1 game on a old machine. ( link) http://www.steelbeasts.com/topic/11806-m1-tank-platoon-1989-99-missions/
I have always stated M1 is my favourite game of all time.
But although it had some great features,and the missions were very well scripted.
But ultimately it was limited by the Hardware/ technology of the day.
A modern armour sim like steel beasts has no such limitations no issues running Company/Battalion level missions/campaigns.a very high level of fidelity in its game play that far surpass any other
Armour sim i have ever played.But i have to admit i miss stuff like promoting your crew giving them medals.
I suppose in the scheme of things SB is a simulation and M1 was a game.

M1 tank platoon gfx is very primitive but I found it charming even after all that years. But I am 8bit sims nerd so I doesn't count

Yes exactly. SB is more sim than M1. If we can have sim part from SB and campaing and platoon after mission management of M1 it will be killer combo.

In SB gunnery is more real. It has realisticly modeled gunner sight. It has palm switch for commander and gunner. If you adding lead in SB Abrams you see correctly sight cross offsets for lead instead like in M1 where sight stays in center and it is more like leopard 2 in SB where optics rotating in azimuth a little to make lead and sight is still in centre.

On other hand SB has canned missons and do not generate them for you as M1. Ssnake always saying how SB is better choice and that m1 is just part of history. I disagree, He promised SB 2 - more game oriented current SB pro. It never materialized and I don't understand why. Just to take sim part of SB what was perfect and make shell that runs all stuff around. Platoon management and campaign generation. Anyway this will only leads to flame war so maybe for Ssnake M1 is just history for me it is best tank game so far.

I am on 5th campaign mission on granny Atari ST connected to CRT TV (at least via RGB Scart cable ) and fun fun fun. Had one night mission that was brillant. Next campaign will be on Veteran difficulty.

My current Abrams cockpit Gunner sight is set to thermal.

I really wish I still had my Atari ST at times It had a memory upgrade and a double-sided disk drive fitted.I sold it with all my games (prob near 100+ all originals),dozens of floppy discs,most were demo's from various ST crews and a Gravis Mouse Stick.

When I tried M1TP recently I did so with an emulator. I know one of my friends has one that hasn't been used for years,I need to ask about it next time I see him. Any idea what they fetch nowadays?

STF around 100 - 150 EUR, STE up to 200 EUR. I got mine 1040 STFM for 150. Then I bought RGB Scart cable for 10 EUR and USB Mouse adapter for 22 EUR. Original compete ST M1 Tank Platoon box for 10 EUR. You need watch ebay for good piece for good price for a while.

So you must be real retro nerd I love it.

Not quite a retro nerd I'm afraid. I find it hard to go back to these games after being spoilt with the sound and visuals we have nowadays. When I tried M1TP recently the playability was still better than anything I've played since but the graphics hurt my eyes.

I am a frequent visitor here though https://classicreload.com Sometimes it's good to reminisce

I see. The emulator is enough for you. For M1 TP Amiga version is better to run in WinUAE set as Amiga 1200 - it will run at reasonable speed.

Also, the Amiga version had much better sound than the Atari, and the Atari was leaps and bounds ahead of the PC (that is, PC speaker!!!), which was just ... horrid.

Hehe another Amiga/Atari/PC war. It never ends Yes Amiga version has best sound, Atari to second and bad speaker or AdLib on PC. Only thing I like on PC version is analogue stick for tracking targets to add lead. On Amiga/Atari it is just digital although they implemented "autotrack" when you lase target or you can use cursor keys to gradually add gun traverse without centering - it is just a lot harder than with analogue stick on PC.

Maybe you don't remember me Ssnake, I asked you at Prague (I was there to meet my BMS friends) for SB 2 version with campaign

It's always difficult to connect a relatively anonymous forum name with the face of a person that you met - but yes, I remember meeting you.

You're right of course as far as the joystick support is concerned, that was the saving grace of the PC version. The lack of a proper Adlib emulation by my sound card back in the day seriously strained my nerves though, with the PC speaker blaring. Yes. I played all three versions - on my friend*s Amiga, on my Atari, later on my PC.

Nice you remember It's been some years.

On my Atari I have just little problem to dial in manual range with Shift + 0-9 keys as I my Atari is German version so combinations are scattered all around keyboard. Game was probably done for US layout - even UK keyboard layout is different and some numbers doesn't work. Hopefully it is not much needed in this game. I remember Amiga version doesn't have this problem (I was Amiga 1200 user in 90's and got Atari now cos I always wanted one).

I have question about SB PE. Is it possible to generate mission in external tool (like mission is in human readable format) then run game with parameter to run given mission and during gameplay it creates detailed log what happened in mission (with timestamp and position info) and when mission is over and I quit game this log can be parsed to evaluate outcome? If yes it opens doors to write external campaign shell that will do all stuff and uses game to run missions. Is this even possible with SB PE? Just probing before I will buy. In that way I can try write small mission generator and campaign shell myself. nothing spectacular - just simple missions (probably heavily dependant on randomizing templates - I think M1 game do same) in line with M1 Tank Platoon.

I run SB gold in PCem and I think it doesn'r have this feature but maybe SB PE has it?

Some examples of this feature is Il-2 Sturmovik 1946 or Wings: Over Flanders Fields what uses CFS3 as sim and uses it's own shell to run campaign.

That's why I preferred the Atari version...autotrack! After playing the ST version for so long the DOS version didn't seem 'right' to me.

I won't get into the Amiga/Atari flame war. I knew the Amiga had better sound,my friend had one.Maybe the Atari had a slight edge in 3D games,but other than that I think the Amiga was the better machine.

Oh yes,the Atari didn't need to boot from a disk

LOL after all that years

Yeah but Workbench is superior to GEM (at least TOS 1.02 I have in my STFM) I am originally from other front - had A1200 during 90's and now I had big desire to own 16bit Atari - strange I know What I like now on Atari ST it it's simplicity - overcomplicated Amiga custom chips costs a lot of CPU T states so it runs at 7Mhz meanwhile ST with simple video shifter runs at full 8Mhz. I think 3D games are slightly faster on ST - very slightly.

Just finished 6th mission on Atari and it was though one - lost one Abrams with pretty experienced crew. I think I am not so far from end of campaign.

Well I thought the ST was just brilliant because my previous machine was a Spectrum 128k+2.

My first game was Chopper X and I was amazed because the loading times seemed instantaneous compared to the Spectrum. And no colour clash!!!!

Favourite games on the ST were M1TP obviously,Oids,Carrier Command,Strike Force Harrier and Pro Flight (Tornado sim).

Happy days

Oh,and like you Ataribaby I preferred M1TP over M1TP2. I did own SB Pro but I didn't really enjoy it as much as I thought I would. What I really wanted was a re-make of M1TP with cutting-edge graphics and sound BUT with the EXACT same game-play values of the original. I think that I am better suited to a 'game' rather than a 'simulation'.

I have resigned myself to the fact that we will never get that re-make unfortunately

Hehe, had ZX spectrum as well (well... Czechoslovak clone Didaktik M - clone of 48K spectrum) and when I got Amiga 1200 it was like a miracle

Yeah, modern game with sim part same as Steel Beasts Gold Abrams and gameplay from M1 Tank Platoon is Holy Grail for me as well

Looks like we need it write that game by our own - if I can - damm

After 7th mission Pesky commies are down!

Hi Atariboy
Kudos to you and GT170 for keeping this classic game alive
I was doing some christmas shopping yesterday and came very close to buying Atari 7 retro machine.
If it had M1 i probably would have. LoL.

Pretty much played this to death ....

OMG, totally forgot about this PSX masterpiece. I loved it. Especialy that mission with two King Tigers at falling Berlin if my memory is right.

I Also played a console tank game. it was called M1 it was a sega mega drive game
At the time i thought it was good.
Also the Nintendo SNES had a tank game cant remember the name, i did play it once and thought it was pants

Was the last mission off memory..Very hard as it had artillery falling on you pretty much instantly.

I don't think so.
There is of course the built-in Mission Editor that allows you to create. And there's the feature that Steel Beasts writes a report file of all kinds of events after a mission is over, tabulated in HTML format, so you can import it into Excel or some database and then perform all kinds of queries. I don't know if that is helpful for what you have in mind, but there you go.

We have considered adopting a way to import scenarios written in MSDL (military scenario description language) or CBML, both XML formats. But frankly, none of our .mil customers seems to be much interested in this, and we're really pressed for time. Yes, we have a bigger team these days, but that forces us to earn more money by accepting more development contracts. This isn't exactly the kind of dynamic that I want but at the end of the day a business must go where the customers are, or perish.

Thanks for answer.

I see. If mission log is detailed enough (at least you can get killed/survived units and position info so you can check if one reached objective) it is only one half to be successful with my approach to make dynamic campaign shell as I described earlier.

If mission file itself is in proprietary format then it closes door to it. I didn't asked for feature, just wanted to know if by chance it is possible already. I know you are small team so business first. Anyway in future I will probably get SB PE anyway. SB GOLD is nice but I like 3d interiors.

I have small tech question maybe stupid. I saw that gunsight is always level to horizon even when you perpendicular to slope. Even gun traverze in azimuth in horizon level if not in manual or emergency mode. Also adding lead always works in horizon level. Does it mean optics scopes are roll stabilized? I saw it is true for gunner sight and for commader MG sight in SB Gold. I am just curious how it works.

I know of only one prototype tank made in the 1960s (in the lead-up to what became the Leopard 1) that had a three-axis-stabilization for a turret.
No. These days you apply a cant correction to the displacement angle between line of sight and line of fire, but you don't compensate the sight for roll.