Not *entirely* off topic

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

I’m sure that most of us have no problem finding reasons to build stuff, but if you happen to like computer games and need some motivation, try Company Of Heroes. Incredible strategy game that allows you to drive around (and fight!) in all of the WWII vehicles we like to build. [:D] Snagged a few screens from my pc last night…

The vehicle list as of the last expansion is quite impressive…and their models are pretty darn accurate! The collective groan from the people you’re playing against when you roll up with a Jagdpanther are always a joy to hear. [;)]

2

We should arrange a FSM CoH tournament sometime[yeah]

I prefer playing British, since I’ve always been a defensive - oriented player. Your Jagdpanthers and King Tigers don’t do so cool when I have two 17 pdr at guns covering every possible approach[}:)]

3

Oh ho! We have a gamer! [:-,]

Actually Hermes, I’d probably end up being on your side…I tend to favor the U.S. Infantry tree. Rangers and 105mm artillery are definitely my faves. [;)] I’ve been trying to get into the Brits more but haven’t developed a strategy I really like yet.

4

Blech.

You want a proper tank game.

NTM

5

I havent played this one but i have been playing online games for the best part of 15 years heh the last 6 have been playing world war II online, the graphics are crappy but the game play is like none other there is no computer generated enemy everything you see is another person its you or him heh this one looks cool though i may check it out games is what initially sparked my interest in building models i think Bill was inspired by the same game roughly around the same time also heh.

heres a couple of old screne shots the game is set at the beginning of wwII and the map is europe and is exactly half the scale of the world you move the map by winning towns over an ever changing front line, the game as issues but its fun

6

Well, now that it’s a video game vs. video game war…here’s some screenshots I took while playing Crysis…gotta admit the graphics are scary good…and that’s only on “Medium” graphics…there’s “High” and “Very High” too! Crazy. [:D]

7

Well, HALO 3 is pretty cool too, if we’re going to start this argument…[;)]

8

Tetris Rocks!

9

And of course good ole minesweeper…it’s a military game of sorts…

10

I just picked up COH last week. I really haven’t played it yet, just one skirmish which was lost horribly, I spent my vacation starting and finishing a model. I’m shocked myself at that accomplishment! Modeling over gaming, I think that is a first for me!

I’m looking forward to learning COH this week though. I am still addicted to Rome: Total War though…

11

Dude what game is that seriously tell us. Could you give requirements too?

12

yeah… I need to know what game this is… is that a Leopard 2 in the one pic?

13

Manic Moran - I’m with the other guys. What game IS that?

Wait, I thought this was supposed to be a CoH post…[;)]

For those of you that haven’t played it…go buy it. Tonight.

14

OK, it’s called “Steel Beasts Professional: Personal Edition” and is far and away the best tank sim you can buy for your home PC. Think of it as the tank version of Falcon 4.

Now, before you immediately run off to the ESim website to buy it, a couple of words of warning.

Most importantly: This is not a game, and is not marketed as such. The company is very upfront about this, and it’s why they charge the price they do. It’s $125, about the same as two X-Box games, or IL-2 and half the add-ons, and is designed to make people be very sure they want it before they buy it. It’s a military grade training tool which happens to be made available to the public, and if people buy it expecting a game, they’re going to be disappointed.

As development is paid for by the various militaries who have bought it, the emphasis is according. Gamers probably don’t care about the proper implementation of the M88 recovery vehicle and its applications in the sim, but the military does. Similarly, the military doesn’t care about the latest graphics, and it shows: There are no fancy lighting effects, infantry are currently simple jerky sprites, and so on. (though both are on the list to be implemented as some militaries are interested). On the plus side, the things the militaries are interested in get modelled. The gunnery systems are modelled to training standards. If a military buys the software, but has a vehicle not in the sim, it can have it custom created: The next one to be released is looking to be the Spanish Pizarro IFV. An example is seen here; in the last upgrade, the Swedish Army paid for a CV9040.

http://www.steelbeasts.com/sbgallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=4815&g2_GALLERYSID=0420636760ab7049b84b47bd8fe84bf8

If your favourite tank is used by a country which hasn’t bought it, you’re going to be disappointed: No M1A2s for you, but the Australians bought M1A1s, so that’s well modelled.

You can, and will, die quickly and without warning. If you’re shot in the flank by a T-72 at 2km, you’ll die first, then five seconds later hear the ‘bang’ of the tank that fired the round. (330m/s for sound, remember!).T he watchword is ‘realism.’ If ‘realism’=‘fun’ for you, then fantastic. I’m an M1 tanker, I’ve been playing this for years. If you prefer ‘fun’ to ‘realistic’, this is not something for you to spend money on. If you’re still interested, you might want to wait a week or two for the next upgrade (with the new vehicles) to be released.

You can find various reviews around the web, the most detailed is at http://www.tanksim.com/reviews/steel_beasts_pro.htm

You can also find youtube videos and so on as well.

Oh, and yes, it was a Leopard. Amongst the playable vehicles are Leopard 1AS, Strv-122, Leopard 1A5DK, Leopard 2A4 and Leopard 2A5DK, each with their own quirks. For example, the Australian Leo 1’s fire control system is entirely different to the Danish one’s.

NTM

15

Hmmmm

I haven’t really played any pc video games yet. I’ve spent the last 15 years glued to computer screens for my job and never had an interest in computer games.

…until reading this post. Tank simulation pc game? Now I’m interested → Sign me up.

So how are the learning curves on these games? Company of Heroes looks great. What do you think Dupes, too difficult for a newcomer?

Larry

16

Larry - absolutely not. I mean, it’s hard, but no harder than any of the other stuff you’d start with. [;)] It does have a pretty steep set of system requirements, though. Make sure that your pc will run it sufficiently…at least if you want it to look like above. CoH is where it’s at. [:D]

Manic Moran - I’m bummed it’s not a game-game…and that it costs so much. Heh. I can keep hoping somebody will put out a good (retail-friendly) tank sim.

17

Dupes - I just won a new copy of CoH on eBay. Looks like the start of something that I probably shouldn’t start but I’ll start it anyway because it looks too cool not to start.

I’ll let you know if I have any questions once I start up with it. Do you need a specific high-end graphics card for CoH? My system is pretty robust, but I don’t have a high-end graphics card installed.

Larry

18

Well, you might be able to find SB Gold in the shops, but prepare to return to the days of non-accelerated 640x480!

Supposedly ESim will come out with a dumbed down and cheaper version of SBP called Steel Beasts 2, but I don’t see it happening any time soon.

I can’t speak for CoH. SB is one of those ‘easy to learn, hard to master’ dealios. Just pick one tank, learn how it works (with the excellent tutorial system), and play with that for a while. You can expand to company or battalion operations in your own time, and move to the other tanks and learn them. I’ll wager most players of SBP are in their thirties or forties, so it’s not as if there’s a ‘trick’ or ‘twitch’ requirement. Remember also the primary use of it: Training time in the army is limited, and they want to spend more time learning tactics than learning just how to play the sim.

NTM

19

Sweet! You’re going to love it. A “pretty robust” system should at least give you the gameplay, the better graphics card you have, the higher you’ll be able to crank up the graphical options…like exploding tanks.

20

Thanks Dupes and NTM. I plan on installing it on my Dell Optiplex DX620 running WinXP pro. It’s got two SATA II hard drives, P4 HT 3.2GHz, 2 Gig DDR2 RAM. Onboard Intel video card is probably the weak link. If the graphics don’t look OK then I’ll upgrade to the recommended spec.

…Must have exploding tanks !

Larry