Tank Sim with best Map Editor

[danzig70]

I have the itch to try a tank sim after SH3 and various flight sims. I like to make the maps as accurate as possible and was wondering which game in people's experience has the best map editor.

Also, I dont know if The Combat Mission or TOW series are tank sims but if there are any opinions on these it would be appreciated.

Ideally Im looking for a tank sim with good interior view, mod-able, with a map editor.

I like Steel Beasts Pro PE but am looking for a WW2 theatre right now.

Any opinions are appreciated.

[frinik]

Combat Missions , Theatre of War are RTS more than sims.You aldso have Soldiers Heroes of WWII, Men of War, the Panzer Command series in the same vein.I am not sure how easy the editors are but I think they are approachable.

For the bets and easiest map and mission editor I would say go for Steel Fury which has a failry user-friendly map and mission editor.Otherwise there's Panzer Elite but it's a bit dated as a sim.TvsT's editor is a mystery wrapped in a labyrinth.The others sims like Red Orchestra ; Arma II's i44 mods are first person shooters not tank sims.

[danzig70]

Thanks for the tip!

[Kyth]

Originally Posted by frinik

Combat Missions , Theatre of War are RTS more than sims.You aldso have Soldiers Heroes of WWII, Men of War, the Panzer Command series in the same vein.I am not sure how easy the editors are but I think they are approachable.

Well to be fair, games like Combat Mission, Theatre of War and I think Panzer Command attempt to depict real-life units and historical scenarios, so they might be considered as historical wargames. I hope this doesn't sound like splitting hairs

[murkz]

Hi Danzig,

If I may be so bold as to suggest T34 vs Tiger as ticking all the boxes you require.

It has excellent tank interiors and a rather good editor. We are a group that are working on the MMP mod for TvT.

Please get in touch as we have lots of things map wise going on at the moment.

http://panzersim.forumotion.com/forum

Jeff

[danzig70]

Nice site, thanks for the tip!

[frinik]

We sound like we are making a sales pitch.....

[danzig70]

Nothing wrong with that! Both games look great.

[frinik]

That being said, for having tinkered and played with the mission editors of both games I can personally say SF's is much more user-friednly and accessible.


Pssst! Don' t buy a used car from Murkz buy it from me!

[Kapt. Q]

Originally Posted by frinik

That being said, for having tinkered and played with the mission editors of both games I can personally say SF's is much more user-friednly and accessible.


Pssst! Don' t buy a used car from Murkz buy it from me!

Yes, but TvT is the only WW2 Tank sim available, be one of the few modding/mapping for it!

P.s. I'm biased I want more maps, etc for TvT.

[frinik]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?????I must have been asleep on that one

TvsT is only played MP by loyal, die hard fans and a handful of ZeeWolf's excellent work for SP.That Sim has been reneged and abandoned by its creators , orphaned.There are only 2 tanks available.

Steel Fury is a sim and its developers stand behind it and offer a forum and assistance to modders.The game has over 100 tanks and SPGs playable; Panzer I(6 models),T34/7r(captured Sov tank, PanzerII (2 models) ,Panzer III J and G, Panzer IVF1 and F2, Panther D, Tiger I ausf H , Tiger II, Luchs, Marder II(2 models) and III, Panzerjager I, Stug C/D, F(2 models) and late, STug G (3 models), Jagdpanther, Brummbaer,Elefant, skfz 232, 222, 250, 251, Flakpanzer, Kubelwagen, BMW R12( all playable)Opel trucks, Paks 35/36, 38 and 40 not playable, Panzerschrecks, mortars, 75 and 105 mm artillery.Soviet side you have T26, T28, T38,T35, T60, T34/76(4 models), Ba5, BA10, Ba64, Mathilda Mark II and Valentine Mark III tanks, German trophy tanks( stug, Panzer II and IV and Tiger), KV1, T34/85, JS-2 ( 2 models), SU 85, 122, 152 (all playable)and soon more models SU76, and 100, T70, Not tomention various artillery and AT guns, 45, 57, 76, 85 mm and 76 ans 122mm artillery, trucks, mortars.Also 2 types of aircrafts not playable.

So which the most complete and still actively played WWII sim????

[Kapt. Q]

Sorry Frinik, I missed a key word in my post, Multiplayer, TvT is the only WW2 multiplayer tanksim! (I have SF too). As far as the two playable tanks go, plenty of modding potential there then, rumour has it there could be another soon!

[L.T]

Editor is only half of it. What is a tank sim. Just a few high grade models and then the rest is between poop and a bad hair day.

I love TvsT, get you are cool feeling driving/commanding a tank.

Steel fury is awsome, getting better and better with more mods on it, but lack abit in the enviroment and the ability to get out when hit.

As a former tanker i have some pretty solid points i want from a tank game, especialy a wwII tank game.

I explain abit. in 95 i got draftet to the Danish army, there i met a lifetime friend. He was half German and hes grandpa had been at the eastern front with panzerdivision 5 wiking.

I was lucky to mee this man, didnt want the storys about blood and guts, was more interestet in how the German panzer units operatet. This man was a commander of a Sturmgeschütz unit. 2 stugs and up to 25 infantry.

What i asked him about was about combat preperations. Did they ever leave the armour? yes almost everytime they should attack something. It was normal that the unit commander and hes loader whent to outscirts of a upcomming battle to recon before the engagements. This way that had more acurate information about attack paths and retreat paths. It was only the only way they could get an accurate idea about the terrain.

Was this only you who did that? No it was a werry normal way any armour commander would operate. We couldnt rely on the infantrys scout patrols, we had to make sure our selfs.

Did you ever roam around alone? Only later in the war when we got the Stug G with the 75mm long cannon, then we became hunters. At the beginning everyone wantet to get a panther or Tiger, it was normal that the best Sturmgeschütz crews got the tanks, like whitmann. Personaly i fell in love with the Stug G and never wantet one of the big tanks.

When we got the stug G things changed alot. We where now regareded as a "tank" unit, but our division commander right away knew what to do with the Stug G. We kept our old role as infantry support, but we where a nasty suprise to the russians when they did there "normal"steamroll with there tanks.

When we arived at the scene of battle i would get outside with my loader. We had green jumpsuits we could cover our black uniforms with and then a walter pistol and a mp-40, i think it was in early 1944 we got camo uniforms we could wear instead of the black ones, our commander could se we could use them in our ambush role.

We normaly prepared 800m away from the attack point, and had infantry covering us, with the Stug G we only had one platoon of about 12 men, but somethimes we didnt even have them. We wantet to be that close at that range we could keep the same sight position for both HE and apc rounds with only minor adjustments, remember we had little traverse to the sides, so we had to be bang on target, a good driver could follow the gunner, but good drivers after late 1943 was hard to get, they all sat in the Tigers and panthers.

We didnt like to be in the Stug all the time. It always smelled of cordite and fuel, there was always small water pudles, and we used alot of time securing wirering inside. When we slept doing night we where around 30m away from the Stug and only had the guard around it, this saved our lifes a few times the Russian patrolls couldnt find us and we actualy had a Stug from the division stolen by the Russians while the crew was waching them drive away. We was not normal infantry soldiers and we had orders to not engage unless it was in a Stug. We where important to the division as trained crew and if rations was low we would get a bigger ration than the infantry, Armour was priority 1 in the division.

The only other vehicle i realy wantet to command was the Puma with the 75mm gun, that was a perfect machine for ambush. yes it was tall, but the speed. It could drive cirkles around a T-34.

The war ended for me when the division surrendered near Fürstenfeld in Austria on 9 May. We surrendered to the Americans after blowing up the Stug.

So what do i want from a tank sim, the above. The tools so i can scout my self, to be able to order Infantry and se infantry in close support roles. TvsT dont give me that, steel fury dont give me that, the only game on market that give me that is Arma II with i44 2.5 mod on top. Yes it is original a fps, but i44 have made tanks feel like tanks, gives a gigantic feel of combat. Controls are wierd, there are bugs, but as a total package it gives me more realism to be in a wwII tank unit than any of the above, plus it have coops(MP), and i looooove coops lmao...

so personaly if you look at the entire spectrum of armour operation WWII style i vote for arma II i44

[frinik]

I saw the videos of Arma i44 here and on youtube.Loos very impressive! In the samre vein Red Orchestra also offers the possibility of MP tank players.I saw the trailer for Heroes of Stalingrad and it looks really awsome!

My own dream would be a combo or hybrid rts/tank sim one that allows you to play a rts like Panzer Command, or TOW or Men of War and then pick the vehicle or tank of you choice and join the battle you've organised inside the tank drive or act as gunner .That would be a dream!

[Kapt. Q]

i44 is great, combined arms and coop multiplayer are brilliant and with further work I'm sure it will be the best tanksim currently available, but it's not quite there yet because it wasn't originally developed to be a tank simulator and the tanks don't yet quite 'feel like tanks', the movement is wrong amongst other things. If you don't have accurate engine/transmission, movement and damage modelling, it's not a brilliant tank simulator even if you can get out walk around and play coop. Soon I'm sure.