Just picked up Steel Beasts
 

I just purchased Steel Beasts, and am anxiously awaiting delivery. I've poked around a bit on this section of the forums, and I've found the resources thread, and a handful of other threads, but is there anything else I should know to get started? I'm not a tanker (red-green colorblind) so I'll have to learn this from the ground up.

I am, however, an amateur student of armor, and have read Design and Development of Fighting Vehicles, as well as played (poorly) T72, which runs less than 25% of the time on my computer (and yet is bulletproof on my buddy's, go figure).

I look forward to working with all of you.

Welcome to the forum :salute:

You will find lots of support/mods/etc here http://www.steelbeasts.com/
I have the game also,my trouble is finding the time to play it.

Chucky.

I plan on getting Steel Beasts eventually, but I've studied tanking since I was just a wee child (I'm 19 now, but that still feels like ages ago)
I'll probably be of more help when I can conjure up the money to get it.

But you will find that if you don't know about something involving tanks, there is someone on here that does, and chances are, perhaps rode in one or worked on one.

First screen shot from new upgrade.
 

http://ssnake.org/SBPro/IMG1.jpg

http://www.steelbeasts.com/sbforums/...ad.php?t=14334

You are right.There is one coming.I think it's playable,not sure.See here http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.ph...ml#Post3050692
If it is playable I can't wait.Being British myself I look forward to commanding the best modern tank ever :salute:

AI only, not playable. At least not this time.

Somebody mentioned 20 new vehicles - i believe that when I see it, not earlier. So far a new Russian truck, new buildings, a M113A1 is confirmed. Infantry that could be mounted on and disembark from trucks. Combat behavior in buildings for infantry changed.

I assume old known bugs got squashed, too.

I also assume and hope the real highlight of the new content of the new version still got not revealed in full. What is known until today, for my taste is a bit thin in substance to justify paying money for it. An AI-only Chally does not do the trick for me.

If anyone needs help in any area of "Armor" let me know as 33 years as a tank crewman has helped me a little.

Thanks, Otto.

Gary, that's pretty nice, but I'm with Skybird on not finding it a deal-maker. Although I know a Desert Storm vet that would love to see a playable M113.

The only two things in the game that have struck me as not 100% what I wanted are the rivers being a bank then a black hole of death (are they so you don't try fording?) and the inability to make your own heightmap. I see the latter is a Pro non-PE feature, so I shall sadly not hold my breath.

Otherwise it's everything I ever wanted and more. I changed some sounds a little, but it's just for things like hearing the non-disintegrated portion of the shell hit the floor of the turret. That sound makes me smile.

I should probably go tell them how much I love it. Fans tell someone, and detractors tell everyone, so praise might be welcome. :)

It is, however, accurately lethal, and the time I got 14 kills in ambush my AAR got corrupted and now I can't break around three. *sigh* back to practice for me.

Water obstacles can be death traps in SBP, even small ones that by all reason should not stop a tank. Small waterholes in the landscape you need to watch out for - and make it a habit to never "test" them. Fording rivers is possible, reliably, but you have to find a shallow passage with shallow-angled riverbanks on both sides. Also, some vehicles can swim, and they do.

The water thing is one of the very, very few major issues about which I have been complaining since the release 2006. To me, it even is the only really major bug there is. I since long use only maps where there are no small ponds and small waterholes, only solid rivers. But even with rivers, manouvers need to be carefully observed. It is bad to have a battleposition with a river in your back - the AI will possibly drown itself when manouvering the other tanks in reaction to the enemy, since it tends to stroll up to 200-300 meters away from BP to find better protection.

If you want a tank being located in a critical position near water, give it freeze-orders, but do not forget that it then will not move even when taking fire.

-----

the 20 new vehicles is true in that it seems that many of the existing models got complete overhauls, making them completely new versions of old models. But some fully new vehicles are there indeed, like the T-55 (AI). Or old, that is. A new old tank, so to speak :) . I wonder why they spend the time to bring just a redshirt into the sim.

I personally would prefer less numbers, but reliable bug-squashing. After they said that the IEDs are not being adressed, I decided to stay put and watch for the complete feature list before making a decision to buy or not. There are some minor things that are minor indeed, but still: known issues should be adresses in later payware update, imo. I think of the ammo issue for the Leo-2E for example - that is something that should get solved from one release to the next. The IEDs are such a thing too, since they are already known since longer.

I personally hope that the Centauro is made fully crewable now, to complement the set of Spanish vehicles.

The M113 has always been playable. This is from a scenario I wrote when working with the initial Pro PE version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihtl2XSiCfk

Fords can be created in the map editor:
http://www.steelbeasts.com/sbforums/...hlight=fording

If you ask nicely, custom heightmaps may be available:
http://www.steelbeasts.com/sbforums/...ad.php?t=14341

Last Night I was trolling around Tanksim, new to the site and wanting to tap the community while waiting on T34 vs Tiger. Then it happened! I found "Steel Beast Pro" Holy Cow! It was listed at $100.00 and I need information on it, Is Pro the top of the line modded game?

If your heavy into armor its the way to go. I have a very short list of games. I rarely buy one to two titles a year. The initial buy in is high but the hours of sim play is astonishing, depth is incredible and support through the years has been outstanding. In this genre you will not find any title that even comes close or can compete.

For WWII we have TvT, thanks to Zeewulf, and SF1942, which is also awesome.

Otto,get over here,some good stuff for you http://www.steelbeasts.com/
And here for the different versions,although SB2 is not released yet. http://www.esimgames.com/comparison.htm
As you can see,you need SB Pro PE (personal edition) and yes,it can be modded.

It is the most superior tank simulation with focus on the term simulation that you can get. It was designed as a training tool for armed forces and later was made available to the civilian public (both versions are to an extremely wide degree identical). Almost one dozen Western armies use it for training purposes, the Australians have equipped all their tankers with free copies of it. How good it is you can see in the fact that professional customers pay around 15000 dollars for a classroom network license with 8 or 10 seats. The developer characterises it as a simulator of mechanised warfare on platoon, company and batallion level. Focus are on MBTs, IFVs, APCs. Infantry currently is a compromise, so are air units. The sim is relatively easy to handle in the cockpits, but difficult to master on the planning and tactics side of things. As an ex-tabker, you should recognise the needs the sim confronts you with.

Since you have a background in the real tank army, you should be able to appreciate what SBP has to offer. It competes with the great hardware simulators of the military by extremely aggressve pricing - and it does a lot of things better than the hardware cabins, insiders say. Just understand that the shape it is in and the vehicles it offers, to 90% is because the military customers wanted it this way and were willing to pay for it. That is the reason why there are so many versions of the Leopards, but only one version of the Abrams, for example - the Abrams does not sell well, the Leopards are export hits. A gamer's desires has only limited influence on the developement of SBP. If the milizary does not want a feature and pays for it, chances are that it does not get implemented, or gets implemented only with long delays.

In the past I have posted quite some material on SBP, threads as well as the screenshot and the resources sticky. The latter also has a chapter on how to emulate WWII-combat environment with SBP. The stickies are on top of the forum list.Threads oiu can find via the search function.

If modern tanks is your thing and you are not fixiated on WWII, there is no way you get around SBP. If you are into online group playing, SBP is a must. It is said to be running extremely stable

Do not wait for SBP-2. It is told about, rumoured about, planned for, and it most likely is still years away - if it ever gets realised. It is planned to be a SBP-PE more designed for the demands of the typical gaming market.

If you consider buying it, wait until second half of August. A new version is currently being released, scheduled for 21st august, if I get it correctly.

check the SBP resources sticky, plenty of good stuff hidden in there.