Thinking on a few tank games, advice?

Lootron · 09-16-17, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

Lootron!

Thanks! Any advice for a complete noob to tank sims and panzer elite?

Skybird · 09-16-17, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lootron

Thanks! Any advice for a complete noob to tank sims and panzer elite?

Stay low, drive in valleys, not over ridges and hilltops.

Remain formation and unit cohesion, if your chosen sim allows that.

Depending on your chosen sim, do not stay in place once the enemy has spotted your position (artillery...).

Learn that difference in viewing angles from (from top to bottom) TC unbuttoned, TC buttoned, gunners primary sight, gunners secondary sight. That you see something something as TC or in gunners primary sights does not mean that the gun barrel already has cleared any obstacles in front of the tank.

If manual distance callibration of optics is allowed by your chosen sim, dial in expected combat distance before you make contact, not after establishing contact. Get off the first (aimed) shot before the enemy, but dont perforate the air. Especially modern tanks run out of ammo unbelievably fast.

If reloading, go into cover. If reshuffling ammo from stores to ready racks, withdraw from the firing line completely.

Have situational awareness, always. Know where your buddies are, always.

No headlights at night.

There are tank "sims" that use them excessively in night battles.

NEVER underestimate Russians.

Keep on mind: "Static defences are monuments for the stupidity of man."

Lootron · 09-16-17, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skybird

Stay low, drive in valleys, not over ridges and hilltops.

Remain formation and unit cohesion, if your chosen sim allows that.

Depending on your chosen sim, do not stay in place once the enemy has spotted your position (artillery...).

Learn that difference in viewing angles from (from top to bottom) TC unbuttoned, TC buttoned, gunners primary sight, gunners secondary sight. That you see something something as TC or in gunners primary sights does not mean that the gun barrel already has cleared any obstacles in front of the tank.

If manual distance callibration of optics is allowed by your chosen sim, dial in expected combat distance before you make contact, not after establishing contact. Get off the first (aimed) shot before the enemy, but dont perforate the air. Especially modern tanks run out of ammo unbelievably fast.

If reloading, go into cover. If reshuffling ammo from stores to ready racks, withdraw from the firing line completely.

Have situational awareness, always. Know where your buddies are, always.

No headlights at night.

There are tank "sims" that use them excessively in night battles.

NEVER underestimate Russians.

Keep on mind: "Static defences are monuments for the stupidity of man."

With panzer elite, and with the manual, it has taken me all day figuring out the camera! I still cant figure it out! :P

Also, I was more looking for "how do I shoot" more than "when to shoot"

Also Looking for mods. Ostpak seems best. Or is it panzer elite three? Well anyway I found the link but the domain is gone. Anybody have a download?

33lima · 09-17-17, 04:58 AM

This is the the best place to ask about all aspects of PE and its mods - the current forum of the Panzer Elite Development Group:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/pedg...138b3ab363aebb

Their website is here: http://pedg.chollie.co.uk/ It's a bit old now but still has links to stuff like my British Voice Pack, and a 1943-era British tank manual, mainly aimed at levels higher than troop/platoon.

PEDG is the group that produced the mods that were released with Panzer Elite Special Edition, including the original Ostpak, Britpack '44, Torch, Panzer Pack 2 and Monty-v-Rommel. Newer versions of most of these are available or in development - details on the forum above.

There is a gunnery range mission somewhere.

My advice once you have the vanilla game installed and the 1.2 patch applied (n/k if it comes with the GoG version) to d/l, enable and play with mods which are built with the new .exe file. You don't want to be without the things it adds, like better tank and infantry AI and proper time of flight for ballistic trajectories (the big flaws in the stock game).

Learn gunnery (and everything else - including handling your tank and later, controlling the others in your platoon) in the Instant Action mode. Pick the German side and a Tiger or King Tiger (both for your own tank and as 'wingmen') - that will mean you have to worry less about being knocked out while you are figuring out how not to be. If your command tank is KO'ed you are automatically and rather quickly transferred to the next tank in your platoon.

Learn the German gunner's sight first. Usually it has two zoom settings. Even if your German is no better than mine, the original Tigerfibel is quite a good source on this and gunnery, generally: http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/...r_Panzers_.pdf

Google will also turn oup other advice on German tank sights. With PE-x mods you can correct your aim from observation of the tracer as well as from fall of shot.

Listen to the target indications you get on the intercom/radio net, and see displayed on the text panel bottom of screen.

Switch to the external view from time to time to get a better picture of what is going on around you.Learn the keys to swap between this view and gunner's sight view so you can do so quickly.

Consider playing from the tank commander's view so you are not frequently viewing the world through a drinking straw. You can designate targets by mouseclick, and your AI gunner will engage. Or you can just tell him (not just the platoon) to 'fire at will' - he is very good ay identifying targets for himself, depending on skill level.

Start every battle by immediately turning your tank to face the enemy while at the same time driving into the best cover that you can get into quickly. As your tank moves, order your platoon into wedge or line, so that they too will orient their thickest armour and primary arcs of observation towards the threat (sadly in PE the AI tanks are not good at getting into cover for themselves but you soon learn to try to lead them all into cover).

Avoid closing with enemy armour more than you have to, to engage them, as you will get flanked faster.

Try to get into folds in the ground from which you can see and shoot the enemy but where you are 'hull down', with much of your tank out of their fields of fire and only your turret showing.

After a few rounds, back up out of sight - if there is no cover from structures or in the lie of the land, you can pop smoke in most tanks to give you a small smoke screen, and in some tanks fire smoke shells at an enemy as in 'Fury'. Then come at him from a different angle so he's not homing in on you. Watch your flanks because he will try to flank you and if you sit too long in one place he will succeed.

33lima · 09-17-17, 05:09 AM

As for mods for Panzer Elite, the ones I would recommend are:

- Britpack '44-x (when it is ready!!!)

- Monty -v- Rommel 2: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/pedg...p=13716#p13716

- PP2-x: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/pedg/pp2-x-f52/

or

- Ostpak Redux: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/pedg...nks-t2514.html

PE3 is/was I think an effort to include 'nearly everything' in one mod which it did, though it had some issues and it sacrificed some of what each mod brought eg IIRC no playable Crusader tanks in N Africa, with Valentines substituted. Ostpak Redux is effectively an update of PE3.

Good hunting!

33lima · 09-17-17, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skybird

No headlights at night.

There are tank "sims" that use them excessively in night battles.

Your dig at a certain non-Steel Beasts tanksim is I think out-of-date, given appropriate orders, Skybird:

Iraqi Army T-62 advancing at night, in Steel Armor Blaze of War:

And the view of the same scene from the TC's sight - active IR (which can also be turned off) is the only lighting being used:

Lootron · 09-17-17, 01:02 PM

I got PP2-x. I used the mod enabler, everything installed correctly. Except when I get to the mod enabler. I enabled the mod. The bar progressed a little bit then it went into "not responding" mode. I did this more than once. While it did this it took all my disk usage.

33lima · 09-18-17, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lootron

I got PP2-x. I used the mod enabler, everything installed correctly. Except when I get to the mod enabler. I enabled the mod. The bar progressed a little bit then it went into "not responding" mode. I did this more than once. While it did this it took all my disk usage.

IIRC the Mod Enabler does this with larger mods, and PP2-x is a larger mod. In Vista 64 anyway, leave it alone long enough and it will complete, even though reporting 'not responding'.

It's important to be aware that - unlike most other games which use a similar mod enabler - in PE, the mods are two folders deep. For example in my case, the path in which PP2-x is installed looks like this (I installed NOT into the Program Files(x64) folder, as many older games don't like this):

C:\PanzerElite\Mods\PP2-x\PP2.x

Without the second 'PP2-x' level, the enabler will not put the files into the correct folders. If PP2-x has its own self-installer and it was given the corrrect path, it probably took care of this. Was probably fine as you could see the mod in the enabler's LH panel.

When you launch the Mod Enabler now, does any mod show up as enabled in the RH panel?

What happens if you start Panzer Elite? IIRC there will be something on the home/main menu screen indicating the name of the active mod (if the maker has designated one in the mod's .ini file).

Not sure what state aborting a run then re-starting will leave things in. If run again and alllowed to finish, it might work fine. But might not 'disable' cleanly. Worst case scenario, uninstall PE, delete any remaining folders, re-install.

Becomes second nature after the first time!

Best place for further advice is the PEDG forum.

Lootron · 09-18-17, 01:50 PM

I got the mod working and it is GREAT!

Question: My wingmen keep falling back. I end up doing everything. Why sint there an order for "follow me"? Is there a way to fix this?

Edit: Whenever I play a day scenario, all the tanks are black.

33lima · 09-18-17, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lootron

I got the mod working and it is GREAT!

Question: My wingmen keep falling back. I end up doing everything. Why sint there an order for "follow me"? Is there a way to fix this?

Edit: Whenever I play a day scenario, all the tanks are black.

Your wingmen should follow you by default. However, if they see an enemy, and unless you have ordered them to hold fire, they will halt and engage (the wingman number turns from white to blue in the 'mousetank', when a wingman is engaging).

If you want them to stop shooting and get back into formation, select all wingmen, and then order 'Hold Fire'. If they are slow to start moving again, you can again select all, then order 'Continue'. Remember to oder 'Fire at Will' again at some point!

You can also mouse click on another tank in your platoon (the actual tank) to select him, then click on a spot on the ground, to order him 'Move there'. You can move pairs of wingmen in the same way. if you ahve set them up as groups, IIRC.

They should follow you by default, in the formation you have ordered. That's only your own platoon of course, other friendly platoons in the same scenario are following the script set by the mission maker.

Having to learn and do all this stuff is why you get paid more as a platoon leader

Tanks being black sounds like a texture library not loading or a mismatch between a particular texture library and the 3d files. Unless it's a particular problem with a particular tank. Suggest you register on the PEDG forum and ask there, the mod's maker Daskal, Aldo or one of the other regulars will get you sorted pronto.

09-17-17, 04:58 AM	#4
33lima Planesman Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Belfast, NI Posts: 199 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 0	This is the the best place to ask about all aspects of PE and its mods - the current forum of the Panzer Elite Development Group: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/pedg...138b3ab363aebb Their website is here: http://pedg.chollie.co.uk/ It's a bit old now but still has links to stuff like my British Voice Pack, and a 1943-era British tank manual, mainly aimed at levels higher than troop/platoon. PEDG is the group that produced the mods that were released with Panzer Elite Special Edition, including the original Ostpak, Britpack '44, Torch, Panzer Pack 2 and Monty-v-Rommel. Newer versions of most of these are available or in development - details on the forum above. There is a gunnery range mission somewhere. My advice once you have the vanilla game installed and the 1.2 patch applied (n/k if it comes with the GoG version) to d/l, enable and play with mods which are built with the new .exe file. You don't want to be without the things it adds, like better tank and infantry AI and proper time of flight for ballistic trajectories (the big flaws in the stock game). Learn gunnery (and everything else - including handling your tank and later, controlling the others in your platoon) in the Instant Action mode. Pick the German side and a Tiger or King Tiger (both for your own tank and as 'wingmen') - that will mean you have to worry less about being knocked out while you are figuring out how not to be. If your command tank is KO'ed you are automatically and rather quickly transferred to the next tank in your platoon. Learn the German gunner's sight first. Usually it has two zoom settings. Even if your German is no better than mine, the original Tigerfibel is quite a good source on this and gunnery, generally: http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/...r_Panzers_.pdf Google will also turn oup other advice on German tank sights. With PE-x mods you can correct your aim from observation of the tracer as well as from fall of shot. Listen to the target indications you get on the intercom/radio net, and see displayed on the text panel bottom of screen. Switch to the external view from time to time to get a better picture of what is going on around you.Learn the keys to swap between this view and gunner's sight view so you can do so quickly. Consider playing from the tank commander's view so you are not frequently viewing the world through a drinking straw. You can designate targets by mouseclick, and your AI gunner will engage. Or you can just tell him (not just the platoon) to 'fire at will' - he is very good ay identifying targets for himself, depending on skill level. Start every battle by immediately turning your tank to face the enemy while at the same time driving into the best cover that you can get into quickly. As your tank moves, order your platoon into wedge or line, so that they too will orient their thickest armour and primary arcs of observation towards the threat (sadly in PE the AI tanks are not good at getting into cover for themselves but you soon learn to try to lead them all into cover). Avoid closing with enemy armour more than you have to, to engage them, as you will get flanked faster. Try to get into folds in the ground from which you can see and shoot the enemy but where you are 'hull down', with much of your tank out of their fields of fire and only your turret showing. After a few rounds, back up out of sight - if there is no cover from structures or in the lie of the land, you can pop smoke in most tanks to give you a small smoke screen, and in some tanks fire smoke shells at an enemy as in 'Fury'. Then come at him from a different angle so he's not homing in on you. Watch your flanks because he will try to flank you and if you sit too long in one place he will succeed. Last edited by 33lima; 09-17-17 at 05:38 AM.

09-17-17, 05:09 AM	#5
33lima Planesman Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Belfast, NI Posts: 199 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 0	As for mods for Panzer Elite, the ones I would recommend are: - Britpack '44-x (when it is ready!!!) - Monty -v- Rommel 2: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/pedg...p=13716#p13716 - PP2-x: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/pedg/pp2-x-f52/ or - Ostpak Redux: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/pedg...nks-t2514.html PE3 is/was I think an effort to include 'nearly everything' in one mod which it did, though it had some issues and it sacrificed some of what each mod brought eg IIRC no playable Crusader tanks in N Africa, with Valentines substituted. Ostpak Redux is effectively an update of PE3. Good hunting! Last edited by 33lima; 09-17-17 at 05:27 AM.

09-17-17, 01:02 PM	#7
Lootron Swabbie Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: USA Posts: 11 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I got PP2-x. I used the mod enabler, everything installed correctly. Except when I get to the mod enabler. I enabled the mod. The bar progressed a little bit then it went into "not responding" mode. I did this more than once. While it did this it took all my disk usage. Last edited by Lootron; 09-18-17 at 09:36 AM.

09-18-17, 01:50 PM	#9
Lootron Swabbie Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: USA Posts: 11 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I got the mod working and it is GREAT! Question: My wingmen keep falling back. I end up doing everything. Why sint there an order for "follow me"? Is there a way to fix this? Edit: Whenever I play a day scenario, all the tanks are black. Last edited by Lootron; 09-18-17 at 02:12 PM. Reason: ARRGH!