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2016 payware upgrade?


Stratos

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I can "confirm" that a new version MAY be available by May 2016, but it MIGHT just as well take us a bit longer. (I'm not trying to mock you, it's just that we have certain development goals for the next release, and in the past we usually decided to delay a release to allow us to complete the work rather than delivering an unfinished version. It's a creative process, not a highly deterministic assembly process.)

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Will we see a payware upgrade during summer 2016? And If yes, when will we see the list of included features?

We definitely WANT to have a new version ready by June 2016. The feature set is still a bit unclear however (we intend to nail it down early in the 1st quarter, and then to start with the internal beta test).

The full feature disclosure will usually begin six to eight weeks prior to the anticipated release date. I have however already announced a few things on prior occasions, particularly the new terrain engine. We've been working on that almost since the release day of SB Pro 3.002. It will allow us to do new things in the future, not all of which we can implement initially, but it's an essential project for a number of future core features. What I can say is that it'll allow us to bring leveled roads to mountain slopes, and generally smoothed roads. It'll allow us to create hairpin curves on very steep slopes which is actually something that not many real-time simulations do at all, or do well, so we're actually quite proud of that (even though the practical application in Steel Beasts maps may be rare).

One consequence of this new terrain is that it will absolutely require 64 bit, so we can no longer support X86 mode. Another is that height maps will require substantially more disk space. I will post more on that in a separate thread some time in the new year.

Expect new playable vehicles. Which ones will remain undisclosed, of course, until shortly before the release date. But you'll love 'em.

Also, we'll include the particle system that we had hoped to have in SB Pro PE 3.0, but we seriously underestimated the amount of work that had to be invested, both into the particle system itself as well as into the artwork, or the shader effects. But I've seen some amazing eye candy in early development previews (at least "amazing" to me, a dinosaur who started home computing in the mid 1980s). The days of eternal sunshine in Steel Beasts are definitely coming to an end. Bad weather may never have been so good. :)

We've invested a substantial amount into the infantry field, above all, the user interface, so that small scale infantry scenarios will become much more practical to play.

Another hopefully welcome feature of practical value will be "force templates", allowing you to configure the equipment of each mech infantry team so you can have, say, multiple variations of infantry platoons for the same nation but different tables of organization and equipment across decades of doctrinal changes. You'll be able to save company and even battalion force templates, which you can then share with the community so you can create your scenarios much faster without having to put together everything from scratch, every time.

There's so much more, but for now this will have to do. We will post more information in the coming months.

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We've invested a substantial amount into the infantry field, above all, the user interface, so that small scale infantry scenarios will become much more practical to play.

Another hopefully welcome feature of practical value will be "force templates", allowing you to configure the equipment of each mech infantry team so you can have, say, multiple variations of infantry platoons for the same nation but different tables of organization and equipment across decades of doctrinal changes. You'll be able to save company and even battalion force templates, which you can then share with the community so you can create your scenarios much faster without having to put together everything from scratch, every time.

I love Esimgames :) looking forward to more dismount combat, will make the mech infantry scenarios even more dynamic and playable :)

/KT

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Thanks a lot for the info guys! Thats what I wanted to hear, looking forward to June 2016. BTW, loved this...

Expect new playable vehicles. Which ones will remain undisclosed, of course, until shortly before the release date. But you'll love 'em.

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Another hopefully welcome feature of practical value will be "force templates", allowing you to configure the equipment of each mech infantry team so you can have, say, multiple variations of infantry platoons for the same nation but different tables of organization and equipment across decades of doctrinal changes. You'll be able to save company and even battalion force templates, which you can then share with the community so you can create your scenarios much faster without having to put together everything from scratch, every time.

Wonderful!!

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What I can say is that it'll allow us to bring leveled roads to mountain slopes, and generally smoothed roads.

I'm looking forward to this, not only from an aesthetic point-of-view (no more road marches with a "shoulda-had-a-V8" lean, and perhaps no more stair-like roadside walls) but I think this will eliminate the problem when a road and bridge are constructed on a slope (perpendicularly) and the slanting road meets the bridge that has a raised (albeit level) edge where vehicles are prone to crash into it and sustain damage and perhaps also get confused.

I know SB is tank sim first and foremost, so I'm especially grateful for any improvements to the editor and 3D environment.

As always, I'm looking forward to another major version, and very hopeful for a few more NATO and WP vehicles (new or other versions of existing models). Fingers crossed! :bigsmile:

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IIRC, when the first 3.xx came out it included many new vehicles. So going by that assumption I am associating a version 4.xx with a similar inclusion of new vehicles. That's a mere association the anxious little kid (and victim of American marketing) in me could not help make. I may be able to come to the same association by comparing free updates versus paid ones, but with the long history of versions I do not have the mental capacity to discern exactly what was included when. Researching version histories may still not reveal a pattern, in which case, my anxiety and curiosity got the best of me. :c:

At any rate, I look forward to future revelations about the next version. :bigsmile:

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