WW2 tankin

[Vacquero]

Between T34 vs Tiger and Steel Fury, which is the better as far as realism and enjoyment goes? Which one looks better graphically? Which one is more user friendly?

[GH_Lieste]

I have neither, but from the limited published information so far it seems that:

TvT uses 'effective armour values' for each face, so the minimum frontal armour on the T34 is 90mm, regardless of ground slope or shell size or type.

SF uses slope and armour thickness for the ballistic calculations (with the 'effective armour' used for AI purposes only) thickness is defined by a grayscale texture file. T34 frontal armour has a minimum value of 45mm, increased by slope to an effective value of roughly 90mm, but the data supports future (or current) code modifications for shell nose shape, size etc.

Both *seem* to have been abandoned by their developer, and the localisations by the publisher appear to have been chaotic and ineffective at best. I think SF does still have one of the original team working on it, but little has been changed in the core code in the Russian version since the original release... which was at least stable and worked as designed. A recent 'mod' has been released that hybridises the western version with the russian datafiles and core to correct various problems...

TvT does have some MP functionality, but it isn't trouble free, and it seems that clients can run with modified 'scripts' (ie vehicle/weapon data amongst others) to the other clients or host...

[Vacquero]

Well hell, is there anything else out there worth a damn, that will run on XP?

[Tacbat]

There is, but you've probably already got it. :wink:

[Vacquero]

Yeah I do, but the problem is I don't enjoy SBPe anymore, single player. I can't figure out how to get my modem set up to play MP, and most of the time games are to late for me anyhow (I get up at 4:30am every morning). On top of all that my g-card dosen't like SB anymore.

[von Kinderei]

T34vTiger is a MAINLY multiplayer sim with a VERY limilted single player style ... it is HIGHLY moddable but there s ALOT of complaints about it's playablity multiplayer wise ... the developers have got it out the door but they don't plan much else for it. It looks good though !

Steel Fury on the other hand is ALL single player right now ( HOPEFULLY ) a patch for multiplayer will be forth coming ... it is moddable as well , plays MUCH better on smaller rigs , looks as good ( at least to me ) as T34vTiger and theres PLENTY of add-ons ( MODS ) out now for it with a FALL BLAU add-on coming real soon ... I also believe there " MIGHT " be an African Campaign coming and a winter one as well !

All in all I think Steel Fury is the better sim without doubt !

http://www.t34vtiger.com/forums/index.php

http://www.lighthouse-interactive.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=44

You can look at these forums for more info on each and make up your own mind

Heres a couple videos of Steel Fury ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wukA3ByLl-w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzMfWTd8z-A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTTmniKpuOk

AND a T34vTiger

vK ~

[von Kinderei]

Oooooooooooooooooo ...

I almost forgot ... one of the more IMPORTANT differences between the 2 is that Steel Fury come s with a Mission Editor !

And whats rerally cool is that when you are inside the tanks you can look around and see the other crewmen at their positions and you can watch the loader actully load the projectiles into the breech ... way cool !

vK ~

[DarkAngel]

T-34 vs Tiger is an Utter POS... its full of bugs and uses a hit-point system.

Steel fury is very nice if you can get over it being sp only.

[enigma6584]

T-34 vs Tiger is an Utter POS... its full of bugs and uses a hit-point system.

Steel fury is very nice if you can get over it being sp only.

Yeah, I would agree with this. Such a disapointment T34vsTiger is. I would just like to know whether Lighthouse Interactive knew how fucked this thing was before they sent it out the door.

As far as Steel Fury is concerned, I agree with Dark, it actually is not too bad and has even more potential. People seem to have taken to it much better. It would really do well if multiplay is incorporated sometime into the future with a patch or addon. Much potential here.

[GH_Lieste]

The current information provided is that SF is only single player, and the addons will also only be single player.

If a SF2 ever materialises, then it will incorporate multi-player.

However, with software much can change, so who knows?

[TankHunter]

I have Steel Fury and it is fairly good. They are also making an expansion pack for it dealing with Fall Blau IIRC.

[andym]

T34vTiger is a bit one dimesional vis a vis game play,its quite arcade like.The graphics are pretty good but the missions lack depth and once played thats it,the AI wont put enemies elsewhere making the game last longer.I could only do the first 5 German Missions,i kept getting CTD on the 6th one.The tiger seems to be armed with an Air rifle as opposed to the correct gun,the T34 however has the Death Ray Lazer Patented Tiger Killer mounted.Shame really as it might have had potential.There are some commited blokes striving to add mods and sort out the bugs on the T34 v Tiger site.I also beleive that there is a developers patch on its way.I think it maybe a bit too late though.Sad really as it looked like it had promise.

[alpha6]

The tiger seems to be armed with an Air rifle as opposed to the correct gun,the T34 however has the Death Ray Lazer Patented Tiger Killer mounted

darn Russians

[Vacquero]

Well being that single player is probably the best option for me, Steel Fury sounds better.

[von Kinderei]

You won't be disappointed

vK ~

[von Kinderei]

WooT ...

They just released the Western Version of the Steel Panzer Mod which adds two new player vehicles ... the MkIII Valentine and the Russian KV-1 and new campaigns as well !

Steel Fury is the way to go without a doubt

vK ~

[Flanker15]

Only faults I have with SF are: you can't get AA to work so lots of jaggies and sound doesn't model distance very well so you can hear shell impacts on enemy armor as if they were right in front of you.

Other than that it's really great, and the Steel Panzers mod and patch just about doubles the content while fixing most problems.

[[]_--__[]KITT]

I wonder why does every tank sim ended up tragically short of expectation?

There are quite a number of great flightsim but tanksim? That's why we forked $125.00 to get SB Pro PE.

Really tank sim is tragically dead, now being resurrected a bit only to be dying even at the start and the future is bleak.

I'm now playing Open falcon which is a fligthsim.

[Hartford688]

_--__[]KITT;161490']I wonder why does every tank sim ended up tragically short of expectation?

Because expectation for EUR40 are unrealistically high?

I am very happy with Steel Fury. Worth the money to me.

[GaryOwen]

T-34 vs Tiger is an Utter POS... its full of bugs and uses a hit-point system.

Steel fury is very nice if you can get over it being sp only.

Well, I think that Tony's scathing yet pithy review has doomed Lighthouse, the distributor for both of these titles.

Magnum over at SimHqs has announced hearing that Lighthouse is now closing down.

[enigma6584]

Well, I think that Tony's scathing yet pithy review has doomed Lighthouse, the distributor for both of these titles.

Magnum over at SimHqs has announced hearing that Lighthouse is now closing down.

Yep, I was just going to mention that here but you beat me to it. Lighthouse Interactive is insolvent. Thanks a whole hell of a lot Tony! Ggggaaayyyy!

[Ssnake]

At least 40% (some sources suggest 65%) of all PC games never break even. It should come at no big surprise (it may even be the norm) when a computer game fails economically.

Of the remaining profitable titles, about 4 out of five barely break even/make a mini profit. Only about 5% of all computer games make serious money, and 1% of all titles or probably even less are the super smash hits like Worlds of Warcraft that are better than a license to print money (figuratively speaking; there actually isn't a tremendous amount of profit to be made with the production of banknotes and coins).

Because of this, there are very few game companies that exist for longer than what it takes to make two or three games. To survive in this business you need to be exceptionally skilled (or as lucky as Gladstone Gander), or you need some means to finance your business independently from computer game retail sales.

As far as the situation of tank simulation games are concerned, the longer I'm in this business the more I appreciate the unique opportunity that we had when we started (so, in a way we were very lucky). As a traditional game developer you have to overcome particularly adverse circumstances.

Typical games are being sold by pretty screenshots and a dose of hype and maybe some viral marketing, then strong shelf presence (without expending too much on marketing which can easily ruin the whole profitability). You are locked in a price structure that doesn't give you much wiggle room; consumers expect to pay $60 or preferrably way less. If your development is being financed by a publisher you need to finish your work within 15 to 18 months, 24 months at best or else the publisher may pull the plug and hand the project over to someone else (or gives it a bargain bin burial with a long overdue but still premature release). If you finance the whole venture out of your own pocket, you're a fool and you will probably ruin your life, and that of your family (if you have one) and that of your friends (those that still were your friends and who made the big mistake to give you a loan... back then). If you try to do a cost-minimal approach you can't create the pretty screenshots, and you'll lose the race against other computer games (not every computer game out there is competition, but many are indeed competing for the same buck dedicated to electronic home entertainment). If you make a study sim you'll fail to attract a large group of players. If you create an action game with some simulation elements, you'll lose the core fans that may be the opinion multipliers.

Even if you do everything right up to this point there still is the question whether you invest too much effort into your research and get drowned in details which may then lead to bad interface design, or you do too little research and then get crucified by the Joyless Modeler Nazis or armchair war historians, ideally both of them.

A tank sim requires a lot of open space, so you're up against Crysis and Oblivion for the terrain detail and viewing range. At the same time you want an engine that doesn't require too much from older graphics cards so that you still don't exclude too many PC owners from your target audience.

You need to protect against piracy, but you must not be too hard on the legitimate user.

In short, no sane guy would bet his farm on such a project. The odds are stacked against you in an overwhelming manner.