Noob questions

[acid1216]

Hello all. I'm pondering getting Steel Beasts, but I have a few questions to ask before I do. I'm no stranger to sims, I play F4 all flavors, Dangerous Waters, etc.?

1. Is this sim REALLY worth 125 big ones? I mean, how does it compare to Black Shark or F4 in terms of depth and realism? I have to admit I don't know much about armor, except when I shove a maverick down a T-72's throat :diable:.

2. How do the graphics compare to Black Shark or Flaming Cliffs? I thinK I read somewhere that smoke, dust, and trails aren't in the sim.

3. Here are my system specs? Does it look strong enough to run the sim smoothly?

Intel Core Duo 3.0

Geforce 9600gt (I'm considering a new card, such as a Radeon 5900 series or GTX 400)

4 GB ram

Dual boot Windows XP SP3 / Windows 7 64

SB Xfi Titanium

Like I said earlier, I'm primarily an Air Force guy, so I don't know much about all you grunts :biggrin:. Any help is appreciated.

[Toyguy]

In my book, absolutely worth the price. I have gotten more use out of SB than any other game I have ever bought. Graphically, it will look a little weak but that really doesn't matter. In game, you'll rarely notice because you'll be too busy trying not to die horribly and quickly One of the best things about it is it is equally enjoyable in single and multiplayer mode. You will definitely want to join us for Friday nights.

If you like to gun, you'll spend a lot of time in thermal view, and graphics hardly matter there. And I don't mean to imply it looks horrible, it doesn't. Check out some of the screenshots and you'll get the picture. Probably the biggest thing you'll notice is a lack of shadows. Dust is modeled when it makes sense to, as on dirt roads. Smoke is definitely modeled, and you better get good at using it!

Your PC should handle it fine. A new video card never hurts, of course.

[TankHunter]

I would say that it is worth it. There is no other tank sim that is as true to life as SB Pro PE. There is smoke and dust, however there aren't trails (though that shouldn't be an issue).

Your computer as it is should play it without issue.

[Ssnake]

1. Is this sim REALLY worth 125 big ones?

It doesn't make much sense to discuss price without also looking at value. I concede: If you have been playing F4 for almost a decade now that it is out, and that you paid just the price when it was in the bargain bin at $20.-, SB Pro PE can't beat the value-to-price ratio.

If you compare SB Pro PE's $125.- with your run-of-the-mill shooter, it will probably outlive three or four of them in terms of gaming hours, so the price is more than justified.

We set the price point to make you seriously consider what SB Pro is, and what it doesn't attempt to be. At $40.- it would be much easier to buy it on impulse, and then throw it away if it doesn't meet your expectations - without you exploring what your expectations actually are.

Realism - what kind of realism are we talking about?

There's visual realism, realism of procedures, and realism of results. I think SB Pro is reasonable on the first aspect, and you won't find anything commercially available that is better in the other two areas. Not saying that it couldn't be better - we're working every day to make it better, after all - but I know of no other virtual ground simulation that yields a higher fidelity in procedures and results.

With respect to "buttonology", tanks are dead simple in comparison to a modern fighter jet. To that extent any tank simulation cannot possibly reach the (technical) depth of a flight sim. This is offset by other elements that you won't find in a flight sim. While there is some tactical element to dogfights, I think that ground combat has a hell of a lot more tactically relevant variables that need to be taken into account, and often you are working on a frighteningly sparse intelligence picture (actually, your job will often be to fight for that missing piece of intelligence).

SB Pro can be played as a wargame, as a real-time 3rd person miniature "electronic sand table", from the first person of platoon and vehicle commander, or as the gunner of a tank (and usually you will frequently change between these perspectives). You can play it cooperatively or as a duel, team on team, team vs. computer, as a crew in the same virtual cockpit (err, tank).

You'll have to coordinate mounted and dismounted infantry combat, vehicle maneuver and direct fire support, artillery, engineers, logistics, and to some extent also air defense and air support. There's a planning phase much like a pre-flight briefing where you can assess the terrain and figure out possible firing positions, how to use terrain features to mask your forces' movement, and where you need to place observers to foil the enemy's attempt to sneak up on you.

So, the handling of the individual tank (and we have about a dozen of different fire control systems simulated with their different strengths, weaknesses, and crew procedures) is easier to learn than operating a jet or a helicopter. Mastering combined arms warfare can and will take you years, years you can spend with SB Pro as your one stop solution.

Whether this is what you're looking for, I can't say. It's your choice now.

2. How do the graphics compare to Black Shark or Flaming Cliffs?

Our priority is to have functionality first, and pretty screenshots second. As others have already written, usually immersion in SB Pro is so high that you worry about everything else but the graphics. Yes, there's room for improvement (especially 3D characters, we're working on that right now...), but I think that everything that has tactical relevance is there. Smoke and dust (not enough of it to be realistic, but enough to serve as a visual cue that something might be hiding behind that next hill; enough to reward stealth (but slow) maneuver - in other words, to force you to make tradeoff choices whether speed or stealth are more important.

#3: Yeah, your computer is fine.

[Tacbat]

I mean, how does it compare to Black Shark or F4 in terms of depth and realism?

Think of SB as the DCS of tank sims, without the "arcade" mode.

[andym]

YES,it IS worth the money.I know it seems a lot but you do get a hell of a lot of bangs per buck as it were.This is about as serious a Simulator of Modern AFV/Tank warfare youll be able to get your hands on(unless youre in the Military or have your own Tanbk!).Graphics wise,it isnt as you would find on a run of the mill PC/Console game,it DOESNT need to be,trust me in this,you wont have that much time to go "oooooooooooo!" and "aaaaaaahhhhh!" at the scenery!Just ask yourself one question.

"How much money have i wasted on getting a game to find out its crap?" and it never sees the light of day again?Given the average cost of a game $40 ish,you only need to have bought 3 crappy games to recoup the money.SB Pro Pe HAS longevity and with the mission editor its replay factor is endless!Thers plenty of support on site and loads of stuff being made by the Community,and E Sim has to be one of the rarest things on the planet.......developers that actually CARE about their product and CUSTOMERS!!!It was the best $125 i have spent.

[Homer]

Another angle:

I never heard of anyone stop playing this sim because it sucked. Quite the contrary, I have heard of nothing but positive comments. The only reason I know of people who move away from this sim is because of time. This is one of those sims which is easy to learn but difficult to master. Noting your past sim experience, you seem to be prepared for the challenges this sim offers and willing to invest the time needed to become proficient. However, you should know that armored warfare is a completely different arena than what you are used to in virtual skies and seas. Death comes extremely quick and half the time you don't even know that you are in trouble.

Another important item that you may not know about and should be aware of - about once a year, eSim releases new content which will require you to spend additional money (about $25) if you want to stay current.

To be fair, you are asking the converted here. Do more research, like check out the available reviews or visit other forums and see what other people have to say.

[Vikingo]

acid1216 BUY IT ! :3starSK:

I bought it some weeks ago and I`m playing non stop trying many of the options the sim brings :yltype: I played all the tank sims/games out there since Commodore 64 and this one is the most "realistic" of all of them.

I love also Steel Fury but that is WWII , for modern tanks this is the only one. 3D soldiers will be added next year and that will add a lot to the sim world. There are many AFV simulated and your have to pass many hours for learn to use each of the systems. You pass the hours and you didn´t notice them, that is why you are enjoying it. :gun:

The graphics are very nice (the feel of distance using optics is wonderful) and the cockpits are the best out there. If esim add 3d crews (with the option of "turn them on/off") they will be perfect! The Leo 2A5DK one is great and hope they will add someday the Leo2A4 one (I saw the textures in the game folder but it seem they are not used yet...) You can easy add skins to vehicles and build your perfect looking sim.

The sounds are very well done and you can also mod them if you want a sound change.

The strategic part is the more hard to learn and that part is other simulation at it`s own!

The only thing I regret is not buy it before but now I regaining the lost time

Vik :gen004:

[acid1216]

SOLD!!!!

I'll have to order it tonight when I get the time. I've been playing Dangerous Waters with the Reinforced Alert Mod alot lately and even though the graphics aren't great, its still awesome and unparalled in realism and immersion. I get the feeling that Steel Beasts is that way, so I'm gonna give it a chance.

One more question. Is the online community relaxed and easy to deal with? I know that sounds dumb, but I joined an F4 sqaudron a while back that was run by a big dork who was stuck up on realistic "SOPs" and "brevity," on top of most of the members being very excluding of me, even though I know what I'm doing. I just don't want to have it be a hassle when I just want to join into a game.

[Grenny]

Well thats simple...using "unrealistic SOP" f.e. not sticking with your platoon, usually gets you killed. 8-)

[Tacbat]

It's generally pretty good for large multi-player games. If you don't listen to the CO, then next time you're likely to get left over vehicles, if any. It's pretty relaxed.

[Vikingo]

SOLD!!!!

heh! learning from Skybird sales powers :biggrin: (Skybird brings many of us in here from other places...)

you will like it! :gun: and if you want we can build a crew of newie people for MP, so no big problem if we get killed to fast!! :biggrin:

:gen004:

[DemonWhite2]

Also some of the tutorials make it worth it. For example, I'm an M1 tank commander and I was trying to explain to a soldier how to determine range using the scale at the top of the gunner's auxiliary sight reticle. He was having a hard time visualizing what I was was saying so I finally just had him play the GAS sight tutorial for the M1. Problem solved.

This is without a doubt the most useful sim on the market from a real life tanker's perspective.

[GH_Lieste]

Because it is made by and for real life tankers...

[acid1216]

Awesome. I'd rather deal with real soldiers anyway. Those other guys take F4 WAYYY to seriously, and they're not even in the military .They need to realize that it is, after all, a game.

Thanks.

[Sean]

http://www.steelbeasts.com/sbwiki/index.php/Teamspeak

[acid1216]

All right, just paid my money. I also ordered a Radeon 5850 too from tigerdirect. Wife is going to kill me, but its my birthday in December, on top of Xmas, so I just won't get anything else .

Does anyone have trouble with this in Win 7 or on ATi hardware? Just wondering.

[GH_Lieste]

The Beta Version was working fine while I was with my fiancée on vacation over the summer, using a Win7 box with an i7 and onboard video...

Much nicer than on my own PC - a P4 using Ti6600 AGP and WinXP... Still this remains usable if I keep scenarios below btn level...

[Alicatt]

Works just fine with an i7, Win 7 x64, and Nvidia GTS250 graphics card also works great on my laptop which has a i7 620 with integrated intel HD graphics, sorry don't know about the ATi graphics performance tho.

PS. it is a great sim even my son will put down CoD MW2 on his PS3 to play SB ProPE

[MAJ_Fubar]

I'm running dual 4870s in crossfire mode with no problems on Win 7 pro x64.

[Bulletstop]

I too have win 7 64 professional and it runs fine.

Bullet

[Tacbat]

No problems on Win 7 64 and ATI.

[ottoramsaig]

In my book, absolutely worth the price. I have gotten more use out of SB than any other game I have ever bought. Graphically, it will look a little weak but that really doesn't matter. In game, you'll rarely notice because you'll be too busy trying not to die horribly and quickly One of the best things about it is it is equally enjoyable in single and multiplayer mode. You will definitely want to join us for Friday nights.

If you like to gun, you'll spend a lot of time in thermal view, and graphics hardly matter there. And I don't mean to imply it looks horrible, it doesn't. Check out some of the screenshots and you'll get the picture. Probably the biggest thing you'll notice is a lack of shadows. Dust is modeled when it makes sense to, as on dirt roads. Smoke is definitely modeled, and you better get good at using it!

Your PC should handle it fine. A new video card never hurts, of course.

Please contact me as I am looking gor a MP VU. I will make myself available for Friday Nights..............thanks Otto

[Hank]

I can testify to the value of the original SB ... I mean the old SB. I'm still playing it ... to this very day. I know the guys (girls) who play SB Pro PE will find this stunning but its true.

I was one of the first to buy SB when it first came out many years ago.

But I've arrived at a point where I'm considering buying the latest SB, SB Pro PE.

I know this is a newbie question but I need an answer before I jump. I'm posting my current system specs briefly to find out if its adequate to play SB Pro PE. Its great for the old SB.

Dell Optiplex 6x 620

3.2 GHz

2.00 Gb Ram

Win XP SP3

ATI Radeon X600 256 mB vRam

Is this enough muscle to play the game and have fun. I play solo.

But I may play online. I used to play online in the old days when SB first came out. ... fun fun fun it was

thanks

[Tacbat]

http://www.esimgames.com/sbprosysrecs.htm