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PREVIEWS
Previews of new tanksims
UPDATE: July 2006: T-34 vs. Tiger: Dev Team Interview
| The main
difference is in NAPALM Engine potential and power. Our NAPALM Engine
technology allows us to realize physics and graphics of a higher level.
The very tank model will be detailed with every feature. And in the whole
this high level of detail is characteristic of all pieces of the
environment. NAPALM Engine is capable of reflection about 80 square
kilometers of landscape with trees and bushes on it.
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UPDATE: May 2005: T-72: Balkans on Fire preview - by Bob "Kaptkirk" Riegel
| I have the privilege of putting a ground
breaking tanksim through its paces and what a tanksim it is! Having over
ten years of armor experience in the US Army as a tank commander, I find
it refreshing to sit down and play a tank sim that doesn't insult my
intelligence...on the contrary, T-72: Balkans on Fire showed me just how
much I had forgotten about armor tactics. Repeatedly and painfully I was
reminded to forget "tanksim" tactics and apply real world fire and
maneuver battle field survival tactics.
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UPDATE: April 2005: Two new tanksims in development
| After quite a long dry spell,
it appears two new tanksims are being planned. One, T-72: Balkans on Fire,
is pretty far along. We have a build and it plays pretty well. Look for a
Tanksim preview soon.
T-72: Balkans on Fire!
The following weapon systems are featured in the game: Tanks: T-72, T-55, T-34, .Leopard. 1A4, M50 .Super Sherman.. The player's tanks are T-72, T-55, and T-34 Self-propelled guns: tank hunter SU-100 Armored vehicles and MIVs: MT-LB, BRDM-2 Helicopters: Mi-8 Engineer equipment: BTM-3 entrenching vehicle Artillery: BZO B-11, PTO 2A45M .Sprut-B. Anti-tank guided weapons and assault anti-tank weapons: self-propelled AAW . 9K113 .Shturm-S. Transport vehicles: LandRover .Defender., Truck IVECO EuroCargo ML170E23, fuel truck KRAZ 265
Main features Three types of tanks are available: T-34, T-55 and T-72. The player can play as commander, driver and gunner. Eight types of armored vehicles are featured in the game as well as artillery/guns, an engineering vehicle, a helicopter and trucks. Realistic fire control system. Realistic vehicle physics, vulnerability depending on armor protection, armor penetration depending on angle of shell hit, realistic damage model. Realistic ballistics engine. Deformable terrain with dynamic shellholes and trenches; fully destructible environment: deformable structures, buildings that can be destroyed in real time, deformable vehicles and vegetation. Vast open spaces with visibility of more than 2 km. Height differences on game maps up to 800 m. Realistic 3D environment: landscape, buildings, plants, cloud shadows, lens flares, wind and much more. Change of night and day. More than 70 types of buildings and installations that can be destroyed or damaged. More than 40 types of plants, trees and grasses that sway with the wind. Dynamic weather: fog, rain, rainbows. High-quality modeling of water surfaces and vehicle flotation. Mounted infantry can be transported inside trucks and APCs and on tank hulls. More than 5000 polygons per vehicle, bump mapping. Mission editor allows players to create and share their own scenarios. LAN network and multiplayer online game.
Panzer Fist
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UPDATE: Dec 2003: Battlefield Vietnam pre-Alpha Test Drive
 There are four classes of soldier
available--infantry, engineer, heavy weapons support, and sniper. Medics
were absent in this build. However, each of the four classes has two
sub-classes, so for example you may choose between an engineer with
mortars or an engineer with mines; a heavy weapons solider with an RPG or
a shoulder-mounted, heat-seeking SAM, etc. You also have a few choices for
the uniform and facial characteristics for your solider so the BF-VN maps
are not filled with clones. This all adds up to greater diversity and
should make the action even more interesting. The VNC soldiers have some
note-worthy weapons at their disposal unlike anything seen in EoD or BF42:
tire-puncturing stars, pungi sticks, and booby traps (I got the
impression more of this type of weapon will be in the final version). EA
plans 14~15 maps in total, from rice fields and huts, to jungle warfare,
to urban settings.The first map we were shown featured a group of linked islands, rivers snaking through jungle foliage that would make Capt. Kurtz nervous. A huge variety of ferns, vines, Eucalyptus trees, banana plants, trees, brush, and undergrowth make BF-VN an astounding place to hunt and do battle. In regular Battlefield 1942 when you come under fire your first response is to drop prone and look for cover. In the denser parts of the Battlefield Vietnam jungle, you drop prone and disappear. DICE will want to look into making the enemy name tags harder to pick out for this to have total effect but as it currently plays it's pretty good. To offset the abundance of cover and prevent BF-VN from becoming a sniper haven, DICE has added a "threat indicator", yellow arrows around the mini-map that signify which direction you are being shot from. Think of this as being able to hear the shots and discern their origin. A very good touch.
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UPDATE: Sept 2003: New screenshots for the widely anticipated Combat Mission: Afrika Korps.
 Combat
Mission: Afrika Korps is a 1-2 player, hybrid turn-based/realtime true 3D
simulation of WWII tactical warfare in parts of the Mediterranean Theater
including North Africa, Italy, Sicily and Crete from 1940 to 1945. It is
based on the award winning engine of Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin
(Wargame of the Year 2003 - Computer Gaming World; Turn Based Strategy
Game of the Year - PC Gamer).
Experience combat in a true 3D battlefield as machinegun tracers arc overhead and exploding artillery shells shake the earth! Watch the famous Deutsches Afrika Korps storm the fortress of Tobruk, or help the US and British forces defend against powerful German counterstrikes at Anzio. Fight with the elite German Fallschirmjäger units in Crete, or follow General Patton's sweep across the island of Sicily. Release date is expected to be Quarter 4, 2003, and the
price will be $35. The game will be available from Battlefront.com
worldwide, for both the PC and Mac (OS 9.xx) platforms. |
UPDATE: May 2002 Tanksim.com's E3 Coverage
America's Army -- The Official US Army Game, designed and developed by the Army. First person shooter perspective, not a tanksim but looks like a neat combat game nonetheless. Read More
Steel Beasts II -- Strategy First was showing one monitor labeled Steel Beasts II. Read More
UPDATE: April 2002: No new Tanksims are being planned. Tanksim.com will attend E3 in May 2002 to see what is on the horizon.
UPDATE: Feb 2001: Steel Beasts II is being planned. Targeted release date is currently set for summer/fall 2002. Watch this space for a full-blown preview.
 Steel Beasts
-- TankSim.com Preview release date: 8/25/00 As of this writing, there is only one tanksim under development, eSim/Shrapnel's Steel Beasts. Steel Beasts is a modern warfare tanksim and features two playable tanks, the US M1A1 Abrams and the German Leopard 2A4. Release was September 1, 2000. To keep players interested and content until that time, the Steel Beasts demo is available. Playing the demo gives a hint of the scope and functionality of the upcoming tanksim.
The graphics in SB are not 3D or accelerated, but do an adequate job. The sound suite is better implemented. AI is top-notch which is the staple of any good sim. There are an abundance of realism touches. Based solely on the impression tendered by the demo, Steel Beasts looks to be a well thought-out tanksim with a fresh eye on attention to detail and realism. The scope is more limited than the modern tanksims M1TP2 and Armored Fist 3, with the lack of desert terrain, snow, and houses and villages (houses and desert terrain are included in the full version, a bonus--ed.). Where they are more along the lines of World War III tanksims, Steel Beasts is more of a tank training sim. The limitations don't slow it down from doing what it does best, putting the player in the gunner's seat of a modern battle tank on the field of combat. Bear in mind that Steel Beasts is the work of a small but dedicated group of tank enthusiasts. They are taking small steps now but watch out-if Steel Beasts does well commercially, there could be add-ons and enhancements for years. The foundation is here. Eventually, Steel Beasts could wind up with more variety and features than the other tanksims combined. _____________________________________________________________ The company line: System Requirements 266 MHz Pentium, 32 MB RAM, 2MB SVGA card, 20 MB available hard disk space, Mouse, CD-ROM, Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 98 installed, Microsoft DirectX version 7.0 (or better) installed Links: e*Sim - developer |
May
2000: M1 Tank Platoon 3 [cancelled]
The Life and Death of Tank Platoon -- by John "Spoons" Sponauer
