How can I get my gunner to engage targets without disturbing me?
You can play from the external position (F8), in which case all
necessary decisions will be made by the computer controlled crew. Once
you enter the tank, though, you must do what a real crew member would
have to do, too. The tank commander needs to be fully aware of
what the gunner's doing. No real life tank commander would ignore
the gunner's report of enemy tank detection, even if he's busy with
looking at the map. If you want to stay in the TC's position, you
can give an order "fire and adjust" by holding down the shift
key when giving the fire command. In this case, the computer
gunner will continue to fire at a group of targets without asking you
for permission to fire at each one. You will have to repeat this order
when new targets are spotted, however.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Do infantry pose a real threat, or are they just target practice to
justify the presence of the coax MG?
Beware of them little devils, especially in the woods. They can
kill a whole platoon in no time, if you're careless. Steel Beasts
allows you to play from the external position of an infantry squad too.
Try a light forces raid on a careless tank crew. Call for
artillery support, fire missiles, and try to get away with it!
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
I hate map interfaces! Can I play the whole mission in the tank
commander's or gunner's position?
Yes! You can spend most of the time in the map view, if you like,
but you won't suffer from decreased situational awareness if you look at
the map only occasionally.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
I'm interested in the tactics, not the details of tanks. Can I play
the whole mission in the map view?
Yes. Just be sure to switch to the external position first.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Can I play from the loader's and driver's positions.
No, although the driver's position might be modeled in the future.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Is there a real-time map in Steel Beasts?
Not exactly. We don't simulate IVIS equipped tanks, so all
tactical symbols in the map reflect the last radio reports, which are
normally simulated by you clicking on the unit symbol's
"hot-spot" in the lower left corner of each unit. They
will be updated in intervals depending on various variables, and if you
click on the symbol of a unit under your command, it's current position
will be updated (simulating a request to report it's situation). A
fully real time based map command interface would lead to spend most of
the time in less interesting positions, and be not realistic, as well.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Will I have to deal with refueling and other logistical tasks?
No, although this might be subject to a hypothetical future upgrade.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
How
smart (or dumb) is the AI crew?
This doesn't depend on the difficulty level, fortunately. The
higher you select your difficulty level, the quicker the enemy will
react. High difficulty doesn't make your crew members dumb, but
(just) slower than average. Steel Beasts was designed to free you
from micromanagement. You won't see your tanks exposing their weak
flanks to the enemy when backing up. Also the gunner's quality
reflects your own gunnery skills. If you perform well on a tank
range, all of your gunners will be cloned from your results. To
sum it up, we'd judge computer controlled tanks at about well trained
recruit level. An all-human crew would still beat them in overall
performance, but we don't expect you screaming in frustration because a
stupid action of the computer ruined your mission.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Is component damage modeled?
Yes. Here is a list of common damage:
- dead engine
- damaged ballistics computer
- TIS damaged
- radio connection broken
- loss of hydraulic pressure
- damaged rangefinder
- broken tracks
- GPS damaged
- loss of stabilization
- turret stuck
- machine gun overheated
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Tank platoons rarely operate on their own as shown in some
simulations. How will SB deal with this?
Most scenarios included with Steel Beasts have friendly forces on
your flanks that you cannot control. These AI units will be fighting
their own battle against enemy forces that you probably won't be aware
of. Of course, some scenarios will give you control over much more than
just a platoon of tanks, but the concept of having friendly forces that
you cannot control still applies.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Tank platoons spend a great deal of time perfecting ambush
situations, like opening fire from all tanks at once, and distributing
targets to each platoon member. How does Steel Beasts reflect
that?
In SB, tanks within the same platoon will try not to aim at the same
targets. This usually works quite well. A more difficult problem is
getting the tanks to simultaneously pop over a ridge and fire all guns
nearly at once. Typically one tank will pop over the ridge first
or last, and you'll see two or three guns firing at once, followed by
the rest later. This can lead to a less than perfect ambush
situation, but it varies quite a bit do to the randomness instilled in
the sim. To set up an ambush, you would give a platoon hold fire
orders, and then set an "open fire if" condition. This
condition can be as simple as a trigger, or it can be more complex, such
as waiting for a certain number of tanks to enter a user-defined region.
Alternatively, you can simply set a maximum firing range for the
platoon. As long as the platoon has hold-fire orders, it will try to
stay in a turret-down position to stay concealed. Placing the unit near
woods will also help prevent early detection.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Why cant I shoot the TC's .50 cal on the M1A1 from the unbuttoned
position? And why do I have to shoot it through a scope?
First off, the mount for the .50 cal on the M1A1 is not your standard
flexible vehicle mount, and the only controls for the .50 cal are
located inside the tank. There is a manual hand crank for
elevation, and an electric motor for traverse. It can also be
traversed by hand from the inside by spinning the ring to the cupola
around. In real life, there is no practical way to fire the
.50 cal other than from inside the tank, using the 3x scope. There
is an iron sight attached to the bottom of the .50 cal mount to use
against low flying aircraft but you still look through the TC's vision
blocks to use it.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Why does my LRF become damaged from lasing?
The LRF (laser rangefinder) on the M1A1 is not designed to be used more
than 4 times in 80 seconds or once every 20 seconds to be safe.
Lasing above this amount may cause the LRF to overheat. On the M1A1, it
burns out. On the Leopard, it shuts down to cool off. You
have to become proficient at keeping the sight steady, and lase once, so
you don't risk losing the use of it, even if it is only temporary, as it
is on the Leo.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Why is there no reticle in TIS 3x view? I only see these four
brackets.
The "brackets" are the real reticle for the TIS in 3x, which
is considered scan or observation mode.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Why do my
main-gun rounds keep falling short or fly way over the
target?
In the M1A1 the gunner needs to set the ammo-selection switch to
correspond to whatever round is loaded into the main gun. By doing this
( "indexing" the round) the ballistic computer will properly
take into account the ballistic properties of the round when calculating
superelevation and lead. The gunner can index a sabot round with the
Insert key and index HEAT with the Delete key. Indexing is done by the
loader on the Leopard, thus freeing the gunner from one extra burden.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
When I am in the gunners station, why
won't the loader load
the proper main-gun round that I index?
Only the TC may select the ammo type to be loaded. The only thing
the gunner does is index the ammo type for the ballistic computer.
When in the TC's position pressing the same buttons will instead
instruct the loader which round to load next.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Why is there no indicator that tells exactly what type of round is
loaded in the maingun?
There is one on the Leopard, but not on the M1, which is how it is on
the real thing. One of the interesting characteristics about the M1 is
that the gunner must remember what type of round has been loaded into
the main gun in order to properly index the round. The M1 gunner
must pay attention to what his loader says and the fire commands from
his TC.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Why is there a turret clock in the M1A1's various views?
The real M1A1 doesn't have it so why should the one in Steel Beasts?
Real tank crews do not have a turret clock but they do have a very good
situational awareness of which direction the turret is facing by
identifying key features in the hull (i.e. Drivers compartment).
This awareness is modeled into Steel Beasts in the form of the turret
clock.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
Does artillery really take that long to hit after a fire mission is
called?
Unless it's not mortar fire, yes. There's time needed to transmit the
details of your fire support request, it will need approval by the
artillery commander, you will have to assign this to a certain artillery
unit (keep in mind that most of them are busy with counter battery fire
to suppress enemy artillery; one third of all available howitzers are
busy firing, one third are moving to a new position to evade enemy
counter battery fire, and the last third is setting up for a new task
and refilling their onboard ammo stock). In extreme cases, the rounds
themselves will be in the air for an additional 30 seconds.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
How does the LOS map work, and what do the different colors mean?
When you left click on a point in the map, you get a radiating pattern
of lines, with different colors. The color code will tell you how
much your tank would be exposed if it were placed at the point you
clicked.
Dark shade - Your tank cannot be seen from these regions (and your tank
can't see other tanks in these regions). It's dead space
White - is a good thing. You will appear in hull down defilade to other
vehicles in these regions.
Red shade - Danger! indicates that any observer in this region will see
you fully exposed.
If you think you have found a good battle position in the planning
phase, you can use the LOS tool to verify your assumption.
Furthermore, when hitting F1 after the left click, you will have a
preview of the area (without any vehicles being rendered), so you can do
some first hand recon of the ground. Hit F5 to go back to the map
screen.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
What's the difference between HEAT and Sabot, and what targets do I
use them for?
Short answer: A sabot round causes damage through it's kinetic energy
only, much like a bullet. HEAT (high explosive anti-tank) causes damage
by exploding on contact. Use HEAT for soft targets (thin-skinned
vehicles like APCs, or perhaps troops) and sabot rounds for heavily
armored tanks.
Long answer: Sabot or AP (many kinds) is basically a
kinetic energy penetrator. This round is kind of like a very hard, very
fast javelin, and uses no explosives - only it's own kinetic energy to
penetrate tank armor. Depending on the barrel, and the tank it came
from, it can fly through the air at initial speeds of almost a mile per
second. It starts out as a combination of a spacer and either a tungsten
or depleted uranium "bullet" or penetrator, much narrower than
the barrel it comes from. The spacer is known as a "sabot"
(French for shoe) and allows the penetrator to fill the much wider
barrel. The sabot falls off and the round flies downrange to the target.
It is usually able to penetrate most types of armor, at reasonable
ranges, sometimes up to 2 -3 km away. It is a much more accurate round,
but becomes less effective with distance traveled (since it loses speed,
and thus kinetic energy over as it travels). It is now the primary
anti-tank round, and is useless against infantry. It can be used against
smaller armored vehicles, although HEAT is preferred. Sometimes the
Sabot rounds can go right through a lightly armored vehicle, and do very
little damage if no critical components are hit. Save Sabots for the
tanks. Remember, Sabots are fast, accurate, and best used against the
tanks.
HEAT (high explosive anti-tank) Well,
there was a time when this round was the chief tank killer, but the
truth is that it has fallen by the wayside because of advancements in
tank armor technology. First off, the armor on today's tanks are good
enough to lessen the effective penetration of HEAT jets, and if they
aren't on a particular tank, then that tank probably has add-on (applique)
armor packages that do just that. So, what we have is not a kinetic
energy penetrator, but rather a chemical, or explosive jet penetrator.
The round is not very aerodynamic, and flies downrange much slower than
an AP round. It is slightly less accurate, but explodes on the target,
which makes up for it's inaccuracy when attacking infantry or light
vehicles. The round has a rod in the tip, that allows the round to
explode at a "stand-off" distance of usually a foot or so from
the armor. An explosion in the round causes the special metal liner
inside to deform at incredible speeds and while in a "liquid"
state, it produces a very narrow jet or stream which attempts to punch
through the armor plate on the tank. Actually, today's armor packages
are quite good at pretty much eroding the jet, thereby rendering the
HEAT round ineffective, except in some extreme cases (like near
"perfect" stand-off distance and angle of attack, or side and
top attacks on the vehicle). Remember HEAT is slower, not as
accurate, and probably best reserved for softer targets because of it's
explosive capabilities.
If you want to REALLY rack your brain
with the details (there's actually a little more to it), then
check "Battlefield Hazards" by Andrew Jaremkow, which is
on the Steel Beasts CD.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents] What
happens when I change the difficulty and realism setting in the options
screen?
Less than you might think! As of v1.14:
Difficulty settings affect ONLY the enemy unit's aiming ability.
The lower the difficulty level, the longer the enemy units take to aim,
and the less accurate their aiming is.
High realism enables quiet kills, in which a kill with a sabot round
might not produce any sign that the tank is actually destroyed.
Low realism enables the direction of the reference points (which are
placed on the map screen) to be seen in the 3D views for better
orientation.
Low and Medium realism enable a crosshair and box reticle, respectively,
for targeting in the unbuttoned TC position for the M1.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents] Can
I reduce the sensitivity of the mouse in the game?
You have several options:
- The obvious choice is to switch to a joystick.
- You can try to reduce the sensitivity of the mouse through Windows:
Click on Start > Control Panel > Mouse, then click on the Motion
tab, and adjust the Pointer Speed to be slower.
- Last but not least it may of great help to use the mouse vector. In
the action phase, select the "System" item in the retractable
menu bar at the top of the screen, then activate the "mouse vector."
It will draw a thin line from the screen center to the current mouse
position which is an indicator for the speed of the screen movement. One
final note: A possible reason for an overly sensitive mouse is that the
frame rate for your system is too low. Check it with Shift+F12, and if
it is in the 10 fps or lower region, you may want to prefer smaller
scenarios, or to reduce the visibility distance in the scenario editor.
[Back to top] [FAQ contents]
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