Steel Beasts: Content Wish List

[Ssnake]

11 hours ago, Gibsonm said:

No idea re frame rate. Its visible when both testing (non accelerated) and watching in the AAR.

It can be an important factor, so try and activate the framerate counter display when it's about to happen in your next test (Alt+F12, or F12; don't remember exactly which it is since I changed my keyboard layout from the defaul here).

Also, you said that you tried this with any movement tactic, and any route pathfinding setting, right?

It's a single vehicle; travelling at what speed?

 

11 hours ago, Gibsonm said:

I am concerned that if you "fix" the current map now that a solution (trail 20 or so revealed that throwing tactics to the winds and using no pathfinding at all and just plotting a march route with close WPs works) seems to be working and I'd prefer the "fix" not break the scenario.

We won't fix "the map". I want to replicate the unit's behavior, and then have a programmer fix that behavior.

[Ger_Airfighter]

1. Milan and/or Spike-LR for the Marder commander would be great, its lacking a lot of firepower at the moment

2. Camo Nets, Natural camouflage, and rubber mats like in the picture. IRL we would never go out without some sort of camouflage 

[Ssnake]

Two more reasons why we work on V5.

[TSe419E]

 

[iamfritz]

Here's a desired feature: When in any TC position, if I slew the turret, the view follows.

Other wishes that occurred to me today (probably repeats):
Infantry can form up with IFVs or even a tank.
Infantry squads can be reassigned to mount up in other IFVs when combat conditions get really dire (2nd squad M2 destroyed, 1st squad infantry KIA, load 2nd squad up in 1st squad M2)... or even a UH-60 or something to pick them up. This is currently possible, but only from 3D view, and only 1 soldier at a time. Be nice to do it squad or platoon at a time across various situations.

[Colebrook]

45 minutes ago, iamfritz said:

This is currently possible, but only from 3D view, and only 1 soldier at a time. Be nice to do it squad or platoon at a time across various situations.

1 soldier at a time?.Im sure you can mount the full squad from the units order menu.

[tankgirl72]

I know its been discussed before but Id love to see a campaign system similar to Falcon 4.0/BMS, Enemy Engaged Commanche/Hokum, F22 Total air War, or Super VGA Harrier - (Had a ground war system where you could plot amphibious landing attacks and manage supplies from the assault carrier) . Even an external mod Campaign generator like IL2DCG or the one  made for DCS would be cool.

[tankgirl72]

On 5/26/2024 at 1:27 PM, Ger_Airfighter said:

1. Milan and/or Spike-LR for the Marder commander would be great, its lacking a lot of firepower at the moment

2. Camo Nets, Natural camouflage, and rubber mats like in the picture. IRL we would never go out without some sort of camouflage 

Is that a woman on that tank? I had no idea that Germany allowed women in armor. Israel does.

[iamfritz]

5 minutes ago, tankgirl72 said:

Is that a woman on that tank? I had no idea that Germany allowed women in armor. Israel does.

IIRC Germany was the first European Army to admit women into their Tankensphere.

[iamfritz]

10 minutes ago, tankgirl72 said:

I know its been discussed before but Id love to see a campaign system similar to Falcon 4.0/BMS, Enemy Engaged Commanche/Hokum, F22 Total air War, or Super VGA Harrier - (Had a ground war system where you could plot amphibious landing attacks and manage supplies from the assault carrier) . Even an external mod Campaign generator like IL2DCG or the one  made for DCS would be cool.

Fellow Falcon fan, Hi!
Falcon's dynamic campaign was amazing, and I followed them in the forums and they had a very particular group of specialist programmers for it. In order to make it happen they invented a brilliant shortcut- a "bubble" You notice how, in Falcon the horizon is only so many miles away? That's because beyond 80 (?) miles away, individual items (tanks, fighters, troops, artillery pieces) aren't modeled in the game's AI model. They are coded as wings, companies, fleets, etc. Those units, beyond "the bubble" interact as gross size units, which makes AI models much easier.
The BMS group is working on extending the bubble and re-working the AI model. It's complicated work and they give update in the Discord. They've been working on it for years!
Then, combining large unit actions and transitioning them into interacting with the player is a huge dance by itself.
Many land sims, from Novalogic's Delta Force series up to Steel Beasts Pro PE have always struggled with object avoidance. I complain about SB Pro's probs but I know that it's an issue across the board.
But it comes down to: Dynamic campaign AI is TOUGH to write. Writing AI for vast dynamic, thinking armies is TOUGH and requires serious trickery.
And as a training tool, dynamic campaigns might not matter.

[Parachuteprone]

I'd be happy just to be part of a larger unit Regiment / brigade/ division size where you are deployed on map as a smaller element given various tasks and objectives that affect and are supplied by the larger unit.

Similar to what is done with operations but dynamic. 

Something that would allow better use of digging positions, creating minefields, obstacles, vehicle recovery/ repair, resupply.

Tactical retreats to new positions, breakthroughs, delaying actions etc.

All Random . Player would have to decide nationalities. and map.

Since this is game is intended more as a training sim I don't think it will happen though

Not without some very dedicated 3rd party designers who know how to write code for this sim.

 

[iamfritz]

5 hours ago, Parachuteprone said:

I'd be happy just to be part of a larger unit Regiment / brigade/ division size where you are deployed on map as a smaller element given various tasks and objectives that affect and are supplied by the larger unit.

Similar to what is done with operations but dynamic. 

Something that would allow better use of digging positions, creating minefields, obstacles, vehicle recovery/ repair, resupply.

Tactical retreats to new positions, breakthroughs, delaying actions etc.

All Random . Player would have to decide nationalities. and map.

Since this is game is intended more as a training sim I don't think it will happen though

Not without some very dedicated 3rd party designers who know how to write code for this sim.

 

So you want to be a platoon leader or XO with a Colonel calling the shots for the company or battalion you're a part of?
That makes a lot of sense. Coding would be simpler and easier, and training-wise maintaining formation is as important in tanking as loading the right round fast enough.
Carhart's Iron Soldiers certainly made that point!

[Parachuteprone]

I think you as Company commander would be  an ideal size. Battalion maybe represented in attack, but that is kinda pushing it unless the other companies  are AI controlled and you just concentrate on your own company.

Anything bigger than that and you can't really control everyone effectively .

Orders/ tasks could come from above without the upper echelons actually appearing on map.

Your losses affect the size of the larger (Not physically represented ) unit and what sort of orders it can generate for you and what replacements you can get  - mission to mission.

Or

If you got real fancy, it could play out as one long mission using the "save game to create a new scenario" feature to represent the passage of a day/s or even weeks

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 30 by Parachuteprone

[Gibsonm]

18 hours ago, Parachuteprone said:

I think you as Company commander would be  an ideal size. Battalion maybe represented in attack, but that is kinda pushing it unless the other companies  are AI controlled and you just concentrate on your own company.

Anything bigger than that and you can't really control everyone effectively .

Orders/ tasks could come from above without the upper echelons actually appearing on map.

Your losses affect the size of the larger (Not physically represented ) unit and what sort of orders it can generate for you and what replacements you can get  - mission to mission.

Or

If you got real fancy, it could play out as one long mission using the "save game to create a new scenario" feature to represent the passage of a day/s or even weeks

 

 

This is already possible.

 

The scenario designer just needs to do it:

 

[Ger_Airfighter]

On 5/29/2024 at 3:00 AM, tankgirl72 said:

Is that a woman on that tank? I had no idea that Germany allowed women in armor. Israel does.

We don't have many women in our unit but they're of course allowed 

[iamfritz]

21 hours ago, Parachuteprone said:

I think you as Company commander would be  an ideal size. Battalion maybe represented in attack, but that is kinda pushing it unless the other companies  are AI controlled and you just concentrate on your own company.

Anything bigger than that and you can't really control everyone effectively .

Orders/ tasks could come from above without the upper echelons actually appearing on map.

Your losses affect the size of the larger (Not physically represented ) unit and what sort of orders it can generate for you and what replacements you can get  - mission to mission.

Or

If you got real fancy, it could play out as one long mission using the "save game to create a new scenario" feature to represent the passage of a day/s or even weeks

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've made a few battalion+ level operations. As exciting and enjoyable as it is, I always manage to leave some platoon or units behind, forget I have artillery, or fail to dismount infantry at a blocking position, etc.
Company level vs enemy Battalion tho.... I like that challenge. I just have to remember to set the 50% or 75% force lost condition.

[Parachuteprone]

4 hours ago, Gibsonm said:

 

This is already possible.

 

The scenario designer just needs to do it:

 

 

Guess I'll have to take a closer look at triggers

[Gibsonm]

1 hour ago, Parachuteprone said:

 

Guess I'll have to take a closer look at triggers

 

Covered here:

 

[companyteam]

I've found that the hardest parts about putting together a large "AI" operation are firstly trying to completely visualise then program a full scheme of manoeuvre down to at least platoon level and to try and visualise at the same time what BLUEFOR is likely to do and might do, then scripting accordingly.  You may (for example) predict that BLUE will attack from a particular direction, and therefore RED will face that way and withdraw away.  But what if BLUE comes from a different direction?  Do you need to script an alternate withdrawal route?  What if BLUE is holding a blocking position in force?  Do you need to script an alternate bypass route?  Then there's the secondary problem of how do you want to control RED - is it triggers (which means I need someone "manning the desk", or is it events and conditions?  It's certainly doable, and challenging and satisfying if it all works, but standby for a LOT of testing!

As far as putting together a "dynamic" operation where the big Blue plan "amends" itself to cope with what the player managed to achieve - with the exception of big muscle movements, I'd reckon that that'd be next to impossible in any meaningful way - there's just too many variables to consider.

[iamfritz]

1 hour ago, companyteam said:

I've found that the hardest parts about putting together a large "AI" operation...

Amen!

[Major duck]

4 hours ago, companyteam said:

I've found that the hardest parts about putting together a large "AI" operation are firstly trying to completely visualise then program a full scheme of manoeuvre down to at least platoon level and to try and visualise at the same time what BLUEFOR is likely to do and might do, then scripting accordingly.  You may (for example) predict that BLUE will attack from a particular direction, and therefore RED will face that way and withdraw away.  But what if BLUE comes from a different direction?  Do you need to script an alternate withdrawal route?  What if BLUE is holding a blocking position in force?  Do you need to script an alternate bypass route?  Then there's the secondary problem of how do you want to control RED - is it triggers (which means I need someone "manning the desk", or is it events and conditions?  It's certainly doable, and challenging and satisfying if it all works, but standby for a LOT of testing!

As far as putting together a "dynamic" operation where the big Blue plan "amends" itself to cope with what the player managed to achieve - with the exception of big muscle movements, I'd reckon that that'd be next to impossible in any meaningful way - there's just too many variables to consider.

That's what you have opfor for 

[RedFox]

8 hours ago, Major duck said:

That's what you have opfor for 

That's what you have TF Hannibal for 😁

[Nike-Ajax]

18 hours ago, RedFox said:

That's what you have TF Hannibal for 😁

 

Ahem ... Or any Kranium MP or other VU session with human, so unscripted, OPFOR. Or for that matter TGIF sessions.

I have only done it since 2017 but before that Major Duck and the sadly late SwordsmanDK usually did it. 😜😘

Edited June 1 by Nike-Ajax

[Grenny]

CAN WE PLEASE GET SOME CONTROL OVER THE RIFLE TEAM WEAPONS PLEASE

 

THIS IS SO BEYOND FRUSTRATIN

[Gibsonm]

1 hour ago, Grenny said:

CAN WE PLEASE GET SOME CONTROL OVER THE RIFLE TEAM WEAPONS PLEASE

 

 

Isn't there something about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?