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Steel Beasts
Steel Beasts Esim Games Developers of Steel Beasts Strategy First Publishers of Steel Beasts Demo/ Upgrades Get the demo or the latest feature-laden patch |
Steel Beasts Section Section Leader What's New I have interviewed Nils "Ssnake" Hinrichsen, technical director of Esimgames (developers of Steel Beasts) about the design philosophy of Steel Beasts 2 and other things. Also includes early screenshots of the game! Check it out here . The pics of the mission editor are used with a mission I made for SB1 that was imported into SB2. Work has been started on Steel Beasts 2
and the Combat Heavy Team is hard at work developing new scenarios that
will appear in this next incantaion of Steel Beasts! For now you may
find a whole slew of additional missions and even upload your own by
using the links to the left =) - and as always, any ideas of what you'd
like to see shoot them my way at RnR@steelbeasts.com.
Till next time - ON THE WAY!!!!!!
SB GOLD has hit the shelves! This is the original Steel Beasts with the latest upgrades and a whole slew of extra missions and utilities from the SB community!
Tthe latest Steel Beasts upgrade, which brings original owners of SB in line with SB Gold - version 1.226 - is now available here! Volcano and me have both added and reworked many scenarios in this upgrade (Vman MUCH more than me! But he's single!) Here is the history of SB upgrades and fixes: ******************** New Features ************************ Upgrade 1.226
Increased the number of events and triggers. Events and triggers, now are under the "Control logic" menu. Added "nameable conditions," under the "Control Logic" menu. Nameable conditions can be used much like events: in other conditions and in the scoring formula. Nameable conditions differ from events in that once an event tests as TRUE, it stays TRUE for the rest of the mission. Nameable conditions, on the other hand, can switch back and forth between TRUE and FALSE. Also, the length of time that a nameable condition has been in its current state is kept track of, and this can be used in other conditions. For example, an embark condition might have this line in it: "Condition 1 is true for at least 1:24" You can use Nameable conditions to simplify mission design. If you have a common condition that is used in more than one place, then it's better to set up one nameable condition, and then simply reference this nameable condition in all the other places (conditions) that you need it. Later on, if you need to make a change, you only need to change the one nameable condition, instead of changing multiple instances of the same condition. Nameable conditions also allow more flexibility in the scoring formula, especially concerning the state of the game when it ends. For example, you can now penalize a player for having a unit in a certain region when the game ends. Unit symbols for map have been improved. The hot spots for unit symbols is now the center of the symbol. THIS MEANS THAT YOU SHOULD CLICK YOUR MOUSE IN THE CENTER OF THE ICON NOW! You can learn more about US military icons and map graphics here: http://www-cgsc.army.mil/cdd/F545/F545.htm Added square and ellipse map graphics. All map graphics can now be stretched, rotated and flipped. To enlarge or shrink a graphic uniformly, hold down the shift key while dragging a control point. Screen shots (Shift+F11) are now saved with filenames automatically assigned into the "...\Steel Beasts\savedImages" folder. Can now change a unit's company and platoon in the mission editor. (Right click on unit and select menu item.) Can view 3D world in planning and debriefing phases. (Press F1, or
right click on map and select "View.") Medic vehicles can no longer be occupied by human player, although they can be controlled on the map. This was done to prevent players from taking advantage of the medic's non-combatant status for scouting. Mission loading time has been reduced. Adjusted armor values for PCs. When playing a mission in the mission editor, time acceleration will no longer automatically stop when a combatant targets an enemy. This will allow a mission to be played quickly to make testing it quicker. Can now give units to other players in multiplayer games, even with radio damage. Crews will try to avoid incoming ATGMs by backing up.
Units that never appear within the map boundaries will not be counted when calculating the percent of destroyed forces in the scoring formula. Rare crash bug that occurred when infantry launched ATGMs is now fixed. A tank with a damaged turret will no longer wander out from its hull-down position. Fixed problem with M829A1 round drifting to the right. When SB is minimized, it will no longer use extra CPU cycles. Mouse steering bug in KW mode of Leopard fixed. AI units will no longer call excessive arty strikes. Jaguars will now fire their MGs at troops. Humvees will no longer have bullets pass through their certain parts.
Upgrade 1.195 New Features Screen shots (Shift+F11) are now saved with filenames automatically assigned without user input. Includes all changes in earlier upgrades below. Made the "Network Overloaded" message less obtrusive, and placed an overload summary in the debriefing. When driving a tank manually in reverse, pressing W will now cause the tank to stop, instead of moving ahead slow.
Really fixed bug that, on rare occasions, caused a round to go through a vehicle. Computer-controlled vehicles are now exempt from penalty zones. Updated driving tutorial E. Fixed bug that caused BMPs to lose all their HEAT ammo. Fixed dual ownership bug in multiplayer, caused when a player gives a unit to another player in the planning phase, and then loads a plan.
Improved the "active armor" modeling of the T-80 and T-72. The T-80 armor should now be weaker at times, especially after multiple hits. Modified joystick response for easier tracking. Added joystick centering feature. Press Shift+J to make the current joystick position the center. Improved transfer rate of scenario files for multiplayer games. An ammunition summary for both red and blue is now displayed at the end of the briefing text. Infantry will try harder to stay near woods. Infantry will now discover mine fields. Modified more missions to take advantage of new features of v1.17+. Added new missions. Added and updated the documents on ammunition. These are in the docs folder. Player's records are now also written to a plain text format. You can find it in the misc/records folder. The information in the text file is the same as that shown in the Records menu, and in the same order. Vehicles on rough terrain will now go a little slower. When testing a mission in the editor, the random variables used for the mission will be displayed at the end of the score. Computer-controlled units will call arty less aggressively now. The LOS F1 view now has a bino view (press N) and strafe left/right (press A/D). Modified ammo and smoke grenade load-outs for various tanks to make more accurate. Bug Fixes Fixed bug that, on rare occasions, caused a round to go through a vehicle. Corrected the size of the M1A1 GPS reticle, which was slightly incorrect. Tanks will be more willing to cross shallow water now. Computer TC will no longer override forever if the target is very close and moving very fast. Dismounted infantry will no longer try to sit in front of their IFV, when given a route that is behind their IFV. FISTVs, medics, and arty spotters created in older missions are now selectable in multiplayer games. The computer TC on the Leopard will no longer have problems overriding if a human gunner has the dynamic lead pressed when the TC overrides. Various types of impossible damages have been eliminated (e.g., smoke grenade damage on a Humvee.) Computer gunner's will now re-lase if they had an invalid range (flashing 0s) previously entered. In multiplayer games, only the highest ranking player on either side can set triggers for his side.
Increased the size of the GPS/GAS and Bino views. Ammunition loads can now be customized by the mission designer. In the mission editor, right click on a unit and select "Set Ammunition" from the context-sensitive menu. Then fill in the dialog box. AFVs with attached infantry (dismounts) will now unload their infantry when placed on a route that has a slow speed, as long as it is not an assault or retreat route. The infantry will run ahead of the vehicles while traveling on the route. Players can now jump to dismounted infantry positions and have *some* control over their movement. Limitations include: - No control when infantry are loading or unloading. Infantry will
insist on loading when their IFV starts on a (non-slow) route (unless
infantry are more than 500m from their IFV). The control for the elevation and azimuth of the .50 cal MG on the M1A1 has been changed to make it more realistic. The elevation is now controlled by the arrow keys by repeated pressing. The azimuth is controlled by either the joystick/mouse, or the arrow keys by repeated pressing. This mimics the real M1A1, which has a separate manual hand crank for elevation and a powered and manual azimuth controls in the commander's weapon station. Clients and hosts in TCP/IP multiplayer games can now specify a particular port to use (in addition to an IP address). This is most helpful to those players with firewalls who only want to open a single port, instead of the default range of ports that DirectX opens when no port is specified. Improved infantry AI. Infantry can now pop smoke (once). They do this automatically when loading into their IFV when under fire. PCs are a little smarter about how they move to retrieve their dismounted troops. Improved target-selection for computer controlled tanks. Targets in tank range will now be destroyed with any main gun hit, and the targets will disappear soon after being hit. Changed some context-sensitive menus in map screen so that they stay open after clicking on them to make it easier to change multiple settings Added 200m and 400m ranges as options for maximum ranges to open fire. Line-of-sight map now works in debriefing. Improved password protection. Lasers can now penetrate a few layers of smoke. Heat rounds and ATGMs can now explode if they hit a tree. HEAT rounds now have a minimum activation range, before they will explode. This is most notable for ATGMs. Multiplayer algorithm has been tweaked a bit. In multiplayer games, if you refuse to let others join your tank in the staging area, nobody will be able to enter the gunner's seat for the entire game. (Unless you give a unit to a player during the game.) Tanks moving with dust clouds or smoke generators are now spotted easier by the enemy AI. Added ability to change text color for lines and regions Added "transparent" color for lines, regions and map text. Transparent penalty zones will NOT display a warning to the player if he enters that penalty zone. Event messages are now accompanied with a unique static sound. Many scenarios have been modified. For multiplayer chat text: Added text after senders name to indicate which channel (All, Blue, Platoon, etc...) the sender used. Increased the maximum number of displayed missions in menu screens from 150 to 900. Adjusted driving mechanics slightly. Bug Fixes Event messages now play only for the player's side The condition "...can see at least (at most) X enemy forces ...." has been modified so that X cannot be less than one. Enemy vehicles that start as destroyed will be shown as destroyed in the planning phase, assuming that the "enemy info" setting for that vehicle is not set to "none." Squeaking sound now plays when manually elevating gun with turret damaged. Hold fire / Fire-at-will hot keys now work with infantry. Unit icons at the bottom of the screen now correctly display the positions of the different vehicles. LAWs (RPGs) are no longer guided by a soldier.
You can now name Events and Triggers in the mission editor. Events are named when creating the event (in the condition window). Triggers are named by selecting Events > Trigger in the mission editor and assigning a name in the dialog box. You can now assign a text message to any event. When the event becomes true, this message will appear in the text display box near the bottom of the screen, and will be accompanied by a sound cue. Increased the number of Events from 8 to 16. Conditions for events can now reference other events and triggers. In condition and scoring windows: region names will now appear along with the region numbers. Changed the wording for the random variable condition, and also modified the way that random variable "new" works: Now it is assigned a new random number only when the condition is being reset. Previously, it was assigned a new random number every cycle (frame) of the game. This makes its behavior more intuitive. Routes can now be assigned a smoke-generator-on/off property. A unit on a route will turn its smoke generator on or off according to the route's property. AI Gunners will kill troops quicker now, especially if a human is the TC. Laser marker on map will NOT be displayed when Realism is set to High Routes now have "Open fire if" conditions. (Previously, these conditions were only on checkpoints. Can now copy and paste a single route, as well as the entire route chain. Random number selection in condition window now moves faster with shift+click. Aded two new transmitted sounds for multiplayer: "Fire" is played on gunner's machine when human TC hits space bar; "Traverse left/right" is played on gunner's machine when human TC hits shift+left/right arrow. Text boxes will now automatically scroll to the right when you've reached the end.
Troops attached to a vehicle that was originally computer controlled, but became player controlled will now become player controlled if that vehicle is destroyed. Dirt terrain can no longer shows up as a road color on the map. Route chains that loop will now copy and paste correctly. "Fraction of friendly forces" in scoring formula, is now calculated correctly. Newly destroyed vehicles will no longer pop smoke. In multiplayer when chatting in the map screen, pressing control keys like W, S, A, D, etc.. while typing chat text will no longer be interpreted as control keys. Left-handed mouse configuration should now work correctly. Sounds for wheeled vehicles are now played properly when listening in your tank with the engine off. Added clunk sound when palm switches in M1 are pressed and released in Emergency mode. (Previously, this happened only in Normal mode.) Checkpoints created without attached routes in the execution phase will no longer be automatically deleted. When player is in TC position, AI gunner will now change between main/coax as soon as you tell him to (M key), instead of waiting. Changing speed, such as from fast to top, while moving to a TC-lased position will no longer "break" that route? Crash bug in map editor (when viewing extreme top-left corner) is now fixed. In multiplayer, when the host player loses all his units, the game will no longer be forced to end. Messages about taking or losing a region are no longer displayed during a multiplayer game. Manual range entry is now disabled when ballistic computer is damaged. Battle positions are now properly replicated when dividing a unit. In conditions "Total strength < X percent": the unit types are now factored in, not just simply the number of units. In the scoring formula: In calculating the fraction of friendly/enemy forces destroyed, the unit types are now factored in, not just simply the number of units. 0.50 cal rounds will no longer rock a tank upon impact. In multiplayer games with moderate to severe lag, shooting at very close targets would often not register as a hit. This has been fixed. Improved close-range AI for troops and tanks. Rounds fired from units that are off the map will now fly correctly. Modified mine hits so that light vehicles can be destroyed. Detached units in the planning phase can now be moved around in deployment zones. Strange multiplayer bug fixed. This bug only showed up when starting out in a tank other than the M1 or Leo, and only if never jump to another tank. Automatic lead (not dynamic lead) now works for TC when overriding in peri view of Leopard. Lead disabled for Leopard when Coax selected. Infantry now carry over the "player if" condition that their owning IFV has when the IFV is destroyed. Disabled dividing and attaching units in planning phase, since this was causing problems when saving plans. Grid position can now be adjusted in the map editor. Select Edit > Grid position, in the map editor. Holding down the space bar in the map editor will display an elevation map, instead of the normal terrain map. When .50 cal is damaged, it will not be movable. Region-control messages flashed less often. Armor values for light-armor vehicles have been adjusted.
For the Leopard: lased distances beyond 9990m will now result in a
GPS display of a flashing 0 000 A (or 0 000 b). "Knock back" bug, which occurred sometimes in MP games after being hit, is fixed. Arty Spotting units are no longer overly zealous about calling arty. Bug causing stray icons during debriefing phase is now fixed. Regions that are off the map should now work correctly. Bino view, arty calling and enemy identifying (by lasing) are now disabled for medic vehicles. When transferring ownership of vehicles to another player in multiplayer, attached infantry will also be transferred now. Computer TC will no longer try to use the .50 cal. when it is damaged. When switching tanks, sounds from old tank (eg., engine startup) will now stop playing. Turret hand cranks (arrow keys) now work in all fire control modes for the M1, and in Emergency and Manual modes for the Leopard. Minefields created from a FASCAM arty call in multiplayer are now consistent among clients and host. New Features Added new vehicles: Jaguar2, BMD2, BTR80, MTLB, Humvee. Added Danish text and speech Minimum arty delay revised (lengthened): 1:20 for spotter call, and
2:30 otherwise. (M113FO and FISTV Error messages should no longer come in an un-interruptible stream when there is a major problem (by a API failure, for example). This should allow players to exit the game without a reboot. Phase lines can now be transferred during the execution phase of an MP game (by the ranking player only). Right click on the phase line and select appropriate menu item. In MP, a tank with killed TC and/or gunner will limit the number of crew position for players. If TC and gunner are both killed, nobody can man the tank. Scroll bar added to debrief info box. TC should take a little longer to detect targets. In MP: Players can transfer ownership of any of their units (that they don't occupy) to another player (on their side). Right click on unit in map screen and select appropriate menu item. "T" key (Target key) now will prevent the AI TC from overriding for 15 seconds, or until the "I" key is pressed. In MP, will transmit "Identified!" from human gunner to human TC. "I" key (Identify-for-me key) will cause the AI TC to move the gun to the current target. In MP, will transmit "Cannot identify!" from human gunner to human TC. W, S, X keys pressed by human gunner in MP game will trigger sounds to be played on human TC's machine. W: Driver move out. S: Driver Stop. X: Driver backup. Deployment zones now implemented. In mission editor, right click on a region and select "Deployment zone" to make it a deployment zone. During the planning phase, any unit that is in a deployment zone can be moved anywhere in any deployment zone by the player by clicking and dragging the unit icon in the map screen. Muzzle flash is now displayed in TC and gunner's position. Shutter (after main gun fire) implemented in Leo. (This will cause the view to go black for about 0.25 seconds. This is NOT a bug!) Added "tanks" and "PCs" (instead of just AFVs) to condition and scoring windows. Penalty zones now implemented. In mission editor, right click on a region and select "Penalty zone" to select the type of penalty, exempt units, and the likelihood of penalty. Penalties are assessed every 30 seconds, with a 30 second warning before any penalty is inflicted. Warnings are only given if you occupy the unit that is being penalized. All external zoom views are now "bino" views, originating from the vehicle or soldier, not from behind it. (This was changed to prevent cheating.) Host will be asked whether he wants to upload the selected files each time a player joins a session, not just the first time. Mission scoring has been improved. "Return fire only" option added for units (to supplement existing options of Normal, Blind and impotent. Setting this option in the scenario editor will cause the unit to open fire only if fired upon first. This feature only applies when the unit is manned with AI crew members and is meant to be used mainly in multiplayer games. ATGM launchers on vehicles are now animated Hull down command ("E") given from external view will now orient hull in direction of player's view, not hull direction. In MP games, a message is now displayed (and recorded) when you are killed by another human. There is now a small chance of damage to tracks, radio, GPS and TC when running over trees, especially at fast speeds. All ditches are now of the same terrain type that they sit on. To make a dirt ditch, you must specifically paint dirt on top of the ditch in the map editor. Soldiers should be easier to suppress with fire. Speech sounds "battle carry sabot" and "sabot loaded" have been added back. Long scenario names are now displayed in a smaller font in the staging areas Units with Scout tactics moving at slow speeds can usually uncover mine fields now (without blowing up). Implemented pasting from clipboard into text boxes (useful for pasting IP addresses into the SB). Updated and added some scenarios Bug Fixes AI TC .50 cal aiming problem fixed. MP algorithm has been tweaked (mainly between TC and Gunner in same tank) LOS through forests has been tweaked (fixed) In MP game with remote human TC, enemy detection by (phantom) AI TC is won't happen anymore. The smoke generator now cannot be turned on when the engine is turned off. Stats from MP games are now logged to the player's records screen (if the player used the default name). Info on dead vehicles is sent across the net in MP now (in case they are pushed around). Initial stab damage (set in mission editor) stays damaged permanently (i.e., won't be repaired). If a player loses a connection (in MP), control of his tanks will pass to another player. In Scoring Formula: Mission Time > (<) now works correctly. Leopard peri override has been improved. No more jitter with low frame rates. Lase button from Leo's peri in KW mode no longer sets waypoint. Mine fields can no longer be selected and moved in the planning phase. The middle mouse button in the leopard should now work. Deleted arty strikes are now transferred over the net in MP (and deleted on other players' machines). Loading plans for an MP game should now work without causing transmission errors during the game. Dead soldiers should no longer float above ground in MP. In manual mode, gunner will no longer move gun over rear deck. Tanks that start off as dead, should really be dead at the start. (For client in MP.) TC should no longer ask gunner to shoot targets that the gunner cannot see if there are other targets. Fire control should now be saved and reloaded properly in plans. Can no longer set a waypoint by lasing when driving is disabled. Direction clock for infantry fixed Knocked down trees can no longer be detected on the map. Brakes will still work if engine is destroyed as long as hydraulics are still good. Penetration for MG ammo on M113 variants has been corrected Palm switches on M1A1 will not work in Normal mode when stabilization is damaged. Credit is now given to TC for kills by TC when overriding. (Was only a problem in MP games.) Switching ownership from computer to player using "player if" condition should now work properly in MP.
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