Russian Steel 1.3 now Available at Tankhead's!

Matrix Games Forums

Forums Register Login Photo Gallery Member List Search Calendars FAQ

My Profile Inbox Address Book My Subscription My Forums Log Out

Russian Steel 1.3 now Available at Tankhead's!

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Steel Panthers World At War & Mega Campaigns >> SP:WaW Scenarios/Campaigns >> Russian Steel 1.3 now Available at Tankhead's!

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

Russian Steel 1.3 now Available at Tankhead's! - 9/13/2002 9:44:25 AM

darroch

Posts: 210
Joined: 3/13/2001
From: US
Status: offline

Just in time for the weekend!!

5 new battles for Russian Steel.

Tankhead has been gracious enough to host the update!

Thanks!!!

Go to the bottom of:

http://www.tankhead.ca/SPWaW/rusteel.html

This is just an update, you will need to have loaded Russian Steel 1.2 already.

Just slide these battles (and the new ucamp file) into your campaign folder (don't actually open the campaign folder - just slide 'em over until the icon darkens and release)

Let me repeat some important thank you's:

Thanks WIld Bill for you example and inspiration
Thanks A_B for starting this thing
THanks Penetrator for resurrecting it
Thanks Fabio for hosting the initial version
Thanks Rick for taking us in after Fabio got swamped!

and thank you for playing our campaign!

Designers welcome!

About the battles:

20 - Millerovo defense: July 1942: Sixth Army and 4th Panzer Army are on the move across the open steppe - their long range gunnery is deadly...time your counterattack carefully!

21 - Morozovsk Defense: save the artillery - you'll need it!! You have learned to approach those long 75s with caution by now...even KV tanks get cut up!

22 - Don Cauldron - the Panzers have broken through - you may be surrounded...better get across the river before they do...

23 - Supplies of fuel and ammo are desperately needed in Stalingrad - you have to protect these supply convoys from the Panzers

24 - through a gap in the German lines, your force has slipped into the rear echelon unnoticed - wipe out the artillery and get out of there before the reaction forces arrive...

7 more battles are in final playtesting!!!

These are difficult battles - the next update will increase the build points for these battles. You may want to edit the campaign and increase build points by 150 for each of these battles.

As always, post here if your have any problems and I'd love to hear your feedback.

Brad

Post #: 1

- 9/13/2002 8:45:24 PM

Unknown_Enemy

Posts: 277
Joined: 9/10/2001
From: France, Paris
Status: offline

[QUOTE]These are difficult battles [/QUOTE]
:eek:

I did not notice the previous ones were easy.

Sigh. My infantry gonna needs lots of replacements. Sigh.

_____________________________

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn.
Yaah ! Yaah ! Cthulhu fhtagn ! Cthulhu fhtagn !

(in reply to darroch)

Post #: 2

- 9/14/2002 11:56:01 PM

darroch

Posts: 210
Joined: 3/13/2001
From: US
Status: offline

"These battles are difficult"...

Getting playbalance right is very tricky and it is difficult to predict what a player's core force will look like...

We tried to ensure that getting a decisive in Russian Steel without stretching any rules (like a core force over 55 units) was possible but not easy...

I would strongly encourage anyone who has a particularly tough battle to edit their campaign and increase the build points for the next battle so you don't start out crippled...

If you have more than 3 or 4 dead tanks at the start of a battle it will take a lot of the fun out the new fight...

These latest battles are tougher for a slightly different reason: the Germans in 1942 have a lot more lethal antitank gunnery available: Stug F, PZkWIV fs/2, and the MKIIIs with the 50/L60 with APCR rounds ("arrow shot")....

In 1941 tank losses were more from Luftwaffe and infantry than anti-tank gunnery - you could hang about in the open and stay alive...

In 1942, this is no longer the case - the Germans can engage you before your own gunnery becomes effective...and they have the 50/L60, the 75/L43, and reengineered Pak76 guns - all deadly to T34s and KVs...

AS a result the Russian is forced onto the defensive tactically (as was the case historically) - reverse slope deployments, absorbing the Panzerfists with infantry before counterattacking with your own armor...constantly looking for the flank and rear shots on armor, use of artillery to button and disorient the enemy armor so you can get the first shot off and hopefully kill before getting sliced open....

During playtesting, I was losing 10-15 tanks per battle and getting marginal victories largely because I knew the general German layout!!!

When you play these battles for the first time, it will be tough!

So you have the designer's encouragement to increase your rebuild points by up to 300 points per battle to ensure a healthy core force for each battle...

I also got really frustrated by how hard it is to kill MKIII and MkIV Panzers with standard issue 76 guns....only the Zis5 has a decent chance against the front...

Oddly enough I found the Sherman III with a PEN of 102 and the M10 Wolverine with a nice PEN of 137 are useful additions - a couple of these held in reserve go a long way...and they are lend-lease candidates so it doesn't require switching nations which is a bit of cheat (but, admittedly, fun)...

I would ove to hear specific feedback on these battles if you have the time - they needn't be so hard that it isn't any fun.....we may have overdone it...

Cheers,

Brad

(in reply to darroch)

Post #: 3

- 9/15/2002 12:10:02 AM

Kaakao

Posts: 207
Joined: 3/14/2002
From: Finland
Status: offline

Brad,

The zip on Tankheads site only includes the ucamp022.dat file and then some scenarios (scen420.dat etc.). After unpacking them to my camp-folder and starting the game I found out that these battles do not appear in the campaiqn, although the name has changed to Russian Steel 1.3. I checked the campaiqn editor and it didn't show these four battles, the list just stopped at the 19th battle. Any ideas ?

(in reply to darroch)

Post #: 4

- 9/15/2002 8:57:04 PM

darroch

Posts: 210
Joined: 3/13/2001
From: US
Status: offline

It sounds like I made a mistake - I sent Rick some zipped scenarios by mistake - later I sent the zipped campaign files. He probably has posted the zipped scenarios. My apologies for the confusion.

1. I will contact Rick and work with him to get the zipped campaign files uploaded.

2. I would be happy to send you the zipped files if you would like - just send me your preferred email address at [email]brad.darroch@trw.com[/email]

3. There is a workaround:
3a. put the scenarios files into your SCEN folder
3b. Open RS 1.3 in the edit campaign mode
3c. Click on each empty slot (e.g. because of the 0 slot, this is slot 19 for battle 20)
3d. The load scenario menu pops up
3e. select the correct scenario and click load
3f. The scenario slot should now have the name of the correct battle

It seems I rushed getting these files out and made a mistake. I apologize for the hassle and I'll get it right.

Brad

(in reply to darroch)

Post #: 5

- 9/16/2002 4:15:14 AM

Tankhead

Posts: 1352
Joined: 6/21/2000
From: Yukon Territory Canada
Status: offline

Hello Everyone!

The proper files have been posted.

Thank You for your support ;)

_____________________________

Tankhead

(in reply to darroch)

Post #: 6

Great stuff! - 9/16/2002 10:32:51 PM

Fabio Prado

Posts: 503
Joined: 5/23/2000
Status: offline

Go get it, boys! It is first classs, wargaming fun, careful detailed work being hosted by a top-notch website!:) :)

And both guys are my friends, so go get it or I will run my Tiger over you...:p

Fab

_____________________________

(in reply to darroch)

Post #: 7

- 9/17/2002 6:22:00 AM

darroch

Posts: 210
Joined: 3/13/2001
From: US
Status: offline

Thank you for recovering from my mistake, Rick!

Thank you, Fabio!

I have nearly finished testing the last 7 battles of the original set...thanks to Penetrator, these are some tough fights! Can you say River Crossing? Yikes.

More is planned and we'll talk about that later but since Fabio brought up the topic of Tigers...

After these 7 are released, I hope to start on the next 4 battles. These will include the first Russian Steel Tiger scenario (with of course many more to follow..) and a factual-based Russian Amphibious landing....

Your support and encouragement will help make this all happen!!

Brad

(in reply to darroch)

Post #: 8

- 9/17/2002 1:42:44 PM

Tankhead

Posts: 1352
Joined: 6/21/2000
From: Yukon Territory Canada
Status: offline

Go go go go Brad is the man :D :D :D :D :D ;) :cool:

_____________________________

Tankhead

(in reply to darroch)

Post #: 9

Increasing Build Points - 9/19/2002 4:03:27 AM

EVANS PAPPAS

Posts: 3
Joined: 1/30/2002
From: ROSWELL GA
Status: offline

I'm glad you mentioned increasing the build points for a new scenario. I'm getting killed by not being able to fix my destroyed units much less upgrading any units. Please tell me how to increase my build points so I can at least start with my core units intact. Thanks

(in reply to darroch)

Post #: 10

- 9/19/2002 8:57:49 AM

darroch

Posts: 210
Joined: 3/13/2001
From: US
Status: offline

Adjusting build points:

Click edit campaign...

Select Russian Steel and click...

SHould see a table with many entries - study for bit - should see slot #, scenario title, and columns of digits - these columns represent the "programming" of the campaign...

There are columns that dictate which battle you progress to depending on victory level - you can go to a different slot for any given result - this enables branching...

You should see three columns in a row titled (more or less): build, support, and reinf....

The numbers in these columns correspond directly to your build points, etc.

To change a number in any column, right click and you should get a pop up box prompting for the new number...

Clicking on the battle outcomes will enable you to edit the intro text files (although I have trouble with this in WinME...)

Clicking on the scenario name brings up the load scenario menu and allows to to load a different scenario into the slot from your scenario library...

So, for your question:

Cross-index the next battle and the build points column, click this number and enter your estimated points into the pop up - hit "enter" and check to see your number is loaded in.

It will stay this way until you change it or reload a new ucamp file (as in when Russian Steel 1.4 is released)...

I hope it has not been too aggravating - if you are starting out crippled (usually thanks to the Luftwaffe:mad: ) then it is very hard to catch up.

If you have 55 units or less in your core, you will not find playbalance affected too much if you upgrade all of your units - so give yourself a big shot of points one time and get your core really healthy so they can gain experience - you'll need the experience in 1942..

A player with over 70 units will probaly find the playbalance off and eventually walk through most of these battles because of sheer numbers...

With RS 1.4 I plan to adjust the points upward and try and avoid this problem from here on out.

Thanks for sticking with RS!

Brad

(in reply to darroch)

Post #: 11

- 9/19/2002 9:02:27 AM

darroch

Posts: 210
Joined: 3/13/2001
From: US
Status: offline

Um,
by "next battlle" I meant the one right after the one you are playing...

Also, save the "next-to-last" turn in each of your battles and you can always adjust the points based on the battle outcome...

Basically once your reach the "black summary screen" you have progressed beyond the point where you can change the build points for the very next battle...you have to plan ahead just a little...

Please let me know if this helps - I'll be glad to get you through this process...

Brad

(in reply to darroch)

Post #: 12

- 9/26/2002 5:25:34 AM

darroch

Posts: 210
Joined: 3/13/2001
From: US
Status: offline

Russian Steel 1.4 is now available at Tankhead's!!!

See the main board for more details.

Brad

(in reply to darroch)

Post #: 13

Page: [1]

All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Steel Panthers World At War & Mega Campaigns >> SP:WaW Scenarios/Campaigns >> Russian Steel 1.3 now Available at Tankhead's!

Page: [1]