(newbie) Problems I'm having with Steel Panthers (Full Version)

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Yamamoto -> (newbie) Problems I'm having with Steel Panthers (5/6/2003 10:22:38 PM)

I am just getting back into Steel Panthers after taking a break from Steel Panthers I. There are a few problems I’m having.

First, on the setup screen for playing a quick battle, the screen doesn’t match the manual. There is no way to tell what the visibility, weather or # of turns the game is set for. You can change all of those parameters but you can’t know what they are before you change them. In the manual it shows what they are and even lets you adjust the hour of the day.

Second big problem I have is picking units. Sometimes when I pick a unit, after getting one of them, it makes the selection red so I can’t buy anymore. There seems to be no reason or pattern to this. I have plenty of points left and plenty of open slots for more units. This is by far the most frustrating thing with this game. Why is it doing this?

Lastly, whenever I edit a OoB file the game crashes when I get into combat with a unit that has an edited weapon or characteristic. Specifically, I copied a German Panzerfaust unit and put it in the Japanese OoB. The first time it fired at a tank the game crashed.

Can someone help me understand why these problems are occurring?



Belisarius -> Re: (newbie) Problems I'm having with Steel Panthers (5/6/2003 10:29:57 PM)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Yamamoto
[B]I am just getting back into Steel Panthers after taking a break from Steel Panthers I. There are a few problems I’m having.

Second big problem I have is picking units. Sometimes when I pick a unit, after getting one of them, it makes the selection red so I can’t buy anymore. There seems to be no reason or pattern to this. I have plenty of points left and plenty of open slots for more units. This is by far the most frustrating thing with this game. Why is it doing this?

Can someone help me understand why these problems are occurring? [/B][/QUOTE]

Hi Yamamoto, and welcome "back", so to speak. ;)

Check your preferences screen about this; your playing with Rarity ON. This means that the game simulates (sort of) the number of a particular unit it's reasonable for a commander to have at his disposal for a certain time in the war. This is random within some limits. Some times you will have many tanks, sometimes not. A btn commander doesn't have the power to steer logistics and reinforcments at his want. :p

That said, many of us play with it OFF, because it causes some really silly shortages at some points, especially for MGs.



Yamamoto -> (5/6/2003 11:18:17 PM)

Oh THANK YOU! That was very irritating. It only let me buy 1 squad of anti-tank guys when Iwas playing the Japanese. I guess there was only 1 anti-tank rifle available.

Now, on the ontehr points. Is there anyway to tell what the battle parameters are before the battle begins (or during, for that matter) ? I can change them (weather, turns, visibility) but I can't see what they are to begin with. I assume they are random. The manual shows a different screen for setting up a quick battle so I guess that was from an earlier version of the game.

Yamamoto



Belisarius -> (5/6/2003 11:37:11 PM)

I think you got me on that one. The manual is from v5.0, and as you know the game is now at v7.1. I tried to check, but couldn't find a way either. I'm content with just setting the parameters myself, isn't that just as easy? :p



Gary Tatro -> In the battle set up screen (5/6/2003 11:40:20 PM)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Yamamoto
[B]Oh THANK YOU! That was very irritating. It only let me buy 1 squad of anti-tank guys when Iwas playing the Japanese. I guess there was only 1 anti-tank rifle available.

Now, on the ontehr points. Is there anyway to tell what the battle parameters are before the battle begins (or during, for that matter) ? I can change them (weather, turns, visibility) but I can't see what they are to begin with. I assume they are random. The manual shows a different screen for setting up a quick battle so I guess that was from an earlier version of the game.

Yamamoto [/B][/QUOTE]
In the middle on the bottom you will see weather, turns, and visibility. Click on the button and you can adjust the weather and turns and visibility. I ussually do this to avoid really high visibility games and really short games.



Yamamoto -> Re: In the battle set up screen (5/7/2003 12:24:00 AM)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Gary Tatro
[B]In the middle on the bottom you will see weather, turns, and visibility. Click on the button and you can adjust the weather and turns and visibility. I ussually do this to avoid really high visibility games and really short games. [/B][/QUOTE]

OK, but I need to know the scale. Weather is 0-6, I think, but I don't know what that means. Visability is 0-100 ? How does that interact with the time of day? The manual doesn't seem to go into much detail on these points.

Yamamoto



Jim1954 -> (5/7/2003 12:35:36 AM)

Somewhere, and I thought it was in the manual, there is an explanation of what the 0-6 means, differentiated by theater of operations, IIRC.

I'll check tonight. The 5.0 manual is the latest, btw.

:)



Gary Tatro -> Actually the manual does (5/7/2003 12:37:39 AM)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Yamamoto
[B]OK, but I need to know the scale. Weather is 0-6, I think, but I don't know what that means. Visability is 0-100 ? How does that interact with the time of day? The manual doesn't seem to go into much detail on these points.

Yamamoto [/B][/QUOTE]
But I have not reread it in a couple of months. But if you hit I think the F2 key or one of the F# keys during battle set up it gives you the list of weather. Weather & time of day in a random battle deturmines the range in hexes of visibility the computer can chose from. In manually set visibility all weather affects is how quickly smoke disipates and movement.



rbrunsman -> (5/7/2003 12:38:07 AM)

Welcome back.

During Scenario Setup:
Click on the "Help" button. It brings up a screen that tells you what all the codes are.

During Purchase Phase:
Click on "Mission" in the lower left of the buy screen, next to the "View Map" button. This will show you how many turns you have and what the visibility is in a randomly generated game. This is critical info!

During the Game:
Hover your mouse over the scenery picture in the top right corner of the screen. You will be told what turn it is (e.g. turn 11 of 20) and what the visibility is.

Bob



Yamamoto -> (5/7/2003 2:51:31 AM)

Thanks all. I can't wait to get off work and get home tonight. I want to play Steel Panthers! Maybe in a couple of months I'll be up for a multi-player game. Once I switched to multi-player in Matrix's Uncommon Valor I never looked back.

Yamamoto



Jim1954 -> (5/7/2003 2:53:58 AM)

Can't speak for multi-player, but pbem is such a different experience than against the AI, you need to try it.

:cool:



Belisarius -> (5/7/2003 3:03:45 AM)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jim1954
[B]Can't speak for multi-player, but pbem is such a different experience than against the AI, you need to try it.

:cool: [/B][/QUOTE]

Indeed. :)

I played my first PBEM about a year ago (or two!), and my single player games since are easily counted with one hand's fingers. :cool:

X'cept for some MC rounds and Dirty Dozen scenarios, ofcourse!



Goblin -> (5/7/2003 6:00:01 AM)

Yamamoto! Welcome over here to the SPWaW forums! Felt like slumming it?;)

Goblin



rbrunsman -> (5/7/2003 6:57:05 AM)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Belisarius
[B]Indeed. :)

I played my first PBEM about a year ago (or two!), and my single player games since are easily counted with one hand's fingers. :cool:

X'cept for some MC rounds and Dirty Dozen scenarios, ofcourse! [/B][/QUOTE]

Right you are Bel (and Jim), I started PBEM about March of '02 and haven't looked at single player since (except MCLV, and I haven't even unwrapped MCDF yet). And, my fiancee keeps asking me what I used to do with my time before PBEM. I told her I used to get a good night's sleep. Now, I'm up until midnight almost every night. lost sleep:( PBEM :D lost sleep:( PBEM :D lost sleep :( PBEM:D :D :D



Bing -> (5/7/2003 10:53:47 PM)

Yamamoto - I see your problem. You should be playing WW2 NAVAL games. Nice to see you back, thought you had met with an accident involving P-38 aircraft (?).

WAW played PBEM and solo are close to being two entirely different games. Soon as you get the mechanics down, do a short PBEM game. Per above, you may become hopelessly hooked on PBEM - also, if you have broadband or cable try H2H "live", it is a REAL gas.

What happens when you get into PBEM is like Custer at the LIttle Bighorn, "Where did all those @#$%^&* Indians come from?". Or, per Phil Harris regarding Custer, "What got into those Indians? They were all right at the dance last night." The enemy has ceased being as predictable as they are in solo. Makes for a lot more fun.

Bing



Yamamoto -> (5/8/2003 10:54:38 PM)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Goblin
[B]Yamamoto! Welcome over here to the SPWaW forums! Felt like slumming it?;)

Goblin [/B][/QUOTE]


Some of my Uncommon Valor opponents have taken time off recently and I’ve had some gaming time to spare so I decided to download SP:WaW and play it.


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bing
[B] Yamamoto - I see your problem. You should be playing WW2 NAVAL games.

[/B][/QUOTE]

I am. I’m playing seven PBEM games of Uncommon Valor. I do much better at that than I do at land-based games. I’ve captured Brisbane in two of those games. :)

Yamamoto



Jim1954 -> (5/8/2003 11:00:03 PM)

Yamamoto, you need to buy Operation Watch Tower while you still can, given the theater you like so well. It'd be a shame not to get it while you can, 'cause if you like the early Pacific and you like SPWaW, you'll LOVE this one.



.:D



Bing -> (5/9/2003 1:13:25 AM)

Yama - I always preferred playing the Japanese in PacWar (the granddaddy of them all, if you don't know it), would drive my opponents nuts by grabbing everything in sight in the South Pacific in the first few weeks. Then they had to fight to get it back and didn't like having to do so. Never did take Australia, the game always bogged down at a certain stage - committing resources to an invasion could soak up everything available.What did you have if you DID take the north and east coasts? A bunch of sheep farms and not much else.

Also, taking Moresby was a truly chancy undertaking, as it should be. Most of the time I never got over the Stanley mountain range, same as real time.

There never has been a game to compare with Girgsby's PacWar, I imagine anything being done now will so fancy and so intense in the eye candy dept the core of the game will be neglected. That's the way it has gone. We had a great group of PacWarriors, some of the best gamers and profesional historians I"ve seen in one place. The curator of the Arizona Memorial at Pearl was a regular.

Bing



Klinkenhoffen -> (5/9/2003 6:14:12 AM)

G' Day Yamamoto


"I am. I’m playing seven PBEM games of Uncommon Valor. I do much better at that than I do at land-based games. I’ve captured Brisbane in two of those games. "

As an Aussie, you can keep Brisbane. There all a little odd up there.

Welcome

klinkenhoffen



TheOverlord -> (5/9/2003 7:20:14 AM)

Hey Yamamoto,
This should be your avatar from Starblazers!

[URL=http://www.starblazers.com/images/fan_art/Rusty2.jpg]http://www.starblazers.com/images/fan_art/Rusty2.jpg[/URL]



Yamamoto -> (5/9/2003 8:32:43 AM)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Klinkenhoffen
[B]G' Day Yamamoto

As an Aussie, you can keep Brisbane. There all a little odd up there.

Welcome

klinkenhoffen [/B][/QUOTE]

LOL!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TheOverlord
[B]Hey Yamamoto,
This should be your avatar from Starblazers!
[/B][/QUOTE]

I loved that show. I would wake up at ungodly hours to watch it before getting ready for school. The Japanese name of the show was “Uchuu Senkan Yamato” or “Space Battleship Yamato”.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bing
[B] There never has been a game to compare with Girgsby's PacWar, I imagine anything being done now will so fancy and so intense in the eye candy dept the core of the game will be neglected.

Bing [/B][/QUOTE]

Bing, you DO know that Grigsby is working on “War in the Pacific” with 2 by 3 games right now, don’t you? It will be everything PacWar was and more! The level of detail is even greater; pilots are tracked individually as one example. I think its scheduled to come out in September but I don’t think they will make it since they are still referring to it as “Alpha” at this point.

Yamamoto



Bing -> (5/9/2003 11:12:37 AM)

No idea what Grigs will turn out. "Improved" versions of great games usually turn out not to be that way. We can't relive those times, either, when so many were new to wargaming - or to computer wargaming, which I was - the group was the closest I've been around. This was not beer and pretzels gaming - weekly turns for 4 years, longer if the Japanese player did it right, the math is easy. That's 200+ turns, I knew guys had a game going, the same game, over three years.

Tracking individual pilots would not only be time consuming, it would ultimately be boring as anything I can imagine. The fun is hopscotching that attack group from island to island, setting a trap for your opponent and sending his carriers to the bottom. One game Halsey went up the slot with a CV TF, by the time the smoke cleared seven IJN carriers were sunk or damaged so badly they would be out of operation for six or more months. But he could have been ambushed, too, with very different results.

Remember, Grigs was doing all this in 360Kb - Kilobytes, not Megabytes.

Grigs will do a basically good job with the new PacWar, he usually delivers the goods, it just can't ever be the same as it was back then.

Bing



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