=========================================
STEEL PANTHERS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
=========================================
Maintained by Hong Ooi
Revision: 1.1, 24 September, 1996
Contents:
Introduction
Copyright
Disclaimer
Credits
Before the battle
How do I get mines and dragons teeth?
How do I get my troops to dig in?
How do I upgrade my units?
Why can't I upgrade to Jagdpanthers?
When can I buy artillery?
When can I buy aircraft?
When can I buy mines and fortifications?
How do I do a preliminary bombardment?
How do I load my infantry on to vehicles?
How do I buy elite units (SS, rangers, paratroopers etc)?
Why do my support units get new equipment before my core?
In long campaigns, why does it sometimes seem to skip an entire year between
battles?
Why do I get non-historical battles (e.g., Polish Assault) in long campaigns?
Why can't I upgrade my (motorized) infantry's trucks to halftracks?
How do I stack units during deployment?
Experience, morale and suppression
How do experience and morale work?
What is suppression, and what does it do?
How do pinning and retreating work?
How do I get rid of suppression?
How do I unbutton my tanks?
How do I get my crew back in their abandoned tank?
How does a leader's rating affect accuracy?
Armour and infantry
How is accuracy calculated?
How do I stack units during a battle?
Does gun caliber affect armour penetration?
What do the armour thickness numbers mean?
How do I fire only my machineguns, or main gun?
Why do I lose main gun shots when I only fire machineguns?
What different sorts of ammo are there?
How do I force my tank to use HVAP ammo?
How are turreted and non-turreted vehicles vehicles different?
How do I destroy an abandoned tank/pillbox?
What is "OP" fire?
Is 0 range useful for anything?
Why can't I do overruns?
Why does the AI like tanks so much?
Sometimes I'm told my squad is "assaulting" a tank. What's this mean?
How can I make sure they always assault?
How do I stop the other side from assaulting my tanks?
How do I detect mines?
How do I clear a mined hex?
How do I use barges and barge-carriers?
How do I get my engineers to use their flamethrowers?
How do I lay smoke screens?
What effect do smoke screens have?
What effect do shell craters have?
How can I start fires?
What effect do fires have?
How do I destroy bridges?
What happens to a unit on a destroyed bridge?
What benefits are there to being on a higher elevation?
Artillery and aircraft
What's a spotter for?
How do I call in fire support?
Why doesn't my Inf-Gun show up on the Bombardment menu?
Why can't I target certain hexes for indirect fire?
Does the computer artillery cheat?
Does on-board artillery have any use in this game?
Can I direct fire on-board mortars and artillery?
What's the difference between Panzer Artillery, Infantry Artillery, VG
Artillery, Corps Artillery, etc?
How do I use aircraft?
Why can I use some aircraft lots of times but not others?
Why does the AI take so many aircraft?
Why doesn't my AA shoot at planes?
Why don't they ever seem to shoot anything down?
Why did my plane attack my own unit?
The Scenario Editor
How do I edit Victory Hexes?
Can I delete Victory Hexes?
How do I build straight north-south roads?
How do I create a startup description for my scenario?
How do I set the length of a scenario?
What are reaction points for?
What are waypoints for?
Can I tell the AI whether to stay put or be aggressive?
Why do my units retreat in the wrong direction?
Is there a limit to the number of unit types in an OB file?
Can I design my own mini-campaigns?
Can I use the doubler?
Side effects of the doubler
Why do my infantry units have passengers?
How do I avoid entrenching?
How do I entrench only Player 1 or 2?
How do I entrench only part of one player's units?
How do I get rid of entrenchments?
Can I get a running number for doubled formations?
Patches and bugs
What patches are available?
Where can I download them?
What changes are implemented in each patch?
Which patches do I definitely need?
Do I need to install the patches in a set order?
Why doesn't the sound work?
Why does the game crash instantly when I start it?
When I load a saved game, all the smoke is gone. Is this a bug?
What other bugs are there?
I've found a new bug. Who should I tell?
Miscellaneous
How do I read the gun descriptions?
So what's this thing called SPEDIT?
Can my battle results affect the course of a long campaign? I.e., can I make
Germany win the war?
How do I play an email game?
Can I play a campaign game by email?
Will there be a modern-era version of Steel Panthers?
Are there any problems running SP on Windows 95 or OS/2?
Other resources
Introduction
============
This is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about Steel Panthers, the
WWII tactical wargame from SSI. This list concentrates mostly on technical
issues, as opposed to tactics; that is, getting the program to do what you want,
rather than ways to beat your opponent. There are a number of places you can go
to for tactical tips:
- If you have Usenet access, point your browser at the newsgroup
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic.
- The Tankers' Homepage maintains a SP discussion page on the World Wide Web:
.
- The major online services, eg AOL and Compuserve, have discussion forums on
wargames in general and SP in particular.
- Pascal Ode offers a shareware strategy guide to SP. You can visit his
dedicated web site at or mail
him at <100257.1375@compuserve.com> for more details.
[Update: the Tankers Homepage has now closed down! It was good while it lasted,
guys, I'm sorry to see it go.]
Copyright
---------
This document is copyright (c) Hong Ooi, 1996 [or whoever I pass it on to].
Unauthorised modification or publication for profit is prohibited. Basically,
you can post this document WITHOUT MODIFICATION on public echos, discussion
forums and newsgroups; if you want to put it in a magazine or magazine
supplement which is to be sold for the purposes of making money, you should ask
me first.
The material contributed by Pascal Ode (and attributed to him) was collected
from a number of sources, including discussions on Compuserve forums and an
article by Peter Smith in Strategy Plus magazine.
Disclaimer
----------
Information in this document is not guaranteed to be correct. I've made every
effort to ensure it _is_ correct, but by Murphy's Law something always slips
through. Similarly, I take no responsibility for any horrible things that might
happen to your computer/house/life/neighbourhood/continent if you use the advice
contained herein. You uses it, you takes your chances!
Credits
-------
This document was put together with the help of a lot of people, including:
John Waters
Arnaud Bouis
Paul Calvi
Mikkel
Tuomas Seijavuori
Martin Rapier
Bill Thacker
Pascal Ode <100257.1375@compuserve.com>
sstale@sn.no (Staale Sannerud)
Tim (whoever you are :) )
...as well as many others.
Responsibility for any errors in this document is taken by the maintainer. If
you find a mistake, or you think something should be included but isn't, or if
you think something is included that should be deleted, send me an email at
hong@magna.com.au and I'll fix it.
Before the battle
=================
How do I tell which version of SP I have?
-----------------------------------------
Move the mouse cursor over the leftmost button in the lower row on the SP main
menu screen ("Design your own battle", or whatever the button reads.) The
version number will then appear in the title bar at the top of the screen.
-- sstale@sn.no (Staale Sannerud)
How do I get mines and dragons teeth?
-------------------------------------
Mines and/or dragons teeth are only available if you're playing a "defend"
scenario.
First, you have to buy them from the Misc menu, when you're selecting your
forces. What you buy is a "pool" of points, which you can allocate to either
mines or dragons teeth (1 point=1 mined/obstructed hex). In the deployment
screen, press X; this will let you select which hexes to mine. You can place
multiple mines/dragons teeth per hex; this just makes it more difficult to clear
and (for mines) more likely to inflict damage on anyone passing through.
How do I get my troops to dig in?
---------------------------------
If you're playing an "assault" or "defend" scenario, your infantry and on-board
artillery automatically starts the battle entrenched. You cannot entrench DURING
the battle (although infantry can re-occupy abandoned trenches).
Your vehicles will only start the game entrenched if you're the defender in a
"defend" scenario.
Neither artillery nor vehicles can re-occupy abandoned positions.
How do I upgrade my units?
--------------------------
In the campaign battles, a player can upgrade his/her units between battles.
After each battle, you'll see the repair/upgrade units screen. Click on the
"Change" button, then click on the unit you wish to upgrade. You will be
presented with a list of units you can upgrade to. Just click on the desired
unit.
You can only upgrade within each "type", ie armour/artillery/infantry. So for
example, you can change a Pz-IIIj (armour) to a Panther, or a rifle squad
(infantry) to an engineer squad, but you can't change a Pz-IIIj to an engineer
squad. The only exception is the A0 unit, which can be switched between armour
and infantry as desired.
Note that upgrading units results in loss of experience! You will lose about 5
experience points every time you upgrade.
Why can't I upgrade to Jagdpanthers?
------------------------------------
This is a bug in versions 1.1 to 1.17x. Basically if you're playing the Germans,
there are "too many" types of units late in the war to fit on the menu. This has
been fixed in 1.18x. (On the other hand, the menu now lists all sorts of
"garbage" items -- Russian infantry squads, British planes, mines, etc. I
haven't tried choosing one of these garbage items yet. Anyone been game to find
out the effect of this new bug?)
--
This is a bug in the upgrade screen. If there are more upgrade options than fit
on one screen, the extra options cannot be selected. There is a very short (one
month) time window, immediately after the Jagdpanther is introduced, where it
will appear for selection; after that, the appearance of new tanks forces it off
the screen.
-- Bill Thacker
When can I buy artillery?
-------------------------
In the canned scenarios, you sometimes have it and you sometimes don't. In the
campaign battles, you have to buy artillery, just like tanks, halftracks or
infantry. If you don't buy any arty, you can't use it.
There is a difference between off-board artillery and on-board artillery. Off-
board artillery can only be purchased if you are playing an "assault" or
"defend" battle. On-board artillery, like mortars or self-propelled guns like
the US Priest or German Hummel, can always be purchased (if you have enough
points).
When can I buy aircraft?
------------------------
Aircraft availability depends on the year and the weather. Basically, the
Germans and Japanese can count on air superiority for the first half of the war.
This means they have a greater chance of having air support available. The
opposite goes for the Allies -- they can count on having air support in the
latter part of the war. Also, summer months generally have better chances of
aircraft being available.
As far as I know, it's not possible for both sides to buy aircraft in the one
battle. On the other hand, it's quite possible for both sides to NOT be able to
buy aircraft -- so just because it's 1939 and your Germans are invading Poland,
that doesn't mean you'll definitely be able to buy Stukas for support.
When can I buy mines and fortifications?
----------------------------------------
Only when you're fighting a "defend" battle. Mines and forts appear on the Misc
menu when you're making your selections.
How do I do a preliminary bombardment?
--------------------------------------
On the deployment screen, make sure you have your chosen spotter unit selected,
then click on the bombard icon or press B on the keyboard. You will see a list
of the artillery available to you. Click on a hex where you want your
bombardment to land, then click on the Bombard icon for the unit you want to
fire at that hex. Repeat for all arty/aircraft units. The bombardment will
arrive just before the first game turn.
If you want to lay down a smoke screen, follow the same procedure, except that
instead of clicking on the Bombard icon, click on the Smoke icon.
How do I load my infantry on to vehicles?
-----------------------------------------
Select the infantry unit, then press L or click on the Load button. Click on the
vehicle on which you want to load the infantry.
How do I buy elite units (SS, rangers, paratroopers etc)?
---------------------------------------------------------
If you're playing a campaign game or a generated battle, you can't. SP doesn't
provide any units with special morale or experience. There are units like SS
panzer platoons, commando squads, or fallschirmjager (paratroop) platoons, but
this is a bit misleading: commando squads have extra weapons compared to normal
infantry, and SS panzer platoons have five tanks compared to the normal four,
but otherwise these units are of average quality.
If you're creating your own scenario, of course, there's nothing to stop you
from making "elite" units of your own.
Why do my support units get new equipment before my core?
---------------------------------------------------------
That's just a quirk of the way the long campaign works. You get to upgrade your
units AFTER each battle, rather than BEFORE. Say your first battle is in
December 1941. After the battle, you get a chance to upgrade to whatever
equipment is available in December 1941. But the next battle might be in June
1942, so when you go to buy support units, they'll have equipment relating to
June 1942. If you survive this battle, you can then upgrade to June 1942
equipment as well.
--
It's a matter of timing. Say you start a campaign in 1/41. You buy your core
units, buy support, and fight a battle. You can then repair/upgrade your core
units; all of this happens in 1/41. Next, the calendar advances to your next
battle, in 3/41. You buy support units, and they include everything available
in 3/41: but your core units are still from 1/41. After you finish the battle,
they can be upgraded to 3/41 equipment.
-- Bill Thacker
In long campaigns, why does it sometimes seem to skip an entire year between
battles?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The game skips over periods when, historically, there was little or no ground
action on the part of your nationality. For example, historically the German
Army didn't take part in much fighting between June 1940 (when France fell) and
April 1941 (when Germany invaded Yugoslavia). So if you're playing the Germans,
you won't see much action in this period either. The same goes for the other
nationalities, eg the Russo-Finnish war concluded in March 1940, and the
Russians were then mostly idle until the Germans invaded in June 1941.
Why do I get non-historical battles (e.g., Polish Assault) in long campaigns?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The battles are generated more-or-less randomly in long campaigns (as opposed to
short campaigns, which are designed with a realistic "script.") You will get
accurate theaters and locales (i.e., no combat in Western Europe in 1942, and no
battles at Stalingrad in 1944), but the type of engagement is apparently random.
-- Bill Thacker
Why can't I upgrade my (motorized) infantry's trucks to halftracks?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The type of infantry you get (foot, motorized or mechanized) is fixed when you
start a campaign. At the moment there is no way to change this once the campaign
is underway.
--
Choosing motorized or mechanized infantry increases the infantry's cost, but as
a bonus their transport is provided "free", without counting against your 48-
unit limit. This "organic" transport cannot be accessed for upgrades. You will
end the war with whatever sort of transport you choose at the beginning of the
campaign.
-- Bill Thacker
How do I stack units during deployment?
---------------------------------------
Normally you're not supposed to stack units during deployment, but there is a
workaround that will let you stack as many _infantry_ units (not vehicles) in a
hex as you like. Put a vehicle in the hex where you want your men. Load the
first infantry squad on the vehicle and unload it again. It will appear in the
hex. Repeat with every squad.
--
I've found two ways, both by accident (sort of). They're kind of kludgy, but
they work.
First, you can load, then unload a carrier vehicle. The passengers dismount into
the same hex as the carrier. This is how you may put tanks (or HT's) and
infantry in the same hex. Placing a vehicle first, then loading/unloading
successive squads of an infantry platoon on it could conceivably place the
entire platoon in one hex.
Second, you can deploy two formations so that they overlap one another. This
will tend to put more than one unit in a hex. (This uses the "formation deploy"
button.)
By combining the two techniques, you might conceivably place several vehicles
*and* several squads in a hex. We might consider this a bug, since we cannot
*move* more than two units into a hex under normal conditions ... but I've seen
two loaded vehicles in the same hex "drop their loads," as it were [g] when
taking fire, resulting in four units in the hex.
If you try this ... expect airstrikes and artillery [g}. You've created a
*really* nice target.
-- Mitch Cobb
Experience, morale and suppression
==================================
How do experience and morale work?
----------------------------------
The quality of your troops is governed by two statistics, experience and morale.
In general, green troops have low values for both of these, while highly
experienced troops have high values. Highly experienced units have better
chances to spot enemy units and to hit when they fire their weapons. Units with
high morale are less likely to suffer suppression effects (see below) and are
less likely to break and run when taking severe casualties.
Different nationalities have different base experience and morale values. These
values are also affected by the year. In general, the Germans and Japanese have
the highest experience and morale early in the war, but their troop quality
slowly declines after 1942. The Allies have low experience and morale early on,
but gradually improve.
Here are the morale and experience tables of Steel Panthers for each nationality
and year of the war. Courtesy of Jim Wirth.
--
This is the _base_ experience/morale. To this base is added a random number
between 0 and 20 for each unit. 10 is then added if the force is elite, and
substracted if green. This yields your final experience and morale.
EXPERIENCE TABLE
NATIONALITY 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
GERMAN 65 70 75 70 65 60 50
FINNISH 70 70 70 65 65 60 55
ITALIAN 35 35 40 40 30 30 30
RUMANIAN 35 35 35 35 30 25 25
HUNGARIAN 35 35 35 35 30 30 30
JAPANESE 70 70 70 70 65 65 60
FRENCH 45 45 50 55 50 55 55
BRITISH 50 50 50 55 55 55 55
GREEK 45 45 45 50 55 55 55
BELGIAN 45 45 45 45 45 45 45
DUTCH 45 45 45 45 45 45 45
NORWEGIAN 45 45 45 45 45 45 45
POLISH 45 45 50 55 55 55 55
YUGO-SLAV 45 45 45 40 45 50 55
SOVIET 35 40 45 50 55 60 55
US ARMY 40 40 45 45 50 55 60
US MARINE 55 55 55 60 65 70 70
CHINESE 30 30 30 35 40 40 40
MORALE TABLE
NATIONALITY 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
GERMAN 70 70 70 70 70 65 55
FINNISH 70 70 70 65 65 60 55
ITALIAN 30 30 30 30 25 25 25
RUMANIAN 25 25 25 25 25 25 25
HUNGARIAN 30 30 30 30 25 25 25
JAPANESE 70 70 70 70 70 70 70
FRENCH 45 45 55 60 55 60 55
BRITISH 60 60 60 60 60 60 55
GREEK 60 60 60 60 60 60 60
BELGIAN 45 45 45 45 45 45 45
DUTCH 45 45 45 45 45 45 45
NORWEGIAN 45 45 45 45 45 45 45
POLISH 60 55 60 60 60 65 60
YUGO-SLAV 45 45 45 50 55 60 65
SOVIET 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
US ARMY 40 40 45 50 55 55 60
US MARINE 65 65 65 70 70 70 70
CHINESE 35 35 35 40 40 40 40
-- Jim Wirth
What is suppression, and what does it do?
-----------------------------------------
Suppression is a general term for stress suffered by troops in combat. It's
basically what happens when a unit comes under fire, forcing the men to take
cover, button down hatches, etc. A unit can be suppressed even if it doesn't
take actual casualties.
Some things that can cause suppression:
- Being fired upon (shots that hit will cause more suppression than those that
don't, but all will cause suppression).
- Coming under artillery bombardment or being strafed by an aircraft.
- Being "out of contact", ie more than 5 hexes away from their HQ unit or the
overall HQ unit. Units with radios are never out of contact.
- If there are more enemy units sighted than friendly ones.
- Destruction of a friendly unit.
- Being in a burning hex.
- For infantry, unsuccessfully assaulting on a vehicle (successful assaults
don't cause suppression).
- Infantry units reduced to below half strength will start each turn on 10
suppression points minimum.
Some effects of suppression:
- Reduced accuracy (the more highly suppressed, the worse it gets).
- Reduced chance to spot enemy units.
- Reduced number of shots per turn.
- Enough suppression can cause the unit to be pinned or buttoned, or even rout.
See below for more on this.
- Infantry units with more than 5 suppression points cannot assault vehicles.
How do pinning and retreating work?
-----------------------------------
--
Unit get supression points because of enemy fire and all other kind of combat
stress. When a unit's supression level reaches its morale divided by 10 (rounded
down) the unit is pinned [or buttoned, for vehicles -- HO]. When it reaches the
double it retreats, when it reaches the triple it routs.
-- Pascal Ode <100257.1375@compuserve.com>
--
Pinned units lose all their movement points, but can still fire (at reduced
accuracy). Buttoned vehicles have normal movement points, but severely reduced
shots. Retreating and routed units lose all movement points (their movement is
controlled by the computer), and usually lose all their shots as well. Sometimes
retreating/routed units will have shots left, but you can't use them -- they're
solely for opportunity fire.
If a vehicle is immobilised, its crew are still subject to suppression effects.
If the crew get enough suppression points to "retreat", they will abandon their
vehicle.
How do I get rid of suppression?
--------------------------------
You have to "rally" your unit. Select the unit, and press R or click the Rally
button. The chance for success depends on your unit leader's Rally skill. If the
rally is successful, the suppression of the unit is halved (round down). If the
unit's own leader (usually a Sergeant or equivalent) is unsuccessful, the unit's
platoon/section leader, if within 5 hexes, then has a chance to rally. If that
leader is unsuccessful, the overall formation leader (again, must be within 5
hexes) has a go. However, once any leader fails a rally check, they CANNOT rally
again that turn.
Also, if you have auto-rally turned on, all your units will attempt to rally at
the end of the turn. Auto-rally is turned on by default.
--
I'm playing version 2.0. There the order is inverted: First the overall
formation leader (A0) tries to rally, then the section leader, and only if this
is unsuccessful, the own leader tries to rally.
-- "Vojtech V. Terber" <100111.306@CompuServe.COM>
How do I unbutton my tanks?
---------------------------
Tanks and other vehicles are assumed to be always unbuttoned. The only exception
is when they get enough suppression points to rate as buttoned. If you rally
your units, they'll be unbuttoned the next turn (provided they don't get shot at
again).
How do I get my crew back in their abandoned tank?
--------------------------------------------------
Rally them so they're not retreating any more; then move them back into the hex
where their vehicle is. Next turn, they'll climb back in. Of course, re-crewing
a tank that's been targeted by the other side may not be conducive to the crew's
health...
How does a leader's rating affect accuracy?
-------------------------------------------
The following applies to 1.1, and probably to later patches as well, although
the rules are said to have been tweaked a bit.
--
When firing at a target there is a base chance to hit that target depending on
weapon accuracy and range.
There is 50 % chance this base chance will be modified by the unit's experience
level , a 25 % chance that it will be modified by the unit's leader's skill
level and a 25 % chance that it will be modified by the unit's formation skill
level.
Once this basic accuracy has been determined , there is an accuracy check
against the apropriate skill, if it fails the unit fires at 1/4 its base
accuracy. If the units succed the check it attempts a second one, if it succeds
the base accuracy is multiplied by 1.5 if it fails the second check there is
simply no modifier to the base accuracy.
-- Pascal Ode <100257.1375@compuserve.com>
Armour and infantry
===================
How is accuracy calculated?
---------------------------
-- Effect of terrain and status on poor little grunts and soft targets:
The progam calculates an attack stength based on some sophisticated algorythm
including HE rating , size of shell and so on. If the target is hit then the
attack strength is modified according to the following factors:
-Hard cover:
divide by 8 if unit is dug in
divide by 4 (or 8 if small arms fire) if unit is positioned or pinned
-Soft cover:
divide by 6 if dug in infantry
divide by 3 if target unit is positioned or pinned
divide by 4 if target is a dug in gun
-Clear:
divide by 4 if target is dug in infantry
divide by 3 if target is dug in gun
divide by 2 if target is pinned or positioned
multiply by 2 if target is moving
In addition to all the above mentioned modifiers divide by 6 if the unit is dug
in and didn't fire for one turn.
exemple infantry moving in the open should be 2x8 = 16 times more vulnerable
than their collegues dug in hard cover.
What is hard cover , what is soft cover ? I don't know exacly but my
"guestimate" is hard building and bunkers are hard cover , wooden buildings ,
trees , jungle and so on are soft cover. And clear terrain is clear.
-- Pascal Ode <100257.1375@compuserve.com>
--
ACCURACY MODIFIERS IN STEEL PANTHERS
-------------------------------------
HE shells
---------
if (range > 10 + 2 * fire control) Acc = 2
non-HE shells Acc = Acc + fire control
-------------
Player level is HARD Acc = Acc * 2/3
Player level is EASY Acc = Acc * 4/3
firer experience Acc = Acc * experience / 65
If player level is EASY fire control = fire control + 3
fire at HARD TARGET
--------------------
target size Acc = Acc * target size / 4
first shot at target Acc = Acc / 4
second shot at target Acc = Acc / 2
Target is aircraft Acc = Acc / 2
target is retreating and player level is not EASY Acc = Acc / 2
target speed Acc = Acc * (40 + fire control - 2 * target speed) / 40
Experience
(there is a 50% chance that leader skill is used instead
of firer's experience)
if random(100) > experience Acc = Acc / 4
else if random(100) > experience - 60 Acc = Acc * 3 / 2
SUPPRESSION
No suppression Acc = Acc * 3 / 2
Firer is aircraft Acc = Acc * 2
Firer is pinned or buttoned Acc = Acc / 2
firer speed Acc = Acc * (40 - 4 * move) / 40
or if firer's move > 10 Acc = Acc / 8
HULL DOWN PROTECTION
Target is considered hull down if :
- the target is not a fortification
- the firing weapon is not a mortar (lobbed fire)
- firer is not adjacent
- target is dug-in OR in trees OR in buildings OR in rough OR the firer
is at least one elevation level below the target
if target is hull down Acc = Acc / 3
fire at SOFT TARGET
-------------------
Experience
(there is a 50% chance that leader skill is used instead
of firer's experience)
if random(100) > experience Acc = Acc / 4
else if random(100) > experience - 60 Acc = Acc * 3 / 2
firer is aircraft Acc = Acc * 4
firer is pinned or buttoned Acc = Acc / 2
firer is moving Acc = Acc / 2
target is artillery Acc = Acc * 2
Second or later shot at same target Acc = Acc * 2
Minimum and maximum modified accuracy
-------------------------------------
Minimum accuracy for short range
if range < 6 and Acc < (exp / range) Acc = exp / range
Final minimum and maximum modified accuracy cannot be lower than 2 nor greater
than 99.
-- Arnaud Bouis
How do I stack units during a battle?
-------------------------------------
Select the unit you wish to move into the stack hex, then hold the SHIFT key
while clicking on the hex. Only two units may be stacked this way. You can
overstack past the two-unit limit by moving infantry/gun units adjacent to a
stack containing a transport unit, loading them onto that transport, then
unloading them into the stack hex. Barges can be used to overstack tanks on
shore hexes in this same way.
-- Bill Thacker
Does gun caliber affect armour penetration?
-------------------------------------------
Yes. For example, a German 88mm/L56 gun has a nominal AP value of 17, which is
the same as that of the British 17pdr firing normal AP ammo. The 17pdr has a
caliber of 76mm, so the German gun will actually have BETTER penetration than
the British gun.
What do the armour thickness numbers mean?
------------------------------------------
It seems to be a _rough_ analogy between the armour number and the thickness in
cm of the armour plate in real life. An armoured car would have 1-2 cms of
armour, and this agreen with the SP numbers. A Panther tank had an 8-cm frontal
armour plate while the frontal armour rating is 11(?) in SP - but the frontal
armour was sloped, increasing the effective armour. 5 cm (or was it 6?) of side
and rear armour.The Tiger 1 had 10 cm of frontal armour, 8 cm at the sides, at a
90 degree angle. Seems to tally well with the SP value.
-- sstale@sn.no (Staale Sannerud)
How do I fire only my machineguns, or main gun?
-----------------------------------------------
In version 1.12x and later you can select your weapons by clicking on the firing
unit and pressing the S key. (This requires that your unit already has a
target.) A pop-up menu will let you choose a particular weapon or ammo type.
-- Bill Thacker
Why do I lose main gun shots when I only fire machineguns?
----------------------------------------------------------
You can think of "shots" as units of time. If you choose to fire only your
machineguns at a target, that time is also lost for your main gun.
-- Bill Thacker
What different sorts of ammo are there?
---------------------------------------
AP = armour piercing ammo.
HE = high explosive ammo (not good against armour).
HEAT = high explosive anti-tank.
HVAP = some other kind of anti-tank armour, high-velocity armour
piercing?
-- d89-tgl@nada.kth.se (Tobias Gladh)
--
HVAP (High Velocity AP) and HEAT (High Explosive AT) are special types of AP
ammo. They are more effective than ordinary AP rounds for that gun (greater
penetration) but are in short supply.
>If gun 1 has a HEAT=10 AP=0 and gun 2 has HEAT=0 and AP=10, which is
>better? Why?
Gun 1 is obvously an anti-infantry gun that has some special AP shells available
just in case. Gun 2 is an anti-tank gun, and doesn't need HEAT. HEAT is just a
way of giving a non-AT gun an anti-tank capability. Look at the StuH, it has a
105mm main gun for anti-infantry purposes. It is useless at firing ordinary AP
shells (the shell will simply be traveling too slow to slam through an armour
plate), so they developed a special AP round that does its damage by exploding
outside the armour plate rather than penetrating through it.
-- sstale@sn.no (Staale Sannerud)
--
In SP, "HVAP" ammo is really a catch-all for the many types of special anti-tank
rounds available in WWII: APC (armour-piercing capped), APCBC (armour-piercing
capped, ballistic capped), APDS (armour-piercing discarding sabot -- still used
today, in fin-stabilised form), APCR (AP composite rigid). In game terms, these
rounds all do much the same thing as HVAP, so they're treated the same. The only
exception is HEAT, which is treated separately.
How do I force my tank to use HVAP ammo?
----------------------------------------
There is no way to choose which type of _ammo_ you want to fire for your main
gun, as opposed to choosing which _weapons_ you want to fire. The program makes
the decision to fire AP, HE, HEAT or HVAP ammo itself. In general, it will fire
HE rounds at "soft" targets (infantry and artillery) and AP rounds at "hard"
targets (tanks, bunkers and pillboxes). If the target is a tank that has too
much armour for AP rounds to penetrate easily, there is a chance for using HVAP
instead.
How are turreted and non-turreted vehicles vehicles different?
--------------------------------------------------------------
Turreted vehicles (tanks and armoured cars) get more shots per turn, and they
recover their shots faster each turn. Also, non-turreted vehicles are limited to
a one hexside facing change when using OP fire, and they spot enemies less
easily when buttoned.
How do I destroy an abandoned tank/pillbox?
-------------------------------------------
Move a unit adjacent to the abandoned tank or pillbox. Next turn, the tank
or pillbox will be destroyed.
-- Bill Thacker
What is "OP" fire?
------------------
Short for opportunity fire. That's when your unit spots an enemy unit moving or
shooting during the other side's turn, and shoots back on its own initiative.
You can set the maximum range at which your unit will use OP fire, so they won't
shoot at anything further away.
Is 0 range useful for anything?
-------------------------------
No. Setting the range to 0 means your unit will never do OP fire. If you want to
setup an ambush, set your OP fire range to 1 (or better still, hide your unit
behind a hill or behind smoke).
--
Setting the range to 0 will prevent your squads from firing at all. Range
should be set to one hex, so they will shoot when an enemy moves adjacent to
them. Some people like to use snipers or infantry AT teams as "observers", and
set their range to zero. If your opponent is poor at spotting (e.g., early-war
Russians), they often cannot spot these units even at one-hex range, because the
sniper never fires.
-- Bill Thacker
--
The set range button is useful for a couple of things:
1) If you want to set an ambush with Engineers for advancing enemy armor, place
them in a wooded area with range 1. That way they won't blow their cover until
the tanks have reached them.
2) If you're worried about air attacks, set your 88's or whatever to a medium
range to avoid them taking low percentage pop shots at distant enemy armor.
-- David Pollock
Why can't I do overruns?
------------------------
If you fire at an adjacent infantry unit, and force them to retreat, and you
still have movement points left, you can move your unit into the vacated hex.
This is considered an overrun.
Why does the AI like tanks so much?
-----------------------------------
It appears that the only thing that affects what units the AI takes is the cost.
In other words, there are no adjustments for theatre (Europe vs Pacific), date
(Panthers always cost the same whether it's mid-1943 or late 1944), or
reliability. The end result is that the AI almost always takes _some_ tanks in
its force, and depending on the scenario, it may have a _lot_ of tanks.
In some cases, eg an assault on the Russian front, this is reasonable. If you're
playing in the Pacific, however, facing hordes of tanks is totally unrealistic.
One solution to this problem is to use Nick Bell's SPEDIT program to increase
the costs of all tanks in the game. See below for more on SPEDIT.
Sometimes I'm told my squad is "assaulting" a tank. What's this mean?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Normally, an infantry squad is assumed to fire at a tank from a distance with
their rifles and MGs. Assaulting is when they jump up on the tank itself and try
to stick anti-tank mines on its sides, blow it up with satchel charges, etc.
Bottom line: infantry have a much better chance of killing a tank if they
assault it. In turn, infantry with special AT weapons are much better at
assaulting tanks than those without. This includes satchel charges, AT mines,
flamethrowers, bazookas, PIATs, panzerfausts, molotovs, and pole mines. It does
NOT include grenades or rifle-grenades. Also, infantry AT-sections armed with AT
rifles and panzerschrecks don't seem to assault no matter what.
How can I make sure they always assault?
----------------------------------------
Infantry can only assault a tank when it's adjacent. Also, they have to have 5
or less suppression points and not be pinned. (That is, if a squad starts a turn
pinned, but you rally it until its suppression is 5 points or less, you still
can't assault.)
How do I stop the other side from assaulting my tanks?
------------------------------------------------------
Load infantry on to your vehicles. They will absorb the assault, leaving the
vehicle unharmed. On the other hand, there is a chance the infantry will take
casualties.
--
mserafin@chinook.halcyon.com (Mark A. Serafin) wrote:
> Also, is it now a feature that infantry loaded on a tank that is
>close-assaulted are automatically wiped out, even when the assault
>fails? IF this is a feature (or ven just a bug, I suppose) it changes
>one's tactics drastically, and makes attacks much slower.
Yeah. That started with 1.16, I'm pretty sure (I've turned chicken over 1.18 and
haven't tried it yet, so it's not that one). I think it's a feature and it makes
a bit of sense if you think about it. Troops hugging a tank turret with a couple
up fromt to keep an eye out are just not as alert as if they were walking. They
may keeop the tank from being blown in an ambush, but the cost to themselves
would be standing (or catching :O) in fromt of the path of a satvhel charge or
getting roasted by a flame thrower. Not too many men would be left in that
confusion.
-- Cha_Cha@ix.netcom.com (Clay Cahill)
--
Yes it does make sense, EXCEPT in 1.18x & 1.19x in a majority of the assaults
are getting through to the tank destroying it w/o the Tank riders absorbing the
attack. Ex, Sov, Rifle Sqd assaults PIVH with grenadiers on board, Soviets
destroy the tank in assault, the grenadiers magicaly appear in the burning hex
with a morale loss.
-- John Waters
How do I detect mines?
----------------------
In versions older than 1.13x, mines are only detected by stepping on them. In
later versions, mines can be detected at fairly long range, after you click the
"End Turn" button. If engineers or mine-clearing vehicles move into a mined
hex, they usually detect the mines (and halt) without detonating them. (I have
seen low-experience engineer units fail to detect mines and suffer casualties
trying this.)
-- Bill Thacker
How do I clear a mined hex?
---------------------------
You'll need engineers and/or an engineer tank, eg the Sherman Crab. If they're
not already in the mined hex, move them adjacent to the hex and face them
towards it. At the end of the turn, you'll see messages like "Engineer squad
clears X mines" or "Engineer squad clears a path through mines". When you see
the second message, the hex is safe to move through.
There is also currently a bug/feature where any infantry unit, not just
engineers, will clear mines in the hex it's in. This may (or may not) be changed
in future patches.
--
Try positioning two engineer units in the same hex, adjacent to the minefield,
and they will clear it twice as fast. If you put engineers in several hexes
adjacent to the same minefield, it will be cleared even faster.
-- sstale@sn.no (Staale Sannerud)
How do I use barges and barge-carriers?
---------------------------------------
Barge carriers are only useful in river crossing scenarios.
First, drive the barge carrier into a shore hex. Click on an adjacent water hex;
this will automatically unload the barge into the water. Next, drive your tank
adjacent to the barge, and load it on to the barge (press L, just like loading
any other unit). You can then move the barge to the other bank.
When you get to the other bank, move the barge on to a shore hex, and the tank
will disembark automatically.
How do I get my engineers to use their flamethrowers?
-----------------------------------------------------
You'll have to use the "direct fire at hex" function. Select the engineer squad,
press Z, and click on an adjacent hex.
(Note: in patches 1.15x and above, engineers will now use their flamethrowers on
any target that's adjacent -- provided they don't retreat when hit by the
engineers' rifle and grenade fire.)
How do I lay smoke screens?
---------------------------
Smoke screens can be laid either using artillery, or with infantry. To lay smoke
screens using artillery, see below on "How do I call in fire support?"
To lay smoke with infantry, select the infantry squad, click on the hex you want
to smoke, then press the X key. The hex must be in LOS to the infantry unit, and
it must have smoke ammo available.
What effect do smoke screens have?
----------------------------------
Smoke blocks line of sight. Simple, isn't it? :)
(Well, it would be except that smoke is less effective when there is very high
visibility. My experience is that visibility of 45+ hexes makes smoke
ineffective for blocking LOS. In this situation, try laying TWO lots of smoke in
a hex, rather than just one. This will block LOS at the cost of using an extra
smoke round.)
What effect do shell craters have?
----------------------------------
Artillery barrages (and some of the heavier tank guns) often leave craters
behind. These increase the movement point cost to enter the hex they're in. The
larger the crater, and the more craters there are, the greater the movement
penalty.
How can I start fires?
----------------------
Some possibilities:
- Shooting enough weapons into a woods or building hex will eventually set it on
fire.
- Same goes for artillery: the bigger the guns, the better the chance.
- Use an engineer squad or flame tank to do direct fire on the hex; it doesn't
have to be woods or buildings.
- If you use an engineer squad to assault a vehicle, the hex is automatically
set on fire regardless of whether the assault succeeds.
What effect do fires have?
--------------------------
Fires cause smoke, which is just like a smoke screen that you lay yourself. See
above. The only exception seems to be that smoke from fires ALWAYS blocks LOS,
regardless of visibility.
Patch 1.13x added a feature whereby infantry units in a fire take casualties. In
1.13x to 1.16x, they also took suppression points, which often pinned them down.
This meant they couldn't escape from the fire that was killing them! This has
been fixed as of 1.18x; infantry that are in a burning hex automatically retreat
out the next turn.
How do I destroy bridges?
-------------------------
Target it with heavy artillery (150mm or higher should do the trick) or bombers.
Or use your engineers to do direct fire on the bridge hex (Z key).
What happens to a unit on a destroyed bridge?
---------------------------------------------
It depends on the terrain "under" the bridge. If it's water, the unit falls in
and drowns. If it's something else, eg swamp or stream, it survives.
What benefits are there to being on a higher elevation?
-------------------------------------------------------
First, you can see over other hills and obstructions on the map -- important for
calling in artillery or sighting enemy units.
Also, being higher than a target brings a chance of getting a "top" hit, which
can be useful for taking out tanks with lots of armour. The roll is made to hit
normally, and if it hits, there is a chance that the hit will be on the vehicle
top. This chance is 10% for every 5 levels difference between the firer and the
target.
Artillery and aircraft
======================
What's a spotter for?
---------------------
Before using artillery, you should be aware that each arty mission has a
spotting unit: the guy who sees where the target is, then calls in the big guns.
In general, '0' units (your overall leader and any platoon leader) make better
observers: if you use them, the bombardment is more likely to be on target
rather than scattering all over the place. You can check how good each unit is
by right-clicking on them and noting their "Artillery" attribute (on the right;
next to the "Rally", "Infantry" and "Armor" attributes).
How do I call in fire support?
------------------------------
To call in a bombardment during the battle: select your observer unit, then
click on the bombard icon or press B. Click on the hex you want to plaster, then
click on the Bombard icon to call in high explosive, or the Smoke icon to lay a
smoke screen. The barrage will arrive after a delay of 1-2 turns, depending on
circumstances. (I _think_ using your A0 unit as the observer reduces the delay
to 1 turn, while everyone else causes it to be 2 turns. Can anyone confirm?)
Why doesn't my Inf-Gun show up on the Bombardment menu?
-------------------------------------------------------
Not all the units listed under "Artillery" in the purchase menu can be used for
indirect fire. Inf-Guns are _direct-fire_ units; that is, they have to have LOS
to a target before they can fire. Think of them as close support for the
infantry: bunker-busting, etc. Much the same goes for AT-Guns and 88's (although
they are usually meant to take on tanks).
Why can't I target certain hexes for indirect fire?
---------------------------------------------------
On-board artillery often has a limited range (both minimum and maximum). If your
mortars don't seem to be working, it may be that the target hex is too close or
too far away. Choose a different hex or move your unit.
Also, it's quite possible to run out of ammo during a long battle (20+ turns).
Does the computer artillery cheat?
----------------------------------
Yes; more so in earlier versions, as this cheat was toned down in 1.15x. The
computer sees certain of your units, especially on-board artillery and 88's, and
will target them for artillery as soon as they fire. Even if they subsequently
move and do not fire, the artillery will continue to home in on them.
-- Bill Thacker
Does on-board artillery have any use in this game?
--------------------------------------------------
Mortars have poor accuracy and don't do a lot of damage, but they're a cheap way
to lay smoke and get fire support. Also, they have the ability to fire during
the movement phase, rather than in the bombardment phase.
Self-propelled guns can be used for direct fire support. Those shells REALLY
make an impact on bunkers, infantry, buildings, etc.
--
: Well i really dont think mortars are artillery like
: howitzers. So my suggestion is this. How about making
: it so that mortars will fire as soon as target is set
: like tanks and infantry.
Mika, that's the way they do work. Select a target for them as usual but then go
to the mortar, select it and press (F)ire. It will fire right away.
-- Tuomas Seijavuori
--
: I hope in any future Steel Panther games or senerios, that
: artillery will be more effective. Mortors is useless
: and artillery is ineffective in Steel and does not reflect
: the importance of artillery.
IMO, it's more a question of scenario/campaign design. When every other tank
type is a Panther, artillery doesn't seem very effective any more. The solution
is not to increase HE values but to design more realistic scnearios and
campaigns, where the player really has to use artillery and, yes, even the
pitiful mortars. I have had very positive experiences this way. Artillery and
mortar fire works quite realistically in SP. No, I wasn't there myself, so I
can't say how many men a mortar hit in the same 'hexagon' should kill, but
mortar fire sure pins men down, just like it did in real life. Killing a squad
takes a lot more, but that's the way it's supposed to be.
-- Tuomas Seijavuori
Can I direct fire on-board mortars and artillery?
-------------------------------------------------
Yes. If the mortar or arty has line-of-sight to the target, they can
direct-fire at it.
-- Bill Thacker
What's the difference between Panzer Artillery, Infantry Artillery, VG
Artillery, Corps Artillery, etc?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Only the number of guns varies. Panzer artillery, for instance, has three 4-gun
batteries, while Infantry artillery has four 4-gun batteries. But with either
you can select any caliber of gun.
-- Bill Thacker
How do I use aircraft?
----------------------
Aircraft are treated just like artillery in the game. Choose a hex to bomb or
strafe, choose a spotter, and call in the airstrike. See above regarding how to
use artillery.
Why can I use some aircraft lots of times but not others?
---------------------------------------------------------
It depends on the weapons they have. Planes that mount cannon, rockets or MGs
can be re-used until they 1) run out of ammo; or 2) get damaged. On the other
hand, planes whose main armament is bombs (eg Ju-87b, Blenheim, Marauder, He-
111) can be used only once because they drop all their bombs on the first attack
run. Some planes, eg Mitchells, carry bombs, rockets _and_ cannon; these can be
re-used, but their bombs are only available on the first attack run.
Why does the AI take so many aircraft?
--------------------------------------
In long campaign battles in patch 1.13x and above, the AI often takes seemingly
endless swarms of aircraft. There are three main reasons for this:
- First off, it appears that in random battles, the AI _always_ gets 2.5 times
the total point value of your force. So if you have lots of expensive units
(eg Panthers, Tigers), expect to get a pounding.
- Second, don't forget that some aircraft can be used many times, until they get
damaged or run out of ammo (see above).
- Third, there's a feature called the "doubler" that was introduced as of 1.13x.
Basically, the AI gets two units for the price of one when it uses this
feature. This is on top of the 2.5x points it's got.
What can you do about this?
- Don't be too greedy. Upgrading all your tanks to King Tigers just gives the AI
more points to play with.
- Don't spend all your support points. Same principle.
- Buy lots of AA guns.
- Hassle SSI. :)
Why doesn't my AA shoot at planes?
----------------------------------
A common complaint is that AA guns often sit idle while enemy planes carry out
their attacks. Sometimes this is because they have exhausted their shots --
quite easy to do if the enemy throws six or eight air strikes at you in one
turn. On the other hand, it's also been reported when there were only one or two
strikes. There isn't much you can do about this, unfortunately. It doesn't seem
to happen _that_ often, and anyway, given the ineffectiveness of AA in the game,
it shouldnt affect the battle outcome that much.
On a slightly different note, in versions of SP prior to 1.18x, vehicles with
MGs for AA defense never fired at planes -- even though this was the purpose of
having AAMGs! This has been fixed in 1.18x (but don't expect them to achieve
very much).
Why don't they ever seem to shoot anything down?
------------------------------------------------
AA guns are very ineffective unless crewed by veteran or elite soldiers. This
means that AA weapons bought as support units are very poor. If you put the AA
guns in your core, they will eventually gain experience and become elite, and
will start to score kills.
-- Bill Thacker
Historical note: The main purpose of AA fire was to force aircraft to break off
their attacks, as opposed to actually shooting them down. If they shot down a
plane, that was a bonus, but as long as the attack run was aborted, the AA had
achieved its objective. Now, as to whether even _this_ is modelled accurately in
SP, is a matter for debate...
Why did my plane attack my own unit?
------------------------------------
If the target hex is within ten hexes or so of a friendly unit, and/or is
obscured by smoke, the plane may mistakenly attack your forces. Don't forget
that aircraft, like artillery, can deviate from the intended target hex,
especially if the rating of the observer is poor or if the observer can't see
the target hex. Bottom line: keep well clear of hexes you've targeted for air
attack, or else cancel the attack.
-- Bill Thacker
The Scenario Editor
===================
How do I edit Victory Hexes?
----------------------------
This is a very poorly documented area. Fire up the editor and load a scenario
into it. Click on "Deploy-Human" Now you are in the main editing screen. Click
on the "Edit Victory Hexes" button. Now comes the tricky part; look in the lower
left corner of the screen...there is a line that says "Objective n" (where n = a
number between 1 and 21). If you press "N" (goto Next Objective) that number
will change to the next highest Objective number. (Press "P" and it goes to the
next lowest Objective.) Now mouse click on the upper right control button "Move
Cursor to Objective" the screen will move to the location of that objective. If
the screen doesn't change, that means there is more than one objective stacked
on the same hex. (I suppose its possible for all 21 objectives to be stacked in
one hex..but I've never tried it). This allows you to set different values for
different hexes.
For example: if you set the value of each Objective at 10 and stack 5 of them in
one hex, you have made that hex worth 50 points. Stack ten of them in another
hex and it is worth 100 points. (There really should be some way of letting the
player know the TOTAL value of each Victory Hex in a scenario, but I haven't
figured out how...except in written notes.)
-- Mikkel
Can I delete Victory Hexes?
-----------------------------
It would appear that there is no way to delete a Victory Hex once its created.
Also the numbers run from 0-20.
-- Mikkel
How do I build straight north-south roads?
------------------------------------------
: I was just trying it out and noticed one thing. I made
: roads from left to right and they were straight and
: ok. But when i tried to make straight road going up
: and down I couldnt. Every time it made annoying curves
: and most strangest loops. So how an earth I can make
: straight roads going up and down without them making
: those god damn curves and stuff?
There is a way, but it's very difficult to explain without showing in person.
You need to click first a little to the left from where you'd like the straight
part to begin, then down to where it should end. It works about 5% of the times
you try it. Takes approximately 5 - 15 minutes to make one stretch of road.
here's another thing to know about this too: if there's just ONE piece of road
missing from a straight line, double click it and the result should always be
straight. It can be utilized by making roads hex by hex but it takes some
practising. Maybe I'll make a drawing out of this some day and post it here.
Definitely one for the Editor FAQ. One of the *many*, unfortunately!
-- Tuomas Seijavuori
How do I create a startup description for my scenario?
------------------------------------------------------
By chance I just discovered that if you create an introductory text file that is
longer than will fit in the box displayed at the beginning of a scenario, you
get a "scroll down" button. This means you can add significanlty more
information to the scenario lead-ins. How nice.
-- Mikkel
--
Just use Note Pad or the DOS Edit and save as a text file. Depending what your
scenario number is the text file should look like this: scen0xx.txt. Make sure
you save it in the scen directory under the Steel directory. Do not make it
bigger than about two paragraphs. Good luck!
-- Chuck Woodfield
How do I set the length of a scenario?
--------------------------------------
Load your scenario into the editor; goto deploy (human) and hit the "." (period)
key. You'll get a dialog box at the bottom of the screen asking for the number
of turns.
-- Mikkel
What are reaction points for?
-----------------------------
you can use this option to simulate reinforcements- if you put units in the rear
area and set the reaction to 6 then on turn 6 they will begin to move
-- Tim
What are waypoints for?
-----------------------
When setting up the attack route that the computer will use. if the units are
under human control then way points are ignored. If the computer is controlling
the units on a defend scenario then most of the time the computer will not begin
to move until a near victory hex is taken or then again the units may just sit
there.
-- Tim
Can I tell the AI whether to stay put or be aggressive?
-------------------------------------------------------
Depends on the scenario - defend it will stay put, advance/assault or meeting it
will advance.
good luck- if the computer is the attacker and you want some of the units to
stay put- I whish you could have a more control like this. One way is to set the
movement speed to 0 or giving the units a reaction time so they will stay put
until that turn. However both of the above options are still inplace if the
units are controlled by a human.
-- Tim
Why do my units retreat in the wrong direction?
-----------------------------------------------
If your trying to create a historical engagment make sure you figure out whcih
side of the map each side is going to start on before you input an entire map.
The reason being that if the units start on the wrong side and you move the
units to the correct side then during the game the units will retreat towards
the side that the computer initally placed them on. Which means they will
retreate towards the enemy's rear area.
-- Tim
Is there a limit to the number of unit types in an OB file?
-----------------------------------------------------------
: I'm just wondering if there's a limit to the # of units you can have in an ob
: data file...I was thinking of using the program formerly known as SPedit to
: add a bunch of units, but I don't want to run into the problem of running
: out of "room" Thanks!.
Yes there is. If my memory serves me, e.g. PZOB -file is quite full already,
with only a few empty slots. You can always replace existing units, of course.
New unit data is supposed to get saved to SCENxxx.DAT files automatically
(though I used to have starnge problems with this) so you don't have to deliver
your modified PZOB (or whatever file you modify) with your custom scenarios if
you'll make one. I hope this helps.
-- Tuomas Seijavuori
Can I design my own mini-campaigns?
-----------------------------------
>Anyone know how I can design my own scenarios and link them
>together to have something like the mini campaigns
>that came with the game?
The linking is coded in the .exe file. SSI does the programming to Novastar who
makes add-on campaigns. I guess there's no way to do it yourself without the
source code to SP.
-- Tuomas Seijavuori
Can I use the doubler?
----------------------
While creating custom scenarios - yes you can. Select 'motorized' troops while
buying units. For this example, buy nothing but rifle platoons, as much as you
can. Exit 'Buy'-menu and buy the opposing force. Choose human deploy and you
should have 49 infantry squads and 49 trucks for a Player.
Select a truck and use (R) key to to convert it to a different type of unit: a
tank, another infantry unit, anything that's on-board. Off-board units can only
be converted to on-board, not vice versa. Repeat for all 49 trucks and you have
effectively doubled the amount of your fighting troops. Sounds easy, but there
are a couple of pitfalls to avoid (which took me days to climb up from, before I
realized what caused each problem).
-- Tuomas Seijavuori
Side effects of the doubler
---------------------------
This is the worst: _converted trucks TURN BACK to trucks if you Buy and deploy
the opposing force_. Imagine the frustration after converting, extensive
modifying, fine tuning, checking, giving new names. All of a sudden you notice
every modification is gone and you hand't saved it. What you should do is plan
the troops on paper before buying anything, if you are going to use the doubler
trick.
This is another annoying one: you have entrenched a truck (surrounded it with
sandbags). You convert the truck to a infantry squad. The sandbags stay,
however. You'll get a new entrenchment for your infantry squad, but after a
while, you'll have annoying sandbags everywhere and there's no way to make them
go away, you can't even move them. This can be used to 'decorate' a scenario of
course (I've done that on purpose too). If my memory serves me it was possible
to move sandbags by finding exactly the same unit again, converting it back to a
truck, moving it and entranching again. See also "How to avoid entrenchment".
A third effect to be aware of is the passenger status. The converted trucks
still think they're trucks and carry their infantry squad. There's nothing a
scenario author can do to help it, but it doesn't really affect the game much.
The only annoying thing is that it allows minor cheating, because units can be
'beamed up'.
-- Tuomas Seijavuori
Why do my infantry units have passengers?
-----------------------------------------
> One oddity I found was that Soviets units B4, F0-F4 and F6-F9 (all
> infantry units) had passengers!?! After unloading I had 10 additional
> platoons. Are they supposed to be in this scenario? Some of the
> Soviet armor was also carrying infantry.
A side effect of using the doubler trick. Almost all units seemingly carry
another. The units you received by 'unloading' were on the map already. You just
'beamed them up' to the carrying unit. There are several ways of getting rid of
the passenger status without 'beaming them up': for example, load it to a tank
and then unload it. It doesn't matter which one you load & unload, the carrier
or the one being carried.
-- Tuomas Seijavuori
How do I avoid entrenching?
---------------------------
Digging in is possible only in Attack/Defend scenarios. Entrenchment is received
by either pressing the respective button in the editor, or by saving directly
from the editor screen. Saving from the main Editor menu, however, does NOT
force entrenchment.
-- Tuomas Seijavuori
How do I entrench only Player 1 or 2?
-------------------------------------
If you want to entrench the defender only, and you don't have to worry about
losing 'doubled' units (see above), buy, deploy and entrench the defender. Then
buy and deploy the attacker, exit editor screen and save from Editor main menu.
-- Tuomas Seijavuori
How do I entrench only part of one player's units?
--------------------------------------------------
As above, but place the units which you intend not to entrench into a 'non-
entrenchable' (no, English is not my mother tongue) hex. These include 1) Water
- use the Deploy All key to get them there. Just place the red cursor on water
and hit the key. 2) Buildings. Newer patches don't allow tanks in intact
buildings, though. Perhaps the Deploy All key can help there too. Or you can
always create water for this purpose and then remove it.
After everyone is placed correctly, hit entrench-button. Only units in
entrenchable hexes will receive entrenchment. Move the others out of the water
before they get all wet.
-- Tuomas Seijavuori
How do I get rid of entrenchments?
----------------------------------
If you have used the doubler and don't want to buy anything anymore, things get
tricky but it can still be done. This kind of situation occurs for example when
you edit an existing scenario (in order to remove those silly foxholes from
underneath the attacking units in the middle of a paved road).
Once entrenched there's no way of really removing them without buying everything
again (I think). What you can do, is you can dump the foxholes/sandbags or some
of them on a distant corner of the map. Stack all units to the dumping area. You
can stack awful lot of units by using Deploy All. Then entrench them there. Move
them back to their original places, exit editor screen and save from Editor main
menu.
-- Tuomas Seijavuori
Can I get a running number for doubled formations?
--------------------------------------------------
Yes you can. After using the doubler trick explained above, the numbering of B
platoon looks like this: B0,B1,B2,B3,B4,B50,B51,B52,B53,B54. Simply assign A1
(yes, A1 not B1) to any other formation and the numbers become running in all
formations. You can assign it back if you like and the number will still be
running.
-- Tuomas Seijavuori
Patches and bugs
================
What patches are available?
---------------------------
From earliest to latest, the patch history is: 1.1; 1.11x; 1.12x/1.13x; 1.14x;
1.15x; 1.16x; 1.17x (available from Novastar); 1.18x; 1.2.
1.15x to 1.17x are UNOFFICIAL patches released by Novastar. If you encounter
problems with these, don't go to SSI because they won't provide tech support for
unofficial patches. 1.1, 1.12x/1.13x and 1.18x are the only OFFICIAL SSI
patches, ie the only ones they'll provide tech support for.
Having said that, I've used most of these patches, and they seem fairly stable.
The only crash I've had so far has been with the original version on the CD,
version 1.01!
Where can I download them?
--------------------------
You can get patches from AOL, Compuserve and Genie. On the Internet, the
following sites should have the most recent patch.
Web:
http://www.vfr.net/~novastar/steel.htm
http://www.annurev.org/~tanker/games/patches/patches.htm
FTP:
ftp://ftp.gamesdomain.co.uk/pub/patches
ftp://www.gamesdomain.com/pub/patches
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/dresden/games/patches
ftp://ftp.inf.tu-dresden.de/pub/ms-dos/games/patches
ftp://ftp.midnight.com.au/pub/patches
ftp://ftp.cis.nctu.edu.tw/Games/dresden/patches
What changes are implemented in each patch?
-------------------------------------------
For version 1.18x:
--
Steel Panthers Readme notes for version 1.18X BETA update. Released 3/8/96
1) Attempted to duplicate and correct all bugs relating to vehicle crews.
2) Fixed: AA MG's mounted on Tanks do not fire at aircraft.
Note: AA MG's on tanks only fire at aircraft a small percentage of the time
3) Attempted to track down and correct the alternate ways of loading men onto
vehicles, thus reducing their suppression.
4) Mines should now only be detectable by adjacent units. Detection chances
are determined during morale phase; Only base terrain blocks mine LOS.
5) Motorcycles can no longer carry passengers.
6) Infantry units should no longer sit in a burning hex, gaining suppression
until all are dead.
7) You should no longer be able to tell where an opponents hidden units are by
right-clicking on all open hexes on a side. There should be no difference
between what it seen when a blank hex is hit, from when a hex containing a
hidden unit is hit.
8) US LCA Carriers will no longer unload German PzIb's.
9) AA guns should no longer hit ground targets in the same hex as their current
air targets.
10) Mods have been made to sighting rules. This should stop comments about
invisible infantry/crews.
11) The 'S' key should now allow flamethrowers to be fired, at 1 range only.
Vehicles with a greater FT range, will still have to use area fire to use
these weapons at greater than 1 range.
12) TONS o' AI aircraft bug should be fixed. The AI should no longer have 'too
many' aircraft.
13) Katyusha rocket ammo should now run out as normal.
14) Infantry should no longer dismount from open-topped vehicles.
15) 'L' Key should no longer be able to workaround infantry loading
restrictions.
16) Airplanes will no longer arrive 1 turn later than expected.
17) Player 2 in a 2-player Battle (assault) should no longer get as many free
mines as Player 1 purchased.
18) The Map Editor has been fixed in various ways. There should no longer be
crashes in the map editor.
19) 'Germans cannot upgrade some units' bug corrected. There should now be
enough room for all upgrade options during campaign game. Units will no
longer be missing from the list due to list length.
20) 'US upgrade bug' corrected. Same as above.
New sound driver files have been added. This should correct the sound problems
which have been reported. (These are the same .dig files found in versions 1.16
and 1.17.
New OB files included (same as 1.13x). These reflect Jim Wirth's changes to the
database.
Clarifications:
1) Due to new implementation of movement taking shots away from vehicles,
you'll notice that your units cannot fire more than 2/1 (Opportunity return
fire) if they moved (max) last turn. You can only fire 1/1 if you moved and
fired most/all shots last turn.
2) When starting a US campaign, the game automatically catapults you close to
the historical starting date for the Americans. Earlier starting dates are
not possible.
3) If smoke was present on the map, but does not appear when loading a game,
use the 'c' option (clear smoke) to set smoke back to visible status.
The following modifications may have been made:
1) AI tweaked in the following ways:
a) More aggressive in attack
b) More aggressive in defense
c) Airstrike lethality has been toned down. Accuracy against point
targets from bombers lowered by 66%, fighter/bombers lowered by 33%.
2) The smoke bug may have been fixed.
3) The smoke bug may be a result of the 'C' (clear) feature of Steel Panthers
being automatically toggled for the user at some point during
play/loading/saving of the game. Possible workaround for smoke bug is to
hit the 'c' key after loading each game.
4) Fire now kills men in hexes on fire.
-- SP 1.18x README file
From the unofficial readme maintained by Arnaud Bouis:
--
Steel Panthers v1.12x/1.13x Changes and bug fixes. (v1.12x was a limited release
beta, and was not available to most of the public)
1. The 'v' button on the Options menu indicates that it sets the
'message level'. It should say that it sets the animation level. It
has no effect on messages.
2. FIXED- passengers on vehicles go OFF MAP when they try to unload.
3. FIXED- Molotovs should now work.
4. FIXED(?)- fire at rear of tank and hit front armor.
5. FIXED- immobilized tanks change facing.
6. FIXED- damaged weapons repaired when save is reloaded.
7. FIXED- HVAP ammo fired beyond it's maximum range.
8. FIXED(?) AI never uses flamethrowers.
9. FIXED- no armor diagram for pillboxes and bunkers.
10.ADDED- may toggle between large and small buildings in map editor.
11.FIXED(?)- play by E-mail system.
12.FIXED(?)- campaign game has beach landings in inappropiate areas.
13.FIXED- HVAP and HEAT ammo goes to zero after first campaign battle.
14.FIXED- vehicles set up in undamaged buildings.
15.ADDED- units may fire a specific weapon by pressing the 's' key. Unit
must already have a target. This reduces the shots available
by one.
16.ADDED- the length of a game may be randomly extended. This is to
prevent last turn suicide tactics.
[17: Many units have different costs and abilities; many German tanks in
particular now cost more to reflect their better abilities.
18. Infantry that stay in a hex that is on fire will now take casualties.
-- HO ]
Steel Panthers 1.11X Fixes
1) Display for mech/motorized unit cost has been corrected, will now
show correct points.
2) Japanese short and long campaign fixed, both should work now.
3) Pillboxes should now be easier to destroy.
4) Immobilized tanks will no longer change facing.
5) Problems with barge carriers losing units now fixed.
6) Units firing ability now improved, skill checks have been taken out.
7) Engineers will not kill themselves while dropping smoke.
8) Excessive mine points in battle builder fixed.
9) Corrected AI failure to use HVAP or HEAT ammo in the game.
10) User can still purchase an airstrike even if he has deleted a
previous purchase.
11) LOS corrected when going through or near large buildings.
12) Artillery cheat has been toned down.
13) Amphibious assaults in long campaign has been corrected.
14) AI improved to deal with mines, will attempt to go around.
-- Arnaud Bouis
Which patches do I definitely need?
-----------------------------------
1.18x incorporates all the changes made so far. If you don't have this release
(or can't get it for some reason), 1.12x will get you the updated OB files and
1.15x will get you the shot penalty for moving and the sound fixes.
Do I need to install the patches in a set order?
------------------------------------------------
As far as I know, you can install the patches in any order you want. Each patch
is basically a complete new version of the STEEL.EXE file, so you don't need
previous patches to install a more recent one. Of course, the most logical way
to install is in chronological order -- it wouldn't usually make sense to
overwrite a LATER version with an EARLIER one!
Why doesn't the sound work?
---------------------------
There are a number of problems with the sound effects (MG sounds not playing,
music not playing, especially). You can try upgrading to the 1.15x patch, which
fixes most of these problems.
Why does the game crash instantly when I start it?
--------------------------------------------------
Your video card may need a VESA driver to be loaded first. SP comes with the
UNIVBE.EXE universal VESA driver, for cards that don't have VESA support built
in. Try running that first, then running STEEL.EXE.
When I load a saved game, all the smoke is gone. Is this a bug?
----------------------------------------------------------------
No. Smoke is not shown so that you can more easily locate all the units on
the map. Smoke will return in the combat phase, or you can click the "Hide
Smoke" icon to bring it back immediately.
-- Bill Thacker
What other bugs are there?
--------------------------
Arnaud Bouis maintains a Steel Panthers bug list which is
regularly posted to the newsgroup comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic. The most
recent update that I've seen is for 1.16x, 2 Mar 1996. You can email him for it,
or if you have web access the list is also available on the Tankers' Homepage at
.
I've found a new bug. Who should I tell?
----------------------------------------
First, check the bug list mentioned above. You should post a message about the
bug on the Tankers' SP Discussion Board, or on the newsgroup (or both). It may
be that the bug you've found is something that is already known.
John Waters is accepting bug reports from users on behalf
of SSI. These reports are then forwarded to the relevant people. If you're going
to report a bug, make sure you follow these guidelines:
[This was accurate as of May 1996; I don't know if John is still doing this.
Might be best to ask on Usenet before mailing him... -- HO]
--
Before reporting bugs & or sending game saves please check The Tankers'
Homepage's current bug list to see if the problem you are experiencing is
already listed. Please do not send duplicates of a bug already listed.
To send a bug you are experiencing in 1.15x or 1.16x, include the following:
1.They need to be in a uncoded .zip file
2.Any .txt files should be kept seperate from the saved game or .dat
files you send (i.e. in a 2nd zip file if need be)
3.Version being used
4.Version scen was cut in (if known)
5.Units and countries involved
6.Type of battle
7.Physical description of bug
8.Any unusual circumstances experienced before bug sprung up
9.Was the scenario made by humans or the computer (if known)
10.Computer system specs
11.Is bug repeatable (very important) -- if repeatable what must be
done to get it
-- John Waters
Miscellaneous
=============
How do I read the gun descriptions?
-----------------------------------
(AKA what's the L stand for)
Most tank and artillery guns in SP are described as xxLyy, where xx and yy are
numbers. The first number is the gun bore. The second number is the length of
the barrel, in multiples of the first number. So 75L48, for example, means a gun
that fires a shot 75mm in diameter, with a barrel 75*48 = 3600mm = 3.6 meters
long.
In general, the larger the first number, the more powerful the gun. The second
number gives an idea of what the gun is meant for: low numbers mean short-
barrelled, fire support weapons, while high numbers usually indicate anti-tank
weapons.
Some British guns like the 2lb, 6lb, etc use a different naming scheme where the
number is just the _weight_ of the shot, in pounds. Here is a list of these guns
and their uses:
2lb -- 40mm AT gun (no HE ability!)
6lb -- 57mm AT gun with secondary HE ability
17lb -- 76mm AT gun, very powerful
25lb -- 88mm light artillery piece
So what's this thing called SPEDIT?
-----------------------------------
Nick Bell has written a utility that lets you fiddle with just about any sort of
unit in the game. You want 88mm-armed Panthers (weenie that you are)? Just load
up SPEDIT, pick the "Panther" entry in the game's database, and change the 75L70
gun to an 88L71/kwk. Or you think MGs are too wimpy? Just bump up their HE
values. Or maybe tanks should be twice as expensive as they normally are (stops
the British from using a dozen Matildas in Singapore, for instance)? You can
change that too.
The latest version (1.5) also allows you to modify formation settings.
Can my battle results affect the course of a long campaign? I.e., can I make
Germany win the war?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. Remember, you command a force of maybe 400-500 men, out of armies numbering
in the millions. Even if you win every battle, strategically it's not going to
make a great deal of difference. If you want to try your hand at changing the
course of history, you should try an operational/strategic level game like
Panzer General or Allied General.
How are victory points calculated?
----------------------------------
Each victory hex (the ones marked with flags on the map) is worth a set number
of points. In addition, you get points based on how much damage you dealt the
enemy. Each vehicle is worth the number of points it cost to purchase.
--
In addition, after John Waters cited me an example in which a damaged Panther
resulted in points awarded, I did some more experiments and found that Victory
Points are awarded equal to the Damage rating on the injured vehicle, up to the
maximum purchase point value when the vehicle is destroyed. For infantry, each
man killed is equal to 1 Victory Point, up to the value of the unit. (For
ex., a Rifle Sqd which costs 4 points: 1 man = 1 pt; 2 men = 2 pts.; 5 men = 4
pts.; 7 men = 4 pts., etc.)
So anyway, it seems pretty simple. I guess it wasn't as much of a challenge
figuring out the scoring sytem as I had hoped.... Oh well, time to find
something else to occupy my time.....
-- Philip Lentz
How do I play an email game?
----------------------------
Note that SP has some of its own oddities so those experienced in pbem but not
in SP pbem may want to read on.
After finding an opponent you must decide together if you will be playing a pre-
made scenario or using the battle builder. The fastest method to get going is
playing a pre-made scenario as all you have to do is pick sides and the first
player starts the game. If you are going to generate a battle then, after
picking sides, the following needs to be agreed upon: force quality, a bug in
the program requires that autoselect for force composition be selected; map size
(I think the patch didn't correct either the force composition bug or the bug
which forces the program to use a large size map); type of engagement;
month/year of the battle; and difficulty level (see page 34-36 of the manual for
more information).
If you are playing an existing scenario then player one starts the game by
picking Scenario from the main menu. After selecting the predetermined scenario,
set both players as human controlled then select Continue. The first player
inputs his move then ends the turn. A screen will come up for Player two to
start their turn, at this point save the game in one of the email slots and
follow the directions for transferring the files. Note that it is currently
possible to look at your opponents forces at this point; SSI is supposed to fix
this by adding password protection.[*]
If you will be generating a battle then player one picks Battle from the main
screen. After selecting all of the above mentioned settings select Continue and
deploy your forces. Note that both players must be human and that Autoselect for
the force composition selected. After you have deployed your forces quit the
deployment phase both times (once while viewing the map and then on the next
screen). The following menu will be for player two to start their deployment.
Save the game in one of the email slots and follow the directions for
transferring the files.
To transfer the files you will have to first pkzip the email#.dat and email#.cmt
files into 1 file (where # is the slot which the game was saved in, these files
are located in the game's subdirectory email). If your Internet providers email
program cannot encode/decode attached files then you will have to use another
program to do this. I use Wincode which uuencodes/ uudecodes files. This process
converts the binary file to ASCII. Then the file is attached to a email message
and sent to your opponent.
Upon receiving a turn the above must be performed in reverse order and placing
the email#.dat and email#.cmt files back in the email subdirectory. After
starting the game select saved game and load the appropriate saved game. There
is another bug in the program which forces you to reselect your opponents forces
as human controlled. After entering your turn the process is repeated.
-- Tim Maushardt
[*] Password protection for email games has been added as of patch 1.12x. Before
saving the game, player 1 should enter a password, and similarly for player
2.
-- HO
The following is a step-by-step procedure (an unofficial "tutorial") for the
setting up of two-player E-mail games for Steel Panthers where each player gets
to select his own forces. This is currently only possible using Steel Panthers
beta test version 1.13x (available in SSI software library on AOL), utilizing
the "Battle" Generator. (It may also be possible with the Novastar 1.14x patch,
but I haven't tested it.) This procedure may at first seem long and complicated
but is easily mastered and basically intuitive ( with a few exceptions.) If done
right, it is well worth the effort, adding an extra dimension to the "fog of
war". I strongly recommend printing this out and following it precisely the
first few times this feature is used. This tutorial assumes the new (SSI
official version 1.13x) E-mail security "password" feature will be used, (which
by the way does NOT function for Scenario Play). It also is based on running the
game in DOS, as recommended by SSI, and not in a Windows window. It also assumes
that your Steel Panthers CD is in your CD drive (why ever take it out??) when
playing. This is necessary unless you like your troops riding to shore mounted
on 4.2" mortars!! ( If your CD isn't in, the game does some weird stuff!! Copy
protection perhaps??) This "tutorial" was developed using trial and error and is
in no way associated with SSI or anyone else.
First, some General observations, ( for SSI's/Novastar's attention) regarding
this feature for Steel Panthers version 1.2 (future release):
1. Steps 21 through 23 (see below) are NOT intuitive and could (and
should) be eliminated with an adjustment of the program default from
Computer to Human for Battle Generator games. Without these steps, the
computer takes over for Player 2. ( I'm guessing this was an oversight
on the Programmer's part.)
2. E-mail security does not work for " scenario play." It needs to be
added in a future update (Novastar, are you listening??)
Some additional observations:
Date of engagement goes along way towards determining type of
engagement, map features, etc. A battle with Yugoslavian partisians for
instance will always generate a map that looks like Bosnia, very rough
terrain, woods, lots of places for nasty partisans to hide and ambush
from. U.S. Marine assaults in 1944 will often result in an amphibious
invasion. Winter combat in Russia will often result in urban warfare
(looking for that warm place to sleep?.) When selecting forces one
should always check the mission for help. Note that amphib units/ barge
units are provided automatically when needed for the type of engagement
at hand and therefore do not ever have to be purchased. Availibility and
quantity of aircraft "strike" forces is random, although again dependent
on likely availability of such forces. Therefore, remember, you'll never
know what you'll be up against!! So consider buying AA when facing a
major power or you'll likely get real tired of enemy airstrikes spotting
and blowing up your forces turn after turn!!! Note only two E-mail slots
are available for use at a time. I suggest filling both of them and
playing two games at a time with any one opponent. (Makes for less
zipping, loading, Emailing etc. per game!!!).
Step-by-Step Tutorial for 2 player Select Forces E-mail Play:
First Player (Player 1):
1. Load Steel Panthers
2. Click on "Battle" in opening Main Menu screen.
3. Click on Player 2 head, activating second human player.
4. Select nationalities. (Note: you will be nationality of the "first
player".)
5. Select Time Period, month and year.
6. Select "Quality" for both Player 1 and Player 2. (Green, Average,
Veteran and Foot, Motor or Mechanized)
7. Select "Type of Battle". (default "Meeting engagement" is best for
balanced two-player games but any option may be used).
8. Select "Difficulty" Level for each player. (The default, "Hard" is
recommended.)
9. Leave all else at default setting: "Select" - ("Auto-select" has the
computer pick forces, "Manual" is for 1 player against the Computer
where you pick the computer's forces,) and "Random Map" ("Load Map"
should work but I have not tested it.) Change "Map Size" if desired
for smaller engagements.
10. Click on "Continue". (Selection screen for Player 1 should come up
now.)
11. Select forces. (Note: 995 points or so should be available for force
selection for Player 1 in a meeting engagement. It is strongly
recommended that Player 1 spend no more than about 400 points or so
or an unbalanced game will likely result. The point total available
for the Player 2 is dependent on the point total selected by Player
1. If the Player 1 spends an excessive amount, Player 2 may not be
able to use all the points he is alotted due to the types and cost
of units he has available. Thus, as an extreme example, if you
spend 975 points as first player buying 39 Panthers at 25 points a
pop, your opponent will likely be grossly overmatched.))
12. When done selecting forces, click "Done". ("Security Menu" screen
should now come up.)
13. Click on "Password".
14. Type in a password. Hit return key when done typing. Your password
should appear near the bottom of the window. Check it for typos and
make note of it. (Suggest using same for all games and something
you'll never forget.)
15. Click on "Save" and save to E-mail slot 1 or 2. (For keeping track
of files, I suggest erasing the default" E-mail 1" text in the save
slot and typing in a new name using battle date, nationalities and
current turn, something like "6/44, US v Ger,T0". The turn number
if last number in line is the only thing that ever need be changed
again, updated after Player 2 moves each turn.)
16. Click on "Continue" (You'll now be back at the Main Menu screen.)
17. Exit Steel Panthers, zip (download Winzip (recommended for Windows)
or Pkunzip from AOL software library) E-mail Save.Data and .Comment
files which will be located in your Steel Panthers E-mail directory
(usually C:\Steel\E-mail), attach to E-mail, and send to opponent
(Player 2). (Saved data and comment files can be moved about
within Windows like you would any other file. If playing more
than 2 E-mail games at a time, you'll need to become familiar with
your file management system if you're not already in order to juggle
all those E-mail-1 and E-mail-2 files around.)
Second Player (Player 2):
18. Download attached file from E-mail to E-mail directory (folder) in
Steel Panthers directory. (With current version AOL, It should
unzip automatically.)
19. Remove Email_.dat and Email_.comment file from their folder and
place directly into E-mail directory.
20. Load Steel Panthers.
21. Select "Battle" icon in main menu.
22. Click on Player 2 head, activating second human player.
23. Click on "Exit" button. (This returns you to main menu screen.)
24. Click on "Load Save" icon. (Saved games list comes up)
25. Click on E-mail slot 1 or 2 as applicable for game you wish to load.
(Game should now load to a force selection screen for Player 2. If
it doesn't, click "Done" and try again from step 21.)
26. Check number of points available to you. If it says 994 (or close
to that,) the first player default number, click "Done" and try
again from step 21. (Sorry, but it's a little quirky.) If a
lesser, more reasonable number than 994 appears, continue to step 27.
27. Select Forces. When finished, click "Done". (You'll now be in the
"Security Menu" screen.)
28. Click on "Password".
29. Enter a password and hit return (enter) key. (See comments - Step
14).
30. Select "Continue". (You will now be in the deployment menu. You will
again be prompted for your password.)
31. Type your password and hit the return (enter) key.
32. Select "Human Deploy". (Or Auto-deploy if you wish.)
33. Deploy forces, set-up bombardments, etc.
34. Select "Quit" on game screen when done deploying. (This takes you
back to Deployment Menu.)
35. Click on "Quit Deploy" when done. (Save games list should come-up)
36. Save game to E-mail slot 1 or 2. (This should then take you back to
the main menu.)
37. Exit Steel Panthers, zip (see comments Step 17) E-mail Save Data and
Comment files, and return to Player 1.
First Player (Player 1):
38. Follow steps 18 through 25. This should leave you in your Deployment
Menu with the game prompting you for your password.)
39. Enter your password and hit return (enter) key. (If your password
doesn't work, somebody has messed up steps 1-37 or you've forgotten
your password!! Reload your saved game and try again or return to
step 1 if nothing else works! Sorry, but some degree of care is
required!)
40. Follow steps 32 through 35. It is now YOUR turn!! The game will
again prompt you for your password. Enter your password and hit
return. Click on "Start Turn". Play your turn. When done, hit
"End Turn" which takes you to the saved games list. Click on your
Saved Game slot, enter, exit, zip and return to Player 2, who just
loads the saved game, enters his password and plays! (There will be
no need to return to the "Battle" generator again this game.)
Hopefully, this will be helpful to someone out there. Happy Hunting!
-- Kevin M.
Can I play a campaign game by email?
------------------------------------
It is possible to play a campaign game where two players share command of one
force.
--
Well It seems that I was indeed able to play and continue a Campaign scenerio
with my friend via E-mail. The computer actually remembers the time frame and
all information pertaining to the game in the E-mail 1 (E-mail Slot). Basically,
we split up the four squads into two Panzer Gruppes, consisting of my Gruppes
A+C and his B+D, supporting with troops that we both discuss after each
scenerio. It won't allow us to password after the first round, but will continue
normally as if one player was executing the entire game. Because of the fact
that Timmy and I keep a record of which gruppe is which, and discuss the battle
plan via the phone or attached letter before we play, a smooth continuation
results.
1.We discuss via the phone or Letter the available points for fixing or buying
new troops or material after each round.(Giving half points to Gruppe 1, and the
other half to Gruppe 2)
2.Then Saving the game in the deployment stage, the player allows both Gruppes
to correctly set their positions for attack.
3.At this point, the player holding the final part of the deployment round, gets
to go first. Basically, he just ends the deployment round and proceeds through
1/2 of turn one, saving just as he's finished, but not ending the turn.
4.Lastly, he THEN E-mails back the turn in movement to the other, having the
person recieving the conclusion of the turn to finish, and then the person
starts the next turn and so on until the particular scenerio is over.
Not only will the computer continue the Campaign, but now two players can play
against the COMPUTER!!!
It works!
-- James L Perkowski Jr
Will there be a modern-era version of Steel Panthers?
-----------------------------------------------------
Yes. The sequel to SP, Steel Panthers 2 (oh, the originality), is supposed to
cover everything from the Korean War to the 1990s. Don't expect it too soon,
though.
Are there any problems running SP on Windows 95 or OS/2?
--------------------------------------------------------
Not that I've heard of. There seem to be various bugs to do with mouse drivers
and sound effects, but these don't seem to depend on your operating system (ie,
they hit people running the game under vanilla DOS as well). A lot of the
problems reported so far are probably incorrect setups, out-of-date hardware
drivers, etc.
(If you're using Win95 or OS/2, I'd like your input on how you got your system
to run SP -- or if it WON'T run SP, what seems to be the problem.)
--
STB Trio64V+ owners,
I finally found the solution to running SP under Win95 on my system. My system
is a standard issue Gateway 2000 which came with a STB Trio64V+ video card.
Since the system was purchased, new video drivers have been released. The
drivers are dated 1/96 - I highly recommend people having problems running games
with this video card obtain the new driveres if there system was purchased
before this date. They also fixed my problems with Fantasy General. The drivers
can be obtained at:
ftp://ftp.gw2k.com/pub/hardware_support/drivers/win_95/video/STB/stbt6495.exe
through Gateway 2000. STB also has their own web pages at http://www.stb.com
which I presume also has the drivers, although I don't have the direct address
readily available.
-- David Pollock
--
Windows 95 functions just like an operating system. It is better if you pop a
DOS 6.22 Io.sys command.com diskette in your bootable floppy drive.
You should always have soundblaster sound files lines in your autoexec and
config.sys files. You will never achieve sound without these lines. Call
Creative Labs and get your basic system files in order. The files are important
no matter which game you play.
That's why I asked you if you Steel detected your card. Steel won't detect your
card and you won't be able to manual select options in the game installation
phase if you don't have your sound blaster files in your config and autoexec
files. The lines I'm refering to is should read something like:
Autoexec.bat
SET SOUND=C:\SB16
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S
C:\SB16\SB16SET /P /Q
Config.sys
DEVICE=C:\SB16\DRV\CTSB16.SYS /UNIT=0 /BLASTER=A:220 I:5 D:1 H:5
DEVICE=C:\SB16\DRV\CTMMSYS.SYS
I don't (and will not) boot my Pentium with Win95 or Windows 3.1 if playing this
game, Panzer General XCOM etc.. I pop in a boot disk in my floppy drive. Then
play the game.
-- Craig Brown <412467@mcimail.com>
--
Just a note about the boot disk with the DOS startup files on it. In Win95, you
have no need for a boot disk -- just create a shortcut on your desktop to
START.BAT, and in the Properties, go to the PROGRAM tab, and click Advanced.
Check RUN IN MS-DOS MODE, and type the Autoexec and Config you want to use in
the panel provided. Then when you click on your SP shortcut, your computer will
reboot with the new configuration, start MS-DOS, the restart Windows
automatically on exit.
-- Philip Lentz
--
I installed and run the game under Windows 95. I have not had any problems with
my sound (SB16, really want the AWE card though!)
I have NO "drivers," as such in either my autoexec.bat or config.sys. This is
because Windows 95 has its own drivers for all my devices. I do, however, have
the soundblaster "environmental" statements as listed in the other responses.
The environmental statements are preceded with "Set" and the drivers are
preceded with "device" or "devicehigh"...As I said earlier, I have omitted ALL
driver lines (of ANY type) because Windows 95 has its own drivers already
configured for all of my devices (Sound Blaster, Mouse, CD-ROM, etc.)...check
the device manager and make sure you have NO conflicts there. In addition,
Creative Labs recently released a set of Beta drivers for the SB16 & AWE sound
cards that function perfectly for me and I play lots of games under Windows 95.
Check out creative labs web site for the beta Windows 95 drivers if you're
interested.
After I installed the game, I went to the "steel" directory and right-clicked
over the SP executable (I think it's called steel.exe) and selected "create
shortcut." This creates a shortcut, usually located at the bottom of the folder
where you created it. If you have run SP before, you may already have the
shortcut in the directory. It will probably have an MS-DOS icon with the small
shortcut arrow on it.
If you right-click over the shortcut you just created and select properties, you
can then change the environment that you with to play the game in, as well as
choose a different icon. For properties, I made sure to enable the amount & type
of memory that the game requires, maximized/full-screen mode, and disabled all
the Windows hot-keys. I then moved the shortcut to the desktop and I use it to
run the program.
Before you run the game you might check to make sure that no other programs are
running (ctrl+alt+del) other than explorer (i.e. the shell, not the "file
manager"). I've heard that Windows 95 screen saver can cause problems, too.
There is an option under the shortcut properties to disable the screen saver,
but I always turn mine "off" manually.
-- Lee Small
Other resources
---------------
The Tankers' Homepage is an excellent web site for wargaming and military
history material, including Steel Panthers. Point your web browser to
.
Pascal Ode maintains an Independent Player's Page, at
. Pascal has some good hints on
tactics in SP (these are actually snippets from his shareware strategy guide),
as well as info on several other games.
The Wargamers Page has lots of SP-related stuff, including user-designed
scenarios, at . This site is moving;
from April 1 use .
Novastar sells a range of additional scenarios and short campaigns for SP. Their
Web homepage is , and you can email
to .
The Stalag 13 BBS web page has a number of scenarios for SP, as well as an
impressive primer on tactics. The web address is
.
______________________________________________________________________
Hong Ooi hong@magna.com.au Sydney, Australia
"I think the fall of Berlin was somehow tied with the decline of 80's
pop music." -- Nikolai Kingsley
