So, I've been learning how to play Steel Beasts Pro PE. Below are a few screens of my, um, adventures.
Sight seeing around a training map during a driving tutorial. Ahhh, the warm sun, clear sky, sweet smelling green forests and a 63 ton tracked killing machine. Life is good.
Making woodland gnomes piss their pants since 1986.
The following screens were taken during the last tutorial mission where you learn how to fight with and control multiple units. I still have yet to complete it
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The scenario starts off with me in command of a tank platoon. The command tank was set on overwatch to protect two additional platoons advancing on a hill. The other three tanks in my platoon are to be sent to the opposite side of the hill to cut off any retreat. I get the command tank into a position to start taggin' and baggin' the baddies defending the hill, and they're able to knock out a couple tanks.
An intense artillery barrage hits the hill while the other two platoons start their advance. I leave the command tank, take control of my remaining tanks, and choose to be the TC in the lead tank. We make our way to the opposite side of the hill, and I'm keeping my eyes open for any contacts. I hear the sickening sound of metal penetrating metal. I'm dead. The tank is still in perfect working order. I'm the only crew member in my tank to die. My crew glibly continues on not noticing their TC is ripped to shreds. Curious to see what the AI would do, I decide to watch what unfolds without any intervention. My three tanks succumb to several T-80UMs in an ambush position, and they join me in digital Valhalla. That sneaky scenario designer. Curses to you! My poor tanks are smoking, wrecked pieces of multi-million dollar junk.
I convince Odin to let me leave digital Valhalla for a second try. It starts out much the same as the first, however I decide I'll try be sneaky and get the drop on the ambushing T-80s. I know where they are now, and I can get sweet, juicy flank shots at them by advancing to a rise in the ground that will let me look down on them as well as protect me. Flank shots + hull down = win. I take the TC position and command my tanks to follow me. In a moment where I decide I'll try to be smart, I detach one of my three tanks so I can control him separately. He's way behind, anyway. I slow my tank and the other down, as we're getting close to the T-80s. I forget to slow down my separate third tank, however. As I stop to scan, I hear the whine of a turbine engine and the clacking of tracks growing louder behind me. I swing around and find myself staring at a 60+ ton Abrams barreling right toward me. Apparently he's in a hurry to die. Or his commander was dumb enough to forget to order him to slow down. My vote is for the former. Anyway, he tears right past me and gets air off the crest of a small rise we were stopped behind. Because style points, yo.
He continues on like the devil himself is after him. My tank, on the right, is all like, hey what?
Frantically, I order him to return to formation and am able to do so before he is spotted by the T-80UMs. With that ordeal dealt with, I advance to the next rise which the T-80UMs are hiding behind. My tanks and I creep up towards the crest ever so slowly. I am in total concentration mode. I so have these douchebag T-80s. They will be flaming wrecks in just a few more seconds. WHAM! I jump out of my desk chair about 3 ft into the air. My heart is pounding at 200 bpm. In real life. I'm dead again, in not real life. My driver is dead. My gunner is dead. The tank's systems are wrecked. Two more sabots penetrate my Abrams, finally destroying it and killing my loader. My other Abrams pulls alongside my knocked out tank and suffers the same fate in quick succession. Spooked, my third Abrams flies over the crest of the rise and is destroyed by the T-80UMs we were about to kill. Turns out there was a lone T-80UM far off on our left flank I didn't see. We were hidden from him until we got close to the crest of the rise. Here's the penetrating shot that got me the second time:
Third time will be the charm, right? I sure hope so. Stay tuned to find out. I must say, this is an awesome sim. I can't believe I waited so long to get it. If you have any interest in tank warfare, I highly recommend picking it up. Well worth the price of admission. There's a good number of additional tanks/IFVs that are modeled in detail and playable. Several versions of the Leopard, a couple versions of the Abrams, Bradleys, CV90s, a Challenger 2, a T-72 and some others.
