M1 Tank Platoon II

[Polak2]

I have found some of the strategy and tactics tips and compiled them. Maybe you find them of some interest in your campaign journey:
Link below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9kvdg4pb6c...1%2B2.zip?dl=0

Also here is the link to the old Archives of Combatsim Armor forum with some pertaining posts to M1TP2.
http://www.combatsim.com/cgi-bin/ubb...&start_point=0

[RetroGamer]

Originally Posted by Polak2

I have found some of the strategy and tactics tips and compiled them. Maybe you find them of some interest in your campaign journey:
Link below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9kvdg4pb6c...1%2B2.zip?dl=0

Also here is the link to the old Archives of Combatsim Armor forum with some pertaining posts to M1TP2.
http://www.combatsim.com/cgi-bin/ubb...&start_point=0

Wow, thanks! Yes, I find reading up on M1TP2 gameplay to be very interesting. It is sad that the game appears to have been totally abandoned for Steel Beasts. I don't think that way - if something was good decades ago, it's still good!!!

I have not given Steel Beasts a real chance and suspect I'm not interested because it's too realistic.

Back in the day, we'd have to "qualify" all Bradley crews on ranges which are modeled after tank gunnery ranges. The Table VIII range qualification was the individual vehicle crew qualification range.

Table XII was the platoon level qualification range.

There was tremendous pressure on us to make sure everybody was trained up and qualified. We ran crews through day and night and were running into serious sleep deprivation. Yeah....firing the 25mm Bradley main gun on the range was NOT fun. However gunnery and playing tank PC games IS fun! Very odd!!!

Thanks for the links! I just completed all 5 campaigns but it doesn't count because I did it on "Easy" mode. Now that I know what I'm doing, I'm going to re-attempt on "Hard" mode. I've also got two 128MB sticks of memory scheduled to arrive next week. I'm not sure if more memory will improve how the game runs or not - probably won't make a difference. I'm also on the hunt for a Creative 3Dfx card so I can run M1TP2 in SLI mode. The additional card might make the sim look even better. It actually looks fine now.

Redcon-1, continuing mission, out!

[Polak2]

It is sad that the game appears to have been totally abandoned for Steel Beasts. I don't think that way - if something was good decades ago, it's still good!!!

Agree100%, if it is good it stays good.

And for us, little older folks what counts more is the good and deep gameplay, and not so much the wrapping ...the flashy graphics. Yes, the graphics count nowadays too, but graphics alone without the depth of the game did not leave any lasting memory or affection. However, those are the values known and understood well by the older generation of gamers and they are rather sadly not the leading factor among gamers now.

It is sad that the game appears to have been totally abandoned for Steel Beasts.

I have not given Steel Beasts a real chance and suspect I'm not interested because it's too realistic.

I again agree that Steel Beasts1 have learned from the experience and sometimes shortcomings of earlier M1TP2 and they took really the advantage of that. I am saying this not in a negative way just stating the fact that SB1 and then SBProPE is in many aspects more realistic and perhaps because of that ... for some of us more advanced and perhaps naturally better.

I would stick to M1TP2 for as long as it takes to really learn and explore that simulation, but (at least for me) it is a stepping stone to reexplore all tank simulations with a better understanding of the character, tactics, and strategy of modern tank battlefield.

Yours, it is a very special case as you have experienced the sweat, stress, and discomforts of armor vehicle training and you are not seeking to learn any more truth or realism above and beyond to what you already well know and remember. But maybe ...one day.

I've also got two 128MB sticks of memory scheduled to arrive next week. I'm not sure if more memory will improve how the game runs or not - probably won't make a difference. I'm also on the hunt for a Creative 3Dfx card so I can run M1TP2 in SLI mode. The additional card might make the sim look even better. It actually looks fine now.

I see you go all the way into 3dfx immersion. Looking forward to seeing some shots.

[RetroGamer]

M1TP2 Observations:

On one mission, I was out of main gun ammo and was headed toward some BTRs and possibly a few BMPs. The reality is that the .50cal will “cut those vehicles to cheese” (a quote from an NCO back in the ‘80s when I asked him about .50 cal vs APCs).

So, I decided to cut loose and sure enough blew up the remainder of enemy APCs - about half dozen or so with the .50 cal. That was pretty good, ha ha! I could barely see the enemy vehicles but could see them explode when I hit them. I haven’t read everything on this sim but don’t recall that topic being discussed. Just FYI info.

I created a new platoon in an attempt to dominate M1TP2 on the Hard setting. Nope - not proficient enough yet. Got the whole platoon killed on campaign 1, mission 1. I might retry all campaigns on Normal instead until I get better.

Regarding reality vs computer simulations - I recall Ssnake discussing this in the SB1 manual - there’s no way really to compare a computer sim to actual gunnery. You can get close in the hand/eye coordination area only, maybe.

So - from that point of view, none of these sims are truly realistic. All that matters is that you’re enjoying the challenge of beating a program that a team of programmers wrote. So, don’t feel guilty for enjoying something as “unrealistic” as Mechwarrior 3 or Armored Fist 1, I don’t!

The most fun game for me has always been Armored Fist 1 (1994), FWIW. You can pretend you’re commanding a Company Team of mech and armor and have a pretty good time. And yes, gamers today care a lot about graphics, including my own son. He is perplexed as to why I play old tank games that look crude compared to Call of Duty or some other FPS with beautiful graphics. I explained that it’s not about the graphics, it’s about getting immersed in defeating the game!!! He doesn’t get it. It’s ok, lol!!

Back to M1TP2 - I might try something crazy….since there are 3 different M1TP2 versions that I am aware of, - unpatched, v 1.1, and v 1.2 - I wonder if I would corrupt my fragile Win98 OS if I tried to install all 3 versions in different directories.

Maybe upgrade to 1.1, then install the unpatched version again in a different location. Upgrade it to 1.2, then install the unpatched version yet again in a different directory. Just a thought. I might attempt this when I tire of playing it.

I’d forgotten how unstable Win98 is! Something like that could easily corrupt the registry and cause blue screens or other odd behavior. I installed Panzer Commander and iPanzer’44 a few days ago and Win98 got them confused with each other. iPanzer’44 ended up having Panzer Commander’s icon associated with it and I couldn’t fix it. I was never thrilled with either title so I uninstalled both for now.

More updates to follow on the mission to defeat and dominate M1TP2 with the legacy IBM Aptiva desktop rescue PC!!!!

[Polak2]

The most obsolete and needing of the change in M1TP2 is its modeling of the trees and forest patches. Frankly, this is totally archaic and pretty much even strange looking to anyone today.

I remember, that 1998 was the time that from the performance reasons forests were depicted as solid and unpenetrable blocks (EECH comes to my mind), but programmers and graphics artists at MPS here simplified the thing too much but making those blocks straight and linear.

As a temporary fix, I do while playing it today is either change the venue of the scenario to desert by simply replacing names and location of the map in the Battles text files. I know that this affects the gameplay as those crude (!) blocks are meant to hide the OPFOR.

Gunship! made the improvement to this, but it was still not as good as eSim had done in SB1. Trees and forests were IMHO one of the most important component of the combat land simulation.

[RetroGamer]

Originally Posted by Polak2

The most obsolete and needing of the change in M1TP2 is its modeling of the trees and forest patches. Frankly, this is totally archaic and pretty much even strange looking to anyone today.

Gunship! made the improvement to this, but it was still not as good as eSim had done in SB1. Trees and forests were IMHO one of the most important component of the combat land simulation.

All very true! I gotta get me a copy of Gunship!

The last tank sim I bought was T-72, I think back in 2006. That one was a quantum leap forward graphics-wise with even the terrain being deformable. I ordered it online and it came with two very cool labeled CDs and a great paper manual. The whole thing arrived in my mailbox in a brown envelope and it gave my computer a serious workout.

T-72 was a very hard game, nobody’s computer was good enough to run it at the time, and it failed miserably. I beat that sucker more than once.

M1TP2 and Steel Beasts did something right, though. For the first time, a player could manipulate the joystick with skill and lase and hit the target. iM1A2 had that modeled pretty accurately as well but I couldn’t get into it, unfortunately.

I’m probably gonna have to take a break as the wife is getting mad at me for playing too much, ha ha ha!!! (I know everybody’s been there!)

[Polak2]

wife is getting mad at me for playing too much, ha ha ha!!! (I know everybody’s been there!)

Smoke grenades won't work here I am sure... Slow down then.