Russian Steel - Feel the thrill of being a Russian commander in 1941!

RussianSteelDar · Post by **RussianSteelDar** » Fri Mar 29, 2002 4:54 pm

Two man cramped turret, four man crew and lousy ergonomics and LOW experience!

Read a book that stated only 8 rounds were in ready racks - the gunner/loader then had to drop to the floor, pull back rubber matting, scrounge the shell needed, and get back up to the breech....

Imagine this stunt while moving cross-country....

I've not heard of any stabilization for the weapon and Russian optics were considered inferior to German art (as was most of the world from what I gather)

Then add the whopping 3-8 weeks of training the poor bugger probably had...

But keep training your boys: I've seen elite T-34s get 4 shots, once I saw 5.

Don't know about the Infantry support tanks? which ones? Check how many crews...(and how many turrets)

Take a look at the KV tanks: 5 man crews and it shows...

More shots even at lower levels of experience and once elite, up to 5 or 6 shot per turn...bigger turret and larger crew...

Note the KV-2 gets but one or 2 shots at start - I've gotten one up to 3 as an elite unit - in this case, think lugging 50 Kg shells around the turret...

Increasing the experience levels of your force is crucial in Russian Steel - the whole trick for the Russians in 1941 was to survive initial contact with the Wehrmacht and survive long enough to learn the basics of fighting...

Also,

young turk · Post by **young turk** » Fri Mar 29, 2002 5:04 pm

Hi.

I am at the third battle, demoninated "River Defense". It isnt entirely clear to me what I am supposed to do (have everybody exit through the retreat hex?) and i dont want to spoil the surprise by experimenting.

Can anybody tell me?

young turk · Post by **young turk** » Fri Mar 29, 2002 5:15 pm

seriously now, without being flip . . .

Larry Holt · Post by **Larry Holt** » Fri Mar 29, 2002 6:07 pm

Originally posted by RussianSteelDar
Two man cramped turret, four man crew and lousy ergonomics and LOW experience!
...

Don't know about the Infantry support tanks? which ones? Check how many crews...(and how many turrets)

I understand the limitations of the T-34. What I was wondering is why the T-34 has few shots at low experience when other low experience tanks have many shots. I will have to check the designation of the other tanks tonight.

young turk · Post by **young turk** » Fri Mar 29, 2002 8:02 pm

teshekur ederim

RussianSteelDar · Post by **RussianSteelDar** » Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:52 pm

To Young Turk:

Battle 3 is supposed to involve your core force plus some AUX troops deployed north of a river that is mostly impassable.

There are supposed to be two fords and they should be marked. These represent shallow water areas that units may cross - although your vehicles run the chance of getting flooded out...

There should be a VH on the south side of the river near a road junction, just SE of a multi-hex grouping of trees...

You are to load up everything you can (some AUX trucks are provided) and move everyone across the river...

You will have to fight your way through to reach the fords and also fight a delaying action to keep your pursuers back long enough to get as much across the river as possible...

I'd be happy to discuss this further - post here or email me at: brad.darroch@trw.com

I'm a little confused by "River Defense" - the Battle title should be Slonim Escape - and "escape" is a deliberate choice.....

If you've reached Battle 3, how do you feel about the first 2? Difficulty about right? Build points about right? Boring?

Thanks,

Brad

Larry Holt:

low rtae-of-fire for T-34 presumably related to size of round (and affected by ammo stowage)....45mm shells probably lots easier to deal with...

RussianSteelDar · Post by **RussianSteelDar** » Fri Mar 29, 2002 11:42 pm

Penetrator:

The version of Slonim Escape (Russian Steel Battle 3) that young turk is playing does not have the latest Battle 3 version...

It still should have the retreat hex and the 1500 point VP hex south of the river....

Penetrator · Post by **Penetrator** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 12:12 am

Originally posted by RussianSteelDar
Penetrator:

The version of Slonim Escape (Russian Steel Battle 3) that young turk is playing does not have the latest Battle 3 version...

It still should have the retreat hex and the 1500 point VP hex south of the river....

Oh dear, I'm sorry young turk, I had a different battle in mind. Darroch's description is the correct one.

young turk · Post by **young turk** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 4:22 pm

brad:

i thought the first two battles were interesting and enjoyable, and the idea for a russian campaign is excellent.

i called it river defense because this is the "mission type" identified in the unit purchase screen.

even though my tanks cannot shoot straight (yet) i got decisive victories on both for my first tries. so, i guess i would say the difficulty is little to easy.

SPOILER

in terms of scenario design, perhaps the german flak should be more spread out on the second battle (german nebelweuffer succommed to russian planes strafing from the NE to SW) and perhaps the germans should approach the SE VL from multiple paths (the bulk of them got flamed repeatedly by a couple of flame tanks sitting statically).

finally:

there is a updated version???? where can i get it???

RussianSteelDar · Post by **RussianSteelDar** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 5:25 pm

Young turk:

DVs on 1 & 2??!!! Good Work! They may be too easy after all.

The difficulty in doing this is I lose track of versions - I think the points you are getting (support and build) are higher than in our current beta test version...at present we only hand out 250 build points post-battle (with 500 or so every third or fourth battle) and only 200 support points...we found the support points could really warp the fight..

Updated version:

I have battles 1-11 on my hard drive in final form (I have 33 of the first 35 in various stages of testing as well!), this includes rebuilt battles 5 and 6 (needed to rebuild to ensure that crews pop out of damaged tanks) and Asgeir's rebuilt battle 3 (which has no retreat hexes and forces the player to slug it out with the pursuing Germans - hint - defend south of the fords and force them to attack across the river)

I am awaiting beta test results before sending 1-11 off to Fabio for upload to his site as Russian Steel 1.1

I had planned to do this before April 8. If you are comfortable with beta then contact me at brad.darroch@trw.com and I can send you what I have - it's a big file and I'll need to break it up to satisfy my ISPs constraints.

Let me know but I think you'll have fun with Battle 3 as it is - just treat it as an escape - get away with as much stuff as possible...and there are Germans in those woods...!

In general, all SPWAW players are welcome to our work: battles and campaigns..

...but, in addition to the practical constraints of my ISP, I am uncomfortable releasing products that may contain major flaws - you can see a number of minor flaws in the initial release as it is...and these were pretty well-tested. So we deeply appreciate your patience as we "get the bugs out!"

I am confident that we'll have all 35 battles in their Sunday Best for you all by June 22 - an auspicious date! And our planned interim releases from now until June 22 should keep things interesting...

Cheers,

Brad

davidmiller · Post by **davidmiller** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 6:17 pm

I just want to compliment you for an outstanding addition to an outstanding game. I enjoy the Eastern Front most and while I am not a grognard on the subject, I feel that the effort and time you put in on the project is not wasted, but very much appreciated by the SPWAW community. I've made it thru the first 3 battles with discouraging results, but expected it. I always try to do better each battle and try to change the historical results. I must admit that I am at best only a medium type player, but I do enjoy the game immensely. Thank you again for the campaign.

RussianSteelDar · Post by **RussianSteelDar** » Sun Mar 31, 2002 2:12 am

David:

Thanks for the positive feedback, it helps keep us going.

Since you are on Battle 3, are there any things related to the scenarios or campaign layout that you'd like to see more - or less of?

More info on the battle? Player's notes on what to expect? More points? Fewer points?

I have been considering something like designer's notes if there's enough interest....

I don't want the campaign to cause difficulties or frustration - there's enough of that with the 1941 Russians!!

The good news is that you'll slowly see your core force starting to hit what they shoot at...

Let us know - there's always room for us to improve...

Brad

young turk · Post by **young turk** » Tue Apr 02, 2002 12:20 am

david:

nah, i am getting 250 build points and 120 support points. i probably just have a knack for predicting what the AI is going to do. so for me, the campaign is a little to easy. i'll try turning on the AI advantage.

ok, i will try battle 3 as a retreat.

thanks for all the good work, and i am really looking forward to future releases of this campaign.

wulfir · Post by **wulfir** » Tue Apr 02, 2002 2:25 am

Originally posted by RussianSteelDar

DVs on 1 & 2??!!! Good Work! They may be too easy after all.

Uhm…well, I got hammered at Dubno. Going in with far to much self confidence thinking I’d push the Fascist invaders back all the way to Berlin before breakfast, but boy did I get chewed up. Very embarrassing…

A very promising campaign though! Keep up the good work!

Goblin · Post by **Goblin** » Tue Apr 02, 2002 8:42 am

Hot campaign guys! Especially with german shells raining down everywhere! We want more, more, more......

Goblin

Unknown_Enemy · Post by **Unknown_Enemy** » Tue Apr 02, 2002 6:03 pm

Dear comrade Stalin,

I feel I need to appologize for my squads being wipped out by the fascist enemy at Dubmo (me too!). But I would like to point the incredible absence of our glorious aircrafts ! Most of our infantry has not been destroyed by sheer incompetence as wrongly reported, but by Stukas bombing runs.
I would suggest that the political commissars that are currently discussing the hour of my execution should turn to my comrades from the people's airforce we missed so much a few hours ago.
May I [letter interupted at that point]

From commissar Popov Lituatchenko :
"This traitor to the party has been dealed with. May be the new colonel will last longer."

That's what mean by good work !!

Thanks for the campaign guys, it rocks !

Larry Holt · Post by **Larry Holt** » Tue Apr 02, 2002 6:33 pm

Battle 2, I am holding the GE off with a tank ambush but my shells are bouncing off their armor with reported armor thickness always in 3 digits (richoet, arm thickness is 495mm)at point blank range. I check my preferences and they are all set to 100. I really think something is wrong so I set GE armor toughness to 30% but I still see 3 digit thicknesses. I look at them again and see that GE toughness is set to 1500 something! I heard about this once before, a long time ago but this is the first that I have seen it myself.

Gallo Rojo · Post by **Gallo Rojo** » Tue Apr 02, 2002 11:47 pm

I fought the first two during the weekend.

I get a Draw :I in the first and a Decisive Victory in the second one

(hey, Mosh, you did design the second one, didn't you? ... those rocket launcher were a pain in the **** ... I have been blaming on you during all battle long

! But at the end of the day they couldn't stop me!

Campaign is really fun. My congratulations and thanks to the Campaign Collective team.
I can't wait to play the rest of the campaign.
Dan ... are you there? I guess that this "RussianSteelDar" is you ...
Any way: I have a story board for Operations Uranus and Saturn ... If you guys need it I can send an e-mail to you ... Story board is from a Russian side campaign recreating the encirclement of the VI Army that I like always wanted to design but I never had the tieme.

Last but not least: It seems that in v7.1 T-34m41 compared against PzIII is fairly good again -as historically was ... this is good news after what had happen whit T-34m41 in v7.0.
Cheers to Matrix team

Cheers!

RussianSteelDar · Post by **RussianSteelDar** » Wed Apr 03, 2002 1:49 am

Hmmmm....I didn't think Dubno was too easy - I kept getting blasted...perchance Young Turk is an ace player - be warned PBEM opponents...

Larry Holt: new updates to battle 3,5,6 will be out late this week or early next...as for armor in 3-digits (shrug) - it's a feature of the SPWAW engine and we designed these battles on engines ranging from 6.1 through 7.1....if there is an easy way to update to 7.1 without rebuilding the battle I'll be happy to do the grunt work....the new 3,5.6 were tested at 7.1 and it is still hard to kill German tanks with the F-34 and L-11 guns but that is not my area of expertise...I accept it and fall back on my favorite Russian antitank weapon: the veteran SMG squad...

Gallo Rojo: I am Darroch - Dan dropped out awhile back. PLease take a look at the readme file if you have time. In there we mention your storyline which has been turned into 10 battles starting with the assault out of the Serafimovich bridgehead...

35 battles gets us to Rostov - we need more designers and testers before we move out on the next set.

Cheers,

Brad

Gallo Rojo · Post by **Gallo Rojo** » Wed Apr 03, 2002 8:47 am

Originally posted by RussianSteelDar

Gallo Rojo: I am Darroch - Dan dropped out awhile back. PLease take a look at the readme file if you have time. In there we mention your storyline which has been turned into 10 battles starting with the assault out of the Serafimovich bridgehead...

35 battles gets us to Rostov - we need more designers and testers before we move out on the next set.

Cheers,

Brad

Thanks Darroch! I will take a look ... I didn't know that you have used it finally ... I'm glad that it have helped
cheers
Gallo

Russian Steel - Feel the thrill of being a Russian commander in 1941!

great campaign

My Russian Steel is smoking..

First two battles