Had trouble categorizing this one, um flight sim needed to run it I guess…
IL-2 Storm ‘Tank Crew’ is out in EA today:
"Tank Crew – Clash at Prokhorovka
A new ground-breaking tank simulator by the team that brought you IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad. Drive some of WWII’s greatest battle tanks in close quarters ground combat during the Battle of Kursk, namely in the Prokhorovka sector. In the largest mechanized battle of all time, you can command your tank crew in both single-player and multiplayer environments and battle the enemy in intense missions and grueling combat. Maneuver your tank to find the enemy’s weak-spot while trying to keep your own tank’s vulnerabilities from being exposed. One carefully placed round is all it takes to decimate your crew and destroy your tank!
Tank Crew contains ten famous tanks and armored vehicles that you can drive, shoot and command in virtual combat alone or with friends. Tank Crew also comes with a map of the Prokhorovka sector of the Kursk Salient.
IL-2 Sturmovik: Tank Crew is part of the IL-2 Great Battles series and can be played as a separate stand-alone product or be integrated with other Great Battles titles such as Battle of Stalingrad, Battle of Moscow, Battle of Kuban and Battle of Bodenplatte. Combine all titles to create one big WWII air and ground combat simulation.
10,000 sq. km. map which is ideal for joint multiplayer combat of tanks and aviation units.
Highly-detailed scenery in main battle area around Prokhorovka including buildings and trees.
Ten legendary battle tanks that can be manned and operated by the player - T-34-76, KV-1s. M4A2 “Sherman”, SU-122, SU-152, PzKpfw III Ausf.M, PzKpfw IV Ausf.G, PzKpfw V Ausf.D “Panther”. PzKpfw VI Ausf.H1 “Tiger” and Sd. Kfz. 184 “Ferdinand”.
Ability to play on any other IL-2 map you own and in multiplayer.
Detailed and precise exterior models of player’s vehicles.
Full-scale 3D interior of each tank with correct animations of major controls and gauges.
Four playable stations in each crew - Commander, Driver, Gunner, Radioman/Machine-gunner.
Ability for friends to join your tank crew in multiplayer.
Historical scripted Soviet and German campaigns.
Custom skins support.
Quick Single Mission generator.
Two multi-player modes of gameplay - Cooperative and Dogfight.
Precise ballistics with armor piercing and high-explosive rounds.
Realistic gun-sight visuals and operation.
Realistic physics model and performance of player tanks.
Detailed damage models with malfunctions of major tank systems.
Unique caterpillar physics and visualization.
Improved damage model of trees and buildings in the detailed battle area.
I’ve been watching the last few weeks some videos regarding this “module.” Interesting to see the IL-2 developers come up with their own “Combined Arms” module. It actually looks pretty good. I wonder though how many people actually play “combined arms” in DCS? I own it myself but don’t really take too much time with it. Don’t know whether I would purchase this IL-2 version either. Guess time will tell.
I think IL-2 BoX always had playable tanks? I remember trying them out and thinking ‘yep, I never want to die in a tank again’. I’m not sure why the vehicles didn’t get played more, I guess because most people buying it were into flight sims, and there was a bit of the ‘We’d like that War Thunder success please!’ in the non-North American markets?
This looks like a fancier version (more types, graphics etc) I think?
Could very well be. I like the idea of DCS’s “Combined Arms” module and have seen videos of cooperative game play where someone on the ground really did some cool team work with those in the air modules. But from my own perspective I have such little time already and so many modules to play with in DCS. Heck, I just bought about 3 weeks ago three new air modules, actually four if you count the pre-purchase F/A-18C; where will I find the time to play a ground module? Same goes for my IL-2 playing. So many aircraft to play with on both sides, love the single player campaign, then multiplay cooperatives, fear I would never get time to play tanks if I bought it. Who knows…LOL!
I’m mildly interested at best in this, and if it’s on a sale someday I might pick it up.
I spent $30 on CA for DCS when it came out and have put maybe 2 hours into ground vehicles. Not going to repeat my mistake unless some compelling content appears that makes me likely to use it.
On the other hand, I used my ROF discount to pick up Flying Circus Vol 1 for only $55 yesterday. The Dr I seems good, the Spad is lacking some power. If flown right, these 2 different handling planes should be a match, but right now the Dr I eats Spads for lunch, dinner, snacks, and afternoon tea.
It’s just EA of course, so no big deal, but it does mean I won’t be dealing with it much right now until the next update to their FMs. Sticking with ROF for that right now.
It was the same with me in terms of buying it quite a while back. I’ve fooled around with it but really not much play. What does interest me and what IMHO think is it’s strength is the position of “tactical commander.” I’ve fooled with this as well and it is quite good in terms of one being the overall commander of forces on one side. I’ve seen some very good videos of online play where for example a big cooperative group will have one guy play as opposition tactical commander and he can control groups of vehicles, SAM systems etc. He can turn off or on SAM system radars etc., really become a “super AI” so to speak which enhances the experience and immersion of the other players flying the aircraft.
I’ve been fooling around w il2 bos tanks for 2 days. Lots of fun and believable. It looks good too. Can’t wait for Tank Crew
Edit: I think I will wait to see how much I play wit the "default " tanks before I go spending 70 USD on tank crew. Dont get me wrong, it’s nice but I dont know if I will play it that much.
That said, the German training mission is a blast.
Revving this topic as the primary IL2 Tank Crew thread…
I have been working on my controller setups and how to best manage AI crew the last couple of nights, with the goal of beginning the included campaign. For testing, I’ve been using the quick mission placing a solo tank near the airfield located NE of Bonn (Rhineland map, grid square 2326). Just drive up the road 100 meters or so and turn left into the field on the south side of the airfield.
Best to load an equal mix of AP and HE rounds, since you will be engaging soft targets. Keep in mind that the Zeiss gunsight is calibrated for AP, so you will need to roughly double the elevation for an HE round. Optionally, you can order your AI crew to engage targets of opportunity. I haven’t tried mouse click designation feature, but that should really let one act as tank commander.
Often when switching between crew positions, the view remains at the old postion. Switching to an external view momentarily seems to solve this.
Sometimes the commander’s hatch won’t open. If you scoot down a bit and look up, it will function normally.
Although your joystick is supposed to be functioning as a turret azimuth and gun elevation controller, I haven’t been able to get it to work reliably. Anyone else having luck with this?
I heard it’s great. Reason I don’t have it is because there’s only so many hours in a day. I would pay 70 bucks for something I wouldn’t have time to appreciate. So I didn’t (yet)
Yes the tanks are a blast to drive, some describe missions as stale or sterile
I’d like to think user made missions could address this, though I’m am not certain how difficult it is to create missions as a user. User of the mission builder that is
Some will argue $70 is a rather steep price for what you get
Yeah tbh, it looks like a lot of fun, but I’m not sure if i can justify the price tag. Maybe I’ll drop the money for it when it goes on sale sometime in the future
