Steel Panthers: Difference between revisions

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The games take place on the tactical level on a classic hex-based grid, with players directing individual vehicles and squads. Unit choices are broken down into four broad types (Infantry, Armor, Artillery, and Miscellaneous), with a wide range of diversity within these categories (for instance, Armor includes tanks, armored cars, and mechanized cavalry scouts; Infantry includes riflemen, engineers, snipers, etc.). In battle, in addition to killing the enemy, all weapons can also Suppress enemy units, which reduces accuracy and at high enough levels can pin units in place or even cause them to break and run. The principles of combined arms (using a properly balanced force) and overwatch (one unit moves while another covers them) are very important to remember, as is paying attention to terrain; those who don't tend to watch in horror as the enemy demolishes their forces in detail.

* ''Steel Panthers II: Modern Battles'' (1996)

* ''Steel Panthers III Brigade Command: 1939-1999'' (1997): Increased the scope and scale of battles, with individual units representing platoons / squadrons rather than squads / individual vehicles.

 

Additionally, The Camo Workshop has released two [[Fan Remake|Fan Remakes]] of ''Steel Panthers II'' for Windows:

 

The series as a whole continues to enjoy an active multiplayer community, with its central hub being [http://www.theblitz.org/ TheBlitz]. They're also popular subjects of [[After Action Report|After Action Reports]].

* [[World War Two]]: Of course.

* [[Cold War]]

** [[The Vietnam War]]

** [[Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan]]

* [[Iran-Iraq War]]

* [[Gulf War]]

* [[World War Three]]: Pretty common for hypothetical scenarios.

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* [[All There in the Manual]]: Most manuals for these games include some details about what goes on "under the hood," mainly so that players can tweak the preferences to suit their idea of how the game should play.

* [[America Wins the War]]: Averted. While the majority of scenarios and campaigns do feature the "major players" of most conflicts, there are some for the other contributing combatants of World War II (China, Poland, Australia, etc.) as well as some for small African and Asian "brush wars" (Chinese invasion of Vietnam, Rhodesian Civil War, etc.).

* [[Crippling Overspecialization]]: Not as extreme as most video game cases, but still present. Most specialized units have a task they're designed for (antitank, [[anti-air]], scouting, etc.) and usually don't fare too well when they try to do something else. ATGM<ref>Antitank Guided Missile</ref> teams can kill tanks all day as long as they have the missiles but don't last that long going head-to-head against an infantry squad.

* [[Delaying Action]]: One potential mission type.

* [[Easy Logistics]]: The game ignores the effects of strategic bombing, supply interdiction, industrial capacity, etc. at the strategic level, meaning that, for instance, you can buy more Tiger tanks than Germany ever actually built as long as you have the points. Within battles your troops do have limited amounts of ammo, but they can be resupplied almost infinitely from ammo trucks and supply depots (and there's an "Unlimited Ammo" option in the game preferences if you find even this to be too pesky).

* [[Every Bullet Is a Tracer]]: Whenever a unit fires a weapon, its path is always visible. This (and the range report) can help you return fire even when the firing enemy unit still isn't visible to your soldiers.

* [[House Rules]]: Some scenarios (particularly the fan-made ones) have "victory conditions" written into the description for objectives that the game engine itself isn't coded to handle, such as the survival of a particular unit.

** Also, players in head-to-head games will have agreed rules, such as purchasing points, number of air strikes, artillery purchase limits, etc.

** In the modern iterations, RPO-A Shmels and M202 FLASH rockets are on the table. That's right, ''rocket flamethrowers''.

** And let's not forget fighters dropping fuel-air explosives or delivered via MLRS>

* [[Misguided Missile]]: Less due to clever maneuvering on your foe's part, and more to your aircraft acquiring the wrong target in the first place.

* NATO: In the post-[[WW 2]] games, obviously.

* [[No Koreans in Japan]]: Averted, particularly in WAW. In many scenarios that see you up against the Japanese in battles that do not involve military-only islands, you are probably going to run into some Korean laborers, [[Shoot the Dog|all of whom you are going to have to kill as they almost always have been handed a weapon and are shooting in your direction at gunpoint.]]

* [[No Swastikas]]: The German flags in World War II use the ''balkenkreuz'' instead.

** Subverted: Most games had the historical flag as backup and let you edit it back in instead (or vice versa).

* [[Units Not to Scale]]: At least in the first two games, each hex is 50 meters to a side. Two units that appear to be "right next to each other" on the map are about half a football field away from each other, hardly point-blank range.

* [[Veteran Unit]]: The incentive for not treating your troops as cannon fodder during campaigns is for them to achieve this status. Unit experience rankings are green, regular, experienced and elite. Also, higher experienced troops can be bought, such as airborne and special forces.

** Steel Panthers 3 in the [[WW 3]]/Israeli future conflict scenarios. Turn on fast artillery. Turn up your number of allotted points to the max. Buy half of it in BM-22 Uragans and the other half in BM-21 Grads. Annihilate the ''entire enemy side of the map'' on the first turn.

** [[Video Game Cruelty Punishment]]: Just don't whine when you get wiped out one one of the late levels of a campaign because you needed elite troops that you used as expendible bullet sponges back when they were green.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Turn Based Tactics]]

[[Category:Video Game]]