How do you get out of the ditch?

[Adam Beckett]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2256319812

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Salutations, fellow tank commanders,

The very first tutorial/mission, the driving tutorial, sends you from waypoint to waypoint ... in the slowest possible tank speed?! Using upper gears, as much as the game allows me to.

The very first time, it took so long that I had to stop after reaching the river.

The second time, I made it passed the river but both tank treads broke at the same time, while I was slightly - like 10 degrees - backboard heavy vs the uneven ground. "What a freak accident", I hear you say. Indeed.

Game over. No saves between missions, of course.

The THIRD time, I was determined to finish this 'mission' - 20-30 minutes in, crawling my way around lovely Ukrainian meadows, I made it to the ditch ... and there, I was stuck. No way to get out of it.

In this tutorial mission, you have no way to 'switch between NPCs' (= as commander, tell the driver to drive to the next waypoint). No way, Jose.

Trying in first gear gets me to the lower edge of the ditch, but trying to 'climb' it up - in any gear - makes the tanks stop and stall, eventually.

I have had my fare share of tank sims, but cannot figure out how to get out of this ... ditch.

Trying to find another way out, trying to drive up via a slight, constant long angle, does not work.

I hear you say "... just skip it!", but have you ever heard of a tank sim driver 'giving up' on his tank?? Even if the physics in this one are ... questionable? Even, in the modded version.

Show me how YOU did it?

[Delta_Assault]

Yeah, that's a good question. Also... what's the key to turn on Nav Markers? It looks like an I or a lowercase L but... it doesn't seem to be either. I'm really confused.

[Adam Beckett]

on a qwerty keyboard:

Turn on waypoint/nav markers: \
Cycle through them with: - and =

[MeatPupPeT]

Yes - this is total ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ . 1 hour on 1st tutorial . Stuck at Anti tank trench - Can't get tank to move in reverse or forward . Treads repaired and engine revving but no movement . SIGH !

[MeatPupPeT]

2 hours later still cannot get ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tank over trap and i helped another bot tank get over it . WTf Kind of Futile tutorial is this !!!!

[Adam Beckett]

@Meatpuppet The only thing to do here is to completely ignore this 'tutorial' mission. For your own sanity!

I did not find that kind of game stopping 'bugs' in regular missions. But, the game DOES want to 'kill' you fast, after it eats a lot of your time.

Not sure anymore, if it is really worth anyone's time. Life is too short?

=======
As for overall tips... drive in 'auto' mode, gear shifting is not worth it. You will stall 10 times before getting anywhere. And it is not your fault.

You might consider to install 'the mod' (see 'Guides' section in the games Steam Community tab - sorry, can not give you a link. I am typing on a tablet, atm). It adds a ton of missions, tinkers with physics(?) and enhances graphics. May improve overall experience. Does for me.

You will find this 'sim' has a rather simple gameplay loop in every single mission, under all the convoluted smoke screen parts.

1. Drive 10 minutes to the 'battle'.
2. Switch to gunner and/or commander to 'shoot'...
3. Switch to driver again to manoeuver to next enemy.
4. ... until you get hit or 'killed.
5. Return to 1.

I found Graviteam's other, later tank sim "Steel Armor: Blaze of War"(?) to be a far better overall experience.

THAT tutorial works fine and eases you quickly into your duties. The interface is familiar, if you played any other - later - Graviteam games and is comprehensive. You get to 'play' the game in no-time ... and enjoy it.

They seem to have learned from the flaws of THIS game/sim.

[MeatPupPeT]

$ 15.00 ! ♥♥♥♥ ! Yeah - I wasted 1/2 day on this garbage . Gonna print out hot keys . Give the missions a run . This game is totally over engineered . I just want some fun and Inf/ armor battles w/o having to stop read - stop - read . Die -repeat .

[Adam Beckett]

"Stop read die repeat" sums it up, indeed.

[Tacitus]

Originally posted by Adam Beckett:

@Meatpuppet The only thing to do here is to completely ignore this 'tutorial' mission. For your own sanity!

I did not find that kind of game stopping 'bugs' in regular missions. But, the game DOES want to 'kill' you fast, after it eats a lot of your time.

Not sure anymore, if it is really worth anyone's time. Life is too short?

=======
As for overall tips... drive in 'auto' mode, gear shifting is not worth it. You will stall 10 times before getting anywhere. And it is not your fault.

You might consider to install 'the mod' (see 'Guides' section in the games Steam Community tab - sorry, can not give you a link. I am typing on a tablet, atm). It adds a ton of missions, tinkers with physics(?) and enhances graphics. May improve overall experience. Does for me.

You will find this 'sim' has a rather simple gameplay loop in every single mission, under all the convoluted smoke screen parts.

1. Drive 10 minutes to the 'battle'.
2. Switch to gunner and/or commander to 'shoot'...
3. Switch to driver again to manoeuver to next enemy.
4. ... until you get hit or 'killed.
5. Return to 1.

I found Graviteam's other, later tank sim "Steel Armor: Blaze of War"(?) to be a far better overall experience.

THAT tutorial works fine and eases you quickly into your duties. The interface is familiar, if you played any other - later - Graviteam games and is comprehensive. You get to 'play' the game in no-time ... and enjoy it.

They seem to have learned from the flaws of THIS game/sim.

I haven't updated my guide in a long time (been too busy with work, and I haven't played this game or even logged into Steam for months), but I hope that it does help some people have a more enjoyable experience with this game.

As for the gameplay loop itself, the mod doesn't change it all that much but it does offer some fun new toys to play with.

That said, you really don't need to manually occupy the driver's position at all in battles. I tend to spend nearly all of my time in the Commander and Gunner's positions. My gameplay loop looks like this:

1. Study the map carefully at the start of the mission.
2. Set waypoints (in the Commander's position) for the driver to follow, and ride with my head out of the hatch until the first enemy is about 2 km away.
3. Button up, then switch to the gunner's position to begin scanning for targets.
4. From the gunner's position, I use the "W, A, S, D" keys to give appropriate orders to the driver to bring me closer so I can hit them with my sword... or rather a nice 7.5 cm APHE round. I use the "E" key to order the driver to make short stops so I can take an accurate shot, but keep moving if within the enemy's range.
5. Once everything with the wrong markings on their tanks is dead, I switch back to the commander, and set waypoints (on the map) to the next engagement.

This game is clunky and far from perfect, but it's the most accurate tank sim I have played thus far. It really conveys just how cramped those WWII tanks were, how chaotic combat was, and how you don't want to be a hero, since a hero's death in a tank usually meant being barbecued alive. Still, your recommendation on Steel Armor: Blaze of War truly made my day. If it's an improvement on this game, I will definitely need to get it ASAP. Now if someone made a WWII mod for that game, that would be even better as mid-Cold War tanks don't appeal to me quite as much as WWII and contemporary armoured vehicles, although if that T-62 has an autoloader, I'd probably be happy with it.

[_oOo_]

In case you are still interested, I got stuck in the ditch too the first time but then in the end I managed to finish the mission. What i did was i stopped on the tip of the hill just before the ditch (about halfway between the bridge and the ditch), aligned the tank to point to the section of the ditch where the crossing was, accelerated and changed gears all the way to 6th and then I was over it :) The main points are:
- don't change direction while moving since this is killing your speed
- once you are in the 6th gear don't change it until you're past the ditch since it is killing your speed.
Just at the end you will stall since you are going up the ditch in the 6th, but fortunately you will stall after you're past it. During my first unsuccessful try I changed back to the 1st while climbing over the lip but that doesn't work. I just stalled. I hope this makes sense.

And one more thing, after the ditch there are some obstacles and then a mine field. I stepped on a mine and while the tank was okay, it completely killed my fps. I barely made it till the end of the mission since the game was almost unplayable after that.

[babushka]

Originally posted by _oOo_:

And one more thing, after the ditch there are some obstacles and then a mine field. I stepped on a mine and while the tank was okay, it completely killed my fps. I barely made it till the end of the mission since the game was almost unplayable after that.

I have the same issue. Led me to restart the mission

[Farty McFly 69]

Press and unpress de letter "Q" ir the brake, then just you move slowly, just repeat it

[MeatPupPeT]

It's impossible - got 2 hours of life to piss away ?

[KochiMi]

first gear and just wiggle it around. Turn left and right untill u come out. Manual transmission and 1st gear while turning will prevent your engine from stalling

[MeatPupPeT]

U have to angle right and then use the gears properly - just skip it ... you thank me

[Амиго Кактус]

i managed to get over it by switching to first gear, get on the top where engine shuts off, enable parking, rev up the engine, move up a slight bit, parking and repeat