Older doesn't mean inferior

[Tankgirl]

I recently encountered the title Battleground Ardennes Talonsoft John Tiller.
Still runs just fine. 1995 title. Amazing.

It touched a nerve with me.
How many wargames for computer do I own, that are newer, fancier, more demanding, and yet NOT ANY BETTER?

The answer was quite a few.

One thing I have always liked about TOAW, it is like a whole box of wargames under one program. Ya master this game's interface and you have oodles of games.

TOAW just watched me pick it over a sizable stack of titles I uninstalled, because frankly, why waste space and interest in games that come in 2nd place or lower? Even if they are supposedly newer and better.

TOAW looks essentially like a lot of board games from the 70s.
I have a lot of other wargame scales that are the same way.
Squad Tactical, why indulge 20 titles, when all you really need is your number 1 pick.
So it doesn't matter which is better Valor and Victory or Lock n Load Tactical or Second Front, if really, you consider something else better than all of them.

Tigers on the Hunt is superior. But Squad Battles is equal to it and is still being supported.
And Steel Panthers is still superior to everything since.

Operational is covered nicely by TOAW. But I need to find another for grand strategy.
Computer World in Flames is without a doubt impossible to beat. Equal maybe. But by very few.

In truth, a serious wargamer, likely only requires about 4 wargames on their computer.
Steel Panthers, TOAW, World in Flames and maybe something that is Red vs Blue. That's a tricky one.

[macgregor2150]

You'd think Steel Panthers would be available as freeware. I've had every version. My favorite was III where you had a larger scope. Is the newer version worth the price? Are the graphics high enough resolution? I'd like to run it at 1080p. I did love that game.

[Tankgirl]

Originally posted by macgregor2150:

You'd think Steel Panthers would be available as freeware. I've had every version. My favorite was III where you had a larger scope. Is the newer version worth the price? Are the graphics high enough resolution? I'd like to run it at 1080p. I did love that game.

Steel Panthers IS free. What is NOT free are the Mega Campaigns for SPWaW which is proprietary software. And the software from Shrapnel to allow for some expanded windows configuration. Otherwise Steel Panthers 1, 2, 3 releases are actually free. The greatly enhanced versions of SPWaW from The Depot guys are also free and ensure the software cooperates with newer OSs and hardware situations.

I agree, III is my favourite, it plays sort of like Panzer Leader the board game from AH
They used it for the core of SPWaW actually. Shrapnel's is based on II.

I have a DOS installer option that permits III to run today.

[macgregor2150]

Originally posted by Tankgirl:

Originally posted by macgregor2150:

You'd think Steel Panthers would be available as freeware. I've had every version. My favorite was III where you had a larger scope. Is the newer version worth the price? Are the graphics high enough resolution? I'd like to run it at 1080p. I did love that game.

Steel Panthers IS free. What is NOT free are the Mega Campaigns for SPWaW which is proprietary software. And the software from Shrapnel to allow for some expanded windows configuration. Otherwise Steel Panthers 1, 2, 3 releases are actually free. The greatly enhanced versions of SPWaW from The Depot guys are also free and ensure the software cooperates with newer OSs and hardware situations.

I agree, III is my favourite, it plays sort of like Panzer Leader the board game from AH
They used it for the core of SPWaW actually. Shrapnel's is based on II.

I have a DOS installer option that permits III to run today.

Do you get decent resolution?

[Tankgirl]

Originally posted by macgregor2150:

Originally posted by Tankgirl:

Steel Panthers IS free. What is NOT free are the Mega Campaigns for SPWaW which is proprietary software. And the software from Shrapnel to allow for some expanded windows configuration. Otherwise Steel Panthers 1, 2, 3 releases are actually free. The greatly enhanced versions of SPWaW from The Depot guys are also free and ensure the software cooperates with newer OSs and hardware situations.

I agree, III is my favourite, it plays sort of like Panzer Leader the board game from AH
They used it for the core of SPWaW actually. Shrapnel's is based on II.

I have a DOS installer option that permits III to run today.

Do you get decent resolution?

I run a lot of things on a laptop that has a core i7 no real video card.
I run a lot of things on a desktop, again a reasonably powerful prorcessor, not video card currently (trying to purchase something though).

I'm normally harsh on games made in the last 5-10 years that can't operate on a decent computer. And as I see it, if it won't run on my core i7 laptop, the developer needs to try a lot harder.

Because when I actually can ponder running Battleground Ardennes made in 97 for an IBM PS1 from 1990, that demonstrates the developer was damned good. In this case John Tiller a name in the hobby that is famous. Pity he has passed away like a few others of his calibre.

It is NOT enough to say, "oh it's just one guy". The guy that made Second Front is just one guy. Pretty good piece of software for one guy. Ron Dockal of Schwerpunct is just one guy. His WW2 Europe title has no real equal. Tough learning curve UI though. Not for the squeemish.

Some games need a monitor and simply won't run on a laptop screen. Simple, you slave a monitor to the laptop. Defeats the point of a laptop of course.
Sometimes you hook up to a 40+ inch TV.

I'm currently staring at my Samsung 21 inch monitor. From less than 18 inches away, any bigger is too big hehe.

Common troubles with Steel Panthers is funky mouse issues and with Steel Panthers WaW the arty function doesn't work. With SP III I have found it is best to just hunt for a capable dos file and run that.

[Kneecaps]

You can run the DOS titles in DOS box. I run all of the aformationed titles in either a VirtualBox or DOSBOX on my 32 inch 4K monitor. Not requiring them to operate at the native resolution of the screen means that the monitor I run them on is no issue at all.

[rodrigoflores33]

Steel Panthers should be bringing back via Steam.
Sure many people would love it.

[Tankgirl]

Originally posted by Kneecaps:

You can run the DOS titles in DOS box. I run all of the aformationed titles in either a VirtualBox or DOSBOX on my 32 inch 4K monitor. Not requiring them to operate at the native resolution of the screen means that the monitor I run them on is no issue at all.

My tek skills fizzled around 2010 :)

[Tankgirl]

Originally posted by rodrigoflores33:

Steel Panthers should be bringing back via Steam.
Sure many people would love it.

Interesting thing about Steel Panthers is it's free software The only portions owned, are in the case of Matrix Games, they own the Mega Campaigns, and Shrapnel owns a few modern screen resolutions.

Sadly a lot of valuable 'tweaking' from the Depot guys seems to have fallen out of use.

But I think the very first versions could entertain anyone today to be honest.

[derflinger58]

for red vs blue try flashpoint campaigns red storm and southern front

[Tankgirl]

Originally posted by derflinger58:

for red vs blue try flashpoint campaigns red storm and southern front

I have those (if mentioned to me)