Specialised hardware

[Lumituisku]

That joystic alone is more expensive than any of cars I have had.   

[Frankie]

An update. AFVSim replied to my online enquiry. The reply was "M1A2 Gunners control handles are £1,700 GBP each including shipping to Malaysia. You will have to complete an End User Undertaking to comply with export control". That is a cool USD2,589.99 which is no small sum for a controller which is intended to be used for a SB hobbyist's leisure time. And I don't know what an "End User Undertaking" is. Gee, with prices like these, it makes SBProPE's USD125 list price look like pop-corn. It is also nice to know that my mouse does the equivalent of a USD2.5K controller. Wow. :-)

I have a suggestion. A crafty and almost insidious suggestion. Please, let us promote SB Pro PE among gamers in mainland China,  Taiwan and the Asia Pacific region. Who knows? One of the gamers there might be a son of a CEO of an engineering company that specialises in customised simulation equipment. In the long run, a little global competition from the Far East wouldn't hurt, would it?

[Lumituisku]

LOL...  interesting idea. Even scary one.

I do not even know why here are practically no players from outside nato. And even less from china or Korea... I wonder why that is?

[Frankie]

People's Republic Of China
From Wikipedia



The Type 99, also known as ZTZ-99 and WZ-123, developed from the Type 98G (in turn, a development of the Type 98), is a third generation main battle tank (MBT) fielded by the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It is made to compete with other modern tanks. Although not expected to be acquired in large numbers due to its high cost compared to the more economical Type 96, it is currently the most advanced MBT fielded by China. The website ArmyTechnology.com considers the ZTZ99 MBT to be one of the 12 best tanks in the world, and is a successor to the Type 98 G tank manufactured for the People's Liberation Army.


Modern South Korean Tanks
From Wikipedia:

South Korea uses this tank:



Today the South Korean army has 2,500 tanks in operation, including the K1A1 and K2 Black Panther, which form the backbone of the South Korean army's mechanized armor and infantry forces. A sizable arsenal of many artillery systems, including 1,700 self-propelled K55 and K9 Thunder howitzers and 680 helicopters and UAVs of numerous types, are assembled to provide additional fire, reconnaissance, and logistics support. South Korea's smaller but more advanced artillery force and wide range of airborne reconnaissance platforms are pivotal in the counter-battery suppression of North Korea's over-sized artillery force, which operates more than 13,000 artillery systems deployed in various state of fortification and mobility.

The future replacement for the K1 MBT has been baptized the K2 Black Panther (Korean: 흑표), which will be fitted with a 1,500 hp (1,100 kW) water-cooled Diesel engine, 120 mm/L55 main gun, and coaxial machine guns. The new tank will also feature radar equipment as well as all-bearing laser detection system and reactive armor comparable to the American M1A2 and French Leclerc.

Modern Japan Main Battle Tank (MBT)
Source: Wikipedia



The Type 90 tank - see image above - (90式戦車 Kyū-maru-shiki-sensha?) is the main battle tank (MBT) of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) as of 2014. It was designed and built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as a replacement for all deployed Type 61 and Type 74 tanks, and entered service in 1990. It is to be superseded by the Type 10 tank. See image below.



The Type 10 (10式戦車 Hitomaru-shiki sensha?) is a 4th generation main battle tank that the Japan Ground Self Defense Force has been equipped with, and boasts significant enhancements in its capability to respond to anti-tank warfare, mobile strikes, special operations force attacks, and other contingencies


Taiwan - Republic of China (Taiwan)
From Wikipedia and ArmyTechnology.com:

Taiwan's MBT:



From the 1990s onwards, the Republic of China Army launched several upgrade programmes to replace out-dated equipment with cutting edge state of the art advanced weapons, also increasing its emphasis on forces that could be rapidly deployed and were suited for combat in Taiwan's heavily urbanized environment. Orders were placed with the United States for M60A3 Patton tanks, M109A6 "Paladin" howitzers and AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopters, as well as updating existing equipment.


Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) is planning to procure second-hand M1 Abrams main battle tanks (MBTs) from the US to upgrade the country's ageing armoured tank fleet.

From armyrecognition.com, "There is no formal Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) request published yet, but Taiwan looks always to acquire 200 used M1A2 main battle tanks from United States".


Finally, from strategypage.com comes an excellent 2011 article on SB which states: "So far, ten countries (Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Chile, Canada, Australia, Spain and the U.S.) have bought Steel Beast Professional (at $125 a copy) for training their armor vehicle crews. The troops find the vehicle controls, and tactical situations to be realistic, and compelling. The game really gets the pucker factor going, and even before the pro version came along, troops were buying the commercial version and playing it for the professional, and entertainment, value."
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Frankie Kam: So my conclusion is this: with the exception of Taiwan's MA0A3 MBT, none of the other above tanks are modeled in SB. So that explains why most players are from the US and NATO countries. But it doesn't explain why the odd one, two or three players from South East Asia are playing this game. ;-)

Cheers,
Frankie Kam
Malaysia (that's just north of Singapore)

[Frankie]

Feast your eyes.

From Copybook.com's entry on AFV Sim:

What exactly is that control board thingy on the left?

From Copybook.com's entry on eSimGames:

A closer look at that vertical control thingy - AFV Gunnery and Crew Procedure Training


Gunnery Training Simulation


Virtual Simulation Exhibition


Look it's a Dell PC and a CRT! How old is this photo? Check out his headgear.

From Copybook.com's entry on MSE Weibull:

MSE produces world-leading all-electric loading trainers easy adaptable to any tank or artillery brand.


Money, money, money, must be funny, in a rich man's world.

Cheers
Frankie Kam

[Lumituisku]

It still doesn't explain why not to play, even when it is western armor. As far as I know. Peoples from all kind of countries like armor of other countries. Some are patriotic yes, but many are not. Other thing that I find is language problem. But even when so. I do not understand why there is not more players from other countries. It could be since of prize tag... I assume.

Also.. from your second post that control panel that you wonder about, it is from Finnish classroom and I clearly read some text from there. One area for thermal imager, one for weapon, one for laser.. and so on. I assume this is from for - leopard 2 training.

First pic is apparently from sweden... jugging from swedens flag on students suit. Third with cabin is most probably from Germany as I saw document about them using that

others im not sure off.. and not even interested where are those from.

Bottom one is interesting. Heh. I guess there is not enough of that kind of training either. Its easier for Russian tankers thought. On west there is always one who has to be lifting things time from time and be fast at that. Having strong arm to push sabos to barrel.

[Frankie]

Two more pics I stumbled across.

Nice hardware...


and how many quarters do I need to play this console?

[Asid]

OK time to start building...

[Frankie]

Link: http://store.madcatz.com/brands/saitek/?search=Saitek+Farming+Simulator+Vehicle+Side+Panel+for+PC+and+Mac
At least these don't cost thousands of moolah. Still, what can't you accomplish in SteeBeast with the humble mouse and keyboard?