Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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Kasey Chang
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Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

Post by Kasey Chang »

Tank Mechanic Simulator tries to emulate the "Car Mechanic Simulator" formula: get work orders to fix specific tanks for other collectors, while trying to build up your own collection displayed in a museum (which also generates income). However, the execution leaves a lot to be desired due to lack of a manual and generally UNhelpful help screens / tutorials.

Tank Mechanic Simulator is basically a subject swap of Car Mechanic Simulator with a few aspect changes. While it does teach a little bit of history, it is so simplified that while it looks cool, it's a bit of meh on the mechanical front as well as a bit tedious on the playing front, as there's really no diagnostics or sorts. The only real "fun" is to take your repaired tank out on a course and drive it around, or dig a tank out of the mud and restore it to mint condition. Both are more tedious than it should be.

You basically start in your workshop where you can put a tank or two (or more) and go to your PC, then get emails inquiring whether you can do some repair work for other collectors, who apparently found tank wrecks... and a mail order shop where parts for almost any WW2 tank can be ordered and delivered instantly. (!) Later when you buy blueprints you can even build your own parts, but that's for later.

So you answer "yes, I'll take the order", and this wreck of a tank appears in your workshop. Rusted, dirty, etc. Your job is to de-rust it, then sandblast it, then remove every part you can reach, as well as remove the turret and the engine. Oh, and weld any holes you find (battle damage). Then you remove every part you can reach from the turret and engine as well, and some engines are detailed enough to include camshafts, rod bearings, and more. The varied detail is kinda annoying. The Soviet tanks like KV-2 have VASTLY reduced part count than, say, the German Panzer IV rev M.

Once you got the tank taken apart, you go to parts storage, and initially, contract out the parts to be refurbed by other folks at a cost (rather minuscule), while another button (very hard to find) lets you order any missing parts (remember, the tanks came in wrecked) from the parts merchant (!?) and that can cost quite a bit, but not THAT costly.

Then it's time for you to put the tank back together, one part at a time. And this, on a German tank, can be quite frustrating due to high part count instead of abstracted like a Soviet tank. The exterior, after sandblasting, will also have to be primered, then painted. But after a full assembly, you have a drivable tank, that may even shoot, if you found it with some old shells that can be refurbed. (!?!!)

If this is a repair contract, you have a tablet computer that has "organizer" app that will tell you if you have completed the repair, upon which you hit "finish order" and the tank vanishes, and your account is that much richer. You also gained reputation which can be used to purchase "upgrades" for your shop, like faster tools, less waste building parts, discounted parts if buying, and so on.

Apart from the repair orders, there are occasional excavation opportunities. Basically, you go into a large area, and you need to find the buried tank. As this is a former battlefield, it's also littered with rifles, handguns, and other sourvenirs... Which you can look at, but not grab. Unfortunately, the area is far too large to be searched with just a metal detector. You will also get a magnetometer later, but IMHO, wait until you get the drone upgrade. It's not explained that the tank can only be inside the "excavation area", it seems. You just get a circle, unexplained, and it was NOT obvious that you need to search "in there".

Once you get the drone upgrade, use it (actually, its ground penetrating radar) to grid search the map for a huge blob of metal. Unfortunately, this feature was a bit misrepresented, as basically it involved you giving nav points on a 2D map on your tablet, not flying a drone manually. You can't even SEE the drone in 1st person, like you can drive all over the area with your old jeep or quad. You can use a shovel, but with a huge area to check, there's really no point in doing it manually. And the metal detectors usually only pick up the rifle or pistol and the odd objects, unless you directly stumble upon the tank.

Once you found the large blob on the map, you switch to "dig" mode and click on the spot, and if the area is swampy you get to deploy a pump to pump out the water, then you get to use a pressure washer to wash out mud from parts you can see, and open hatches and whatnot to keep washing the exposed bits. Then click "load onto trailer" and voila it's on a trailer. Leave the area and it'll appear back in your workshop, where you'd work on it like you repaired other tanks, except when you finish, this goes onto your "museum floor".

There is an attempt to make a viable economy where you do charge admission for your museum, which obviously have few visitors to start, but as you add to your collection (and expand your acreage to add more displays) you can start charging more, which adds to your income, not that I ever was short on money except the initial 2-3 repair jobs. You can take a loan from the bank, with the restriction that you have to PAY BACK your first loan before you can get a second one. But they will lend you up to 200K no questions asked... at a hefty interest, of course.

Money is not a problem as the first tank or two, that claim to pay up to 50K, actually paid closer to 200K, not sure why. I borrowed 100K to fix the first tank or two, and that's enough for me to pay back the loan and have a reserve fund to make more repairs.

Due to lack of documentation the first few tank repairs were missing parts and whatnot and I had to scroll through tedious list to find which part I forgot to install (and here, a lot of part installations don't have to be in order. I was able to add a gear to a transmission inside the tank without taking the whole thing apart, for example). And before I found the "tank analysis" bit I was finding missing parts one at a time, and constantly flipping back and forth between "buy part" and "install part". When I found tank analysis, it gave me a "order all missing parts" button which made life MUCH EASIER.

Later you can buy "blueprints" for a tank, which allows you to make your own parts, provided you salvaged enough material from your private junkyard.

All in all, while the details of the tanks are good, the details only seem to exist on German tanks and maybe British tanks, and minimal stuff on Soviet tanks (I haven't repaired any American ones yet). That's a bit... inconsistent. And what's the point of excavation if you don't explain how it really works? And the repairs become a bit tedious. Excavation is a bit of a letdown, as I basically had to fight the game to understand what's going on. All this for a chance to drive the tank around "proving grounds", then make a virtual museum around it... I'm not certain it's "worth it", at least not a full price.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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A few bits to add, but nothing changes the overall rating: a bit of "meh"

While the idea is "sound", the execute is a fail. The game's "assembly" interface failed to display the objects from further to closest in order of precedence. I think I gave the example before: if you're trying to assembly a transmission, you have to put the gears in (in mid-air), then place the shell behind and in front, which makes absolutely no sense.

The developer was apparently not native English speakers, as there are many weird translation problems, such as M26 Pershing having "missile storage", as well as some historical problems, like giving the M4A3E8 aka "Easy 8" dry ammo storage instead of the historical wet storage (water filled jacket around the ammo storage which cuts down on fire risks).

So the play loop goes roughly as follows:

Go to PC to check on latest repair orders as well as potential excavations, then pick which ones you want to work on.

De-rust, sandblast, primer, and paint the hulk that appeared in the workbay (1, 2 or 3 which is the paintbooth)

Remove turret and engine to respective sub-assembly bays

Disassemble all three, down to no extra parts showing. Climb up and down if needed.

Either subcontract out the parts to be refurbed or do it yourself in your parts shop

Buy or make your own substitute part if those are missing altogether (or destroyed in your disassembly)

De-rust, sandblast, primer, and paint as needed to the parts (engine parts don't need primer/paint)

Re-assemble engine / turret, and chassis as needed.

Reassemble vehicle

Check vehicle analysis to ensure every part has been installed, and add them if they are not. Sometimes you may have missed small parts that you did not disassemble (because they are not always visible from the various viewpoints in the interior and exterior, such as some fuel tank caps and hoses).

Once vehicle has reached 100% assembled and 100% condition, the vehicle can be "returned" to owner, or if owned by you, to be sold, or moved to yard/warehouse/museum as you wish.

Excavation IMHO, is a rather weak link. Basically, you drive an old jeep or newer quad with a shovel, magnetometer, a tablet, and a metal detector onto a field, where you will find a "circle" that says excavation area if you pick up the tablet. The tank is in the center of it, no guessing needed. However, there can be other collectibles like rifles, LMGs, SMGs, helmets, medals, pistols, and maybe other stuff left in the ground. Dig them up and collect them for your museum (discussed later). You need to verify the spot with your various instruments, then a shovel.

You can get stuck on the field, and it'll cost you $1000 to get a tow truck to unstuck you.

If you get the drone upgrade, you can assign it nav points, and it'll scan the ground for you (visible on the tablet only).

Once you've identified the "big blob" of metal, which is the tank, within the excavation area, you can click on "dig" controls (instead of "drone") then click on where you want the crew to dig (which costs $2000). If the crew finds the location acceptable, voila, you now have a hole in the ground, where you either find something, or nothing.

If you do find something, it can be dry or flooded. If flooded, you need to go find the pump and start it.

Now you can see the hulk in the ground. You then have to grab the pressure washer and wash it so it's at least 40% clean before the trailer would pick it up. Once you got that, radial menu / load on trailer, and it's loaded. Then just "leave for workshop", and the hulk is delivered back to workshop of as if it was shipped in by another client to be refurbed.

The paint booth lets you add some camo patterns and decals to make the tank more period-proper and each decal can be scaled, camo transparency adjusted, and so on.

The museum itself can be expanded with more reputation points and you can rearrange everything from which vehicle goes where to what goes into each display case (all those weapons, helmets, medals you collected) and display board (they are premade, so it's a matter of selection from menu).

Which should help you charge more for admission.

There are a few bonus features, like a "yard" with a bit of obstacle course for your tank (and one of the refurb orders may require you to run the tank through the course). And then there's "proving grounds" where you can fire your main gun in a target shooting event.

But most of the attention is in the repairing, and as said before, the detail level varies greatly among the different vehicles.

All in all, it's interesting, but the UI can be frustrating, so it's a bit of a meh.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

Post by Kasey Chang »

If you verified the location of the tank with digging, then the rest of the dig is free, and hauling the hulk back to workshop only costs $1000.

If you just tell the crew to dig where the blob from the ground penetrating radar is, and not having verified it yourself, then it costs $2000 to excavate the spot you indicated (and it can be off), then $1000 to haul the hulk.

Given that I got PLENTY of money (on my 30+ tank repair/refurb and I have over 6 mil) that few thousand is pocket change.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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My overall impression of the game is it just feels "half-baked". With multiple "game activities" they could quite decide which one to polish.

There's the "rebuild", where you fix up a vehicle (either by contract or one of your excavations)

There's the "excavation" where you use metal detector, magnetometer, or drone with ground penetrating radar to search the field (and since the tank is always in the middle of the circle, you explore with the drone to fine extra stuff for your museum.

There's the tank driving (in the yard) or testing (on the proving grounds)

And finally, there's the museum layout, where you get to move the tanks and lay them out the way you want complete with additional display cases (for the collectibles) and displayboards.

The rebuild is the best done, but the only rewards you get are money (buy blueprints and/or parts) and prestige points (upgrades), both of which are too plentiful (I got all upgrades by like 15th vehicle) and the model's detail level varies greatly. The early ones lack detail, while the most recent are almost TOO detailed.

The excavation felt more like a chore, as they only have a few maps for this, and after a couple times you have seen this map before, and the process is always the same: the tank is in the middle of the excavation circle, no need to use the detection equipment. You use them to dig up extra collectibles like guns, rifles, LMGs, helmets, medals, and so on. If you dig on the tank to verify the find, the crew will not charge you the $2000 digging fee. Once you dig on the tank, you may or may not have to perform one extra step: engage the pump to pump out water. Then you use a pressure water on the tank and blast it until you get 30% or 40% clean, at which point you can load it onto the trailer, and it'll be delivered to your workshop for $1000. It's getting repetitive, and $2000 is very little to pay when I have like 6 million after repairing 30+ vehicles. Why must I dig up the collectible myself? Can't I pay someone to do it?

The tank driving is a bit of meh. Haven't tried shooting yet, but I don't expect much.

Finally, the museum layout is a serious "meh" as well. There is some good stuff here, but the UI is lacking, and it's a bit of PITA to set up the display boards to match the vehicle (it had to be done manually for every board) as well as set up display cases and put in the artifacts, and there's no way to tell if the patrons like your layout (all you're told is "you cannot charge too much or people won't come" (or something akin to that).

None of them really provide much "feedback" to keep you playing.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

Post by Paingod »

Kind of sounds like Mech Mechanic Simulator, though I suspect they all kind of blur together over time. The core gameplay is close.

I love tanks and Mechs. I don't think I could get into these games unless they were very well executed and detailed. Like MechWarrior Mechs that you literally strip down to repair and customize between battles and your work impacted your performance on the field.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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Agreed, yet it seems they change the system on EVERY Mech game they make. MechCommander had a different system than MechCommander 2 (the isometric RTS games) vs all the Mechwarrior games vs. Battletech (the HBS one), vs the mods for BT(HBS) like RogueTech... not to mention the DLCs...

But I guess they need to make the "mechanic" game interesting without giving you the most interesting part... Hahaha. :) The car mechanic game sorta got it when they added the "performance tuning" and "junk yard strip" thing to make it more "business like", and make each repair job a bit of mystery (please fix, but you find the problem). The tank mechanic game doesn't really have that. Each job is the same: strip the hulk, repair all the parts, add the missing parts, reassemble, done. The extra bits like test drive, excavation, and museum just feel like "after thoughts".

I personally would have made the missions timed, or a bit more of a mystery, where you are an expert tank restorer called out to owner's garage / workshop as a consultant and you need to fix this vehicle in "X time" because they need it for a parade, a sale, or whatever. Do this enough times and you get invited to a "simulated" TV show where you are asked to fix a tank you never touched before in Y hours, If you make it to the end you get a "tank restorer of the year" and a cumulative time (for your own satisfaction), and encouraged to play the "show" through again for better time against a "challenger". :)
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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Okay, turns out there *is* a way to test the price you set for museum admission. You can set the slider of the price and see what's the potential revenue vs. attendee. However, the differences are slight and optimization barely helps. My museum has like 11 vehicles so far and I think price was set to 15. And revenue per month was just under 11000. Turns out I can set it to 10, and I'd barely break 11000. Meh. The economy is pretty broken.

I've rebuilt 40+ tanks now, and my bank account is now > 8.5 million. And I can't seem to find more Soviet tanks, like T-34's or the other American vehicles, or the rarer German variants like a Pz III J or Pz IV M or something like that.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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Rebuilt more than 50 tanks now, and just dug up another Stug that I sold immediately. Already have one on display. I need 4 tanks to complete my collection, not that they'd fit in the museum anyway. I already have the two lame British tanks moved into storage.

Also ran into a bugged level where I scanned the excavation area with the drone but found NOTHING. Had to abandon that one.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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So, I've been fiddling with this as a side game. Is there some mechanism/interface element that's supposed to show me disassembly order, or do I just have to right click everything randomly until something comes off?
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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There's no "order" per se, though I'd recommend taking off the turret and the engine (if applicable), then go from the outside in.

Keep in mind that a lot of the stuff doesn't need to be disassembled to be refurbished. That's the way the game works. You can derust, sandblast, primer, AND paint most of the tank and its components without taking them off the tank... But I'm probably spoiling the surprise. :) You may want to watch some of my videos where I basically fix a tank up in like 20-30 minutes.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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Kasey Chang wrote: Sun Oct 10, 2021 4:59 pm There's no "order" per se, though I'd recommend taking off the turret and the engine (if applicable), then go from the outside in.

Keep in mind that a lot of the stuff doesn't need to be disassembled to be refurbished. That's the way the game works. You can derust, sandblast, primer, AND paint most of the tank and its components without taking them off the tank... But I'm probably spoiling the surprise. :) You may want to watch some of my videos where I basically fix a tank up in like 20-30 minutes.
Thanks. I'm still on my first vehicle from my first contract - a Greyhound. They haven't explained anything about processing it (cleaning, sandblasting, painting, etc.) They just told me to take it apart, and the engine has so many tiny honking pieces that it's taking forever just guessing what to pull.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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Pay attention to the "percentage" when you point the cursor at the engine. You can tell if you're done processing it.

The general steps for engine, which doesn't need primer and paint, is just derust, sandblast, and add missing parts. Most engines are pretty simple in that they don't make you disassemble individual piston rings though they may make you do the spark plugs and cylinder heads. I think the Panzer IIc would make you disassemble the valves and the rockers, but in general the details are very uneven, with some vehicles super-detailed and some with VERY vague part divisions.

If you point at the vehicle with cursor and right-click, one of the choices leads to a part breakdown and percentage of each category that's ok. One of which is a full list of what's missing, so you can just buy all of them at once, rather than buy them as you find them. You will need that.

The exterior bits would require de-rust, sandblast, primer, then paint. You can often do it with the part still attached to the vehicle, rather than taken apart, THEN pay someone else to do it from your parts inventory.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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Oh, and my collection is complete EXCEPT for Maus, which they added recently. But apparently those are super difficult to find?!

The Devs said they'll make a DLC with even MORE tanks, and fix up the lack of details in some of the first ones.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

Post by Holman »

Kasey Chang wrote: Sun Oct 10, 2021 8:03 pm Oh, and my collection is complete EXCEPT for Maus, which they added recently. But apparently those are super difficult to find?!
Considering that the Germans built two Maus prototypes, both of which were captured and disassembled by the Soviets, I would imagine that they're pretty hard to find.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

Post by Kasey Chang »

Okay, here's my personal recommended play sequence to "fix up" a tank / armored car

Derust the entire hulk, all sections (probably need the ladder to reach the top surfaces

Patch holes in the tank (battle damage) with the welding kit as needed (beware, some holes may be hidden by a part in front), by looking for a hole and surrounding black patch around it.

Remove the turret (if applicable) and engine to their respective stands

Sandblast the entire engine until complete, add missing parts as needed. One small bit often missed is the oil dipstick. Engine parts don't need primer and paint.

Sandblast the turret both inside and out, remove parts that had to be replaced then primer and paint the rest. NOTE: In the early days, some bolts may be rusted enough that cannot be removed, and you either need to upgrade yourself wrench to air wrench, or use the sledgehammer and break the part to continue with disassembly.

Sandblast the remaining hulk inside and out, remove parts that had to be replaced, and primer and paint the rest. Pay CLOSE attention to the suspension parts. SOME will have to be removed to be refurbished, but MOST can be done without removal from the vehicle.

Use the radial menu, and one of them leads you to buy ALL the missing parts. You can go cheap and buy rusted parts, THEN send them out to be refurbed, along with the stuff you removed earlier, or you can buy painted parts or any stage in between. Up to you.

Refurb all the parts by sending them out from the warehouse menu.

Install all the relevant parts, now that you have just about everything. Finish one section at a time, like drivetrain, turret exterior, turret interior, and so on. Add primer / paint as needed to areas you missed previously. Point the cursor at a part and it'll tell you what it's missing, if any. Once section is done it will say condition 100%.

Once you've assembled EVERYTHING, you should have no parts left over. And everything should be 100%. If it's not, look up the list of parts in the status, and one of them would probably show it's not painted or primered or sandblasted or something, and it'd be a really small and obscure part that's buried deep within the tank. :)

Now you can send the vehicle back to its owner, put it in your museum (even if temporarily), or sell it (if it belongs to you), or even put it in the warehouse.

Now you can sell any extra parts you picked up, if any.

And that concludes the build process.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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Thanks! I think the problem was BTS (Bad Tutorial Syndrome.)

They give you a tutorial, and at one point they tell you to go to the computer and accept the new contract. When you go to the computer there are multiple contracts, including some advanced ones. If you guess wrong (which I did), you can end up with a full contract without having been taught how to actually do what it entails. They'd only shown me how to disassemble, send the part out for cleaning, and then reassemble it, so that was what I thought they wanted me to do with the full contract. I proceeded to do so while waiting for another tutorial message to pop up (which it obviously never did - I'd left the tutorial without realizing it.) They really should limit the options to the tutorial until you either finish it or opt out, or you can get yourself in over your head thinking you're following the tutorial.

So, I restarted in another slot and made sure that I didn't get suckered into a full contract before finishing the tutorial.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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As you can see from my TONS of videos on this game, it took me a while to gain all the knowledge and optimized my "workflow". :D
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

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You know, picked this up in a bundle or something a while back and largely ignored it. I loaded it up planning on just checking it out for an hour or two (I've been studying historical tanks a bit lately, and wanted to see if the 3d models were any good.) I didn't expect much, but I've found I really enjoy it. For on thing, it's cathartic. There's something satisfying about sitting down with a destroyed wreck, putting on a podcast in the background, and turning it into something new.

And I'm learning quite a bit, too, about nomenclature, about the general structure of the vehicles, about the little bits and bobbles and what they do. It isn't an entertaining game, as such. The whole museum simulation angle and the progression is pretty bland, but it is an oddly satisfying game. I will likely take a look at the Plane version at a later date (I already own it.) I also own one of the various Car Mechanic Simulators (an older one), and I can see it getting me past the intimidation factor for real cars.

This is not a genre I expected to enjoy, so it's a pleasant surprise.
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

Post by Kasey Chang »

Do keep in mind that some part labels are not accurate. The Sherman HVSS (aka the "Easy 8") should not have ammo storage labeled as "missile storage". And these tanks have way too much ammo stored inside when you recover them as wrecks.

Don't forget the various armor- and tank-related podcasts and video channels like the Chieftain and Sofilein (sp?)

But yes, they are interesting diversions. I personally find the plane version a bit too complex and detailed, but it's probably just me. I got to the spitfire (or is that Hurricane?) (2nd plane) and basically stopped.
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Blackhawk
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Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

Post by Blackhawk »

Yeah, I know the accuracy isn't 100%, but the layout is informative. I'll check out those channels (links?), although I've also been getting some good info from The Tank Museum.

I did two things yesterday that sucked some of the joy out.

First, I went out on a recovery. I'd just unlocked the drone. Manually flying that thing to give complete coverage of the field was utterly tedious, as was digging up the quarter-sized medals that it found all over the place. I wanted some collectibles for the museum, but that was decided unfun. The bright side was that I saved uncovering the tank for last, and it turned out to be a good one - a Tiger. Given that my museum only had a half track and an M20 armored car, I was happy.

Second, I rebuilt the recovered Tiger. The bolts on those road wheels were a wee bit much, especially after I'd finished, realized that there was one unprimed torsion bar in the very rear that couldn't be reached, and had to take off half of one side's wheels to get to it. Between the drone flying, the searching for medals, and the road wheels, I was about tediumed out.
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
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Kasey Chang
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Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 4:20 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA
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Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

Post by Kasey Chang »

You can define a series of waypoints for the drone to follow, just hold down the shift key and you can define like 10-20 waypoints. I usually have it criss-cross the dig area.

And yes, the Tiger's overlapping roadwheels are a PITA to repair. One more reason I try to remove at little as possible. A lot of the stuff can be repaired "in-place" so to speak.

You will need to spend some upgrades on getting the air wrench, less you want to engage the grinder more frequently. With the air wrench, every bolt will come off. No more stuck bolts, period.
My game FAQs | Playing: She Will Punish Them, Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius, The Outer Worlds
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Blackhawk
Posts: 43493
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Tank Mechanic Simulator -- interesting but flawed execution

Post by Blackhawk »

Yeah, I have the repair flow down pretty well now. And I did use the waypoints, but it was still tedious gameplay.

What I really need is the tool belt!
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
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