The Antisocial Gamer

  Briefing... Under the long stewardship of BRIT44 and MY , the Panzer Elite code has been safely looked after and steadily evolved. With the original source in safe hands, it has never been frozen, only refined. With that quiet continuity, the simulator has reached a new technical and historical peak with Torch 2025 , a reworked Tunisian campaign built on modern DirectX 12 foundations. A Modern Core The 2025 build runs through a DirectX 12 wrapper with improved fog and accurate lighting. It’s compatible with Windows 8 through 11 and can be tuned in real time through the DDrawCompat interface (Shift + F11). Frame rates are smoother, the visuals cleaner, and the game finally performs on modern hardware as its designers had once hoped it might. Physics Grounded in Fact The armour and gunnery system has been recalibrated against empirical data from the Lorrin & Bird World War II penetration tables. Each ammunition type now has its own slope and velocity curve, and a ...

  Cupola View of MY's PE For a long time, I never quite connected with Michael Y’s version of Panzer Elite. The vehicles still used the classic 2-D wheels and the original optics, and because I usually play through the gunner’s view, that always felt like a bit of a throwback to the original PE release. So, I tended to admire his work from a distance rather than spend time in it. Today I finally gave Full Monty DX12 v58 a proper run, exactly as he intended, from the commander’s seat with the new in-game settings menu, and it completely surprised me! MY's new menu system   The 3D world now has a real sense of depth. Lighting plays beautifully across the terrain and let’s be clear, we’re not talking Battlefield 6 here; this is still a 1998 engine but with Michael’s additions it somehow feels fresher more believable. You can see other units moving about, carrying out their tasks in the distance, and it all feels very cohesive as   Panzer Elite  always does. One ...

Slomo's Sherman added to Ostpak 3 by Daskal. It still amazes me that a game released in 1999 can boot cleanly in 2025, load a mission, and still deliver that same heavy, deliberate feel of steel on soil. That alone feels like a small miracle. Much of that miracle, for me, comes down to Brit44 . While most developers moved on decades ago, he and MichaelY (MY) stayed. MY continues his work on the source code for his own mod, the Afrika campaign. I’ve always admired that kind of devotion. Without it, Panzer Elite might not still be here for any of us to talk about. Over the years I’ve come to see that a sim can survive long after its development slows, but it truly lives through the people who still care enough to shape it. For the outside world, it’s the modders who breathe life into it, who paint on that canvas, who still experiment, and who push the envelope. Every time Daskal releases an update, I can feel the energy return. Screenshots appear, old players reinstall, and su...

  Coming from an old-school tank-sim player, I went in hopeful. The name Panzer Elite still carries weight, a reminder of when tank games were slow, methodical, and full of consequence. I gave ctaPE a test: HUD off, single-tank focus, and an open mind. The good : the front end is well done and the missions are presented nicely. The Panzer IV G handles cleanly. Brake and clutch turns feel crisp and controllable. Building destruction is excellent, walls crumble convincingly, debris feels heavy, and explosions are satisfyingly physical. For a moment it seems like someone remembered what mass and traction should be! Rear of the tank hanging in mid air.   Then the illusion slips . Suspension is animated, not simulated. Ballistics seem to be hit-point based — good visuals, but impacts don’t feel dependent on angle or armour thickness. Optics are for show while HUD markers do all the real work. The turret spins far too fast — tuned for corridor play, not battlefield realism. Bocag...

  The Weight of What’s Next There’s a kind of quiet before an update like this, the feeling of standing in the rain, watching the horizon, knowing something’s coming but not knowing what it will bring. The next patch, with the new Ponyri map, carries more weight than most. It isn’t just another addition; it’s a chance for Tank Squad to show what it’s really capable of. The talk has been about open ground, long sightlines, and a battlefield that finally breathes. Whether that becomes reality or just another promise, we’ll soon find out. What makes openness matter in a tank sim isn’t just distance for distance’s sake, it’s what it does to the rhythm of play. Space changes everything: How you plan, how you scan, how every shell feels earned. When there’s room to breathe, you start to think like a crew, not just a player steering through scripted corridors. That’s what Ponyri represents to me, a test of whether Tank Squad can move beyond its tight boxes and become something that ...

The new Tank Squad 1.1.4 patch has landed, and it’s a solid one. This update focuses on polish, reliability, and immersion, the kind of maintenance release that makes the game feel tighter all round. There’s a lot to like here: A graphics overhaul with better shadows, sky, and terrain. Proper voiceovers for smoke use, ammo shortages, and ricochets. A working MG reload key (R by default) and multicrew toggle . Fixes for camera issues, repair station bugs, and the broken “Veterans of the War” achievement. Allied tanks now play the correct fire voiceovers, PTRDs can ricochet, and infantry finally aim from their weapons instead of their chest. The overmatch mechanic has been removed to improve ricochet handling, and tank conversion costs are now three times higher. It’s not the big feature update yet, that’s coming next with gunner direct control , battle saves , and a radial command menu but 1.1.4 lays a much stronger foundation for what’s ahead.

1. Intro / Disclaimer These days the name Panzer Elite can mean different things. This article is about the original 1999 classic — the OG Panzer Elite — a true WWII tank sim that carved its place in history and, thanks to a dedicated community, is still alive today. 2. Origins of OG Panzer Elite (1999) Released in 1999 by Wings Simulations and published by JoWooD, Panzer Elite arrived at the same time as Falcon 4.0 and M1 Tank Platoon II. It was very much a product of the late-90s sim boom: ambitious, technical, and deeply immersive. At its heart, OG PE was the first serious attempt to simulate WWII tank warfare on PC. You weren’t just driving a tank around a map — you were commanding a crew, fighting campaigns, and making tactical decisions that carried over from one mission to the next. 3. What Made OG PE Special   A few things set it apart: Crew simulation – You could switch between gunner, driver, commander, and loader, with each role making a difference. Lose ...

  The latest project chat focused on changes to colour and lighting. The updated pass already makes the battlefield feel more natural and balanced compared to earlier builds. There was also a mention of possible night operations. Nothing confirmed yet, but the screenshots give a good sense of how different the game might feel under moonlight. Small steps — but these changes add atmosphere and weight to Tank Squad’s battlefields.   Possible night operations? New lighting and colour balance pass     Earlier look for comparison

It’s been a long drought since Steel Fury and T-34 vs Tiger . No sim has really captured the feel of the open Russian steppe since those two. This week we saw the first in-game glimpse of Ponyri on the Tank Squad Discord. Ponyri isn’t out yet — this was an early test shot — but it already shows where Tank Squad needs to grow if it’s going to handle the steppe. The Steppe in Reality German Panzer III on the open steppe, September 1942 (Bundesarchiv). Endless horizon, no cover — this was the reality Tank Squad is trying to capture. The Steppe in Tank Squad   First in-game glimpse of Ponyri in Tank Squad. At 1.8 km, the steppe demands more than short-range AI and corridor combat. What the Dev Said Robert [HQ] didn’t sugar-coat what Ponyri revealed in testing: “we’re playing with Ponyri distances and we have to uplift the rest of the game for it, on such distances enemy AI is still pinpoint accurate after 1 shot” “most of the time some of these hits just bounced off ...