Heh thanks,
just for kicks here is a little chicken scratch doodle of a battlecruiser and light cruiser of the same Navy as the aircraft, since aerodreadnoughts are rule of cool.
(http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/1395/aerobczn0.jpg)
cookie if you can recognize Unrivalled 's lines
And in slightly more serious news, a couple older shots of some aerodreadnought "verse" capital Ships. A von Kliest Zitadelle class carrier and Gryphon Undine class light cruiser. Neither of these are really final versions though, both have had a bit of refinement here and there especially the Zitadelle which is one of the oldest designs i did for the verse.
Zitadelle:
(http://i31.tinypic.com/250in14.jpg)
Undine:
(http://i32.tinypic.com/35mmtdg.jpg)
I think that if we're seriously doing this, the first thing I want to do is do some heavy concept stuff.What? You aren't on the voice acting and superfluous details stage yet? Get your act together, man! ;)
I still throw my old Crimson Skys 2 disk in the XBOX 360, plays great on the widescreen. :D
But isn't there a rumoured sequel in the works?
Guys, the big hurdle here (as for any mod like this) is models. Models, models, models. As I said, I'm not a modeller, so someone else has to do those, or point me in the direction of released models that we can use for this.
Can the FSO engine support gravity and basic lift? Frankly I'd support this mod if you can get gravity working...... cause I'd just snag it to use for some epic atmosphere missions of my own :P
Can the FSO engine support gravity and basic lift? Frankly I'd support this mod if you can get gravity working...... cause I'd just snag it to use for some epic atmosphere missions of my own :P
Well, I am a coder.....
Can the FSO engine support gravity and basic lift? Frankly I'd support this mod if you can get gravity working...... cause I'd just snag it to use for some epic atmosphere missions of my own :P
Well, I am a coder.....
If you make gravity work you will be forever enshrined and revered.
I took a quick shot at it recently...unfortunately, the way FS2 physics work makes it a real pain to try to apply arbitrary force vectors.
Détente!
1940something! A generation ago, the botched attempt on Archduke Franz Ferdinand's life alerted the monarchies of Europe--powerful sociopolitical and economic forces were at work, and the vulnerability of the elite to the depredations of anarchists, communists, and anti-royalists posed a grave threat to the European way of life and, therefore, the world. In an effort to preserve the delicate balance of power, a conference was held in Brussels to discuss a loosening of international tensions with an eye toward the preservation of existing power structures. When Kaiser Wilhelm arrived at the conference in person aboard a spectacular airship, the course of history was set--the wealthy and powerful would take to the skies, with military and commercial interests soon to follow.
In the ensuing years, populist movements have indeed sprung up and taken hold in the countryside, but an improving quality of life stemming from technological advances and increased economic activity has undercut their power--the powerful need only secure small areas around their airfields to ensure that trade continues unabated, and commerce is king. Nations still strive to weaken and gain leverage over their rivals, but must do so without risking being dragged down along with them. Alliances shift rapidly, and with a steady stream of new aircraft from North America available to all buyers, no army can be put at too steep a technological disadvantage. Nationalist propaganda ensures that new recruits are always ready to serve their countries in the regular air corpses, and working in the merchant fleets is a way out of poverty for many in the younger generation. In addition, many pilots from other nations are employed as privateers for when matters need to be handled in a more indirect manner. With trench warfare seen as a brutal and indecisive waste for all parties, the map of Europe has remained unchanged for over fifteen years, and all eyes are turned towards the heavens...
The Players:
Austria Hungary- Mozart in a Messerschmitt!
French Third Republic- Armed with je ne sais quoi!
German Empire- Kaiser Kickass and his Red Baron Brigade!
Kingdom of Italy- Voooooooooolaaaaaareeeeee!
Ottoman Empire- You won't be putting your feet up on these guys!
Poland- How could we forget Poland!
Russian Empire- Yes, the white variety!
United Kingdom- HMAS Hood!
And don't forget those neutral Nordic countries, or the Spanish, or North America, etc. Lots of fun here with the plotting and the scheming and the dakka.
As for the mod, a couple generic fighters (say, a fast monoplane and a maneuverable biplane), maybe a stationary observation balloon and a freighter (Zeppelin) would be all you really needed to get the feel for the thing and hone the atmospheric engine to perfection, then you could build from there.
The dessicated remains of Otto von Bismarck serve as the symbolic core (and, some say, spiritual engine) of a titanic steam-driven humanoid leviathan that stalks the borders of Germany - Blood and Iron Man!So once again grammar fail leads to creative bonus. I will draw the line at flying werewolves though, that's just silly.
:nervous:
The dessicated remains of Otto von Bismarck serve as the symbolic core (and, some say, spiritual engine) of a titanic steam-driven humanoid leviathan that stalks the borders of Germany - Blood and Iron Man!So once again grammar fail leads to creative bonus. I will draw the line at flying werewolves though, that's just silly.
:nervous:
I'm just laying the groundwork to sue you later on when you strike it rich with my brilliant "Air Corpse" idea ;)
I actually don't think you should use this, I just wanted to describe Blood and Ironman.
I'd love to see such a mod!
I am atm a bit short on time ( reallife issues as well as modeling ships for FS CoDA) but i can a bit of everything except coding and music stuff.
This is a fighter i did some time ago for another game, which was inspired a bit by WWII planes and Star Wars ships. The Cockpit is just a placeholder, the final mesh has a Spitfire-ish cockpit layout, thx to newman and Brand-X
Would love to see something similar in the mod, if it gets launched.
(http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/uu258/_Angelus_/FS2%20Ships/FFRe5.png)
Wow that is just, wow =D How did you smooth that out so well?
All my models are blocky and rigid and smoothmesh just ruins them.
And make the main menu like this:
(http://www.mobygames.com/images/i/24/49/123749.jpeg)
First off I just gotta say, that first concept you've got going is FREAKIN SWEET! I wish I could draw like that.
Secondly, the idea for a mod that like that is FREAKING SWEET!
I would be interesting in helping with this kind of mod. Voice actor maybe? I'm still WAY too noobish at programming in C++ to make the code itself. I don't even know what language I would do this in even if I was a C++ programmer :P
Maybe you should consider using placeholders, otherwise I don't think this project ever takes off the ground. Scooby Doo's Wing Commander ships could be decent placeholders.
Yes, placeholders are a good idea.
ethaninja: It's simple, you just take a model that has roughly the same properties as the model you want to end up with, and use it to test out stuff. That way you can test and refine the gameplay while you're waiting on the finished assets.
Well, I think I'm going to start setting this up in earnest over the weekend.
A fluff proposal: The anti-grav substance is normally totally inert; it's only when you get a big pile of it together and run a direct current through it that it exhibits its unique properties.
I'd love to see such a mod!
I am atm a bit short on time ( reallife issues as well as modeling ships for FS CoDA) but i can a bit of everything except coding and music stuff.
This is a fighter i did some time ago for another game, which was inspired a bit by WWII planes and Star Wars ships. The Cockpit is just a placeholder, the final mesh has a Spitfire-ish cockpit layout, thx to newman and Brand-X
Would love to see something similar in the mod, if it gets launched.
*snip*
Wow that is just, wow =D How did you smooth that out so well?
All my models are blocky and rigid and smoothmesh just ruins them.
I'd love to see such a mod!
I am atm a bit short on time ( reallife issues as well as modeling ships for FS CoDA) but i can a bit of everything except coding and music stuff.
This is a fighter i did some time ago for another game, which was inspired a bit by WWII planes and Star Wars ships. The Cockpit is just a placeholder, the final mesh has a Spitfire-ish cockpit layout, thx to newman and Brand-X
Would love to see something similar in the mod, if it gets launched.
*snip*
Wow that is just, wow =D How did you smooth that out so well?
All my models are blocky and rigid and smoothmesh just ruins them.
There's no special trick to it. I'd like to point out that the current Firemoth mesh has 9k polys, as it was built for a other game.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Like the concept of the mod sofar. I hope it follows the Battletech philosophie: the enemy is not necessarily "evil" ( as in Darth Vader-evil).
Not to discourage you or anything, ethaninja, but could you ask your questions in a separate thread or via PMs?
That anti-grav particle makes me think of the trapar used in Eureka-Seven anime series, though that one was present in massive amounts on the very atmosphere.
If one the states have access to this special particle, would it be safe to say all other military powers will not have access to big flying destroyers?
A thought that I had while reading about the flugstein stuff. How difficulte might it be to produce this?
I mean you said everyone knows how to produce these but does that also mean that everyone has the capacity to do so in a large mass?
What if smaller countries don't have the capacitys but still want some protection against these flying fortresses? I guess it would lead to some kind of specialised technological developments.
Concidering the range such a air-battleship would have I think something that could hurt it would be something like a big missle with a semi-guidance. (Like there are cable guided missiles today.)
Else there could be a development of "Sniper-AA" guns. Think of a 88 flak just bigger or so ^_^
Third and maybe the cheapest and most mobile weapon could be the development of air-torpedos that are used by fighter-bomber planes.
I think that could improve mission variaty a bit. Some options could be to take out incomming big-missiles, going close to the ground and search for these pesty 88 flaks or get the fighter-bombers before they deliver their payload.
Fugium? Reluctium? Maxwellium? Viagrium (it does get you up)? Flubber? It all depends on the tone of the mod I suppose...A fluff proposal: The anti-grav substance is normally totally inert; it's only when you get a big pile of it together and run a direct current through it that it exhibits its unique properties.What do the civilizations of the galaxy call it?
World War 1 happened. The point of departure for this universe is sometime afterwardsSo...no Flying Hussars and Habsburg Dragoonships? :(
So...no Flying Hussars and Habsburg Dragoonships? :(
Fugium? Reluctium? Maxwellium? Viagrium (it does get you up)? Flubber? It all depends on the tone of the mod I suppose...A fluff proposal: The anti-grav substance is normally totally inert; it's only when you get a big pile of it together and run a direct current through it that it exhibits its unique properties.What do the civilizations of the galaxy call it?
World War 1 happened. The point of departure for this universe is sometime afterwardsSo...no Flying Hussars and Habsburg Dragoonships? :(
Well, it does have its appeal, don't get me wrong.
But I sooo want to do a mission where you assault Albert Einstein's mountain hideout....
In the end, it really doesn't matter at this point. I like the 1940s as a playing field simply because of the level of technology available. This whole thing could work earlier, but that would mean dragiing Tesla into this, and I'd rather not do that.
Somebody hasn't played Mass Effect! ;)Drat, I knew something was going over my head there! It totally sounds like a terrible pun setup: What do you get when you run a direct current through an Electrombonium pile? But yes, I haven't played Mass Effect, though it's on my list for the distant future. The last few times I've had enough money to think about getting a new console, I've spent it on new samples and studio monitors
, but in addition, the right-wing movement never crystallized in Germany, as a certain Hitler-shaped focal point was missing.
, but in addition, the right-wing movement never crystallized in Germany, as a certain Hitler-shaped focal point was missing.
Not to make a political argument but the idea that it was a right wing movement doesn't really jar right with me considering they are called the "National Socialist Workers Party" where 'Socialist' is by definition a left-wing movement and that they are fascist dictators which represent total government control... which is also a definition of far left in contrast to far right which would equate to total anarchy.... Obviously there was not anarchy after the big N's took control. And they were anti capitalism too, which is a right leaning philosophy. Sooo... how is this classified as a right movement anyways if they don't run the 'Small Government' mantra :confused:? Am I missing something :confused:?
You don't have to get all worked up on me, I just never really got how they were called that. Never saw that graph either, everyone keeps slapping the single lined graph at me and for some reason they get labeled on the far right side and given their name I never really got it. Sorry about that General :shaking:.
No problem, sorry if I came off too snappy. I was just afraid this awesome thread was gonna derail into GenDisc territory.
A. There is no CS2.
B. Notice the date on the article Dec 8th 2007.... they're not doing anything.
A. There is no CS2.
B. Notice the date on the article Dec 8th 2007.... they're not doing anything.
A. There is the PC game that came out in 2000 (aka Crimson Skies 1) and then the XBOX game CS -The High Road to Revenge that came out in 2003 (aka Crimson Skies 2).
B. Here is an article dated Aug 2nd, 2009.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6214624.html
Granted, nothing has been formally announced, but IP is currently with a company that would like a sequel. Probably a few years off though.
Groovy. I'd be happy to change whatever parts you think don't fit and finish catching it up to the time period the game takes place in--I have some cool thoughts for how to handle the introduction of the flying ships and stuff, and really it's just a fun kind of scenario to write about. Sort of reminds me of the Young Indiana Jones series, starring Sean Patrick Flanery's hair.
Cool, I'll start typing it out. Do you have any preference for how I should present it (ie one entry at a time or the whole thing all at once, or just do it via PMs or something)?Groovy. I'd be happy to change whatever parts you think don't fit and finish catching it up to the time period the game takes place in--I have some cool thoughts for how to handle the introduction of the flying ships and stuff, and really it's just a fun kind of scenario to write about. Sort of reminds me of the Young Indiana Jones series, starring Sean Patrick Flanery's hair.
Go right ahead. We'll see how this works.
The Swiss Watch (continued)Good/bad/ok?
Other governments soon adapted this profitable model to their own circumstances, offering similar salvage services and friendly borders to their currently non-hostile neighbors. Although all countries were technically allies under the League of Nations, the need to prevent any potential rival from dominating the trade routes made for frequently rotating "friends of convenience" among the powers. This highly competitive environment led to the fat being trimmed out of international operations, with each country tailoring its air force and commercial fleet to press any possible geographical or technological advantage it possessed. It was during this period that the RAF perfected parasite fighter technology for its then-record overland connections--the lucrative London-Cairo-Delhi route made a round trip in less than half the total distance of the earlier African circuit, but it also carried its convoys within striking distance of almost every major player. The French were slower to adapt their tactics and technologically, suffering a series of humiliating losses both to Sardinian pirates and American privateers based in neutral Spain. Their failure to secure critical supply lines contributed to the gradual crumbling of French Africa, a process expedited by sharp devisions within parliament as to France's future as a colonial power.
Death and Transfiguration
The Weimar Republic by this point was teetering on the brink of revolution. German shipping was preyed upon at a disproportionate rate--a popular joke of the day involved the Zeppelin "Faul Ausfahrt" misconstruing a radio message and being surrendered to some sort of unlikely pirate, most famously a group of Polish nuns. With the Luftwaffe severely limited under the Treaty of Zurich, there was little to deter this piracy, resulting in the country's business interests failing to gain traction against their international competitors. With the profits from German manufacturing being funneled off to pay war reparations, Germany had settled, miserably, into the role of Europe's bottomless source for cheap industrial labor.
This situation persisted until 1924, when a daring act of piracy catalyzed major political upheaval. The United Kingdom had also for some time been frustrated in their efforts to hinder foreign shipping. Although their Swiss contingent and airship-based privateers had found a measure of success, Britain's lack of high-value borders and the added difficulty of pulling prizes over the channel made them unattractive as allies, a fact which was constantly harped on by British newspapers. The "frumpy dowager of Europe" was looking for something to cheer for, and James McCudden would give it to them.
On the moonless, overcast night of May 3rd, McCudden led a pair of Gloster Grebes over the German border from Denmark and captured a convoy carrying state-of-the-art Maybach airship engines en route to Berlin from Stuttgart. Despite the entire Luftwaffe being roused from their beds and put in the air, no trace of the convoy could be found on likely exit vectors to Austria-Hungary, Poland, or even France, though two fighters were lost to friendly fire in an unfortunate incident near the Danish border. Unbeknownst to the Germans, McCudden's plan involved having the convoy double-back and pass over the heart of Germany on its way to the Swiss border. Refueling his fighters on shifts from an aged R33 class airship, he reached his destination without incident just before sunrise.
The sheer audacity of the raid set the press ablaze in both nations, and the handsome and gentlemanly McCudden was quickly knighted, officially for "diplomatic efforts in Switzerland". The German public was incensed with the impotence of their armed forces, and McCudden's disparaging (and well-publicized) remarks about "the Hun" rubbed salt in the wound. The incident, though of relatively minor impact in economic terms, touched a sore spot in the German psyche that had been festering since the War.
In what was ostensibly an effort to prevent mass rioting, the well liked (and known monarchist) president Paul von Hindenburg accepted full responsibility for the failure and stepped down. In reality, this was a shrewd political maneuver designed to force Europe to accept Germany's remilitarization. The German public became fixated on the parallels between Hindenburg's resignation and Wilhelm's exile, both noble acts of sacrifice undertaken to preserve the Fatherland against its duplicitous foreign enemies. Unwilling to accept further defeat and humiliation, the entire country was soon, for all intents and purposes, on strike; the Weimar Republic had ground to a halt.
Hoping to contain Germany and prevent a violent revolution, the powers offered to support the German aristocracy in reforming the government as a constitutional monarchy. The great fear was that an unsupervised transformation could result in a Marxist government which would nationalize foreign assets and cut off Europe from her cash cow, leaving other nations similarly vulnerable. The terms of the proposal allowed for a gradual enlargement of the Luftwaffe under the new regime, but they also made it clear that Wilhelm was never to return from exile to lead the new state. Wilhelm presented a problem for Europe--he was so revered in his native land that killing him would almost certainly start a war, but he was also totally disinterested in the new economy, somewhat mentally unstable, and entirely uncontrollable by any means other than physical separation from the mechanisms of power. By adopting this new strategy of appeasement while favoring the remaining aristocracy, the powers hoped that they would be able to both hold off Wilhelm and prevent the looming disaster.
The elite jumped at their offer, effectively accepting on behalf of all of Germany. Less than three months after the "raid of the century", the aristocrats reentered the Reichstag in a peaceful transferal of power. Still burdened with many years of reparations to pay off, the people were nonetheless placated by the gradual rebuilding of the Luftwaffe and the consequent success of German ventures abroad. Though lagging far behind her neighbors militarily and economically, Germany was getting back on her feet.
Good/bad/ok?IIRC, the war reparations for Gemany were paid for (in full?) by the giving flugstien and/or the technology to use it to the other powers.
More inspiration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdV5AiFqWSI
the akron and macon are thouroughly described in the air power: battle in the skies manual (crimson skies' "elder brother" for DOS)
I have IL2: 1946 installed so I could look into that......although I am a complete noob.
the akron and macon are thouroughly described in the air power: battle in the skies manual (crimson skies' "elder brother" for DOS)
Yes, I remember Air Power fondly. I think it also mentioned the R100 or R101 as well. I have it installed but I can't get it to run on my system.
Does anyone have knowledge of X-Plane model files? Thaeris, are you reading this?
I've found a Sankai Mk.b here (http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=9459) but it seems that you need to join the forum in order to download. Recently I got a copy of X-Plane 9; I haven't really dabbled with it yet.
I have IL2: 1946 installed so I could look into that......although I am a complete noob.
Yeah me too. But I'll also give it a shot ;)
A Mighty Fortress:Within a few entries of the present day--what's the MacGuffin gonna be?
In 1927, a team of German scientists led by Albert Einstein and Werner Heisenberg announced to the world the development of a revolutionary technology--a substance capable of resisting gravitation and lifting incredible masses into the sky. Dubbed "Flugstein" (literally "Flystone"), this modern wonder made its spectacular debut the very next day with the first publicized flight of the light cruiser Emden, a converted technology demonstrator that would change the course of history.
The gravity-defying properties of Flugstein were a complete revelation to the world. In fact, the underlying principle demonstrated by this breakthrough was of even greater importance and profundity than the technology itself--the superunification of Einstein's theories of gravitation with Heisenberg's Quantum Mechanics. Only slightly less amazing was the fact that Germany was able to keep their research operations a secret for so long. Unfortunately for the world, the aristocracy was more interested in leveraging a potential weapons development than openly sharing information for the betterment of mankind, so these brilliant scientists were as tightly handled as the technology itself.
On the day of Emden's historic flight, a short message was issued both from Berlin and the floor of the League of Nations--Germany was willing to offer this miraculous knowledge to the former Entente powers as payment in full for their (extensive) remaining war reparations. Although outwardly this was simply a business proposal, the communication's subtext heavily implied that the Flugstein would be shared exclusively with the United States should their demands not be met. If a flying German navy scared the European powers, the thought of a technologically superior German - US alliance positively terrified them. Germany, though a manufacturing powerhouse, was still weak enough that an alliance between two or three other nations could likely dominate her in a quick air war and demand that the Flugstein be handed over. America, on the other hand, was practically inaccessible in the short term and could out-produce much of the rest of the world on her own, excluding Germany. If she was the first to fly a substantial aero-naval force, she could park a battleship over every capital and effectively become the world's only superpower, or so the prevailing wisdom held.
In hindsight, it was clear that Germany had neither the capability nor the intention of keeping the technology to an exclusive group of allies--not only would holding the secrets indefinitely be all but impossible with spy networks operating in every port, such an action would completely undermine her hoped-for revival, turning her closest trade partners against her. Over the past decade Germany and the United States had essentially become factories that built factories, yet they were as likely to collapse as any other nation if the demand that kept those factories running dried up or was funneled into a short-lived total war economy.
With every parliament and cabinet in emergency session, Germany had only to wait for the world's response. Luckily for them, the French public was riding high on air power following Charles Lindbergh's historic New York-Paris flight and what was then thought to be the final victory of the Armée de l'Air over the Sardinian pirate "admiral" Don Luigi Sturzo. As soon as news of the Emden hit the presses, every red blooded Frenchman was loudly demanding that their flying men be the ones to halt the power-hungry Germans. Recognizing an opportunity to show the right that his Radical Party government was not comprised of spineless doves who would pander to his fellow Protestants across the border, president Gaston Doumergue ignored the objections of his Generals and committed France to battle.
Grand Debut:
On the morning of July 5th, sixty of France's best fighter and bomber craft departed Paris on a mission to destroy the prototype. Stripped of all markings save their pilots' impressive listings of victories, "L'escadre" was already famous for its actions over the Mediterranean and Algeria, having served with distinction alongside the equally popular Foreign Legion Air Corps. The level of publicity arranged ahead of the sortie was unprecedented, with L'escadre being framed by the newspapers as a group of noble knights riding out to slay the villainous Teutonic dragon. While this meant that the Germans knew well ahead of time exactly what was coming for them, there was no way for them to hide the cruiser now that it had been revealed, and it was thought that the Luftwaffe was still far too poorly funded to challenge a veteran wing.
Emden's shakedown voyage was plotted to follow the length of the Rhine northward (through territory that France had unsuccessfully tried to claim following the war). After refueling at Nancy, the French wing spotted its quarry at 11:43 over the city of Mainz and immediately moved to attack. Recognizing that a bombing the cruiser would be difficult and inadvisable over a major population center, their plan called for strafing runs with a focus on the ship's vulnerable engines and command tower. Emden's defenses consisted of numerous machine gun emplacements and eight fifteen-centimeter guns that had been converted to fire timed fuze air burst shells, weapons that were regarded as largely ineffective even against the relatively slow fixed wing aircraft of the time. As soon as the attacking force was spotted, these weapons were brought to bear and a full broadside was fired at near-maximum range. Because the attackers were still flying in formation, history's first air-to-air bombardment was a success, with one fighter destroyed and another forced to ditch.
These two victories proved to be the last of Emden's career, as her captain wisely decided he wanted nothing to do with the approaching force. In a maneuver that shocked the French pilots and changed the face of modern warfare, Emden diverted full power to the Flugstein and rose six thousand meters straight into the air, putting the paltry climb rate of the fixed-wing aircraft to shame. With a sinking feeling in their hearts, the French circled around to regain their altitudinal advantage, struggling to come within range of their foe before running out of fuel. Their hopes were dashed once more when, upon pulling level with their target, Emden dropped like a stone back to its original position. Lacking the dive breaks that would become the distinguishing feature of future planes designed to take down heavier-than-air ships, the fighters had no way of delivering a heavy blow to such an agile enemy.
As L'escadre sent half its planes downwards in a final vain effort to reengage, the full might of the Luftwaffe dropped on them--over one hundred fighter craft led by none other than the newly instated Baron Manfred von Richthofen. After focusing on Emden for the duration of the combat, the French were caught wrong-footed and their dive quickly turned into a rout. Of the sixty craft that participated in the attack at Mainz, less than half that number returned to France, with the majority of those lost being forced to ditch due to fuel management. Germany suffered less than twenty casualties in the engagement, including four civilians who were killed when an Amiot 120 crashed through the roof of a bakery. This victory, coupled with the emergence of their cruiser unscathed from almost half an hour of air combat, seemed to point the way to the future.
Within a week of the incident, a deal was brokered in the League of Nations whereby the former Entente nations agreed to all of Germany's demands with the token provision that Kaiser Wilhelm had to remain in exile. The lifting of the reparation debts substantially altered the face of Europe, as a sum which was expected to take forty years to pay off was erased in just over ten. Over the following years, Flugstein technology proved to be somewhat difficult to adapt for actual combat purposes, with early experimental designs suffering from reliability concerns and extremely limited endurance. Emden herself suffered a breakdown the day after the battle and was taken down the river to dock at Bonn before having her Flugstein grid removed for use in a more advanced prototype.
Following a series of catastrophic disasters over land and sea during the late twenties, battery backups were developed which could provide just enough power to gently ease a ship down to the nearest body of water, though some of the more recent designs are not entirely seaworthy and can only shut down their grids when in drydock. The exact composition of Flugstein remains a closely guarded secret between the governments of the League of Nations' security council members, though the rare element Caesium is a known component of modern grids. To date, the only recorded theft of this technology was by the Imperial Japanese Navy, when they captured the HMAS Amazon departing Hong Kong in 1932. Outside of this incident, the following decade would prove to be a period of unprecedented growth and progress for the powers, with new players and forces emerging from within that would set the stage for today's conflicts and triumphs.
I like the political background swash is putting up, quite an interesting read.
Think it would be theoretically easy enough (in this mod universe) to mount a guidance system and armor piercing tip on a V2-style rocket?
The Roaring Thirties
According to most mainstream economists, the arms race that has dominated international politics from the late twenties to the present day has failed to substantially alter the balance of power between the European states. Internally, however, major shifts have occurred that have made unlikely allies of former enemies and vice-versa. The most important development, and one which was going on well before the advent of Flugstein reenergized the military buildup, was the emboldenment of an emergent corporate class. Distinct from the old aristocratic bases of power, this nouveau riche had little interest in international conflicts and would frequently come into conflict with their governments' policies. In wealthy but vulnerable border cities, representatives of this class were able to amass significant support, to the point where the state was forced to grant them the right to create local air forces to protect their ports with. These armies, though small and lightly equipped, are more well suited to their duties than the national forces, which basically serve a deterrent role. As a result of this realignment, many border metropoles are now effectively city states unto themselves, with only limited defense and taxation agreements tying them to their mother counties.
Another bone of contention between business and government is the issue of narcotics smuggling, a phenomenon that has become increasingly prominent as standards of living have risen. While majorities in most nations support the prohibition of opiates and other drugs for their perceived detrimental effects on society, the presence of significant demand as well as the sheer volume of air traffic to hide in have secured a virtually bottomless supply of "entrepreneurs" willing to take the risks. As the drug cartels do not interfere with local shipping, business magnates are loath to waste resources pursuing smugglers and typically advocate a laissez-faire approach to these social issues. Consequently, a situation has developed similar to that of alcohol in America in which a city's dedicated policing squadrons have no interest in enforcing the law of the land (and often actually turn a considerable profit from the smugglers' business), leaving national agencies to deal with the criminal underground (and, some suspect, their corporate backing).
Within this fluid and multilayered political situation, corporate power is held in check by a number of social and regulatory factors. At home, most governments are extremely popular, whereas business interests are seen as more of a necessary evil. Whereas the exploits of storied units and aces have furthered the patriotic romanticization of fighting for king and country, revelations of rampant corporate greed such as that which triggered the first Venetian lending crisis have cast the new money in a highly unflattering light. Those corporate-dominated autonomous border areas which do exist are looked on with suspicion by the heartlands' true believers, with many believing that the people of such regions are little better than foreigners. At the same time, the nationalization of industry, whether for left or right-leaning motivations, is viewed unfavorably by the governing classes. To see the ugly results of such attempts, Europe's leaders need only look to the chaos of the South American states, where numerous military interventions by the United States have been necessary in order to stymie progress-killing populist revolts and coups d'état.
The exceptions to this model have been The United Kingdom and Germany. In the UK, parliament was already in step with business interests long before the surge of the thirties, and the Empire's history of granting broad corporate mandates in colonized territories, coupled with a lack of borders on the home front, has helped ease the new class more seamlessly into the national discourse. For these reasons, explicit profit motives do not carry the same stigma in Britain as they do in mainland Europe, and England is noted for its well-informed citizenry's high level of participation in their governance, though certain colonized regions of the commonwealth are understandably less enthused.
Eisernes Kreuz
Germany's unique relationship with the newly empowered group comes more from the country's recent history and zeitgeist, with a shared resentment of all non-Germans stemming from the events which ended and followed the World War. To the people, German border cities were vulnerable not because of failures of the military to quickly respond to pirate threats, but because the Luftwaffe had been crippled by the treacherous Treaty of Zurich. German industry was not an ignoble but necessary pursuit; it was the only lifeline sustaining the German people. German banking was almost nonexistent. With foreign enemies to blame for all of her woes, the internal tensions that mired other nations were swept away in Germany by a sense of shared outrage and purpose--infighting was exactly what their oppressors wanted of them, and only the belief that German ingenuity and spirit would ultimately prevail could see them through their darkest times. When the military restrictions were finally lifted (by the brilliance of German minds, no less), Germany quickly began to build what has become the world's most modern air force, and amicably negotiated contracts between capital and labor (including some notable cases where employees actually own their companies) helped to keep the mechanisms of government and production efficient and relatively free of discord.
After the Flugstein incident caught the other powers flat-footed, this prodigious growth spurt made their old foe a serious threat once again, and a means of breaking German unity and resolve was sought. The problem Europe faced was that no amount of punishment or misfortune could halt Germany's momentum; for example, being the target of a disproportionate share of pirate raids only fed into the German people's sense of us-against-them, pushing them to augment their technological and industrial advantages. Trade tariffs against German goods were even less productive as they both reenforced Germany's self-perception and highlighted their own countries' disunity when, inevitably, some nation would cut a sweetheart deal with the Reichstag and leap ahead of the others. The United States also hindered efforts at isolating Germany; their status as a non-belligerent in the World War left them in the perfect position to establish lasting and lucrative trade ties.
The means of containing this threat was eventually found in the person of the former Kaiser Wilhelm, now an embittered old man living in exile. Ever since the end of the War, Wilhelm had been maneuvering for a return to power, but his nation's weakness precluded any such action. Now that Germany was approaching a dominant position, he found his efforts blocked by the current government, a group that was not eager to be removed from power. While Wilhelm (and, to a lesser extent, his eldest son, the former crown prince William) were considered great heroes by the German people, there was little concrete support for a possible return with Germany being as prosperous as it was--the old royalists such as Hindenburg had fallen out of favor with the public after the failure of the Weimar Republic, and Wilhelm's official abdication gave the current leaders all the excuse they needed to deny his restoration.
Hoping that the threat of regime change would convince the aristocracy to deal with them on more equal footing, the European powers began secretly backing Wilhelm against the sitting German government. Receiving generous donations from allies all over the world, the old Kaiser soon found himself in possession of a personal Swiss airbase and the world's largest private air force. Even more galling for the Reichstag were the frequent sightings of Wilhelm's famous Imperial airship over German territory (he often traveled between estates in Switzerland and the Netherlands, particularly during election times). Though at first scoffed at, these activities exposed hidden divisions between those who had grown up under the old Imperial Germany and were still eager to avenge their losses and a younger generation who wanted to put those dark times behind them.
The aristocrats could decry his foreign backers until they were hoarse--for a sizable portion of the populace, Wilhelm embodied the purest essence of Germany, and only his restoration would fully return her lost glory. In supporting the Imperialists, Europe gained by proxy what it could not achieve directly--leverage over their largest competitor. Of course, being manhandled in this way eroded the current regime's position even more. Wilhelm would never accept the short end of a bargain with foreigners; Wilhelm would not suffer these fools in the League of Nations, and so on. The game that Europe was engaged in was a dangerous balancing act--if the Kaiser became too bold and launched an invasion, support would have to be pulled and the puppet threat of Imperial power would be deflated, leaving them back at square one. Worse yet, if he actually had some success, it could trigger a full scale popular revolt, restore the Imperial throne, and plunge Europe into a second World War. Though several skirmishes have broken out between Wilhelm's Luftstreitkräfte and the Luftwaffe, little has come of it so far outside of a series of one-sided contracts for Germany's enemies and a greater incentive for all the players to continue their struggle for technological superiority.
Well, if you can convert them, fine. But keep in mind that you'll need to reduce the detail heavily once you've optimized the mesh. The one thing I can tell you immediately is that good models don't come freely - either by making it yourself or converting it to your own purposes, you're in for a lot of work.
So, is this mod going down or not? :P
I would really like to be a part of it in some way. But I'm not sure how I would go about doing that >.<
I've only just started out in c++ programming so I'd be useless in that aspect, and well, I'd probably come 1, 000, 000, 000th in a 3D Modelling tournament of 50 contestants.
Honestly, the only thing I consider myself to be is a good actor. And even then, I haven't had someone judge my performance.
Well, if I am or not, doesn't bother me. I would really just love to see and play this mod ;)
And now, thanks to Angelus, we have a name. Hope you like it (but since I do, you're outvoted if you don't :p )
I am the author. You are the audience. I outrank you!Sounds good, though it'll need a cool logo to distinguish it from all the other projects with FS for initials...Maybe just a little snapshot of the Hindenburg or something?
(http://blueplanet.fsmods.net/E/freeskies.png)
A bit lame, but it's the best I could come up with for now
free as in freedom, that's what the title says to me.no, it's free as in FreeSpace, mods from games do this incorporate the game's name in our mod-name **** all the time.
free as in freedom, that's what the title says to me.no, it's free as in FreeSpace, mods from games do this incorporate the game's name in our mod-name **** all the time.
(http://i38.tinypic.com/2yjxytc.jpg)
Is it just me, or is this thing larger than a B-25?Well from memory, the Ta-152 (aircraft the forward fuselage bears striking resemblance to) was also on the larger side.
Saab 21R:There's also the older piston variant of that aircraft:
*snip*
(http://www.isotx.com/uploads/Ome_Vince/dreadnoughtbig1.jpg)
(http://www.isotx.com/uploads/Ome_Vince/dreadnoughtbig1.jpg)
wait... is that a captured shinden?There were plans for a jet-powered version, but the initial plans were solely for the piston-powered arrangement. The J7W1 was in fact capable of reaching 469 mph, so it was no slouch, though reported plans for the turbojet version would have had it powered by a Japanese copy of a German jet engine, the Ne-130. I don't think that it could have competed as well just one engine... not enough to warrant the poorer fuel consumption.
or perhaps an ascender prototype?
the shinden was supposed to be jet powered, I think... only the prototype mounted a piston engine.
ZeroSpace ordinance cells.(http://www.isotx.com/uploads/Ome_Vince/dreadnoughtbig1.jpg)
Now that's a good find.
Even though the turret layout is insane. Seriously, where do they store the Ammo for those guns?
ZeroSpace ordinance cells.
The triangles! Do not model in them! You can already see the horrid situation it causes for lighting on the model!
Instead, make use of proper edge loops and model in quads where necessary. If you're splitting a quad into two triangles to make sure the model is properly smoothed, what that should be telling you instead is that you should make use of another edge loop to smooth out the surface. I'm not trying to be overly critical, instead I'd just like to see you forming better quality models.
The triangles! Do not model in them! You can already see the horrid situation it causes for lighting on the model!
Instead, make use of proper edge loops and model in quads where necessary. If you're splitting a quad into two triangles to make sure the model is properly smoothed, what that should be telling you instead is that you should make use of another edge loop to smooth out the surface. I'm not trying to be overly critical, instead I'd just like to see you forming better quality models.
This may be wildly stupid of me, but given that the engine automatically triangulates everything, is there any point to working with anything but triangles? Or is there a benefit to using quads and such at the pre-conversion stage?
*snip*
ArsenalOnly a couple more entries to go, then someone just has to make the game part woohoo!
Since the early twenties, the key strategic assets of Europe's nation states have been their secured industrial districts, hubs of fabrication and trade found just outside major cities. Kept internally safe from the threats of espionage and sabotage by rigorous (some would say inhumane) security measures, the facilities within the protected zones are where the bulk of critical research and manufacturing occur, and a loss of important personnel or a lengthy halt in production can result in vital contracts going to rival countries, potentially placing the entire nation at a long-term disadvantage. In the late twenties, the external defenses of these areas consisted of multilayered barrage balloon "walls" to guard against low-altitude attack (sometimes with explosives, parachute link systems, or machine gun mounts) and a combination of heavy anti-aircraft emplacements and interceptor squadrons to bring down the emergent high-altitude bomber treat.
These measures proved effective in the low-intensity air wars that frequently broke out between squabbling countries at the time, but the introduction of Flugstein would turn the conventional thinking on its head. Though early Flugstein ships were not capable of remaining aloft to dominate an airspace for days or weeks at a time as are modern designs, the potential still existed for a naval force to drive into the heart of its enemy's territory and rain down fire on their infrastructure with impunity. For this reason, modern battleships reign as the undisputed heavyweights of the skies, but they are only one component of a set of counterbalancing military technologies, the diversification of which has gone far beyond what even the most forward-thinking analysts could have predicted. For a time, it seemed as though the only effective counter to a heavier-than-air ship was another (preferably larger) ship, but a number of high and low tech defense mechanisms were soon pioneered that made foreign airspace dangerous even for the most powerful vessels.
The direct track favored by long-neglected ground forces was the deployment of heavy artillery in an anti-ship role. While larger weapons and improved fuzes have been continually developed, these defenses suffer from several fundamental problems. First and foremost, they are required to hit highly mobile and extremely distant targets--with new Flugstein ships traveling faster and at higher altitudes every year, artillery is hard pressed to keep pace. Secondly, it is difficult to fire without revealing a battery's position to its lethally armed target. This problem is usually addressed through the adoption of smoke decoys--in France's controversial Maginot line, numerous blasts are produced almost simultaneously by means of an electronic signal activated with each firing. Finally, the armor that modern Flugstein vessels possess is many times thicker than that of conventional aircraft. Sensitive external components such as propellers and communications equipment can be destroyed, and the concussion of a nearby airburst is always dangerous to the crew, but the actual penetrative damage required to bring a ship down can only occur with an extremely lucky direct hit.
The most widely adopted and effective anti-ship technology has proven to be the fielding of large fleets of dive bombers. These craft, while fast and nimble enough to evade anti-aircraft fire, can carry powerful torpedoes and deliver them with a high degree of precision, the steep angle of attack negating the target's ability to quickly evade on the vertical axis. Because a Flugstein grid must be located in the upper half of a ship in order to keep it right-side-up, a single well-placed torpedo can knock out a vessel's most critical component, and the sheer kinetic power of the dive means that simply adding additional armor to a ship's topside will likely never become cost effective. Because of these developments, most battleship designs sacrifice the greater efficiency of single-grid systems for a safer distributed approach.
Perhaps the most exotic solution (and one that did not emerge until larger supplies of Flugstein became available in the late thirties) are air mines. These deadly contraptions are essentially a bomb, a battery, and a Flugstein cell wrapped in a thick sphere of armor. Set up with an initial push by the minelaying team, the field's altitude is controlled by a powerful ground-based radio transmitter, with each mine being calibrated to float in a slightly different height range. In order to prevent the mines from destroying each other, the bombs are controlled by a set of electromagnetic trigger mechanisms that will only detonate when multiple points come into contact with a ship's hull. Unless deflected or destroyed by massed flak or machine gun fire, these small menaces can bring down ships of any size. Furthermore, for the amount of Flugstein required to achieve acceptable performance in a destroyer, hundreds of mines can be produced, potentially bringing down many ships for a tiny fraction of their cost. These fields can be transported and operated by small crews working from an inexpensive minelayer airship, and the mines themselves are small and easily recoverable, making minelaying units highly economical (though also highly dangerous) branches of military service.
Leverage
With the notion that the Flugstein ships were the final word in air combat dispelled, countries sought ways to regain traction in their power projection schemes. The first logical element to emerge was the long range escort fighter. Although these high-endurance planes are evenly matched or surpassed by dedicated short-range air-superiority fighters and interceptors, they are more than capable of handling cumbersome dive bombers or assisting in mine-sweeping efforts, clearing the way for the heavy vessels to do their jobs. The majority of these types are ground based, but convoy protection duties and the deployment of battlegroups far from home has led to drop hangars being installed on most larger Flugstein ships. In practice, this has proved to be somewhat problematic, as recovery without a landing strip is impossible for fighters not specially designed to be used as parasite planes. Because such models have to make significant compromises to be successful in a trapeze recovery, their specifications are often not up to military standards. To address this need for in-flight recovery, dedicated Flugstein carriers became critical components of every fleet by the mid thirties, with the largest of these capable of deploying entire wings of fighters and dive bombers. Many strategists believe that the carrier will eventually replace the battleship as the dominant class of warship, but a lack of long-range bombardment capability and the fragility of the flight deck and Flugstein grid have so far limited their potential uses. Supermassive designs combining carrier decks with heavy guns have been proposed, and recent advances in power plants and materials science have made it theoretically possible to produce a truly formidable mobile base, but no vessels of this type have yet appeared.
A secondary effect of long-range fighter cover becoming available was the resuscitation of high altitude bombing as a viable option. Though vulnerable to fighters and anti-aircraft fire, fixed-wing bombers can move much faster than fleet vessels and are the only viable option for quickly hitting enemy infrastructure. Because massed fire makes the airspace directly above most hardened targets unnavigable even for the most heavily armored Flugstein ships, these bombers are the only means of delivering bunker-busting weaponry in cases where a battleship cannot be risked. To repel such bomber attacks, lighter and far more agile Flugstein vessels have been introduced. The armor on these corvettes allows them to shrug off the attacks of escort fighters while delivering a devastatingly precise close-range flak barrage to bomber formations. The natural reaction for a wing when intercepted by such a ship is to scatter, making the individual bombers far more difficult for their escorts to defend from enemy fighters. As this typically results in horrific casualties and the failure of the mission, bomber crews are rigorously trained to instead open their formation and dive while weathering the storm until their adversary can be outdistanced. Though any ship fast enough to engage in a running battle with fixed-wing aircraft will make a hard target for dive-bombers, these lightest Flugstein ships are no match for the guns of heavier classes and can easily be obliterated by the coordinated efforts of frigate or destroyer packs if cornered far from support.
With so many types of ships and squadrons in play, improving communications and reconnaissance is a critical military priority. Easily-intercepted radio transmissions are by far the most effective way to organize units in the field, so elaborate systems for encoding and decoding transmissions have been developed, and code-breaking is now a very well funded area of research. Perhaps an even more important application of radio technology is in national propaganda, where government control of the airwaves keeps morale high with reports of heroic victories over the foreign menace. Some believe that these one-sided news services have actually contributed to the disillusionment of those living in border regions, where contradictory reports of events can often be picked up from across the border. Radio communications are also critical in transmitting the data collected by the various national radar networks which most countries independently developed during the thirties. With thousands of airships over every nation at any given time, the tracking of foreign military vessels is a daunting task even for the most well-equipped groups. The difficulty of this endeavor is further compounded by the presence of entire decoy battlegroups whose sole purpose is to confound enemy intelligence services, and the importance of keeping tabs on all enemy vessels has been illustrated by a number of devastatingly successful covert operations. Most famously, the Viennese industrial safe zone was heavily bombarded as a result of the 1938 Salzburg plot, an incident in which the Ottoman destroyer Samsun was smuggled halfway around Europe within the shell of a reconditioned freighter.
Unique events such as these notwithstanding, the lack of firm information on enemy strength and the economic strain of fielding large fleets of Flugstein ships in peacetime had resulted in a pronounced defensive focus in military strategies by the end of the thirties. Piracy and war via proxy were as popular as ever, but it made no sense for countries to risk their most valuable assets in an attack if there was no guarantee that another neighbor would not then step in to take advantage of the situation. While this suited corporate interests, the public was slow to forget any offense committed by foreign nations, and the heady atmosphere inspired by state propaganda and two decades of steadily accumulating air power led majorities in most countries to believe that another war would quickly and permanently settle their old grievances. Fittingly, the trigger for war arrived in the form of another German aerospace development.
The Mannheim Rocket
Wernher von Braun was born to an aristocratic family that played a prominent role in the Weimar government. With the collapse of that regime in 1924, the von Brauns found themselves unwelcome in a Berlin now dominated by their political enemies. As their original homeland was now a part of Poland, the family elected to join the burgeoning expatriate community in Zurich, where Wernher grew up surrounded by wealth and the wonder of flight. When the Kaiser began to mobilize his private army in 1930, he opened an academy in Zurich "for the advancement of aeronautical technologies" which was, in point of fact, little more than a new military research facility funded by sources throughout Europe. Von Braun enrolled in the institute's first class and, by the end of the decade, had become recognized as the preeminent rocket scientist of his time. While his personal passion was the development of spacefaring technologies, von Braun's designs for long-range suborbital rockets were faster than conventional aircraft and could strike at enemy infrastructure directly, with minimal risk. Given where the money for the development came from, it was inevitable that these technologies would end up in the hands of Germany's enemies.
The first (and to date, only) major deployment of these weapons was the French attack on German heavy industry which followed a protracted series of border skirmishes in August of 1939. While these early weapons proved ineffective in penetrating the heavily reenforced bunkers of the major manufacturing sites, a miscalculated trajectory resulted in damage to a football stadium in Mannheim. Fortunately, the facility was empty at the time, but the appearance of this indiscriminate and ignoble weapon truly alarmed Europe. When the rockets' origins were revealed, the German government seized on the public's shock and horror as an opportunity to launch their long-hoped-for war on the Kaiser's private Imperial army. On September 2nd, the Reichstag declared that the Wilhelm and all who supported him were traitors to be shot down on sight, and their opening move was an assassination attempt which involved the battleship Bismarck leveling his family estate in the Netherlands. Wilhelm was actually ballooning in Italy at the time, having developed effective means of decoying German intelligence throughout the thirties. Because the Kaiserliche Marine lacked even primitive Flugstein ships in the early days of the conflict, Germany's initial strategy involved bribing neighboring nations into helping them bottle up the Imperialist forces over Switzerland until the royal family could be killed by their agents. Unfortunately for them, the Loyalist Reichsmarine's efforts were hamstrung by the immediate (and clearly not spontaneous) defection of Generaloberst Manfred von Richthofen along with a significant proportion of the fighter corps.
Through the end of 1939, the Reichsmarine was held at bay by massed fighter and divebomber attacks, but due to the ideological nature of the conflict, the Imperialists gained little from these victories. Wilhelm's objective was to spark a popular uprising, and while the conflict made him more popular than ever around Europe, the Mannheim Rocket incident and the aging of his support base at home meant that his hopes of returning to power were simply unrealistic. Berlin's much more achievable aim was to finally eliminate the Kasier's challenge to their legitimacy, and their patience with Switzerland soon ran thin. Seeing that their position was compromised by hosting an army that had no profit motive, the Swiss brokered a deal between Wilhelm and Emperor Franz Ferdinand whereby the Imperialist fleet could be moved to Austria-Hungary in exchange for support from the Kaiser's backers. The story of how the old friends had reconciled after almost a quarter century played well in the European press, and Imperialist forces now receive backing from political factions around the world who are eager to see Germany drained by a prolonged war.
The present conflict retains the possibility for massive escalation, so most of the powers have adopted a wait-and-see attitude and are trying to avoid coming down on either side. Every nation is at the negotiating table with the Loyalist government, but most also provide some assistance to Austria-Hungary, as a resolution of the German Civil War in either direction is potentially disastrous for Europe. The Kaiser's defeat would leave Berlin in a dominant position that would benefit her allies in the short term, but inevitably lead to their becoming satellite nations of the German powerhouse. Because of their massive investments over the past twenty years, the United States is assumed to be firmly behind the sitting German government, so it is uncertain that even a coalition of all the remaining powers could overcome a reunified Germany. The alternative outcome is possibly even worse; with the resurgence of the old alliances exposing deep ideological fault lines throughout the industrial world, an Imperial victory could release a wave of anti-corporate sentiment, undermining each individual government's power base and leaving them prey to communism, fascism, and other undesirable regional and global political forces. Through the summer of 1940, a dynamic balance was maintained through careful behind-the-scenes negotiations at the League of Nations, but the world would soon be taken to the brink by the appearance of an unlikely Imperial ally from the east.
I'm doing it as a Freespace mod to make a free demo while my coder gets herself up to snuff on XNA engine programming.
I know its not a real plane but it looks cool
That looks like a very cool design, and I'd love to have it in this.
Regarding propeller blades, I would suggest that, for the moment, the models should be made with propeller blades modelled out (like you have it right now). I'll have to figure out a solution anyway (Probably involving some clever tricks with materials etc, once I finish that).
BTW, here's the current to-do list of features I plan on implementing for this.
1. Simplified atmospheric flight model (The biggie)
2. Compass/Altimeter/Artificial Horizon HUD gauges (Can be prototyped in scripting, but I kinda want these in the engine)
3. More options for rotating subsystems (Rotors that change speed relative to throttle setting, Flaps that rotate based on control input, that sort of stuff)
4. "Atmospheric mission" mission flag, which can be used to set various parameters, like starting altitude, max flight ceiling, min altitude, stall speed
5. Fog settings to adjust visible range etc
6. Clouds
Obviously, there's no ETA at all for any of this.
That looks like a very cool design, and I'd love to have it in this.
Just an update on this...I've got a rough concept for one of the capital ships and the main floating island to be featured in the demo, but I'm lousy at modeling very large objects, does anyone want to have a go at it?
Rising Sun
In 1931, the Japanese and Russian empires formed a secret pact to divide the Asian continent. Just as Japan had once aided the Tzar against the Red Army following the World War, Russia was heavily involved with funding and equipping Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang against the communists in the ongoing Chinese Civil War. This meant that Russian operatives were in an ideal position to gather strategic information on the Chinese forces, a situation that was tolerated by the Chinese nationalists because they knew that Russia lacked the manpower to occupy China while maintaining her strength at home and over Europe. Japan, on the other hand, was eager to expand on its Korean foothold in the mainland, and was confident in its ability to hold down all of the East Asian territory not currently controlled by western colonial powers. The essence of the joint plan was to bide time while Russian support gave the Nationalists a substantial advantage in the civil war, all the while withholding the skyfaring technologies that could provide a knockout blow. By the time Japan was prepared to invade, both Chinese armies would be severely depleted, and the two technologically superior Imperial forces would make the conflict a quick one.
Meanwhile, the entire world was shocked when Japan completed its remarkable transformation into a major industrial power with the capture and reverse-engineering of a fully-functional Flugstein warship. By 1935 Japan's fleet was a force to be reckoned with, and some analysts have surmised that Russia pressed for the invasion to begin mainly because they were afraid that they wouldn't get much of anything if they waited any longer. The move proved to be a wise one when, immediately after routing the Kuomintang, Japan began airlifting in prefabricated military and industrial emplacements to the sites of China's vast deposits of critical natural resources. While Russia gained an enormous quantity of land in Manchuria, Mongolia, and down through the Tibetan Plateau, they were cut off from the prized North China Plain at the Great Wall by the lightning-quick Japanese advance--the territorial divisions agreed upon four years earlier were now meaningless, as neither force could afford to fight the other, so the conquest effectively became a race for territory, a race that Japan won hands down.
To the attacking powers it was a foregone conclusion the the Chinese would be completely smashed by the double-assault, but both the Nationalist and Communist armies showed tremendous resilience, regrouping and temporarily halting their conflict (at least in some areas) to better face the foreign threat. Assistance for China (almost entirely for the Nationalist faction) eventually began to trickle in from sources opposing Russian or Japanese interests elsewhere in the world, with the United Kingdom being particularly keen to protect her Asian possessions. After sweeping through what had been French Indochina and Siam, the Japanese Navy turned to preying on shipping out of Hong Kong to the extent that the city was basically under siege, and by 1937 nothing could get in or out except under the escort of heavy warships. A war to destroy Japan's fleet seemed like the only viable solution, but even with Australian and Canadian forces shouldering much of the burden, Britain simply lacked the resources to carry out a full-scale Asian campaign while protecting the rest of the Empire. The United States too was leery of becoming involved in a major action against one of its primary Pacific trade partners, but it did allow for a volunteer fighter unit (the now-famous Flying Tigers) to be assembled and assigned to the ROC Air Force flying out of Burma as privateers.
Japan's military and industrial stylings were by this point thoroughly European, but her goal of establishing a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosparity Sphere" free of western influence found them few allies in the increasingly global economy. Barring foreign businesses from setting up shop within Japanese territory did not, however, halt the new flow of materials coming from their freshly minted industrial districts, and cheap goods and arms from the far east could soon be found in the hands of independent factions throughout the world, particularly in the likewise rapidly modernizing Persian state. When the German Civil War began in 1939, a healthy portion of the craft flown by the Kaiser's army were of Japanese construction, but Japan was willing to go one step further and offer Wilhelm something his other allies were not: Flugstein ships. The first delivery of such a vessel in September of 1940 came as a shock even to the Kaiser's handlers, and efforts by his enemies to halt further additions to the Kaiserliche Marine eventually led to major confrontations over the Persian Gulf which cemented an alliance between Japan and the German Imperial Remnant. This arrangement is considered by many in the west to be the most critical threat to peace they have faced in their lifetimes--through Wilhelm, Japan has gained the leverage it needs to plunge all of Europe into the morass of the Civil War if need be, and thanks to recent technological developments, such a turn of events could mean disaster for the entire world.
A Nuclear Era
Since the publication of Einstein's papers on relativity, scientists have worked tirelessly to harness the power of the atom. In the arms race that has been raging since the debut of Flugstein technology, however, little funding has been provided for the creation of weapons of mass destruction, as the full-scale escalation of international conflicts has been regarded as economically shortsighted. Unfortunately, the ideologically based German Civil War has recently breathed new life into the prospect of total war, and given the number of known military research facilities around the globe, it seems inevitable that sooner or later one or more nation states will develop working nuclear weapons. Already, nuclear reactors have been introduced in the most modern Flugstein warship designs, and while creating an atomic bomb is quite another matter, there have been whispered rumors of sailors having seen bright flashes over the horizon and tropical atolls turned to glass. Weighted heavily by the inevitable judgement of history, famed physicists such as Enrico Fermi have been forced to flee their countries and live under assumed names in order to avoid being pressed into work, and those who have offered their services willingly such as the American J. Robert Oppenheimer are no less jealously guarded for it by their respective governments.
Strategically, it remains uncertain whether a valuable application for a nuclear weapon can be found. When compared to conventional explosives, nuclear weapons are expected to be sensitive and massive to an extent that deploying them in an offensive role would require already having established complete dominance of the enemy's airspace. The maneuverability of modern Flugstein ships means that a successful direct strike on an enemy fleet seems unlikely at best, though the weapon's potential to kill the entire crew of a battleship without causing irreparable harm to the ship itself has led to thoughts of creating suicide airships. Clearly though, the obvious application for these bombs is something that modern warfare has gone to great lengths to avoid: the wholesale slaughter of the population of an enemy state. Faced with the reality of these weapons, the world's political and military leaders have been backed into a corner--although no one wishes to be put in the position to have to use one, neither can they afford not to have them. Although little has outwardly changed in the daily conduct of the business of international relations, the shadow of this technology has drawn a pervasive undercurrent of paranoia into the zeitgeist of modern Europe, muting reason and lending weight to more extreme voices in the political field.
Yet even with the fear of ultimate annihilation waiting in the wings, this is still a time of amazing possibilities. Constant advancements in aerospace technologies and the resultant trade and manufacturing booms have opened up markets across the globe, and the powerful middle class this new economy is creating has already begun to shape the face of the industrialized nations. What direction this group will take is anyone's guess, as difficult generational conflicts have emerged between parties unwilling to let go of the world's colonial past and others bent on realizing her corporate future. This is a time where the old and new exist side-by-side: vast fleets of airship freighters point to a world brought together through commerce while matched sets of triplanes intended solely for settling points of honor testify to a culture and way of life that many still aspire towards. The world's navies have been gathering their strength for over a decade, and in spite of deepening ties of economic interdependence, international animosity remains as strong as ever. In this uncertain environment, the strategy of non-alignment that has kept Europe safe for the past twenty years seems less and less trustworthy as around the world a fatalistic sense of the inevitability of a second world war has taken hold, threatening the promise of freedom that calls out to all those who take to the skies.
Here's the third time I've rebuilt this, so I'm getting closer but I'm missing something...I have difficulty adding small details to objects like these.
Rather, if you're thinking at any point that changing the engine configuration would be a good idea, I'd suggest that you create a large nacelle suspended between the two main wings with a forward mounted engine and and aft mounted engine on each nacelle. This would ideally provide beneficial thrust benefits with a push-pull configuration, and you'd also get a healthy amount of prop-wash over the wings - it's sort of like having blown flaps without having blown flaps. :DWhile I am a personal fan of tandem engine configurations, I think that in this instance that the gap between the two wings is so great that the nacelle would need to be quite massive indeed, and thus a massive engine and prop assembly... assuming a true in-line tandem arrangement. What I would suggest to span the distance, is a stacked tandem arrangement. Have a tractor engine placed on top of the lower wing, then the pusher engine above and aft-shifted, slung just beneath the upper wing. The pusher engine could have its frontal area taken up by a joint radiator shared by both engines... assuming you're using liquid-cooled engines. This would allow the nacelle to span the distance between the upper and lower wings, providing the aforementioned structural strength.
It has something to do with the bits of machinery poking out of it. Other than that...
What makes those fly? Is it some intrinsic property of the rock it's made of, or is it by some other means?
What makes those fly? Is it some intrinsic property of the rock it's made of, or is it by some other means?
Unobtainium :nervous:
I like the left-half of it... the right half reminds me of a salt crystal. :p
lolI second that. :) Funny, I was just thinking about that project recently. Must have been because of that WW2 hyperdrive thingy ...