Interview with WhiteBoySamurai

[CowboyTodd41 133]

WhiteBoySamurai is one our most well respected modders here on the site, without him SF2NA wouldn't be nearly as interesting (or nearly as dangerous!)

 

Hey, thanks for taking time out for me and the guys here at the site. A couple of starters real quick, where are you from, and what do you do for a living?

 

I'm in my early 30s. I was born and raised in Boston, MA, and later spent a large portion of my life in Hawaii. I've been living in Nagoya, Japan for almost 5 years now. Right now I'm doing English/Japanese translation, interpretation, and second-language education.

 

How did you end up in Japan?

 

I've always been interested in Japan, actually, and I studied the language in college. The big economic crash ended up giving me an excuse to live and work here. To make a long story short, I had been doing contract work in Hawaii that was steadily turning sour, but I got an offer from a Japanese firm that gave me better job security. I sold everything I couldn't pack or store and made Japan my new home.

 

So what was it exactly that got you into doing naval objects, as opposed to aircraft or weapons?

 

My grandfather was an engineer in the US Navy during WWII. He used to tell me vivid stories about the big battleships, how the guns worked, how they'd do shock tests on the deck and hull, the combination of brute force, heavy armor, and precision machinery. It was all very fascinating to me. I ended up working in his machine shop for a while, helping make ball bearings that were to be used in gun turrets and other components for the military. Some of my earliest memories are of going to airshows with him, so he's probably responsible for my love of military aircraft and flight sims too.

 

What are some of your favorite ships/aircraft?

 

I love the Ticonderoga class cruisers, and the Aegis DDGs (Arleigh Burke, Kongo, Atago). I went aboard Japan's new Akizuki destroyer recently and it too became one of my favorites. I also have a thing for the Kirov class because of how ridiculously heavily armed they are. And of course I love the Yamato and the Iowa, the absolute greatest battleships of all time. 

 

As for aircraft, the F-15 has been my favorite since the first time I saw it fly when I was very young. I knew there was something special about it even before I knew anything about airplanes. But then I fell in love all over again when the F-22 appeared. A close second or third favorite would be Japan's F-2. I think it's one of the most beautiful things that's ever flown.

 

...In retrospect, it seems like most of my favorite ships and aircraft are ones that were designed to hopelessly outmatch their contemporary equivalents. Does that make me a bully by proxy?

 

Not if you're playing to win. About how old were you when you first got into flight sims, and what were you playing?

 

I think it was F-15 Strike Eagle III by MicroProse. I must've been around 16 at the time, and had just gotten a nice new computer with everyone's favorite OS, Windows 95. (However, I remember having to switch to DOS mode any time I wanted to play the damn game.) Strike Eagle III was pretty impressive at the time, with rudimentary polygon objects and a surprisingly accurate 2D cockpit. It's worth mentioning that I got into this game after playing its console cousin, Super Strike Eagle, on the SNES-- so maybe that's actually my first "sim."(ed. I grew up with A-10 Attack! on Mac, so I really don't know what he's talking about here :P)

 

What's your favorite sim?

 

Strike Fighters 2, definitely. I've got nitpicks about it like everyone else, but overall it has almost everything I want in a flight sim. I've probably spent more time in the Strike Fighters series than all other flight sims I've played combined.

 

Outside of flight sims, I also really enjoyed Jane's Fleet Command back in the day, but I can't get it working on my current computer. The most fun naval sim I've ever played, though, is a Japanese game called Kurogane no Houkou 3, which lets you design, build, and command a fleet of warships in a quasi-historical setting with sci-fi/time travel elements.

 

How did you get into modding and 3D work?

 

It was only after I came to Combat Ace and started reading about how people were making all these cool mods that I decided to try it. I started by making very simple objects-- Missiles were easy enough, basically just a cylinder, a cone, and triangular fins. The careful measuring and precision of the process reminded me of my grandfather's machine shop, and being able to create something and then see the results in a game was tremendously liberating. So I stuck with it.

 

This was years ago in the Strike Fighters 1 days, and I quickly noticed that there were hardly any ship mods. So I started cutting virtual steel for the first time to make the Ticonderoga. I made a lot of newbie mistakes and I couldn't texture well at all, but thanks to help and encouragement from the Combat Ace community, everything worked out in the end.

 

If you had unlimited time and budget, what would your “dream mod” be?

 

My dream, and indeed my current goal, is to model nearly every major surface combatant and ground vehicle currently in service with the US, Russia, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea. This will give our terrain and campaign modders a full toolbox for historical and what-if scenarios like the Taiwan Strait Crisis, or a Korean war gone hot again; skirmishes over tiny disputed islands, or a full-scale near-end-of-the-world modern Pacific war.

 

My other dream would be to build the Yamato for our WWII PTO community. It's selfish, but I can't bear the thought of another modder touching her. Unfortunately building just that one ship from scratch would probably take as much time as all the other ones I'd want to make put together. BUT, I don't think that either of these dream mods are beyond the realm of possibility.

 

How did you get into SF series?

 

Years ago I was searching around for a new flight sim that was closer to what I wanted. I had given up on other games: I didn't have the time or patience for an ultra-deep study sim like Falcon 4.0. LOMAC ran like a slideshow on my computer at the time and was nearly unmoddable.

 

I found out about Strike Fighters: Project 1, which sounded very appealing to me. A large selection of aircraft, good flight dynamics but not so much switchology, lots of things to do and targets to blow up. And, of course, the series is also highly moddable with an active community, so it was the obvious choice for me.

 

How did you find out about CA?

 

I googled for "strike fighters mods" and it brought me right here. I bet a lot of other members have the same story.

 

Who are some of your other favorite modders?

 

- Dels, who somehow manages to model all of the coolest aircraft in existence. F-22, F-23, B-1B, F-117, AH-64, and my favorite mod of all time, the F-2. Even his C-130 is fun to fly, and I'd never thought I'd say that about a transport plane!

- Wrench, who gives us so many wonderful playgrounds and is an all-around great guy. Wrench has a way of helping people and making them feel appreciated at the same time.

- Julhelm is a consummate pro who taught me some very useful tricks and pushed me to higher standards of quality.

- Stary's environment and effects are just wonderful; the game wouldn't be quite the same without his work.

- KJakker has been a huge help in making sure ship weapons are working the way they should. His enthusiasm for naval combat drives me forward.

I'm sure I missed a lot of people who I appreciate, but this interview would go on forever otherwise.

 

Do you plan on only doing naval objects or are there other things you'd like to branch out into? Such as your Korean Forces Pack?

 

I do intend to make more ground vehicle packs, and the next one will be focused on China. I'd also like to make some naval helicopters at some point, such as the Ka-25/27 and SH-60R/K.

 

I've always wanted to try making a fixed-wing aircraft too, but it honestly seems like they've all been done already for Strike Fighters. There are still some obscure JASDF trainers and support aircraft, I suppose.

[Skyviper 1,101]

I loved playing Super Strike Eagle that game was awesome. Great interview thanks for telling us your story WhiteBoySamurai.

[Barkhorn1x 9]

Nice interview.