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    Atlantic Fleet - the CombatAce review
    33LIMA
    By 33LIMA,
    Killerfish Games's PC version of its iOS WW2 naval simulation/wargame takes the high seas by storm!     I started playing PC games on a system with a 14" screen and an early Pentium, and I'm not about to go back there, so I watched with interest but from afar, when I saw Fred 'Heinkill' Williams's affectionate and very favourable SimHQ review for the iOS-based Atlantic Fleet. Sometimes, though, dreams do come true, it seems, for a PC port has just arrived, after the developers completed the work and updated the graphics for the new platform.   Since the release of Fighting Steel and Destroyer Command in the late 1990s, it's been a bit of a famine for WW2 naval simmers, broken recently by the arrival of the rather good Victory at Sea. Well, now we also have Atlantic Fleet, so it's time to cast off, put to sea again and enjoy the feast that's followed that famine. And Atlantic Fleet is indeed a veritable multi-course meal of a feast, for anyone who remotely fancies tugging on his (or her) virtual seaboots and taking to the high seas to fight out some of the classic sea battles and campaigns of World War 2. Your mission is to preserve, or sever, the vital sea-lanes which kept Britain fighting against Nazi Germany, bringing vital supplies of food, weapons and raw marterials of all kinds to the British Isles...or not, if the Kriegsmarine has its way...     Atlantic Fleet iOS was the sequel to Pacific Fleet, and while our US cousins might regret it, I for one am very happy that Killerfish decided to get their PC feet wet with a port of the more recent, more modern game. I was brought up on a happy diet of Airfix 1/600 warships from the same theatre and the great little Eagle 1/1200 kits, released in themed sets like the Battle of Narvik, complete with accounts and maps of the relevant action. I soaked up films like Battle of the River Plate and Sink the Bismarck!, and later Ludovic Kennedy's excellent BBC TV documentaries on WW2 warships and battles - his later, excellent book Pursuit - the sinking of the Bismarck is on my desk as I type this. It was probably in the 1960s BBC documentary series The Valiant Years that I first heard Winston Churchill's famous observation that '...the only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril'. Of course, while he was talking about the submarine threat to the supplies that kept Britain alive and in the fight, for much of the war the Kriegsmarine's surface units were also part of the threat that so concerned the great British war leader. And the air power of both sides played an important role. One of the joys of Atlantic Fleet is that when you step back into those dark and dangerous days, you can re-fight the Battle of the Atlantic and its most famous historical actions on, above or below the waves.   Installation and features At time of writing, Atlantic Fleet is distributed via Steam - at a mere £6.99 Sterling. As we will see, for a game with high production values, engaging gameplay and an historical depth and coverage that would put many a full-price simulation in the shade, if not to shame, this is a very considerable bargain, to put it mildly.   I gather there are no plans to offer a different distribution channel and while I prefer the 'good old days' of standalone game installation, I have had no bother at all with any of the excellent Steam-based games I have purchased (Victory at Sea, Wargame: European Escalation and Wargame: AirLand Battle being the others) and would not consider passing up on a good game merely because of that.   I must start with Atlantic Fleet's high production values - these you will see from the moment the game loads. Here's the main menu screen. The ship seen here is the famous German battlecruiser Scharnhorst,* lost fighting against the odds at the Battle of the North Cape - which you can re-fight in Atlantic Fleet. Scharnhorst's brave showing prompted Admiral Fraser in Duke of York to say afterwards to his officers "Gentlemen, the battle against Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that if any of you are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst was commanded today". Such is the world of steel ships and iron men that Atlantic Fleet re-creates for us. But I digress...can't help it, I feel the hand of history on my shoulder, as TCB once said.     *...and yes, before you start posting corrections, I know the ship above is actually a Hipper class heavy cruiser - Prinz Eugen, probably -  not Scharnhorst, but I couldn't resist the quote above and don't have a menu pic of Scharnhorst, to hand .   The point is, it looks great, it's animated, with camera pivoting around the ship, and there's a different ship each time. See, here's another menu shot, and this time, it's one of the big German destroyers, several variations of which appear in the game:     Atlantic Fleet is single-player only, so you will not find here any way to blow up anything other than an entirely virtual foe-man. You do, however, get a sombre but really effective musical theme to accompany the menu, and you can have music in-game, too.   Taking the menu options from the top, first there is 'Training Missions'. These missions are actually rather useful, and a good way of ensuring that it is the enemy who ends up like this, and not you:     And again yes, you heard right, you can drop the camera below the waves, to get this view, complete with rather scary grinding and booming ship sinking sounds;     As for those training missions, which will hopefully reduce the frequency with which your own ships feature in such scenes, here's what you get. Again it's nicely presented, with good artwork and a clean, crisp interface. I did mention the high production values, didn't I?     Here's the intro screen for the torpedo training mission. I really like Atlantic Fleet's artwork and the general design:     Load the mission and you get a little scenario, here a Royal Navy destroyer steaming alongside a hapless German merchantman. You click your way through a series of topic boxes, to learn the lesson. You can toggle the topic box on and off, for a better view. They each do a very good job of taking you through the relevant drill.     This is where you may first get to see the Atlantic Fleet mode of gameplay, and its most prominent feature is that it is turn-based, like a wargame. The sequence is: You move-You shoot-The enemy moves-The enemy shoots. We'll see how this works in more detail, later. Continuous gameplay would be better, and certainly more simulation-like, but it is what it is, and I soon got quite comfortable with it.   Jumping ahead to the last menu option, we come to 'Options/Help', and here's what you get:     As the menu title suggests, some of the things listed on the right of the screen above are options screens, others are help. The 'home' screen, above, lets you tweak various gameplay and difficulty options, as you can see. The 'Default controls' screen lets you re-map keyboard commands, like this...     ...while the 'Damage Report' is a help option and looks like this:     I find it all very well-presented and impressively thorough, very well up to the standards of PC sims and better than many I've seen, including the very best.   My main interest in a WW2 naval sim or game is the ability to re-fight historical or hypothetical battles, and it's that option we will look at next. Here, we will see how Atlantic Fleet's gameplay comes together, when the shells, torpedoes and bombs start flying.     ...to be continued!

    Coming Soon
    Erik
    By Erik,
    We're getting ready to transition over to our new website and what would that be without all the fanfare?                                        

    Steel Fury - 'Fury' the movie
    33LIMA
    By 33LIMA,
    Missions from the movie, in the tanksim!     Melodramatic tank movies are certainly better than no tank movies at all, especially if they make a decent effort at authenticity, amidst the melodrama. So let it be said of 'Fury'. I found it a tad contrived in places, from the awful, gratuitous prisoner shooting scene to the 'falling plate' Germans, whose erratic anti-tank gunners, plentiful but equally erratic panzerfaust operators and even a Tiger tank, fall to the guns of a few Shermans, crewed by our cynical, war-weary but nearly-all-conquering protagonists.     However,  'Fury' wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared, quite a decent war movie in its own right. And as far as tank movies go, 'Fury's now my joint favourite, up there with 'White Tiger', which substitutes a rather compelling weirdness for the melodrama and T-34/85s for the Shermans. Its protagonist had rather less luck with the Tiger in that movie, at one point resorting to an automatic pistol, after his crew failed to notice they'd plugged their main gun's muzzle with mud. Just when it seemed victory against the super-Tiger was within their grasp, too. Dasvidanya, tovaritch.     Anyway, thanks to prolific modder Lockie, Steel Fury now has a developing set of missions based on scenes from the movie - 'Fury', that is, not 'White Tiger'. There are two 'Fury' missions now available, both for the upcoming version 2.0 of the STA mod, which is in test, but available on application over on the STA forum. This mission report covers both of these missions; at time of writing (February 2016) a third one is in preparation. By way of a spoiler alert, if you haven't yet watched the movie but plan on doing so soon, you might want to do that, before reading how the missions play out!   'Fury' mission #1 - 'Ambush!' The mission puts you in the role of Brad Pitt's character, Staff Sergeant Don 'Wardaddy' Collier, who tells us early on 'I started this war killing Germans in Africa. Then France. Then Belgium. Now I'm killing Germans in Germany.' He must have missed out on the Battle of Kasserine, then. Things aren't that much better in Germany, it seems, because although the war's being won, your tank is the sole suvivor of your company. Your task now is simple enough - drive up the road to a camp, RV with a platoon of M4s, and then move with them to join forces with another tank platoon, before assaulting an enemy-held location.   The mission has one of Lockie's snazzy splash screens and when it loads, there's a video clip from the movie, showing 'Wardaddy's' Sherman arriving in the camp. This mission's production values are not to be sneezed at!   As in the movie, your tank is an M4A3 (76mm) HVSS, often known as the M4A3E8 or 'Easy Eight'. This was a common variant by 1945 and is distinguished from earlier Shermans by the one-piece 47 degree sloped hull front (no frontal protusions for the driver and co-driver hatches); T23 type turret with longer-barrelled 76mm gun, in place of the original 75mm; and different, horizontally-sprung suspension units with wider track. The SF-STA version is nicely-rendered; there's no 3d interior but the externals look great with lots of animations and external stowage, including the unditching beams carried on the left-hand hull side, just like the movie tank. Limitations in the sim mean the 'Fury' tank name is on the right-hand side of the hull, as per the first screenshot in this thread, rather than on the gun tube as in the movie; but the former is a more realistic place for WW2 tank names. The white tactical numbers on the turret RH side are a bit un-American, though, if not distinctly Soviet.     Approaching the camp for the rendez-vous with the other Shermans, you soon see that Lockie's scenery-building has spared neither effort nor livestock.       On the right as you pass into the camp is a firing range...     ...and on the left, a PoW cage, some of whose occupants are nervously standing with their hands still in the air. Evidently, these follows still believe all that Dr Goebbels has told them about the proclivities of the dreadful Amis...or perhaps they have just watched that scene in the the movie, too.     The PoWs' apparent anxiety is not surpising, perhaps, as the camp is full of GIs, all armed to the teeth, many of them prowling around purposefully, with their weapons in both hands. Moving on, and being careful not to run over any of these heavily-armed people, you can soon see the M4s you came here to join, parked up ahead.     As you reach the Shermans, you're reminded of your next move - changing on-screen messages and optional waypoint indicators keep you well informed, without reverting to your map. Now, it's time to tag along and link up next with Lt Parker's boys, before we put in the next attack.     Having seen the movie, something tells me that it's not going to be quite so simple!   ...to be continued!

    Steel Fury - the British are coming!
    33LIMA
    By 33LIMA,
    A new feature for the Steel Tank Add-on mod - British tank missions for North West Europe, 1944-45!     Not a mission report, strictly speaking, this is more a quick look at the mission that will feature in the first instalment of STA-Britpack. Which is what, exactly? Well it's inspired by Aldo's 'Brit44' mod for Panzer Elite, still a top tanksim, 17 years after release. Brit44 swapped for PE's stock US vehicles a good range of British AFVs, including Sherman, Cromwell and Churchill tanks. The missions were still the stock ones on the stock maps for the US Army's St Lo sector. But at last, we could try our hands against the 'Mark IVs', Panthers and Tigers with the thick-skinned Churchills, the speedy Cromwells or if in a Sherman, one with a big 17 Pounder gun, of the sort that seems to have brought panzer ace Michael Wittmann's career to a firey end.   Steel Fury of course started life as a strictly Eastern Front tanksim, and limited to the battle whose name it bore - Kharkov 1942. But the modders soon added vehicles, theatres and missions, to the extent that you can now fight in Africa and NW Europe too. Below is a British Churchill in Tunisia; and below that, some of Will 73's US Shermans in a mission by Lockie based on the forest ambush scene from the movie 'Fury'. [EDIT, Feb 2016 - a CombatAce mission report on this is now online, here]       Naturally, you will already know all of this, if you keep a weather eye upon the STA forums. But if you don't, well, now you know!   With the fairly recent addition of a Sherman Firefly - the British 17 Pdr variant - we now have a good selection of British Army AFVs suitable for missions set in and beyond the Normandy campaign - although the only Churchill is still the earlier MkIII. And did I mention already there's a Firefly...     ...plus, for the 75mm gun variants, we now have an M4A1, distinguished by its rounded, cast hull...     ...and an M4A2, a diesel-engined type, with the more common angular, welded hull, here with the tank commander rather rashly 'standing tall'...     ...and there's a Cromwell, a 'cruiser' tank whose Steel Fury incarnation has an interesting and authentic camo net camouflage option...     Also, we have British versions of the US M3 half-track and M5 'Honey' or Stuart light tank, and some genuine Made-in-Britain kit like a '3-tonner' truck, 6 and 17 Pounder towed anti-tank guns, a 25 Pdr gun-howitzer, and the distinctive Universal Carrier aka Bren Carrier, a little multi-purpose AFV which was used throughout the war...     Sadly, there are few missions to take advantage of all this nice kit, and what there is, mainly involves reducing it to shell-shot hulks, burning or otherwise...     So, having finally cut my teeth with the Steel Fury Mission Editor, making some contributions to the upcoming 'Schuzle's Diary' SP gun campaign, I thought I might try to do something about that. Phase 1 of STA-Britpak is the first result - a single British Army Normandy mission, and a set of supporting file modifications which do useful things like add to the existing 3-tank platoons, a 4-tank option for British medium tanks, with either three Cromwells or Shermans, and a Firefly; and lower the height of the tank commander and loader figures, so that they are just heads out of the hatch when opened up, instead of standing tall like they are on a parade. Also, there will be a voice pack, which will, as the term suggests, add British-accented voices.   The single mission is a follow-on of sorts to the two Jagdpanther missions I made for the aforementioned German campaign; like them, it's using the existing Normandy map based on Villers Bocage (made by Deviator, with input from Lockie), but re-labelled to represent the area around Hill 226 and Saint-Martin-des-Besaces, where some tough fighting took place during the Operation Bluecoat offensive.   For this mission, set on 31 July 1944, the player is a Troop (platoon) Leader in the 23rd Hussars, a cavalry regiment which, being formed during World War 2, never went to war on horses! It's the day after the Jagdpanthers of Schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 654 famously mauled the Churchills of the Scots Guards on Hill 226. Now, the Germans are pulling back to more defensible positions nearer Vire, and your unit, 'A' Squadron, has been tasked with clearing a German rearguard out of St Martin. Though not an actual historical mission, it's based on the sort of battles that the Hussars fought about this time, during Bluecoat.   A feature of this mission - and the others that will hopefully join it, in subsequent phases - is that instead of the common Steel Fury style of 'briefing' delivered to the player alone, the mission will begin with orders, given as if at an 'O' Group by the player's unit commander, to the player and all the other participating sub-unit commanders. These orders, though simplified, will be in the authentic British WW2 format, which was functionally the same as the NATO format I learned in the 1970s.   Units will be deployed in recognisable formations and will have HQ units, present on the battlefield and making themselves 'heard' on the radio net (seen, actually, as scripted radio messages appear as subtitles). The mission scripting will also endeavour to have the units operate to the plan described in the orders, using something approximating to realistic company-level tactics.   The 23rd Hussars attack on St Martin begins with 'A' Squadron formed up in a field, facing the objective, which is on the other side of several hedgerows running roughly left to right across their front. They are deployed in the attack formation described in the orders - 'two up', meaning that two of the sqaudron's three tank troops are ahead, with the third - the player's - behind ('in depth'). Just ahead of the player, are the half-tracks of the attached motor rifle platoon from 3 Monmouths, the player's task being to assault with them, while the other two troops provide fire support from either flank. The two tanks of Squadron HQ are in the middle of the formation.   As the leading troops move off, the hedgerows ahead are struck by the supressive fire of the supporting artillery. A second barrage will fall on the more distant hedgerows immediately in front of St Martin, as the attackers close the range.     In line formation, 3 Troop's Shermans speed their way across an open field, trying to keep up with the rapidly-moving half-tracks.     Traversing right as we reach the village, I can see in the gunsight a burning house, and that somebody over on the right has helpfully managed to clobber one of the defending SP guns.     We have a scary minute or two, as we are engaged head on by another SP which has seemingly been waiting for us to come into sight around the corner of the main street. It gets scarier when a second SP appears, but having called my Troop into close order column formation, we manage to win the fire fight.     Reaching our phase 1 objective - the town square - a Sherman ahead and right fires across the street at an unseen target. My own tank's commander spots some motor transport tying to 'leg it', on the far side of town.     Spreading out again, we reach the Hotel de Ville, where the Nazi flag is still flying...but not for much longer!     This is the only mission that will be available with Phase 1 of STA-Britpak, but as more maps become available, more will be added - ideally and time permitting, in the form of mini-campaigns based on notable tankie memoirs, like John Foley's 'Mailed Fist' and Robert Boscawen's 'Armoured Guardsmen'.   The current release of Phase 1 is in test - at time of writing, it lacks the voice pack (using instead the existing US voices). And it's built in the upcoming STA 2.0 mod with the December update, this so far only being available to testers, so it may be released with STA 2.0, whose release date hasn't yet been announced. If Britpak works with the current 1.0 release of STA, we may release the former sooner. In the meantime, watch your arcs!  

    DCS Newsletter for 29 Jan 16 - F/A-18C This Year!
    Dave
    By Dave,
      Dear Pilots!

    2015 was an important year for DCS World with the introduction of new Eagle Dynamics Modules like DCS: L-39 Albatros, DCS: NEVADA Test and Training Range, and both Su-27 and Ka-50 campaigns. Just as important, we launched our new graphics engine, the ability to support multiple maps, introduction of cooperative multiplayer in the same aircraft, and a rapidly growing number of high quality 3rd party developers. These accomplishments have laid the foundation for great things in 2016 and beyond.   We also launched the new DCS World website that you can view here:
    http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/index.php

    On both our Youtube channel and Facebook page, we released many new videos of modules and news updates. Here are some of our favorite highlights:




    Our fundamental goals for DCS World remain unchanged: we aim to build a deeply immersive and accurate world simulation engine that allows you to enjoy the highest levels of fidelity in aircraft operations from WWII onwards, in wonderfully detailed and varied areas of the globe while offering an ever more credible ground simulation experience. 
    DCS World 2.0 in 2016 will offer new clouds and weather effects; improved HDR; deferred lighting (more light sources); new FLIR system; an improved Air Traffic Control (ATC) system; enhanced explosions, over-wing vapor, and rain on canopy; procedural grass and vegetation; improved multiplayer with dedicated server support; a new Air Combat Generator with enhanced user control of air-to-air generated missions; new custom overlays option for the Mission Editor, and a new Virtual Reality (VR) tab in Options which will improve the DCS World experience in VR.  

    Aircraft Modules  
    Eagle Dynamics’s first goal in 2016 is to wrap up the L-39 Albatros with the addition of the L-39ZA version along with the addition of interactive training missions. We will also continue to improve the cooperative multiplayer experience in the L-39 as a test bed for this technology.   In parallel we continue to work on the F/A-18C Hornet. We are currently working on the cockpit and setting up its functionality. Later in 2016 we plan to release the Hornet as an “Early Access” product that will allow you to participate in early testing.   
    Our goals for DCS World War II remain unchanged and are still focused on a stable of WWII aircraft in addition to a 1944 map of Northern France with period ground units. We hope to finish the Spitfire IX in mid-2016 followed by the P-47D at the end of the year. We will also continue to fine-tune the P-51D, Fw 190 and Bf 109.   To complete the update to all DCS: Flaming Cliffs 3 aircraft, we plan to add a new 3D external model for the MiG-29 with the incorporation of the Professional Fight Models (PFM) to both the Su-33 and MiG-29.   In the first half of 2016, several new 3rd party aircraft modules will also be launched. These include the F-5E Tiger II by Belsimtek, the SA342 Gazelle by Polychop Simulations, and the AJS-37 Viggen by Leatherneck Simulations.

    Map Modules

    DCS: NEVADA Test and Training Range map is being enhanced with the addition of: [*]Tonopah Air Force Base [*]New casino/hotels in the Las Vegas strip [*]A number of airfields and landing strips in the central (detailed) portion of the map [*]The National Training Center (NTC) [*]Improved grass and ground clutter [*]Plus a host of minor improvements We have also been working on the DCS: Strait of Hormuz map with the primary focus on F/A-18C operations. For this release we are working on our new T5 dynamic mesh terrain technology that we believe will bring this map a new dimension in quality and detail.

    The third map being worked on is the 1944 Northern France map. We see this period map as a cornerstone element to create an immersive World War II air combat experience.

    Aircraft Carriers We see 2016 as a big year for aircraft carrier operations as we plan to release both Nimitz-class aircraft carrier and Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier modules. Both of these modules will be incredibly detailed models with working elevators, interior hanger bays, animated ship systems, and the ability to walk around inside the ships. These will be optional modules that would replace the existing ships currently in DCS World.

    New Campaigns
    As we release maps and aircraft, we will also continue to offer new campaign modules. These will include both training and combat scenario campaigns.

    Summary
    We see 2016 as a very exciting time for DCS World with the growth in maps, aircraft, and features. When we include all the new aircraft and map modules being developed by our talented 3rd parties, 2016 will be an exceptional and fun time in the skies of DCS World.
      Sincerely,
    The Eagle Dynamics Team

    F-15C: 16-2 Red Flag Campaign Now Available
    Dave
    By Dave,
    Starting today, the F-15C 16-2 Red Flag Campaign is available for purchase and download from: F-15C 16-2 Red Flag Campaign    The F-15C 16-2 Red Flag Campaign is a depiction of flying the F-15C Eagle during a typical Red Flag exercise in the skies over Nevada. This campaign includes extensive briefing, map, and lineup card PDF files for each mission and was designed in consultation with the renowned author Steve Davies, the authority on the F-15C.
    All of the missions are based on input from real F-15C pilots that have flown in Red Flag exercises and will provide you a challenge that will test even the most skilled virtual pilots.

    Features:
    10 handcrafted mission that depict number of types of missions a F-15C pilot would fly in a Red Flag
    Highly detailed mission briefings, mission maps, and lineup cards as PDF files
    Custom voice overs and hundreds of triggers
    Created in partnership with the author Steve Davies and F-15C pilots that have flown Red Flags
    Note: this campaign requires ownership of either DCS: Flaming Cliffs 3 or F-15C for DCS World, along with the DCS: NEVADA Test and Training Range map.

    For those that pre-purchased the Nevada map and elected to receive this map for free, you will now be able to activate this campaign from the DCS World 2.0 Module Manager.   Glowing Amraam made a great video for this as well.        Head on over to DCS and get it from this link below.   http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/news/2016-01-15_F-15C_Red_Flag_Campaign/

Portal by DevFuse · Based on IP.Board Portal by IPS


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