Go, Thunderworks, Go!

[Trident 0]

Interesting choice of scenario, talent and passion for the cause - all the makings of a quality product :) It seems that the flightsim genre is finally growing again, while the market was probably too small for the numerous developers before the crisis there's now actually room for newcomers to compete with the few survivors.

 

One question, will the map include Ascension Island (for the Vulcans)? I don't recall seeing it mentioned on the homepage anywhere.

Edited December 13, 2003 by Trident

[+Dante-JT 6]

One question, will the map include Ascension Island (for the Vulcans)? I don't recall seeing it mentioned on the homepage anywhere.

 

Good question, I should add this one to the project's FAQ. We're still thinking in the best way to solve the Vulcan problem. To extend the map seamlessly to include Ascension Island, will mean getting the entire brazilian coast as well (Vulcan's did most of the air-to-air refuelling with Victor tankers parallel to the brazilian coast, in one situation, one missed a refueller and had to make an emergency landing in Brazil/Rio de Janeiro - it was "Black Buck 5" mission, carrying Shrike anti-radiation missiles if I remember well).

 

It is technically not impossible to do this, problem is 1) time to create the huge scenary (texture tiles, featured cities in the coastline) 2) extreme RAM usage. A down to earth approach at the moment is to make the Vulcans (currently A.I. only) to ingress in the campaign's map through the most north/east position, they do their business down in the war zone, and return through this same route.

 

Another approach would be to include Ascension Island as a separated map but co-existing with our current map, with correct distances between the 2 areas correctly calculated as well as flight times and fuel usage - of course there will be a gap between the two areas, but at least players will be able to see Vulcans departing from Ascension Island in direction to their targets, hours away of flight in the south direction.

 

Best regards,

Dante - Jet Thunder Project

http://www.thunder-works.com

Edited December 13, 2003 by Dante-JT

[Trident 0]

It is technically not impossible to do this, problem is 1) time to create the huge scenary (texture tiles, featured cities in the coastline) 2) extreme RAM usage. A down to earth approach at the moment is to make the Vulcans (currently A.I. only) to ingress in the campaign's map through the most north/east position, they do their business down in the war zone, and return through this same route.

 

Another approach would be to include Ascension Island as a separated map but co-existing with our current map, with correct distances between the 2 areas correctly calculated as well as flight times and fuel usage - of course there will be a gap between the two areas, but at least players will be able to see Vulcans departing from Ascension Island in direction to their targets, hours away of flight in the south direction.

Well, I don't think we'd really need the brazilian mainland, the incident you mention is really rare and should be irrelevant for the sim. So my question would be: does the map really have to be perfectly rectangular? I'd suggest including Ascension on the same map with a generous 'chunk' of ocean to connect it to the actual theatre of operations. I mean, the sea is probably based on a low-res mesh with a tiled texture, so that shouldn't affect performance that much.

 

Alternatively, if the map indeed has to be rectangular, I don't think it would be that bad to use only low-detail, generic terrain for Brazil (no elevation, tiled low-res textures). LOMAC utilizes this approach, the entire Black Sea region including the northern parts of Turkey is represented, but only a small part is actually modelled in detail and usable for the player.

 

What do you think?

Edited December 13, 2003 by Trident

[+Dante-JT 6]

Alternatively, if the map indeed has to be rectangular, I don't think it would be that bad to use only low-detail, generic terrain for Brazil (no elevation, tiled low-res textures). LOMAC utilizes this approach, the entire Black Sea region including the northern parts of Turkey is represented, but only a small part is actually modelled in detail and usable for the player.

 

Yep, indeed it has to be retangular. This approach could be used to extend the map up to Ascension Island. It's more or less what the retail MS FS does (generic, low res terrain covering large regions, but with spots of high detail here and there), but we can't promise this feature for the 1st product release, but possibly in a later add-on/expansion pack - be in mind that our team is small with small resources, and even with most of the terrain repeating and in a generic fashion, it would be extremely large - possibly much larger than any featured terrain area in a combat flight sim until now.

 

Best regards,

Dante - Jet Thunder Project

http://www.thunder-works.com

[SDirickson 0]

I would say that until the Vulcan becomes player controlable, it is a small thing to miss seeing it land and takeoff in exchange for the performance increase. I mean, you never hear of people asking for Guam to be modelled in a Vietnam sim, just for the sake of the B-52s.

[Growler67 0]

I only have this available as my initial comment: HARRIER, VSTOL, HARRIER,VSTOL.......it's about time this was addressed in earnest. Keep us posted on your progress.