Kurile Islands campaign (remember USNF 97)

[slick cowboy 142]

Playing SF2 reminds me a lot of the gameplay I enjoyed in Jane's USNF.

One of the fun campaigns in there was the Kurile Islands campaign. A bit restricted maybe, but nevertheless fun to play.

 

Essentially it was a 'fictive' dispute between Russia and Japan over the Kurile Islands.

 

The gameplay was a mix between CASmissions, antiship missions and a few CAPs. I don't recall any bombingruns, but then again it's been years since I played it...

 

Anyway, if any of you hardcore moddersare in need of ideas, reviving the Kurile Islands campaign for SF2would be i think a welcome surprise...

 

In USNF the planes involved were mainlya USMC AV-8B taskforce, some British Harriers, Japanese F-15s, Awacs,and on the Russian side all the modern migs and the Yak plus MilMi-24s. Lots of ground war going on as well, Russian tanks and armouredvehicles galore. But I guess the game could be expanded to more planes of course to make it more interesting...

 

Anyway, I'm not a modder. I don't havethe time, Im shooting ideas in the air. But if someone out there has some time to kill, this funcampaign would i think be a nice addition to SF2...

 

I could come up with a dozen more fictive campaigns, but i think this one just might be a feasible one...

 

 

[Wrench 9,461]

The idea also came to me a couple of weeks ago, working on the WW2 Okinawa/Japan map.

 

don't know if this pic will show, and I'd need to get MKSheppard to 'chop up' his Pacific Basin map, but something like this below

 

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=32079

 

 

wrench

kevin stein

[+Baltika 84]

Wrench,

 

How much of that map area do you want?

 

I can crank out a basic .hfd pretty quickly, as you know I had started a Japanese home islands map but didn't take it very far, too much other stuff on my plate, and your upgraded Okinawa map works for what I want to do anyway.

 

So, if all you're needing is a basic terrain build, I can do that NP.

 

I should also say, that as part of work on my NZ/Northern Europe/North Cape maps, which I am progressing, I have built a stack of additional transition tiles for the Germany_CE tileset, mainly city to sea, but also mountain to sea, forest to sea etc etc, with working alpha channel .tgas, which make autotiling with TE much easier for these island/mountainous terrains. I had been planning to upload them with my new terrains when they come out, but they could easily be included with a basic Kurile Islands build, for use by terrain builders.

 

You have no idea how long I spent banging my head off a brick wall trying to get Iceland to tile properly, before I realised - the stock tileset just didn't have enough transition textures. So, the custom Iceland set I am working on covers just about every two- and three-way combination between every tile type. Cuts down hand tiling by a huge amount.

 

So, give me a shout if I can help.

 

Cheers,

 

Steven

 

(Baltika)

[Wrench 9,461]

SHOUT!!! <grin> couldn't resist!

 

I'd like to keep the area around Tokyo, so 150km below Tokyo bay would be a good southern end, as that avoids "THE WALL". Simply, because we've never had it before, and if a 3d modleer ever builds us a Gojira, we'll need that area.

 

You just hit the nail on the head ... all these tripple damn cursed terrains are TOTALLY lacking in proper transition tiles. The 3 or 6 we have simply don't do the job AT ALL!!!

 

As to snow mountians, rocky mountians, and stuff, there some GREAT one Dueces did with the Indo/Pak map that could also be easily imported.

 

Yah, baby, I'm down with it!! Now...If I could just find my old USNF97 or FA maps ... well, there's always google earth. Definatly want to add the Sapporo brewery on Hokkaido as a 'stargetic target'. Russian Far East bases on Sakalin...oh yeah, lot's of potential here

 

wrench

kevin stein

[+Baltika 84]

Hi Wrench,

 

Just as a reminder, here's my old Japan build:-

 

 

Looking to the WW2 invasion of Japan thread, it seems MKSheppard has taken things much further map-wise. But, if what you're after is more of a subset of his large map, pretty much what you posted at #2 in this thread, I can shift my map North amd East to cover it, and fire it up as a beta flyable with a couple of airbases and cities on each side, to be taken further as and when time permits. I can included my expanded tileset to aid with transition tile woes as well.

 

If that's useful, say the word, and I'll crank it out

 

 

P.S.

 

Just checked my NZ texturelist. Stock Germany has 123 tiles. Here are the additional ones, following the same naming convention:-

 

Filename124=GERMANYA-JR.bmp

Filename125=GERMANYA-JS.bmp

Filename126=GERMANYA-RJ.bmp

Filename127=GERMANYA-RS.bmp

Filename128=GERMANYA-SJ.bmp

Filename129=GERMANYA-SR.bmp

Filename130=GERMANYC-GS.bmp

Filename131=GERMANYC-RS.bmp

Filename132=GERMANYC-SG.bmp

Filename133=GERMANYC-SR.bmp

Filename134=GERMANYG-CS.bmp

Filename135=GERMANYG-SC.bmp

Filename136=GERMANYG-SR.bmp

Filename137=GERMANYG-RS.bmp

Filename138=GERMANYJ-AR.bmp

Filename139=GERMANYJ-AS.bmp

Filename140=GERMANYJ-RA.bmp

Filename141=GERMANYJ-RS.bmp

Filename142=GERMANYJ-SA.bmp

Filename143=GERMANYJ-SR.bmp

Filename144=GERMANYRA25A.bmp

Filename145=GERMANYRA50A.bmp

Filename146=GERMANYRA75A.bmp

Filename147=GERMANYR-AJ.bmp

Filename148=GERMANYR-CS.bmp

Filename149=GERMANYR-GS.bmp

Filename150=GERMANYR-JA.bmp

Filename151=GERMANYR-SC.bmp

Filename152=GERMANYR-SG.bmp

Filename153=GERMANYSA25A.bmp

Filename154=GERMANYSA25B.bmp

Filename155=GERMANYSA50A.bmp

Filename156=GERMANYSA75A.bmp

Filename157=GERMANYSJ25A.bmp

Filename158=GERMANYSJ50A.bmp

Filename159=GERMANYSJ75A.bmp

Filename160=GERMANYS-AJ.bmp

Filename161=GERMANYS-AR.bmp

Filename162=GERMANYS-CR.bmp

Filename163=GERMANYS-JA.bmp

Filename164=GERMANYS-JR.bmp

Filename165=GERMANYS-RA.bmp

Filename166=GERMANYS-RC.bmp

Filename167=GERMANYS-RJ.bmp

Edited September 14, 2009 by Baltika

[eraser_tr 29]

It's something I've been dying to make, but I'm no maven at SF mods and keeping a team together and interested hasn't been successful. Terrain's been a huge stumbling block, and time.

 

Pureblue is working on an SF2 campaign editor, with nearly all the planes needed available now, I'm definitely taking a crack at the Black Sea campaign once he's done with the editor.

[+PureBlue 71]

Campaign Editor? Actually I was just passing ideas to that thread at TW Forum. It was somebody else that started the project.

 

Baltika, so you made lots of new transition tiles, for stock GermanyCE ? Good work.

I wonder if I can make use of them for Anatolia, which uses Stary's 4xSeasons. They're pretty different from stock, in fact I've been doing some modified tiles for this set:

 

GERMANYGC25A-ROADT1.bmp

GERMANYSG50A-ROADS1.tga

GERMANYSG50A-ROADT1.tga

GERMANYSC25A-ROADT1.tga

 

Mainly, roads with different variety. Also working on new Sea-Grass transitions to cure the repetitious coastlines.

It's 3 times the work because of the season set. And the tod creation is way too boring!

[eraser_tr 29]

(In best Homer Simpson voice)

 

Doh!

 

It looked like from the thread you were the one making it, oh well, time to double check just who and hound them into finishing it.

 

edit: it was jross194, hasn't been back since july, damn it looked like a good program. From scrathch by hand and dealing with frontlines and strategic nodes is a helluva lot harder by hand

Edited September 14, 2009 by eraser_tr

[+Baltika 84]

Hi all,

 

@ pureblue, you are most welcome to use anything I can put together if it helps. I have based my new transition tiles on Deuce's old WoE repaint, so unfortunately they may be of limited use if you are using Stary's 4 seasons WoE. I confess I have not even addressed the issue of new .TODs, so, I will have to take a look at that. I found that creation of the transition textures is not too time-consuming once you get into the swing of it. I combine existing textures in paint.NET, then paint over and merge them a bit in gimp to give them a proper blended and unique look to aid variety. I worked them up for my NZ and Northern Europe terrain wips, which have a while to go before release - NZ is most advanced, but targetising the terrain is slow work done manually.

 

So, as I needed a break from my more detailed projects, and as a vehicle to get the enhanced tileset/texturelist out, and to help out with this project if I can, I have spent a little time in TE with this:-

 

 

 

Before I hear everyone say, "Oh no, not another map wip from Baltika that will never see the light of day!" - probably justifiably - let me make my intention clear. I will work up about a half dozen or so airbases and cities for each of the main players (Japan, Russia, China, and maybe about the same for N & S Korea) then set up the front line and a couple of movement routines so each of the mission types are covered. Then, I will post this up as a flyable beta for development by whoever fancies a crack at it. I will include the expanded texturelist I posted above, the new tiles and .tgas I mentioned, and the CityList so it can be taken further in TE. If I have time I will add a little mini-campaign as a sort of template.

 

Timescale, well, "two weeks" of course, but I hope I can make this a quick fix to fill a gap and maybe give folks somewhere fun to fly around in.

 

Cheers for now,

 

Baltika

[eraser_tr 29]

That map could also be used for the Vladivostok campaign USNF did. Two for one deal!

[+Baltika 84]

Broken my intentions already. Progress update:-

 

 

 

Campaign Files (Air War only) completed. Here's the backstory:-

 

Kamchatka Peninsula, Far East, 2010

 

The discovery of a vast oilfield in the Sea of Okhotsk brings the promise of great wealth and prosperity to this remote region. The largely non-Russian population is vocal in pressing for independence. These claims are flatly denied by the Kremlin, which refuses to allow the disintegration of the Russian Federation and the loss of the massive mineral wealth and strategic importance of the area.

 

The situation is brought to crisis point when the Far East Military District Generals unilaterally declare independence from Moscow, and claim sovereignty over the Eastern Russian Empire. With military resources stretched to breaking point, and having suffered the mutiny of the entire Eastern Command, Moscow thinks the unthinkable and seeks United States military assistance in stabilising the region.

 

America is reluctant to be drawn into a bloody Russian civil war, but when Japan takes advantage of the situation by occupying the long-disputed southern Kuril Islands, the Eastern Russian Generals order an all-out offensive to maintain the borders of their new Empire.

 

With the blessing of the UN and Moscow, the President orders USFJ Command to protect civilian lives, destroy enemy air assets, and comply with treaty obligations by assisting in the defence of Japan. . .

 

 

Air war features all USN (CVW-5), USAF (44th & 67th FS (F-15C); 13th & 14th FS (F-16C Blk 50)), and USMC (VMFA(AW)-242 "Bats") units stationed in the area. All JASDF units are flyable. Red Side consists of the air units of: 11th VVS & PVO Army (Far East Military District), flying SU-24M, SU-35 (too good to miss out), MiG-31M, SU-27; the Russian Naval Aviation Units of Pacific Ocean Fleet, flying TU-22K and TU-95M (as stand-ins for TU-22M3 and TU-142), plus 387 IAP flying TMF's MiG-29C_rus.

 

Still to be done:-

 

Airfield flattening and alignment

Adding selected air units of 14th VVS & PVO Army (Siberian Military District)

Adding ground war

Basic terrain targetisation (sorry Wrench, this won't be pretty, but it will work)

Fine-tuning front line for disputed Southern Kuril Islands

Adding terrain_movement routes for all mission types

Adding more Russian airbases on Sakhalin

Adding more Japanese cities

Adding Naval Bases for all forces

 

What won't make the first cut:-

 

Anything to do with China, North or South Korea. Sorry, but I had to draw the line there as I want to keep this manageable on a short timescale.

 

Cheers for now,

 

Baltika

Edited September 17, 2009 by Baltika

[+allenjb42 4,127]

Looks great!

 

Is there any chance of adding any USMC AV-8B units from a helicopter carrier to really bring back the flavour of the Marine Fighters add-on for Jane's USNF?

 

It looks like we've only got the USS Tarawa available, which was decommissioned in March 2009, but I think there are others in the class operational. Maybe one of the experts can enlighten us further?

[eraser_tr 29]

Sounds cool. Toss in an F-22 squadron and maybe even an F-35A rushed into service. Adding in a blue side russia would make for an interesting sight! USAF planes aiding migs and flankers in fights, Su-39s providing CAS to Abrams tanks or F-15s escorting russian bombers.

[+Baltika 84]

Thanks for suggestions

 

How could I forget bobrock's superlative AV-8Bplus It is in now

 

NP to throw in an F-22 squadron for the Raptor junkies, or an F-35 for that matter. I realise I have missed out a few Red side planes, SU-33, Yak-141 Freestyle, SU-39. They can go into the mix too.

 

"Blue" Russian units are en route. . .

[+Baltika 84]

Progress update. . .

 

Egress from NAF ATSUGI, near Tokyo, Mount Fuji fairly dominant on the skyline. . .

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Fishbeds scramble from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. . .

 

 

 

Great part of the world for volcanoes, mountains, deep valleys and lots of little islands which are quite tricky to place runways on - but we're getting there

[Biggus 0]

Looking good. This map has lots of potential. I'm thinking with the right platforms that a 1950s-1980s recon flight campaign could be do-able. P-2s, RC-135s, EP-3s....

 

Very cool map. Am keeping an eye on this one.

[+gerwin 450]

That looks good.

I played the original USNF campaign years ago, good memories indeed.

Here is some inspirational material for Baltika and anyone else.

Notice how small the map actually was in USNF.

 

 

 

Free Image Hosting by ImageBam.com

[+Typhoid 231]

looks sweet. I will REALLY like this one!!

 

are you making it for SF2?

[+Brain32 265]

Cool, since my Korea went zombie I'll try to adjust my Korea tiles for this...

[+Baltika 84]

are you making it for SF2?

 

Currently being developed in WoE '08. Once my hardware gets an upgrade (Hmm... next year) I will switch over entirely to SF2 series.

 

There is a preview version of this terrain, with mini-campaign, almost ready for release. Preview terrain CityList, Autotiling, Levelling etc and campaign done. I am slowly hand-placing targets on the preview terrain, a little while to go yet. When it goes up, it will include my enhanced tileset (many extra transition tiles) based on Deuce's WoE repaint, with expanded TextureList for terrain builders.

 

@ gerwin, interesting, the preview terrain is a small chunk of the main map (not the bit you posted from USNF!) But it will be fun to fly and fight over

[+Typhoid 231]

I'm really looking forward to this one since I flew in this area way back when.

[+hgbn 91]

Cool. This terrain looks like it could be used for a Korean war mod to. If the "wall" isnt to close at the Korean penisula

[+Baltika 84]

I am delighted to announce that the Russian Far East "preview" terrain has now been fully completed and uploaded, now available right here at CA. Here's the link:-

 

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=10530

 

Meantime, here's a sneak peek of what you get in the package:-

 

 

 

 

Russians at the Ready at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsk

 

 

 

Casco Cove CGS, tricky for take-offs

 

 

Heading North over Paramushir

 

 

Outbound from the now Japanese-occupied Shelikhovo-1

 

 

Mountain peaks somewhere over Kamchatka Krai

 

 

Trouble brewing over the Sea of Okhotsk

 

 

Heading for home in the weeds, taken some damage

 

 

Get that landing right first time around. . .

 

 

Coming Soon:

 

The Kamchatka Crucible, 2010 Campaign.

 

 

Tally-Ho!

 

Baltika

Edited February 5, 2010 by Baltika

[Slartibartfast 153]

Looks good I remember creating a campaign years ago in Janes Fleet Command... full on WW3 stuff carriers bombers subs the works... but now I might be able to fly it even better lol... Mine was based around 1982 using Midway class CV's with Phantoms A-6's A-7's and the rest of the crowd on a carrier... Had serious memory issues by the time I had finished it lol...

[+Crusader 2,051]

This looks very interesting!