Aircraft Improvement Project

[RyanCrierie]

Still working on this, and my planes fly backwards......but IT WORKS!

I've also edited the loadouts of all the aircraft in the game to be more historical, and rejiggered the bomb damages as well; more information to come later!

[RyanCrierie]

The new bombs are:

50 kg - 149mm calibre, 2 destructiveness, 6 stun, 9 to hit, 3.5 penetration
100 kg - 199mm calibre, 0 destructiveness, 4 stun, 9 to hit, 5 penetration
250 kg - 259mm calibre, -1 destructiveness, 3 stun, 8 to hit, 8 penetration
500 kg- 339mm calibre, -2 destructiveness, 2 stun, 7 to hit, 12 penetration
1000 kg - 399mm calibre, -3 destructiveness, 1 stun, 6 to hit, 15 penetration

and the new calibre levels are:

319mm - Killpower of 8, Pen of 11, -2 Destructiveness, 2 stun
339mm - Killpower of 8, Pen of 12, -2 Destructiveness, 2 stun
359mm - Killpower of 9, Pen of 13, -3 Destructiveness, 1 stun
379mm - Killpower of 9, Pen of 14, -3 Destructiveness, 1 stun
399mm - Killpower of 9, Pen of 15, -3 Destructiveness, 1 stun

Did I do it right? Or did I make them ridiculously overpowered? I tried to make the shells a bit more powerful than their equivalent weight in shell (due to them having a 40-50% HE percentage as opposed to about 12-15% for a shell)

[benpark]

That's pretty cool.

Would flipping the graphic solve the airplane flying backwards issue?

[RyanCrierie]

Yes it did fix the issue.
 
I also discovered that yes, you CAN have aircraft attack enemy targets with cannon; I've got a Ju-88P flying around with a 7.5 cm Bordkanone; the problem is that the shell arrives like 10 seconds after the aircraft [X(]
 
I'm trying a "hack" to fix that issue; or at least alleviate it; by moving the aircraft 3d model 200 units off center, instead of it being centered.

[Mobius]

ORIGINAL: RyanCrierie
Did I do it right? Or did I make them ridiculously overpowered? I tried to make the shells a bit more powerful than their equivalent weight in shell (due to them having a 40-50% HE percentage as opposed to about 12-15% for a shell)

That's why GP bomb armor penetration should be less than equivalent HE shell penetration. They may have more blast but thinner shell walls.
In addition large bombs dropped by a dive bomber penetrate about 1" more than that by a low level bomber. (More velocity added to the bomb by the dive.)

You should thoroughly test these changes to see their affects.

[RyanCrierie]

Ok, I rebuilt it around the PzK "stock" bombs, 50 kg, 400 kg, and 500 kg.

As you can see, the scheme fits in with only one change needed; and that's changing the calibre of the 400 kg stock PzK bomb.

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: RyanCrierie

I also discovered that yes, you CAN have aircraft attack enemy targets with cannon; I've got a Ju-88P flying around with a 7.5 cm Bordkanone; the problem is that the shell arrives like 10 seconds after the aircraft [X(]

I'm trying a "hack" to fix that issue; or at least alleviate it; by moving the aircraft 3d model 200 units off center, instead of it being centered.

Ryan,

Great work!! A wonderfull idea.

Did the offset work?

Also, let me know if you want to try some different sounds .... I can grab some ogg sounds off of JTCS ... these have several "strafing" sounds plus stuka and other dive bombing sounds.

Rob

[Mraah]

On another note ....

Refresh my memory ... Is the shadow an image or is it an actual .x ?

I'm wondering if you make an aircraft model about 50 units above the shadow if it will appear in the game [&:].

Hmmm, if so ... I wonder if you can animate it to change elevation ... starting at 100-200 units above Y and then drop to 25-50 units, timed with the bomb drop.

Hmmmm .

Rob


EDIT NOTE : Ok, I asnwered my own question ... it's an .x file but tagged as a silhouette ... Makes me still wonder though.

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: RyanCrierie

the problem is that the shell arrives like 10 seconds after the aircraft [X(]

(sorry for so many posts).

You know ... on second thought ... 10 seconds after the plane fly's by is about right.

An object dropped from 1000 ft will take 7 seconds to reach the ground ... 32 ft/s/s .... or 9.8m/s/s.

So ... IMO, there's no need to change this.

Rob

[RyanCrierie]

Here's v0.9 beta.

How to install:

1.) go into Data/Guns and backup your bomb .xml files.
2.) go into Data/ArmouredUnits and move the following files out into a backup directory:

IL-2 Shturmovik 4x132.xml
IL-2 Shturmovik 8x82.xml
IL-2 Shturmovik.xml
JU-87 Stuka.xml

I renamed them to be more in line with common practice, e.g. Il-2 and Ju-87; and that's what the files in my pack are named; if you don't remove them, you'll have planes named Ju-87 and JU-87.

3.) Then you install the files in the zip like usual. I recommend using the Default RBG settings since then it'll use the new aircraft without editing.

[RyanCrierie]

I'm wondering if you make an aircraft model about 50 units above the shadow if it will appear in the game [&:].

What I do is I load up the Shadow in Milkshape, select it, and then MOVE it in ABSOLUTE terms 400 units on the Z axis; this makes the plane much less likely to show up before the cannon round arrives.

[Mad Russian]

ORIGINAL: Mraah

ORIGINAL: RyanCrierie

the problem is that the shell arrives like 10 seconds after the aircraft [X(]

(sorry for so many posts).

You know ... on second thought ... 10 seconds after the plane fly's by is about right.

An object dropped from 1000 ft will take 7 seconds to reach the ground ... 32 ft/s/s .... or 9.8m/s/s.

So ... IMO, there's no need to change this.

Rob

Two problems with leaving the shell strike until after the aircraft passes by:

1) The shell is "fired" from the gun not dropped unpowered as a bomb.

2) The recoil from the firing of the guns will slow the plane in mid-air. I believe it was the P-47 that could actually stop the plane in mid-air if the guns were kept firing long enough.

With those two thoughts in mind the shells should hit the target before the plane flies over. Think of how a pilot would adjust the strike of the shells if they hadn't hit until after he had flown over the target.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian


Two problems with leaving the shell strike until after the aircraft passes by:

1) The shell is "fired" from the gun not dropped unpowered as a bomb.

2) The recoil from the firing of the guns will slow the plane in mid-air. I believe it was the P-47 that could actually stop the plane in mid-air if the guns were kept firing long enough.

With those two thoughts in mind the shells should hit the target before the plane flies over. Think of how a pilot would adjust the strike of the shells if they hadn't hit until after he had flown over the target.

Good Hunting.

MR

Yeah ... I was thinking he meant the bomb not the guns ... but yeah, he meant the guns ... my bad [8|]

Also, I just thought of another problem ... The penetration power of the cannon/guns may need adjustment (if he hadn't done so). The reason is that the plane is static at a range beyond 1000 meters ... I don't know if the game models th a/c closer when it "fires or drops bombs". I would expect most strafing to occur below 500 meters.

Just something to check, in case the shells just bounce off.

Which brings me to another point ... The "top armor" values are not rated as "sloped" ... it assumes the attack was made directly above the target? In this case, strafing can occur ~ 45 degrees ... So, again ... some testing of the guns/cannons need to be done to reflect this.

All put together ... if the cannon/shell's penetration power is increased to reflect a strafing run below 500 meters and the penetration has to be adjusted lower to reflect an angle attack then it may just cancell each other out ... In other words, forget about what I said [8|].

Rob