[WIP] Wolves of the Kaiser:1914-1918 Mod

[Xall]

Wow I'm really excited about this mod, I hate to ask but when can we expect it, any general idea?

I know I should not ask but it just looks so amazing!

I tried shells of fury, what I missed form that is the Type U - 9 u-boot I#m really glad its going to be in here.

Keep up the amazing work guys, its a honor to see a WW1 mod being made, I think there should be allot more WW1 games it was such a fasinating era with the introduction of so many new things such as a drastic change of warefare with the newly introduced machine gun, the u-boats and submarines, airplanes...

I littlery can't wait for this mod! It looks amazing! Good job

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD!

Originally Posted by Xall

Wow I'm really excited about this mod, I hate to ask but when can we expect it, any general idea?

I know I should not ask but it just looks so amazing!

It's fine to ask, but there have been so many mods here that we came up with a stock answer many years ago:

When it's done!

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Xall

Wow I'm really excited about this mod, I hate to ask but when can we expect it, any general idea?

I know I should not ask but it just looks so amazing!

I tried shells of fury, what I missed form that is the Type U - 9 u-boot I#m really glad its going to be in here.

Keep up the amazing work guys, its a honor to see a WW1 mod being made, I think there should be allot more WW1 games it was such a fasinating era with the introduction of so many new things such as a drastic change of warefare with the newly introduced machine gun, the u-boats and submarines, airplanes...

I littlery can't wait for this mod! It looks amazing! Good job

No news is good news.

Seriously, since my last post I have been working on the following tasks:

1. Gathering sources for modeling the U-51 class. Not 100% satisfied with the volume of material but at least there are good plans and conning tower pics out there.

2. Destructible land targets for bombardment missions (a common task for U-Boats early in the war). These will also be attacked by both friendly and enemy non-player units in accordance with history. When you sortie out you may see British pre-dreadnoughts shelling your base, or German battlecruisers shooting up British towns:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on...ool_and_Whitby

I intend to create a world where you're not alone and other units, friend and foe, are going about their business day by day.

3. Environmental improvements. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to me to get the skies, waterm, and terrain to look like Northern Europe. No hula girls or coconut trees, thank you! It's all part of developing the cold, gritty, "North Atlantic" ambience that Silent Hunter III and Silent Hunter V have. In my next update there will be comparison pictures of unmodded SH4 and the European terrain textures, trees, and ocean coloring I have modded in.

4. Designing merchant shipping. I'd like to go into detail on this last bit. The Merchant Fleet Mod ships are being "scrapped". Instead, there will be higher poly-count, scratch-built vessels with different destructible parts. This last bit has exceeded my expectations. Based on my work with one small freighter over the past week, I will be able to do almost everything I wanted to do. My big concern was "flicker" from overlaid 3d objects - miraculously this has not been a problem. Civilian ships will no longer be hollow shells. Instead, get ready for:

-real cargo holds. Visible cargo and passengers when hatches or deckhouses get blown off by your guns.

-3d portholes, life rings, & deck machinery

-breakups at different portions of the ship hull, like Silent Hunter V. No more automatic splitting in half.

-real, 3d torpedo holes when a ship is hit - not just transparency over a damage layer

Not to mention new particle effects for damage and texture improvements like actual ship names on the bow, home port on the stern, load lines, & more.

The main setback is that there will be fewer different hull sizes than in the Merchant Fleet Mod - however, that's a small price to pay in my opinion. To compensate there will be more different funnels, superstructures, and deck components added to each basic hull variant.

I have not posted screens yet because I am planning for a major update, unlike the smaller ones that have been posted earlier. Thanks to all for your help, and I can assure you that the recent silence is a good sign - not a bad one!

[Char]

Thanks for the update man.This is one of the only mods im looking forward to!

Also like the Different Hull componets instead of different sizes.Alot of the ships in SH4 look the same with a Different Paint Scheme.

[Admiral Von Gerlach]

Very impressive. I concur in all of your decisions. Good calls on the merchants and esp on the environment. Also the dynamic world idea is very good, agree on that too.

Glad you are moving forward at your own pace on this, that is always the best

Thanks for the posting and the update.

[Xall]

This is going to be a real major mod then...!

Sounds like incredible fun, but also sounds like sure allot of work and dedication, I can't begin to imagine the scale of the project, but by the sounds of it and as far as what I have seen its going to be one of a kind, I am esspecially excited about this since it will be one of the few games based on world war one

The features which you plan to include is all the sweeter, I didn't think there will be so much remade/changed.

My thanks iambecomelife, keep up the amazing work, sure something to be proud of, of yeah a film tipp if you have not seen yet: Morgenrot 1933 a World War One U-boat Movie Just saw that yesterday actually, it may also give you some ideas as well as some interior view of the u-boat... I think it was a...Type U 19 U-boat but its hard to say since it was not mentioned which kind it was but the looks of it and it had 4 forward tubs.

Thanks again and good luck with any challenges you may be facing.

[CCIP]

Great news then! The feature set sounds more outstanding by the day. I know it's a long wait, but you proved beyond all doubt with the work on MFM that it's going to be worth it.

I really like the idea of shore bombardment missions. I'm in fact puzzled that these never made it into SH 3/4/5 in any way - not that they were common, bur really no less common than the spy insertions etc.

[Admiral Von Gerlach]

Shore attacks occured quite commonly in WWI, in the Med, along the Channel and in Afrika to mention a few areas....they were a normal way for Naval force to be projected...however with the advent of air attacks later in the war, it was less safe for a surface fleet to steam back and forth attacking a shore target when they would be sitting ducks ..for bombardment takes careful plotting and correction and requires a constant and predictable base course and speed.

[Gerald]

[Admiral Von Gerlach]

The bombardment of the Turkish Batteries at Gallipoli is an excellent example of the changes in naval doctrine that were required by new weapons and tactics, up until them bombardment was quite often used by fleets in aciton, but during that engagement a number of ships were sunk including some capital ones partly by mines and partly by return fire from the shore. So it was a transitional time for many aspects of naval warfare.

Submarines are actually an extension of a very old tactic, that of the floating fort idea, they contain heavy armament for their size, ie torpedoes which can sink a capital ship with a single hit.... however the submareine is literally a floating "gun" which fires along its axis...and is very vulnerable to the sides and to the wider environemnt. Due to the in line demands of the machinery of that era, and even WWII, the entire ship was literally a floating engine with main armament fore and aft, at each end. So it was difficult to develop new tactics and even new strategy for it.

The USN was innovative in that they developed boats that would cruise at sea for six weeks successfully and project force into formerly 'safe" territory, and used with unrestricted attack, were quite deadly. WWI was an interesting era for many aspects of naval warfare and war in general were tested and developed from very early beginnings and often at a high speed. The pay off of speed of production of a new model of ship was often paid for in losses due to incompletley tested aspects of the new classes, so literally sea trials were carried out in action, and some nations did not have the industrial base to turn things around fast enough to really benefit from design innovations that they themselves made, as in the case of Austro Hungarian advances in submarine design which they themselves could not really manufacture in time, also same for Italian innovations, the British fleet which could have developed new ship types fastest of anyone was conservative due to the theory held by the highest ranks, which also happened to the Japanese fleet during WWII, so that capacity was not matched by results.

[Admiral Von Gerlach]

Might be fun to add some missions for the eastern Med and the Black Sea, between the Turkish/German/Austro Hungarian forces and the Allied British/French/Italian and later on American forces... there were some exciting submarine encounters in that theatre.

would be fun to add the Goeben and her cruiser escort...in their race for Constantinople with a submarine assisting her flight seeing to reach safety.

[horsa]

[iambecomelife]

@ Admiral VG: The Mediterranean will be included. Too many interesting missions to overlook, such as U-35 sinking over 50 ships in one patrol, the attacks on the battleships at Gallipoli, and the sinking of the "Danton".

To anyone with expertise I have a question about submarine armament: how many rounds per gun were carried on U-31 and U-51 class submarines when there were dual deck guns? I understand that they sometimes had two 88 mm guns or one 105 mm and one 88 mm gun together.

Also, how many rounds of 88mm were carried? Uboat.net says that most submarines of the time carried 300 rounds of 105mm ammo, so I assume that they carried more rounds of 88mm due to its smaller size.

I am preparing a Christmas update with at least one new submarine type revealed, as well as before/after comparisons of the scenery. Stay tuned.

[bidius]

Wow, Really looking forward to this mod, keep up the good work!

[Admiral Von Gerlach]

Herr I...

I am asking for help on your request. but here is first info:

The 88 mm had ammunition that weighed about 30 lb (14 kg) and was of the projectile and cartridge type. It had the same controls on both sides of the gun so that the two crewman that were in charge of firing it could control it from either side. The 105 mm evolved from the 88 mm in the sense that it was more accurate and had more power due to the 51 lb (23 kg) ammunition it fired.

80 rounds per gun later increased to 120 rounds per gun.

a very good source about WWI and subs

http://www.vlib.us/wwi/resources/mymysteryships.html

By 1914, the British Royal Grand fleet consisted of 28 dreadnoughts, 9 battle cruisers, 8 armored cruisers, 26 light cruisers, 77 destroyers, 1 seaplane carrier, and 1 minelayer for a total force of 250 warships. The Imperial Navy’s High Seas Fleet consisted of 99 warships that consisted of 16 dreadnoughts, 5 battle cruisers, 6 pre-dreadnoughts, 11 light cruisers, and 61 destroyers. [19] A young navy officer, Lieutenant Eric Woodruff, wrote a letter to his brother in September of 1914 stating, “There is a great enthusiasm and recruits are flocking in daily. If only the German fleet would come out, we would wipe them out in a few minutes.” [20]

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com...s/jutland.aspx

some significant errors in this but a good overview.and i am contacting the authour to help with corrections.