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

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Admiral Halsey

Any idea when this is going to be released?

No, but as I like to say - it's a little closer to completion as of tonight. It's hard to develop a mod with a staff of one. For instance, 100% of the "Wolves of the Kaiser" staff is about to adjourn for a taco break. Who will research British Armoured Cruisers tonight? :/

Anyway, expect another surface ship update fairly soon. And no, the submarines themselves are not being neglected. More news later.

[Cybermat47]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

Who will research British Armoured Cruisers tonight? :/

Just tell me their names, and I'll get you their specs, commissioning and decommissioning dates

[Admiral Halsey]

I hope you make a Battle of Jutland single mission.(In all honesty I would just end up watching the ships fighting though.)

[Bunkerw0808]

I hope this will at least go to a beta


Don't die..... don't die.....NOOOOO!!!

[Admiral Halsey]

Originally Posted by Bunkerw0808

I hope this will at least go to a beta


Don't die..... don't die.....NOOOOO!!!

Don't worry I doubt it will die.(He would at least tell us if he couldn't work on it any longer.)

[GlobalExplorer]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

SCENERY MODIFICATIONS

Some more changes to the land textures...within the game's limitations. Beyond a certain size the textures will crash the game on startup, so changing the look of terrain is a bit tricky. I got rid of the tropical look, and added European/temperate textures - including some very high-res trees.

Great. I always detested the cheesy "holiday" look of Silent Hunter IV. This finally looks like a foggy, damp Irish or Scottish coastline.

Just a question IABL. Have you thought about releasing the terrain as a separate part? As far as I know terrain is just a few files, so it makes for a compact mod.

I think the main mod is still far off and perhaps people could already enjoy some part of it. Besides this could also help fine tuning the look, because I am sure people would use all available tricks to make this look right. It could free you up somewhat for the other stuff.

[LGN1]

...and please release your SH3 landscape mod, too

Regards, LGN1

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Admiral Halsey

Don't worry I doubt it will die.(He would at least tell us if he couldn't work on it any longer.)

Look - if this thread ever goes cold, send a search party to my house. They'll find a skeleton sitting at the computer desk, with one hand clutching a mouse and the other holding a copy of "Conway's Fighting Ships".

This weekend I will post an update showing some of the armored cruiser classes that I'm including. Afterwards I will be continuing work on submarines & other units.

[iambecomelife]

Some of the Armored Cruisers you will encounter...









A model representing the "HMS Duke of Edinburgh" and "HMS Black Prince". Main armament was 6 9.2" guns in a diamond layout, with 10 6" guns in casemates. After complaints about the 6" guns being unusable in heavy seas, six of them were remounted in the position shown on the main deck. "Black Prince" was destroyed during the night action at Jutland on 5/31/1916 after wandering into the German battlefleet (no survivors). HMS "Duke of Edinburgh" made it through Jutland unharmed, spending 1917 and 1918 as a convoy escort. If I have the time I will do an updated variant to represent "Duke of Edinburgh" after modernization, with a tripod mast and dazzle camouflage.







The model for "HMS Warrior", "HMS Natal", "HMS Cochrane", and "HMS Achilles". "HMS Warrior" was sunk at Jutland in 1916; "Natal" was destroyed by an accidental explosion in 1915, and "Cochrane" was wrecked in 1918. "Achilles", like other armored cruisers, was considered obsolete after the war, and scrapped in 1921.



Model for "HMS Hampshire", "HMS Argyll", "HMS Roxburgh", HMS "Carnarvon", "HMS Devonshire", and "HMS Antrim". The most famous member of this class was probably "Hampshire" - mined in 1916 with over 600 killed, including Lord Kitchener.




Replacement for the "Cressy" class model that I did a couple years ago - far from perfect but I like it much better than the old one. As you probably know, "Aboukir", "Cressy", and "Hogue" were sunk in 1914 in a single morning by submarine U-9 - 1400 men were drowned.

So, yeah, these Armored Cruisers didn't exactly have a pleasant war. They suffered from many design flaws, such as too many turrets (large area of the hull was vulnerable to ammo explosions) and centerline bulkheads (trapped water on one side and caused them to capsize). Nevertheless, they would have been a common sight patrolling in the North Sea and escorting convoys, so I wanted to make sure there was a good variety of them. The models are still incomplete & need hatches, railings, ancors, & more - just wanted to show some progress.

Next I'll be focusing on textures & details for the existing submarine models, as well as maybe some work on new ones.

LGN1 and GlobalExplorer, I have compressed the texture files - PM me your email addresses if you're interested in working with them. Sorry I took some time to respond.

[Char]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

Look - if this thread ever goes cold, send a search party to my house. They'll find a skeleton sitting at the computer desk, with one hand clutching a mouse and the other holding a copy of "Conway's Fighting Ships".

Don't know whether to Laugh at that mental image or not.


These Armored Cruisers look amazing man,Keep up the good work!

[GilligansBoat]

Originally Posted by Admiral Halsey

I hope you make a Battle of Jutland single mission.(In all honesty I would just end up watching the ships fighting though.)

You can get the SMS Schasen, the SMS Konig and the AI Dreadnaught mods on subsim and they come with a battle of Jutland quick mission

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by GilligansBoat

You can get the SMS Schasen, the SMS Konig and the AI Dreadnaught mods on subsim and they come with a battle of Jutland quick mission

You'll have to be satisfied with that for now. I may design a "Jutland" single mission but I'm leaning towards not doing it unless I have time to model a reasonable selection of the ships that were there. I know I could use the "Invincible" model to represent all the British BC's, for example, but that would irritate me - it's better to have the exact units involved.

What's more, the Silent Hunter series does not really provide for proper surface ship behaviors, like shadowing targets, fire control policy, avoiding superior forces, and breaking off engagements when damaged.

For WWI - era surface ship battles I recommend you buy "Jutland" from Storm Eagle Studios if you haven't already - the AI is superb, with different classes of ships acting according to their type and the combat situation they find themselves in.

[Admiral Von Gerlach]

re Storm Eagle,And they have added a Falklands add on that allows you to do the Battles around the Far East squadron of Von Spee, and they even added a map for it. The only drawback is the series is VERY expensive, really beyond reasonable limits i feel, tho that wont change i doubt. Too bad for it is the only other sim other than your mod that does deliver WWI naval well.

Your AC are top drawer! very well done. I love that class even tho by WWI as a class they were becoming a puzzle as to what their role should be, as they could not stand up to the main battery fire of most BB and BC but were too large and too massive an investment to just abandon. Both sides had them, but the UK has the most. All the profiles and details look accurate and well done. I esp like your textures. In spite of constant maintenance ships of that era were darkened by coal dust, weather and the North Sea and your textures are accurate in their portrayal of that. Well done all round.!!!!

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Admiral Von Gerlach

re Storm Eagle,And they have added a Falklands add on that allows you to do the Battles around the Far East squadron of Von Spee, and they even added a map for it. The only drawback is the series is VERY expensive, really beyond reasonable limits i feel, tho that wont change i doubt. Too bad for it is the only other sim other than your mod that does deliver WWI naval well.

Your AC are top drawer! very well done. I love that class even tho by WWI as a class they were becoming a puzzle as to what their role should be, as they could not stand up to the main battery fire of most BB and BC but were too large and too massive an investment to just abandon. Both sides had them, but the UK has the most. All the profiles and details look accurate and well done. I esp like your textures. In spite of constant maintenance ships of that era were darkened by coal dust, weather and the North Sea and your textures are accurate in their portrayal of that. Well done all round.!!!!

Yes, I like these ships, even though they had no business being in the front line. It's often forgotten that at Jutland, nearly one third of the British losses came from the Armored cruisers - two of which had no survivors ("Defence" with 903 dead, "Black Prince" with 857 dead, and "Warrior" with 71 dead). If I'd been in charge of the fleet I would have disbanded the old cruiser squadrons in 1914 and used their crews as manpower for destroyers & trawlers. Of course, I have the benefit of hindsight, whereas in 1914 everyone ignored submarines & still believed that the naval war would be decided by a big surface battle.

Regarding the mod, I tried skinning the U-53 model with little success - I will be creating a new hull form, possibly based on one of the armored cruisers, since their skins seem to be more than adequate. With Wings3d it's a bit of a gamble whether or not a particular model can be skinned easily.

Once again, the emphasis will be back on the submarines themselves in the weeks ahead.

[raymond6751]

Great stuff! I am following your progress with eager anticipation.
No summer holidays for you, though!