Other Games Screenshots

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/ZjxmjKD.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/cg0GV3e.gif

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

A few days ago I found a guide on Steam about how to take very cool screenshots in Assassin's Creed Black Flag. Here's some of the better ones I've taken so far, only the first one has been edited.

http://s6.postimg.org/rtzt6rgqp/2015_08_23_00131.jpg
http://s6.postimg.org/m73g9ae81/2015_08_22_00013.jpg
http://s6.postimg.org/8ep1dnngh/2015_08_26_00041.jpg
http://s6.postimg.org/5yn7zt5dt/2015_08_26_00049.jpg

[Nippelspanner]

I never had any positive words for Rome II - but it seems they (CA) really turned this one around and made it good at last.
No, actually they made it great.

Far into my first campaign (Julia), I struggle a little with a common mistake dictat... uh "Emperors" do a lot: Too many fronts.
The consequence is not enough troops where you need em...So these pesky Seleucid for some reason think that North Africa belongs to them, constantly attacking my provinces - pah.
Legio VI Africana was holding out alone for multiple fierce battles until the last 91 men (ninety one, yes) stood against... some 700. :doh:

http://i.imgur.com/EyhnvKy.jpg

Because Marius Gaius fought relentlessly for me, his glorious emperor who let him hold out alone forever... I decided to play the battle, even though of course it is pointless to send some tired, bled out Legionaries and Praetorians against over 700 rabid Seleucid.

So let's go...
http://i.imgur.com/b4oZsuG.jpg

Ah, same map as before, cool since my army had no chance to move away after the first victory that was against all odds already. Same tactic: Rush up and let the enemy attack uphill...

Or so I thought... unfortunately the Seleucid rushed a little...faster...
http://i.imgur.com/VBL8RVv.jpg

"That's it then..." I thought, but then I noticed how my soldiers simply refuse to die and start slaughtering the Seleucid where they stand.
Is this... happening?

After cutting the enemy down on the foot of the hill, I try to get on top to engage his skirmishers. Testudo formation should help...
http://i.imgur.com/LksbZ4D.jpg

Aaaand reinforcements are crushing into my left flank, didn't notice them at first...
http://i.imgur.com/AdqGoiB.jpg

This is it then...
While I killed these troops as well, however that worked out, a Phalanx was closing in... ouch...
http://i.imgur.com/3SpJjWx.jpg

le sigh...
http://i.imgur.com/4gMmXSQ.png

Farewell Marius Gaius, Hero of Rome!
http://i.imgur.com/vRznupq.png

Rome II finally rocks! :rock:

[Cybermat47]

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/429320160979350582/02F8ADB91DEBFA5D13F92184AFB56394E344705F/

Finally :D :woot:

http://i.imgur.com/RE7Cn.gif

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/429320160979351899/85AF5A608349CD7B0D125B42CF94AD71EB821135/

Wait... what? :(

http://i.minus.com/iOEYxbzVKEw2W.gif

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/429320160979352592/D53BB19DA80184C981DF1D35D6158ADA5F38A913/

That herd of frickin' ugly reds wasn't so tough after all :haha:

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/26648217/images/1376632362375.gif

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/429320160979353102/32284EB42C50F95696DCC01F31932A8E1132D715/

WHAT?! YOU KILLED ME AFTER I WON?! :/\\!! :nope: :(

http://i.imgur.com/eBdu3.gif

[Oberon]

Russian bias! :haha:

[Cybermat47]

Russian bias! :haha:

After what my Tiger had gone through, I'd say that it's German bias :D

--------------------------------------------------------------------

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/429320160980430243/7F6D4D058766A502C45D90545DE914F376CB3645/

Ooh, if we're hunting Tigers, then we must be using big tanks. Can't wait to fire that Pershing's gun :woot:

http://i.minus.com/ie0ST7OHIw9op.gif

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/429320160980430926/FE229416D9B8EF6645C0CDC77A6B3BF0294991F2/

Oh... we're using Shermans. Well, at least the Germans will be happy... :(

https://31.media.tumblr.com/81f4ebfe33ceac96f01b6a285542777e/tumblr_nnfydxlaKH1tadfqoo3_500.gif

Several minutes later...

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/429320160980432403/E92ACEC031C1BB26991C0F461952AF9A2F54D6CF/

The biggest threat wasn't the Tiger... it was the trees :nope:

Reporting this in will be awkward...

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/27924141/images/1382665069604.gif

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/qWYtiKA.jpg
Oh, ok.. well thanks for telling me.

[AngusJS]

How is IF 1944 now? I was very disappointed in it at launch. Is there an active multiplayer community?

[Cybermat47]

How is IF 1944 now? I was very disappointed in it at launch. Is there an active multiplayer community?

Multiplayer's actually been shut down, which is dissapointing, but if you have ArmA III and IF, you can port IF to ArmA III, which presumably still has active multiplayer,

[Rilder]

Those new Japanese Heavies...are a bit big...

http://i.imgur.com/bMLeqOL.jpg

[Nippelspanner]

Gotta love "Quiet"! :88)

http://i.imgur.com/2rUin2H.jpg

[Highbury]

I thought the background was appropriate for these forums :D

http://i.imgur.com/f1yUou4.jpg

[Dowly]

Beagle shows why he is the Biggest Boss in MGS V (spoilers for "Blood Runs Deep" mission):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45x-uoLWQoc

:rotfl2:

[Highbury]

Another Mad Max shot, this time with the classic Ford Falcon XB Interceptor :D

http://i.imgur.com/PSdfP93.jpg

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/42RetDE.jpg
Yes, this is Cpt. Dog

http://i.imgur.com/kcOK9MW.jpg
Schwing!

http://i.imgur.com/nOPgjzP.jpg
Home sweet home.

[Dowly]

I think MGS 5's rating system might be a bit broken. :haha:
http://i.imgur.com/BtlxI08.jpg

Almost all of those neutralizations were by the pick up helo, who decided to go Apocalypse Now on the enemy. :doh:

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/kb0Vd6K.jpg?1

http://replygif.net/i/802.gif

[Falkirion]

I think MGS 5's rating system might be a bit broken. :haha:
http://i.imgur.com/BtlxI08.jpg

Almost all of those neutralizations were by the pick up helo, who decided to go Apocalypse Now on the enemy. :doh:
MGS5's scoring system is anything over 130k points is an S rank.

[Arclight]

Very much broken. :shifty:

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/618472586127423501/729A4F7494FF433D15B9422E0FAD7E6F3272C6E6/

That's perfect execution damnit. PERFECT! :/\\!!


Really just comes down to speed though. Do a mission fast, S rank. You can shoot for a hidden "no trace" bonus as well for S ranks, but it's tricky.

[Dowly]

Yeah, if you don't do it fast, your only chance really is the "no trace" bonus, which I think is worth 100k. :-?

[Raptor1]

It seems to vary a lot depending on which mission it is. I've gotten S ranks on missions I took ages to complete and lesser scores for missions which I thought I've done relatively quickly.

A Hero's Way can be completed in well under 20 minutes without being too hasty, so I guess it makes sense to some extent, but it would have been nice if the scoring system actually took how stealthy you were into account beyond the bonus score points you get for no alerts, no kills and no traces.

EDIT: Also, a bonus score for perfect stealth and no retries would be nice too.

[Stealhead]

The mission where you ambush and steal the cargo truck the skulls protect you can get an S by simply riding D horse to the airport Fulton the truck call D horse and ride away.

You can also get one by simply dropping supply drops on Quiets head during the sniper duel two or three knock her out.

I bet Kojima likes it that way in Snake Eater you can defeat the end by simply waiting a week during the battle he will die of old age.

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/OEyc2LF.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/16WiNLx.gif

:nope:

[Oberon]

:har:

http://cdn.memearcade.com/2014/5/24/memearcade.com_12634_1401287163.jpg

[HunterICX]

Chrono Trigger, never owned a SNES but my friend did and had that game thus many hours on the attic passing around the controller as we divided the characters between us. Great times :yeah:

Now if that game would get a proper PC re-release I would grab it day 1 :yep:

[Dowly]

Such a fantastic game. :yep:

Also a good example of how strict hand holding ala modern games is not needed.

"I need Dreamstone to finish fixing the sword, but the rock has not been found in years."

Hmm.. I got a gate that goes back to pre-historic times... :hmmm:

"Goblins are strong enemies, but weak without their wooden hammers."

Hmm.. Maybe I should use a fire attack first... :hmmm:

[Nippelspanner]

I have to share what I just experienced in Prison Architect and what I posted in the Steam forums - initially to get help for that situation.

I dare to say it's worth a look for those who play(ed) Prison Architect.
At least I am next to mind blown. oO

http://steamcommunity.com/app/233450/discussions/0/490121928345912702/?tscn=1443781493#p1

Edit: Linked the wrong page...

[Dowly]

That's some Dwarf Fortress **** right there. :haha:

[Nippelspanner]

I don't know that game and if it is like what I just went through, no thanks, all the nopes!:timeout:

BTW I accidentally linked on page 2 of the whole mess, make sure to not miss page 1 of the disaster. :D

[Dowly]

I don't know that game and if it is like what I just went through, no thanks, all the nopes!:timeout:
Well, it depends who/what you let in. Like my latest DF AAR fortress ended: I forgot one little thing, which lead to the death of everyone.

Have you unpaused yet? Maybe you could try to wall him in?

[Nippelspanner]

Well, it depends who/what you let in. Like my latest DF AAR fortress ended: I forgot one little thing, which lead to the death of everyone.

Have you unpaused yet? Maybe you could try to wall him in?
Mh, maybe I should check DF out, I like games who do that...
As to my prisoner, check the thread again, everything's over :D

[Dowly]

Mh, maybe I should check DF out, I like games who do that...
If you do, google the starter pack, it actually got some graphips instead of ASCII.
As to my prisoner, check the thread again, everything's over :DAh, didnt check the updated link.

[NeonSamurai]

Personally I would suggest sticking with ascii as I feel it really adds a lot of character to the game and enhances its uniqueness. I do suggest changing tilesets http://dwarffortresswiki.org/Tileset_repository
My personal favorite is the Anikki tileset as it is a very clear yet simple and clean.

I suggest you start off here and use the guides, just don't read too much of the wiki as it can spoil the experience.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org

Dwarf Fortress is like no other game ever made, and I suspect it will be its creator's life work, in that I think Tarn Adams will be spending the rest of his life working on it. It is perhaps the most ridiculously complex game ever made.

If you want to get a taste before starting I suggest reading the Boatmurdered saga to get a feel for what the game is (even though the game has changed much since then)
http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/

If you have any questions feel free to ask in the existing df thread or start a new one, me, Dowly and others here know the game quite well.


Unreal World is another fantastic game, though it is about individual survival in the Nordic lands during the iron age/middle ages.
http://unrealworld.fi/

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

Just a couple from AC IV Black Flag.
http://s6.postimg.org/it1fybon5/AC4_BFSP_2015_10_02_23_36_04_38.jpg
http://s6.postimg.org/qn21jpwg1/The_Lone_Fisherman.jpg

[Nippelspanner]

<snip>
Was that directed towards me? If so, thank you, I didn't see that one until now.
I might check out DF later, for the moment I am too busy with too many games that all want to be played and getting back into the A-10 after 3 years isn't as easy as I thought it is. :D

But I like the new(?) kneeboard-customization function where you can put in all kinds of useful checklists and data... 'for those longer sorties'.
http://i.imgur.com/sSYPkw1.jpg

[Dowly]

Oh yes, I had some very useful checklists for those long sorties as well. :haha:

[Oberon]

But I like the new(?) kneeboard-customization function where you can put in all kinds of useful checklists and data... 'for those longer sorties'.

I'm sorry but that's unacceptable...you're an A10C, not a carrier aircraft. :nope: :haha:

[Nippelspanner]

I'm beginning to like you! :D

[jacobston]

The New California Republic: Bravely leading the charge against... Insects?

http://i.imgur.com/G85uXF8.png

[Nippelspanner]

...wat...

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/717/083/013.jpg



Pavel and Ivan are going to have a bad day...

http://i.imgur.com/8pRB1A8.jpg

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/aksbsRu.jpg?1

http://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/go_away_pirates_caribbean.gif

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

http://s6.postimg.org/6pisowqdd/2014_11_23_00016.jpg
"Hey did you hear something?"
"It's just the wind John."
"Well that's some loud wind we have today!!"
"WHAT?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!"
"I SAID, WELL THAT'S SOME LOUD WIND WE HAVE TODAY!!"
"Um, Bob...."
"What?"
"Turn around."

[Oberon]

So, DCS 1.5...

http://i.imgur.com/3P4yaSG.jpg?1
Looks great and runs great, even on high settings with an HD cockpit. Finally! I haven't got the special kneeboard for long distance flights yet because most of my flights are rather...short distance...

http://i.imgur.com/r3Zq9Sd.jpg?1
It takes a little while but with the help of the kneeboard the routine of firing Mavericks, slewing the TGP to waypoint SOIs and the like starts to come back.

http://i.imgur.com/4yYtYff.jpg?1
With some highly dangerous unarmed trucks taken out, it's time to hit a bridge, but this one has a Shilka sitting next to it. Better fix that first...

http://i.imgur.com/K61Z5QU.jpg?1
After about four passes over the bridge I finally get the CCRP to drop a GBU-38 onto the bridge which goes up with a nice explosion.

http://i.imgur.com/dJVLAT2.jpg?1
Some tanks were up next, this time protected with a Strela APC and a Shilka. Figured it would be best to take out the Strela with my last Maverick...the little sod took a while to get a good Maverick lock onto though but eventually he went up too...which left me with his friend the Shilka.

http://i.imgur.com/UZBI7xH.jpg?1
My CCIP, it seems, needs a lot more practice...

http://i.imgur.com/SANqA1b.jpg?1
The Shilka on the other hand gets LOTS of practice...

http://i.imgur.com/TakeToi.jpg?1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUS4TpBry6c

[Nippelspanner]

So, DCS 1.5...
Looks great and runs great, even on high settings with an HD cockpit. Finally! I haven't got the special kneeboard for long distance flights yet because most of my flights are rather...short distance...
[...]
It takes a little while but with the help of the kneeboard the routine of firing Mavericks, slewing the TGP to waypoint SOIs and the like starts to come back.
[...]
Funny, I am at the very same stage of getting back into the A-10C, remembering how all the gizmos and flashing things work - or rather how I make them work.
DCS 1.5 - while still very flawed and bug-ridden - sure is the best ever DCS and I can't wait for it to be a bit more polished and stable in multiplayer.
I even got myself a Warthog HOTAS and have to say the 303€ are well spend. The only negative aspect of the whole thing is the tiny and stupid slew-nipple, since in the real A-10 the whole button is movable.
Still, great feeling, adds so much to it.
Saitek? Never again!

On another note, could you tell me where you got that kneeboard page from? I figure from some manual, but which one?
I am in the process of creating my personal kneeboard and besides Akagi, Kaga and other important pictures, I'd like to have some useful stuff to help my grey cells a little.
Here's what I got so far - maybe someone might find any of it useful (already in the correct format):
http://i.imgur.com/PKWcnDe.png

http://i.imgur.com/lMWnnYq.png

http://i.imgur.com/jIBbA74.png

The last one is a bit blurry, but does the trick. AFAIK, this start-up procedure is the "official" one handed out by the Air Force.

Oh, of course!
The most important one!
http://i.imgur.com/BxrUWZi.png

:D

The Shilka on the other hand gets LOTS of practice...

http://i.imgur.com/TakeToi.jpg?1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUS4TpBry6c


Ok that one is just brilliant! :har:

[Oberon]

I grabbed a pdf file and a converter that turns the pdf pages into pngs.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=129341 Here's the builder

And I believe that this is the pdf I converted:
http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/172905/

I also grabbed the RAEs RWR mod which basically fleshes out the tones on the RWR so you can get a better idea by ear what is locking you up, and the soundmod by...I think diveplane, which is not too jarring but gives a nice windrush effect when your airspeed picks up, which is a nice indication that you're plummeting towards the ground when you've got your head buried in the MFD.

As for essential flight information, I think I might dig around and see if A10 from Flight High School has a pic anywhere:



http://40.media.tumblr.com/a531f758d3801f961eb2215b1458d0b0/tumblr_mxr906PoPX1s9d2ieo1_1280.png
http://41.media.tumblr.com/fbc5be01d29519d1eae8609fa8c7a923/tumblr_mxr906PoPX1s9d2ieo2_1280.png
http://41.media.tumblr.com/acada88c40e8159aa91dfd667dc96b06/tumblr_mxr906PoPX1s9d2ieo3_1280.png

[Nippelspanner]

I grabbed a pdf file and a converter that turns the pdf pages into pngs.
Oh wow, that is nifty! I had no idea this exists, thanks!

[Cybermat47]

Avenger of Kalee
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/392169906047990990/F99AE95D6C8213D89A8D7015D4709E4BDAA65512/

[Arclight]

AFAIK, this start-up procedure is the "official" one handed out by the Air Force.

Must be for a different software suite then or such, since it never mentions enabling EAC. :huh:

* actually it does, my bad, but in DCS this would fail unless #38 and #44 are completed first.

Maybe it's a bit different in the real thing.

[Oberon]

A couple of shots from last night:

http://i.imgur.com/3aJ8Guo.jpg?1
Raptor takes off in his MiG-21 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvq6v9YW854), states "I've done something wrong here..." and then crashes.

http://i.imgur.com/xRCrCOd.jpg?1
Blue Streaks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/91st_Tactical_Fighter_Squadron), baby! :yeah:

[Oberon]

And now for something completely different:

http://i.imgur.com/sQZYHYH.jpg?1

A Standard class 5MT on the West Highland Line. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUoshbic9qk)

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/qVKORQ3.jpg?1
HunterICX, I believe, in his MiG-21 on the ramp

http://i.imgur.com/73sFKPf.jpg?1
Following Arclight out to the runway

http://i.imgur.com/YZRs3MG.jpg?1
Lining up with Arclight as Raptor creates a runway marker with his MiG-21.

http://i.imgur.com/wZE9wyZ.jpg?1
Ready for the off

http://i.imgur.com/yL5TJYy.jpg?1
Pulling some silly maneuvers around the base while battling my own Mavericks. I try to give Hunter a hair cut but thanks to a freeze up, in which my screen just freezes for about five to six seconds, I end up ramming him instead. Completely unintended.

http://i.imgur.com/adTIwfK.jpg?1
Eventually I figure out that the auto-pilot only engages if your nose is within 10 degrees of horizon, and that enables me to study the Maverick more and get the sod to lock properly and start launching. Meanwhile Arclight, not really needing A10C training, defects to the MiG-21s.

http://i.imgur.com/04tQDGc.jpg?1
Tasty target, one Maverick coming up.

http://i.imgur.com/cT4B05R.jpg?1
Well roasted T-72 there.

http://i.imgur.com/8cQY0Ki.jpg?1
This, I believe to be a 2S19 Msta. It does not react well to CBU-97s being dropped on it.

http://i.imgur.com/hyjPN5j.jpg?1
And neither do ships

http://i.imgur.com/LnSiZyq.jpg?1
Raptor gets a good shack on one of the ships

http://i.imgur.com/x2pjQoZ.jpg?1
I've never used the AIM-9 on the A10C before, so I thought I'd give it a go. Between the ever present (and really very annoying) freezes, I find Hunter, tag him...

http://i.imgur.com/TBoHEkC.jpg?1
And bag him. :shucks:

http://i.imgur.com/X6NQB81.jpg?1
Needless to say, his threats of vengence were long and descriptive, so I decided to use the weakness of the MiG-21 against it, by hiding in the grass. This didn't work so well when Raptor spotted my shadow and came after me.

"Hello...can I introduce you to the word of our lord and master...STALIN!!"
*RWR missile warning alert*

http://i.imgur.com/4dqj2sN.jpg?1
Unfortunately for Raptor though, his lord and master Stalin built poor Infra-red missile detectors which are spoofed by flares and I got away safely. A quick landing, rearming and refueling later, during which I get briefly stuck in the infamous grass, and I'm back up to see if I can return the favour to Raptor. But he lands and I have no heart to attack him on the ground, so I look for Hunter. I see him, or someone, fly past me, turn to give the AIM-9 somethign to sniff, freeze up and fly into an apartment block. :/\\!!


Hunter has since vowed that if and when an F4 Phantom for DCS is released that he will take me on in his MiG-21. Let it be shown for the record that I agree. :03:
(I will probably regret this later)

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gmEmUpxKSlw/hqdefault.jpg

[Oberon]

And for the record, Hunter you brought it on yourself. :O:
I was happily just practicing locking you up with the Sidewinder, and you must have noticed because:

Hunter: "Is someone tracking me?"
Raptor: "Not me..."
Arclight: "Or me."
Raptor: "Must be Oberon."
Hunter: "In an A10? Ha!"

http://www.grime.net/facets/images/sidewinder-missile.jpg

http://forums.airforce.ru/attachment.php?attachmentid=25459&d=1280053482

Hunter: "What the [CENSORED]?!"

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/y4s593P.jpg?1

Yep, it's all coming back to me now. :yep:

[NeonSamurai]

Yep, it's all coming back to me now. :yep:

What, the crashing?

[Oberon]

What, the crashing?

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/10/104431/2843754-29524426.jpg

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/CiwV6gs.jpg?1
Who needs doors?

http://i.imgur.com/vrSDSpQ.jpg?1
Hunter comes in for a landing

http://i.imgur.com/fpcO59n.jpg?1
While Raptor has already parked up

http://i.imgur.com/xF49QXn.jpg?1
Raptor drops a nuke to redecorate the airfield and breaks it.

http://i.imgur.com/jvIhs6v.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/unqIcQE.jpg?1
Having broken the airfield, we have to restart the mission but first...

http://i.imgur.com/s6vmpG4.jpg?1
Hunter gets his revenge. :haha:

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/ZWfw40l.jpg?1
MiG-21 take off, Arclight I think, as I taxi.

http://i.imgur.com/hYVIpiC.jpg?1
An anti-air radar takes a Maverick to the face.

http://i.imgur.com/tZlbXkR.jpg?1
Arclight breaks his engine and becomes the worlds least aerodynamic glider.

http://i.imgur.com/AoAgqDz.jpg?1
Meanwhile after lengthy negotiations with the NSA and Tante Merkel, Schroeder joins in the Wagner-mobile.

http://i.imgur.com/G5wvxg5.jpg?1
Raptor continues his practice with air to air missiles, hitting a dangerous Antonov.

http://i.imgur.com/YTleSPe.jpg?1
Antonovs really don't care about air to air missiles.

http://i.imgur.com/uSiYYZ6.jpg?1
Random A-10C beauty shot.

http://i.imgur.com/e3Rfz6s.jpg?1
Whilst practicing (poorly) with Paveways, my RWR picks up a MiG-21 behind me, a few minutes later a missile appears and I get smacked. I suspect Raptor...but then Arclight asks "Did I just shoot down Oberon?"

http://38.media.tumblr.com/e4ae1583928ed1a2e11161c033279339/tumblr_mqafznCP8N1s64rhyo3_500.gif

[Raptor1]

My life's work has been undone. Oh, well.

Hunter commits punnery. Retribution is delivered.

http://i.imgur.com/s0qJQab.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gr6IQP2.jpg

Unfortunately his bunker turned out to be nuke-proof. Meanwhile, after expending the entire weapons stockpile of the Warsaw Pact, I finally manage to shoot down one of the Il-76s.

http://i.imgur.com/1GChzsA.jpg

[Nippelspanner]

*impactsounds*

"Huh? Oh... that ZSU-23 wants to play!"http://i.imgur.com/PeU5cAI.jpg



"Aleksei, you think we got him?"
http://i.imgur.com/LkYFsiv.jpg

"Not sure Pavel, maybe he..."

*BBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTT*
http://i.imgur.com/ebfDWjY.jpg

The end. :D

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

http://s6.postimg.org/irdb3ue81/Inside_the_Church.jpg

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/VVk607v.jpg
Oh dear... :dead:

(I'm lvl 22 and playing on Death March, so that wasnt a very nice fight :haha:)

[Nippelspanner]

"Bro, do you even operate!"

http://i.imgur.com/ZxlyJPE.png

Gotta say, with the right mods, ArmA 3 is finally playable (for those who hate the futuristic content from vanilla)

[Oberon]

Must see sometime if the RHS collection is compatible with the ZEUS module now... :hmmm:

[Raptor1]

Must see sometime if the RHS collection is compatible with the ZEUS module now... :hmmm:

It is, though you might have to edit the mission (or get an existing one made for RHS) to make the RHS stuff show up.

[Nippelspanner]

Must see sometime if the RHS collection is compatible with the ZEUS module now... :hmmm:
Yep, it is.

[Mud]

http://home.kpn.nl/hart0751/images2/falcon2.jpg (http://home.kpn.nl/hart0751/images2/falcon2.jpg)

http://home.kpn.nl/hart0751/images2/falcon3.jpg (http://home.kpn.nl/hart0751/images2/falcon2.jpg)

Falcon 4.0 with BMS 4.33

[Stealhead]

Spangdahlem Viper.

[Rilder]

With the new KSP Update, I got inspired by the new plane parts to fool around with making some planes based on real designs.

ME 262

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/646625721344698082/4C69B393DDF58FF7C757C07BED1A188D60E3AFCB/

HE 163

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/646625721344816459/4641694A50148629E24A632CD66CEF0F84696D05/

De Havilland Vampire

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/646625721344888951/3643E84A0E5DAAA0C88AD19137D71B442485C2E1/

AR 234 V21 with a really bad attempt at the E.381

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/646625721345004387/B3584EAE1AE170310E99EFB464F823368CC735C6/

Yeah the parasite aircraft, doesn't so much as fly as be a somewhat guided missile.
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/646625721345006548/8AAAC4CAC22972ECF4EB9DA8178285822C4185F4/

[darius359au]

Quick down and dirty shot from Fallout 4 of power armour and the hud for it - check the left arm damage indicator in the hud then check the left arm ,all the armours been blown off :)

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/<a href=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Darius359au/media/fo4power.jpg.html target=_blank>[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v314/Darius359au/fo4power.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v314/Darius359au/fo4power.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Darius359au/media/fo4power.jpg.html)


http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/<a href=&quot;<a href=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Darius359au/media/fo4power.jpg.html&quot; target=_blank>http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Darius359au/media/fo4power.jpg.html&quot;</a> target=&quot;_blank&quot;><img src=&quot;<a href=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v314/Darius359au/fo4power.jpg&quot; target=_blank>http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v314/Darius359au/fo4power.jpg&quot;</a> border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot; photo fo4power.jpg&quot;/></a>

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/t3r3kLc.jpg
I don't think he likes me very much. :hmmm:

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/oJ2jwuT.jpg

Not sure who's terrorizing the city more, the aliens or me. :haha:

[Oberon]

I would say that if the ground is on fire then the Sectoids can't walk on it...but honestly, this is X-com, the Sectoids could be on fire and they'd still rape you six ways to Sunday.

[Dowly]

I would say that if the ground is on fire then the Sectoids can't walk on it...but honestly, this is X-com, the Sectoids could be on fire and they'd still rape you six ways to Sunday.
It's not the Sectoids, but the Cyber discs.

"Oh, you just killed me. Good job, human! Now, let me just explode with a force of a thousand supernovae right next to you."

[Oberon]

It's not the Sectoids, but the Cyber discs.

"Oh, you just killed me. Good job, human! Now, let me just explode with a force of a thousand supernovae right next to you."

:har:

http://t.qkme.me/3qx7t3.jpg

[Oberon]

Firstly some screens from last week:

http://i.imgur.com/IxnYj0w.jpg?1
Myself and Schroeder on take-off

http://i.imgur.com/FERvwuv.jpg?1
Schroeder over the target

http://i.imgur.com/o7HWqrk.jpg?1
And myself a few minutes later...

[Oberon]

And now from tonight:

http://i.imgur.com/lbT9hwZ.jpg?1
Raptor in one of his frequent moments as an unaerodynamic glider...

http://i.imgur.com/xXPVyy7.jpg?1
HunterICX gets hit and ejects...his MiG-21 continues to fly for over half an hour, officially lasting longer in the mission unmanned than manned...

http://i.imgur.com/JGtWLXy.jpg?1
Raptor on the other hand...

http://i.imgur.com/dcsrvY1.jpg?1
Schroeder deals the killing blow on the second bridge as I jettison my hung bombs at it.

http://i.imgur.com/LQtITfy.jpg?1
View of the bridges, including a train that I didn't spot until viewing this screenshot.

http://i.imgur.com/HwsxZtN.jpg?1
FROGGIE TIME! Chasing Raptor in his MiG-21 (just visible to the right of the left canopy strut) whilst pushing the Frogfoot to limits that it really isn't designed to be pushed to...

http://i.imgur.com/WPbc6nw.jpg?1
Having been defeated by the remaining bridges which eat a one kiloton nuclear bomb and just laugh, Raptor returns to base and improves Schroeder.

http://i.imgur.com/1htuWhT.jpg?1
Mission accomplished, his engines fail again and he goes into the drink.

http://i.imgur.com/b2WuHY7.jpg?1

http://new2.fjcdn.com/comments/5152610+_6bda9fe64810eafb4fbf2ce121e76f20.jpg

[Dowly]

Murphy's Law of XCOM #115: If a civilian can block your line of fire on an alien, he will do so.

http://i.imgur.com/IjVDPtk.jpg
Yup... :stare:

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

http://s6.postimg.org/ac8yomni9/Lighting_over_Nassau.jpg

[eddie]

From Star Wars Battlefront.

Hunter going for a morning ride on his speeder!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Thony/Hunter_zpsoai7rwyz.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Thony/media/Hunter_zpsoai7rwyz.jpg.html)

First and Third person views

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Thony/1p_zps7i8tibdx.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Thony/media/1p_zps7i8tibdx.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Thony/3p_zpsrxx1llm8.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Thony/media/3p_zpsrxx1llm8.jpg.html)

The sensation of speed in the woods is pretty wild! If you hit a small tree, the tree will go over, but if you smack into a big tree, its game over!:haha: I warned Hunter about that, but he just won't listen!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Thony/doh_zpsha5teuzo.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Thony/media/doh_zpsha5teuzo.jpg.html)

[Mud]

http://home.kpn.nl/hart0751/images2/wows1.jpg (http://home.kpn.nl/hart0751/images2/wows1.jpg)

http://home.kpn.nl/hart0751/images2/wows2.jpg (http://home.kpn.nl/hart0751/images2/wows1.jpg)

http://home.kpn.nl/hart0751/images2/wows3.jpg (http://home.kpn.nl/hart0751/images2/wows1.jpg)

Some minor damage :up:

World of Warships

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/EZKV3FW.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ozmNP1x.gif

[Oberon]

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/169/2/3/it__s_zombie_time_by_karooz-d3jafmg.jpg

[Eichhörnchen]

http://home.kpn.nl/hart0751/images2/wows3.jpg (http://home.kpn.nl/hart0751/images2/wows1.jpg)

Some minor damage :up:

World of Warships

This last one is beautiful, Mud:yeah:

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/FimJSEf.jpg?1

http://gifsec.com/wp-content/uploads/GIF/2014/03/Bring-it-gif.gif?gs=a

[Dowly]

Found this from the DF forums:
http://s15.postimg.org/c8m447sd7/Dwarf_cat.png

Dwarf Fortress, a game where cat can go to a bar, get splashed with booze, then lick itself clean, get alcohol poisoning, vomit all over the place and die.

[Oberon]

https://media.giphy.com/media/gcr3Crqke8YNi/giphy.gif

Well, that's France dealt with...let's see how poor old Italy is doing...

http://i.imgur.com/IsU2S6V.jpg?1

http://s.quickmeme.com/img/01/0179a2ade17e2d0bb365761540fa7a472e127c073dbfe9416d a066ad6ea271f2.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/CIe0Uza.jpg?1

[Nippelspanner]

Tirpitz = Bestpitz! :D
http://i.imgur.com/ENxqHzV.png

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/mYKG5IW.jpg?1

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/891/672/1c0.jpg

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

^ So when did the Italians invent a mass teleporter? There can be only one explanation for this.

http://s6.postimg.org/kvdu19m81/9189283.jpg

[Oberon]

The whole bloody world's gone mad, it's the only explanation for it. The last time I tried Barbarossa the Hungarians broke it, this time it's the Italians and the Japanese.
I can only presume that I OD'd on uboats and tanks because I didn't have enough manpower to Barbarossa properly, so I figured that rather than go back to square one I'd retire to Switzerland and let the AI take over at max speed and see what happened.
Up to this point the Wehrmacht was bogged down just inside Eastern Poland, the Japanese had run riot through the western Pacific, having conquered Australia, New Zealand and making a quick pass through central India. Italy had pushed the British completely out of North Africa all the way back into Iraq where they stomped them completely. They then roflstomped the Greeks and joined me in pwning Republican Spain.
After I retired to live on the Nazi Gold in the Swiss banks, the AI continued the German trudge back and forth across Poland, at one point the Russians pushed far into Eastern Germany but then ran out of steam and were pushed all the way back again by a resurgent Wehrmacht. Meanwhile Italy invaded Scotland and ran into a brick wall of Weegies north of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Japan began eating Russia, taking Vladivostok quite easily and beginning a trudge westward to meet up with the Wehrmacht. In November 1941 Japan declared war on the US, and Italy and Germany followed suit (although their ships had been stomping on my uboats already since early 1941, which is realistic). Japan took a brief break from eating Russia to play tennis with Midway and the Wake Islands, before turning westward again, eating India and marching onwards through the snow covered wastes of central Russia. So far it's taken one small province of the Phillipines, probably just to annoy MacArthur.
In the western theatre, Vichy France got brought back into the fold as soon as the US declared war on it, and then the Allies landed in North-west Africa. The Italians pulled out of Scotland and seem to have deployed to push the Allied invasion out of North Africa. Since the Axis have control of the northern half of the straits of Gibraltar it's going to be tough going for the Allies.
Meanwhile Japan just keeps going west, I think that they will probably reach Moscow before Germany ever does. :doh:

So...things to note. Obviously I need to not build so many bloody tanks, or at least build a few more light tanks so I can actually do this encircling business. I also need to practice this encircling business so that I can do it without the Russians laughing and smashing a giant hole in it.
Uboats work well but there's no need to flood the entire Atlantic with them, I need to get my head around the scale of the game, I've just about managed it with the ground forces, but the air and sea elude me.

Also, find whatever the hell Mussolini has put in the pasta of the Italians in this game...

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

Well I've seen the AI do some really wierd and in some cases outright stupid things, like how in one instance the French didn't have enough units to cover the whole of the Maginot Line (I made them think I was going to launch a massive attack at the northern end of the Maginot), when in reality I sent three army groups through the gap, surrounding and cutting all Allied forces there while allowing panzer and mobilized divisions to run free thorugh the middle of France, with simaltanous attacks going on in northern France to prevent Allied forces from breaking the seige of the Maginot Line. But I've never, ever seen Italy invade Scotland and push the British all the way back to the Middle East nor the Japanese invade Russia.

[eddie]

Checking out 2 mods for the Steam version of Spintires!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Thony/st1_zpsfu7epjoj.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Thony/media/st1_zpsfu7epjoj.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Thony/st2_zpsjladrxjx.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Thony/media/st2_zpsjladrxjx.jpg.html)

Easy to install, first go into your Spintires folder and make a backup copy of your media file and save it someplace. Next dl a mod (Has to be from 2015 date, mods from 2014 don't work.) Open up the file and cut and paste inside your Media folder. That's all there is to it,lol

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

http://s6.postimg.org/l4r2pgbep/ACS_2016_01_03_23_49_36_30.jpg
So I bought myself Assassin's Creed Syndicate after Christmas and just before New Years, even though it took about 49 hours to download (wth Steam) it was well worth the wait. The First Rule of Fight Club: You do not talk about Fight Club. The Second Rule of Fight Club: Give a beatdown to anyone who enters the ring! :arrgh!:

[Oberon]

Was watching the wife play that last night, does look very nice indeed, will have to steal it from her at some point. Highlight of the playthrough had to be the "Is that my target?" "That's my target!" *kills random innocent civilian* moment.

[Rilder]

Borderlands 2 has some...interesting... gun designs.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/607223967581835637/AA28D916F1DF1F08C44915A4DD726C84589BC70A/

[Lionclaw]

Found this from the DF forums:

[snipped out pic]

Dwarf Fortress, a game where cat can go to a bar, get splashed with booze, then lick itself clean, get alcohol poisoning, vomit all over the place and die.

Not sure why, but that's hilarious! :har:

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/LNM1rbo.jpg
Yes! Please take that thing out of my court!

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/qNBfrmP.gif?2

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdbx8wFzBn1rklyxeo1_500.gif

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

I see I'm not the only one who's seen the magical self sweeping brooms.:haha:
Meanwhile some more fight club.
http://s6.postimg.org/ncqn9w5hd/ACS_2016_01_08_15_39_10_46.jpg

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/zVWMGQl.jpg
This should get the Great Khorne's attention. :yep:

http://i.imgur.com/ELczkex.jpg
This is going to be so great! :rock:

http://i.imgur.com/qJVDwhM.jpg
Hah! My first opponent is my idiot son! (martial 2) BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GO-

http://i.imgur.com/mQToDut.jpg
:shifty:

[Nippelspanner]

Well, Dowly, "Blood for the Blood God!" can work both ways, ya know... :88)

[Cybermat47]

I'm just going to assume board games are allowed here :O:

Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures

My Imperial Squadrons: 1x TIE/sa, 2x TIE/fo.

[Cybermat47]

My Rebel Squadrons: 1x T-70.

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

This is probably the best screenshot I've managed to take in ACS so far. I've had other good ones but I'm hanicapped by the lack of a free cam.

http://s6.postimg.org/cogilaywx/ACS_2016_01_13_20_25_09_71.jpg

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/C3nFndD.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/QIF6a0P.jpg

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/14xOYuR.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/P45TbbD.jpg

:yeah:

[Nippelspanner]

Tonight reminded me why I play Arma...
A group of friends staged / role-played a cruel execution scene for my recon team. Task was to find (IMINT) evidence of mass graves and ethnic cleansing.
I expected some stapled bodies, not what followed for 20 minutes...

A truck arrived, unloading a group of unarmed non-combatants.
One of the soldiers commanded them to form a line, when some officer-kind-of-guy showed up, pointing out people to be shot. Once the shooting started, some tried to get away, unsuccessfully.
After the damage was done, the insurgents left the scene.

That... was something. :doh:

http://i.imgur.com/ppQ27dy.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/uJmOgz4.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/0NH70iq.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/XmNorKf.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GDUJ89Y.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/LmkbIuG.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/XgRSsUl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/peDepda.jpg

[Cybermat47]

Well... :o

[Nippelspanner]

Not so serious today... a lax day on the range to teach the basics of long range shooting, estimating distance, calling wind, ...
http://i.imgur.com/bpy9YLw.jpg

[Oberon]

Wind? Coming from the guy in the middle I'd say... :03:

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

http://s6.postimg.org/6m26ecmdd/ACS_2016_01_19_21_35_40_975.jpg

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/23vQLbl.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/hXUIY6W.gif

[HunterICX]

Some things never change :)
nice of you to remind us that we should think twice before boarding a helo with you piloting it.

[Oberon]

Some things never change :)
nice of you to remind us that we should think twice before boarding a helo with you piloting it.

http://gifsec.com/wp-content/uploads/GIF/2014/10/Big-coward-GIF.gif?gs=a


Oooh, is that a lighthouse?

https://media.giphy.com/media/sKTvp0zCKpZwQ/giphy.gif

[HunterICX]

That's pretty much the flight summed up right there. :yeah:

[Oberon]

That's pretty much the flight summed up right there. :yeah:

Then again, poor old Arc didn't have much more luck:

https://youtu.be/n9tZydS1V54?t=277

[Dowly]

Then again, poor old Arc didn't have much more luck:

https://youtu.be/n9tZydS1V54?t=277
At least he didn't fly straight into a crane that time.

[Nippelspanner]

Any EXANIMA players here?

http://i.imgur.com/cZuneN2.jpg

(The chick in blue is one of my hired NPC fighters. So far she won every single fight - except for pugilism fights, she sucks at boxing - but splits heads with her staff like a baws! :cool:)

Edit:
As I said, she's kill! :D
http://i.imgur.com/0oLVdJY.png
http://i.imgur.com/mC36KAV.png

[HunterICX]

http://i.imgur.com/ULwsTP3.jpg?1

Ha...just stick a knife into it to get around it and move a cabinet in front of it...why should we even fear these zombies? they're so slow and dumb!

*half hour later*

http://i.imgur.com/hJjdRts.jpg

:shifty:

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/1KqiGvB.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Tcizcy1.jpg

:-?

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/pGPMglQ.jpg?1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIY36UbDbQQ

https://content.artofmanliness.com/uploads//2015/06/Battle-Cries-7.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/YB68Z3H.jpg?1

https://49.media.tumblr.com/fcb0c3ac38f996252e5f5c4cdeb43354/tumblr_nxk3hph4lz1ukmr73o1_500.gif

[HunterICX]

^
http://i.imgur.com/QPzkEi2.gif

That was a pretty epic stand we had there :yep:

[Oberon]

Indeed, and I'm impressed that the AI actually used an RPG to kill Arclight in his Chinook. Damn thing nearly took my head off as it went through. :o

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/oNxyt7r.jpg

http://www.moviesonline.ca/AdvHTML_Upload/ClassicCreature02.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GXTvkyi.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/dd/44/4e/dd444edba6887f3b9cecc7cf7943ca9a.jpg
https://youtu.be/IZu_4grt7WA?t=27

[HunterICX]

With your NV still on it looks like Raptor and I are having few tokes
http://i.imgur.com/rm9BVGm.gif

:haha:

[Nippelspanner]

The one Total War game I always love to play again and again over the years is Shogun 2.
In my opinion the best overall Total War they created so far.

http://i.imgur.com/zyWTVCc.jpg
Uesugi Kenshin doin' what he does best.
I accidentally clicked "Stand and Fight!" when he was way too close to the enemy.
All but two of his Hatamoto died and initially I thought he would die too considering the overwhelming forces in that area.
But he didn't.

He fought his way out, survived and I won the battle. Phew!

[Oberon]

A victory screenshot next to the wreck of a DC3 that I had...err...parked...

http://i.imgur.com/OtqseTH.jpg?1
Left to right: Arclight, Raptor and myself.

[Rilder]

An America in chaos, fallen to civil war in the wake of nuclear attacks on Chicago, D.C., and Newark, the Invasion begins with the Occupation of San Diego on March 3rd 1954.

http://i.imgur.com/gu1kb8U.jpg

By October the West is in Russian hands, though lack of Fuel slows down much of the advance, except for the Air Calvary Corps which conducts a blitzkrieg across the south and eventually single-handedly secures the east coast. The Americans don't put up much resistance, beaten down long before the invasion by the various partisan groups who also don't offer much resistance to advancing Russians.

http://i.imgur.com/s8ojOeI.jpg

On February 17th 1955, The United States of America surrenders.

http://i.imgur.com/NwR52dG.png
http://i.imgur.com/tST3n0K.jpg

A new government is formed to oversea the rebuilding of the now Worker's States of America, Devastation from coast to coast means a long road ahead for them.

http://i.imgur.com/4YHqUer.jpg

[HunterICX]

A victory screenshot next to the wreck of a DC3 that I had...err...parked...

That mod collection is a keeper :up:
Nice map, nice kit and a interesting time period.

[Schroeder]

A victory screenshot next to the wreck of a DC3 that I had...err...parked...

Er....who was stupid enough to let you fly that thing?

[Oberon]

Er....who was stupid enough to let you fly that thing?

I'll have you know that I was vital to the success of the mission by confusing the enemy long enough for our allies to get the drop on them. :hmph:

[Nippelspanner]

♫ Just a shot away... ♫

http://i.imgur.com/D6wfC6D.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/x82IRea.jpg

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/Daezzvo.jpg
Tyrant-class Cruiser "Roccaforte", Dauntless MK2-class Light Cruiser "Sainclair" and a pesky Sword-class Frigate heading to battle! FOR THE EMPIRE! :arrgh!:

(Battlefleet Gothic: Armada)

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/Z3QebIOh.jpg (http://imgur.com/Z3QebIO)
Two Dauntless class light cruisers with Adeptus Astartes favors.

[Oberon]

http://whec-assets-live.s3.amazonaws.com/2014/07/39896_7bd0969e1068e9e09a9c46ba472a893f.jpg

[Cybermat47]

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/293104665802020927/70006C56FBC41774BEC160B8878AE8B32C6F368B/
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/293104665802021535/55EB290965E8902F03D3C84FE44B76075D7B4C47/

[Nippelspanner]

CIA Special Operations Forces boarding an agency-operated MI-8AMT Helicopter.

http://i.imgur.com/VmTYyb2.jpg

[Cybermat47]

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/293104665810461029/3AEA8546D8597FB2B2FD758F82E708077CAAA90C/
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/293104665810445218/1E03FF366DA20CC25A0539FD07F9723C24D69681/

[eddie]

Playing AvP again, and when the door opens and I run into this bastid, it still makes me jump,lol


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Thony/y1_zpsuupxjc1d.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Thony/media/y1_zpsuupxjc1d.jpg.html)

[Lord_magerius]

I love my Churchill, I hope they don't nerf it :D
http://i.imgur.com/8Pzhi6P.jpg

[Oberon]

Good lord man, that's more tank kills than I normally get in a day! :haha:
The Churchill is a beast, thing tends to just laugh off Pzgr. 40 shells! :doh:
Thank God it moves as fast as the Panthers turret rotates. :haha:

[NeonSamurai]

Good lord man, that's more tank kills than I normally get in a day! :haha:
The Churchill is a beast, thing tends to just laugh off Pzgr. 40 shells! :doh:
Thank God it moves as fast as the Panthers turret rotates. :haha:

That's what you get when you play arcade ;)

Odds are Gajin will either compress the BR more, shift it to the next BR level, or give the other tanks access to historically inaccurate ammunition.

But I'm not bitter :O:

[Nippelspanner]

I love my Churchill, I hope they don't nerf it :D

Quick, paint a red star on it and mumble "Something, something Vodka!" and your tank won't get nerfed, ever.

I stopped playing due to the incredible amount of Russian bias in this game. Russian developers - well who would have thought.
Not the only game where their national bias shines through. :shifty:

[NeonSamurai]

I wouldn't say the devs are particularly Russian biased (well other than for the ton of premium vehicles, and some other nonsense). Russian equipment has been nerfed pretty badly too and also is suffering from compression problems. I honestly think the excessive grind, the severe compression problem, along with the continually shrinking population for the game is what is killing it. For some crazy reason the dev's think that compressing the BR will improve things because we hate queue times, when all it does is cause more and more people to quit, as the tiers become more and more unfair due to the compression, and serious match making balance problems. Why would you want to play when you are being forced to fight planes (or tanks) that you are utterly outmatched by and have no chance against.

Squire (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAKz0jJenjM) and MagzTV (follow the podcast link in the description) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2gio10VBn4&index=14&list=PLE3Q5hF6oN64MBj4MnfOQH5UEtwZE6Zyg) cover the problems pretty thoroughly.

[Nippelspanner]

This is what I observed myself before I stopped playing:

Obvious Russian bias* -> Players left and right leaving -> not enough players -> BR being compressed to compensate -> even worse gameplay -> even more players leave -> even more BR compression.


Now, about Russian bias.
I observed Russian bias especially while driving Tiger I and Panther A and D tanks. When I got my Tiger I thought the time of despair is over where I need 3 penetrations to stop and kill a T-34. Boy was I wrong. Way too often I had to observe a good 90° hit, penetrating, wounding and damaging EVERYTHING, yet being unable to even just stop a T34 in its tracks. Second shot still no kill, everything's flashing inside the tank - but it goes on.

Meanwhile, I catch a shot from the side and die instantly, because the shell explodes perfectly in the center of my tank, destroying and killing everything.

Now, if this would have been some isolated event, who cares?
But it happened all the time and was in heavy contrast to how T34 vs. Tiger I encounters usually looked like.
Now it all being a game, I get the need for "balance", but making T34 (and other RU tanks) survive things they shouldn't, which results in low kill numbers or even death myself, well... no thanks.
When the devs were confronted about many "weird" things with historical evidence, what was their excuse?

"No comrade, you wrong, we have sekrit dokuments!"
http://i.imgur.com/f26vhVF.jpg


Oh what stinking BS! :stare:
First game I stopped playing due to terrible balancing.
Another reason was the destruction of the realism mode.
Maps played were mostly knife fight crap which, oh who would have thought, heavily favors the Russians, while the Germans with their long range capabilty and less-maneuverability draw the "screw you!" card.

Best round I had where in realism mode with a friend on one of the huge maps, where SKILL matters, not magic "aim here!" markers.
We had a blast, mostly multiple kills because of superior tactics and teamplay. On top, it felt quite authentic and the tension was great. Some rounds you didn't shoot a thing, others you made 4 kills, it was great!

Then the only realistic and good maps started disappearing from the cycle and we disappeared as well from the game.

:down:

[Delanski]

My best Rise of Flight screens so far.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/706272610023596383/19FF6234B7D91CD07F4E04CD6B6A32EC440F166A/
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/919026388739634044/6FF0788976C16B3C10CE71C062557A5E82D558EE/
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/577904070770791856/6295A8F340569C85A9CD45E51C0846E290569B95/

[Nippelspanner]

From "I don't know what I'm doing!" :doh:

http://i.imgur.com/gsF2blt.jpg



To my first map for Assault Squad 2. :)

http://i.imgur.com/sgdTam9.jpg


Minimap:
http://i.imgur.com/bF4WDk8.png

[NeonSamurai]

One of these days I am going to have to spring for Rise of Flight but the entire game is so darn expensive.

[Kapt Z]

One of these days I am going to have to spring for Rise of Flight but the entire game is so darn expensive.

Wait for the sales. It's a great game.

My favorite flight sim right now.:up:

[HunterICX]

http://i.imgur.com/b0PzdUd.jpg?1

That's a lot of French

http://i.imgur.com/inZ3DlJ.jpg?1

Yup, that's too many French

http://i.imgur.com/QInE93z.jpg?1

I'm so dead

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/gZckgZi.jpg?1
Taking out a Comet tank with bombs...

http://i.imgur.com/Q85zn4m.jpg?1
Taking out a Comet with...20mm cannons????

https://media.giphy.com/media/zHRUPc58Eg8zC/giphy.gif

[Nippelspanner]

So Jerry decided to go for Caen, eh?
I said, not today! :stare:

http://i.imgur.com/FQCR6x5.jpg

[Delanski]

Rise of Flight is my absolute favourite flight sim. Base game is free but with just 2 planes available. You can get one of DLC's on steam for $15 that will give you more planes.

Mount & Blade Napoleonic Wars with my old regiment.
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/719791555840606751/A0CB083124FEB6EDFE8F9D0532CCA009C96253A2/
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/545268199558311266/421245FDBF27A7EB30BD6D28A6A1435F48A39CD5/
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/449582392510305042/8C22334A5D15C6E8482F2AC637912DBCEFD35B60/
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/714157619187016710/7F3AA2A977D75A5C350B580E62A7979C7432D7AF/

Boat party, ya had to be there.
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/547518911840042440/9E7F92775FDDE5FA3BD330C13CCEBB8699A455B2/

[Oberon]

Napoleonic Wars is a great mod and even greater in those rare moments when sudden organisation occurs. I recall, and I think Hunter was there too, when a whole group of us managed to organise the defence of a room leading to the flag, proper barricades and everything...let me find the screenshots...

Here we go!

http://i.imgur.com/Fq5kDty.jpg?1
It started in the corridor outside the room, a proper two rank defence, I was a bagpiper IIRC, and I think Hunter may have been the drummer next to me.

http://i.imgur.com/J3sGu4J.jpg?1
Then we retreated to the room at the end of the corridor in which some engineers had built plank defences, and a whole load of us just held that room for a good five to ten minutes.

http://i.imgur.com/JLeCIFJ.jpg?1
And then a cannon ball ruined it. :haha:

[Cybermat47]

One of these days I am going to have to spring for Rise of Flight but the entire game is so darn expensive.

The base game is free, and comes with 3 planes: Albatros D.Va (German), SPAD S.XIII (French/American), and Nieuport 17 (Russian).

[HunterICX]

Napoleonic Wars is a great mod

+1 :yep: One of my favorite modules to play online in M&B

There's this fancy Client side enhancement mod that makes some graphical & sound improvements which is a must imo.

And those screenies are by far one of the the best rounds we played online. Great teamwork and leadership :yeah:

(should see if the servers are still packed these days to have another few rounds)

[Oberon]

(should see if the servers are still packed these days to have another few rounds)

Quietly reinstalls Mount and Blade...

[Oberon]

(should see if the servers are still packed these days to have another few rounds)

http://i.imgur.com/fWMpNLc.jpg?1

http://49.media.tumblr.com/e4ae1583928ed1a2e11161c033279339/tumblr_mqafznCP8N1s64rhyo3_500.gif

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

Yeah NW is still far from dead, I still play a few rounds now and then when I'm in the mood for it. Anyways heres a screeny from Rise of Flight that I took while testing out a ReShade preset that I made for AC Syndicate, as I just wanted to see how it looked in RoF.
http://s6.postimg.org/dyffv7gld/rof_2016_03_27_20_23_56_857.jpg

[Delanski]

Yeah NW is still far from dead, I still play a few rounds now and then when I'm in the mood for it.

It's the same for me! Take a break for a while then I'm full on back into it. It's a hard game to leave.

This mod was hilarious but it was awesome
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/442825735532073361/4089BB387AB65FCA8B74DF37628F8DA9CB7AE7CF/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/442825735532072339/0225F820287F79E150B3DA3DF99122387F683671/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/442825735532075649/1FBE840E0AF63BF64C9FD804343F8D1520627BD6/

Our clan was so addicted to NW we started watching Sharpe in Gmod
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/719792359686821386/D8B9BF57B81D815338363A6C99C8B5C24931F67F/

[BossMark]

Victoria my new character from Fallout 4
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee374/rothwellwhite1/bossmarks%20pictures/20160401171423_1_zpsppo5bfbe.jpg

[BossMark]

This time with Codsworth
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee374/rothwellwhite1/bossmarks%20pictures/20160401090557_1_zpsog3kulsd.jpg

[Nippelspanner]

Victoria my new character from Fallout 4
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee374/rothwellwhite1/bossmarks%20pictures/20160401171423_1_zpsppo5bfbe.jpg

I like her. :hmmm:
Victoria, meet Claire...
http://i.imgur.com/kKX23vx.png

Now girls, excuse us, we'll be on our way!
*ppstt* Boss, I know where the peephole is! :woot:

[Rilder]

The Glorious Motherland of the Moon must be defended from Imperialist Capitalist scum! Send in the IS 8-Balls!

http://i.imgur.com/8A0i3qG.jpg

(World of tanks April Fools game mode)

[jacobston]

Meet my first FO4 character, Amanda Kendrick, fighting to restore the Commonwealth to the pre-war glory she once knew...

http://i.imgur.com/XpxfV8c.png


I also made some, uh, 'improvements' to Codsworth with the Automatron DLC....

http://i.imgur.com/M6tR3Sx.png?1

[Oberon]

http://i.imgur.com/4mVaz6H.jpg?1
Carnage in central Europe

[BossMark]

I like her. :hmmm:
Victoria, meet Claire...
http://i.imgur.com/kKX23vx.png

Now girls, excuse us, we'll be on our way!
*ppstt* Boss, I know where the peephole is! :woot:
Hello Claire :D
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee374/rothwellwhite1/bossmarks%20pictures/20160404065132_1_zps0y2yjclj.jpg

[BossMark]

Victoria after a visit to the hairdressers and tattoo parlor then picking Hancock up.
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee374/rothwellwhite1/bossmarks%20pictures/20160414131843_1_zpsglw9jaax.jpg

[Rilder]

Off on another scientific flight.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/507027582287578099/3904D301654C6C765B7CBD74A6993C2C964EDC8F/

[Nippelspanner]

"Hey man, your inner voice speaking, let's go play The Long Dark on "Stalker" difficulty setting, this is going to be awesome!
We will fight for survival over month, every bit of resource will be valuable, we will get hurt, fix ourselves up, nearly freeze to death or nearly starve, or both!
But in the end we're gonna pull through and evolve!":yeah:

58 (ingame) minutes later:
http://i.imgur.com/2KXYOsE.png


:shifty:

http://i.imgur.com/HHu8FFX.jpg

[Oberon]

I really must get around to getting Wolf Food Simulator 2016 one of these days, watched play-throughs of it often enough. :hmmm:

[Dowly]

I really must get around to getting Wolf Food Simulator 2016 one of these days, watched play-throughs of it often enough. :hmmm:Aye, same here.

(If anyone wants to gift it to me, you are welcome to do so. I will not do anything for you, and I will likely forget about you in a week, but my steam is: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Dowly/ (think of the children!))

[Nippelspanner]

It is really a great game, both of you will like it, I am sure of it.
The example used by me was really the worst case. Spawned in the dark, no flares (scares wolves), freezing cold, had to go inside (Hydro Dam) and there he was....

[HunterICX]

Just slugging it out with the Prussian infantry whilst Raptor is attempting to cover the right flank from Prussian Cavalry:

http://i.imgur.com/eXfzVLH.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/hnUxOJi.jpg?1

but they succeed in wearing down his numbers by repeated harassment from their infantry and eventually they manage a breakthrough with cavalry which ends up killing both us as commanders.

http://i.imgur.com/tqenJ2k.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/WqiIMqb.jpg?1

[Onkel Neal]

I have a game that looks like that....what was it called? I think Dan gifted it to me, played it a lot for a few months. :hmmm:

[HunterICX]

I have a game that looks like that....what was it called? I think Dan gifted it to me, played it a lot for a few months. :hmmm:

Scourge of War: Waterloo

They've got a game as well about the US Civil War called Scourge of War: Gettysburg using the same engine so the graphics look similar.

If you happen to own Waterloo as well as I and Raptor do, ever feel like hopping into the saddle with us and fight pour L'empereur? :D

[Rilder]

Ready to hit that ball like a bullet to a Batista supporter. :arrgh!:

http://i.imgur.com/nBSqtjk.jpg

[Nippelspanner]

"Bullets? Where we're going, we don't need bullets!"
http://i.imgur.com/c92NwWz.jpg

Crazy fun game, so glad I bought it. One has to play it to understand the appeal.

[CCIP]

http://i.imgur.com/7B5OJTA.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/XUQFsQh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/AoOsLv6.jpg

[limkol]

@CCIP: What game is that screenshot from?

[HunterICX]

If I'm not mistaken that's ''Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy''.

[Raptor1]

I'm guessing it's the latest one, Final Blitzkrieg.

[limkol]

Thanks guys:up:

[CCIP]

Yeah, that's CMBN - I've promised myself to play through Normandy/Market Garden (which I owned for years) before I buy Final Blitzkrieg :D

[Valantine]

A few from the 53rd missions so far in 2016: Bornholm / HinduKush / Kunduz

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t211/JG53_Valantine/ARMA%203%20Mission%20shots/arma3%202015-11-29%2020-42-26-57.png

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t211/JG53_Valantine/ARMA%203%20Mission%20shots/arma3%202016-01-12%2021-56-29-54.png

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t211/JG53_Valantine/ARMA%203%20Mission%20shots/arma3%202016-02-02%2020-20-58-40.png

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t211/JG53_Valantine/ARMA%203%20Mission%20shots/arma3%202016-02-02%2022-47-18-48.png

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t211/JG53_Valantine/ARMA%203%20Mission%20shots/arma3%202016-02-28%2022-34-40-24.png

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t211/JG53_Valantine/ARMA%203%20Mission%20shots/arma3%202016-03-13%2020-37-27-78.png

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t211/JG53_Valantine/ARMA%203%20Mission%20shots/arma3%202016-03-13%2020-41-49-31.png

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t211/JG53_Valantine/ARMA%203%20Mission%20shots/arma3%202016-03-27%2020-50-17-20.png

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t211/JG53_Valantine/ARMA%203%20Mission%20shots/arma3%202016-03-29%2021-58-12-36.png

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t211/JG53_Valantine/ARMA%203%20Mission%20shots/arma3%202016-04-10%2020-16-17-33.png

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t211/JG53_Valantine/ARMA%203%20Mission%20shots/arma3%202016-04-24%2021-22-09-86.png

[Oberon]

Not even a year into the 'War to End All Wars'™ and the casualty rates are staggering, the Imperial German Navy has been decimated, and breakthroughs on the Western front have allowed the French, Flemish and British forces to retake Belgium.

http://i.imgur.com/S1jIJFJ.jpg

But while Germany has been wounded, she is still dangerous, having struck deep into Russian territory and making dangerous advances to the Meuse, however fierce French resistance have prevented the enemy from taking the western bank.
Meanwhile in North Africa, British forces continue their campaign of pushing the Ottomans out of the Sinai, scoring several decisive victories at Arish.
Reports from Eastern Europe have been varied, but seem to translate into 'Serbia Stronk'.

http://i.imgur.com/KdIPvpP.jpg

EDIT: Nearly forgot, 'Darkest Hour' with 'The Grand Campaign 1914-1991' mod installed.

[HunterICX]

http://i.imgur.com/nsciM02.jpg

It all will be over by Christmas

[Oberon]

Had my very own Jutland, and not that far from the OTL battle either, just got the wrong side of Denmark... :doh:

The German High Seas fleet ran into one of my small cruiser forces which was convoy hunting in the Kattegat, a nearby battleship/cruiser force turned in to assist and the signal was sent to Scapa Flow for Jellicoe to get his backside out of bed and come play.
The battle losted long enough for the Grand Fleet to get to the top of Denmark before for some reason the entire German fleet just sank. :hmmm: If I had to create a story for it, I'd say that the High Seas Fleet saw that it was blocked by the attacking RN fleet from fleeing to Kiel and when it saw the Grand Fleet on the horizon it decided to pull the plug.

http://i.imgur.com/rWwwJLJ.jpg?1

Wait...wait...

http://i.imgur.com/JerhYtc.jpg?1

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view3/4649186/hms-barham-explodes-while-sinking-after-being-hit-by-german-torpedoes-o.gif

https://media.giphy.com/media/wvQIqJyNBOCjK/giphy.gif

[HunterICX]

Wait...wait...

http://i.imgur.com/JerhYtc.jpg?1


Important lesson:
http://i.imgur.com/Mpfc84e.jpg

[Oberon]

Important lesson:


:yep:

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/113/137/7c3.jpg

[Oberon]

Welcome to 1916!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4699782583_a6013046af_o.jpg

The war rumbles on, with small gains and losses in the west, large but faltering German advances in the east, and relative stale-mate in the Middle East.

http://i.imgur.com/KM49z38.jpg

First, the current casualties, and just two years into the war and Germany is already exceeded OTL levels of carnage. Russia has taken a battering, but is holding firm, managing to roll back German advances north of Riga.
Currently it looks as though Germany is trying to push the southern Russian front, but progress does seem to be slow.
Meanwhile on the Western front, a disasterous winter offensive saw the UK fail to liberate Luxembourg, and so it was decided to dig in and wait for summer. Meanwhile the French have pushed the Germans out of their territory and are now pushing across the border into Metz.
In the Middle East the Senussi attacks caught the British off guard, in their moments of triumph in pushing the Ottomans out of the Sinai they were forced to halt, retreat back to the Suez and send forces to Western Egypt to deal with the Senussi, in late November, with the Senussi suing for peace, the focus returned to the Ottomans with the potential for a summer offensive once the current Ottoman assault is easily repulsed.

http://i.imgur.com/P4O91gY.jpg

In regards to naval forces, the Royal Navy has been both successful and devastatingly unlucky with the German High Seas Fleet occasionally catching small convoy raider groups and dispatching them quickly before the Grand Fleet can arrive to even the odds. By this way most of the Queen Elizabeth class battleships have been lost, with only HMS Malaya and HMS Agincourt still in service. The keels of five more Queen Elizabeth class battleships have been laid down and they are expected to be ready by 1919.

The operational plan for 1916 is to continue to harass the enemy at sea, denying their supply routes wherever possible, push the Ottomans out of Egypt and link up with our British Raj allies who have come through southern Persia to invade the Ottomans from the east, and if the opportunity presents itself on the Western front, assist the French in pushing back the German force.

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/EZSkFY2.jpg
Flame farts! Wooo!

[Oberon]

Dangerous levels of Gud detected, expelling excess Gud. :O:

[Dowly]

More like expelling excess "I could strangle a fluffy kitten" levels of frustration.

You have not experienced Hell in gaming until you've experienced Blighttown for the first time in Dark Souls.

[Mud]

http://home.kpn.nl/hart0751/images2/na1.jpg

[Oberon]

January 1917

https://legionmagazine.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/WWI-B-S016.jpg

1916 was a year of hard fought victories, with the tide definitely turning in both the western and Middle eastern fronts. However war exhaustion is beginning to hit home hard for both the Triple Ententé and the Central Powers. Bulgaria signed an armistace with French ambassadors late in the year, while Russia has been rocked by mass strikes and protests, as has Australia. Great Britain has seen mounting discontent which flaired up most in Ireland where Michael Collins and his rebels forced the quick transfer of a small number of troops to the eastern coast of the emerald isle.
Experts studying the casualty rates are wondering how Germany is still able to continue fighting, with French forces on the western bank of the Rhine it is thought that 1917 will be the year which will make or break the war, with rumours of a top secret weapon being developed for the army...
Meanwhile in the Middle East, rebellion is being formented amongst those once oppressed by the Ottoman Empire, with the Arabs rising up to overthrow their former Turkish masters and drive them out of Mecca and Medina. To aid these brave men to establish their great Arab Empire we have sent supplies and a military advisor in the shape of one T.E. Lawrence. We look forward to seeing them in action alongside us as we drive the Ottomans out of Tel Aviv and advance into Palestine.


http://i.imgur.com/EAdhqfs.jpg

Over 5% of the pre-war population of Germany have been killed in this war, and some 3-4% of the British pre-war population have died, in France there are few villages who have not lost someone in the fields of western Germany.

http://i.imgur.com/cj9l9jH.jpg

It's becoming harder for the Royal Navy to find German ships to sink, a new building program of H and J class submarines which completed at the end of 1916 will only bring more misery to the navies of the Central Powers as their convoys are decimated. This is not to say that the British have had it all their own way, however since the disaster that befell the Queen Elizabeth class warships after the Battle of Kattegat, there have been no major skirmishes with the German navy.

[Oberon]

January 1918

http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/33/550x376x91633-004-5B366CAF.jpg.pagespeed.ic.EBxQpcUUkK.jpg

1917 would be remembered as the year of collapses, with the Great War having bled white many of the major players in the theatre.
The first to fall was the Russian Empire, but it did not all go at once, and it did not go alone. First, the Tsar sought refuge in the west, he was rebuffed by France who feared that his presence would inspire revolutionaries in their midst, but Great Britain, despite its own problems in Ireland which would continue to flare up as the year proceeded, took in Cousin Nicky after receiving a coded telegram from Petrograd:

http://i.imgur.com/NlMlUam.jpg

With the Tsar gone, the Russian army went on a renewed and more powerful offensive, following the example of the French and British forces who were powering into Germany. For a time it looked as if soon the Russians would link up with the French and British somewhere in the middle of southern Germany.

http://i.imgur.com/8oVAekb.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/v2AWTbR.jpg

Then came two actions which would change the war and perhaps propell a third action which would change the world. In April 1917 after much deliberating in Congress, the United States of America declared war on the Central Powers, with most of Southern America (with the exception of Mexico which was still recovering from its Revolutionary wars) following suit shortly after. In late August/early September, the Austrio-Hungarian Empire sued for a white peace with France and was granted it, having been heavily overrun by a renewed Russian offensive. Within a month, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dead, split into several new states such as Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians.
Then came the third shock as the Russian provisional government was overthrown in a second revolution in November, with a new Communist state being created led by Vladimir Lenin. It wasted no time in purging its armed forces, creating vast gaps on the eastern front which the German forces have so far been only barely able to exploit due to their catastrophically low manpower.
Smelling a chance to possibly end the war quickly and avoid further bloodshed, Britain launched an ambituous scheme, it siphoned away two small armies from the west German front where they boarded ships at Dieppe before joining up with the Grand Fleet and heading for Rostov and from there...Berlin!
The attack on Rostov is often quoted by historians as being Britains biggest blunder of the Great War, with many reasons given for its failure, poor supply lines, inadequate troop numbers, or just poor leadership, whatever the cause a great number of British bodies lay dead on the German coastline that week and the Grand Fleet returned to Scapa Flow and the survivors back to France where they would slowly return to the front line, and the war would drag on into another bloody year.

https://cdn-attachments.timesofmalta.com/aeca6ea3164c3e4dacf4a937d14ddb61660338101-1303728492-4db5516c-620x348.jpg
Wounded soldiers, some still in desert gear having been hastily transferred from forces on the Palestine front, climb onto a hospital ship off the coast of Germany following the failed Rostov assault.

http://i.imgur.com/UNHMHaz.jpg?1

Analysts are astonished at how Germany is still able to fight despite having suffered so many casualties, the collapse of the Russian and Austrio-Hungarian empires have shown the path down which such massive casualties can lead...but Germany still continues to fight.
Meanwhile the Ottoman Empire is steadily being pushed back, with British forces having taken Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Damascus in short order during 1917.
Meanwhile in England, some experimental units are being equipped with a large motorised creation dubbed an 'armoured track layer'. So far it has shown that is extremely efficient at getting stuck in trenches, mud, hedgerows, sand dunes, bridges, and small gulleys, and it has also displayed an incredible skill at mechanical failures at the most inopportune of moments. Despite these incredible advances, the units will probably not be ready until early 1918.

http://i.imgur.com/0zXalLH.jpg

On the naval front it has been extremely quiet, it is estimated that either Germany has little to no convoy activity left, or it has gotten very good at hiding them. Likewise attacks on British convoys have also tailed off, with the rapid movement of French and British forces into western Germany it is estimated that production has shifted from naval warfare to land warfare. The relatively quiet skies above the German front would also lend weight to this theory.

[Oberon]

October 1918

http://1.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Armistice-14.jpg

1918, the year of peace. The Soviet Union now faced opposition from both at home and abroad, as infighting begins in what would become the Russian civil war, with two large adversaries arrayed against them, the Soviet government first refused a generous peace offer from Germany...and then in desperation signed a more stringent one. The nation of Finland sprang into being from the treaty of Brest-Litvosk, as the Soviet Union left the war to fight its own battle for survival.

http://i.imgur.com/A9xs1Dp.jpg?1
(dat compression)

With the Soviet Union out of the fight, and the USA seemingly missing, it was down to France, Australia, Canada, Belgium and Great Britain to continue the fight, although in fairness to the Americas, nations from South America were spotted in western Germany in 1918.
In April 1918 the first of the armoured goliaths crashed through the German lines at the Sixth Battle of Liege, although many of these craft (now referred to as tanks due to their boxy shape reminding troops of water storage tanks, not to mention their habit of collecting rain-water in all the wrong places) broke down whilst attacking the German lines, enough got through to give the Germans a shock, a shock that they did not recover from until the Fourth Battle of Aachen a month later when most of the tanks failed to even reach the German lines and had to be abandoned during the counterattack.

http://i.imgur.com/iyYWEdw.jpg?1

http://vikings.history.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/british-mark-1-tank.jpg
No 'tanks' were lost to the enemy in the Sixth Battle of Liege, but more than a few were lost to the terrain.

At this point the writing was fairly clearly on the wall for Imperial Germany, as the summer months rolled around, desperate attempts were undertaken by the German forces to halt the advance of the Triple Ententé. However it was all for naught, when British forces captured the docks at Wilhelmshaven, it must have been the final demoralising blow to the Kaiser who had lost his namesake city to the enemy.
In early October, diplomats from Germany arrived in Paris seeking an end to hostilities, and on the 24th October 1918 the guns across the Western front fell silent after four long bloody years.

The cost of the war was catastrophic for nearly all it touched, but few more so than Germany, the Soviet Union and France.

http://i.imgur.com/dp6hgPx.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/Zb297cy.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/yJyJZN1.jpg?1


Authors note:
Wowie, ouch...that casualty rate for Germany! I didn't think that it was possible to make WWI even more bloody than OTL...but it seems I was wrong, and yet Germany didn't even manage to advance as far into Belgium and France as OTL.
I just hope I can persuade France not to go all Versailles on Germany, lest a certain mustached Corporal appear in a couple of decades. :dead:

[Eichhörnchen]

@ Mud: love that frigate... presume that's World of Warships again?

[HunterICX]

http://i.imgur.com/RTc1RK0.jpg?1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nbI9geWQvk

[Eichhörnchen]

http://i.imgur.com/OOKOkYu.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ykzV1yx.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/MJ7h5cZ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Ft3QhRl.jpg

[Eichhörnchen]

http://i.imgur.com/egp5XY0.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gNq9VCR.jpg


FS9 with freeware Pfalz and VFR photo scenery
http://i.imgur.com/pAYgj7W.jpg


FS9 plus 'First Class Simulations' F-22 and VFR Netherlands scenery
http://i.imgur.com/h1585pt.jpg


FS9 plus 'Just Flight' Spitfire Mk1 and VFR scenery
http://i.imgur.com/YinE79k.jpg

[Highbury]

Soviet Luna 3 replica in Kerbal Space Program
http://i.imgur.com/xS5eane.png

[Oberon]

The 1920s, a decade of revolution.

http://godwithusww1.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/spartacus_f3_web.jpg

By 1919 Europe was exhausted, with most of the major powers either collapsing or close to collapse. Of these major powers perhaps the worst effected were Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia, one had suffered a socialist revolution, the other had disintergrated and the last was wracked with civil disorder and chaos.
Yet just because the guns had fallen silent in the fields of western Germany it did not mean that the soldiers of the Triple Entente could see peace at last, for no sooner had the ink dried on the Treaty of Versailles, when conflict broke out between the Ottoman Empire and Greece.
So France and Britain found themselves once again trudging through the sands of the sick man of Europe as he underwent his death throes.

http://i.imgur.com/JYDe7S5.jpg

Soon it was all over, and what land the Greeks did not claim went to the French and the Ottoman Empire was no more.
With peace finally at hand, Britain begun to look towards the future of warfare in order to maintain its security in a changing world. While Kaiser Wilhelm II fled Germany during a populist uprising, bringing into power the Weimar Republic, Britain began construction on its first aircraft carrier.
While the Soviet Union fought its civil war, the Royal Navy began a crash course in destroyer and anti-submarine warfare construction, aware of the effect that Royal Navy submarines had had on Germany during the Great War and equally perilously aware of its vulnerable position as an island heavily dependent on foreign supplies.

These were hard times for Germany, but not as hard as they could have been as the French diplomats were keen to point out, while Germany still had to pay reperations to France and Britain for its role in the Great War (the so-called 'Victors Retribution') it did not have to give up any land in mainland Europe, and so while the Austria-Hungarian Empire collapsed into a series of smaller states, Germany stayed whole, stretching from France to the Soviet Union. Many vocal opponents in Paris decried the softness of the Treaty of Versailles and Field Marshall Foch was heard to mutter 'This is not a peace, it is an armistace for twenty years', as, although France would occupy the Rhineland as payment for missed reparations twice in the 1920s, they were otherwise prohibited from taking the industrial heartland of Germany from it.

http://www.peterpappas.com/images/2013/12/ICA_men_-Dublin_-rooftop.png

Things were not exactly docile in the United Kingdom either, the after effects of the 1916 Easter Uprising and the struggles that followed came to head in 1921 after negotiations with representatives from the Irish side fell through, and the Irish declared themselves independent from the crown.
Their timing could not have been worse, British forces had gained plenty of experience fighting battles in Europe, and their weaponry was honed from this experience. Armoured Cars, Tanks and the new batallion of Royal Marines landed in Dublin and swept through the countryside. Other nations joined in Britains defence, with Greek forces returning the favour that Britain and France had given them against the Ottomans.
Within a year it was all over and the dreams of Irish independence were crushed...for now...

http://italiancanadianww2.ca/images/uploads/catalogueimages/1166/ldicea2012-0014-0008.jpg

Meanwhile in Italy a curious new form of government arose declaring itself as 'fascism', lead by a strange short man called Benito Mussolini, it sort to strike back against the communist and socialist wave which had tried to spread across Europe in the aftermath of the Russian revolution, however fascism was slow to take foot in the rest of Europe...for now.
Then came the most dramatic event of the 1920s...the Crash.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/UnemployedMarch.jpg

Suddenly Britain found itself in the middle of a major crisis as unemployment soared and national unrest soared with it. As 1929 drew to a close, the government faced major financial trouble, despite its best attempts to mitigate the worst of the Crash from the workers, it could not be everywhere and factories were forced to close and people marched.
The 1930s would prove to be a difficult time for Europe...

http://i.imgur.com/N2v7TDq.jpg

[Oberon]

1930s - The World Turned Upside Down

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c1/90/d2/c190d2dc676f8ba0caaec7760d32543b.jpg
Matilda tanks in London as unrest spreads throughout the Home counties

The 1930s would prove to be some of the most turbulent years in Great Britains modern history, and would come perilously close to destroying the empire completely.

http://i.imgur.com/GkzKxiE.jpg?1

The Great Depression hit the United Kingdom particularly hard, with bank runs and civil unrest causing mass uprisings at home and abroad. Several peoples took this opportunity, this weakness, to try and secede from the empire, Malta started the ball rolling, while in Europe the war between Austria and Czechoslovakia, Romania and Hungary finally ended after several years as Czechoslovakia annexed Austria.

http://i.imgur.com/4eXH31g.jpg

Soon other nations were following suit, British Guyana declared independence, as did Rhodesia, and Gibraltar dissolved into anarchy.

http://www.guyanaundersiege.com/History/wismar/Wismar%20building%20on%20fire.jpg

Although Rhodesia and Malta were returned to the empire, and eventually Gibraltar returned to the fold, Guiana was allowed to continue its independence as it was not deemed strategically valuable enough. Likewise other far flung locations were left to their own devices during the 1930s, with anarchists establishing brief fiefdoms and communes being established while the formerly mighty empire sought to prevent its own government from collapsing.

With the economy in shambles, the fascist ideals of Italy spread into Europe, with the German Workers Party gaining a majority in the 1933 German federal elections and a mustachioed man called Adolf Hitler becoming the Chancellor of Germany. Almost immediately he sought an alliance with Great Britain, and for a time the British public contemplated a great European Union of France, Great Britain and Germany to band together in these rough economic times and protect against encroaching socialist revolutionaries from the Soviet Union.

http://i.imgur.com/oOfpByT.jpg

However, this new leader would prove to have a more sinister side, which was quickly recognised by France who refused to have anything to do with this man and his anti-semetic ravings and left the alliance. Britain held on a little longer, but when mass anti-semetic attacks began spreading unchecked in Germany, Britain decided that it could not be allied to such a radical nation and it too left the alliance. Curiously the Hellenic Republic and Belgium did not, and thus they remained members of this 'Axis'.
Efforts were made to rekindle an alliance with France, but while the independence of the country was guaranteed, Paris refused to be drawn into another web of alliances which caused so much death and destruction in the Great War.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/e5/93/73/e59373baad2df0c6393fa778500d1575.jpg

Meanwhile in the Far East, the Imperial nation of Japan sought to carve its own destiny in China, first taking Manchuria, and then after an incident at the Marco Polo bridge, striking into Nationalist China, with reports of fearsome atrocities carried out against the Chinese.
Hong Kong, meanwhile, was lost to partisans, so the British had no real means in which to monitor the situation and were more concerned with trying to keep their nation afloat than the actions of an Empire on the other side of the globe.

However, events closer to home were about to bring the British into a new war, as the struggle between Fascism and socialism broke out into war in 1936 in Spain.

http://www.ubcpress.ca/images/renegades1.jpg

The war in Spain began after a group of generals lead by José Sanjurjo delivered a proclamation against the left-leaning Spanish government of President Manuel Azaña and with support from other conservative groups declared war on the Second Spanish Republic.
Volunteers and materials were shipped in for both sides from Italy, Germany and Great Britain, with France being most noticable by her absense.
British advisors were sent to Spain to help co-ordinate the Republican armed forces, and soon these were giving advice near the frontlines.

Following attacks on merchant shipping in the Mediterranean Sea, it was decided by the British parliament that action was needed to bring the war in Spain to a speedy conclusion, and thus Britain declared war on the Nationalist rebels, landing forces in Galicia.

http://i.imgur.com/uJdml9O.jpg

A quick campaign was waged across the North of Spain, with the army of General Franco being destroyed late in mid-1937 after being encircled in Gerona.

http://i.imgur.com/WIYSKZy.jpg

From here it was a quick dash down the eastern coast and into Malaga and Gibraltar. With the Royal Marines of 45 Commando repeating the offensive which earned them their old battle honours by retaking the rock from Nationalist forces who had dislodged the partisans which had taken root there earlier in the decade.

http://i.imgur.com/9K1RHVu.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/XYsm1U9.jpg?1

British forces would remain in Spain for the rest of the 1930s, helping the Republican government to rebuild after the brief but devastating civil war, and acting as a protectorate of parts of the nation.
As 1939 rolled around, some people were predicting war with Nazi Germany, however despite minor political altercations over the German remilitarisation of the Rhineland and disagreements over the case of the Czech Sudetenland, nothing of note occurred at the end of the 1930s.

Technologically wise, the British Empire continues to dominate in many areas, with the invention of the long range seeing device called RADAR, which has been fitted to most naval vessels in order to aid them in locating and attacking the enemy. James Chadwick continues his research into the structure of the atom and its power, and meanwhile on the outskirts of Sheffield in a closely guarded military base, strange roaring noises have been heard preceding a streak of light sometimes launching into the sky...but more often just flashing and exploding on the ground.

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--EGKOgUkm--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/18lfbcyj04oe5jpg.jpg

Who knows what the 1940s will bring? However, with Germany rising in power and its ideology hell-bent on a showdown with the Soviet Union it may only be a matter of time before the two giants slug it out for dominance. And what of Japan? Will they be content with their slice of China, or will more of Asia come to feel the wrath of the Rising Sun?
And most importantly...why on Earth are Atomic Physics needed to research Modern Carrier Pigeons?

http://i.imgur.com/vCMbzDy.jpg

Only time will tell! :hmmm:

[Oberon]

1940-41 - Into the Dragons Den

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5d/f3/00/5df300cab066ab61db1982302a89a7d5.jpg
Matilda tank on Formosa

The 1940s opened with tensions high on the continent and abroad, however no-one knew where the first spark would ignite the war. Japan continued her war in China, with continued scares of Japanese fleets moving south into the Dutch East Indies, and American embargoes targetted at bringing the Japanese Empire to the table and away from war.
Meanwhile in Europe, Nazi Germany made continuing in-roads into Eastern European nations, with Romania soon falling into line behind Hitler.

Then, in 1941, it began.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/05/50/d7/0550d710b2fadc484f90ae9e2bdc83f7.jpg
Wehrmacht forces on the move in Eastern Europe

http://i.imgur.com/6Wo8aOG.jpg

In the early morning of June 13th 1941, the biggest artillery salvo since the Great War preceded a massed wave of German bombers striking hard into the Soviet Unions front-lines. The Soviet leader was stunned into inaction, sealing himself away for three days as German tanks cut through the Soviet lines like a hot poker through paper. Soon they were on the outskirts of Leningrad, Stalingrad and even Moscow itself! In the north, Finland, still smarting after its war against the Soviets in the 1930s, decided to also join in, allying with Germany against Russia.

Then, whilst the western world looked at Moscow with baited breath, aircraft fell out of the Pacific sun at the American naval base of Pearl Harbor.

http://www.maritimequest.com/misc_pages/pearl_harbor_slides/03_uss_shaw.jpg

On the 22nd of June 1941, only nine days after Germany had declared war on the Soviet Union, the Empire of Japan declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Their naval airforce struck directly at the heart of the American navy, at their Pacific base of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, catching both the UK and US off guard, since both had expected an immediate Southern move from Japan, attacking the Dutch East Indies and the Phillipines respectively, but it seemed that Japan wanted to neutralise the American navy first...however, despite what seemed to be crippling damage to the US fleet at first, it was soon revealed that most of the warships sunk on that day could be refloated, repaired and ready to gain revenge.

http://i.imgur.com/WSRi067.jpg

For Britains part, her main concern was the garrison at Hong Kong, which had been reinforced recently with the arrival of the infamous Royal Marines, fresh from their successes in Spain, and the Grand Fleet under the soon to retire Grand Admiral Jellicoe.
As soon as the notice of war was given, more forces were despatched to Rangoon and then on to the Far Eastern Theatre.

http://i.imgur.com/ccI6rFR.jpg
A French Char B1 bis tank and its crew in Belgium, 1941.

For reasons which are still unknown to this day, Germany and France soon came into conflict, and then Germany decided to follow Japans direction and declared war on the United States.
With most German forces in the Soviet Union, France took the opportunity to march into Belgium and occupy the former German ally. Shortly after this, Germany invaded Denmark and annexed it, thus in order to help safeguard the Atlantic, Britain took posession of Greenland and Iceland from Denmark at the behest of the exiled Danish government.

http://i.imgur.com/6g1BEmP.jpg

Meanwhile the war in the Far East was mostly dominated by naval skirmishes, with the Royal Navy coming into contact with a myriad of Japanese warships. Despite in some cases being outclassed by the technology of the Japanese carrier fleets, the British vessels held their own, and indeed, inflicted some severe losses on the Japanese.

http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/images/P/Philippine_Islands__Jap_tanks.gif
Japanese tanks moving through the Phillipines, 1941

As expected though, Japanese forces soon came ashore in the Phillipines, whilst Britain was unable to directly assist the Filipinos due to differing alliance membership, she did her best to block Japanese supplies and reinforcements coming ashore, and this she did well, as lightly or unescorted Japanese transport fleets repeatedly slammed into the wall of the Grand Fleet.

http://i.imgur.com/59yKHgh.jpg

In early October it was decided that Britain could no longer just stand offshore and watch the Phillipines be overrun, so an invasion force was quickly drawn up from Hong Kong and sent to Baguio to land there.
On the way, the fleet ran into the Japanese carrier fleet once again, scoring a decisive victory when they were able to sink the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi, which had previously participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

http://i.imgur.com/Ne2T55v.jpg

That victory, though, would be the only one that Britain would have that October in the Phillipines, with the landing forces simply unable to gain a foothold at Baguio, and so with heavy hearts and casualties, they fell back to fortress of Hong Kong.

http://i.imgur.com/OaIqOnE.jpg

Meanwhile back in Europe, Finland soon learnt to its cost that it was not quite ready to face the Soviet bear on equal terms, and was forced to seek a seperate peace, which the Soviets were only too happy to give so that they could turn their full force on the Germans rapidly approaching Moscow.

http://i.imgur.com/DAYBPTm.jpg

As November rolled around, Britain looked at her options for advancing the fight in the Far East. Hong Kong was under siege, with regular bombing by the puppet Chinese forces, and the occasional assault which was repelled by the battle hardened Marines.
What the British needed was a more significant foothold near Japan from which they could use their newly developed and untested flying bombs and bombing techniques on the Japanese homeland.

The closest option and the first stopping off point was Formosa.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/20/10/48/20104811e08944d29d1348250a50fc96.jpg
A Matilda II convoy moves south through the jungles of Formosa

The initial invasion went much smoother than the Phillipines operation, with additional support from the Grand Fleet meaning that fewer casualties were inflicted on the invading forces by the Japanese defenders.
Once ashore, the British tanks and cavalry turned south, as German forces conquered Leningrad and Stalingrad, prompting a surprising decision from Finland.

http://i.imgur.com/mzPqfpu.jpg

If at first you don't succeed? :hmmm:

Time will tell, as we move into 1942, and British forces stand ready to push the last Japanese forces off Formosa, and American forces attempt to gain a proper foothold to retake the Phillipines. French forces are unable to push into Germany, but have taken Belgium without fuss. Meanwhile a titanic struggle continues between the giants of the Soviet Union and Germany.

Many experts in the nations fighting their seperate wars have suggested that alliances should be forged, that America and Britain should unite against their common foe, time will also tell if this takes place.

(Time, and whether I can figure out how to code it in, since I kind of broke the Allies in 1933)

[HunterICX]

^Think you broke the world :haha:
Keep it up :up:

[Oberon]

Intermission:

Carrier Air Power & You

http://www.searchamateur.com/pictures/crash-landings-on-aircraft-carriers-1.jpg

A slight break from the action as I just want to put down how absolutely mind-boggled I am by the AI.
So, as we left in our last chapter, I was at war with Japan, I managed to sort out the slightly screwed up alliance situation with a bit of save-file hacking, but I'm still at war with Japan...and so far things have been going...less historically than I was expecting.
I think I found the reason why.

Out of idle curiosity I booted up the save as Japan and took a look at their research and carrier fleet, and this is what I found:

http://i.imgur.com/l5NtgBF.jpg?1

The thing to notice in this picture is the blue box marked '1922 CAG', as in '1922 Carrier Air Group', the first step in the line which would take them down to the dreaded 'Zero'. So...if they haven't started down that route...then...what are they putting on their flat-tops?

http://i.imgur.com/XheUUtW.jpg?1

The answer is...nothing. They are sailing around a whole load of aircraft carriers with absolutely nothing on their decks. :/\\!!

https://lifewithlilred.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/cant.jpg

Even Germany knows that the flat part of aircraft carriers are supposed to have aircraft on them...ok, the aircraft are pretty terrible, and there's no RADAR or anti-aircraft protection, but it's a start!

http://i.imgur.com/88RRlpz.jpg

This is what it's supposed to look like, not the most recent of my carriers but it's got anti-aircraft, a CAG and a RADAR attachment:

http://i.imgur.com/DFmt25h.jpg
And also a zombie admiral...I really should replace him considering he died seven years ago...

So...I thought I'd look at the United States of America, the pinnacle of air/naval technology, surely they would

http://i.imgur.com/oqL3aPz.jpg

https://media.giphy.com/media/3XiQswSmbjBiU/giphy.gif

[HunterICX]

Meanwhile in Spain, we'll help our socialists brothers!
Me: Soviet Union (sending volunteers) & Raptor: Republican Spain
vs
Nationalist Spain with the help of the volunteers send by Germany, Italy and...japan?! WTF?!

http://i.imgur.com/Fxa1THu.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/qpwPeSr.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/agQPVqG.jpg?1

[eddie]

I wonder Hunter if Japan sent men to Spain because of the Alliance with Germany?

[HunterICX]

I wonder Hunter if Japan sent men to Spain because of the Alliance with Germany?

I guess, historically speaking they did ally themselves with the Fascists and while not directly involved in the Spanish Civil war front itself they did however clash with the Soviet Union twice in Manchuria in July '38 and May-Aug '39

but I don't play Paradox games to play it historically and the AI can do whatever it feels like doing :O:

''Japan directly involving itself and the Western Capitalists pigs just looking on doing nothing just confirmed that there is for certain a Capitalist & Fascist plot against the glorious socialist movement of the workers!''

http://i.imgur.com/h5ukpv1.jpg

''Now if you excuse me, I got some paperwork to do''

[Delanski]

This mod is amazing! Unsung 3.0 for Arma 3. I'm liking it more than vanilla Arma. Tonight was awesome, was in a group of with 6 other randoms, 2 other guys I was with on TS and had a good thing on. The whole night was a blast.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/263838243296397819/F2CE1FBBE53F0ACA8E993EE0ACAA15C0018CE545/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/263838243296396573/9A93592650FCFB04A823864DD9322873A324F497/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/263838243296386293/2AFD0E58845F8A39674A52D649CB955E3A69B7B6/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/263838243296388168/4C0D25BF773B5BBE296D3BC7E21FB2FA8E5CB028/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/263838243296380468/135F64A74D63E61EBA7088C51A62778BF6D6936B/

[Oberon]

1942 Part One

January - May

http://i.imgur.com/PxNNWoC.jpg?1
British diplomats, including Winston Churchill, former First Sea Lord, meet with Franklin Roosevelt in late December 1941 in Jamaica.

With France, Britain and America fighting a common foe on one hand and France and America at war against Nazi Germany on the other, it was decided in January 1941 to create an alliance in order to work together on strategic plans and help shape the changing world.
The creation of the 'Allies' or 'Second Entente' on the 5th January 1942 would set the stage for the aftermath of the two seperate wars being waged in the world by major powers. Later in January, Holland and the Dutch East Indies also joined the alliance, seeking assistance against the Japanese invasion.

http://i.imgur.com/gQl58Da.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/zUu9xDc.jpg?1
A British soldier guarding Japanese POWs during the early Formosa campaign

Continuing the offensive began last year, British forces moved into Gaoxiong on Formosa, defeating the Japanese forces there and forcing many into an unexpected surrender. This was a bitter blow for the surging Japanese forces and one that the Japanese high command was determined to reverse as soon as possible.

http://i.imgur.com/vSS9oSJ.jpg

Their attempts would lead to many naval skirmishes off the coast of Formosa between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Grand Fleet of the Royal Navy, during one particular skirmish an event occurred which would make historians of the future take note.
On the 21st January 1942, a small fleet of destroyers, operating as a part of the Grand Fleet came across the Japanese cruiser 'Karuma', operating as part of Dai 27 Kantai out of Tokyo, using the cover of darkness and their superior RADAR systems to close the distance silently, the destroyers surrounded the elderly cruiser and Admiral Sommerville personally lead a boarding party which captured the ship with minimal casualties thanks to the absolute shock which hit the Japanese sailors, some of who awoke to a Webley revolver in the face as armed British sailors swarmed the decks.

http://i.imgur.com/O1zKlE5.jpg
Yeah...I can't even either.

Sommerville radioed the Grand Fleet, causing Grand Admiral Jellicoe to remark in disbelief 'The man is a modern day pirate!', before dispatching his congratulations to Sommerville who was then ordered to return with the Karuma to Portsmouth where the captured vessel would be put on display for the British public, a bit of good news following the regretful mobilization of the public into a war footing, something the government had been trying to avoid.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Japanese_cruiser_Kurama_in_trials.jpg
The cruiser Karuma entering the Solent on her way to Portsmouth

http://i.imgur.com/YGANdoj.jpg

Meanwhile in Europe, the tides were turning against the Axis forces, with Finland once again regretting its life choices as the Soviet army steamrollered over tracks that had barely been covered by snow since they were last travelled over by Soviet tanks.
French and German forces, meanwhile, were stuck in a war similar to the last Great War, with skirmishes according in the boggy fields along the Maginot line but neither side able to make enough progress to break through.

Back in the Pacific, the Japanese once again tried to take Formosa back from the British, sending an assault force ashore at Taipei. However, no sooner had they come ashore than they were assaulted by the Matilda II tanks which were held in reserve, ready to commit to repel any Japanese attack. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, the Japanese puppet forces of China continued to throw themselves at the steel wall of the Royal Marines, even their best attempts to bomb the Marines out of the island fortress failed miserably.

http://i.imgur.com/2RA4qCp.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Japanese_Artillery_Firing_at_Hong_Kong,_WWII.JPG/220px-Japanese_Artillery_Firing_at_Hong_Kong,_WWII.JPG
Chinese artillery tries to force the British Marines out of Hong Kong, to no avail.

http://i.imgur.com/PiV7LBm.jpg

In the Phillipines, the Japanese were being allowed no time to rest on their laurels as American forces pushed ashore and outward from their beach-head.

http://i.imgur.com/RJCeCYs.jpg

And later in March, the inevitable occurred. This time the Soviet Union, fed up of Finlands inability to stay out of the war, created a puppet government in Helsinki and now turned its full attention to the German front.

Then, in May 1942 an event happened which historians to this day claim changed the course of the European war forever.

Adolf Hitler sat down with his generals in his 'Wolfs Lair' headquarters in Eastern Prussia to discuss the recent Soviet offensives on the Eastern Front, un-noticed by any of the officers in the room, a junior officer entered the room, left a briefcase by the table and then left.
Fifteen minutes later the briefcase detonated, killing the Fuhrer and several of his top officers.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1972-025-10%2C_Hitler-Attentat%2C_20._Juli_1944.jpg
The Wolfs Lair shortly after the explosion, after Hitlers body had been recovered.

Chaos and confusion reigned supreme within the Nazi party in the immediate aftermath, with dozens of officers being arrested and summarily executed. Even the 'Prince of Terror' himself, Heinrich Himmler was not exempt from the manhunt, being arrested and executed in a show trial presided by the infamous Roland Freisler on May 8th 1942.
Out of the dust came one unexpected figure, who had been seen by many as little more than a joke, but now he became the leader of Nazi Germany.

That man was Josef Goebbels...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1989-0821-502,_Joseph_Goebbels.jpg
Fuhrer Goebbels, leader of the German Reich from May 1942.

http://i.imgur.com/jgeaMms.jpg


TO BE CONTINUED....

(Authors notes: Who saw Goebbels coming? Hitler certainly didn't! And the July 1944 plot taking place in May 1942? Between this and the Japanese flat-tops my sanity is being eroded fast! :doh:)

[Oberon]

1942 Part Two

May - December

http://i.imgur.com/UPrTZJf.jpg?1
British forces coming ashore in Okinawa

Despite the shockwave that ran across Europe following Hitlers death, it was business as usual in the Far-East, British forces held positions on Formosa whilst American forces pushed into the Phillipines. The Dutch East Indies had fallen, but a small British force was working on retaking the islands whilst the Japanese were elsewhere engaged.

http://i.imgur.com/iTDgx8M.jpg

Japanese forces made another major push to retake Formosa, but it was repulsed by the British forces on hand. Meanwhile the erstwhile defenders of Hong Kong, 45 Commando, were being relieved and prepared for the next phase of the Pacific campaign, the invasion of Okinawa.

http://i.imgur.com/ra6vgVF.jpg

Minimal but still fierce resistance was encountered by the Royal Marines as they came ashore, however they were still able to push forward and then south, taking the island by the end of the month and a multitude of Japanese prisoners with it.

http://i.imgur.com/DlOsYKx.jpg

https://romaniadacia.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/soviet-troops-occupy-bucharest-romania-1944.jpg
Soviet forces enter Bucharest

http://i.imgur.com/OHKf0UW.jpg

Naturally Japanese attempts would be made to re-take the island, but they would be rebuffed repeatedly.
Meanwhile in Europe, the Soviet steamroller continued westward, sweeping aside Romania and Hungary in its wake.

http://i.imgur.com/5LNYv5Z.jpg

Now Soviet tanks were pushing hard into eastern Prussia, and the Goebbels regime was flinging everything it could find against them. The French and American forces wanted to take the opportunity to push into western Germany, but just could not find an opening in the German defenses to do so. Even more so than the Great War was this European war a war of attrition, at least on the western front.

Back in Asia, the Royal Navy began limited but aggressive operations around Okinawa in an attempt to keep Japanese forces from re-taking the island. This lead to some rather one-sided battles...

http://i.imgur.com/c9N6AcL.jpg

And some rather less one-sided...meanwhile the Hellenic Republic which had been steadily moving through French puppeted Turkey, now finished the job, providing a relief route for German forces trapped in the Caucauses.

http://i.imgur.com/nGV6QSC.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/eHayW9y.jpg
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxS3eEmGMT0 )

Plans began to be drawn up in the Far Eastern Command which explored the possibility of the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands, given the relative ease in which British forces had invaded so far, casualties were estimated reasonably low, however many cautioning voices pointed towards the fanatical nature of the Japanese people and their ability to rapidly mobilise basic armed forces. It might not be as easy as some had thought.
And almost as if the fates themselves were listening to this conversation, things started to take a turn for the worse for the British forces in Asia.
Firstly, the British Raj came down hard on Gandhis independence movement, which did little to help anti-British sentiment in the region.

http://i.imgur.com/OlILoN3.jpg

http://media.indiatimes.in/media/content/2015/Aug/8674943_orig_1439113659.jpg
Quit India movement members lie unconscious after being beaten by policemen

Then in a serious blow to the Far East campaign, the Japanese made a significant and sustained landing offensive in Formosa.

http://i.imgur.com/02kBo4z.jpg?1
Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces push out of their landing zone in Formosa.

The Royal Marines and the Armoured Cars of the Armoured Car Corps attempted to close the beach-head, however the Japanese special marine forces quickly flanked them up the western coast and soon the Marines found themselves surrounded and outnumbered. They fought hard, as hard as tigers, but it was not enough. On 12th September 1942, the remnants of 45 Commando and the Armoured Car Corps surrendered to the Japanese and marched into captivity.

http://i.imgur.com/DFTPsEg.jpg

The loss of the two armies and the island of Formosa effectively shelved any plans for the invasion of the Home islands of Japan in 1942, and with convoy transports becoming scarce, it was time for the British to step back and focus on reducing the threat of Japan outside of the Home islands before pushing further into the Tigers den.

It was decided, therefore that an extensive naval campaign would take place in two regions, around the island of Okinawa in order to prevent Japanese naval landing forces from establishing a foothold, and the second around the Home islands themselves in order to sink Japanese convoys, transport fleets and any carrier fleet that came across the path of the Royal Navy.

http://markevansauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Soviet-soldiers-attack-down-a-Berlin-street.-Photograph-321-Russian-State-Archives.1.jpg
Soviet forces moving through Berlin

Meanwhile in Europe, the Soviet armed forces had moved swiftly, pushing across Eastern Germany and into Berlin, Goebbels and his family fled westward to Mainz where a basic command bunker was set up outside of the city. The static nature of the French front meant that the Fuhrer could be relatively ensured of his safety...for now.

http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/ships/Hermes_sinking.jpg

Meanwhile the anti-shipping policy undertaken by the Royal navy was beginning to pay dividends, with dozens of Japanese convoys and transports being sunk in a very short amount of time by the three patrolling carrier fleets, however it was not without cost with HMS Illustrious being sunk by Japanese aircraft on the 23rd of November 1942.

http://i.imgur.com/w599X6M.jpg

But other times the Royal Navy was able to run wild and win victory after victory, including one against the legendary Isoroku Yamamoto (who I have accidentally left the mouse cursor over his head...gomen Yamamoto-san!)

http://i.imgur.com/9JHfjEf.jpg

Despite losing a carrier and a cruiser to Japanese aerial forces, it was decided that the naval campaign around the Home Islands would continue into 1943.

Meanwhile in Europe, the hammer fell. With Soviet forces pushing into Mainz, Josef Goebbels and his wife Magda poisoned their six children with cyanide capsules, and then shot themselves.
Karl Donitz, once the leader of Germanys extensive but barely used submarine arm, and pretty much unemployed since the last German port of Wilhelmshaven surrendered to the Soviets, became the third and last Fuhrer of Nazi Germany. He called upon the Soviets that Germany was willing to offer complete surrender. His offer was accepted.

http://i.imgur.com/rMbuvK6.jpg

On the 22nd December 1942, representatives from Nazi Germany and the Hellenic Republic (which had seen which way the wind was blowing in Europe) met in the ruins of Berlin to sign the surrender with Georgy Zhukov, the Soviet armed forces lead general. Similar events were occuring in Paris where a seperate peace was being made with the Americans and French, the Belgian and Hejaz forces swore to fight on in Hitlers memory, but it mattered little to the Soviet steamroller which had crushed eastern and central Europe.

http://i.imgur.com/BYWxZMr.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a5/d3/d6/a5d3d68c6afffa60080d25058e2a42c7.jpg

The war in Europe was over, but in the Far East, the war was only beginning.


(Authors note: Sheesh, that is going to be one powerful post-war Soviet Union...NATO [should it form] is really up the creek)

[Oberon]

1943 Part One

The Way of the Warrior

January - May

http://www.comtourist.com/images/large/lenin-mausoleum/moscow-red-square-victory-day-1945-02.jpg
Soviet T-34 tanks drive through Red Square in Moscow during the 1943 Victory parade

With the war in Europe now seemingly over, and Soviet dominance over Germany secured, the worlds focus switched to two places, North Africa and the Far East. In North Africa the Axis forces of Hejaz and the recently reformed Peoples Republic of Belgium continued the fight against the world but in a limited and very constricted fashion. However in the Far East the war was much harder to predict, although the Allied forces held the upper hand, it was uncertain how much it would take Japan to surrender with many generals estimating that the Allied Forces would have to fight to the steps of the Emperors palace before the island nation capitaluated.
However, first, the worlds cartographers would once again be busy with their ink as new nations formed from conquered foes.

http://i.imgur.com/ZbxdlAG.jpg

The shock of the war was enough to drive some governments into an almost confused state of affairs, with Belgium switching to a Stalinist revolutionary government but still continuing to fight alongside Fascist Hejaz against the Stalinist Soviet Union.

http://i.imgur.com/lzGTeWf.jpg

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/531fdb48e4b0e8fbe6259952/t/53476f93e4b036f444b28377/1397190548874/IMG_0071.JPG?format=1500w
The Royal Navy Second Fleet under Grand Admiral A.B. Cunningham patrolling off the Japanese home islands.

For the Royal Navy though, 1943 brought very little change with it, while the Grand Fleet sorteed back to the UK to pick up ground reinforcements the Second Fleet and the High Seas Fleet were ordered to patrol the waters around Japan and sink anything they found there.

http://i.imgur.com/LFaDalk.jpg

Meanwhile in Malaysia and the Dutch East Indies British ground forces continued to retake previously captured ground from the Japanese.

http://battleshiphmsvanguard.homestead.com/files/agroundair.jpg
HMS Superb, the first and only ship of the new Superb class Battleships attempts to leave Portsmouth via the Still and West pub...

http://i.imgur.com/x30WBAg.jpg

In Feburary 1943, the Grand Fleet returned to Portsmouth to a heroes welcome, Grand Admiral Jellicoe was knighted and awarded many offers before his retirement from service the next day. Grand Admiral Tovey took over as commander of the fleet and gained a new vessel, HMS Superb, fresh from the Glasgow dockyards, and if her exit from Portsmouth was anything to go by, keen for a quick pint in the local pub.
Once she was pulled back off the shoals by the tug boats, she safely joined Tovey and the fleet, who loaded up with reinforcements and set sail back to Japanese waters.

http://i.imgur.com/NLW47sj.jpg

Back in Japan, the Japanese air force proved to be a much deadlier opponent than what little remained of the Japanese navy. Of all of the losses of the Pacific campaign, well over 70% were to land based bombers. It was clear that after a faltering start in the last war, the era of the aircraft was very much here.

http://i.imgur.com/YQW0jyZ.jpg

Back in Europe, the Soviet Union began to look to the future of what was once Germany, turning the former European nation into a controlled zone and bringing it into the war against Hejaz, Belgium and....Italy?

Yes, inexplicably, Italy had thrown its lot in with Hejaz and Belgium, declaring war on France, America and the Soviet Union but not on Britain...not yet...although recon aircraft could not help but notice the ominous gathering of forces on the other side of the border in North Africa.
But there was little they could do about it, what scant resources Britain had were needed against Japan and the grand battle that was planned to retake Formosa.
In the beginning of April, the attack began with British aircraft diving on Japanese shore based defences as the battleships of the Grand fleet lay offshore their cannons thundering in the morning light.
Thundering, that is, until the attacking aircraft radioed a hasty message...
The defences were empty!

http://i.imgur.com/nAUHq0O.jpg

Disbelieving the ground forces waded ashore, encountering nothing but a wave of intense heat and humidity to contend with. The Japanese forces which had pushed Britain off Formosa only months ago had vanished, leaving the island completely undefended.

http://i.imgur.com/UN3obnk.jpg

It didn't take long to move ashore and start retaking the island, while news from Birmingham spoke of continued strange lights in the night sky rising into the dim star light eve.

http://thecasualobserver.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Missile-launch.jpg

These reports were dismissed as a combination of atmospheric conditions and local RAF activity by Ministry sources.

http://i.imgur.com/N2sBs22.jpg

In early May, Formosa was fully captured by British forces, in a bloodless (aside from blood lost to mosquitos) march across the island. Plans were swiftly drawn up by the Ministry to take advantage of the sudden weakness in the Japanese ground forces and strike another target to encircle the Japanese home islands and place them within easy range of air force bombardment.

http://i.imgur.com/MNETLOz.jpg

Meanwhile in France, the Italian forces pushed hard into the south, capitalising on the surprise of their sudden offensive. The French government, now formed around the hard line Charles De Gaulle, rushed forces swiftly from the Soviet German border into the south to push the Italians back.

http://www.dailynk.com/efile/201004/DNKF00006287_1.jpg
An aerial view of the landings at Onchon

In May 1943, British military high command decided to attack Japanese forces in Korea, many argue that this was because of intelligence that indicated that the Soviet Union was moving many of its forces eastward and would soon declare war on Japan. Either way, a quiet stretch of land was found on the coast not far from the town of Pyongyang, and British forces made an unopposed landing.

http://i.imgur.com/tCXRf7U.jpg

Again there was much surprise at how easily British forces were able to get a foothold on Korea, with only a small garrison force defending the beach further south at Inchon and little else on the peninsula. The British force gathered itself and then prepared to march south and take the Korean peninsula province by province.

They didn't get very far...

http://toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Italy-1940.jpg
Italian forces prepare to cross the border and attack British fortifications in North Africa.

Two days after General Rawlinson led his men ashore in Korea, the British forces on the border with Italy in North Africa suddenly came under heavy attack. It was an expected but nevertheless still unexpected shock for the British who were by now stretched pretty thin across the globe. There was little option for the British forces than to cede ground for time and hope that the reports coming out of Tokyo were accurate.

http://i.imgur.com/DffZceO.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Japanese_surrender_(AWM_019296).jpg

They were.

http://i.imgur.com/ZxZN1eq.jpg

On the 28th May 1943, the Empire of Japan officially surrendered to the United States of America, seeking peace with the other nations of the Allies soon after that. The Emperor of Japan stepped down from his role, but it was decided by the Americans not to prosecute the Emperor for war crimes for although he was no longer technically in control of Japan, he was still held in great reverence by many of the Japanese people and the last thing America needed was an insurgency in Japan.

The Soviet Union was secretly seething at the sudden surrender of the Japanese, it had banked on Japan fighting into the end, and when it had declared war the day before the surrender, it looked forward to taking vast parts of China, Korea and the Japanese mainland for the communist cause.
However, there was still another war to be fought in the Far East, as the Chinese found themselves with no external enemy to unite against and turned against each other.

For the Allies however, and for the British in particular, it was now Italys turn...


(Authors note: Wee, I'm glad that Japan folded because Egypt was starting to look a bit worrying....now how fast can Tovey get back to Alexandria with as much infantry as he can carry?)

[HunterICX]

Belgium totally lost their waffles :hmph:

since the Belgium mainland is under French occupation, with what do they fight? They still have Congo I presume?

[Oberon]

Belgium totally lost their waffles :hmph:

since the Belgium mainland is under French occupation, with what do they fight? They still have Congo I presume?

Yup, that's now the Peoples Republic of Belgium. At some point after I've dealt with Italy and Hejaz I'll have to get down there and sort them out. :doh:

[Oberon]

1943 Part Two

Shifting Sands

May - December

http://i.imgur.com/uB04x9H.jpg
A US marine examines a captured katana after the surrender of Japan

Following the surrender of Japan, the attention of the British war machine swiftly turned to North Africa where Italian forces had begun offensives along the Africa coastline, pushing eastward to Cairo and the Suez.

http://i.imgur.com/WFJ1Rhn.jpg

Whilst British forces made the Italians pay for every mile of ground they took, the years of war had taken its toll on the ability of the British to match the more modern equipment of the Italians.

http://i.imgur.com/mJTZgx8.jpg

Meanwhile, while British forces were swiftly being redeployed by sea from their positions in Pyongyang, Formosa and Okinawa, events were taking place in Asian politics that baffled many, just who exactly was Li Jishen and why was he fighting himself? And why was a communist in charge of Japan?
The Foreign Office chose to leave those issues to America, content to focus on the continuing war closer to home.

http://i.imgur.com/8aSFFXT.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ji3IBDj.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/S7kBdk3.jpg

The French meanwhile, had taken control of the situation in the south of their country, moving forwards to cut the Italians off in Marseille and driving the remnants of their forces back over the border.

http://i.imgur.com/lF2gDgO.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/9T57pOW.jpg?1
The people of Marseille celebrate in July 1943 as French forces retake the city

http://i.imgur.com/ov8ozwf.jpg

In Egypt, the Italian forces began to meet greater resistance from deployed British troops, whilst the main thrust of the reinforcements from Asia had yet to arrive, those which had acquitted themselves in fine fashion, holding the Italians at Sidi Barrani.

http://i.imgur.com/rPdkbOz.jpg

Elsewhere in the world, further political changes were afoot, as the Republic of Korea arose from the ashes of the Japanese occupation of the peninsula. It was decided, given the uncertainty of the situation in Asia, with the Chinese civil war in full swing, that the British occupation of Pyongyang would continue for the moment, making Pyongyang the Hong Kong of Korea, to the disgust of many Koreans.

http://i.imgur.com/o9nB1DH.jpg

Malta, meanwhile, was taken without opposition by the freshly created 42 Commando Royal Marines. The famous island had inexplicably been lost to the Italians in the aftermath of the Great War but was now back in the fold where it belonged.

http://i.imgur.com/hTA81t1.jpg

As September rolled around, British forces continued to push the Italians back, mounting several major offensives, however it would be the French who would decide the conflict, with the Italian government collapsing late in September 1943 when the fascist leader Mussolini was arrested following the French drive into northern Italy. Despite what some papers predicted, there would be no further fighting on the Italian peninsula.

http://i.imgur.com/xjL4PbN.jpg

This just left two curious entities in the Axis alliance still at war with the world, the Kingdom of Hejaz and the Peoples Republic of Belgium.
It was often felt that both of those nations in the Axis alliance was a left over from the brief time that Britain and Germany were allied together, however when Britain left the alliance, Greece, Belgium and Hejaz remained...and now they were paying the price.

http://i.imgur.com/1u30NRt.jpg

Hejaz forces had taken the opportunity whilst Britain and France were distracted with Italy to push up into Syria and British Palestine, however now the full force of both armies turned their attention towards the Sinai peninsula.

http://i.imgur.com/IYIP21r.jpg

With some armies being more forceful, and American, than others...

Then came more confusion and headaches for the Foreign Office as in October 1943 Belgium reappeared...

http://i.imgur.com/6Sk8w15.jpg

And then Thailand and the Dutch East Indies joined the world, or in the case of the Dutch East Indies, rejoined it.

http://i.imgur.com/v9NV4hp.jpg

By this point, all territory lost to Hejaz had been retaken and British forces began the move to enter Sinai proper.

http://i.imgur.com/4DIgXRK.jpg

As 1943 drew to a close, it was clear that the end was nigh for Hejaz, and soon it would be the turn of the Peoples Republic of Belgium...should forces be able to make it that far south into Africa.

http://i.imgur.com/kzC0z8m.jpg

However, the most important and yet not reported news of 1943 occurred in a small building on the outskirts of Birmingham, Birmingham Pile-1 achieved self-sustaining criticality.

http://static.newworldencyclopedia.org/c/c4/Atompile.gif
An artists sketch of Birmingham Pile-1

The British public did not know it...but they had entered the atomic age!

[Nippelspanner]

CIA Spooks conducting special reconnaissance, somewhere in Chernarus.

http://i.imgur.com/Jf56RVT.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/9lIbU8M.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/jOhsxH2.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/MLYkXb1.png

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/u7dkShN.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/z9VjiCD.jpg

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/Fqm8Mdg.jpg
Err... you sure about letting him handle the axe? :huh:

[Oberon]

Meanwhile on the good ship HMS Hadoken, HunterICX, Raptor, Arclight and myself spend three hours trying to work out TDC and fail miserably...so there's only one course of action left...

http://i.imgur.com/DpubiEw.gif

http://i.imgur.com/hcguBMP.jpg

[HunterICX]

^
When we where being hunted by a Destroyer:

Oberon: This reminds me of a scene from Das Boot
(right after he finished his sentence)
*ship start to rock and the sound of explosions are heard*
Me/Raptor/Arclight: You mean this part?:rotfl2:

the timing couldn't have been better. :haha:

[Oberon]

:haha: That was funny...also earlier

Raptor: "Ping."
Oberon: "I don't hear it...let me see." *walks from engineering to conn*
Oberon: "Nope...I don't hear it..."
*explosion, boat rocks*
Oberon: "Heard that though."

[CCIP]

Enjoying my time playing this very good game (even if I'm currently pretty bad at it :D )

http://i.imgur.com/JqXtxVC.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/cOMfxlA.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/t8BTalb.jpg

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/o2Om7HG.jpg
Umm.. you ok there buddy? :doh:

[Schroeder]

http://i.imgur.com/o2Om7HG.jpg
Umm.. you ok there buddy? :doh:
That's the "hull down" position. You see, after firing a shot the horse moves down into cover to reload in a safe location before engaging the enemy again.:know:

[Dowly]

That's the "hull down" position. You see, after firing a shot the horse moves down into cover to reload in a safe location before engaging the enemy again.:know:
Aaaah, that makes sense! Good job, Roach! :)

[Lionclaw]

Umm.. you ok there buddy? :doh:

Dowly! Have you been feeding your horse with fermented apples? :D :O:

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/uc7YbIF.jpg

Oh.. uhh.. hi..? :o

[Rilder]

Oh.. uhh.. hi..? :o

Don't blink, blink and you're dead.

[Nippelspanner]

Falling in love with Cities: Skylines.
All. Over. Again. :/\\k:

http://i.imgur.com/EbJjRH3.png

[Oberon]

I wish that Skylines took large scale modding a bit better than it does though. There's some beautiful UK image housing sets out there, but if you get too many then things start to chug.
Still love it though, a gem of a game. :yeah:

(in other news, apologies for that dx log-in pop-up that you've probably been getting when making a reply to this thread or viewing the last page...I've narrowed down what image it is now [the US marine with the katanas] and I'm going to go and murder it now)

[Nippelspanner]

Yeah, Skyline is... not easy to mod.
It is a little embarrassing but I spend HOURS in the last days putting together modsets (collections in the workshop) so I can easily switch on/off mods in case of a problem - which there are plenty of.

The biggest problem however is that we have no ability to REPLACE vanilla stuff, we can only ADD, which bloats the game. Only having 8GB RAM really sucks with skylines. I'm running at with ~6.xxGB, so absolute borderline from "dude why do you want to kill your RAM?".
However, once one is setup (which can take hours of tuning, selecting, testing, deleting assets...) Skylines can be seriously rewarding. If...
:shifty:

[ille]

http://cs631424.vk.me/v631424065/38a61/GLZJ6HmYQr0.jpg

[Cybermat47]

Total War: Shogun 2

Seems like a realistic amount of blood :hmmm:

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/275101049222439311/EE678F59D4CA55931E199FD78285827BB3F50011/

I call this one Pride of Virginia.
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/266090679682020016/13B290F3A09D405348C96826116D4431BA2CE08C/

[Oubaas]

Enjoying my time playing this very good game (even if I'm currently pretty bad at it :D )

http://i.imgur.com/JqXtxVC.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/cOMfxlA.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/t8BTalb.jpg

Does anyone know the name of the game from which CCIP posted these screenshots? I tried to PM him to ask, but he doesn't seem to be around lately.

This looks almost like a Civil War version of the Total War series. I'd really like to give it a try if I can find out what it is.

Thanks!

Oubaas :salute:

[Raptor1]

Does anyone know the name of the game from which CCIP posted these screenshots? I tried to PM him to ask, but he doesn't seem to be around lately.

This looks almost like a Civil War version of the Total War series. I'd really like to give it a try if I can find out what it is.

Thanks!

Oubaas :salute:

Unless it's one of the older Take Command games, that would be Scourge of War: Gettysburg, I believe.

[Oubaas]

Unless it's one of the older Take Command games, that would be Scourge of War: Gettysburg, I believe.

Hey, thanks Raptor1! I'll check it out!

:salute:

[eddie]

Have been looking at Supreme Ruler Ultimate again. Not sure I like everything I see either,lol Its 2017 and Trump has been elected. NOoooooooooooooooooo!!:D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Thony/T1_zpssqbsvkgv.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Thony/media/T1_zpssqbsvkgv.jpg.html)

Trump has hired August to build the "Wall". He likes Augusts idea of using illegal immigrants to build it, gets around paying minimum wage!!:haha:

Brexit has taken effect in the UK also!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Thony/B1_zpsnqvezkpi.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Thony/media/B1_zpsnqvezkpi.jpg.html)

The Merkel Govt has appointed Skybird and Nipplespanner as its new Ambassador at Large for the MIddle East!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Thony/G1_zps44foybko.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Thony/media/G1_zps44foybko.jpg.html)

Their first job as the new ambassadors from Germany will be to go to Syria and have a chat with Baghdadi, kind of a get to know you better party!:D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Thony/ISIS1_zpsei3jmtw5.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Thony/media/ISIS1_zpsei3jmtw5.jpg.html)

Have to go to check on Finlands status at the moment, rumors have it that Dowly has been floating the idea to make Helsinki the largest nudist colony known to man! Already Betenov and Hunter have booked flights to Helsinki as we speak!

[Rilder]

Time to derp around a bit with a new company in Gearcity. A Swedish based compact car manufacturer called Revolutionary. :O:

First off the 1900 Revolutionary Comrade! With a staggering 2HP engine! :smug:

http://i.imgur.com/7MAhUh3.jpg

[Oberon]

Booted up the 'Putin Mod' for Darkest Hour, I had a game that I started a few months ago, so I loaded up the save to see what was happening...and realised that the game had decided to get real on me:

http://i.imgur.com/hB5cPsT.jpg

:haha:

[Rilder]

So I actually managed to get the first personal mission tank, which is nice, its not very good but still, glad to get -something- out of those personal missions. :O:

http://i.imgur.com/K0UjEk2.jpg

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/duhGF3d.jpg

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/khXG16W.jpg
(Glitched outside without a space suit)

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/wYV8iw8.jpg

[CCIP]

Here's a little mini-AAR from my latest playthrough of Rule the Wav, uses, still my absolute favourite game of 2015 - which developed nicely over the last year and a sequel was recently announced.

For those not familiar with it, this game allows you to play the leader of a nation's navy in the period of 1900-1925 (with the option to play on until 1950 but without real post-WWI technological developments like naval aviation). You design your own ships, maintain a fleet, and fight naval battles with it when war comes.

So, I thought I'd show off my fleet a bit and post some pictures of the ships I'd built (especially since I spent a lot of effort getting their pictures to look good).

This playthrough, I played Austria-Hungary, with galagagalaxian's "Mediterranean Powers" mod, and ship profile pictures built in the in-game editor with Nuno dos Santos' colour schemes and my own "ship accessories" mod - you can find all of them on the game's forum here: http://nws-online.proboards.com/board/25/rule-waves-discussions-rtw


Anyway, my game as Austria-Hungary had me playing a continental power that, over time, built quite a navy to dominate the Mediterranean (or at least try to). Without overseas colonies and remote fleets to worry about, I could concentrate on ships built for performance specifically in the Med. In fact, for the entire game, none of my navy's ships had ever left the Mediterranean during wartime.

As for wars, I ended up fighting 5 of them - 3 with my arch-enemy Italy, who were threatening to bottle up my Holy Roman Empire inside the Adriatic, but I had other plans for them!

http://i.imgur.com/dKVkqU7.jpg

(the graph represents my "prestige" level, i.e. my own effectiveness score as admiral - it rises for making good decisions and winning battle, drops if you're too pacifist and/or lose battles and wars)

My strategy was to have a balanced, thrifty fleet from the start. First were the battleships - ours were technologically quite a bit behind most of other nations', but would do for the Adriatic at the moment.

http://i.imgur.com/8AAN9jV.jpg
Two of our four starting battleships were of the Franz Ferdinand class - sensible, home-built ships. Although their 10-inch guns were pretty unimpressive at a time when most powers were fielding 12-inch pieces and better, they proved not substantially worse than the Italians - and better yet, though the Italian ships were a bit better, their battle line was slower than ours at 18kt, and was made up of 3 ships against our four. Over the course of our wars in the first decade of the 20th century, our battleships encountered the Italians' 4 times; both sides fought well and survived the encounters - and although long in mothballs, the Franz Ferdinands were still technically in existence in 1926.

The real workhorses of our early wars, however, were the cruisers. We started out with three basic types.

http://i.imgur.com/ZRiIQo4.jpg
The Donau class were a pair of very sensible armored cruisers - not too heavy, not too fast, but very practical in the Adriatic. They fought together with our battleships, as well as on their own - chasing down other cruisers, bombarding enemy land targets, and defending our coast well. Both the SMS Donau and SMS Sankt Georg earned 7 battle stars (maximum possible!) before the end of their battle service - an end which, unfortunately for both of them, came at the wrong end of a torpedo. The Sankt Georg blew up abruptly when it got hit in the magazine by a lucky torpedo from a destroyer during a fleet battle against the Italians in mid-Adriatic; the Donau was torpedoed during our last war by a submarine while returning from a routine patrol.

http://i.imgur.com/o2mUIe2.jpg
The Saida class were two fairly large, fast, capable light cruisers (for being built before 1900, anyway). They, too, were workhorses that did everything from chasing down Italian raiders to bombarding coastal towns. Saida was also lost to a torpedo when she got too close to a wounded Italian cruiser (that also sank in the same battle), but her sister Novara survived and even remained in service to our last war against the French (where she was relegated to coastal patrol duty - but still managed to sink an enemy destroyer and a pair of auxiliary raiders, becoming one of our most successful ships in that war).

Finally, there were our light forces, meant for night fighting and scouting:
http://i.imgur.com/G5CD1Z7.jpg
Though called a "cruiser", the Aspern class was more of a destroyer/leader or perhaps an aviso - a small, very cheap but quick ship. Despite its small size, lack of armor, and only 4 guns as armament, the Aspern was a very successful class - 6 of them were built (of which 2 were lost in combat), and they set a template for other small, quick, cheap ships of this type for many years to come.

http://i.imgur.com/H0Ocicz.jpg
Our first destroyers were the Panther class (12 built, 2 lost in combat) - very fast for their time, although lacking particularly effective armament. As destroyer technology developed slowly, with 500-700t ships being the norm until about 1915, these had a long and successful service life.

http://i.imgur.com/iZjJ585.jpg
Finally, our force was rounded out by these little minesweepers (16 built, 3 lost, 1 scrapped) - which patrolled the Adriatic coast and did ASW duty as well over the course of the whole campaign.

So, this was the fleet that fought Italy. In our first war, the Italian navy was slightly larger than mine. With most of the fighting involving smaller cruisers rather than battleships, however, I was able to whittle down their superiority, impose a blockade, and force them to sue for peace. They paid a heavy price by ceding control of Sardinia to my crown - and though they tried twice, including a very tiring war of 1905-1908, they were never able to regain it. After our final clash in 1916-1917 where they were quickly and decisively defeated, the Italians were finally forced to acknowledge our dominance of "their" sea, and turned to their internal problems - like Sicily suddenly seceding!

Technology kept advancing in the meantime. We laid down some new ships as a response to the Italian menace - and though their fleet definitely suffered more than ours, and we were eventually able to blockade Italy from the sea, we still needed more firepower. This produced some very widely varied ships - including our ugliest and most handsome.

First, the ugly. You may want to cover your eyes!..

http://i.imgur.com/NeqbMAJ.jpg
This monstrosity, built in our own shipyards, was built in response to two things - firstly, the frequent missions to bombard the Italian coast, where we'd often spend more time than we wanted near the enemy's coastal artillery batteries; and secondly, in response to being unable to sink any of the Italians' battleships through a relative lack of firepower. And yes, you are seeing 9 single 10-inch turrets per side here indeed - along with a pair of double 11-inch turrets on each end!
In all truth, these probably would have been floating explosion hazards - but by plan or providence, the four Erherzog Karl floating battery ships ended up never seeing any combat.

http://i.imgur.com/sKuoLrr.jpg
A slightly more balanced (but still ugly) design, built in 1909 when most countries were already building dreadnoughts, was the Babenberg. Only this single ship was built - ordered from a French shipyard, because the French had much better large-caliber guns than us, and we were anxious to get something that would be able to punch through heavier armor. Although the Babeberg was later rebuilt, with an engine upgrade that allowed it to reach 27kt (making it more or less a battlecruiser), it never saw combat during its career either.

Finally, on the prettier side of things, we had this...
http://i.imgur.com/XDSR4in.jpg
The Lissa class were three small but nimble battlecruisers, very fast from the beginning. They had a long development history - derived from a German design, and eventually ordered from British shipyards (which were far ahead of ours technologically) and finished in 1910.
Though they were very well-liked ships, and became even faster in 1920 after engine refits, they had a tragic history - all three of them were destroyed in 1924-1925 by much superior French battlecruisers, which by that point were simply far better in every other way. Before they were sunk, however, the Lissas still made a very brave attack that wiped out an entire French convoy (before being caught by the enemy).

In the meantime, the Turks had decided to try and have a go at us in 1914 over crisis in the Balkans - but after a few quick and mostly insignificant battles, their government found their navy blockaded by ours, and simply sued for peace. As reparations, they ceded bases in Lybia and Rhodes to our control.

http://i.imgur.com/OwAbX59.jpg

(to be continued)

[CCIP]

Through the 1910s, our fleet was progressively upgraded with newer ships, although I was reluctant to scrap any of our old ones - and indeed never did scrap any, simply choosing to keep our old ships in reserve or mothballs just in case they were suddenly needed.

But the new additions kept coming. As torpedo technology improved, new torpedo boats and destroyers came along.

http://i.imgur.com/zmyWVXW.jpg
The Csepel class were torpedo boats that were not terribly advanced, but had every ounce of performance squeezed out of them, mounting 4 torpedo tubes.

http://i.imgur.com/1404uMZ.jpg
As working with Britain proved positive in their building of our first battlecruisers, we were soon ordering other ships from them as well - including our first oil-fired destroyers, the relatively balanced Maros class.

http://i.imgur.com/WQcdIa5.jpg
Our replacements for the "mini-cruisers" of the Aspern class were also to be built in Britain - and the slightly larger and very fast (for its time) Scylla class were that replacement. Although impressive, it quickly became apparent that they were quite expensive. Although 6 were originally ordered, 4 of the orders were substituted for the Diana class, as below:

http://i.imgur.com/nb1HUck.jpg
These were much smaller and cheaper, with otherwise identical armament and performance, although sacrificed range and reliability - and on delivery proved slower than promised. Eventually the two remaining Scyllas proved to be the much better ships, while two of the four Dianas were lost in combat. However, all of these six small cruisers received upgrades, including two-gun turrets on the bow and stern which substantially increased their firepower.

http://i.imgur.com/OIuJHp3.jpg
The far more expensive and extravagant cruisers were the Szigetvar class, build as replacement for the Saida class. They did well in combat, but two of the four of them were lost in our last conflict.

By the later part of the 1910s, our fleet was looking more and more modern.

http://i.imgur.com/28izPtF.jpg
The T-14 class of destroyers, also built in Britain, were a very modern, large ship - already starting to approach our small cruisers in size, and no less capable in armament. They bore the brunt of fighting against the French - and though they had many very successful moments, they often paid a heavy price, with 3 of them being lost in action.

http://i.imgur.com/ELlCG26.jpg
British engineering also gave us our most capable battlecruisers; and while the Monarch class were the last of our ships ordered from a foreign yard (as our technology had in most regards caught up with world-class by 1917), they certainly proved themselves worthy, particularly due to their very capable 15-inch armament, able to deliver a 10-gun broadside (triple turrets fore and aft, and two staggered wing turrets mounting two guns each, capable of limited cross-deck fire). The Monarch was lost in a catastrophic turret explosion in the last war (British-built battlecruiser, go figure...), but her sister Kaiser certainly brought plenty of revenge afterward.

And finally, the oddest British-built ship in our stable was this one:
http://i.imgur.com/igTC2uF.jpg
Although not the last ship of ours to be designed in Britain, we kept building them for quite a while - mostly because their already promising performance on paper turned out even better in reality. They exceeded specification by easily reaching 32 knots in service, making them capable of catching not only cruisers, but even most destroyers. Although they were named after a camel and had the looks of an oversized fishing trawler - and a very high pricetag, the Dromedars achieved their fast speed due to mounting all of their main 6-inch guns on the centerline, saving a great deal of weight.
However, in service they proved to be a disappointment - for reasons not entirely clear, despite their speed they fared poorly, and of the six built, four were quickly lost to the French, largely while on screening duty with battlecruisers.

So, speaking of the French - our dastardly enemy finally came at us in 1923 with a generally more powerful but more spread-out navy. They wanted to try and check our expansion in the Mediterranean, just as we were in the process of modernizing our navy. The final war, which lasted 2.5 years, proved to be very different from the ones that came before it - with technology having advanced, the battles were fierce and the losses were many. With their ships being somewhat more modern on average, we suffered several very costly defeats early in the war - and though we had managed to avenge them, we still lost 35 surface ships of various sorts during this war, versus France losing only 25 warships. In the end, the war ended on a negotiated peace agreement, as both sides found themselves at a stalemate and facing prospects of heavy losses were another major battle to happen.

Our final ships, commissioned in the months before the war ended, never ended up seeing action - after heavy battlecruiser battles, both fleets kept back for the last period of the war, and the only battles to occur in late 1925-early 1926 involved only cruisers, destroyers, and auxiliary ships.
http://i.imgur.com/neoNxaL.jpg
The Arpad class were an impressive trio, a modern class of superdreadnoughts armed with 4-gun turrets and mounting much better armor than the rest of our fleet. However, even with them in service, we could not tip the balance of power sufficiently to our side, and so the war ended.

At the end of this war, I'd retired from my command of the navy with a prestige score of 59 (anything over 50 is considered a strong performance). The navy promised to name an aircraft carrier after me in the next age.

Well, and that was that, hope you enjoyed all the ships :D

[Dowly]

http://i.imgur.com/FyENrbAh.jpg (http://imgur.com/FyENrbA)
Oh, ok... what could possibly go wrong?!

[Rilder]

When you have science to do but there is also the threat of a flight of Zeroes attacking.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/476645377126264614/45AADE89F40F0BD88F4D55AA7CB3EF8769C826C2/