Hello again, everyone!
It's Tuesday evening and time for a vehicle highlight - or at least a weekly update of some kind. With the new system set up, things have been moving a bit again.
Finally have some basic wake system implemented, and this week I've improved the gun system quite a bit. Did I mention that was done? Hmm.
Anyone familiar with modern naval combat will know that guns are almost irrelevant when it comes to world powers engaging each other, at least (modern asymmetric warfare is a whole different matter). However, depending on how successful missile interceptions and decoys are, they could become surprisingly relevant.
Nonetheless, they're certainly significant enough to be modeled, and I decided it'd be a relatively basic system to start with.
Notice the gun's radar directors - a recent improvement is that they track the target as well, now. Pretty basic stuff, but it's always fun to see incremental improvements.
A top-down-ish view to see the directors and guns on both sides in rest position and tracking a target, respectively (Notice the guns on the port side moving to the nearest position they can).
It's always fun to watch the rounds arc down to their target:
There's a lot more being done that isn't all being announced yet, of course, but I thought I'd share some of the work.
But now to today's vehicle highlight - short and sweet, it's the Ka-25 Hormone.
Developed in the 60s and entering service in 1972, the Kamov Ka-25 (NATO reporting name "Hormone") was somewhat aged by 1983. By this year, it had already began being replaced by the more modern Kamov Ka-27, which first saw introduction into the Soviet navy in 1982. Nonetheless, with being introduced only so recently, the Ka-25 was probably the more common helicopter in the Soviet Navy for a while still.
It had a cramped interior - not even tall enough for the crew to stand upright inside - but it could carry what mattered - two air-dropped torpedoes and/or conventional or nuclear depth charges.
Equipped with surface search radar, dipping sonar, and a MAD sensor, it was more than adequately suited for its ASW role.
During the Cold War, ELINT and "waving hi" to eachother's ships to do photography and gather intelligence was certainly not uncommon.
A quick disclaimer that many aesthetics are tweaked and improved fairly frequently, (for example, I'm not sure there's been more than two updates in a row where the water's settings have been exactly the same), but nonetheless, I do try to make the shots as accurate to what the final product will look like as possible, and these are, of course, taken in the game engine with the models and textures the game will use.
Thanks again for joining us, feel free to leave feedback, and until next time, clear sailing.