Hello again, everyone.
Work continues on the environmental aesthetics, and I'm glad to say the clouds have drastically improved since last week, both in quality and optimization.
Just to make it clear there's lots of possible cloud coverage levels, just most of these screenshots have more to show off the new graphics.
Also, like the sun, the moon is now correctly positioned for the date, time, longitude and latitude, and also has the correct phase for the date.
A full moon can look almost as bright as daylight.
But of course, at a different phase, it's far less bright.
And of course, given the environment of the game, being fully 3d/fly-through is a must.
6,000 feet:
15,000 feet:
30,000 feet:
And... 90,000 feet. This is actually higher than the S-300F Fort was rated to be able to engage targets, but I brought it up this high just to showcase the sky appearance from A-12/SR-71-type altitudes:
Like the ocean, the cloud system is subject to constant tweaking and improvement, especially with regards to its very high-altitude aesthetic.
Environmental details and aesthetics like this are one of those things that are easy to take for granted when done well, but very apparent when they're not.
But another reason I'm putting so much work into this particular aesthetic is so that at some point, dynamic weather and weather zones can be implemented, which will effect things like sonar, radar, aircraft flight, flight deck operations, missiles, ship speed, etc.
It's particularly worth noting to that end that the Juliett-class submarine, showcased early in this thread and a submarine built around firing anti-ship cruise missiles, can only fire its missiles in conditions up to sea state 6. This, as an example of a significant way weather effects play aside from the more obvious ways like reducing sonar range/sensitivity.
I will note, though, that as soon as the high-altitude appearance is done being set up, work will resume on more mechanical/gameplay-oriented code.
That's all for now, thanks for joining us.