Abongination posted:

Did graviteam ever fix the AI deploying AT guns backwards? This happened to me a lot

Phi230 posted:

Face them the right way??

Abongination posted:

The enemy I mean, I felt like I was cheating as my tanks charged enemy positions facing their own lines.

Squiggle posted:

Armored Brigade is like a Close Combat for the Cold War, and vehicle heavy. Get that!

Dramicus posted:

This is pretty much what I was looking for. Are there any mods for the IDF? I'd love do to some 6-day war type engagements.

Yooper posted:

Not that I've seen but it's totally moddable, maps, database, everything. So you could make some scenarios to model it. Hopefully once it comes out on Steam it'll integrate the Workshop for such stuff.

edit : Then we'll see poo poo like this.

Dramicus posted:

Hahah, oh poo poo, is that a Warhammer mod or something?

Mr Luxury Yacht posted:

If I recall it's a hypothetical steampunk-ish world where instead of tanks you've got giant land cruisers, land destroyers, and monitors.

As much as I wish it wasn't the case I'm skeptical Armored Brigade will take off in modding as much as it's potential would suggest. The devs made some weird choices in the database system that basically preclude ever running or merging things from two different modded DBs. If it wasn't for that and the sprite work then yeah, you could knock out a faction in record time. When it came out I dumped a few sprites from SPMBT and had a couple new vehicles up and running in like an hour.

It's been out six months and there's barely anything out there outside a handful of maps .

Yooper posted:

I'm hopeful the modding scene will open with workshop integration but I see what you mean. I'd rather it be dependencies, you load the Yom Kipper Scenario, Steam notices you need the Yom Kippur Tank Pack, then it notices you need the Graphics Enhancement Mod, etc. We'll see, the game is still fairly young.

Mr Luxury Yacht posted:

It's more the fact that you can't have dependencies at all. Database items are hard coded to a numerical ID of 1-5000 in each section (units, weapons, ammo, etc...). So if your tank is in slot #345 using a weapon ID #536 for it's tank cannon and ammo #343 and #344 it's expecting all those to be in the exact right slots or everything would break. They really should have let you specifically a unique ID yourself.

quote:

NWS Beta Team Logbook #09

The following battle took place in 1957 during a war between Japan and Great Britain.

---------------The Battle off Zanzibar---------------


The Japanese task force was small, but it was powerful, just four ships, but one was the newest Japanese fleet carrier, the Koryu. She was 33,000 tons, not the biggest carrier in the Japanese fleet but beautifully balanced and heavily protected. Still she was a compromise, as all naval ships are. She did not have the massive armored deck and large air capacity of the 44,500 ton Taiho, the fleet flagship, but she also cost half as much and carried a solid and well trained complement of 82 bombers and fighters divided into 5 squadrons. There were 2 torpedo bomber squadrons equipped with the older, reliable Yokosuka Myojo B and a single squadron of the fast new Kawasaki Setagayas, as well as 32 Kiyushi Adachi Cs in 2 squadrons, a jet fighter that was to prove far superior to its British opponents.

The Koryu was accompanied by some of Japan's finest destroyers of the Shigure II class, built as multi-purpose boats but with an emphasis on anti aircraft armament. They were a fitting escort for the Koryu and would be sorely tested this day.

The small group was sailing just off the coast of Africa, within a few miles of the Japanese outpost of Zanzibar, which after its capture in the last war, the Japanese had built into a major airbase to protect the southern Indian Ocean along the eastern coast of Africa. There had been reports of enemy naval activity in the area, so the Koryu was alert to danger. Before first light she sent off a search using her long ranged torpedo planes, probing south and east where the enemy was suspected to lurk. The Japanese had to use caution; the wind was out of the SE, meaning any air activity would push the carrier to the south as it turned into the wind. With no notable surface battle ability the task force would have to be careful to avoid contact with the enemy who might well be the squadron of battlecruisers reported to be in the region.

By 05:30 all of the search planes had been launched and a strong CAP was put up shortly after. Ashore, similar activity was taking place at Zanzibar and at far off Djibouti. Both bases sent out flying boats on their long range reconnaissances. By 06:14 the air was filled with 18 searching planes. The Koryu began arming and fueling her bombers in her hangar. There was danger in doing so but it is often the first to strike that wins the day. With everything as prepared as possible, the ships waited. Soon our planes would surely find the enemy.

But it was the enemy who found us. Shortly after dawn, at 06:30, planes were spotted coming in fast. They were the enemy. The Japanese fighters rushed to intercept them and met them in mid-air before they could attack. It was an advance group of Bromsgrove dive bombers, fast planes at 380 kts but they were no match for our newest Adachi C jet fighters that were capable of 483 kts. Six of them piled in and took out two of the attackers, but the remaining 3 plunged on one of the Japanese escorts and one placed its 800 lb bomb on target. The resulting explosion demolished the Umikaze's boiler rooms and the boat sustained massive flooding. This was not a good start.

The rest of the dive bomber squadron arrived and now they had drawn the attention of every Japanese fighter aloft. 15 Adachi's streamed in to attack the dive bombers. Every remaining dive bomber was either shot down or sent packing with damage. None were able to drop their bombs. The pilots of the small jet fighters looked around and saw with satisfaction that not one had been damaged in the melee, while the British DB squadron had been effectively destroyed as a combat unit. The brief encounter had lasted just 3 minutes. Though they had destroyed the enemy, a Japanese destroyer was foundering, wreathed in smoke, which told the truth of the encounter.

This attack was somewhat confusing. There were British naval facilities in the area, but I didn't believe they had airbases. My observers were keen and they noted that the enemy planes have arrived from the SW and retired in that direction. Though I'd had no sighting of enemy ships, this seemed to be a strong indication that they may have originated on a carrier somewhere to the southwest. That attack had been quite a scare and I still had no word of the enemy.

Without a positive sighting, I turned back north to put distance between my ships and what just might be a powerful surface force to my south. In most battles I had had with the British, they included one or two heavy ships, often battle cruisers, with their carriers. If even one of those appeared my vulnerable force could do nothing but run.

At 07:02 another wave of British planes was spotted approaching my ships. They were Hawker Hampton torpedo bombers and they had company. They were escorted by a squadron of Short Stanford fighters, early jets, roughly on a par with my own fighters, though slower and less heavily armed. My CAP was still up and still formidable. The Adachi fighters engaged the torpedo bombers before the Stanfords could intervene and they demolished the squadron before most could drop their torpedoes, shooting down or damaging 10 of the 11 bombers. When the British fighters finally decided to mix it up, they too fell victim to my superior pilots and planes, losing 6 out of 12 fighters engaged without managing to damage one of my fighters.

Yet four of the enemy fighters somehow missed the aerial battle and came in low and fast, strafing the Koryu's AAA positions with telling effect. Despite this, the Koryu's medium AA fire nicked the lone remaining torpedo bomber, causing it to drop its torpedo prematurely and run for safety. In 6 minutes it was all over and the survivors had scattered for home.

The British weren't done. More squadrons were arriving. There could be no doubt now, there was a carrier out there, a big one. Or, and this sent a chill down my spine, more than one carrier.

My tired fighters had no respite as fresh British squadrons rumbled in, a smaller group of torpedo bombers and a full squadron of dive bombers, escorted by another fighter squadron. The Adachi's dashed in, ignoring the enemy escorts and desperately slashing at the enemy bombers, as it had become obvious that the Koryu was now their primary target. They downed four more Hampden TBs and sent 2 others winging out of formation with damage, but they couldn't stop them all this time.

The rest plowed through the curtain of heavy AA fire with no casualties, though as the survivors came into range of the Koryu's furiously banging medium AA guns one more was hit and broke formation. Those TBs were coming in strangely high for torpedo bombers and then it became obvious why. They weren't carrying torpedoes at all, but were armed with bombs, which they released after a shallow gliding approach. Several splashed wide or in the Koryu's wake but one hit the water just short of the ship and exploded against her side. The ship shuddered as side plates caved in. The Koryu was shaken and water was streaming in from crushed hull plates but she could still maintain 29 knots and maneuver well.

More attackers were diving on the evasive group of ships. One section of DBs tried for DD Samidare but paid with a loss to her AAA. The DBs could not hit the wildly dodging boat. Most of the enemy concentrated their anger on the Koryu, which was now twisting about as well, but in a more ponderous, almost dignified, series of S turns that felt like they were taking place in slow motion as bombs splashed around her.

The air to air battle was fierce and the Japanese fighters continued to prevail, shooting down several more bombers and fighters. The Japanese AAA took out several more bombers as they made their runs. A dozen bombs missed, dropped by torpedo bombers and dive bombers working together. The British knew their stuff, but their aim was spoiled by the relentless fighter attacks and a serious wall of AA fire. The last of the bombers made their final fruitless drops and raced away, trailed by a few poorly disciplined Japanese fighters. The entire episode has taken just 7 chaotic minutes.

As the last of the British bombers limped away, the Koryu briefly turned into the wind to recover her CAP fighters, now low on both fuel and bullets. Replacements were quickly catapulted into the air. The Umikaze, hit in the first attack and unable now to make even 10 knots, was detached. The stricken destroyer would sink within the hour. Her combat patrol refreshed, the Koryu and her 2 remaining escorts raced north to put space between themselves and an enemy that was now obviously both powerful and determined.

But they couldn't steam fast enough. At 07:30 more enemy planes were sighted inbound. The Koryu's CAP was up and active. The fighters ripped into the incoming dive bombers, destroying 3 of the first 5 to attack. But a chink in the Japanese defense appeared as the first Japanese Adachi fighter fell in flames. Just as the fighter hit the water, an 800 lb bomb struck one of the Koryu's main guns, obliterating the 5" turret and crew. Unslowed, the Koryu continued to cut through the water in graceful curves, skillfully avoiding the rest of the bombs.

The air battle was costly for the British, but the Japanese did not escape unharmed. As more and more Adachi fighters dropped out of the combat from lack of fuel or ammunition, their numbers fell and losses began to occur. They shot down or damaged 7 more dive bombers and a British fighter, but lost 4 of their own in the process. Over the next 30 minutes, 40 more dive bombers and torpedo bombers took shots at the Koryu or her escort but the British had no further success and lost more planes, mostly to AAA.

By 08:05 the skies had cleared of enemy bombers. Somehow the wounded Koryu had managed to dodge most of the bombs and torpedoes and remained capable of operating her planes. We waited anxiously for some report of the enemy but by now the search planes sent out pre-dawn had probably flown well past the enemy force without spotting it. We needed to find the enemy, so more torpedo bombers were ordered to search in the direction from which the enemy planes had approached. The planes were prepared and went up at 08:35. We anxiously waited as the planes made their way southward. A short 15 minutes later the first report came in. A searching torpedo bomber was under attack by enemy fighters! Despite being damaged the bomber managed to radio in a sighting report: 2 CVs and 5 destroyers almost due south of the Koryu and little more than 80 nm away. Now was the time. Our torpedo squadrons were directed to be brought on deck and spotted. Then in quick succession more reports arrived, all describing 2 CVs and escorts but each differing in location. Choosing the most central sighting report as the target, the 28 torpedo bombers surged into the air. All were aloft and forming up by 09:29.

At about the same time the Japanese land based air was taking action as well. The well stocked airbase at Zanzibar had also spotted the enemy fleet and about 09:30 a squadron of flying boats took off to find the enemy and bomb them. There were now some 40 Japanese bombers closing on the British carriers.

Just before 10:00 the first Japanese bombers located the enemy carriers. They were met by British Short Stanford fighters. Without escort, the Myojo bombers fought back, but one went down burning and two others were so damaged they had to turn back. They took more losses to the British AA but several managed to drop their torpedoes. As the last bomber turned for home they saw a pillar of white water rising from the center of one of the enemy carriers. A torpedo had struck home. They did not know it at the time but the CV Furious had been struck. The battle wasn't over for the Myojos. They were relentlessly and foolishly pursued by the British fighters as they broke for home. Two more were shot down before they could escape, while all but one of the remainder suffered damage.

However, the Myojo's sacrifice had not been in vain for within minutes the fast Setagaya torpedo bombers darted in to find the skies largely clear of enemy fighters. Unmolested by fighters, they leisurely lined up on the undamaged carrier Argus, whose guns banged away accurately and caused 4 of the attackers to abort. Ignoring this carnage, the remainder bored in and dropped their charges. A minute later they were rewarded as a fish struck home against their target and then one minute later, another.

The British CV Argus, shaken by dual torpedo hits, began to lose way and with the loss of speed went the ability to maneuver effectively as the next attacking squadron appeared high overhead. It was the squadron of flying boats sent from Zanzibar. These pilots had little experience but their target was now almost stationary and their bombs fell accurately. The Argus absorbed four 800 pound bomb hits in rapid succession, starting a fire in her hangar deck.

The Furious had suffered far less than the Argus, having taken a single torpedo hit, but that hit had flooded her engine rooms and she was able to make no more than 8 kts. From the outside, little appeared wrong. She certainly appeared capable of flight operations, if she could just get up to speed, but her squadrons were so cut up by the earlier attack that a second strike was apparently not judged prudent or possible. Both carriers began to slowly retire to the south, the Argus keeping pace with the slowed Furious. As they slowly proceeded the Argus battled to bring the hangar fire under control and succeeded quite quickly. She had been hit by two torpedoes but had gotten most of the flooding under control. The 4 bombs had demolished her ability to operate planes but she managed to work back up to a reasonable speed.

At about this time, with the enemy's location confirmed, airbase Zanzibar was launching a follow up strike, sending 12 medium bombers and 16 torpedo bombers out by 10:15. They were followed 30 minutes later by another squadron of torpedo bombers and 30 minutes after that a 4th torpedo bomber squadron was on its way. The Koryu tried to match this effort but its bomber squadrons had been seriously decimated by the enemy and she was only able to send 8 bombers pulled from the remnants of two squadrons.

By 11:30 the strikes from Zanzibar began to arrive over the stricken British ships. Their TBs were not armed with torpedoes but that did not matter against the almost immobile Furious. The Setagaya bombers arced in and dropped over two dozen bombs, striking the almost stationary ship with 9. As the Furious slowed to a stop the British CAP belatedly arrived to pounce on the remaining Japanese bombers. They downed 6 bombers in a tangled battle but lost 3 of their own and could not prevent more damage as 4 more heavy bombs smacked into the stopped carrier.

In a fortuitously coordinated effort the tiny strike from the Koryu arrived simultaneously and attacked with vengeance and skill. These bombers were armed with torpedoes and were flown by expert aviators. Two of their torpedoes struck home against the Furious and her fate was sealed. She began to settle with fires burning furiously.

A single torpedo struck the Argus but it did not do serious damage but the wounded ship had no choice but to abandon her consort to make a run for the nearby port of Dar es Salaam. The Argus was attacked once more and suffered a single additional bomb hit but she survived the battle, having absorbed 3 torpedo hits and 5 bomb strikes.

More Japanese bombers arrived from Zanzibar and they pounded the burning hulk of the Furious, while leaving the fleeing Argus, which had retreated to the west, largely unmolested. Opposition from the British fighters slowly evaporated as their planes ran low on fuel or ammo and ditched into the sea. The attacks from Zanzibar were non-ending over the next two hours. The Furious finally went down after being hit with 8 torpedoes and 17 bombs.

The Koryu and her two escorts survived the battle in largely operational order and would have been able to continue to fight, though her air complement had been decimated. By midday of the battle she had few operational planes. Given a few hours to recover and make repairs she may have been able to put up a respectable squadron or two though by that time the short battle was over. Her air losses did have an impact following the battle. So many of her highly trained crews were lost that they were never really elite again.

As for the British they had lost 90% of their aircraft along with many of their experienced crews. The Argus would be in dry dock for many months, and of course, the Furious was lost entirely. The crews and planes could be replaced, but their experience could not. The loss of two fleet carriers established naval superiority in the Indian Ocean for the Japanese for the foreseeable future. It also destroyed any hope that the British might succor their beleaguered troops under siege in Malaya, where they were desperately holding onto the last remnants of the British SE Asian holdings.

It is likely that the Koryu, had she been unassisted would have lost this battle. But the closeness and persistence of effort by airbase Zanzibar turned the battle in favor of the Japanese. Ultimately, it was the failure of the British to build comparable airbases in the area that resulted in a battle lost.

Stairmaster posted:

Galaga Galaxian posted:

Eh, pre-orders aren't that big a deal.

Stairmaster posted:

the new system is they hired a second guy with a stick

Squiggle posted:

Ha, yeah, I'm sure not having a key immediately is offset by the *checks RTW1* 16mb download.

Dadbod Apocalypse posted:

I bought a board game from NWS and he said shipping would be delayed a week because “they were finishing a big project.” Now I don’t have Smolensk to play and I blame you fuckers.

Pharnakes posted:

Smolensk doesn't sound very naval

Pirate Radar posted:

One of the NWS guys now says you’ll be able to get your key immediately, which I think we can take as more than just a hint that they have some new store system worked out for next week.

Pirate Radar posted:

One of the NWS guys now says you’ll be able to get your key immediately, which I think we can take as more than just a hint that they have some new store system worked out for next week.