Carriers at War

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Planes already move more realistically here than they do in the new Midway trailer.  Awesome!

[Sir Slash]

Very Nice!  :clap:

[Strela]

Admiral,



This is just amazing stuff and has been way overdue in being done!

Watching with huge interest!

David

[The_Admiral]

Thank you, Gentlemen of good taste! 
I'll keep posting! Hopefully next time we'll have a name and a logo - and hence our own topic  8)

[Philippe]

I hope it isn't marked as Iron Bottom Sound on the Japanese maps.

Otherwise, pretty impressive.

[The_Admiral]

No worries, there ain't no Japanese map (the game is US only) and besides, it won't be on the Allied map either, it's a placeholder made for experimenting different levels, dispositions and sizes of map labels. Can't have it named this way of course, would be a bit of an anachronism, to say the least. We will use original names instead, we have enough references and original charts for that. There will be other niceties, such as reefs and a few easter eggs - these old charts are funny, they sure have loads of them. The USN pretty much prepared the Watchtower landings using maps that were based on pre-WW1 Imperial German surveys. In retrospect, it is kinda scary to see how little they knew about the place they were about to invade...

Anyway, I wouldn't dare posting here and running too obviously the risk of getting caught with my pants down - but if you Gents were to see anything bothering you, please don't hesitate to shoot, I'll gladly take the bullet   ^-^

Et merci pour les compliments!

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Awww.....


Here's hoping it's a success and you can make Japan playable later.

[FlickJax]

Absolutely stunning stuff... Kudos

[rocketman]

So, when do you guys want my money :bd:
What kind of hardware is this rendered on? When battles get going will we need a super rig to run it at this photo realistic fashion?

[SirAndrewD]

I want this more than all the Sultan's rubies in Araby.

[besilarius]

More than (you better sit down for this one) the Ruby Yacht of Omar Khayyam?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kL7uZoHdu0&t=22s

[SirAndrewD]

^YES!  Even more than that!

[The_Admiral]

Well, I am kinda with Andrew on this one. Not sure if I could stand our heroic flying squirrel and his voice for very long as my X.O. or my air officer. That would be quite a steep price to pay for my ears!

Anyway, thanks everyone for the kind words and your support 

Awww.....
Here's hoping it's a success and you can make Japan playable later.

Yes, that sure was a bit of a heartbreaking decision to take, but at a certain point we had to let realism (I mean, pragmatism) kick in. The first game had to be limited in scope (that is: 1942, Allied side, single player) in order to make sure we'd be able to come up with a finished, polished product. As a comparison, it took years of experience with PacFleet and Atlantic Fleet for Killerfish to deliver us eventually with Cold Waters. We are pretty much attempting to make a game of a comparable scope on our first run. Even when scaled back to a single side, in a single-player fashion, from a dev POV it sounds exhilarating - and risky.

Besides, being more of a Humanities guy, I do tend to give culture a big role and a place - in terms of military history, that means giving doctrine an actual representation and weight in the ways things are done in-game, by the player and the AI both. Anyone who has read Peattie and Evan's Kaigun, its companion book Sunburst or Parshall & Tully's Shattered Sword will probably acknowledge that the activity on a Japanese hangar deck, flight deck or bridge - not to mention the minds at work themselves - differed wildly from its US counterpart in terms of procedures, standards and expectations. I'd rather make a good impression on the first run on a smaller scope than run the risk of disappointing both sides of the aisle by delivering a half-ass job. In brief: we will have to stick to the conservative approach of providing good bases for future development rather than being too greedy, too early.  :(

Obviously, seeing how Cold Waters itself is sometimes being heavily criticized by its own fanbase for providing "only" a single-side experience, it's a risk we're taking - but if you can cope with the idea of playing the evil Yankee Navy and her minions first, you know already what is the best way to ensure you're contributing to the aforementioned success  O:-) >:D

[The_Admiral]

So, when do you guys want my money :bd:
What kind of hardware is this rendered on? When battles get going will we need a super rig to run it at this photo realistic fashion?

The more demanding the machine, the smaller the user base, so don't worry too much about that. Wargamers are not known for owning pet Cray computers at home and we'll keep that in mind. I don't really have a war rig myself, and I fully intend to play my own game.
The objective is to be able to be able to show a hundred of planes on the same screen with a Task Force in the background, but honestly it's fairly scalable, especially if you use LOD models. You zoom out, and you have a lot of small models and not so many polygons ; you zoom in, and you end up with a lot of polygons for one plane but you can't see the others. I am pretty sure it will work out, our dev is very pro and quite demanding when it comes to quality control and performance optimization. Besides, being made more like a simulation than a wargame in terms of tech, you can expect levels of detail (clouds, horizon drawing distance, model details, special effects, etc...) to be rather customizable depending on your computer's power.

By the way, thanks for your money, much appreciated. Bank details follow by PM. I'll make sure to provide your version of CV-6 with a Tomcat squadron. 
(and the real answer about the Money is - when we'll have an actual game to show you ^^ No Early Access planned, and the Kickstarter will be about goodies and cosmetics)

[FlickJax]

So, when do you guys want my money :bd:
What kind of hardware is this rendered on? When battles get going will we need a super rig to run it at this photo realistic fashion?

The more demanding the machine, the smaller user base, so don't worry too much about that. Wargamers are not known for owning pet Cray computers at home and we'll keep that in mind. I don't really have a war rig myself, and I fully intend to play my own game.
The objective is to be able to be able to show a hundred of planes on the same screen with a Task Force in the background, but honestly it's fairly scalable, especially if you use LOD models. You zoom out, and you have a lot of small models and not so many polygons ; you zoom in, and you end up with a lot of polygons for one plane but you can't see the others. I am pretty sure it will work out, our dev is very pro and quite demanding when it comes to quality control and performance optimization. Besides, being made more like a simulation than a wargame in terms of tech, you can expect levels of detail (clouds, horizon drawing distance, model details, special effects, etc...) to be rather customizable depending on your computer's power.

Apart from Jarhead ;)