Developer Diary 272 - Discussion

[Han]

2 minutes ago, Han said:

272

Dear friends,

Earlier this week we have published update 4.506 that brought the new aircraft for the Battle of Normandy and many important improvements, but the preparation of this update did not slow down our main development.

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We are also glad to report that the next Battle of Normandy fighter, Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIV, will be finished soon

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Together with our partners at Digital Forms, we continue building the player-controlled AAA trucks - the Soviet 72-K AA gun installed on the GAZ-MM truck chassis will be ready soon.

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Full news - here is a full text and visual materials

[Monksilver]

All looking great and can't wait. 

[Danziger]

Beautiful! I just ordered it!

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by Danziger

[Enigma89]

I prepare to be ran over by that Spitfire

[dburne]

All looking awesome!

Very excited about the new Spit - one can never have too many Spits!

[216th_Jordan]

16 minutes ago, Danziger said:

Beautiful! I just ordered it!

 

 

I wonder what it will do when attacked from the front low? ?

[LuftManu]

2 minutes ago, 216th_Jordan said:

 

I wonder what it will do when attacked from the front low? ?

Dimitry! Ram it!

Oh, my! Looking great. I can't wait to see the map. Hope we can have some sneak peak soon!

Also, that Spit it's a real beauty

Edited February 20, 2021 by LF_Gallahad

[Guest deleted@191198]

Wow!) I didn't expect to see the Development Diary on Saturday)

[40plus]

Oh wow, what a surprise. This is looking incredible!!

[itsbillyfrazier]

11 minutes ago, 216th_Jordan said:

 

I wonder what it will do when attacked from the front low? ?

[BlitzPig_EL]

Outstanding work on the hospital and cathedrals, and that Spitfire... my oh my, do want.

[senseispcc]

Like always, when there is news it is good news, thanks. 

[Jade_Monkey]

Fine looking Spitfire, can't wait for it to be released. The first pic with the 5 blades and big ass radiators is glorious. 

 

I still don't understand why they still used the C wing with 4 x 7.69 guns though. I'd imagine at this point of the war the would have been rendered useless.

 

AA truck also looking great!

Edited February 20, 2021 by Jade_Monkey

[Rjel]

Are the doors on the Soviet truck covered with wooden boards?

[BlitzPig_EL]

Yup.  Saving steel for more important uses.  If you look closely you will see the cab from the cowl back is wood.

Edited February 20, 2021 by BlitzPig_EL

[Rjel]

1 minute ago, BlitzPig_EL said:

Yup.  Saving steel for more important uses.

The same logic must've been applied to headlights too then. 

[BlitzPig_EL]

When I can I will post a pic of the 1931 Ford Model A Woody station wagon from the museum I work for.  The entire body from the cowl back is wood.  As the GAZ is a licence built copy of the Ford AA truck, you will see many similarities.  Also note the GAZ has no front brakes.  Another wartime expediency.

[CanadaOne]

Very nice.

 

Will the MKXIV be sold as a plane as soon as it's done?

[[1Tac]DisCHQ]

Just a quick question, will the spitfire XIV also get the increased 20mm capacity that the mark 9 got in the recent patch? 

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by [1Tac]DisCHQ

[Swing]

My Family is from Rouen  Can't wait to fly over my natal Normandie......the Cathedral is superb...!   thanks to the devs Team...! 

[sevenless]

We are also glad to report that the next Battle of Normandy fighter, Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIV, will be finished soon - its FM should be ready in a month while its visual model, including the cockpit, is nearly finished. 

 

Fantastico! That is just in time when I will be back from our vacation in spain. Can´t wait!

 

[Lord_Strange]

That in-game screenshot of the GAZ is making me excited to see what the skinning community will do with it. Perhaps someone will make a literal Soviet milk truck?

[CountZero]

Spitfire looks great

[BlitzPig_EL]

@Rjel Here is a US built 31 Ford Model A station wagon.  Body is wood from cowl back.  Note the similarity to the GAZ in the front sheet metal and radiator.  The 4 cylinder engine in the GAZ is indistinguishable externally from the Ford as well, and Model A ignition parts will work in the GAZ. 

All US station wagons were built in the traditional wood coachwork style until 1948.

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by BlitzPig_EL

[Vortice]

I used to work at RH Haslar while it was still an NHS site and I can confirm that the hospital really does look like the picture in the update.

 

Also I'm really looking forward to the Mk XIV being released and I can't wait to see that five-bladed prop spinning in front of me.

 

When the map is released one of my first missions in the Mk XIV will be to see how close to RH Haslar I can land and then make a tour of the grounds in it.

 

Happy days! 

[Talisman]

Good news and the Spitfire XIV is great!  First Spit XIV contact with the enemy would appear to be 7th March 1944 (see below)

 

Combat Reports

610 Squadron's Intelligence Officer recorded on 7 March, 1944 what may be the Spitfire XIV's first aerial combat:

     Black section, (P/O Hussey and F/Sgt. Harding) were patrolling on an east west line about 20 miles south east of Start Point 500 feet above sea level, under the control of Kingswear C.H.L. Station.
     At approx 17.30 hours the Section was told to investigate unidentified aircraft 15 miles ahead, on a vector 120 degrees. After two minutes this vector was changed to 150 degress (At this time Black one was using only plus 12 lbs boost with his jet tank still on, and the A.S.I. was clocking about 350 miles per hour.) The section was now outside G.C.I. cover, but after about a minute 3 F.W. 190's appeared from 9 o'clock approx 200 feet below, flying in a fairly close vic on a rough vector of 240 degrees; visibility was bad owing to haze, and the section had hardly seen the E/A before they had passed underneath to 3 o'clock.
     Black Section immediately pulled round to the right, and it seemed that the E/A saw them at the same moment, for as our section turned on their tails, black smoke was seen pouring from their engines as they pushed everything forward and dived to sea level. The F.W. 190 on the left of the section turned south, and the other two turned away and disappeared into the haze and glare of the sun. Our section gave chase to the single F.W. 190 which at this time, was about 800 yards ahead, right on the deck. We closed without difficulty but when 400 yards away, Black 1 noticed a F.W. 190 making a quarter attack on him from between 4 and 5 o'clock, so gave the order to "break right". As he pulled up he saw the E/A fireing at him with insufficient deflection, and it appeared that the turning circle of the Spitfire XIV was better than that of the F.W. 190. Black 1, at 1,000 feet, was now in the haze and lost sight of the F.W. 190 and his No. 2.
     Black 2, who was on the left of Black 1, saw the F.W. 190 break off his attack on Black 1, and dive south west to sea level, so he rolled down to the left and got on to the tail of the F.W. 190 at a distance of about 800 yards (The F.W. 190 that our section had been chasing originally, had disappeared by this time)
     At first Black 2, did not close on the F.W. 190 as fast as he would have liked (probably due to the excitement, he forgot to jettison his tank with Black 1 at the commencement of the first chase. The addition of the jet tank would probably take off 30 miles per hour.) Another F.W. 190 now appeared ahead at about 11 o'clock, and joined formation on the left of the aircraft that Black 2 was chasing.
     Black 2 now found that he was closing in quite fast, around 400 I.A.S. and opened fire on the left hand F.W. 190 from dead astern at 300 yards he saw strikes on both wing roots and panels flew off the port mainplane as he closed to about 100 yards. Not until the strikes were observed did the other E/A take any action. Even then he did nothing for some time, then pulled straight up and round to the left, and tried to get on the tail of Black 2. Black 2 took a final squirt at his target whose only evasive action was pitching slightly up and down, before he broke into the other E/A which was trying to get on his tail (although clocking 360 m.p.h. the turning circle of the Spitfire seemed superior to that of the F.W. 190) The F.W. 190 fired at Black 2 but allowed insufficient deflection then broke off his attack and disappeared into the mist. The E/A was not seen again. ⁶⁰

Click on the number 60 at the end to view the original report.

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by ACG_Talisman

[Indigene]

Awesome stuff, as usual! Lovin' the Spit MkXIV! Of course, I must know where the Mossie is? I'm just crazy about her! However, I'm excited for whatever comes on out, though, and thank y'all for the dedicated, hard work. Best game...EVER!???

[namhee2]

The first information about the V1 rocket ...

[LLv24_Zami]

Nice, imo that`s the best looking Spit of all ?

[RedKestrel]

4 minutes ago, namhee2 said:

The first information about the V1 rocket ...

Looks like it's, ah, player flyable.
/watch out for that intake, lassie

[Rjel]

20 minutes ago, BlitzPig_EL said:

@Rjel Here is a US built 31 Ford Model A station wagon.  Body is wood from cowl back.  Note the similarity to the GAZ in the front sheet metal and radiator.  The 4 cylinder engine in the GAZ is indistinguishable externally from the Ford as well, and Model A ignition parts will work in the GAZ. 

All US station wagons were built in the traditional wood coachwork style until 1948.

 

That's pretty cool. The restorers art always impresses me.

[super-truite]

eager to see the AA truck in action!
From my understanding, with AA ammo, the fuse will destroy the shell after a few seconds and this time cannot be changed ? So all the explosions happens at 3km (according to wikipedia). I guess it is only in heavier guns that you can fine tune the fuse before loading ?
Also is there some shrapnel when it explodes or is the only purpose of the fuse to avoid damage when the shell falls ?

[Bando]

Great stuff.

Thank you team!

[Trooper117]

Happy days... keep it up boys!

[Denum]

DWD?

 

Was that a Dark Wing Duck reference ?

[TWC_Ace]

How our Spit XIV relates to our Spit IX? Since our Spit IX has Merlin with 2 stage supercharger. I guess XIV would be much faster at high alt and considerably faster at med alts. Also it would climb much better and would be less maneuverable (at low med alts only)?

Also interesting that an Spit from earlier (in timescale) battle is overall better than the one that fought a bit later in the war..

Edited February 20, 2021 by =VARP=Tvrdi

[356thFS_Melonfish]

Are we getting a bubble canopy for the XIV too? Honestly salivating at the thought of flying that beauty...and painting it as a seafire ?

The Normandy buildings are looking amazing, this really is shaping up lovely.

[HBB*Hunger]

Thank you guys as always!

[Danziger]

3 hours ago, Rjel said:

The same logic must've been applied to headlights too then. 

 

[Bernard_IV]

Nice been wanting the XIV for months!