Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Kopfdorfer]

Greetings All,

To paraphrase Toad of Toad Hall :

"There is nothing in the world as marvellous as messing around in boats"


....unless it is strafing, bombing and rocketing them...


To all IL2 shipbuilders :
              Archie1971, Asheshouse, SAS~Skipper, SAS~Sani, Flakiten, Western0221
                 
As you all know well, all Mission Builders and Campaign Designers love "generic" objects to use in their designs ; they offer a variety of design possibilities that extend beyond the relativity of their numbers. What follows are a few ship types that I feel would be of great value in this regard, and remain as far as I know, unbuilt for IL2. With some of them comes the possibility/problems of coding developments as well, but I prefer to suggest these in their simplest forms. I also hope that this thread could nurture some intelligent discussion - not just a collection of lists - of other vessels that might spark the interest of one of our very talented shipbuilders.

First a couple of ubiquitous naval vessels :

From the generic Whaler design - useful in its own right, into...



a)The Vorpostenboot : vessels of various sizes and configurations armed with light and medium cannon and profligate AAA as coastal patrol, escort and harbour defence ships
Used wherever the Kriegsmarine could commandeer commercial vessels...
Possible coding challenge to create anti-aircraft rockets dragging cables into the air





b)Flower Class Corvette dogged protectors of the North Atlantic and Arctic Convoys


Near to my heart, here in Halifax...HMCS Sackville, the last of her kind

HMCS Algoma



For harbour defence and inland patrol
Hafenschutzboot (Harbour Gunboats)
2 x MG34
1 x 20mm, 2 x MG34


The Siebel Ferry



Designed initially to answer the need for small vessels to transfer troops and equipment across the English Channel, and named for the developer of the ultimate design development, Luftwaffe Oberst Fritz Siebel, the Siebel Fahren became an entire division of the Luftwaffe (Fahre Sonderkommando), and served on every German front where heavy pontoons and surplus aircraft engines could be shipped by sea, road or rail. They served in Norway, the English Channel, the Baltic Coast, Lake Ladoga, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
Powered by surplus aircraft engines, and built in a catamaran structure welding (wooden covered) steel platforms between heavy bridging pontoons (schwere schiffsbrugge), or structurally joined MarineFahreprahm (MFP) hulls, the Siebelfahren were used as transport, escorts and gunnery platforms. Their shallow draft enabled them to operate in coastal and inland waters in depths that precluded passage to other vessel types, and caused allied torpedos to pass harmlessly underneath them without detonating.
Their purest form was a freight/cargo (infanterie-transporter) carrier armed with as few as 4 x MG34/42 with a cargo capacity of 7 tonnes and 40 troops, while the most heavily armed Kampffahre could carry 60-80 tonnes and were  armed with up to 4 x 88 FlaK guns (though its usual armament was 1 x 88mm FlaK and 2 x Lichte (20 or 37mm) FlaK).

Speed was from 13-15 km per hour depending on type.
Somewhere around 300 were built.


Some Generics

Tugboats - handy eyecandy in any marine environment
Could they be coded to push/pull other vessels?



Foundation Franklin, the subject of Farley Mowat's great book "Grey Seas Under"




Fireboats



Coastal Ferry

This one is not far off a couple of SAS~Skipper's designs

Fishing Smack - Useful as Sub net tenders, fishing smacks, or with MGs and Radio mast added as spyships



River Ferry

(1939) Cable Ferry


Pacific Coastal Barge as per the one in CFS2 - fun to strafe





European River Barge for those campaigns along the Channel


Horse Drawn ???

Lifeboat  could this be part of the damage model of large bombers downed over water, or ships sunk?

from Englands Norwich Coast

Liferafts

Preferably with sailors hanging off it


Naval Tender/Pinnace/Launch



Barrage Balloon Ship


The last generic vessel suggestion I have is to add Stationary Objects 562, 563  as Ship Objects, and under the properties menu add various payloads :
cargo, debris, cablelayer, naval mines, soldiers, a small crane, AA Gun(s), single naval aircraft with wings folded, ordnance (bombs and torps), lumber, etc etc.


I hope this thread stimulates other ideas, and our shipping gurus to come up with more great ship designs.
And remember, just because they don't sport 15" guns, it doesn't mean they aren't fun to sink!

So Long and Thanks for all the boats,

Kopfdorfer

[RealDarko]

The post is big and well presented. Hope a modder can creatre some of this small ships, they will be useful in tons of situations.

[Fusek]

Here is some inspiration!

[Kopfdorfer]

Thanks Guys,

                    I hope the ideas are considered, and inspire even one new vessel. We all have our favourites and desires - especially us non-modders, and I attempted to come up with several that might interest many mission and campaign designers.

Fusek - very neat old footage, especially the draw bridge and rotating river bridge at the end of the first clip.
My most recent career was in the film biz, and I love old documentary footage. It's amazing what you can learn from just a few minutes of everyday life.

Kopfdorfer

[Fusek]

Thanks Kopdorfer,and thank you for your fine request.

The videos show life along the Maas river (Rotterdam area) in the '40's.

[Phoenix9491]

Hope to see atleast some tugs for a little ambiance in harbors

[Kopfdorfer]

Thanks for the read of my request , Phoenix. As you can see it was a while ago. But I firmly believe that these generic types make the possibilities for mission/campaign design exponentially greater.

If I had to vote for one of these types , though , I'd have to go for the Siebel Ferry family.

Cheers,

kopfdorfer

[Phoenix9491]

No problem, and yes quite a while ago, but there is so much I'd like to see in game and I want to make sure I'm not doing doubles

[Blazing]

flower corvette been done already

[Kopfdorfer]

Yes Blazing ,
but not at the time I first posted this thread.
Would you like me to remove it?

Kopfdorfer

[agracier]

a number of wonderful idea for small ships ... hope they do inspire some mods in the future ... naval actions are not always about carriers or battleships, however impressive they may be.
Actually, in Il-2 I've found these top of the line capital ships to be virtually unsinkable or even unapproachable when flying against them as enemy.

I know I'm a lousy pilot, but the same happens to ai pilots ...

Small ships at least present the opportunity to be sunk or damaged ...

[Blazing]

Oh never mind I though this was a new topic.