I guess this idea is for the admins to consider, and I won't be (too) hurt if it gets zapped, though I do think something like it has a place here.
I know that most threads are individual mod based as that is how they get made - and you guys make them according to your interests. Even more in the realm of the black arts (at least to those ether flierslike me) is the access to and ability to write the codes of the game. I make no bones about having or desiring to develop any aptitude in terms of writing any code and I suspect that there are many out there like me who only have keenness and our ideas, thoughts, and sometimes tidbits of research to offer - but I'd also like to suggest that sometimes it is these "outside" thoughts that can break a train of thought and spring a new idea on someone who is a modder and/or a code writer.
With this in mind, I'd like to query as to whether there would be interest and value in compiling a list of coding ideas and FMB modifications that might be doable if approached correctly, and would advance the qualities of the sim.
Please don't take these as demands ; they are simply ideas that in my mind would improve the sim. That simple.
If this thread will offend, then it is its fate to be vaped.
Here are some of the ideas that are in my mind currently (or have been for some time) and as far as I know remain either untackled, or incompletely dealt with :
1. Systematically encode all vessels historically armed with torpedos to actually fire them. It is ridiculous in
most cases for a sub or an MTB to try to gun it out with a capital ship, yet that is what they do. I am aware
that a couple of newer ship mods can do this, so it seems there is no reason why this couldn't be done.
I guess their AI behaviour would have to be developed differently from other vessels, and the problem here is
that it naturally leads me to thoughts of coding ship AI by class and mission like aircraft, which I suspect is
way beyond how the game sees them so far.
2. Encode submarines to dive and surface, to attack with torpedos, and create appropriate animation for
such action.
3. Systematically encode all vessels historically armed with depth charges to drop or fire them on
submerging/submerged submarines.
4. Write code for Leigh Lights, 2 types of mounts - fixed facing and trainable.
5. Write code and do art for Naval Mines, including dropping them from aircraft. Include free floating/drifting and fixed if possible.
6. Write code successfully enabling amphibious actions for aircraft and amphibious vessels, vehicles landing
from assault vessels.
7. Write code enabling shallow draft vessels to negotiate coastal and inland waterways.
8. Write code to allow vehicular use of river ferries, and possibly fording.
9. Write code to allow slightly more complex effects when ships sink - bow first, stern first, list and rollover,
catch fire and spread a slick, ammo cook offs...
10. Write code to allow ships to be partially damaged : boiler damage, slowed and smoking, listing, slowly going
down while steaming ahead, rudder jammed steaming in circles, rudde jammed steaming straight ahead,
boiler damage no power, internal damage delayed fire, internal damage oil leak, internal damage delayed
ammo cook off, delayed fuel fire, internal explosion etc etc.
11. Incendiary Load outs made universal in bombers that used them historically.
12. Window/Chaff in bombers that dropped it historically. This will become more pertinent as the radar coding
becomes more sophisticated. I guess this might be an SOB frame killer.
13. Add Box formation to FMB choices ( forgive if this has already been included in Frog's formation mod).
14. Indirect artillery fire and fire observation control - this will make those amazing little spotter planes much
more significant. Should also take into account infantry Forward observation officers (FOOs), and Mobile Observation Posts (MOPs) such as
Jeeps, Gazs, Kubelwagens, Halftracks, Armoured Observation Posts (AOPs) tanks.
15. Add a properties menu to cargo vessels, cargo vehicles, and train cars which details various types of cargo as choices.
In conjunction with 16 below this allows for their use in such specific missions, and would allow some
interesting effects in terms of destruction - imagine the difference in results of destroying :
-personnel, small arms ammunition, fuel, ordnance.
16. Ability for mission designers, and campaign designers to have an in-FMB menu allowing them to apply
Victory Points to any object/vehicle/aircraft in a mission. This will allow designers to reflect certain historical
importance to certain objectives that are currently beyond the game engine to modify.
This would allow very specific and unique mission objectives.
Add a Properties Menu for either or both Map and Mission which can be adjusted as follows :
17. Advantages to aircraft valued for their operational range are belittled by non 1:1 scaled maps. Write code
to read the scale of the map in a properties bar (it could have a "do not select" option for those who aren't
interested in this feature) to alter fuel consumption to reflect the map's scale.
For instance a map scaled 1:2 to improve playablility would be reflected by a 2x (200%) historical
consumption rate,
a map scaled 2:3 would be reflected by a 1 2/3x (167%) historical consumption rate etc etc.
18. Include in the Map (or Mission) Properties a Date and Theatre Choice which would then control
such factors as planeset, vehicle set, weapons loadouts, available skins, national and regimental/squadron
markings, etc. This feature could be turned off as desired.
(If my thought is correct, this would allow all this info to be stored in SFS files, would it not?
Is this how UP and HSFX work already?)
19. Write code to allow AFVs to assume battle formations (panzerkeil - or wedge, echelon left and right, line abreast,
line astern etc).
20. Improve cloud coding to allow cloud formations static and mobile (as objects with waypoints?), overcast
layers, weather fronts as "zones".
21. Once again please remove the ridiculous dark blue at altitude. Please, please there MUST be a way.
22. Degrade night visibility - could this be FMB controlled in properties?
23. Add reload times in defensive MGs that were so equipped, and code in reload supply.
24. Encode mission designer - somewhere in the FMB menus - the choice of how long to allow damage (especially bomb craters) to remain.
25. Encode at least the effect of ground formations - infantry, engineers, supply units etc that can at least
abstractly affect control and effectiveness of ground areas/airfields/ports factories etc - I assume this is
what is already in place in HSFX for SEOW, but it would be more efficient if it were available in the FMB
menu somewhere.
26. Encode verey flares or red/green lights fired from the ground, or from damaged (AI ?) aircraft to establish permission to take off and land.
Ideally this would also include Landing Control Officers with flags on all carriers (I know this is kind of big, but would be very cool - they had it
in CFS2, so why not IL2?).
27. One of my own personal (but I believe pertinent) missing mods : 25 lb Armour piercing heads for British 3" UP (unguided projectiles). These are
especially pertinent to Coastal Command Loadouts for anti-ship attacks.
These are just a few of my off the top of my head ideas ; I see this type of thread as a place to accumulate a "checklist" of potential tasks to address. There will be some with everyone. I realize fully that many will not be done, or perhaps even attempted. The goal is to circulate new ideas.
If SAS is not the place to knock these around, then this thread will have a short life. I understand that technically it does not fulfill the requirements of a Request Post, and I won't take it personally if the admins determine that this is not appropriate.
I hope it is read and considered in the spirit with which it is suggested.
Sincerely,
Kopfdorfer