| B17 II The Mighty Eighth by Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson |
||||
|
Q: Are there promotions and decorations? Within the framework of a Campaign there are both promotions and decorations. All the decorations of the time will be up for grabs and promotion, although present, won't be as overused as in some games. Decorations are for achievement and valour, whilst promotions are for extended periods of increased responsibility and good performance. Q: What happens when I bail out? A: That depends on WHERE you bail out. We model the frontline across Europe as the Allies roll the Wehrmacht back to Germany. If you bail out in Germany itself (unless occupied by the Allies) then you've a very slim chance of escape. If you bail out over France, Belgium, Luxembourg or Holland then the resistance in those countries increases your chance of escape. It's probably better to ditch than bail over the channel, and the RAF rescue service will rescue a lot of crews who do so. Others less fortunate, and those who do bail out, will probably not be found. Bailing out or ditching over Liberated Europe or England itself means the possibility of further injury but the return of the crew to the airbase - minus B-17 of course.
 From the gamer's point of view, he'll know that a bomber was reported as going down. In order to reduce confusion dead crewmembers will quickly be classified as KIA. Those who might be POW's or might be rescued will be listed as MIA until the Red Cross confirms their status, or they arrive back on base, whereupon they'll be available for re-assignment. The addition of a veteran crewmember can either fill a hole in another veteran crew, or provide some welcome support for a green crew. Q: Will B17 2 feature a dynamic campaign? If not, tell us about how the missions flow together. A: Instead of providing a linear route of scripted missions we are providing a dynamic campaign engine which will take our large database of authentic strategic targets - well over 200 in fact and either assign a mission to the player following the strategic imperatives acting on the 8th Airforce at the time (these change as the war progresses) or if the player is a Squadron Commander he will plan his own missions, taking into account his squadrons strength and experience. In the single mission games the player will be able to choose to fly a mission to a historical target, take control in a Quickstart Scenario or go through a detailed training course in flying the B-17. |
 Q: I understand players will also be flying fighters. Which ones? And will the flight, physics and damage models rival those in EAW? A: The fighters modeled for inclusion in the game are:
The flight, physics and damage models will be better than anything you've flown, bar the real thing. I know that sounds boastful, but if you've played the current crop of flight sims and you fly ours the comparison is extremely flattering in our favour. As for screenshots, the terrain currently has a 1:1000,000 map slapped on fractally enhanced DEM data as a texture. - hence the wierd blue, red and green lines and huge text over the land :) this is all very much placeholder. You will notice though that this has been procedurally bump enhanced to 1m resolution, so it looks quite nice even as is. This will be replaced soon, and will look a whole lot better, non-repeating Europe down to 20cm resolution! - ground rush anyone? :). You may also notice that there is no-fogging - you can view right to the horizon (the only fog we will have in game is the stuff we want for atmosphere.) To download wallpaper from B17 II, go HERE To read the B17 II E3 update, click HERE.  B17 "Doc" at Palm Springs For more on the real thing go to the Palm Springs Air Museum tour. Join a discussion forum on this article by clicking HERE.
|
|||
|
Copyright © 1997 - 2000 COMBATSIM.COM, INC. All Rights Reserved. Last Updated April 28th, 1999 |
||||