New S^3 Mod "All Uniforms" in development (feedback is welcome)

[Ecthel013]

I agree that if civilians are present, PKs shouldn't be available. As for trucks, they don't need to deliver the PKs that close to the mission area, they can just drop them off further away and have the PKs walk along with the rest of the squad.

 

The squad keeps its own economy because the Sentinels are a NGO during peacetime without the full industrial capacity of several nation(s) backing them, which means that the Sentinels have to buy stuff through official and unofficial channels instead of simply having them issued for free by their government. As for why PKs would be restricted when nothing else is, I find it likely that because of their rarity and value, the Sentinels' leadership would collect all PKs the Sentinels have acquired into a special issue armory of sorts, and only issue them for vital missions that require their capabilities, something akin to Warhammer 40k's Terminator Armor.

 

If we go with add-on PK-pilots, then we run into the issue of the squad headcount limit. Can get around this by making them AI-controlled, but this means the player can't rely on them doing what they want them to do, which is not a good thing when you're in a situation where you need them. As for your mentioned reason for keeping PKs completely out of player hands, governments can't confiscate what they can't find, and the Sentinels are likely very good at keeping things hush-hush, if only so enemy infiltrators in those governments don't pick up on what they're doing.

 

As for the alternate fire support options:

* All of them can't be used to assault the interior of a facility. Mortars are an OK alternative if the objective is to destroy the target, but it's likely that the Sentinels would want to retrieve intel or special items, which is harder to do with a pile of rubble.

* Artillery would draw too much attention to the firing position, ammunition would be scarce (artillery shells aren't exactly easy to get, especially without attracting suspicion) and would be harder to obtain without drawing attention.

* Armored cars and tanks have to rely on roads to get around, tend to leave evidence of their passage and, again, are harder to secretly obtain and supply.

 

PKs may not be all that fast, but they can still navigate terrain that most vehicles can't, are obtained by raiding caches and facilities that people are unlikely to know even existed, and don't leave quite as much of a trail. They also pack heavy armor and firepower in a package small enough to be used inside a building, which is where the intel and other interesting items tend to be.

[Fishmachine]

Another thing about PKs - I always assumed that the Sentinels (or original S2 squads) were delivered airborne, and the one thing that made PKs a weapon of choice for special operations was their (comparatively) low weight that allowed them to be transported by air and offloaded near mission zones on improvised airfields. Hard to do that with tanks

Another thing - artillery or mortars don't mix well with special ops. They require transportation, specialized crews, time to set up and tend to destroy everything pointed at indiscriminately. The PKs were meant to combine mobility and precision of a soldier with a firepower of HMG/mortar nest with adequate protection against infantry weaponry. They were never meant to outclass tanks. They were meant to be delivered covertly into key mission zones, neutralise enemy forces with superior firepower and pull out before they could scramble any effective anti-armor forces.

Basicly, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bSEfx6D8mA

[tofudog]

Little did I know, the highest point of my life was just ahead.

 

Honor to whom honor is due .

[BlunterII]

Hey folks, sorry about the delay (family emergency). I'll be back here in a few days.

 

Ecthel, thank you for editing. Great work!

The report needs to be in our hero's inventory (there is no way for me to check if it's in the storage). I share your ideas on the PKs (for the most part).

I've got a bunch of questions about the RRDepot Dlgs, especially the ones at the end when Mikhalev shows up (it's the 'official' ending - 'finale' of that subplot after all)...

The 'conclusion' itself.., Tulin and Ostrovsky survive vs killed.., Mole is captured vs. killed

I think I'll need help with that.

 

I'll post the details a bit later...

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

I skimmed through the thread... err... a lot of posts.

I'll try to address some of the points:

 

- PKs. Limiting their use only to tough encounters - is something that sounds reasonable to me. What explanation would we give for not being able to deploy them anywhere else. I guess it could be added to the PK bay hint. What will it say (specifically)?

 

- Fireman, can you put together a "Spy" perk tree (just>>words>>with>>arrows or numbers). I am asking that because I don't 'see' that character yet...

I am afraid, Saboteur with throwing perks will be extremely overpowered (with dynamite and other eng. explosives). The formula they use to modify explosive damage based on their Eng. skill makes them really deadly at higher levels.

 

- Does anyone else have an idea for a (38-40 lvl) perk tree? Shoot...

- Hi, Okami. Thank you. As for new models - Lt. already addressed it - I don't have the necessary modeling software to import the models, unfortunately.

- Okim, thanks for offering your models (I still don't have Maya 5 or 6 )... I know you are currently busy with your PA mod... But there is another way (if you have time and desire, of course). If there is a second mod with just weapons - I can easily call them by they RPG Item IDs and they'll be in the game! So it's really up to you... (btw, the database counter will need to be set to something other than 1000000 or 1700000 (1500000 will do).

- Tofu, I don't know of any way to implement suppressive fire (lower APs, etc.). I believe they (Nival) wanted to include that as one of the shooting modes but dropped the idea at the end.

- About subsonic ammo: my primary interest was in 7.92mm Mauser (because of the silenced Kar 98). Was there any special ammo for suppressed weapons of that caliber?

 

Thank you.

Talk to you in a few days.

_________________________________

(to be continued)

 

~Blunter~

[tofudog]

Hi Blunter,

I hope you can resolve your family emergency with everyone in good health, body and soul.

Take all the time you need - in here we are just playing a game after all.

About the ammo, there is this page:

 

https://www.mausershooters.org/k98k/8_ident.html

 

subsonic is third picture from the top - it also has interesting facts about every type of cartridge that is out there in 7.92x57.

 

Have a nice day.

[Ecthel013]

Rather late by now, but good luck with your family emergency. Hopefully, it's nothing too serious.

 

PK Explanation

How about:

Only a limited number of Panzerkleins are available to the Sentinels and they cannot be easily replaced. As a result, the Sentinels only authorize their deployment when no other viable alternative is available.

 

Could probably add on more details, depending on how you decided to proceed. Something like:

[PKs piloted by player squad] All Sentinel combat personnel receive basic training in operating Panzerkleins.

[PK perks required to pilot PKs] Only those with the proper training are allowed to pilot Panzerkleins.

[PK perks from PK trainer] If you require [advanced/additional] Panzerklein training, speak to the veteran Panzerklein operator in the bay.

[PKs piloted by NPCs] Only specialized operators are allowed to/can pilot Panzerkleins. They will be temporarily attached to the squad for the duration of the mission.

 

Editing

2 SoWhatHaveUDiscovered

I heard you've been to Nedlitz. Do you have any leads?

(Herr Lander will want to see any evidence you've collected. Make sure to have them in your inventory.)

 

Changed it to clarify that the player needs to have the evidence with them.

 

Mes_CounterfeitRepBrought

Herr Lander appreciates your diligence. As a reward, he gives you a magnetic key card that might be useful at the mint.

[tofudog]

Once again I could not resist inviting real world numbers to the Panzerklein, so here is what I did and what I found.

 

The nearly habitual warning applies:

If I am boring you with tech, please ignore this.

 

So what size would a Panzerklein actually be?

I used a few generous assumptions:

1) the human skin is about 2 square meters. The Panzerklein shell projects outward from its operator, which would make for a bigger surface, then it has fewer wrinkles, some overlap and some (small) uncovered places - I felt justified in using the 2 square meters as a starting point.

 

 

2) The Mauser 7.92x57 Panzerpatrone cartridge achieves penetration against 20mm of standard steel at 500m distance.

With a few expensive tricks like special alloys and face hardening those 20mm could be made a little more protective - the PK should withstand something as easily obtained as rifle-fired AP-ammunition, otherwise it would be just so much dead weight. Again I felt justified using this number - considering the preferred use of PK would be close assault you might easily require thicker armor (the standard mauser cartridge almost doubles penetration from 400m down to 100m).

 

3) steel is in the range of 7.5 to 8 by specific density, so I have the armor shell of a PK weighing 370-400 kg.

 

4) half again the armor weight for an engine and hydraulics seems generous enough (actually a little on the light side). Adding payload and the operator I would place a combat-ready PK in the 700-750 kg range (VERY generous with the numbers I have seen.This already is the high-tech version.).

 

This is definitely a lot lighter than airborne (glider-landed) tanks of the period ( I stopped after finding tetrarch and locust, both at 7.5 tonnes).

It also is in the zone of airdropped guns russian 45mm AT ~ 550 kg, australian 25lb short howitzer (to be assembled on the ground from 14 parts) ~1.3 tons.

 

I would assume that the russian gun too would not be dropped in one piece as the wiki page of the howitzer specifically mentions that most parts were under 135 kg.

So this should apply to PKs too - paradrop in something like 6 easily assembled parts.

 

Another entry scenario would be disguised ground transport. Many industrial machines like stationary saws or engine lathes come in the 3/4 ton range and it would be absolutely usual for the vendor to supply an installation-crew of his own.

Just another dirty delivery van with 3 oil-stained mechanics and a heavy box on its way to work - nobody would (nor want to) take noctice.

This also offers the advantage of having a method of exit close by.

Incidentally a 3-man squad would (once again my view) work well for the theme of PK-assault: Operator and 2 infantry (sniper and soldier) for close support and protection.

 

So far, so good. Based on these numbers of mine a clandestine PK-operation seems perfectly feasible.

 

The whole thing hitches on one crucial assumption:

The PK MUST be proof against small arms fired AP ammunition. If it is not, a deployment of 1 clip AP to each guard is the dirt-cheap counter to it.

Also, 3/4 of a ton is the equivalent of 5 heavily armed soldiers EACH packing a bazooka plus LMG, so I would have a hard time seeing the economy of force if the PK was not small-arms proof.

 

Those who are bored by tech can safely ignore everything up to this line.

 

 

This is it for now. Have a nice weekend.

[dimovski]

If it can drop in random encounters it is in endless supply.

 

 

Thats how I kept my M1 Carbine ammo supply alive in S2 Axis campaign (cause of ridicoulesly low AP for a snap shot, I found it a nice idea to keep it for Carm)

 

I wasn't here for like 5 months, I see a lot of stuff changed, and a lot of progress has been done, and I'd like to thank Blunter for making this mod public and allowing people to discuss the development of it.

 

Anyway, is there a reason why you would need Maya? Couldn't you just use Blender?

[Okim]

It must be Maya and exactly 5 or 6. MapEdit can work only with it (but you can import models into Maya from any other 3d programm).

 

---

 

Blunterii, i`ve got a question that was once raised here: https://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/topic/3938-reentering-zones/

 

Is there any way to make a zone reenterable? I can see only a single way to do that by making a special transition that moves the party to the other zone and does not close the original location.

[tofudog]

Hello again,

 

in the days since my last post I had a few additional ideas I would like to share.

On the logistics side I found it hard to organize airborne retrieval of the PK if you do not expect to hold the field after the battle - which would be the standard situation in hit-and-run raids. So even if you chuted the Mech in, you would have to get it out on the ground, or you would destroy it to enable a stealthy getaway by your troops.

 

On the scenario side - how about this:

 

Mission: Saving Private Panzerklein.

An airborne PK operation has gone horribly wrong and now a crucial piece of machinery is in enemy hands. Our heroes are called upon to make things right - which means to recover the disassembled PK from bandit (or whoever) hands before they figure out how to actually make use of the machine.

This might be the introduction to the world of PKs for our heroes, who would not know such a thing existed.

The usual reason would be: You are in the area and we have to act faster than we can bring in regular commandoes, so in spite of your non-existant security clearance, we are sending you.

[scubahamster]

Hi there everyone! This is my first post!! I've been banished from my ps3 back to my office so my wife can use the living room tv, and have just begun playing SS3 for the umpteenth time! To make things interesting I searched for mods and found this awesome mod! The costumes are excellent and the new ammunition is inspired! What I'm unsure of is how to begin the custom campaign that you're all discussing. Is this possible yet or is it still in development? If you need someone to help beta test, I'd be happy to oblige. Many thanks!

[Fishmachine]

The custom campaign is in developement currently.

There is a well made custom random encounter in Germany in the latest version of the mod.

[scubahamster]

Thanks Fishmachine! I can't wait to see the campaign when it finally comes out.

[Fishmachine]

Thanks Fishmachine! I can't wait to see the campaign when it finally comes out.

 

Like all of us in this thread, like all of us...

[scubahamster]

The random encounter is awesome! I loved the layout of the castle (especially the hatch opening onto the roof). Two issues I encountered however:

 

1) The first time I played it, I killed 2 waves of zombies but the third did not spawn. I ended up using showall1 to check for any 2nd wave stragglers then left the game running overnight and still no 3rd wave. I reloaded and had no issues the second time around.

 

2) When I received the thank you note and weapons from Dust, my primary character's inventory was lost. I checked the weapons store in case the inventory got bumped there but everything was gone.

 

These aren't complaints by the way! Just wanted to be helpful!

[Lt.Havoc]

I wonder if anything happened to Blunter. We have not heard from him in awhile, hope he and his family are alright.

[Fishmachine]

He mentioned something about health problems in the family

[Kalash]

Could someone teach me how to mod stats for my weapons? The buzzsaw in this game has a mediocre ROF and i really want to change it. Btw, i also have a small suggestion for modder :

 

- The FG42 actually has two version with different stats : FG42 I (Auf E) and FG42 II (Auf G) but i only saw one FG42 version(FG42 Auf E, scoped or stock gun) in game with rough texture. As a FG42 buff, i love to see both FG42 versions in game with different stats and improved texture.

 

+FG42 Auf E:

https://www.wwiiguns.com/store/images/fg42_shop_wwii.jpg

 

+FG42 Auf G:

https://www.wwiiguns.com/store/images/fg42_typeii_shopwwii.jpg

[Flyethemoon]

I just finished yetersday Men of war: Red Tide, so maybe Black sea fleet sailor uniforms ?

 

 

here some pics

https://s295.photobucket.com/user/FlyeThemoon/media/header_476_men_of_war_red_tide-1.jpg.html

https://s295.photobucket.com/user/FlyeThemoon/media/baltic_fleet_beskozirka_ref2.jpg.html

https://s295.photobucket.com/user/FlyeThemoon/media/8936547024_db67ace3c7.jpg.html

https://s295.photobucket.com/user/FlyeThemoon/media/C_DRF70548_00.jpg.html

[Lt.Havoc]

So has anyone heard from Blunter recently? His silence is starting to worry me. His last post was in January, thats now over 2 months ago.

[Ecthel013]

Nothing on my end. It's definitely been more than a few days since he made his last post here.

[Space Voyager]

True. I hope his family emergency works out fine.

[Alexandre Lange]

Hi, guys.

 

I am new at S^x series, and I am looking for some game tweaks. First, I would like to give you guys - especially Blunter and Lt.Havoc - my respects for all passion and effort you put on making this awesome game even better.

 

I really like this mod, but I JUST NEED another mod to play: the Cookie's Weapon Modification (S3). Without it, we (and the enemies) need 2 or 3 rifle headshots to put a weak target down; it's not realistic. After taste rifles putting down targets with 1 headshot, as it should, you can't live without it anymore! So, I would like to see Cookie's mod working along with Blunter's mod. I am not asking that Blunter's mod incorporates it (even if I think it should), but asking for help to make it for myself. I don't know shit about modding Silent Storm. I read the tutorials, but I just can't make it happen! As a side note, I don't like the idea of the 'special weapons' avaliable at start (first missions) too. This game is supposed to be a real challenge, and that power weapons at start make it too easy for my taste (even at Impossible difficulty). If I learn to mod, I think I can take care of it too.

 

Anyone can help me? Please?

[Lt.Havoc]

Well, I would help you if I knew how. Blunter has not been here since awhile now and no one knows what happened to him, so if he does not come back soon, we have to declare this mod dead.

[Alexandre Lange]

Yeah, I read. Family, right? But two months is not that much time, and this mod is his baby. He seems to love it, I don't think he will just drop it. We will know soon or later. I hope soon, I and wish the best for Blunter's family. Cross fingers, guys.