Dear Fans,
Dear Followers,
Old & new,
Welcome to this June 2022 dev diary for Task Force Admiral.
It is coming late in June, but it’s still June!
Don’t worry, what we are showing to you today was certainly worth the wait. As the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Midway went by, we did not rest – quite the opposite. That is the sort of event that gives you wings, and tells you that it is about time to go public about a certain number of points.
It just so happens that our builds are starting to really feel like, look like, play like a real game, so why not go all in and give you a sneak peek? We’ve run the game for a good 10 minutes, in order to showcase a few features which are nearing their completed stage. We are not showing everything – we are actually only showcasing some of the basic functions, and a lot of contents were either not finalized or not ready just yet for a demonstration. A few disclaimers are below the video in the description section - don't be too scared, it is all very much Work in Progress, and it is not entirely representative of the final state, beyond the underlying big chunks of code at work.
Still, consider these bits of contents as the tree that hides the forest, as there is still much more depth left to explore: search ops, attack operations, anti-air artillery, strategic movement & tasking, surface combat, chain of command & communications, submarine encounters... It is all there at different levels of completion, and all will come in due time, but fear not, we’re getting a bit closer, and it kinda shows.
This video aside, our collection of loading screens dedicated to the Battle of Midway have got larger with two new artworks from Julien. One of them depicts the workhorse of the Patrol squadrons, the Catalina, which played a pivotal role during the battle, contributing to the final victory in no small measure. The machine depicted is PBY-5A BuNo 04982 (callsign 8V55) from VP-44, which was the first to report the invasion force on June 3. Another PBY (BuNo 04975) sharing this callsign & this search sector was shot down and forced to ditch the next day by three F1M2 observation planes from Chitose, becoming the only combat casualty of the Patrol squadrons during the battle.
Another one depicts the final fight of Chikuma's n°5 Aichi E13A “Jake” scout floatplane, shot down by a Combat Air Patrol from Task Force 16 in the early afternoon on the first day of the battle. I will let John Lundstrom, the author of the First Team describe the action so much better than I would:
Both are very representative of the kind of action you will go through yourself when playing Task Force Admiral. Catalinas will be there to serve as the eyes of the fleet, and will sometimes be your last hope to find and fish out of the drink one of your precious airmen (who happen to be worth a few victory points too!).
As for the snoopers of all sorts, being shadowed by the enemy is always a bad sign and the first signal that things are going to turn sour very quickly. Jakes are nimble aircraft, and not so easy to down when there is plenty of cloud cover around... Don’t underestimate them, truly, sometimes shooting them down might very well buy you a few extra minutes of respite, and will possibly be the difference between life and death for your Task Force. Just make sure to only shoot down enemy "seagulls", not one of your own...!
That’s all for today! We do hope that you will enjoy our little video. We will probably write more in the next update, and add some updated visuals too. Stay tuned for our July contribution, hopefully a bit earlier than on the last day of the month this time!
Cheers and take care
The Task Force Admiral team.
