Dear Fans,
Dear Followers,
Old & new,
Welcome to this November 2022 dev diary for Task Force Admiral.
Ok, so what do we have here this month? Two much needed functions bringing us closer to our goal by a resolute margin were on the menu.
Of evasive maneuvers, exploding fishes and sacrificial helldivers
First, we had our first actual attack with bombs, explosions, etc... that wasn't staged. That was enough of a small event to warrant some footage, so there you go.
Everything is coming together, slowly but surely. Obviously all visual effects are placeholders & there are glitches left and right - sorry for the occasional stuttering, it's been taken care of - but overall it ain't too bad. Also, don't pay attention to the fierce efficiency of the anti-air fire, it is obviously way too murderous for now - our poor Vals playing guinea pigs were slaughtered mercilessly, so we gotta tweak that among other things, of course. But we're getting close enough to the vibe we're looking for, and it is always a heartwarming and reassuring moment indeed!
(don't be shocked to see that Porter's guns at such a high elevation, the final version will take into account the single-purpose nature of these and all related fire direction issues)
The relatively crude state of all techs across the board provided a few smiles to the assistance. As our Vals are just not rigged for complete dismemberment on impact just yet, their carcasses ended up floating in the wake of our ships in a somewhat macabre and grotesque fashion. Well, at least the flotation part of the code still works, it seems!
At any rate, one might say that the main meat of this video was not really the pew-pew part. To be honest, it would rather be the whole evasive logic instead. As you can see on the video, our Task Force tries to remain cohesive & to maneuver together, as concentrated AA fire is the difference between life & death.
As enemy torpedo planes approach, the main units in your force will maneuver so as to offer as small a target profile as possible, usually running in the other direction if it can help putting some additional distance between the attackers and themselves. Their screen will maneuver with them, so as to keep their station and firing arcs optimum (which, hopefully, you'll have adjusted using the relevant formation before the attack). The goal for the friendly AI is to have the enemy torpedo bombers fly as far, as long as possible before reaching a favorable attack position, optimizing the chances for interception and loss of attack coordination. Even then, once the torpedo bombers will start their run, the ships will maneuver a second time so as to avoid the torpedoes themselves. Once the danger has passed, the ships will return to their previous heading, or prepare for the next wave if the enemy is already in sight. The opening sequence in the video precisely shows that happening.
At the end of the day, do not expect to hit ships moving at high speed too easily without favorable circumstances and numbers. Conducting a torpedo and dive bomber strike at the same time, and having enough torpedo bombers to enable a pincer attack to begin with will increase your chances of a successful attack remarkably, as only then will the enemy ships be forced into the difficult task of picking the lesser threat between two evils. Besides, as time goes, the formation will start to gradually lose cohesion, especially when some of its ships will start reacting individually to immediate threats, possibly decreasing the effectiveness of the defensive fire.
Sometimes you're lucky. Sometimes you're very much less so...!
Aircraft Management
The second item on the list this month, as those who follow us on our social media platforms certainly know, was the design of a proper in-game interface for aircraft management. Not that we're planning on overwhelming you with tasks in that department (that is still fully automated, for your own good to be honest), we aim at providing the player with the clearest picture when it comes to knowing what your air group is up to. And oh dear, that's one busy part of your carrier indeed!
(Playing around little aircraft aboard USS Randolph - CV-15 in 1945. Ref 80-G-K-5395 from the NHHC website)
It all started with that: how could we turn the above view into something useful for the player? It actually came in very early in development, and one of our very first prototypes, 4 years ago, actually started with the idea that the Ouija (as it is called after the mystical board) should be an important part of gameplay.
(very, VERY early prototype from our first trials back in 2018. The model was the World of Warships CV-6 that we had bought online thinking it was a legit one, ah jeez we were young & innocent back then...)
(Also, don't tell JB our dev I've shown it to you, or I am a dead man)
At any rate, the 3D version was cool, but let's be honest: it had no business down there in the flag plot, and it was going to be a lot of effort expanded for comparatively little gameplay potential, as we are not exactly remaking Carrier Deck here and can't afford to have the player mess around the parking spots and the missions all at the same time. That's why, four years later, when the topic came back to our attention, we went for something else which, just 15 days ago, looked like that:
Just a few days later, it had turned into this
And then... Into this
Gotta say, these were 14 very busy days. In its final form, the Ouija screen allows you to check quickly and simply in an overlay window the current status of each and every aircraft aboard a given carrier (and potentially within an airbase too). It will show you all the planes in different shades of color depending on their status (whether they are unassigned, assigned to a mission, ready to go, etc...), will tell you which one is going where, and allow you to visualize the flight deck as it is in the process of being reorganized for the next phase. You will be allowed to swap aircraft between the hangar floor and the storage area (a.k.a. the space overhead in an American carrier) where spare aircraft are stored. These will require time to be assembled. Same with the aircraft undergoing maintenance and repairs, which will have their own little icon depending on their current status. As you can see, there's more to come, but it's taking shape.
Now that the system is undergoing stress testing with the utmost number of aircraft would could expect to see aboard a Yorktown class carrier (based on the actual data we had from the historical battles, especially at Santa Cruz where Hornet and Enterprise were packed at full capacity), we are relieved to see that everything seems to be going according to the plans, give or take a few little issues. It is, at the end of the day, an efficient AI-based solution to our needs, although it certainly doesn't have the brains to replace the wits of a creative human deck officer. And believe us, it is not because we don't think you'd have the needed smarts either, but it's quite a specialized job to manage all this, and it deserves its own game. Perhaps someday, who knows? Not on the menu just yet though, and until then it's for your own good. Let's see how well you behave as a Flag officer first, and only then will we see if we can recycle your talent into some actual job...! :P
That's all for today Folks! As always, if you aren't too fond of Discord, Facebook, Twitter or else, don't forget that we have a mailing list here specifically made so as to keep you updated of all our Steam updates and other announcements which might be big enough to deserve a special treatment. Click on the pic below to access the form.
Cheers & see you for our next update!
The Task Force Admiral team.
