From our president Xoom:
BMBM and Mkw are working on the artwork of the Wellington, turning the proverbial wrenches to get the construction solid and updating the textures, polys and everything in between. Today we'd like to show you a bit more of the exterior and continue to mention that this vehicle is a high priority item for CRS to get completed along with the Ju88 for the German forces (which needs a flight model next). The Production team at CRS is finalizing some bits and pieces for a pretty significant release coming soon (sorry, had to do it) focusing on implementing Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs). Reminder: All of your subscriptions to WWII Online go to support developments like these and keep services operation, please consider subscribing for only $9.99/month
ALLIED WELLINGTON BOMBER
We've been asked why we've focused on the Wellington as the Allied bomber, and we wanted to let you know we've selected this because not only is it going to be available throughout the entire war, but because it directly competes with the Luftwaffe's Heinkel 111. Much like why we're adding the Ju88 to the Luftwaffe to compete with the A-20 / Boston / Db7, etc. Our objective has been to fill in some gaps in game play and level the playing field a bit more - not perfectly, but certainly giving the same opportunity to each side. When this option exists, CRS will work to achieve it, though perfect parity is unlikely to exist, hopefully you can see through this initiative our intent to do so.
As we announced in our recent Rat Chat in October, it is our intent (and we are presently on schedule) to get both the Ju88 and the Wellington out before 2021 concludes. That being said if our APC release has shown us anything sometimes things take a little longer than expected, even when we add some additional artists onboard to help supplement those efforts.
One thing remains sure is that the WWII Online player base has made their request clear: We want these as soon as possible, but we want them READY and FUNCTIONAL. We couldn't agree more and we're going to stay accountable to you and continue to mention these things and stress that our team had advanced their knowledge of the inner workings of these newer vehicles, which can be verified by a continuing to increase the complexity of assets introduced. That said your grace and patience has been noticed and we want to thank you for continuing to support the cause. Can't say it enough, if we say we're going to do something we intend to deliver on that.
Please note that the following images are a work in progress, only designed to demonstrate effort taking place, not a final product.
Here's a birds eye shot of the Wellington. Hope you like the paint job!
In case you were wondering if the Wellington Bomber could be multi crewed, the answer is YES! If you're being an astute observer you'll also notice that this aircraft has our first true tail gun position.
Fun Fact: Tail Gunners were routinely trained to call the locations of targets in reverse to their positions so the Pilot / crew facing forward could instantly know what the tail gunner meant. I wonder what sort of struggle that posed later in life. Your military left! Dude, that was my military left!