Aircraft Damage Model Overhaul!
These new changes outlined are going live as of today with the release of version 1.36.6.0. Significant work has been done to make WWII Online's aircraft damage models more realistic than they have ever been before. The work and level of detail of this task was astonishing. Based on various historical WWII and Post War WWII AC component and survive-ability documents such as AC Aluminum Alloy Studies, Aircraft Vulnerability and Armament Effectiveness Studies, Ammunition vs AC Fuel tank Studies, and other WWII AC damage oriented documentation, the effort to properly calculate, integrate, and then verify "real-world results" tailored around the uniqueness of every airframe component has taken several months of work and multiple rounds of testing to accomplish. Continue reading for more information.
As an example, on most WWII Online airframes, the wings are made up of multiple airfoil components of varying shapes, sizes, and airfoil designs, for each wing segment from root to tip. Up to now, all of those components have shared the same damage levels even though realistically, a much beefier root segment should be able to absorb more damage before failure than an outboard or wing tip section.
There are also new changes with the differences in survive-ability between airframe designs. Previously, the differences in survive-ability between smaller early war airframe designs and their heavier and/or larger mid and later war contemporaries were not very well represented (if at all in some cases), with some airframes like the Bf109E vs the Bf109G series, or the Spit MkI vs the Spit MkIX sharing the same exact damage levels.
No more.
Now, through Scotsman's painstaking WWII AC airframe and component survive-ability studies and its application to our models through base airframe mass and area computations, not only does each component making up a larger airframe structure such as a wing or fuselage group have different damage levels between each other, but they are now noticeably different between the same components among the different series of aircraft in an aircraft type or model. In other words, it takes fewer hits for damage/failure in the airframe components of a 109E than in a 109G, or a Spit MkI vs. a Spit MkIX.
And last but definitely not least... Due to some inconsistencies in some of the models for both fighters and bombers, the fuselage damage to all airframes was not being consistently modeled. In a model that for whatever reason did not have a "breakpoint" in its 3D model between the wings and the empennage (like the Bf110's, DB7/Boston, and the He111), while you could damage the fuselage components to the point of failure making them much more draggy and less aerodynamically efficient, you could never "break" them. Now the fuselages for ALL planes, both Fighters, and Bombers, will "break" when they reach their maximum damage/failure point. In most models like the Bf110's and the majority of the other fighters, you will be able to see the fuselage actually break and the empennage or the parts that make up the empennage depart the aircraft. In some models that still need their 3D fuselage "breakpoints" modeled, while you will not be able to see the fuselage break, you will still see the visual parts making up the empennage depart the aircraft, and in both cases, the flight model components representing the fuselage and the empennage (controlling the flight dynamics) responding in an identical fashion rendering the plane no longer flight-worthy or controllable.
We know that all of our Pilots and AA gunners have been asking for an AC damage review for the longest time... and well, that day has finally come! Special thanks to Scotsman for his painstaking research and component damage level application algorithms, to Hatch and Xoom for the painstaking and laborious implementation into all of the models, and to Oldzeke and the QA team for the extensive testing to make sure it all worked like we thought it should.
We hope you all enjoy it!
Here is the Readme for today's patch
World War II Online
Version 1.36.6.0 - August 2020
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This release consists of many updates and bug fixes.
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Bug Fixes
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- Corrected the Daimler driver to be counted as a critical hit
- Fixed the issue causing vehicle hulks to disappear immediately
- Fixed the problem that allowed 20mm AP rounds to kill Churchill tanks
- Repaired the Sdkfz 7/36 SPAA hitmap to conform with the crew members
- Corrected an issue that was causing propeller spinners to disappear
- Numerous terrain issues and tweaks have been made to correct terrain anomalies
- The riding positions for the Morris has been fixed
- Fixed a clipping issue in four different buildings
- Corrected the issue causing the PaK36 to slide down a hill
- The red ammo counter lights within the 109F2, 109F4 and 109G have been corrected to show for the proper weapons
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Updates
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- All water shaders have been updated to represent better looking water
- Crew members for the M1, 6-Pdr and PaK38 have been updated with newer models
- Updated a bunch of different unit images within the unit selection menu
- Multiple building textures have been updated with higher resolution textures
- The initial game splash screen has been updated to an updated version of the 1.17 style
- The FlaK38 model has been updated to a more realistic model
- The Infantry Field of View (FOV) has been increased in order to allow for better situational awareness
- The sounds for MG17 and MGFF weapons has been updated
- Some grass textures now render more smoothly as you approach them
- The barriers at some rivers has been removed to allow for larger ships to go up rivers
- Chain linked fences near docks have been updated to allow for players to shoot through it
- New bunkers have been added to Dinant, Schilde, Grobbendonk, Leuven, Namur, Verdun, Longwy, Ramet, Tielt and Vlissingen
- Translations have been updated for the recent changes
- The FW190 ammo counters have been updated to show for only cannon weapons
- Updated aircraft component damage levels to better achieve more realistic values and functionality
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New Content
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- Added an "Airbored" picture to a bunker
Campaign 174 Ends - Allies Victorious
After 25 days of hard fought ground the Allies captured 95% of the map and met victory conditions for the win of Campaign 174. In one respect the victory was different than other campaigns as the Allies never captured any of the 4 Axis factory towns. Capturing factory towns reduces the production of weapons and war materials by delaying resupply and usually leads to a more rapid conclusion as the defender loses the ability to match the enemy supply. The allies bypassed the Rotterdam area and drove east well into Germany before driving north and cutting off all remaining northern Axis forces. A risky endeavor as many Axis garrison towns remained in the rear to cause havoc and disruption. In the end, the Allies wrapped it up with huge win. Again congrats to the Allied High Command and the Allied player base. As we know, no two campaigns are alike so get ready for more action soon!
Top Players for Campaign 174
TOP KILLERS:
1. Cptzambie with 2,586 kills with a whopping 4,008 sorties - Great job!
2. Stoy - with 2,585 kills and 2,700 sorties.
3. N8 - with 2,194 kills and 2,046 sorties.
TOP CAPPERS
- Doctorit2 - with 644 captures in 1,352 sorties - Great job!
- Sgthenning with 568 captures and 2,238 sorties.
- D0c7 with 481 captures and 2,020 sorties.
TOP FIGHTER
- Zippy with 346 kills and only 38 deaths - Great job!
- Halsey with 258 kills and only 52 deaths
- Panda1k with 218 kills and 56 deaths.
TOP TRUCKERS
1. Actonman and his 2nd account Actonmaniac logged 504 trucker missions in the last campaign far eclipsing the next highest who is the Allied Commander in Chief (CinC) Jwrona who has 299 trucker missions. A thankless mission and duty but necessary for any side to advance. A reminder, DO YOUR SHARE OF TRUCKING... Tow guns and drive FMS's to targets.
Finally, a hat tip to the Allied FB players. A small of team of them kept most FB's allied for the entire campaign. An under recognized accomplishment so S!
Next Campaign 175
No rest for the weary.... Campaign 175 will start Friday, August 14, 2020 at about 4:30 PM server time (PST). Axis High Command members are meeting by Zoom conference on Thursday evening and the Allied High Command will meet one hour before campaign start on Friday. The senior commands of both sides remain the same. The Axis CinC is Googs and the Allied CinC is Jwrona.
Note a game change for new Campaign:
Side lock timers are changing from 15 minutes to 1 hour. This means if you wish to change sides between missions you will be locked out from one side to the other side for an hour.
S! Cornered Rat Software