Dear Mechanics,
Welcome to our one hundred and sixth development status update.
Further Maus work in progress
We are still working on polishing Maus with better quality. It is taking some more time than we expected but we believe it will be worth it to deliver such a refined vehicle that has never been seen in games.
Changes in Hull Exterior and Hull Interior modules
Being able to get our hands on high quality interior and exterior references, we managed to recreate the behemoth’s hull as well as we could. The exterior is not incredibly detailed by a factor, as most detail is on the top plate of the hull, consisting of a hefty amount of vents for air to go in and out, as well as various armored fluid cap covers. Two antennas are mounted, in case the 128mm cannon folds one, aiming at an enemy.
Standard German headlights and rear position markers are present on the Maus as well. One of the bigger and noticeable elements is the auxiliary fuel tank. If the situation requires it, the fuel tank can be jettisoned by a press of a button. The bottom of the hull includes an evacuation hatch, engine inspection cover, and two transmission inspection covers.
The interior of the hull is divided into 4 sections; driving, engine, fighting, and transmission. The first one has two seats for the driver and radio operator, FuG 5 radio included. An automatic fire extinguishing system and a massive hatch to access the engine are present as well. In the engine sections, as the name suggests, sits the engines, as well as radiators, fans, and various fluid containers. The fighting compartment is mostly taken by the huge generators, covered by armored plates. Rest is filled with the remaining 128mm and 75mm ammunition, ready to be moved to the turret racks when emptied. Batteries, auxiliary generator, and environmental control systems, as well as the majority of MG34 boxes, are present as well. The transmission section includes only the e-motors, reduction gears, and drum brakes.
Changes in Turret Exterior and Turret Interior modules
The turret was not left unattended either, being polished as much as possible. Exterior sports two cannon barrels. 128mm and 75mm, as well as a standard tank-issue MG34, all housed in a hand-smoothed gun mantlet.
The rest of the fixtures are directly intertwining with the interior, such as hatches for the turret crew, two ventilators, periscopes for commander and gunner, and a personal defense grenade launcher, for firing smoke or high-explosive grenades. The Interior itself includes the huge breach, cradle, and return system for the 128mm cannon, as well as its smaller 75mm counterpart.
All crew has seats, lessening the crew fatigue, especially for the loaders. Standard hydraulic turret traverse assisted by the auxiliary motor is present, as well as hydraulic elevation. Under the gun, an air compressor is mounted for various additional features, mounted on a turret floor, with openable hinges. The turret houses 75mm shells on the right of the aforementioned gun, and 128mm shells and cartridges, stored right behind the loaders. Between the 128mm shelves, an ammo hatch with an MP40 ball joint is present
Changes in Wheels module
Maus' sprocket wheels needed some more care, and care did we give them. They have been separated into their respective sections and a drive shaft leading to the reduction gears have been added. The rest of the suspension also received minor improvements, such as correcting suspension arms to a correct pattern and revising the helical springs. Maus' suspension may have not been sophisticated and comfortable like Tiger’s torsion bar system, but due to the armor layout and its immense weight, the mouse needed a suspension that was easier to maintain and eventually fix or replace. Still, its weight and speed rendered the drive very smooth.
Mac OS game version update
We would like to officially announce that we resumed support for the Mac version of the game. We plan to release an updated version of TMS for Mac in near future, which will have all features currently only available for the PC version of the game. We are on the right path, the game runs stable. Here is some footage from an early internal build. The first video shows tanks and vehicles: M20, M8 Greyhound, Little Willie, Vickers E, and PzKpfw II Ausf. C and full extraction mission with Vickers.
Second video presents the Tank Warehouse room.
Paint Schemes
Paint Schemes are custom presets for the Paint Room. Players can set camo, decals, and so on, then save paint configuration to file. It is easy, you can see the entire process in this video:
Maus armament
We had to enhance the config of tanks to allow coaxial guns, such as the Maus have. This also required us to add another key to the game - toggle secondary weapons.
Thanks for all the support and have a good weekend.
DeGenerals
