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Homefront '46

Stephen

Grizzled Veteran
Mar 25, 2011
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So, going by this somewhat impromptu post earlier:


Homefront '46 - the Axis powers have pushed the Allies back to their home shores and are invading the continental United States on both coasts; the Japanese from the Pacific Northwest and the Germans from Chesapeake Bay.

The four playable factions would be Germany, Japan, the United States and the Commonwealth (specifically British and Canadian units depending on the map/theatre).

Obviously the title refers to the recent (and from what I've read, quite poor) game Homefront, but this would be genuinely amazing :)D) and you'd have swarms of Axis troops supported by a relatively meagre number of heavy units such as tanks and aircraft (represented by air strikes).

The Allies would have the advantage in terms of equipment due to the Axis powers' relatively precarious supply lines to and from the Japanese Empire (Japan, Manchuria, Philippines, Dutch East Indies) and Fortress Europe.

This mod would assume that there is still a large-scale naval war ongoing, but obviously the mod itself will only take place in the United States.

So, balance would not be hugely altered from standard WW2 mods such as Darkest Hour, in which you have a larger number of weaker Allied vehicles combating a smaller number of more powerful Axis ones. This balance would remain as a result of the difficulty the Axis powers have in moving their equipment overseas (as mentioned above) whereas the Americans and Canadians/British do not have this problem.

Setting such a mod through the course of a single year - 1946 - means that things can be relatively concise, particularly weaponry and technology.

Well that's it for now, I need to think about this and do lots of research.

Oh, and I need a mod team. :IS2:

...I was just curious what sort of interest there would actually be for such a mod.

I am acutely aware that the majority of the mods proposed in this sub-forum probably won't see the light of day for various reasons. However, I think that this is an interesting and somewhat unique premise, combining as it does both European and Pacific theatre armies and equipment fighting over a selection of maps as varied as Idaho farmland, New Mexico desert and the Bayou.

Clearly it's far easier to think all of this up than it is to bring it to fruition, but given a few years of hard work and talented people coming together in a community spirit I think it could work.

In an ideal scenario we could borrow skins and models from other mods (such as Rising Storm for the the basis of our American and Japanese factions) but whether this would in fact be a possibility I do not know. Nonetheless, I think a reasonable initial goal would be a playable map and a basic set of weapons and skins for one of our new factions; an initial advantage of using a pre-existing faction (Germany) is that we can use TWI's default stuff as place-holders. Obviously there would have been differences in uniform, equipment and weaponry between the troops fighting on the Eastern Front in 1942 and those involved in a possible invasion of North America four years later.

So, for an initial goal - something fairly realistic and 'do-able' we can aim for whilst everyone gets used to the SDK and our possible scope - I think a small map representing a German landing on Newfoundland would be interesting.

I envisage something along the lines of German infantry and support troops being unloaded from a couple of troop ships onto the coast near a small fishing village - the focus of the map, and the Axis objective. The Allies would be the local British defence volunteers; essentially a small platoon of 'Tommies' armed with Lee Enfields and Stens, with maybe a couple of PIATs and Lewis guns in a small makeshift armoury by the harbour.

So what you have here is the Axis (virtually unchanged from RO2 at this stage) fighting the Allies over a relatively small area. The Allies must use teamwork and their knowledge of the terrain to defeat the larger Axis force. The only vehicles would be a couple of Panzer IIIs (remember the main invasion is taking place in Chesapeake Bay against the Americans, so the forces attacking Newfoundland have been given whatever equipment was left) which again we can 'use straight out of the box.'

Perhaps the Allies could have some Bren Carriers? If I recall, these are included in RO2 for the Russians, so we need only re-skin them...

Anyway, that is my initial vision for this mod. It would be lovely to think that a few years down the line we have a selection of maps covering both coasts and all four factions, but in the mean time I think a small map and a handful of Commonwealth weapons and skins is plenty to be getting on with.

So, do any of you feel that you share my vision of a RO2 mod? If so, is this about it? Would you be able to contribute something, no matter how small?

I won't leave you with a cheesy tagline - we can think up one of those later. :D

Please e-mail stephen.of.blois [at] gmail [dot] com if you're interested.
 
Wouldn't it be possible to have custom maps with axis vs us or russia vs us etc. Seems like as soon as there is a desire for a non axis vs russia scenario people talk about mods instead of just custom maps. Custom maps can have models etc too ^^.

With customs maps the community does not get split in the same way =).

To me it seems like an idea of a mod should first focus on different features (3D voip anyone??? :p), not different setting.
 
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I know there will be custom maps, but I would like this to be an overall experience. There would be numerous maps eventually (thanks to the US' extremely varied geography) as well as four different factions with their own weapons, equipment and overall styles. So, I think the scope of this mod is larger than a few custom maps.

That said, there's no reason an initial release (as described in the first post) couldn't be a custom map of some sort. :IS2:
 
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ductape3 said:
I personally believe that this game could provide an amazing singleplayer experience with some of the mechanics from the Heroes of Stalingrad videos and gameplay where you have smart enemies, lethal weapons, high recoil weapons (you aren't a trained infantry man, much less a spec ops superman).

A game where you play like an insurgent, sneaking around at night and sabotaging bridges, ammo dumps, and occasionally infiltrating bases to burn the occupiers' barracks while they sleep. Where you set up ambushes against greater numbers but unsuspecting forces. A game where you truly are the underdog, fighting against the superior invader, using inferior technology and weapons, low amounts of ammunition, making IEDs and using your home ground to your advantage.

Maybe that ambush goes wrong and you have to fight your way out and hide. Avoid or fight through the rapidly converging NK troops, running through innocent homes in a desperate attempt to make it to a rallypoint/ safehouse.

I could even think of a couple interesting multiplayer modes. Ambush, checkpoint, and breakout.

In ambush, the NK team has to get a convoy from one side of the map to the other side. The US resistance fighters have to stop them with IEDs, RPGs, and other traps. The NK would get the convoy moving any of 3 or so different roads.

The game has some way of forcing/encouraging the convoy to stay together. My idea was to have AI ammo trucks which have to be escorted by the players. As soon as resistance shots are fired, they gun it to get out of the killzone.

The Resistance would receive a warning as to which road is being taken and then try to set up an ambush along the road rapidly. If the convoy trucks are destroyed or incapacitated completely then the resistance wins, if the convoy gets through NK wins.

Checkpoint would work like DE in CSS. The resistance has to clear out a checkpoint and plant a bomb/steal information from a terminal at the checkpoint. There could even be a variant for 1 flag CTF with an info folder like in TF2

Breakout would work like the hostage rescue in CSS, resistance has to rescue some captured resistance fighters.

DM and Team DM would also work as gametypes

Some ideas that I had from a rant against Homefront a little while back, I'm not sure how far you are planning to mod so the single player stuff probably won't apply, although if any coop was modded, than it might help. I'd love to help if this actually starts happening, but I'm still working on learning how to map and so would probably be pretty useless.

But I fully support a mod like this.

Also, take a look at the insurgency gametype from Project reality. That I think would work really well in this mod as well.
 
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Well of course it all depends on how easy it is to mod the game and who volunteers to help. I can't do any of this on my own - at least not without substantial tuition.

A successful mod team is usually one or two really dedicated people and a few people who contribute. If you believe in your idea strongly enough you should put yourself in the first group. There are a ton of resources out there for those willing to learn, also the UDK is free and a good place to start.
 
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Sounds Interesting :)

I am really looking to get back into modding.

I am a level designer/Asset Creator and Character Modeler.

I use Blender and 3ds Max 2011 for my Character Modeling/Rigging.

If you have any questions please contact me via PM and I will setup some form of communication with you. :)

I also have a question: How the Japanese could get through US naval Defenses at Pearl harbor unless they destroyed our aircraft carriers and entire pacific fleet.

OR

If our forces were pushed back from the Landing Beaches in Normandy.

The US would have to worry about Both The Expansionist Japan and Nazi Germany.

But if that was the case. The Coast Guard would have been scrambled as would have the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets to protect vital assets and territories to the United States.

These Assets would Include Midway Atoll (Due to it is in striking distance of pearl Harbor)

Pearl Harbor (Due to Pearl Harbor is in Striking Distance of San Fransisco)

Once again these are just thoughts.
 
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Thanks a lot for your interest, HeadClot. Much appreciated!

I have yet to write a full introduction regarding the hows and whys of the mod's background, though I intend to have a crack at this on the weekend. I also need to see about getting some web space, but I have a guy in mind for this.

Your modelling skills could be quite invaluable to us, so if you're genuinely willing to get back into the old modding game that would be absolutely fantastic - I hope and pray you decide to attach yourself to our little project. :)

As I said in the OP, there's so much to do so we have to start out with modest, achievable aims. What I'd like initially is Commonwealth skins for the various classes (whatever they end up being at release, but you know what I mean - rifleman, elite rifleman, sniper, engineer, etc.) and a model and skin for the Lee Enfield rifle (probably the No. 4 Mk I*, but this is open for debate), Sten gun (Mark V) and Lewis gun.

So, the bare minimum really, but obviously there's a map to create and test as well...

Once again I thank you for your interest, and please pass us on to anyone else you think may be interested. We need all the help we can get, and if you'd be so good as to try and teach me how to model then that'd be a bonus. :D

:IS2:
 
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I live and grew up in Newfoundland - I've lived in our capital St. John's, and currently reside in a small town some 15 minutes away called Pouch Cove, that claims to be "The First To See The Sun", as one of the most easterly points of the province. I'm all for seeing a map set in Newfoundland, and I'm willing to look it over and offer suggestions should it ever be made.
 
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