Ramble on tanks, armor and other stuff...

[[TW]Wilsonam]

Ok, its half time in the Ireland-England game - 17-3 to Ireland. Abysmal. But enough of my problems!

Been another busy week, of course. Usual mad bunch of stuff going on. Helping finish up voice sripts for the in-game voice, due for recording shortly. Thanks to Tony and Chris for bits of language checking. Bill has been piling in the work on this one - we think you'll enjoy the end result - far more voice stuff than we've done before. And not on single mention of "dosh".

But my favorite of the week has been getting the armor penetration system into place. Well, I don't do the nasty codey stuff. Haven't writen a line of code in about 20 years - John is picking up the code on this piece. Probably helps that both of us are tread-heads...

So, for the tread-heads amongst us (the rest of you can gloss over this, if I go on too much)... I was re-re-working some of the mechanics and math involved earlier in the week, plus dredging up the data to go in place. Huge thanks by the way to a bunch of people off the forums who have helped provide data and expertise on this over the last couple of years - Jeff Duquette for one. Amizaur for another (we learnt to agree somewhere along the line). John and I were test-firing, using an anti-tank rifle against bits of the Panzer IV yesterday. The in-game math is bang on with the spreadsheet calcs and it actually all makes sense.

I had to go back to the research for more data, as John has the Panzer IV set up with some scary number of armor plates fully identified to the engine and I had to go back and flesh some data out. On which - why can't the sources agree on the armor thickness of the hull side overhangs? 8mm? 10mm 12mm? Whatever - thin, high-hardness armor plate - make an interesting weak point, if anyone can get a shot on it.

And which data on plate hardness do you take? The German steel specifications are one thing - but, according to British tests, they didn't always achieve them. But (again), the British tests were done using the Poldi test for hardness, which isn't perfectly reliable.

And yes - this does mean that plate hardness is in the calcs. Along with the round hardness and quality. The quality of the armor plate, as well as the obvious stuff like thickness and angle. Comparison with the test plate used to achieve the penetration data. The ogive shape makes a notable difference too (go look up "ogive" ). Face-hardening of plate, thinner high-hardness armor, overmatch, round shatter criteria, spalling. And the end result is probablistic - well, for those tricky "maybe" results. Running the test cases, the German 75 mm L/43 vs. the T-34 front glacis is an interesting one - NOT a good shot for the Germans to take as the Pz.Gr.39 doesn't handle heavily sloped armor well. Shoot for the turret front instead! All in all, many miles ahead of anything we achieved with RO1.

What else this week? More thoughts about possible future fun events on Killing Floor. A number of ideas bouncing around for when we get a little bit more time. And I still love "Stigging Floor". We need a special voice pack for The Stig. Should be an easy one to produce - deathly silence

One we haven't spoken about for a while - Dwarfs?! About to get some final passing in house, as well as from the guys in Sweden. For those who saw it at PAX last fall, it has expanded a fair bit!

Back on RO2, we were starting to stress-test the vehicle AI in the Friday play-test. That should be quite a world removed frmo the old days, as that all gets finished up. In one of those bizarre moments (that WON'T happen in the final version), I got shot out of the gunner position and the camera somehow got stuck, presumably where my head finished up - on the floor of the turret basket. So I got to see the AI hull gunner crawling through to take up the gunner position, which was kinda wierd. Scary too - the AI are now trained to prioritize crewed positions in each vehicle.

Now - back to the game. If I can take watching the Irish trash England. I have no hopes for the upcoming Rugby World Cup. I think the southern nations (SA, NZ, Aus) are going to trash the Europeans. Bugger.

[hockeywarrior]

Wow good information! The rivet counters have been appeased and no longer require a blood sacrifice!







... for now.

[The Masta]

Originally Posted by [TW]Wilsonam

And not on single mention of "dosh".

Awww

[Killer9999]

was a horrid rugby match to watch but this post cheered me up thanks alan

[Ralfst3r]

The tank calculations sound rediculously complex, I love it

[Dogfacboy]

Great read, lots of info!!

[XDC nOm]

Great read, not a tanker myself (maybe change a letter and your spot on) but sounds impressive, look forward to the next instalment

[Alexander Ostmann]

Great info. It sounds like tanking will be awesome. Please keep doing these updates! I and I'm sure everyone else really appreciate it!

[Freezy]

nice read, i don't play with the vehicles very often, but i guess the tankers will be really happy about this rather complex sounding realism addition.

[heady89]

excellent

[Private Who?]

thank you for these updates Wilson, they mean a lot to us!

[Witzig]

Love the part with the AIs switching Positions .

[Actin]

I want dosh...
But I guess that 'stick it where the sun don't bloody shines' does make it in RO2?

[Darrosquall]

Originally Posted by [TW]Wilsonam

But my favorite of the week has been getting the armor penetration system into place.[....]

what you've said seems "awesome111!1!11Terrific111!11". it cannot be, ti cannot be

[Alvin Fuchs]

Great to hear. Thanks.

Originally Posted by [TW]Wilsonam

...(go look up "ogive" )...

If one must look it up...no IS-2 for them.

I sent Zetsumei some info on suppression effectiveness and psychology you might find interesting, he'd had no luck finding such. If you are interested, PM me I'll give you my dropbox link to it.

Thanks for the informative post.

[Jamail]

As long as I get to deposit “gift bags” onto the engine deck …

[Unterscharfuhrer]

Friday play-test sound like more fun than it´s actually is I guess

[fiftyone]

No shells whizzing through the soft spot for Game2 it seems.
Nice read and very informative, thanks.

[Floyd]

Don't fret the tank stuff too much. I'm sure there are those who will be happy to point out what you've done 'wrong'. Now whether or not they have the know-how to 'fix' it for you is ??....

Nice read. The frozen camera sounded epic!