Task Force Admiral Summer 2020 Dev Update - Preview (from the beach!)

Hello there Dear Followers,

We have been through Summer without much ado – apart from the usual weekly content on Twitter & Facebook. Therefore, we thought it would be a good idea to post a few clues about our progress on our Steam page before we release an actual bigger Summer update, hopefully by the end of this month. We haven’t sat idle throughout July, no worries about that. As you will see, we kept advancing on all aspects of the game and delivered on some crucial features. Time to keep you entertained with some nice nuggets of interest too!

[h2]Them Dastardly Pilots in their Flying Machines[/h2]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

First of all, a little video feature about what we’ve been trying to achieve when it comes to Artificial Intelligence behavior when it comes to air to air combat. Wasn’t necessarily the easiest thing to implement, but so far so good, we’re pretty happy with the result. Our pixel pilots answer to changes in their tactical situation efficiently. More importantly, sometimes they make subtle or obvious mistakes, and they also take advantage of mistakes others make, making any engagement a random, dynamic outcome. No better way to illustrate this in a Pacific Theater environment than by showcasing the Thach Weave, the emblematic defensive dogfight maneuver named after its creator John S. Thach and used at Midway and Santa Cruz with spectacular results.

[h2]Reefs of Steel in a Coral Sea[/h2]



On other topics, 3D work on the models is proceeding fine. As you can see our Coral Sea battle set is nearly done – it will be our first step towards a fully playable showcase scenario. Any fan of the battle can certainly easily identify the major combatants with a little bit of research – knock yourself out!



Our recreation of historical battles will be without concession: don’t expect any artificial unit limit to break the immersion with a token representation of what the actual order of battle was. Any ship, any plane involved that day will be there for you to command... or to fight.



We also intend to make sure that everybody there is made as accurately as possible. We despise cloning ships, and beyond that many ships went through one or several refits in 1942, with dramatic improvements for some of them (radar, new AA suite, etc…).



Just take HMAS Australia, as an example – here before and after her mid-1942 refits. And that’s just her, as HMAS Canberra will feature too with her own configuration (she went into the war before getting the same refit as her sisters – an interesting case study, by all means!). At the end of the day, research is not so much about aimlessly collecting books and storing them on some dusty rack. What matters is what you do with them.

[h2]Flying Colors[/h2]



The air is getting colorful above the Coral Sea too. Here you can check out a large selection of Zero camos, from the Zuikaku, the Shokaku, the Shoho and the Tainan air groups. As you can see, we’re making sure that everything looks as authentic as possible down to individual planes. Same with the camo scheme of every ship, of course – which will be customizable in the mission builder from the get-go. That’s how committed to historicity we are - and we sure hope that this game will be played by the kind of audience that appreciates the idea of going the extra mile. The kind that can tell the difference between sincere dedication & canned stuff!



[h2]Please Say Hi to the Lady![/h2]



Finally, our 2D artist is using his free time at the beach between two sunbathes (and two Zero skins...) to progress on the design of our dearest, charming brand ambassador – Taffy!

No worries, she won’t be a character in-game or anything (you can lower the pitchforks now history buffs) but we wanted a kind, appropriate face for our female narrator in a series of small incoming video featurettes, and she will do the job! Her name is a story in itself already, one that carrier fans know and cherish, and we hope that you will be kind enough to accept her friendship and her presence in the larger family of Task Force Admiral.



This isn’t much in regard of what is yet to come, but it’s better than nothing while waiting for the bigger update. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend and, above all, take good care!