Looks really good! And so great to see the UI taking shape, was hard to picture how you’d actually ‘play’ the game before.
Curious if you’ve made any decisions on how realistic the ‘realistic’ setting will be regarding American torpedos.
Haven’t read much about the Pacific in a while but I am currently reading the Ian Toll trilogy. I forgot just how absolutely terrible they were. I don’t know if I’d have it in me to play if they really worked (or didn’t work) like they did!
Hello guys; Thanks for the kind words.
As for the torpedoes, whether they’re Mk13s, Mk14s or Mk15s, they all have their dud rates. We’ll innovate probably by making sure that the 42-era Mk13 mod 1 in particular has several checks to pass to even run true (even when launching it within the right parameters would hardly guarantee a proper run). Getting a Mk13 mod 1 to run at all will not be impossible though, but requires specific conditions, and a strict adherence to said parameters (as showed by the bad incident against Porter or the death of Hiei, they can run true and explode when you’re on a milk run). Mostly though I wouldn’t expect the player to make a lot of hits using them, but even then the bombers that launch them serve a purpose. Beside dividing the CAP between a very low and a high altitude when employed together with SBDs, they also force the target to react to their approach. It means that you get some of the advantages of a torpedo attack (aka a steady target running in a given direction) even with a failed pincer attack, whether your torpedo is a thing or not.
The failure rates are device-relevant, so for instance, the same curses would not apply to the Mod 0. which has proven itself somewhat reliable up until Coral Sea when the last supply was apparently expended.
As for difficulty, realistic weapon dud rates will be a separate difficulty switch. You either have them flawless or not I’d say. Could also try to go for an intermediate setting, but of course this would have to apply to all the weapons, not just the Mk13 or even the US torpedoes…!
Cheers 
Thanks for the info, great to hear how much detail you all are putting into the game!
Hello there guys!
The usual monthly dope is online. Nothing too new for those who follow us closely as always, but there might be a few surprises… Progress is palpable, hope you’ll feel the same!
Cheers & take care
Man the air attacks are stunning to watch.
Hi there Gentlemen!
Hope you’re all doing fine after a happy evening spent with your loved ones. Our newest update kicked in yesterday, if you’re wondering what do to of your free time today, there you go!
Allow me to wish you all along with all your loved ones a fantastic, healthy & happy 2023. Cheers all !
Added a bunch of dirty small updates over the last few days. Hope you’ll enjoy the visuals & the sound too… 
https://twitter.com/DrydockDreams/status/1613177469972152321
So the rational, mature adult part of me knows that there’s more to making a pacific combat flight sim than ‘just’ adding cockpits, ai comms and some mission/campaign screens, but…
Couldn’t you just add cockpits, ai comms and some mission/campaign screens and make a combat flight sim?
What’s Jason up to over there anyway?
Mostly just kidding, but when you see all the work that’s already gone into this, it’s hard not to wonder if down the road the engine (for lack of a better word) can’t be used/expanded for something? I mean you’ve got AI planes dogfighting, dive bombing, torpedo bombing, taking off/landing on carriers, which I’m sure was no small feat. There’s presumably some kind of fast time acceleration to cover those big distances, that air plot screen shows you keeping track of aircraft strength, maintenance, etc. Pilots injured/killed are being kept tracked of, different types of missions are generated, more I probably haven’t thought of.
Anyway just curious, and good luck with everything -
Hello Speck
Sorry, I did not get a notification, or I’ve missed it… My fault.
Anyway, our engine, if fine for this use at a larger scale, isn’t exactly necessarily by now the best pick for something that would end up cockpit-based if this was to go challenge Il-2, DCS & the like on their territory. Besides the obviously superb work the teams over there accomplish, we just went our own way and it also means that adding cockpits now, although certainly not impossible & much contemplated down the line, would still make it a Battlestations-like ++, but nothing close to an actual simulation, the way contemporary simmers see them. I for one would love a remake of Pacific Air War with an equivalent albeit updated level of depth, but I don’t know if there are people out there for that kind of gameplay anymore. That could be done. But we only have so much time, so many people. There are many ways we could go. For instance, a WW2 carrier-deck like with squadron management, or like mentioned above a Battlestations-like. And as we grow in terms of scope, we’ll get to a point where we’ll touch Uncommon Valor or PTO territory. The issue with all these is that they are all extremely yet equally interesting to a person like me, as a longtime player & rookie designer alike. For now we’ll just focus on what’s ahead and make sure that anything that comes after will rely on very strong foundations at the tactical level. And to answer some of your more technical interrogations, yes currently we support x40 acceleration without issue, we might be able to get it up to 60-64 potentially (which is much needed in a game where scenarios can last several days - an old naval combat related issue you might have experienced since the early days of Harpoon). And yes everything is tracked, and logged, and will be of much interest for further use indeed
As for Jason, you’ll have to ask him directly, because even though I know certain things, and don’t know some others, the only thing I am pretty sure of is that I am not supposed to share anything, be it about his work, B-17 or Sea Power & the likes. They’ll have to speak for themselves I am afraid, when it comes to their respective projects, I am just the guy sharing screenshots 
Sorry again for the belated reply, at any rate 
As an apology, here are some cookies posted over the last couple weeks regarding our updates. Considering I am pretty much playing the prototype every day or so I regularly come across new features being added to the game & all, so the rhythm as of late has been somewhat hectic to say the least 
No problem and thanks for such a long reply!
All makes sense. Just couldn’t help but ask, each update brings those ‘Pacific Air War feelings’. Manual looks to be off to a great start, any chance of a printed one for release?
A while back microprose sent out a survey asking if people would be interested in/pay a little more for manuals; who knows if that became a plan but it would be great.
Of course. A Kickstarter campaign is currently seriously considered for a box edition (old style - aka true style, 1990s style with all the good stuff in it) and as a way to properly handle pre-orders with a twist (aka probably with the possibility to play the stuff as it evolves towards release, including with all-digital offers).
Cheers
I would love to know if there was still interest in a good old EAW/PAW style sim.
It seems like games like War Thunder suggest that there are still those who enjoy the “experience” without all the BIT tests, magneto checks, etc of the hardcore crowd.
I would absolutely play the heck out of a good, fun, Strike Fighters level sim set in the Pacific with the levels of fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes that are evident in some of your videos!
That’s awesome, hope it works out. I’ll keep a spot on the shelf next to Task Force 1942 waiting.
Experimenting with the new padlock function, jumping between friendly aircraft. Also, a question: testing a binocular effect (currently as a mere layer) - would you like to have that pop up like on the video when you zoom, & auto-removed when the interface is hidden for screenshots for instance, or thanks but no thanks?!
Would that improve immersion in any way or it’s not needed?
A compass will show at the top, by the way, so you wouldn’t be guessing your bearing. And as you can see, padlock would work, so you would not have to search manually on the horizon or in the sky if you don’t want to… So, do tell us what you think is best!
https://twitter.com/DrydockDreams/status/1619286776337821697
Apologies, taking my sweet time to write the January dev update, so in the meantime you get a few extra reels as a token of guilt. Cheers
I’m looking forward to this.
So do we
Thanks for your support.
In other news, our latest spam
It’s live! Our dev update for Task Force Admiral is now (belatedly) online on Steam. This one took its sweet time, but it was worth the wait. 2023 begins with a few hot videos. Thank you for your shares & your likes, it would mean a lot!
Cheers & have a great Sunday all of you!
Hello Muddies!
A few new cookies for these mid-February news. Enjoy!
An update about our damage model
A few unsung heroes
Another batch of silent heroes
And last but not least, a big mamma delivered in a MP4 file for you to make a nice animated wallpaper for your Windows desktop
Here’s the link to the video file proper
As for how to find a proper, clean, free & no nonsense open source animated wallpaper & screensaver software and use it with it, there you go:
If it kinda proves popular, we will probably provide more of these in the future, they will happily complement our static wallpapers after all.
There there. Enjoy your Sunday, all of you. Cheers
We’re getting all geared up for our usual monthly update early next week - until then, a few other goodies - or more like, teasers of things to come. Enjoy!
You’re such a tease.
Please don’t stop it
