Dear friends,
Today we’re releasing another update, 4.602, that brings to you two new aircraft at once. British Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib is the first and it is available in Battle of Normandy Early Access now - this powerful, fast and heavily armed machine could handle a variety of combat missions. New tactical numbers and dynamic impact marks technologies already work for it and it has a wide array of modifications - another engine, propeller, gunsight, additional armor and dust filter.
The second star of the day is the late Great War German monoplane Fokker D.VIII, which also supports the new tactical numbers and hit marks technologies. Having the same engine as Fokker Dr.I triplane, but a much better aerodynamical profile, resulted in a significant boost in combat characteristics. The only wing of this airplane had an unusual design for its time - it had load-carrying skin made of plywood instead of fabric. Being a late war plane, Fokker D.VIII could be equipped with Oigee collimator gunsight and was armed with two 7.92 mm LMG 08/15 Spandau. It is now available to all owners of Flying Circus Vol.II.
Moreover, there are 20 new AI-controlled objects added in this update - they were developed for the Battle of Normandy. They are British in origin mostly, but there are additions for the US and Germany as well. Some of them are new types in our project - radars and reinforced concrete bunkers.
In addition to all that, 4.602 addresses a lot of things - many graphical and audio effects are improved, there are several fixes for aircraft and ground vehicles AI, a significant improvement in ballistics, etc. The detailed change list follows:
Main features
1. Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib fighter-bomber is now available to all owners of the Battle for Normandy;
2. Fokker D.VIII monoplane is now available to all owners of the Flying Circus Vol.II;
3. American paratroopers have been added to the project and can be dropped from C-47. The corresponding missions will be added to the Career mode later;
4. New graphical effects for various armor-piercing shell and bullet impacts added;
5. Improved graphical effects of burning ground vehicles and balloons added;
Aircraft changes
6. Fixed “jaggedness” of some shadow edges in cockpits;
7. Restored canopy glass sun effects;
8. Single AI plane takeoff fixed (in some cases the takeoff run was delayed for too much);
9. Aircraft AI bug fixed which could cause it to ignore points of the airfield taxiway;
10. Fixed visibility of P-51D-15, P-38J-15, Ju-52, He-111H-6, B-25D, Il-2-42 and Il-2-43 at distances over 1 km (they appeared smaller relative to other aircraft);
11. P-51D-15 weapons and chassis can be damaged by collisions;
12. Missing luminescent illumination on the watch bezel in Bf 109 K-4 cockpit added;
13. Pe-2 series 35 propellers won’t visibly disappear at medium distances;
14. Hurricane landing lights won’t visibly disappear at medium distances, creating holes in their niches;
15. Bristol Fighter's Lewis machine gun casings ejection location has been corrected;
Player controllable vehicles changes
16. Pz.VI commander cupola wall armor thickness has been corrected (it was doubled before);
17. 72-K AAA: an incorrect operation of the automatic gunsight kinematics at intermediate elevation angles has been corrected (with zero corrections the sight axis appeared much higher than the barrel axis);
18. 72-K AAA: technochat messages will correctly appear in multiplayer for other players that joined its crew;
Career mode changes
19. The player can join new squadrons: 587 BAP in Stalingrad and Kuban careers and 46 GNBAP in Kuban career;
20. New targets for "Railway junction air strike" and "Railway junction bombing strike" mission types added in Rhineland career (Bodenplatte): Antwerp, Liege, Mainz, Frankfurt, Bonn, Cologne, Duisburg, Bruxelles, Charleroi, Dusseldorf, Munster, Koblenz, Eindhoven, Tilburg, Nijmegen, Essen, Enschede, Hengelo and Osnabruck railyards;
21. Typhoon Mk.Ib added to Rhineland Career mode: No. 175 Squadron RAF, No. 197 Squadron RAF, No. 247 (China British) Squadron RAF, No. 440 Squadron RCAF, No. 609 (West Riding) Squadron RAF and 16 more AI squadrons;
22. Formerly AI-only 587th BAP in Stalingrad Career can be joined by the player;
23. Formerly AI-only 587th BAP and 46th GNBAP in Kuban Career can be joined by the player;
AI-controlled objects changes
24. Simple AI ground vehicles correctly leave trails on unpaved airfields;
25. Simple AI wheeled vehicles correctly collide with static objects;
26. Simple AI tracked vehicles won’t make too sharp turns;
27. Sd.Kfz 251 1C half-track correctly leaves a trail;
28. The antenna of the airfield locator beacon now always stands vertically, regardless of the surface slope;
29. 10.5 cm Flak 38/39 anti-aircraft gun has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
30. QF 3.7-inch AA anti-aircraft gun has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
31. 40 mm Bofors L60 rapid-fire anti-aircraft gun has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
32. 3,7 cm FlaK 43 rapid-fire anti-aircraft gun has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
33. Ordnance QF 17-pounder anti-tank gun has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
34. BL 5.5-inch gun has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
35. Bren Mk.I machine gun in two variations (for firing at ground and air targets) has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
36. AMES Type 7 mobile radar station has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
37. SCR-584 mobile radar station has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
38. FuSE-65 Würzburg-Riese stationary radar station has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
39. British 150 cm anti-aircraft searchlight has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
40. M1-VLA low-altitude balloon has been added for the Battle of Normandy (for now it can’t be bind to a ship);
41. M3A1 half-track has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
42. Sd.Kfz. 222 armored car has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
43. Dodge WC-54 ambulance has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
44. Austin K2 / Y ambulance has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
45. H 634 machine-gun pillbox has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
46. H 630 concrete machine-gun pillbox has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
47. H 272 concrete gun pillbox has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
48. Batterie Todt concrete heavy artillery bunker has been added for the Battle of Normandy;
Other changes
49. Enemy aircraft that appear in AAA QMB during winter should have a corresponding winter skin;
50. Missing preview images added for various objects in the mission editor;
51. Ballistics of bullets, shells, bombs and rockets now take into account the decrease of the air density with altitude;
52. Heavy anti-aircraft artillery ballistics were corrected;
53. Heavy artillery ballistics were corrected (at large distances the flight time and the height of the projectile trajectory correspond to the barrel elevation angle quite accurately);
54. In multiplayer, the jittery turning animation of gunners was corrected.