New S^3 Mod "All Uniforms" in development (feedback is welcome)

[Fishmachine]

Welcome back Blunter!

Sorry for your loss, but it's nice to see that you're back in the saddle.

You're doing an awesome work and I plan to test the new version of your mod shortly.

[BlunterII]

Thank you for the information about vanilla behaviour, Blunter.

 

No problem. Generally, the enemy AI does a decent job attacking, hiding, flanking, etc. One big problem I ran into was AI’s complete lack of group cooperation and attack coordination between units. It can partially be corrected through scripts and creation of temporary groups but... I wish it was already present as a default routine.

 

About grenades.

 

There are acually two wishes I have.

 

The first one is PK-related and something I would really like to see. The vanilla-heavy grenades were dedicated anti-tank weapons in the real world, so I would like to see greatly increased penetration to do justice to a bomb that was designed to knock out a full size tank. Acompanying this would be a slight increase in damage and a decrease in blast radius (shaped charges anyone?). Well, and the original throwing range would need to come back to retain a fighting chance for the PK.

 

I can certainly do that. Heavy grenades need to be more potent and have their own hierarchy.

 

That is related to my second wish, which relates to the plight of a grenadier - namely the superfluousness of the class. In vanilla the grenadier had his spot as the class to use medium grenades on a regular basis and replacing him was a real decision. Now anyone can grenade effectively and the already tenuous effectivity of the class dropped to zero. Other classes contribute just so much more to the team, that the exchange of the grenadier for say a second sniper or soldier is a total no-brainer.

 

I am not sure if grenadiers have ever been that popular at all, IIRC. I don’t recall ever picking them as my hero character (used soldiers, snipers scouts, even medics). Snipers were probably the most 'abused'/exploited class. My goal is to make every class useful and unique. During my tests I didn't really notice other classes using grenades ‘effectively’. Yes, they can now throw them farther instead of dropping them in front of the party blowing themselves up (vanilla system), but their accuracy and grenade timing are usually rather poor compared to grenadier's… and 20 APs for a grenade flying off into the wilderness is somewhat ‘expensive’ compared to grenadier’s 15.

There are several factors that come into play when calculating the effectiveness of grenade use:

- the weight of the grenade (I reduced it by 50%, at LT.'s request.) It can be readjusted, of course.

- the unit's throwing skill (I reduced it for almost all classes. Grenadier's got a small boost.)

- Grenade timing, accuracy perks and ‘cheap throw’ (15 Aps instead of 20) - greatly increase the effectiveness of grenades and can only be found in Grenadier's perk tree.

 

Also, grenadiers are now the only ones who have the highest IC (Evasion) and VP values out of all the classes.

In vanilla their Evasion was much lower than soldier's and, frankly, they didn't have enough grenades in vanilla S^2 or S^3 to take full advantage of grenadier's abilities. (Now you might run into encounters where every other enemy might be carrying a grenade… with a chance to use them).

 

 

This is why I would like to see the return of the medium grenade.

 

Concluding I´d like to add that I read the original posts about the introduction of your new system, so I know you are working with limitations and as I remember the thread I am probably the only one who liked the harsh vanilla feel, so I will be content if you leave the grenades as they are now and concentrate on other good stuffs. That won´t keep me from bringing this up from time to time, but now you know what I mean.

 

Well, I think you brought up some good points about heavy grenades. I'll try to address those for sure (and possibly increase their weight a bit.)

Which grenades do you consider 'medium'? M24s, M34s?

 

By now I have played the first mission and (as was to be expected) I have a few remarks.

When Vera says "pushed into the river" that struck me as odd. I would have expected thrown or dumped, but that may be my limited english, so nothing important.

 

Good catch, I'll need to change that.

 

When the comrade Lt.Colonel lights his cigarette he only goes through the motions, but no actual cig shows up - is this related to Hollywood´s anti-smoking campaign, wherein they retroactively cut scenes that show the hero smoking or drinking?

 

That's a vanilla smoking animation. I can't do anything about it.

 

The pub is a great map for the kind of fight that takes place, lots of corners, the open hall in the center, the lone smuggler´s sniper in the bushes. It shows how much you enjoy setting this up.

 

Yes, it was a lot of fun.

 

After the three way fight (which was not so much difficult, but terribly anxious - At first I did not dare shoot much at the Grimm Bandits, because they were all that kept Danilov alive during the smuggler´s onslaught. Well done.), when I interrogate Danilov he says:

"You heard Linz...".

How does he know? At that time I am still hidden in the darkness on the other side of the road.

 

Thanks tofu.

“…you heard Linz…” was a dialog shortcut… I didn’t want to retell the whole story all over again.

 

Along comes my real gripe: In the outcome my decision as an independent operator would be to detain the couple and drop the harsh decisions in Mikhalev´s lap. Precisely because nothing is certain and everything is different from what it looks at that point I would keep them both alive and within my grasp, after all I have them in my power already - no reason to do something as rash as letting them go or killing them.

Changing this might throw a major wrench into the plot as it currently is (I did not read too much of it yet), but I think it needs to be changed. Maybe there are ways to bring the plot back on track after this.

 

Hmm… Danilov is not Mikhalev’s primary target. Getting him back in shackles could have blown… errr… I’ll let you finish the intro – missions before discussing this further.

 

The phone call in the cut scene is a nice touch .

 

There’ll be more of those...

 

 

My thoughts on Bernau were in the direction of a random encounter (save an ex-nazi, now good communist functionary from abduction by vicious israelis?), but a find like that surely could be turned into a full twist, if you so desire.

 

I am unlikely to do it myself, but if you are willing to write it out.

Camera descriptions

Dialogs

RPG items

Objectives

Opposition

Etc.

 

I’ll put it together.

 

That´s all for now. Expect more as I play the other missions one at a time.

 

 

tofudog

 

Thank you for testing it.

_______________________________________________

 

Welcome back Blunter!

Sorry for your loss, but it's nice to see that you're back in the saddle.

You're doing an awesome work and I plan to test the new version of your mod shortly.

 

Thank you Fishmachine.

 

 

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To be continued

 

~ Blunter ~

[tofudog]

Hej Blunter,

 

as you reacted so positively to my grenade-wishes, I thought it would be worthwhile to do some actual research into the real world (or at least its wiki-based approximation).

 

So far I have indeed found three tiers of grenades. The 200gram Breda/SRCM.35 (the Breda was replaced by the SRCM in the italian army) as light class (up to 300g for the Mk3A1), the 500-800gram (F1: 570, M24 and Mk2:595, 36M: 765) range as mediums and the 1.2-1.4 kg class as heavies (PWM, RPG series).

I have not checked every individual grenade, but asof now I am reasonably sure, that Nival did their homework, concerning the weights.

 

The bulk is something else entirely. The wikipedia explicitly states, that the M24 with its wooden handle could be thrown a lot farther than its round counterparts, but due to its bulk fewer of them could be carried by a single soldier.

So for fine-tuning maybe the M24 ought to retain light status, but it should be at least as big as the other mediums.

Same goes for the PWM, which was the same size as its russian counterparts.

 

As S3 lacks a mechanic for "throw and cover" there is no point in even attempting to model the real effect of a handgrenade. But nevertheless, here are some numbers and facts I have come across, which might convince you to rethink grenades:

 

The grooves on the outside do NOT aid fragmentation. Post-war grenades have grooves on the inside. Those actually do aid fragmentation. Grooves on the outside only improve grip while throwing - which is not half bad actually.

 

Fuse time varied from one grenade to the next - you could never be entirely sure when your bomb would go off.

Even today, the marine handbook advises against "cooking off".

 

WW2 vintage frag grenades could not be safely thrown without some cover for yourself and your comrades - the official US-army style grenade-throw is accompanied by a loud yell of: "Frag out!" for this reason.

The only numbers I found are those for the modern M67 grenade: wounding radius 15 meter "half that of older style grenades".

 

Concussion grenades are a different proposition altogether. We know the story: no heavy fragmentation casing. But that still leaves a certain risk of encountering minor parts, that are projected up to 200 meters (same as frags).

Granted, the risk is low, but shit happens.

 

The heavies then were real tricky beasts. Except the RPG 40 (which essentially was just a 1.2 kg thrown bomb (trust a russian to make it simple and strong)) they were shaped charges and had to hit their target as close as possible to 90 gegrees and hard enough to ignite them (watch it here, we are dealing with impact triggers again).

Which was no easy task in the heat of battle, even with all the tricks from fins to teensy dragging parachutes that were used to make the grenadiers life easier.

In normal circumstances, these weapons were only issued to specially trained troops as a result. And to Strafbattallions.

 

The Japanese took that concept to its extreme, with a pole-mounted warhead, which was delivered just like an ancient spear-charge, running into the target. This warhead was even stronger than its thrown counterpart and virtually guaranteed a tank kill.

It also utterly annihilated its user.

 

Returning to the S3 version of reality, vanilla conveys that feel of high-risk, high-reward that comes with using grenades.

With throwing ranges of about up to 15 meters for the 36m, or 24 meters for the M24 (another source says 50% more than the 36m, which would be 22 meters) you are at 1/3 to 1/2 of effective pistol range (50 meters), which is pretty much at your feet, given the reduction in range that the pistol went through.

 

And yes, I too never considered a grenadier for main hero, you may know why . Small correction: Scouts have the throw-cost reduction too. In their case it applies to ANY thrown weapon.

 

 

 

My playthrough of 2.4 is currently stalled, because I had a crash just after killing the bandit boss (Linden map) and I have yet to man up enough to replay the scenario. This crash was my first ever, when playing Sentinels, so I thought I´d report it, in case it was 2.4 related - no further evidence yet.

But the changes you did! Wow. This map just has become dangerous. Dani was running back and forth between Dust and Bruiser, because they would not duck. While the others were just desperately picking off the closest enemies. Had I not waited for "every hit is critical", I guess they would have swamped me. As it was Zinaida with her submachinegun was my saving grace on the zombie waves through numerous "AP-reduction" hits.

 

Also Sting did not fire even a single shot. She sometimes remarked about an enemy she saw, but no action beyond that. None whatsoever.

 

I expected, that taking Danilov alive would throw a wrench in your plot, but still - at that point with the things I don´t know at the time, detaining him is (for me) the only real option.

 

Closing todays wall of text you might want to visit youtube searching for Lahti L39 - which was a homebrewed finnish 20mm anti-tank gun, different versions of it under 50 kg, so if you ever find a way to import models, this would be my current favorite candidate.

 

Have a nice day (for me its time to go to bed)

 

tofudog

[malthaussen]

Ah, that clears up the confusion for me, Blunter. I had thought the Uniform mod was separate from Bluntermod. So there is no current version of the Uniform mod that does not contain the 2.4 mod extra content? Have you compiled a Readme that enumerates the changes 2.4 makes to vanilla?

 

As for uniforms without packs, favorite would be male/female versions of axis and allied Scout and Grenadier, and m/f Axis Engineer. So long as the female versions can use the character heads and not a wig. Seeing Elf with a black bun is just wrong.

 

-- Mal

[BlunterII]

All right, My family and I are slowly making our way back to California. Made it through New York (visited Niagara falls), Pennsylvania, Ohio (survived a terrible rainstorm) today, stopped in Indiana for the night. Driving ~ 700 - 800 miles a day definitely takes its toll... Talk about tolls... those toll roads on the East Coast can get pretty expensive (I-80 and I-90)... One word: state sponsored highway robbery.

____________________________________________

 

Tofu,

 

I need to think about grenade 'fine-tuning'. The changes, the balance, the skill dependence... maybe even sub-hierarchy within the three grenade sub-types. 'Better' ones (with more fragments, more damage, more severe concussion, wider AE etc.) could be slightly heavier, more rare...

You see, for me, reversing grenades to vanilla ranges would mean - not using them again. I don't think I'd want to do that. Perhaps we can find some middle ground here... hmm...

 

I am glad you liked the difficulty change in "Castle Linden" RE.

 

The random "Linden" crash, you encountered, is most definitely related to the mod. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't... It's been around ever since I introduced that map. I'm pretty sure it's the script. When I get back I'll go through it with a fine tooth comb.

I thought I fixed Sting...darn!

 

Danilov: the whole split hinges on (1)Dan Good Alive, (2)Dan Good Dead, (3)Dan Bad Alive, (4)Dan Bad Dead.

1 and 4 lead to "good" consequences, where as 2 and 3 are not so good. Besides, Danilov is not the mole (as you will soon find out), and our task was to establish whether he was responsible for the murders... Maybe I need to clarify the "Counterfeit" objectives better...

 

The Wifi is terrible in these hotels... I'll check out that Lahti L39 when I get home.

_______________________________________

 

malthaussen,

 

I forgot to include the Readme with the 2.4

As for uniforms: I'll make some additional uniforms you mentioned without backpacks and add a red wig to Elf's uniform.

_______________________________________

 

Ok, off to bed for me and mine. There is a whole lot of driving to do tomorrow... Night everyone!

 

_______________________________________

to be continued

 

~ Blunter ~

[Ronin]

Hello everyone! To begin, I would like to express my admiration for this great mod, looking forward to the end of the development of the storyline! I am a longtime fan of SS ^ 2/3 HaS and continue to play this wonderful game. Now a couple of questions:

1) After installing the mod 2.4 I can not open a special encounters in Switzerland (where it is possible to get a mercenary Shadow) and in Germany - bank robbery, if it can be associated with the mod itself? Are there new special encounters in blunter mod?

2) Do you plan to change the introduction to the game time of day type Hammer and Sickle (implemented in Kazaki mod for Sentinels)

3) Mod contains a large number of new models (beautiful models!) Uniforms, any plans to add mod stealth system of Hammer and Sickle, where every type of camouflage give various bonuses to the type of terrain

[BlunterII]

Well, I am still on the move. Indiana >> Illinois >> Minnesota >> South Dakota (visiting Mt. Rushmore tomorrow). About 690 miles all together, woo-hoo!

So far, this trip gave me a bunch of interesting ideas. Perhaps we can make a few missions take place in the U.S. ... just thinking.

-----------------------------------------------

 

Hello everyone! To begin, I would like to express my admiration for this great mod, looking forward to the end of the development of the storyline! I am a longtime fan of SS ^ 2/3 HaS and continue to play this wonderful game.

 

Thank you, Ronin.

 

Now a couple of questions:

1) After installing the mod 2.4 I can not open a special encounters in Switzerland (where it is possible to get a mercenary Shadow) and in Germany - bank robbery, if it can be associated with the mod itself? Are there new special encounters in blunter mod?

 

There should be no problem accessing those REs. Their default probability of showing (poping-up) is very low (3-5%) You might need to camp around for some time for them to show up. I didn't change anything regarding their location. (the background change is merely cosmetic)

 

There are 2 new REs in Poland and a couple in Bavaria as well.

 

2) Do you plan to change the introduction to the game time of day type Hammer and Sickle (implemented in Kazaki mod for Sentinels)

 

I might implement that in the future. But it has to have a purpose. Blocking 'Hide' during daytime (H&S style) is unlikely to be introduced as I didn't like that feature to begin with. Besides, I don't have any re-enter-able scenario zones where changes to the terrain and buildings are saved (like the 'Base'). I haven't played 'Kazaki'. Whose mod is that... Natrix', Newdaff's or someone else's?

 

3) Mod contains a large number of new models (beautiful models!) Uniforms, any plans to add mod stealth system of Hammer and Sickle, where every type of camouflage give various bonuses to the type of terrain

 

Thanks.

 

For any uniform to have any effect on the game play, other than simple looks, I should be able to identify it via script.

H&S added UnitGetUniform() to the list of the available functions, Sentinels lacks that command, unfortunately.

 

________________________________

to be continued

 

~ Blunter ~

[Ronin]

I might implement that in the future. But it has to have a purpose. Blocking 'Hide' during daytime (H&S style) is unlikely to be introduced as I didn't like that feature to begin with. Besides, I don't have any re-enter-able scenario zones where changes to the terrain and buildings are saved (like the 'Base'). I haven't played 'Kazaki'. Whose mod is that... Natrix', Newdaff's or someone else's?

 

 

________________________________

to be continued

 

~ Blunter ~

Thanks for the info! Natrix- author of the Kazaki mod (https://natrixss.narod.ru/page/mymod.html - description on Russian). To Russian Silent Storm gamers, Kazaki - the best mod for Sentinels ... Was, until your mod))

[Ronin]

I apologize in advance for these can be irrational or stupid ideas, so my two cents:

-on a Silent storm engine also was the game series Night / Day Watch (based on urban fantasy writer Lukyanenko). One of the branches of the character development of the game was Lycanthropy. Maybe try to implement the idea in fashion, as Uber soldiers "Die Wölfe", based on the ideas of "Annenerbe" as an example-Captain from the " SS battalion Millennium" from the manga / anime Hellsing?

- What to do if the story missions, not only in Europe but also in South America (Argentina, Uruguay), or in Antarctica (Base 211)

[Solid Beard]

Hi Blunter.First of all I'm sorry for your loss, my condolences.

Maybe you'll remember me as "Mr. Shadow", that i asked to you to change the old uniforms for the Allies. Unfortunately at that time I lost interest in "Silent Storm", I was not sure to propose the idea for the new uniforms and I was very busy in high school, so I thought that after finishing exams i would returned to propose my ideas. But as you can see my new e-mail address is now "Solid Beard" and no longer "Mr. Shadow"(I was Mr. Shadow because the first time I tried to create an account on this site i screwed up the subscription and they did not let me continue, and then i create a new e-mail as "Mr. Shadow") because i have not returned to my e-mail for a long time so they deleted the current e-mail, now i create a new e-mail as "Solid Beard". But now I can not talk about the idea that i have in mind, but I will talk about it next week.

[tofudog]

Hello everybody,

 

first off - nice travelogue. Makes the journey of Blunter and family somehow more real.

 

I have been thinking about grenades and their place in the scheme of the S3 reality. There is a lot that doesn´t really fit so maybe somebody else has an idea to make it all come together.

 

The weapon ranges in S3 are all shortened, and on a curve on top of that. Machineguns and rifles are somewhere between 1:15 and 1:20 (rough estimates, but accurate enough to illustrate my point), with machineguns having it a tad worse (if you take performance from the prone position - hip firing is hollywood).

Submachineguns are somewhere around 1:10, pistols come in around 1:4 or 1:5, and grenades actually have it best - even in vanilla you would be hard pressed to argue a shortening beyond 1:3, with 1:2 being a more likely candidate.

And still it feels completely the other way round.

Using medium and heavy grenades in Vanilla (I accept that point) is a near suicidal act of desperation for anybody but grenadiers and for them it is a gamble which most of the time hurts the opposition worse than himself.

 

Welcome to the war.

 

The more I read about grenade specifications, the more I am convinced, that this is pretty accurate.

S3 just compunds the problem, because it is missing specific mechanics for grenades going off early, being thrown back by an alert enemy, being used by a comrade while you are in the open and on hearing "Frag out!" you can only hit the dirt and pray (same as the intended targets of it) - wounding radius 30m (estimate), killing radius 5m(the 36m, or "mills bomb").

If you think of that, S3 vanilla grenades are actually pretty tame.

 

And still, rational civilians that we are (that I at least am), we tend to stear clear of them, because we are strangers to the suicidal courage, that desperate men in desperate straits develop.

Drone warfare has given us the illusion that where is such a thing as a "safe" way to conduct a war.

 

So after considering all of this, I vote for something that is not as punishing as vanilla grenades, yet not as easy as the current system.

 

P.S.

I got done with Linden. The crash did not return and Sting (wonder of wonders) found her trigger finger (stuck in her ass I assume). She fired a whopping total of 2 shots. At least both were kills.

With the different formation I used for the zombie waves they were even manageable, so I think it is about right now (if sting continues to be a primadonna).

Now I am stuck in Seefeld and I have a problem with invisible grenadiers that make the station building indefensible.

Tricky thing .

 

have a nice weekend everybody.

 

tofudog.

[Lt.Havoc]

tofudog, I think you need to see Silent Storm as a Table Top miniature war game that is turn based, I think thats why the guns and grenades dont act "realistic" because well, they used Wargaming rules and mechanics for the game to make it more fun, its a lot more hollywood action you see,

[BlunterII]

Hey folks, I'm still on the road...

 

Got done with South Dakota (stopped at Sioux Falls yesterday), visited Mt. Rushmore (based on the license plates and languages spoken its a full-blown United Nations out there, roaming the country-side and taking pictures of themselves with the great four in the background). One thing I really appreciated about Dakota (and Wyoming where I stayed at today) was their speed limits - 75 and 80 respectively. Nice! Not that I follow them necessarily

Will try to make it to Sacramento today (that will be Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and Cal)... Only a 1000 miles with some crumbs... if I stay on I-80 all the way.

I am glad you liked my travel log, tofu.

_______________________

 

I read through all the posts. I'll reply later when I get back home.

Gotta get on the road again.

_______________________

to be continued

 

~ Blunter ~

[Fireman]

Heh, decided to randomly check back here to see if anything happened and it has! Glad to see everyone else kept checking this as well! Shows how much interest and recognition there is for Blunter's work!

 

I'm sorry for your loss Blunter.

 

I kinda worked on the saboteur built, but then threw it away, so sorry about that

[Someone64]

There seems to be a problem in the second mission (where you have to save the Sentinel in England) where the guy beside the one you're supposed to save charges him at the very first turn. Also, for some reason you can hear what the captive Sentinel hears without saving him although you can't see what he sees. I keep trying the mission over and over but he always seems to kill him with his pistol immediately before I'm even able to reach the building.

 

EDIT: Some more experimenting and it seems that it only happens when they're alerted. Not quite sure of this though

 

Also, here's an image:

 

https://i.imgur.com/666D7MG.jpg

 

As you can see, the door to the Sentinel is open and there WAS that heard enemy indicator but he's dead so it's not there anymore.

[BlunterII]

I am finally home! Yeah! Arrived last night only to find my internet down... Oh boy, that's exactly the thing I was looking forward to. Other than that - 1045 miles in one day is an achievement... And the roller coaster from Reno down to the central valley...at night... That was something!

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Anyway, I've compiled a detailed Read-Me for v2.4.

I'll leave all the rest till tomorrow or Monday (answers to questions, walkthroughs, etc.) I hope Ecthel is still around. I'll need his help with proof-reading all the stuff I've written.

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BlunterMod

By BlunterII

___________________________

 

Credits:

___________________________

 

Thanks to the StategyCore owners, administration and their staff for hosting the mod discussion:

 

BLUNTER MOD (1 page of the thread)

 

I would like to thank Lt.Havoc for initiating this whole thing by contacting me, sharing his WWII texture pack and being a great cheerleader.

Big thanks to Ecthel for proof-reading the dialogs and correcting my countless spelling errors and also for helping developing various missions.

Thanks to Ecthel, Lt.Havoc and Tofudog for providing ongoing feedback, constructive criticism and technical and historical advice.

Thanks to Fireman, firebolt5, Tokyo Rose, dimovsky, Shakespeare, LCJr, London, Fishmachine and others for offering ideas and catching inevitable bugs.

Highly appreciate everyone else's participation and assistance.

Special thanks to my daughter Jayne for tirelessly testing my creations and offering more feedback than I can take...

 

Forgive me if I forgot to mention someone. Just drop me a line - It'll be my pleasure to include you too.

 

Most of the uniform camo textures by Tonushi from DeviantArt (with permission).

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: BlunterMod_AllUniforms (v....) and BlunterMod (v....) are the same mod, the same database, just different names.

 

All the uniforms, items and maps are included in all the subsequent versions.

 

To avoid crashes: DO NOT USE several versions of my mod simultaneously.

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NOTE: Keep in mind that the original Sentinels' campaign is largely intact.

BlunterMod is incorporated into the existing scenario and mission framework.

 

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(v1.0 through v2.3 ReadMes are not included here)

 

 

ReadMe for v2.4:

 

Includes v2.3 plus v2.4 changes

 

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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NOTE: DO NOT DISABLE HINTS! MOST OF THE HELPFUL FEEDBACK AND

THE PLOT OBJECTIVES ARE COMMUNICATED THROUGH HINTS IN BLUNTERMOD.

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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BUG FIXES & CORRECTIONS:

 

- Numerous spelling corrections to the original campaign item descriptions, hints, journal entries and dialogs

 

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ITEMS & FEATURES DISABLED:

 

- HE rounds have been removed from the game (temporarily). "Sea Devil" HE ammo remained untouched

 

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NEW ADDITIONS:

 

1. NEW BASE AREAS:

 

a) ATP (Accelerated Training Protocol) area added to the base. It's accessible through an elevator located in the lobby.

- Door leading to the ATP is unlocked after the player becomes a Sentinel and talks to Sgt. Ozwell

- The strange contraption in the middle updates party members’ attributes and skills

- Specific skills and attributes are only updated if the player found and activated the appropriate key cards (Red - Dexterity, Shooting, Snipe, Burst; Yellow - Strength, Melee, Throwing, VPs; Green - APs, Evasion, Stealth, Spot, Interrupt; Blue - Intelligence, Medicine, Engineering)

- The yellow card is given to the player by Sgt. Ozwell when the player gains access to the ATP area. The red one is found in Zepernick (the Kommandant drops it) or in the Kopenick's "Vault" (the latter is not finished yet)

- Once all the cards have been installed a new quest "The Sphere" begins driven by Prf. Compton.

- The green and blue cards are not obtainable in this release.

 

b) Shooting Range area added to the base. Shooting Range is accessible through a door in the ATP area

- Door leading to the range is unlocked after the player becomes a Sentinel and talks to Sgt. Ozwell

- The left target gets replaced every 50 hits.

- The terrorist/civilian (2 targets to the right) training is incomplete.

- The empty area past the gate is unfinished.

 

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2. BANKER MISSIONS & CHANGES:

 

Currently, they include only "Counterfeit" (which is also a part of Soviet subplot).

 

- Banker interactions are conducted through Dialog Mode windows with bulleted responses.

- Bringing the report to Herr Lander changes bank currency exchange fees from 20% to 10%

- Bringing the report to Herr Lander yields an access card allowing the player to explore the "Vault" area in Kopenick

- "Mint" in Kopenick is NOT finished yet and thus unavailable

- Stocks are accepted by the bank now

 

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3. SOVIET SUB-PLOT:

 

Introduction of new adversaries: an ultra-nationalistic organization "Die Wolfe" and a mad scientist dubbed "The Professor"

Currently, this subplot includes the following scenario zones:

 

- "Bodies Found" (starts the Soviet sub-plot)

- "Counterfeit" (Soviet sub-plot splitter)

- "Debrief 1" (auto after "Counterfeit", introducing "Mikhalev's dilemma)

Depending on Cpt. Danilov's allegiances and the player's judgment the subplot splits at this point into 4 branches.

- Drug Dealer sub-branch: "Paretz" (merchandize drop off) and possibly "Blumberg" (lab and minefield)

- Replacement sub-branch: "Falkensee" (Dr. Meyer's clinic) and possibly "Bredow" (mansion with Mikhalev's double)

- Both sub-branches converge either in "Zepernick" (featuring "Die wolfe's" local Kommandant) or "Potsdam Outskirts" (featuring one of the Kommandant's elite squads)

- "Seefeld" (bloody note with a print)

- "Fingerprints" (Mikhalev's staff thumb print file)

- "RR Depot" (arrest the mole)

- "Debrief 2" (Ends the Soviet subplot. The player gets rewarded with "Protector" armored suit. The player can bring the docs found in some of the missions to Mikhalev for extra XP. We also meet Ivan the "mechanic" here and receive the next set of missions - "Upgrading the Protector". Opens "Lom" in Norway. "Lom" is not complete yet.)

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

4. NEW WEAPONS, AMMO & AND WEAPON CHANGES:

 

Note: Most (not all) 'uniques' have their accuracy increased a little (from 1 to 7 %) through a database tweak

 

- 9mm Mauser Export rounds added (a powerful pistol round)

- PW wz.33 (unique TT-33 pistol with tweaked accuracy. Found in “RRDepot”)

- “18 confirmed” (unique scoped Springfield rifle)

- “Skull” (9mm Mauser Export unique M-712 found in “Zepernick”)

- “Dark Steel” (unique Kar-98 found in “Blumberg” ruins)

- “Volltreffer” + 6x scope (”Bullseye” found in “Hunting Lodge” RE). The scope needs to be mounted by a person not available in this release.

- “S&W” Model 10 (found in “Bredow”)

- Mac-50 pistol (found in “Bredow”)

- Poisoned Scalpels (found in "Falkensee"). Feature high critical hit and unconcious probability modifiers.

- "Vendetta" (unique Chatellerault MG, found in Rocco's inventory)

- Mannlicher Carcano M94/21 (regular with no scope)

- Kar-98 (regular with no scope)

- Steyr Solothurn MP34 (9mm Mauser Export)

- Gepppisztoly M39 SMG (9mm Mauser Export)

 

- Armor Piercing (AP) rounds' damage is ~ 75% of the regular round now

- High Explosive (HE) and Incendiary (IP) rounds are gone (except "Sea Devil's" HE)

- Surplus ammo has been introduced. They are more common but deal ~ 10% less damage and have ~ 4% less penetration than the regular rounds.

 

- Most unique weapons' stats (from all releases) have been significantly reduced (in response to valid concerns of them being on the OP side)

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

5. NEW RPG ITEMS:

 

- "Opium Package" not usable yet.

- Usable alcohol bottles added (regular, strong & spiced). The first two temporarily remove critical conditions, the last one buffs VPs.

- Blue dress + Italian backpack female uniform

- "Splittermuster 45" uniforms (1 male, 4 female versions) added. Currently, found in Zepernick.

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

6. UI CHANGES:

 

- New Chapter "Brandenburg" added

- New Chapter "Central Norway" added

- New background textures for England and Switzerland.

- New global map markers for Bavaria, Brandenburg and Central Norway created and added.

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

7. NEW CLASSES:

 

- Created 4 new classes: "Saboteur", "Infantry Grunt", "Zombified", "PK Operator"

- New Class "Saboteur" - Soldier/Engineer hybrid. Supports 39 character level-ups

- Almost all enemies and some allies have a new perk panel attached from a new class called "Infantry Grunt"

- Enemy PK pilots enjoy a new "PK Operator" perk tree with "Second Skin" being the first perk in it. Now they are not hindered by any PK penalties and present a real challenge.

- Zombies have their own melee-oriented perk tree. They are very deadly if allowed to get close to their targets.

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

8. GAME PLAY and UNIT CHANGES:

 

- Every Random Encounter (RE) is scripted now and enemy perks are distributed at the start. Enemies patrol along the roads in a loop (with a few random behavior patterns)

- Enemy levels have been readjusted and overhauled. By default they were capped and calculated based on the combined average player party level. Now they are Hero level based and not capped (only slightly reduced at very high Hero levels in some chapters).

- New lighting patterns have been introduced. Sunny morning, sunny morning (low fog), dark night fog, very dark night fog, night low fog, rainy day fog.

- PKs are stronger, more encumbering, auto-destruct and have increased sensor range (depending on the model)

- ABRS robot (a potential party member found in one of the S^3 secret missions - SECM 3) could not be hired/activated if your Hero's engineering was < 121. Now the process of "activating" the robot will succeed as long as one of the party members passes the ENG requirement.

- ABRS robot has its armor reduced to 340. The type of armor ABRS currently has is a regular PK armor (more susceptible to rifle / MG rounds with lower ricochet probability). Later, Ivan will offer to upgrade ABRS.

- All non-silenced weapons are now heard by (i.e. alert) everyone on the map when discharged (achieved via database tweak). No more "Calm" AI state (smoking enemy icon) when the battle is raging on a few dozen feet away.

- Most evidence (RPG Items) are color marked (Yellow - important, Red - Crucial).

Note: Keep the evidence you find.

- Bringing evidence and completing bonus objectives earns extra XP (up to a whole level). The process is Hero-level-based (meaning that if your hero is lvl. 14 and there are party members who are lvl.5 - those might advance to lvl. 12-13 upon receiving that reward.)

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

9. NEW RANDOM ENCOUNTERS:

 

- Poland (NW corner) features 2 new REs: "Village" and "Ruins". Populated by bandits and smugglers. "Village" has two versions: basement - 4 variants (no fog), no basement - 3 variants (fog). One-time RE "Ruins" is a difficult 7 wave defense encounter. The only place to get "Sea Devil" and its ammo.

- Bavaria (NW corner) has a new "Bridge" RE. There are 6 variants: 4 "Bridge" and 2 "Overpass" (with small ruins)

- "Hunting Lodge" a one-time RE in Brandenburg added. Populated by smugglers. Watch out for Linz' spouse in there... a nasty lady. The place to get "Volltrefer" and a scope for it. "Hunting Lodge" is part of the unfinished "Collector" sub-plot)

- Some original (S^2) REs were enabled

- A One time RE "Clinic" added to Brandenburg (starts "The Vial" sub-plot, which is not finished yet. "Wansdorf" is incomplete.)

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

10. CAMP ZONES:

 

- Soviet Base (and the future American Base) are now accessible through the Brandenburg camp (a modified and scripted GDR camp zone). Just camp in that chapter and you'll see what I mean.

- UK camp zone, currently used in England, Bavaria, Poland and Switzerland, received a significant face lift.

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

11. CASTLE LINDEN CHANGES:

 

- Carlton mercenaries' stats significantly reduced

- Minor changes to terrain and buildings to improve path finding

- Zombies have "Zombie" perk tree

- Bandits are for the most part "Infantry Grunts" now

- Bandit PK is now relatively weak. It auto-destructs when PK's armor drops to 0. The pilot's class was changed to "PK Operator" with all the appropriate perks and stats.

 

___________________________________________________

to be continued

 

~ Blunter ~

[BlunterII]

Thanks for the info! Natrix- author of the Kazaki mod (https://natrixss.naro...page/mymod.html - description on Russian). To Russian Silent Storm gamers, Kazaki - the best mod for Sentinels ... Was, until your mod))

 

Thanks for the compliment, Ronin (Btw, "Ronin" is one of my favorite movies. De'Niro, Jean Reno and Sean Bean. - great cast!) I read Natrix' description of the mod. It appears some of the changes he implemented overlap with what we did in BlunterMod. I haven't messed around with the external scripts that much, but 'studying' Novik's innovations in H&S scripts makes me think it is quite possible to do some of the things you mentioned. We'd have to have a reason to do them though.

 

I apologize in advance for these can be irrational or stupid ideas, so my two cents:

-on a Silent storm engine also was the game series Night / Day Watch (based on urban fantasy writer Lukyanenko). One of the branches of the character development of the game was Lycanthropy. Maybe try to implement the idea in fashion, as Uber soldiers "Die Wölfe", based on the ideas of "Annenerbe" as an example-Captain from the " SS battalion Millennium" from the manga / anime Hellsing?

- What to do if the story missions, not only in Europe but also in South America (Argentina, Uruguay), or in Antarctica (Base 211)

 

Well, we already have the 'Lucifer' virus that kills most people exposed to it while zombifying the rest, and the substance that was its predecessor. Ahnenerbe is already involved, indirectly. Lycanthropy might be an overkill here.

 

I tried their demo a few years back. Great models, awesome animal animations, interesting idea, but overall...not my cup of tea. I'd rather play Age of Wonders or Bioware titles if I want magic.

 

What I would really like to do is to import patrolling guard dogs in the game, namely German Shepherds and Dobermans. With one specific model being different - as a potential party member. An extremely fast melee attacker with keen senses but relatively low HPs could be an interesting edition.

 

South America has jungles. There are no jungle models in S^3...

 

What's in Antarctica? Are you refering to John Carpenter's flick "The thing" (1982) or something else?

Base 211?

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

Hi Blunter.First of all I'm sorry for your loss, my condolences.

Maybe you'll remember me as "Mr. Shadow", that i asked to you to change the old uniforms for the Allies. Unfortunately at that time I lost interest in "Silent Storm", I was not sure to propose the idea for the new uniforms and I was very busy in high school, so I thought that after finishing exams i would returned to propose my ideas. But as you can see my new e-mail address is now "Solid Beard" and no longer "Mr. Shadow"(I was Mr. Shadow because the first time I tried to create an account on this site i screwed up the subscription and they did not let me continue, and then i create a new e-mail as "Mr. Shadow") because i have not returned to my e-mail for a long time so they deleted the current e-mail, now i create a new e-mail as "Solid Beard". But now I can not talk about the idea that i have in mind, but I will talk about it next week.

 

Hi, Solid Beard/ Mr. Shadow.

No worries. One of my kids just graduated from high school. I know how hectic it can be. Take your time.

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

...

So after considering all of this, I vote for something that is not as punishing as vanilla grenades, yet not as easy as the current system.

 

All right, I am still a bit unclear on what it is your are proposing, tofu.

 

I got done with Linden. The crash did not return and Sting (wonder of wonders) found her trigger finger (stuck in her ass I assume). She fired a whopping total of 2 shots. At least both were kills.

With the different formation I used for the zombie waves they were even manageable, so I think it is about right now (if sting continues to be a primadonna).

 

I am glad it went smoother this time. I am leaning towards locking her in crouch ...

Anyway, Castle Linden needs some work...

 

Now I am stuck in Seefeld and I have a problem with invisible grenadiers that make the station building indefensible.

Tricky thing .

 

Stuck? What do you mean?

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

tofudog, I think you need to see Silent Storm as a Table Top miniature war game that is turn based, I think thats why the guns and grenades dont act "realistic" because well, they used Wargaming rules and mechanics for the game to make it more fun, its a lot more hollywood action you see,

 

The longer I work with the game the more I realize how true it can be... Nival goes Hollywood! Spooky!

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

Heh, decided to randomly check back here to see if anything happened and it has! Glad to see everyone else kept checking this as well! Shows how much interest and recognition there is for Blunter's work!

 

I'm sorry for your loss Blunter.

 

I kinda worked on the saboteur built, but then threw it away, so sorry about that

 

Thank you, Fireman.

 

So, did you come up with anything? I remember you mentioned other classes... A spy?

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

There seems to be a problem in the second mission (where you have to save the Sentinel in England) where the guy beside the one you're supposed to save charges him at the very first turn. Also, for some reason you can hear what the captive Sentinel hears without saving him although you can't see what he sees. I keep trying the mission over and over but he always seems to kill him with his pistol immediately before I'm even able to reach the building.

 

EDIT: Some more experimenting and it seems that it only happens when they're alerted. Not quite sure of this though

As you can see, the door to the Sentinel is open and there WAS that heard enemy indicator but he's dead so it's not there anymore.

 

The same thing happened to me before... with vanilla S^3, without any mods. I don't know why.

It doesn't seem to be related to the mod though.

____________________________________________

to be continued

 

~ Blunter ~

[Fireman]

Thank you, Fireman.

So, did you come up with anything? I remember you mentioned other classes... A spy?

 

 

~ Blunter ~

 

Well aren't you up late! Go Germany!

 

Yes, it was actually a spy, not a saboteur, but I threw it away because I couldn't come up with anything good that was balanced and interesting enough to be a seperate class.

 

Speaking of which, did you ever take a look at the remote-controlled explosives that detonate by using a "detonator" (actually a weapon that fires a shot that doesn't damage enemies, but does blow up mines/explosives from a decent range) for the Saboteur class?

 

EDIT: Forgot this was an international board and was kind of drunk, the rest of my post is correct though!

[Ronin]

Thanks for the compliment, Ronin (Btw, "Ronin" is one of my favorite movies. De'Niro, Jean Reno and Sean Bean. - great cast!)

What's in Antarctica? Are you refering to John Carpenter's flick "The thing" (1982) or something else?

Base 211?

 

 

~ Blunter ~

 

According to the conspiracy theory, the territory in Antarctica (New Swabia https://en.wikipedia....wiki/New_Swabia), where the Nazis established a fully functioning base, the so-called Base 211 (https://base211.ru/in...s=uk2l9wi9txbee) (ru.scribd.com/doc/25311/Hitler-s-Antarctic-Base-the-Myth-and-the-Reality), with docks for submarines and functioning airfields. According to the sayings of conspiracy theorists, many important series of Nazi Germany, were able to take refuge there, having survived the war. Conspiracy theory fanatics believe that Schicklgruber escaped from Germany to the base 211, where he lived until the mid-sixties

[Solid Beard]

Error

Check post 748.

Thanks Fireman

[Lt.Havoc]

You cant link images directly from your computer, you need to attach it or use a image host and link it here.

[Fireman]

postimage.org is the easiest, every other imagesharing site requires login, which is annoying.

[Solid Beard]

Blunter.

This is my preview of the first version of the new uniforms. But I must warn you that my original idea was to replace the original uniforms (the models in particular) of the first silent storm and not "sentinels" because the same version you can change the uniform at any time you want, but since you're more interested in the version of "sentinels" I thought maybe I can replace them in the "S2" (can someone tell me how to do it?). So you can be okay with that. But I would like gave you a look first before you talk about it and get to work on it, so i might as well have other ideas to create these uniforms for the special forces of the game ("Se2", perhaps even for the "Sentinels").

 

Okay here we go ( :

 

Allied Soldier

https://s29.postimg.org/a3ej2u3gn/Allied_soldier_uniform_v1.jpg

 

 

 

 

Allied Sniper

https://s16.postimg.org/sol4ysrsl/Allied_sniper_Uniform.jpg

 

 

Allied Scout

https://s16.postimg.org/4si070kad/Allied_Scout_uniform_v1.jpg

 

 

Allied Grenadier

https://s16.postimg.org/pmucouenp/Allied_grenadier_Uniform_v1.jpg

 

 

Allied Engineer

https://s16.postimg.org/wjoj1dayd/Allied_Engineer_Uniform_v1.jpg

 

 

Allied Medic

https://s16.postimg.org/pbcwc2y7p/Allied_medic_uniform_v1.jpg

 

 

 

Extra uniform (not for the allies)

https://s16.postimg.org/5e6z34fcl/Nazi_M_Bison_Uniform.jpg

I found on the internet this strange uniform. I do not know where it comes from but I think from an anime. Can you make it?

 

So what do you think?

[Lt.Havoc]

The last uniform looks like they are supposed to be Gundam Officer uniforms from the bad guys. The Federation I think they are called, I could be wrong.

[Squirrel Commander]

Bug Report:

Crash To Desctop when triggering second bandit wave in Nazi Zombies misson.

Plz bluntkinz Fix this in next realse,

 

Ps. Im sorry for your loss.