Larger maps

[nic727]

With a map this big, we just need 4 maps in the game.

- Europe
- Asia
- Pacific
- Africa

Just take 20 minutes to load the map...

[Buster_Dee]

With enough bending, I would love North Atlantic/Russia convoy strike-protection scenarios. Some control over ships and u-boats, or at least AI intelligence. Radar revisited. Depth charge function. Heavy snow.

I know. Dreaming

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Buster_Dee

With enough bending, I would love North Atlantic/Russia convoy strike-protection scenarios. Some control over ships and u-boats, or at least AI intelligence. Radar revisited. Depth charge function. Heavy snow.

+1

At least the map is easy! A very big square of very cold water, possibly with water textures colored to (literally) reflect thick cloud cover above, and with longitude, latitude, sunrise, sunset, and temperature all set for someplace north of the Arctic Circle.

If you want to get fancy, maybe have an tiny bit of Iceland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Norway, or the Kola Peninsula in one corner.

The rest of it would require real work.

[Baddington_VA]

The Coal Sea map is a large expanse of water.
In June the sun is high overhead, in December it goes around toward the south.
In that way that it doesn't in the real Coral Sea.
But it would in the North Atlantic.

Sounds like a good North Atlantic candidate, the sun is already in the right place.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Baddington_VA

The Coral Sea map is a large expanse of water. In June the sun is high overhead, in December it goes around toward the south. In that way that it doesn't in the real Coral Sea. But it would in the North Atlantic.

The sun being the wrong place on the Coral Sea map is a bug, and should be reported. The same bug - with winter and summer sun positions being incorrect for the Southern Hemisphere - might also affect other maps which portray the SW Pacific at or below the Equator.

But, the problem with using the Coral Sea map to portray other ocean areas, is that in addition to the longitude and latitude being wrong, the map air temperature is way too warm. It's more suited to being a map of the areas around Guam or the Marianas.

Ignoring longitude, which is currently irrelevant to the game, there should actually be 9 open ocean maps which cover various areas where air operations took place during WW2.

That sounds like a lot of maps, but you'd basically just need one new map texture some tweaking of the map data, and altering the longitude and latitude data on the "knee board" map.

This would be a really basic mod, should anyone be inspired to do it.

I propose:

Arctic/Bering Sea Spring/Fall - Latitude north of 60*N, air temperature of 0*C or lower. Different textures to reflect overcast skies. Represents the ocean off of Murmansk, Iceland, or the Aleutians. Can also represent off-shore regions of the Baltic Sea.

Arctic/Bering Sea Summer - As above, but air temperature 5-10 *C, possibly different textures to reflect overcast skies.

North Atlantic/Pacific Winter - Latitude at about 45*N. Air temperature 0-5 *C. Different textures to reflect overcast skies. Represents the Atlantic ocean off of Europe, the continental US, and the Pacific ocean off of Japan, Korea or northern China.

North Atlantic/Pacific Summer - As above, but air temperature 10-20 *C. Basic sea textures to reflect sunny skies.

Mediterranean Winter - Latitude of approximately 35-40 *N, air temperature approximately 5-15 *C. Possibly overcast sky ocean textures.

Mediterranean Summer - As above, but air temperature 25-35 *C. Can also represent the ocean off of Midway Island and in the Persian Gulf.

Equatorial North Pacific/Atlantic - Latitude 10 *N, air temperature 35-40 *C. Basically, the current Coral Sea map. Mostly represents the sea off of places like Thailand, Vietnam, Guam, the Philippines, the Marianas Islands, and the Marshall Islands, as well as the Bay of Bengal, and the South China Sea.

Equatorial Pacific/Atlantic - 0* N/S, air temperature 35-40 *C. Represents the waters off of Indonesia, New Guinea, the Gilbert Islands, and Nauru, including the Bismarck Sea.

The sunrise and sunset times never change regardless of the the time of year. The sun is always directly overhead.

The night sky map should show the constellations of both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, albeit with constellations like Ursa Major being very close to the horizon, and with Polaris being invisible.

Equatorial South Pacific/Atlantic - The Coral Sea map with sun and sky fixed. Represents the ocean at about 10 *S. Air temperature 35-40 *C. Represents the waters south of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, the waters around the New Hebrides Islands, and, of course, the Coral Sea.

The night sky map should represent the stars of the Southern hemisphere.

And, of course, the sun should move slightly to the North during the Southern hemisphere's winter (i.e., the Northern hemisphere's summer).

[dimlee]

Just small amendment:
Surface air temp of +35...+40C is too high for oceans and open seas. I'd suggest maximum about +26C...+29C except Red Sea and may be some coastal areas.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by dimlee

Just small amendment:
Surface air temp of +35...+40C is too high for oceans and open seas. I'd suggest maximum about +26C...+29C except Red Sea and may be some coastal areas.

You're right.

I was guessing at temperatures, but I was doing it by doing searches for temperatures for coastal cities, and choosing average summer high temperature (typically August), and winter low temperature (typically January).

So, my high temperature was based on the August high temperature for Tripoli, Libya, which is clearly too high once you get out to sea.

More realistically, for the summer Mediterranean, you'd want the summer high temperature for someplace like the Island of Lampadusa, which typically a balmy 29 *C in August. For the tropics, the same temperature seems about right.

FWIW, as of this writing, Sand Island (on Midway Island) currently has a temperature of 18 *C (but gets up to about 29 *C in August), Rabaul, New Guinea currently has a temperature of 27 *C, and Tarawa atoll in the Gilbert Islands currently has a temperature of 30*C.

Knock off a couple of a couple of degrees to reflect the fact that the world was cooler during the WW2 era, and a high of 26-29*C for warm ocean temperatures is spot on.

[dimlee]

Temperatures over any land mass, even small one as atoll are higher or lower (at winter in high latitudes) then at open seas. Differences can be surpisingly high at relatively short distances off shore of just 50-100 nautical miles, especially where low or cold currents are.

I mentioned numbers which I remember from my experience, but it would be interesting to read more objective information, certainly. Probably they can be found somewhere in archives of NOAA and of similar organisations. Also in pilot books.
There are also ship log books, however they are not reilable in this respect (except of oceanographic vessels}. Typical thermometer of XX century shipping was of alcohol type, mounted on a bridge wing in a place convenient to take readings but not where it was sufficently protected from direct sunlight and isolated of steel bulkhead (which can heat up to +50C and more in summer).

[Verdun1916]

A channel map would be very welcome indeed! Will it be ready for 4.14?
Combined with ubdated aircraft like a flyable Wellington and others mixed with ones already avalible it would be great for 1941-1944 scenarios.
A larger generic Northwest Europe map would be very welcome aswell combined with some new flyable French fighters for Phony War or Battle of France scenarios or Campaigns aswell.

I like a lot of the maps we already have but some of them would need to have their ocean stretches expanded. For instance the water outside the Normandy and Murmansk maps could be expanded further to the North, the North Sea on the Norway map could be expanded from East to West to give a more realistic flight distance. It's far to short as it is today. The water around Kyushu could be expanded aswell. Espeacially towards the east to give the B-29's a longer approach flight Before they reach the coast.

[RPS69]

Originally Posted by Verdun1916

A channel map would be very welcome indeed! Will it be ready for 4.14?
Combined with ubdated aircraft like a flyable Wellington and others mixed with ones already avalible it would be great for 1941-1944 scenarios.
A larger generic Northwest Europe map would be very welcome aswell combined with some new flyable French fighters for Phony War or Battle of France scenarios or Campaigns aswell.

I like a lot of the maps we already have but some of them would need to have their ocean stretches expanded. For instance the water outside the Normandy and Murmansk maps could be expanded further to the North, the North Sea on the Norway map could be expanded from East to West to give a more realistic flight distance. It's far to short as it is today. The water around Kyushu could be expanded aswell. Espeacially towards the east to give the B-29's a longer approach flight Before they reach the coast.

Some maps aren't on a 1:1 scale.
The best work around I could find was reducing fuel acordingly.
It generated that virtual pilots started caring a lot more when suffering fuel losses