"A New Day, a New War"
Project Honu (working title) is an immersive single player campaign for the F-16C module in DCS: World. Set in Syria circa 2016, it follows the missions of Belgian F-16 pilots during Operation Inherent Resolve.
I'm hoping my 10+ years of game development experience can bring something unique and never before seen to Digital Combat Simulator. My main objective is to build this campaign on top of "non-magic" systems that govern the simulation. This will hopefully bring a new sense of realism and dynamism to single player DCS.
The main focus will be air to ground. You'll be tasked (among other things) with Close Air Support and pre-planned strikes. Objectives might change at a moment's notice though, so you'll have to be able to improvise and adapt.
The Random Event System generates targets of opportunity that are completely optional, but add a lot of longevity and replayability to the campaign.
The Coalition Management System makes tanking more realistic and enjoyable. You are just a small part in the larger coalition. The tankers won't just magically spawn and they aren't up there to serve only you . They might not be able to always accommodate you when you want them to, nor will they be able to always top you off completely. In fuel emergencies you will be able to work together with a tanker to come and meet you if you it's save.
Tankers are also aware where they are in their orbit track and will let you know when a turn is coming up. The system also keeps track of how much fuel a tanker has given in to base its decisions on.
Tankers are also aware where they are in their orbit track and will let you know when a turn is coming up. The system also keeps track of how much fuel a tanker has given in to base its decisions on.
New accuracy system through Impact Areas. This system is able to track and predict the position, trajectory and impact azimuth of all weapons. It registers with pin-point accuracy (down to a square meter) where exactly a weapon impacted. This allows for cool things such as dropping a laser guided bomb through a window of a building or dropping it down an air conditioning shaft, just like that famous video from the first Gulf War.
You can work together with UAVs and even AC-130 Spectre gun ships to help you achieve your objectives. Both are governed by the same Coalition Management System that controls the tankers, meaning they're not just always hardcoded into the mission. You might get lucky and bump into them when dealing with a random objective though.
The Effects System adds new effects for things like inert munition impacts, (underground) pipeline explosions, AC-130 weapon impacts (25mm, 40mm, 105mm) and ammo storages.
The Ground Transport System is used to accurately represent troops in vehicles. This is another "non-magic" system that keeps track of exactly which infantry units are in which vehicle. When vehicles with infantry come under attack, they might choose to abandon the vehicle and run to safety or stand and fight. Damage dealt to vehicles realistically injures or kills the passengers.
Frequencies matter! The Comms System keeps track of exactly what frequency you're on. Since there's no easy-comms in project Honu, you have to pay close attention to your radio settings so you're listening in and reporting back on the correct frequency. You might miss important mission information otherwise! Subtitles also won't help you since the system gets rid of those if you're not on the correct frequency 😉