Polish Projects and Prototypes - 1939

[RoyalBengalTiger]

One more small update, before getting a bigger one hopefully.

Pixel editing is a female dog, but I think it will be worth it. I declare that I am done with that, and I'm making units for 11 new icons right now too.
I think I'll still add an icon here or there when I run into something over the course of the campaign (I can think of one Romanian armored car right now actually, that and the Hetzer SPG), but soon it's back to mission design.



EDIT: Since the tank destroyer is the Maresal, I'll call the 1942 medium tank project the Conducator. It will fit with the theme of using titles of the Romanian leaders.

[RoyalBengalTiger]

Update - I have some maps that need fixing of road and rail layers...

Here is an example (not saying where in the world this is of course):


As such, I'm mostly quiet here, but the project is going forward rather fast.

[RoyalBengalTiger]

It's been a bit, but I am doing fine.

I am doing fine finding bugs...


and I am doing fine fixing them too.


Release soonish. Most missions are mostly ready, except I want to re-write some of the brief/debrief texts and maybe add a few special features here or there.
For now just enjoying the campaign, I think it will do pretty good out here.

[RoyalBengalTiger]

I thought I was long done with adding units, but here is a real one I missed:



That's a 7.92 mm ckm wz. 30 in an AA mount on a Sokól 1000 motorcycle sidecar.

[RoyalBengalTiger]

So I'm just a couple missions short from everything being playable.

Then I'll do a second run, fix up some storyline text (brief, debrief, unitpedia), and it's off for release.

This one will have some really fun surprises I hope. The initial change in history will trigger an avalanche of events.
None of this will be far fetched fantasy, I'm keeping it as logical as I can (I guess the player will be somewhat in a Hearts of Iron playthrough, only leading one army and not a whole country), and I think it will still be a good story to be told.

In other words, I'm still alive and the mod is still being worked on.
It's just soooooo many things to do in order to get it right.

[randowe]

It's just soooooo many things to do in order to get it right.

I can relate to that! There's so much to do and when you are finished you want to edit/change/create more

Keep it up

[RoyalBengalTiger]

It's just soooooo many things to do in order to get it right.

I can relate to that! There's so much to do and when you are finished you want to edit/change/create more

Keep it up

Yeah, I needed to redo Romania (Maresal variants, their medium tank, etc) and now I came to the part of the campaign where there is the big plot twist with Germany and I need to do a thing or two for them too - turns out I'm missing stuff on the roster.

Something something E-Series, 10.5 cm KwK, bla bla bla....
I'll spoil a bit maybe to add content to this topic after I do a dive into the rabbit hole to make sure my interpretations are realistic.

[RoyalBengalTiger]

Alright, spoiler time.
No icon yet, but I will be making one.

The Panther had a project where the long 8.8 was to be mounted in the Schmalturm turret.
Here is what Tanks Encyclopedia has to say:
https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/panther-8-8cm/

In short - it would not work with the normal Schmalturm.
There was no room in the turret to reload the gun easily, and also it would have been very front heavy with the large gun mounted outside the front armor plate.

I also have a bit of a smoking gun here, that the 8,8 cm Panther would have a significant overhang of the turret rear - from the article above:

Fifteen rounds were to be stored and be accessible in the turret and fifty to fifty-four more rounds were to be stored in the hull, meaning a total of 65 to 69 rounds could be carried.

The King Tiger had room for 16 shells in the turret (rack 7 and 8), and these are big...



Thus there will be an icon of a Panther with a Schmalturm that has an extended rear overhang like the King Tiger.

Basically World of Tanks' E-50M is more historically accurate than one would ever guess - Schmalturm up front, but King Tiger bustle in the rear.



So yeah, I'll have the Panther II (not the real cancelled one, but the revisited one for 1945-46) interpreted in an odd way, but I think it will be realistic too.

[RoyalBengalTiger]

For reference, Panther F:


And Panther II Ausf B:


The Panther II tank, revived from an older project with the 75 mm gun, has been reworked with a turret designed under the instructions of the Wa Prüf 6. This new version comes with the 8.8 cm L/71 KwK 43 gun originally found on the King Tiger.
This turret has a large rear overhang to give the loader room to swing the shells around behind the gun, as well as a 15 round ready rack.

The King Tiger and JagdPanther are in the mean time being rearmed with the 10.5 cm KwK L/68 (so a JagdPanther II and a Tiger III will also be featured in the mod).

Hope all y'all like this. While I don't know exactly what this turret would be, it was to be a thing.

From the tanks-encyclopedia:

Mass production was to begin in the last quarter of 1945 if the “necessary support” was given.

[RoyalBengalTiger]

Gaaaah!

Need to make this one too...


I was going to photoshop the icon for that Hetzer SPG with the Maresal to make the Maresal SPG, but I guess it won't be so easy after all.

Also I forgot about the Hetzers...

There will be more icons for Germany then.

[randowe]

You can find the Hetzer with 15cm sIG in my equipicons if you want to use them:

KL635
RA303
RA304
RA305

[RoyalBengalTiger]

Where do I find these?

[randowe]

Where do I find these?

In the equipicons file of my efile. You can extract them with the icons tool.

Do you use your own equipicons or how do you plan to add your icons to the game?

[RoyalBengalTiger]

Found it. And yeah, those are what I was looking for, fits pretty good.
Did not know which efile was yours till I looked it up in the database.

And yeah I have a custom icons file for the mod. I mean there's 60+ new things in there.

[RoyalBengalTiger]

Alrighty,


Hetzer with short 75


Hetzer with 30 mm autocannon


Hetzer with 20 mm autocannon (the one in the back)

The AA variants included more than the improvised versions above, apparently they were planning a Kugelblitz on the 38(t) and then the 38(d)


Tanks Encyclopedia writes about the L/70 being used for the Jagdpanzer 38(d), or more specifically that the larger StuG failed to work with it.
The 10 tons heavier JagdPz IV was still front heavy...

While the installation of the shorter 10.5 howitzers was likely possible, how the Germans planned to do the same with the long 7.5 cm L/70 gun is questionable. Their attempt to mount this gun on a slightly larger StuG III chassis was unsuccessful.

So StuH 38(d) Hetzer, here we come...

Do these exist as icons? I'd use existing, if not I will make.

[randowe]

Do these exist as icons?

I don't think so. At least I don't remember any of these.

[RoyalBengalTiger]

So I'll have a weekend project then.

Also I was going to make an icon for the Jagdtiger with the L/66 gun (the original was L/55 and the 66 caliber gun was in plans).
I looked at the project on tanks encyclopedia and wow, that was mad science that goes beyond the mad science I normally do.

https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/germ ... rjager-l66



The gun was so big the vehicle couldn't even maneuver with it, so it would be retracted with the breach over the engine deck for driving around, and then pulled into battery when there was a target worthy of its shells.



Thus I don't think it will get a firepower upgrade. The Sla. 16 engine though - why not, that thing needs extra mobility.

I'll make the JagdPanther and Tiger II with the 10.5 cm KwK (should be only a couple extra pixels at the barrel end, but I know these details count a lot for the immersion).

Alright, back to Polish stuff, I'll be doing a few revisions for better realism.

I'll be kicking out a few fictional units. They will remain in the files, but they will be set to no purchase and no prototype, so all the balancing and stats will be available if anyone wants to replay the campaign after tinkering with it.

Units to be gone - the 25TP SPG's and the 120 mm 14TP assault gun.

Reason being that the 25TP did not even have the normal tank prototype built at all and no medium or heavy assault guns, SPG's or tank destroyers were even talked about. Then there is industrial capacity, and I want to fit better with countries with similar tech level.
Hungary had the Turan tank and Zrinyi TD, but no equivalent SPG. Same with the Czechs who only made lighter SPG's and AA tanks based on the Pz 38(t).

Up next a revision for the 14TP. I only ever found mention on a historical forum of an "infantry support, not tank destroyer" version with a hull mounted 75 mm Schneider, and even that had no drawings.
Thus I will keep the SPG version being it's unknown if the "infantry support" was for field artillery in an open chassis (like TKD or Sturmpanzer), or for an armored assault gun (like PZInz 160 or StuG). One can understand both ways, so both ways will be included.

Thus there will be a new vehicle added - the fully armored 14TP-D with the 75 mm Schneider to fill the role of an assault gun. Currently this does not exist, and it's obvious that it should.
Since the Schneider was to be replaced by the long 75 and the 100 mm howitzer (the wz. 38's) - the howitzer assault gun will be added too, and the long 75 version already exists in game, making this vehicle a tank destroyer later on.

The 120 was never planned, I just made it because in theory it would work (and I was trying to fill the ranks with something), but the 100 mm howitzer fits better with the actual pre-war plans regarding these guns.

I'll also add a couple of gun trucks, the 75 mm Schneider was truck mounted in the inter war Polish army, so the long 75 and the 100 mm (the wz. 38's again) will be added as replacements for artillery work, as well as an AA version of the long 75 (wz. 36).

I know this is not a great replacement for the 155 mm on the 25TP chassis, but again I'm looking for more realism.

So yeah, more soon.