13 replies to this topic

[Libains]

Hello there folks! Following swiftly on the heels of our first update, this is the second NWO update, especially for you here at FS!

Model by: AZZKIKR
Rendered by: Mbob

Cruising ominously above the skies of the world, looking down on its foes from a vantage point that assures it mastery of all it surveys, the Tu-348 Kirov Gunship is the crowning achievement of the Russian aviation industry. A leviathan rigid airship larger than almost any other military craft save an aircraft carrier, the Kirov’s unique design ensures the protection of the vast and empty Russian frontiers with the heaviest aerial firepower ever devised since the advent of the nuclear bomber.

Devised by young Tupolev engineer Andrei Tatarinoff, and named after his home city, the Kirov Gunship revolutionises the concept of air support with its twin heavy cannon turrets and a full-sized landing pad for the recovery, repair and maintenance of helicopter gunships that can be based off the flying behemoth. It also sports two giant radar panels on the sides of its mammoth helium gasbags; with its almost limitless endurance thanks to a series of radioisotope thermal generators and boosted turbine intakes, the Tu-348 was envisioned as the perfect airborne early warning platform. While the extra power required can only be spared from the lift engines for so long, the Kirov can survey a vast area with its ability to conduct a powerful radar sweep.

Initially devised only as an indirect AWACS and logistics platform for aircraft, trials revealed the potential of giving it armament for the direct fire support of friendly ground troops in its theatre of operations as well. The two triple 130mm gun turrets dispense powerful laser-guided shells from their lofty perch, devastating vehicles, infantry, emplacements and naval units alike with mere handfuls of salvos. An armament of air-to-air missile launchers was investigated, but with the craft already breaking weight – and expense – records around the world, it was decided instead to allow the craft it was designed to service, helicopters and VTOL-capable fighters, fend off airborne attackers for it. The use of thick, fire-retardant fabrics for the gasbags and the installation of a unique self-sealing mechanism in the form of an internal polymer spray unit made the Tu-348 more durable than an airship had any right to be.

The cost, of course, of a giant airship with multiple gun turrets, giant radar systems, an aircraft support base and high durability, was speed. Airships are not known as speed demons at the best of times, and though the Kirov utilises an extensive lift array there is simply too much mass for the drive units to propel the craft to a considerable velocity. However, commanders that procure the Kirov will hardly regret their choice once their foes begin to disintegrate under the shattering bombardment of one of these almost invincible monsters, dispensing heavy shells from its automatic loaders across any terrain.

Earth shattering lore by JB

Thanks very much folks, we hope to see you on the battlefield soon!

Edited by AJ, 10 June 2009 - 00:11.
I'm a forgetful person :P

[Pav:3d]

Looks good but a few criticisms, Firstly the model could do with some smoothing overall, it shows paticularly on the nose. Also the render size could be put up to 600x800 rather than at the default size. I think the main bridge of the airship looks great.

Lore as always is epic

[Soul]

I'll save my judgement on that airship till it gets a skin.

Also I think something like that Airship should be campaign only.

[AZZKIKR]

it will be powerful, but its weapons are short range only, like a quarter of normal tank range.

[CommanderJB]

Bonus lore update!
I've been toying around with a few different writing styles for the mod, the first of which was highly jovial and rather more like the unit briefs from the original. It isn't 'official', but I thought hell, why not put it up anyway, even though it's not entirely complete.

Quote

Military airships are a concept that has waxed and waned with the technology of the day ever since they first saw service as crude balloons. From the dizzying heights of the zeppelins that bombed London in the First World War to the ambitious cargo proposals of the late twentieth century, the idea of a giant gasbag has captured the imaginations of many inventors (and fighter pilots) thanks to its scale and limitless potential, not least for some truly spectacular disasters. One such young inventor was a certain H. Tatarinoff.

Tatarinoff was entranced by the airship from a young age ever since he first saw images of the infamous Hindenburg disaster on a grainy black-and-white recording in an air safety film. Enemy ground troops around the world have come to rue the irony of this moment, though usually for a limited time, as they are often obliterated shortly afterward by his crowning design, the mammoth Tu-348 Kirov Gunship.

Despite a vast number of failures in his quest to build the perfect vessel, and the squandering of much of the family fortune and most of the region’s developmental grant through a less-than-honest friend at the local government office successively, Tatarinoff learned through trial and error (mostly error), among many other things, the flammable properties of hydrogen, the force that wind can exert on a large and fragile frame, and the remarkably low visibility of telegraph wires strung across canyons. When first introduced to the internet in 2004 and shown that his predecessors had also made these mistakes and recorded them to avoid future repetition, Tatarinoff’s words of dismay cannot be reproduced for decency reasons, but he soon happily gorged himself on the available information. He was soon producing designs that had a practical use in mind, much to the surprise of all who knew him.

In 2010, one of his designs caught the eye of the Russian military. The Au-40 patrol airship, with its ambitious twin-cell design, unprecedented loiter time, and high power output thanks to a turbine fed by a revolutionary intake system that used the gasbags as collection surfaces, was just the job for an airborne radar picket to cover Russia’s vast and empty frontiers. Even after many jokes about enemies needing only to carry large pins were proven right after a windstorm near a glass factory took down over half of Russia’s airborne early warning capability, Tatarinoff was undeterred, and with the help of funds diverted from the construction of a hospital in his home town came back to the military with a design that promised something truly new in the field of combat.

Named the ‘Kirov’ as a direct reference to the giant Project 1144.2 Orel Russian nuclear battlecruisers that intimidated enemies with their vast arrays of missiles and their crews with their ancient reactor systems, the new Au-224 was every bit as powerful in its element as its namesake. Perhaps spurred on by a need to prove himself after the presentation of his first concept model hospitalised several elderly Russian generals with laughter, he laboured for five years building scale model after scale model to prove his design’s worth. It was only after a half-scale prototype that used up the entire budget originally allotted to the construction of a major hydro-electric dam proved its worth by destroying half a regiment of T-62s converted to remotely-controlled target drones in testing that the Russian Air Force finally took notice. Not only did they see a platform that could effectively extend persistent air control far ahead of the front lines, but they also saw a unique opportunity to extend the range of their helicopter gunships to well beyond their previous basing opportunities.

Also thanks Pav3d!

[JJ]

You didn't put the unit name in any title, so people have to read through the lore to actually what unit is that in the first place.

[CommanderJB]

All the more incentive to read the lore, which I personally don't think is exactly a bad thing...

Edited by CommanderJB, 10 June 2009 - 06:53.

[Alias]

Doesn't feel like it has enough content for an update.
Yes, there's a stack of fluff, but that the amount there is is practically drowning.

In short, more game content, less fluff.

[JJ]

I rather know what a wall of text is about before reading it.

[AZZKIKR]

well, its ability is to toggle to a radar mode, revealing shroud around it by a lot. and it releases repair drones. but it cannot attack

[CommanderJB]

 Alias, on 10 Jun 2009, 17:02, said:

Doesn't feel like it has enough content for an update.
Yes, there's a stack of fluff, but that the amount there is is practically drowning.

In short, more game content, less fluff.

While you're welcome to dismiss it as something that doesn't interest you personally, that doesn't make it worthless. As for the low content, it's fundamental publicity. The mod is not yet at a stage where there is abundant content to show, but in order to get to that stage, additional team members are required. In order to attract said team members, and interest in general, the content that exists must therefore be shown.

 JJ, on 10 Jun 2009, 17:10, said:

I rather know what a wall of text is about before reading it.

Point understood. The ModDB updates all have headers and titles, at any rate.

Edited by CommanderJB, 10 June 2009 - 07:42.

[Erik]

Quite cool but the flying aircraft carrier idea is from an EA concept right? Im pretty sure i saw that somewhere before

[CommanderJB]

Technically a Westwood concept (for RA2), but correct.

[WNxMastrefubu]

reminds me of "sky captian and the world of tommorows" blimp thingy