Angolan theater

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http://www.666th.com/one_news.asp?IDNews=89

[Snake Man]

SA-7

The MOD666 crew (uhm...that means just me) is at it again, and as we say in Afrikaans is "gatvol" of making mods for the Delta Force series. Previous releases such as MOD666 for DFLW had surpassed over 25 000 downloads and the Vietnam Xpak Beta so far over 3 500 downloads. It is time to get back to what I love the most - flying and since I fought in Angola 1984-1986, an Angolan Theatre for Falcon 4.

The Angolan Theatre (ATF4) is a 128 x 128 campaign (Korea being 64 x 64), that means double the airspace, and stretches from Walvisbaai, Namibia in the south up to the Cabinda enclave in the north of Angola. ATF4 will represent two scenarios, the first based on the 1965-1990 war between South African and Cuban-led Angolan forces in the south of Angola.

Basically the first campaign fires up with South African cross-border raids against SWAPO guerilla camps and positions in the South of Angola, as witnessed during Operation Protea, and following history, South African forces being sucked deeper and deeper into a full scale conventional war in support of Savimbi's UNITA against Soviet-backed and Cuban led Angolan Brigades (Operation Modular). What most people don't realise is that, whilst most of the west was still fighting a theoretical Cold War, South African forces were facing the latest Soviet weapons technology in the African forests and savanahs. Mirage 23's and Mi-24 Hinds backed by the entire SAM series from SA-1's to SA-18, against ageing Mirage F1 fighters and Buccaneers.

On the ground T-55's and Olifant tanks locked down into conventional and mortal combat, whilst back "home" in Namibia, regular infantery and Alouette-III gunships were engaged in a classic hit and run counter-insurgency campaign against SWAPO guerillas. Remember this was not a high-tech BVR "lock up and shoot" war, dogfights were up close and personal and over in a jiffy. Unlike the USAF, bear in mind that both teams did not have a basically "unlimited" source of weapons supply. For example lets say that South Africa only had about 15 Buccaneers (thumbsuck) to their availability - this means every mission has to count or the campaign is in perile !

The biggest hassle for those flying strike missions to be faced, will as in reality be navigation. Very few large cities (mmm 2?) exist, huge areas are covered by flat bush covered terrain with no noticable landmarks or navigation aids. You are going to have to follow some rivers and lookout for some tiny african kraals (villages) to locate your strike targets.

The second campaign is basically a "what if" scenario to depict "what could have happened" if the war was still continuing today i.e, 1990 to today. This will bring aircraft such as the Denel Cheetah to the front, pitted against later supplied Mig-29's of FAPA.

It is early days still, but so far I have got the AO (Area of Operations) defined and mapped to include GIS information such as elevation data, road & rail networks, airfields data and river networks. The laborius process of tiling has begun, making use of 512res (bigger) tiles to allow for greater and more realistic terrain definition. Let me just say here that this is the motivation behind ATF4 - nothing pisses me off more than flying over familiar landscapes, and not being able to recognise any real life features below ! Originally I wanted to make a FS2004 mod, but decided to stick with my favourite flight sim, that is Falcon 4.0.

Mirage F1CZ cockpit initial designs - day 1 take 1

To achieve this realism I am making use of 1m resolution Landsat-7 and IKONOS satellite photography from lets just say a "reliable source". The aim is to make use of none of the original Falcon tiles, as they simply are not suited to the African landscape and are way to repetitive. The rest of my tools are standard off the shelf software such as Photoshop 7, 3DS Studio MAX, GMAX and freely available Falcon utilities. Just look at the ocean tiles in Falcon 4.0 !!, the sea has not just got one colour or shade !


Mirage F1CZ cockpit initial designs - day 1 take 2

Onto flyable aircraft. This is where it gets a bit heavy even for me, and I am sure I am going to need some help here, especially from old 666th friends such as Aeyes De Best. I have begun work on the 3D and 2D cockpit of the Mirage F1CZ and 2 days into that project I am beginning to get a basic repertoire going - overcoming obstacles I will do when i get there.

Planned for flyable aircraft is;-

Mirage F1CZ - fighter interceptor role
Mirage IIIAZ - attack role (maybe the CZ)
Buccanner S Mk50 - attack
Impala Mk.2 - CAS role (MB-326 version)
up against

Mig-23ML
Mig-21MF or bis
SU-22
Those are the plans or "hope fors" - we will see how it goes. 3D modelling - I have quite a few basic models allready in need of finishing off, but quite a few to be added, especially amongst the South African arsenal (e.g. the Ratel, G-5, Casspir and Buffel, Kudu, Puma etc). Naturally all help will be aprreciated, research information and blueprint material on most of the AI equipment listed below I have available.

Airbases in africa range from tiny bush strips and desert floors to full length tarmac runways as found at Grootfontein, Ondangwa and say Cuito Cuanavale. once gain, I have all the material available on radio freq codes, runway headings, lengths etc.

So what i am going to do is run a daily or weekly progress report at the MOD666 forums, and hopefully we can get some talented folk to help out. Hope you stay tuned to my broadcasts and wait the while till ATF4 is finished. Cya above the red skies of Angola soon !!

AI controlled equipment list

South Africa

Alouette III
Bosbok
Buccaneer S Mk50
Canberra B(1)12
C-47 "Dragon" Dak gunship
C-130B Herculus
C-160 Transall
Cessna 185
Impala Mk.1
Impala Mk.2
Kudu
Puma
Mirage III CZ, EZ, RZ, R2Z, BZ. DZ, D2Z
Mirage F1AZ
Mirage F1CZ
Super Frelon
Wasp
V-3 Kukri
Alpha Bombs
120kg Bombs pre-frag
250kg Bombs frag
460kg Bombs
68mm Rockets

Buffel
Casspir
Eland-60, 90
G-5
G-6
Olifant MkI
Ratel 20, 60, Command, 81, ZT3
Rinkhals Ambu
Samil 20
Samil 50
Samil 100
SP 20 mm AAA Ystervark
Cactus (Crotale) SAM

Angola

An-12
An-22
An-26
CASA C.212
Il-62M
Mi-8/17
Mi-24
Mi-25
MiG-15UTI
MiG-17F
MiG-21bis, MF
Mig-23ML, UB
Su-22

BM-14
BM-21
BMP-1
BMP-2
BRDM-2
BTR-40
BTR-50
BTR-60
BTR-152
BTS-4 tank transporters
D-30 122mm gun
Gaz-66 Trucks
M-46 130mm gun
M-55 triple-20mm AA towed
MB-21
MTU-20 (T-54/55) bridgelayers.
KrAZ-219 Trucks
PT-76
T-34/85
T-54
T-55
T-62
T-72
S-60 57mm AA
SAM-7 Shoulder launched
SAM-2 Fixed site
SAM-3 Fixed site
SAM-6 Mobile tracked
SAM-8 Mobile wheeled
SAM-9 Mobile wheeled
SAM-13 Mobile tracked
SAM-14 Shoulder launched
SAM-16 Shoulder launched
TMM Bridging vehicles
UAZ-469 jeeps
Ural-375 Trucks
Zil-131 Trucks
ZIS-3 76mm Guns
ZSU-23-4 SPAA
ZU-23-2 AA
ZU-23-3 AA
ZPU-1 14.5mm AAMG
ZSU-57-2 SP 57mm AA
AA-8 Aphid
R-24T
R-60M
R-73E

UNITA

Stinger
RedEye

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the logo looks pretty nice.
more 80% vehicles modeled. the rest won't take long.

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Angolan theater seems make nice progress.. MadDog apparently a very talented and ambitous modder.. check his progress in THREE field- tile making, pit making and TacEditing!!
http://www.666th.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=269

[Mad Dog McEwan]

CCC is it possible you can contact me at gmcewan@namakwa.co.za regarding my Angolan Theatre for Falcon 4.0 ?

I need some help with the theatre please folks - any help would be totally appreciated and credits will be given to whatever team I can put togethor to help on the theatre.

Read more Here
Forums for Angolan Theatre

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im here to help.

BTW nice finding about Tile making.. tile artists may take the advantage of MSFS resources!
http://www.666th.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14401