Dev Blog #27
Hello comrades!
Today let’s dive to the ground in search of targets. No matter how interesting the military equipment directly involved in combat is, victory is impossible without adequate supply. Supply lines must be protected while the enemy must be prevented from replenishing his reserves — the ideal target for a ground attack aircraft are not well-protected military vehicles, but vulnerable transport columns and trains. We have already told you about road transport and its variety in the 12th issue of our diary, so today we will talk about trains — locomotives and railcars.
As we said, the detail and visual quality of the tracks and equipment will reach a new level in the Korea project — today we will go a little deeper into the details. An interesting point is that the rolling stock of the Korean railways of the 50s was extremely diverse, and we had a non-trivial task of choosing the most characteristic examples of railroad equipment to recreate in the game. Korea was supplied with many different types of railway equipment from different parts of the world — from the USA, Europe, Japan (during the occupation), and so on.
Today let’s dive to the ground in search of targets. No matter how interesting the military equipment directly involved in combat is, victory is impossible without adequate supply. Supply lines must be protected while the enemy must be prevented from replenishing his reserves — the ideal target for a ground attack aircraft are not well-protected military vehicles, but vulnerable transport columns and trains. We have already told you about road transport and its variety in the 12th issue of our diary, so today we will talk about trains — locomotives and railcars.
As we said, the detail and visual quality of the tracks and equipment will reach a new level in the Korea project — today we will go a little deeper into the details. An interesting point is that the rolling stock of the Korean railways of the 50s was extremely diverse, and we had a non-trivial task of choosing the most characteristic examples of railroad equipment to recreate in the game. Korea was supplied with many different types of railway equipment from different parts of the world — from the USA, Europe, Japan (during the occupation), and so on.
As the main locomotive of the "blue" side, we chose the American USATC S160 — a medium-class steam locomotive built according to the 2−8-0 scheme (2 running wheels, 8 driving wheels, no trailing wheels). The locomotive’s tender had 8 wheels and a capacity of 9 tons of coal and 25 thousand liters of water. The USATC S160 was designed for the U.S. Army Transportation Corps and was used extensively to haul heavy loads in Europe during World War II. A total of 2,120 locomotives were built and operated under various designations on railroads in many parts of the world, including Asia. At least one hundred were delivered to South Korea in 1947 under the designation Sori2. No less than 200 were delivered to the Soviet Union: Sha series (most of them) and Shu series (after conversion to narrow gauge for Sakhalin).
For the "red" side we chose the Czechoslovakian Type 475.1 — a large steam locomotive with a 4−8-2 scheme (4 running wheels, 8 driving wheels, 2 trailing wheels) as the main engine. Its tender had 8 wheels with a capacity of 12 tons of coal and 35 thousand liters of water. This steam locomotive was designed for fast passenger and express trains, but could also pull freight trains. 172 units were ordered, of which up to 25 units (numbers 1148 to 1172) were delivered to North Korea in the early 1950s. It was one of the most advanced steam locomotives with a low axle load, which made it versatile — the locomotive could be used on lines with primitive railbeds. Because of its appearance, the locomotive was nicknamed "Noblewoman" (Czech: Šlechtična). It is interesting to note that the experimental steam locomotive 476 "Droog" (Friend), built on the basis of 475.1, was given to the USSR in 1951 as a gift to Stalin.
The railcars are extremely varied for the historical reasons mentioned above. Even after studying masses of photos and identifying the most characteristic models, finding documentation on them proved to be a very difficult task.
Nevertheless, having collected a sufficient amount of photographic materials and having selected the closest analogs of available drawings, we have created 7 types of railcars:
Thus, although there are "only" 7 types of railcars, due to the variability of cargo we end up with a very large variety of railway equipment objects (28 objects in total) with different looks and properties, and this variety is clearly visible on the screenshots. We are applying the same approach to road vehicles, which we described in detail in the previous 12th and 21st issues of the Developer Diary.
- Passenger (4 axles, 70 tons, metal);
- Mail (4 axles, 70 tons, metal);
- Boxcar (4 axles, 30 tons, wooden), loading options: empty, people, general cargo, ammunition;
- Tank car (4 axles, 85 tons);
- Gondola (4 axles, 31 tons, wooden), loading options: empty, general cargo under a tarp, general cargo in boxes, coal;
- Flatcar (4 axles, 75 tons, wooden), loading options: empty, general cargo under a tarp, general cargo in boxes, timber, trucks, tank;
- AAA flatcar (2 axles, 20 tons, wooden), armament options: M2.50, DShK, 61-K, Bofors L/60, ZPU Vz.53.
Thus, although there are "only" 7 types of railcars, due to the variability of cargo we end up with a very large variety of railway equipment objects (28 objects in total) with different looks and properties, and this variety is clearly visible on the screenshots. We are applying the same approach to road vehicles, which we described in detail in the previous 12th and 21st issues of the Developer Diary.
The closer we get to the game’s release, the more interesting details we will reveal about the project.
We’ll stay in touch!
We’ll stay in touch!