NorOps News Update for May 2007

I've officially 'taken a break from' Silent Hunter 4 at the time being - the U.I. was a bit cumbersome, the bugs annoying, and I didn't feel at home in the Pacific Theatre. Uninstalling the game also frees up precious disk space.

But most of all, returning to Silent Hunter III means working on my beloved NorOps (how it's missed me). First off, I'm 99% done with the first version of Bergen. This, in turn, means:

Traffic and moored/anchored ships both in and around the city:

The number of military and civilian vessels in the area has been greatly increased. The ships are concentrated in Bergen harbour itself, in Store Lungegårdsvann, the lake east of the city; at Laksevåg, just south of the harbour; at the 55th Vorpostenboot Flotilla's stutzpunkt, across the bay; and near the town of Nesttun, south-west of the city.

These ships range from leisure vessels to merchants to military warships, and will be either stationary or in transit. Some of them appear randomly.

During the invasion, there will be a wave of refguee boats leaving the area, and as the war progresses, there will be random Allied bombing raids, resulting in wrecked craft scattered about.

I've also added some floating barrels, boxes and such here and there from DivingDuck's mod. DivingDuck, I'm not sure if I've obtained permission to use these in NorOps - if I haven't, please get in touch.

The ships of the 55th Vorpostenboot Flotilla.

Historically correct fortifications:

Fortifications, from gun batteries to search lights to AA, have been added around the city, at historically correct locations. 'Fortress Bergen' finally lives up to its name.

Pre-plotted course for leaving city:

In addition to the pre-plotted courses for use in the Kiel canal, you will now also have a pre-plotted course for use in Bergen harbour. Use it to get out to sea from your base in Laksevåg, travelling along the north side of Askøy (the big island west of the city).

Map labels:

'Naval bases' have been added showing fortifications, villages, areas of Bergen, naval bases, and various other things of interest.

New harbour and city layout:

Both the harbour and distribution of city blocks has been re-created from scratch to be more historically accurate. In addition, the town of Nesttun has had its own city block added. Players are unfortunately not able to actually visit the town, due to the fact that the passage leading to it is blocked by the game, but it's reachable via the External Camera.

Herdla Airbase:

A new air base has been added at Herdla. The air cover provided should prove useful to u-boats patrolling close to the coast.

Allied operations:

Norwegian, British and American forces will operate by sea and air around Bergen. Their vessels will mostly be made up of Submarine Chasers, MTBs, civilian vessels such as fishing boats, Catalina search planes, bombers, and various types of fighters. Going on patrol in the fjords around the city, you may come across resistance hideouts. Be careful in remote areas - a Silent Hunter III engine limitation is that planes do not work around tall mountains, which means that air support may not always be available due to the steep mountains.

Laksevåg undergoing bombing from Allied B-24 planes.

An easter egg:

I plan to include several easter eggs, and the first one is already in. As of now, there are no planes of awarding the first players to find them, but go hunting when NorOps is out nonetheless.

Unfortunately, the April 9th invasion and Altmark case, which both involve Bergen city, are proving to be a bit challenging, and may not be in for the first release.

A second shortcoming is that I've as of yet not been able to find dates for when exactly the various forts or installations (such as the 55th Vorpostenboot Flotilla base) were built, so they've all been given placeholder dates.

Finally, I'm having some difficulty modifying the terrain around the city. There are several things I'd like to change, mostly blocked passages that are navigable in reality, but it'll unfortunately have to wait for the second release.

For those interested, I've taken a series of screenshots of NorOps in various stages and zipped them, and I'll see if I can't upload them somewhere. The zip file also contains some pictures from a terrific, idyllic u-boat fjord cruise I went on - in-game, that is.

In related news, I've decided, for a change of pace, to go over to something else than city planning and traffic control: I've finally discovered a list (at the Norwegian Wikipedia) that lets me do something I've wanted to do for a long time: To remove all the existing lighthouses from the Norwegian coast and start over again, placing them where they are in reality. This means two things: firstly, it means more lighthouses - far more lighthouses, owing to a coastline that would go around the world twice if you straightened it into a line. Secondly, it means historically correct lighthouses. The two downsides are that not all of them are lighthouses in reality - there are also some fog bells, etc. that'll be replaced by lighthouses in-game. Also, topography in-game does not match that of reality, so I've had to leave some lighthouses out and place others at historically incorrect locations. Still, it'll be interesting to sail around the Norwegian coast and navigate by lighthouses that exist in reality.

So far, I've only gone through fourteen lighthouses, discarding five and using nine, which means I've got about two hundred 'process' - I inticipate that about a hundred of these will make it into the game. The Oslo area currently looks like this:

Lighthouses of the Oslo Fjord.

Lastly, I'd still appreciate help with new vessels and installations (there's a 'wish-list' on my web site), or with terrain editing.

Hope you enjoyed the update and had a look at the attached screenshots. Have a nice month of May!