This week we continue to cover air defense systems in our game.
The unit of this week is the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun M163 Vulcan.

The M163 Vulcan Air Defense System (VADS) is based on the M113A1 tracked armored personnel carrier, which is equipped with a six-barrel 20 mm M168 rotary cannon with range-only radar on the rotating turret. The M168 gun is a modified M61 Vulcan aircraft gun and has a high rate of fire up to 3000 rounds per minute.

Just like its Soviet counterpart ZSU-23-4, the M163 is extremely effective in a ground support role, but its primary mission is to engage low-flying air targets.
M163 was actively used by the U.S. Army in the Vietnam War, as well as exported and used in many military conflicts in the second half of the 20th century (the Lebanese War, Yom Kippur War, etc.)

This week our team focused on the infantry and its mechanics and the creation of gaming maps and game world.

Stay tuned!

https://youtu.be/dcrHvLSDY4Y

In the previous posts we covered helicopters that dominate the air.

In order to efficiently combat enemy aviation the Soviet army has a well-known anti-aircraft self-propelled gun ZSU-23-4V1 "Shilka".

A distinctive feature of this vehicle is four 23 mm autocannons with a colossal rate of fire of 3 400 rounds per minute. It is capable of protecting military convoy on the march, destroying air targets and lightly armored ground units. Firing is effective both on-site and on the move due to its integrated radar and gun stabilization system.

Terrifying ZSU-23-4V1 "Shilka" was an irreplaceable war machine in almost all military conflicts of the second half of the 20th century.

Hello, everyone!

In the next "unit of the week" post we have decided to tell you a little bit about the process of its creating. Our team pays special attention to the details and realism, that our future players will certainly appreciate.

Mi-4 (known to NATO as “Hound”) is the first Soviet military transport helicopter, also widely used by the Warsaw Pact countries. The helicopter is presented in our game in two main modifications: Mi-4A and armed Mi-4AV.

Mi-4AV is the armed version of the Mi-4A equipped with four 9М17М ATGM "Phalanga" (known to NATO as AT-2 “Swatter”) and 96 57-mm NAR S-5M. Also Mi-4AV can carry up to six 100-kg bombs or four 250-kg bombs but this option will be added later.

In our game this helicopter is versatile, it serves as a transport for the infantry and also allows you to defeat the enemy's ground equipment and infantry.

As sometimes there is no possibility to get high-quality blueprints of military equipment as it was with Mi-4AV, we decided to use the photogrammetry technology. This technology allows you to build a 3D-model based on many photos of the real object, taken from various angles.

To make photos of the Mi-4, we went to the Central Air Force Museum of the Russian Federation, where there is a great collection of unique models of aircraft of that period.


The Central Air Force Museum of the Russian Federation https://cmvvs.ru/


More than 500 photos of the Mi-4 were taken from a variety of angles.


The 3D model, which requires further refinement, was built on the base of these images.


Matching the resulting 3D model with the existing sketch drawings

HighPoly




Highly detailed HighPoly model (more than 4 000 000 polygons).

LowPoly


In game LowPoly model (34,000 polygons)

Texturing


Adding textures to the model

After setting up the animation the model is ready for integration into the game engine.

Screenshots

Hey everyone!

The unit of the week is an anti-tank modification of AH-1Q Huey Cobra helicopter: 8xTOW, 14x FFAR Hydra-70 (HEAT-warhead M247), Minigun, 40 mm Grenade launcher.