Rising Sun is the new series from the makers of Yankee Air Pirate.

Maybe I had better explain since you went to the trouble to create this site, Doug.

Are there enough WWII flight sims? Probably too many. After IL-2, why bother?

We are going to bother. Yankee Air Pirate's business is story-telling. The area to be covered by Rising Sun (or Kyokujitsu in Japanese), is well-known history. Pearl Harbor. Doolittle. Midway. What's there to tell?

A lot.

(The pictures posted are preliminary and for demonstration only. They are not necessarily part of Rising Sun.)



...originally by Wolf.

In 1970, I read a book by John Toland called The Rising Sun. It told the story of the war in Asia and the Pacific in an even-handed way. That is not our goal. We just tell stories of pilots in the air. In Rising Sun...the game, the stories will lead the player into sitting in the places of Japanese, Chinese, British, Thai, Australian, Russian and American pilots. We think experiencing their missions, skills, fears and fates are things that are universally...or at least internationally...understandable. I think we all appreciate the bravery and skill of men at war in flying machines. I certainly do.



A glance at the list of participants reveals that now nobody on that list of combatants can today thrive without the help of almost everyone else. So we avoid politics and drama. All that is left are the stories.



We chose TK's engine for 3 reasons. First, our skills in that engine are fairly high. Second, TK's games do things with light that others do not do as well, in my opinion. And third, IL-2 and MSFS have mature games in this venue. While we are not competing for the same type of player, we do not need the confusion that would arise from us covering old ground in old sims.



...all ships by Hinchinbrooke.

We do not know how it will be marketed yet. We do know that we will release the stories in chronological order. That means right now we are awaiting the HMS Repulse and the HMS Prince of Wales. We have Battleship Row and Kido Butai.





I can understand why people would avoid this topic like poison. All our assets are going into a fleet that will either be sunk or remodeled or lost at Midway in the next phased release.



Our aircraft and ships will be new and of a level of detail where our players will not have to ignore all those great screenshots coming from IL-2 forums.



...original Yankee Air Pirate P-40B.

We will do our best to provide a believable environment. Each engine has its compromises. Our choice has a limited terrain editor. Luckily we have the most talented terrain editor hammering away at the furnace up in the mountain right now. When Deuces says it's ready to go...

Banzai.



(mppd's land bomb No. 80)

Interesting. Will have to keep an eye on it's development!

Definately keep me in the loop. This stuff is right up my alley. Grandfather served on the USS Lexington in 1941-1942 and my wife's granddad was on the USS California (Nice Tennesee class btw).

Should be some really enjoyable stuff.

Nice!

I believe Rising Sun will require one of Thirdwire titles?

Nice news! Actually I have three questions:

1- The first one is the same as empeck's question: Will it require one of the Thirdwire titles?

2- Will it include a "real" campaign? (I actually like Thirdwire's campaign system a lot)

3- Will it have multiplayer?

empeck: It will run on Strikefighters patched up to the most current level. We might also provide versions to run on any Thirdwire title. The idea is to allow new people the cheapest way in.

ricnunes: 2. We won't have Campaigns. We try to stick to choreographing exactly what happened up to a point before letting the player go to his own fate. The whole add-on is a campaign, I guess...tied to the time line of history.

3. Nope. Sorry. Too much modification for Thirdwire's multiplayer capabilities. If anyone wants to tackle that, get in touch. We will help it happen. Right now we have 30 planes to paint.

It's not really my place to answer, but I would expect Rising Sun to follow the same model as Yankee Air Pirate 2 for WOV. Meaning yes it will probably require one of the 2nd gen Thirdwire titles, no it will probably not contain a campaign in the sense of Thirdwire's semi-dynamic campaign engine, and no to multiplayer since the 2nd Gen games don't support it. If that sounds like it will scare you off, and if you haven't played YAP2 - don't run away. As zerocinco said, the YAP team doesn't really do "campaigns" in a traditional sense but they create individual missions based on the accounts of pilots who were really there. So each mission is like flying a part of an individial pilot's history. I'm not a YAP2 pro, I haven't gotten through all of the 1st mission pack yet (real life just keeps eating into my sim time along with other interests, but winter's coming!). But I will say the Yankee Air Pirate missions I have played are very, very good. I like playing TW campaign missions, but they get pretty repetetive (which is probably true of real combat missions, but we're playing a game here and we want the exciting stuff, yes?). YAP missions might not be part of a one pilot/squadron ongoing campaign, but they feel more immersive and a lot "richer" I would say.

Again, zerocinco or someone else from YAP will have the absolute answers to your questions but I would think they will follow the model of what they have done with YAP2 in Wings Over Vietnam. It's unique, the addon objects and scenery enhancements are top notch, and they do what they say - tell you the story. If Rising Sun is successful, I hope they do some European and other theater WWII stuff. And Korean War. Ok I'm dreaming now.

Edit: there you go! Started writing this before and posted after the official response.

When will it bee release and is it another arcade Simulator or a serious semi realistic Sim representing the whole of the Pacafic Theater.


I hope its another realistic Sim. We have more than our share of Arcade Sims available already.

Nice looking silver plane

Sorry my knowledge of pre-WW2 aircraft is lacking.

Dons armored vest and kevlar in preparation for the elitist who will no doubt flame the flight models.

Well I'm definitely interested. Can you confirm if this for the first or second generation games please?

Second.*

Still know how to paint?

*Currently it is being built on SF1 patched up to Oct 08 (we wanted AI and shadows). It will run on Vista and Windows 7. But since we are starting all this from scratch, we can do whichever way makes the most sense. We cannot keep up with everything TK does and will not try.

***********CORRECTION********************

At this time there is no advantage to go to second generation that I can see. Certainly Microsoft is going to force XP out as soon as they can but SF Gold Patched to 08 does everything we want to do. There are thousands of owners of SF1 and fewer owners of SF2. I think we will shoot for the wide spot.

Storm, the first aircraft was the Curtis P-36 Hawk. It was the precurser to the famous P-40 Tomahawk. It was a nice plane but it was outdated by the beginning of the war. It saw service at Oahu and in the Phillipines and was used by the British and the Dutch against the Japanese. Second is a P-40B Tomahawk, the prominent front line fighter of the US Army Air Corps in 1941. The paint scheme doesn't look correct for Pearl in 1941 but the model looks pretty good.

Battleship Row is particularly impressive. One of the things that I didn't like about Pacific Fighters was the relative lack of ship classes in the game. Will the UTAH be there? In it's training ship form? The fact that you are modeling (correctly mind you) the Pennyslvania, Nevada, Tennessee, and Colorado Classes is very impressive. If you can model the Yorktown, Lexington and Wasp classes it will be even more impressive. Put some torpedo bombers in there (Devestators and Kates) and we will be yours.

I am very interested in this game so far.

The Utah, right now, is a plug-in. It was the first ship struck and took maybe 9 torpedoes even though the pilots had been briefed to not go after it. But doing it would delay release. Done are the BB's and 4 of the Japanese carriers. Akagi and Kaga will arrive next Wednesday. Repulse is done and Prince of Wales started before Christmas got in the way. It was our choice to put both Royal Navy ships in the episode since they were both within sight of each other. That choice delayed the G3M that will sink them.

When Phase Two goes out, it will include Saratoga, Hornet, Wasp, Yorktown and Enterprise. (Ranger, Lexington later) The TBD is a most important part of Midway so they will be flown by the player. Japanese carriers will add Ryujo, Hiyo, Junyo and Zuiho.

The Kate is already done as it's needed for Pearl Harbor. The Pearl Harbor scene will be milked for all we can get out of it without boring the player. I think we have 3 missions from the first wave, 4 from the second and two US missions (P-36A 15th Pursuit and P-40B in Army brown 45th Pursuit). Then it will be a lot like Thanksgiving turkey carcass. We are done with it.

The players, will be able to fly more than our missions. All they need to do is read a little history then go back and find the ship. Everything is sinkable except the main targets and they have their own Destroyed Models based upon photos. Everything can be destroyed but the trees.

Which takes us back to the Utah....so, probably not...but there will be a ship there if you want to disobey orders and stick one into it.

Funny you should mention the Kate, Tom. Been ripping apart the pit and testing. This model was our beta.
She flys really nice. Maybe too nice. Oh, and by the way there is AAA on those BB's.

Looks fantastic so far! Can't wait for this to come out.

When will it bee release and is it another arcade Simulator or a serious semi realistic Sim representing the whole of the Pacafic Theater.


I hope its another realistic Sim. We have more than our share of Arcade Sims available already.

You still have not answer my questions!

I"am sorry you gave me a answer already here in this post!


http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2923065/2.html

Very cool.

Part of the reason the Utah took so many torps was because she was in a spot normally used by a carrier. Add to that the fact that the ship had all of her 12 inchers removed and heavy planking placed on her deck (she was a target ship for dummy bombs). Part of the reason she rolled over so fast was because of that heavy planking.

From the air she looked somewhat like a carrier. Some pilots claimed they sank a carrier at Pearl, most think it was the misidentification of the Utah. Nagumo knew better though.

The Americans were darned lucky there. The Enterprise was due back the morning of the 7th but was delayed due to wind. If she had arrived on time she might have steamed right into the attack.

Thanks for the update. This is looking to be the most highly detailed Pacific simulation every created. I can't wait to trap on the Enterprise. It has been a dream of mine. What fighter models are you putting out for the Americans? I'm assuming F4F3s and F2As will be modeled but will we see P26s? Hows about some PBY's? I would love some Black Cat missions.

Well, first, Hinch pulled the guns off a passable stand-in for the Utah. After repaint, it will pass if you squint. Hopefully, all you will see is a lot of explosions and a keel. No time to do her justice.

We thought about the P-26 for accuracy but it's just a dog. For lovers of the obsolete, we have the Hawk 75N in Thailand. The F4F's will come in on Phase Two unless we do Wake Island. For now, Phase One non-Japanese list (completed and otherwise) is:

P-36A
P-40B
Hawk 75N
F2A
B-17
Hurricane
PBY...might delay to Phase Two, will land on water, and we have a sub surfaced and submerged for it. And the sub fires a torpedo that sinks ships in a big way.

But I think you want to know about Phase Two. They would be:

B-25
B-24
TBD
SBD
TBF
F4F
P-40E

That looks fine for flyables. For Midway you may want to consider (time willing) B-26Bs, they were there at Midway and were actually did a torpedo attack on the Imperial Fleet. The B25 would be great out of Port Moresby of course. The KittyHawk should be an easy mod from the P40B Model.

Utah should look fine with a redo of the Colorado Class. The Nevada and Pennsylvania class had that tripod mast so they looked acutally more mordern than the newer Tennessee or Colorado Class. The front cage mast could be kept and remove the rear cage and take the guns off. Granted the Utah had a center turret but only pinheads like me would know that kind of worthless information.

The B-25 first bombs the Nakajima plant from the deck of the Hornet.

True, the C model did fly off the Hornet. Make sure you get the facial model of Ben Afleck right.

We'll use Jimmie himself.

I was thinking Spencer Tracy or Dana Andrews.

Okay, Tom, the Utah is done as per your suggestions. I am counting on your word that you are the only one who will see the errors. Or that the AI birds will have holed it before you turn the corner at Barber's Point.

He He.

My Grandfather served aboard the Lexington. Wait, I will start counting rivits. What month refit are you going to use? I'd better not see any 8 inchers on her. If I remember right the 5 inch dual purposes were not on her at her sinking either either but I could be wrong. Better get that Pensacola class down or I'm gonna get you .

Seriously, as long as it approximates the right ship I am happy. Heck, as long as Battleship Row doesn't look like a bunch of King George V class BBs I am happy.

Thanks, don't get too much into the weeds though, some of us spent our high school years digging into way too much garbage and there is no way you can include all of it. I've always been a Pacific War pinhead.

And here's my father's airplane in Burma.

Ahhh, nothing like a field mod. Is that a D model? I'm not an expert on the Mitchells.

I would hate to be in front of the firepower of an H or J model. Those were downright scary.

You know...I never asked him. I'm more of an expert on their engines than on their airframe. But in one form or another, it was used a lot in the CBI theater and the Pacific so we will have several noses for it to match the missions. We've all seen those pictures at Rabaul and elsewhere. We look forward to putting them into motion.

What have I been missing?? I had noticed this forum before, but thought it was just another IL-2 related version.

Thank heavens it's not! From reading the threads it looks like we'll actually get some substance for campaign offline play!

And it covers my favourite Theatre. Gonna watch this VERY closely.

Great stuff here Hinch is masterful on the ships and the planes are Great can't wait for this one
Please keep us posted!!

Cheers

Hinch is the very best and is working overtime to provide the quality ships we have asked for. While the ships at Pearl Harbor are great, the IJN carriers to the north are better but I suspect he put a little extra into the two British ships in Force Z.

We can see why this venue is not popular with game producers. You must lay out a ton assets for an attack at a place and on ships that are no longer part of the game after that. You will see the IJN carriers and their aircraft again. The P-40 will appear often but not as B-model. The F4F at Wake will be used a lot but the bulk of what goes into Oahu stays there. All MPPD's doodads..which are works of art...have no other use.

And Deuces has had to create miracles to make it work unlike it has been done before. He's not very secretive about wanting to go on to Wake, Malaysia and Burma right away. But if we don't impress the players at Pearl Harbor, we won't have them around Iwo Jima.

Everyone is working very hard right now. We intend to knock your socks off.

This looks very promising.

I've just finished "Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway" (and I can recommend it highly). Looking forward to continued scenarios.

The attacks on the Japanese cruisers Mikuma and Mogami would be interesting,
though you would have to make a Japanese cruiser with a crushed bow.

Now I just need to find a copy of Strike Fighters... Version ?.

When we get the Mogami, we can crush the bow. All our ships have a destroyed model they morph into once they have been hit hard enough to die.

Right now SF1 patched to 08.

Well that is partially true. Pearl Harbor was a one shot pony but most of the ships there were seen again in the Pacific Theatre. The backbone of the US Navy's bombardment force was those same obsolete battleships that the Japanese damaged and sunk at Pearl. All of the cruisers went on to distinguished careers both during and after the war, some until the 1980s (the Phoenix was sunk in the Fauklands). There is a use for the Pennsylvania, Maryland, Nevada and Tennessee classes later on although you will have to modify them some for 1943-1945 scenerios. I will say of all the ships involved in the conflict the US pre war battleships were the most modified during the war.

In the world of pixels (as opposed to iron) they are just low poly hulls awaiting a high poly superstructure. Almost none of the artwork is the same. We might do one but more likely we will do the New Jersey. Hinch is already started on Yorktown where the real action is...was.

But the bulk of the energy is spent on Pearl and we cannot tow that around with us. We are toying with using the island for a remake of Magnum PI in a Hughes 500. I was looking around and see that Deuces put the other islands out there. I'm thinking a nice string of hotels and a commuter airline would do well.

That would be cool,,I am flying Bill Lyon's Golden Hawaii addon for FS9 again after all these years and loving the 1930's Island Airways and flying an S-43 between islands.

Nah, "Book em Danno" or "Hawaiian Eye".

That might make a pretty cool mod for AA2. Can you imagine running from the Dobermans, hopping in your Ferrari and driving off.

Any chance we'll see Kido Butai raiding Darwin and and then striking into the Indian Ocean?

Phase One starts at Pearl Harbor and ends over Rangoon...probably in a Hurricane. Current plans are for Phase Two to start at Darwin. The Indian Ocean Raids would require us to come up with Hermes, Cornwall, Dorsetshire and Vampire in a hurry and we cannot. Hinch is doing Yorktown now and more American ships after that. The next British piece I was asking for is the Indefatigable. We have the IJN ships.

We don't mind plugging in filler ships outside the action but target ships have to be good. (The Prince of Wales and Repulse are fine work just to sink.) We will experiment with sinking shipping in the Bay of Bengal. We are going that far west. If that's fun, we will do it.

It's an important part of Japanese strategy and WWII history that is not very well known. We've been talking about it. I hope we can without creating something that looks very much like something we just did off the coast of Malaysia.

Fantastic! I always wanted to see Darwin modelled in a sim. Not just the initial devastation caused by the Kido Butai raid, but also the constant air-raids throughout 1942 and 1943. There's certainly enough action to be had ..... Raids 1 & 2 were the initial devastating raids by Kido Butai; Raids 3 - 5 were unopposed; Raids 6 -27 opposed by the P-40's of the 49th Fighter Group USAAF; Raids 28 - 51 opposed by No's 76 and 77 Squadrons RAAF (predominately night raids) and Raids 52 to 64 by No.1 Wing RAAF flying Spitfires. Additional to the 64 official raids there were another 17 reconnaissance and/or fighter sweeps by the Japanese. Then there's all the attack missions flown by Beaufighters, Hudsons et al over Timor and the Arafura Sea.

I hope you do get around to scripting Operation C. It was quite a hectic raid with lotsa action, both surface and aerial.

On the following link there is actually a very good article on just how close the Kido Butai came to being ambushed by the Admiral Somervilles Royal Navy Force A during the attack on Ceylon. Common perception is that the Royal Navy simply ran away until it was safe to return. Nothing could be further from the truth. It would have been a fascinating clash, given the British were skilled in night carrier operations, and had radar equipped Fairey Albacores.

http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vo7/no4/stuart-eng.asp

Well worth reading.

Count me in...got A Dawn Like Thunder for Christmas (bless my daughter's heart) and followed up with Shattered Sword, Incredible Victory and Fuchida's Midway. All that reading got me to pull out my OLD gaming rig which has been in storage just so I can play Pacific Fighters. I am sure I have a copy of Strike Fighters around somewhere...if not I'll buy another! (and maybe a new rig!).

Very cool.

Just want to say this looks great! I'm looking forward to it. I don't even have Strike Fighters (just WOV) but will grab it when this becomes available.

Regarding Utah, to be pedantic, she took only two torpedoes (which, of course, did the job). A third was launched at her but went forward and hit Raleigh.

Okay, just checked researcher David Aiken's torpedo attack timeline to double-check my memory. Six torpedoes launched at Utah, two hits:

From Soryu
Tatsumi Nakajima: torpedo passed forward of Utah, hit Raleigh.
Karoku Fujiwara: hit Utah
Yasuo Sato and Koji Kawashima: one torpedo hit the shoreline near Detroit, the other remains unaccounted for.
Masazumi Tadashi and Tadashi Kimura: first torpedo hit the shoreline aft of Raleigh, second hit forward on Utah.

We like pedantic. We pedant all the time to get this stuff right. Thanks for the research and the saved time.