...And repainting a piece of history to have american flags on it! And then taking off and landing on said barges! Does this make me a Beam.Redneck?
The barge carrier works very well in shallow water. Is there a catapult or trebuchet that we can use to chuck barrels? --- Post updated --- Welcome to the hillbilly navy, where we do what we can with what we got, and we fabricate the rest. (I got a shed and a welder.)
I found this massive crane mod in the past few weeks, still haven't tested it yet. Maybe it would make a pretty good catapult.
Is that the TC42? I think I have that. I'm going to try to pick up a barrel with it... --- Post updated --- I couldn't get the TC42 to rotate fast enough to throw stuff very far.
Assuming the barrels behave like the old propane tank/b25 bombs from early beamng, it likely had to do with the two rigid bodies not just colliding, but clipping through eachother during the push. One barrel, closer to the plate, would begin moving before the barrel ontop of it, this microsecond of movement disparity between the two can cause nodes to slide past one another. The next frame then simulates the two barrels inside each other at this contact location, causing an immeasurable amount of force to be acted between the two barrels, initiating the detonation. Securing all barrels together and then having them seperate after a set timer or altitude reached in flight would then essentially have all barrels be one object during contact with the plate, meaning the movement of all barrels would happen simultaneously as they are connected with a common jbeam instead of relying on inter barrel forces to move all in a uniform matter. This would also allow for more consistancy between shots as barrels would no longer act randomly upon contact with the plate As well, the back of the An-12 is definitely big enough to accomidate 4 racks of barrels to be launched, sorted in a 2x2 format with god known how many barrels per rack, meaning individual drops might not be nessecary since multiple runs could be conducted by engaging one row to launch at a time
Maybe you could create a mod that adds jato rockets to the arm? Or find a way to make it want to throw things, but have something that keeps it in place, so when a key is pressed, it throws the thing?
A JATO crane would be insane. I think we could fit 2 shallow-angle racks in the AN-12 cargo bay, with flanges on the sides to keep the barrels on. The bottom rack would be angled just enough to roll barrels out the door, and the top rack would reload the bottom rack from the other end. There would be a mechanism at the end of the bottom rack to keep barrels from rolling out until ready. In other news, the hangar repair is going well:
In theory, no ramp is needed for the barrels, as the plane could simply just angle up, using the angle of attack to let the barrels roll out, this would save space inside for the barrels allowing for more barrel storage on the top racks
Thank you. Once the repairs are done, I'm going to hang a sign on the front of the hangar ("JRI Air Freight" or something like that), and we'll be open for business. I'm going to publish the JRI config files when the hangar repairs are complete so that other people can use it too. Pilots who want to run cargo for JRI-AF need to be able to get to this airstrip. I think one of our first contracts will be flying a buttload of rubber dog poop out of Hong Kong. There's already a pilot prescheduled for that job. He giggled when he took the contract. He said that his commanding officer in the Navy predicted this.
I have an idea with respect to using the JRI airstrip. The AN-12 is definitely tight fitting on the airstrip, and as much as it would be a hassle to develop, creating a skinnier and shorter version of it would much benefit the usage of the JRI airstrip. By shortening the length of the overall body, the wingspan could proportionally be reduced allowing for safer landing on the skinny and short runway. This smaller version could additionally employ two engines instead of the current 4 in order to save on fuel. While definitely the most arduous and complex mod done for the naval warfare thread, it would certainly give unimaginable benefit to the program
Rather than modifying the AN-12, I already modified the airstrip. I clear cut the trees on one side: ...and it has to land on only one side of the airstrip. I would've cleared the trees on the other side too, except there's a mountain behind them. I also removed the old control tower. Overall, it's an effective airstrip. However, a smaller plane would certainly be handy.
Has anybody else seen these: https://www.beamng.com/threads/mrk-kit-railroad-tracks.57350/ It looks like these train train tracks can be added to any map, like model railway tracks, except full size. Even though not necessarily a naval thing, the armed forces in general might be interested in dedicated rail service for transport of munitions, equipment and personnel. There's a tanker car (called "cistern") that we've been evaluating. If the tank is removed, something else can be loaded on the frame. I'm going to try to install a Phoulkon CIWS unit on a rail frame. If that works, maybe a Phoukon can be installed on a semi trailer frame too. It exploded last time I tried. I'm going to see what happens if I sprinkle some tracks & trestles around Italy. If the resulting rail network is effective (derail-free up to a reasonable speed), I'll post some config files + instructions here so that everybody else can check it out. Finally, the Northern Fjord cargo center will truly be full multimodal! P.S. - It looks like the rail network might take a bit of time to set up...
If you need cheaper defense, you could always strap a few of the stationary machine guns into a boxcar and have the doors open. It's covert, easy, and fast. You will, however, need to have personel manning the guns at all times.
Another defense could be the fact that even the navy sometimes needs many materials/ parts to be delivered. And if trains can be used, why not use them? They can transport more than planes can.
While crude, a method of 'rail ferries' can also be devised for maps with large lakes in need of crossing, where a barge is outfitted with railroad tracks on its deck and brought across the lake or canal to the other side, providing cheaper and faster to set up alternatives to bridges
That would work, like waist gunners on WWII B-17s, and the ends of the box cars can still be used to ship stuff. Money's not a problem, however. The BeamNG.navy gets juicy taxpayer money. We have a yearly budget somewhere in the neighborhood of $965 kajillion. That's how The Admiral can afford the good cigars. And trains get their own path of travel. If the track happens to be entirely elevated, then it doesn't have to stop for anything until its destination, unless the track or train is attacked. That might make the train a bit late. Exactly. If there's a place where the train would go regularly, then the construction and maintenance costs of a bridge might more economical than barge + fuel. If there's a place where cargo doesn't go often, but when it does it's a LOT of cargo, then driving a whole train on to a barge might make more sense. The only issue that would have come up with the barge deck rails is the issue of track alignment: How do I ensure the alignment of the cargo terminal rails and the barge rails? The solution is simple: I'm going to create a fixed-node object with couplers that the front/back of the barge can connect to, aligning it. The rail barge connector terminal object thingy would have alignment guides to align it with the cargo terminal rails during placement. After the placement is good the first time, just remember its coordinates and you can put it back next time, or build a script to do it, whatever works for you. --- Post updated --- ...and a track radius can be too small for a 6-axle heavy freight locomotive to navigate. A 4-axle locomotive would be able to navigate small-radii track easier.
All of the tracks laid so far seem to work. They're about as precisely positioned as I can manage. No speed tests yet, but a 6-axle locomotive stayed on. I'm going to stay away from any turns tighter than "track_short_curve_ten.dae". There's even a set of switches to a track that runs through the loading area in the hangar for quick cargo transfers. You can also see the barge docks in this image. Nevermind the aircraft carrier in the background. I forgot to tie it up at the pier, and it drifted out into the bay. I'll have to fetch it later.
To align the rails, simply make a channel to hold the barge as the locomotive is placed onto it, this channel just needs to be as wide as the barge so it drifts minimally within the channel. have the channel widen beyond the length of the barge to allow for easier entry to the channel.
