Lots of work is ongoing for DCS World these days and one of the areas that Eagle Dynamics has slowly been taking the covers off of is the asset pack currently being developed for Pacific WWII. The assets are highly detailed ships, tanks, vehicles and aircraft that took part in the later part of the war centered currently around the Marianas islands battles. Separate of the pack is the DCS: F6F Hellcat which is also underway. Last Friday’s development update gave us new screenshots and details on the status. Let’s have a look!

Pacific assets take shape

Eagle Dynamics reports that progress is being made on the WWII PTO Asset Pack and that many ships, aircraft and ground units have progressed from list to static model to fully functional DCS asset. Eagle Dynamics says that this is a distinct milestone as they transition from being modeled and textured into assets that are now being tested, tuned and integrated into the sim’s systems.

A big part of that integration work is AI behavior, and dive bombers are a good example of why this takes real engineering time. A Val or a Helldiver doesn’t fight like a fighter or fly like a level bomber; it needs to identify a target, roll into a proper diving attack, release at the right altitude, and pull out. The entire attack profile is different from anything else in the AI’s existing playbook. Getting that dive-bombing behavior tuned correctly for each of the Pacific dive bombers is part of what’s happening under the hood right now.

Eagle Dynamics reports that these assets are being developed with proper Combined Arms functionality as well so that players commanding round units will have full control over ground units rather than limited AI-only interaction. Good!

I thought it’d be good to go back to the announced list as a reminded for everyone. The WWII PTO asset pack intends to include the following previously published list:

United States Aircraft

• F6F “Hellcat”
• SB2C “Helldiver”
• TBF “Avenger”
• SBD-5 “Dauntless” 
• PBY “Catalina”
• P-38L “Lightning”

United States Ships

• Enterprise aircraft carrier 
• Casablanca-class light aircraft carrier 
• Independence-class light aircraft carrier 
• New Orleans-class heavy cruiser
• Baltimore-class heavy cruiser 
• Cleveland-class light cruiser
• Fletcher-class destroyer 
• Liberty-class transport 
• Cimmaron-class oiler

United States Ground Forces

• M4A2 Sherman
• M3A1 “Stuart” light tank 
• LVT-4 tracked landing vehicle 
• LVT(A)-4 tracked landing vehicle 
• DUKW-353 amphibious truck 
• US Marine Corp infantryman
• US Navy Carrier personnel 
• US Navy seaman

Imperial Japanese Aircraft

• A6M5 “Zero”
• D4Y “Judy” 
• D3A “Val” 
• B6N “Jill” 

Imperial Japan Ships

• Shokaku aircraft carrier 
• Chitose light aircraft carrier 
• Kongo battleship 
• Mogami heavy cruiser 
• Agano-class light cruiser 
• Yugumo-class destroyer 
• Kagero-class destroyer 
• Kashino-class transport 

Imperial Japanese Ground Forces

• Type 94 Tankette 
• Type 95 Ha-Go tank 
• Kurogane Type 95 car 
• Type 97 Te-Ke tank 
• Type 97 Chi-Ha tank 
• Type 97 ShinHoTo tank 
• Type 2 Ka-M amphibious tank 
• Type 1 47mm anti-tank gun 
• Type 98 20mm anti-aircraft gun 
• Type 91 10cm towed artillery 
• Type 92 70mm towed artillery 
• Type 10 120mm anti-aircraft gun 
• Imperial Japanese Army Infantryman 
• Japan Navy seaman