German Towns

German Town (continued)

German Town (continued)

  

     The unique architecture of Germany is something I've always been fascinated with. This small town template is just a small tribute to it.

     The funny thing is that when I work on these buildings I always get carried away and create something that I myself would want to live in. Even though many of them will eventually be subjected to rather merciless destruction and physical abuse by the player's party of ruffians... It almost makes me cry.

German RR tracks

  
     When dealing with something like a railroad, a check point, a factory or a prison - it takes very little to imagine the general layout of things since many of them are thematically connected and most of their parts are already present in the editor.

     If one checks the folders with parts of the original  game templates - they'll notice that the developers left a lot of unfinished buildings, settings, etc. Some of them might prove to be useful. Like this building, for example.

    The last one appears a little too dark. I am still unsure what lighting changes to implement. H&S regular "per hour" lighting is too colorful and has backgrounds that are a bit too bright, creating an illusion of floating on a mystical island high in the sky. Besides, unless the background is black any secret underground structures will be immediately revealed. Hmm...

  
     The yellow light does make it look cheeful!

    
     This height map gave me some major headaches. Especially the objects on the bridge (since I use templates for almost everything). After some DeltaZ adjustments everything seems to be fine (the passability, destructability, etc.) 

    
     One of my first templates. I recall going a bit too radical with Hue changes (for the roofs and the window frames) not realizing the necessary reduction in color saturation. It was taken care of later though.

German Forests

    



     The Tilly driver obviously didn't see that pile of logs in the middle of the road. I wonder why?

     A bandit camp is assaulted by the Brits

     While the Brits are attacked by Fritz and his buddies. It is a very complicated part of the plot (not really), so in short - everyone but us dies.

     Yet one more interesting height map solution.

     The original cliff texture for dryer terrain was used here. The Bedford vehicles are driving around the hill.

German Country House

     There is something about those half-timbered houses... something pleasing to the eye.


 












     I remember playing S^2 and its sequels and thinking: "Did any of those Nival guys even bother to look at some European cities pictures?" - since the original textures for Germany (and Britain too) were terrifying and reminiscent more of dirty, faded, uncared for Soviet Russia architecture rather than Central European.

German Fortified Compound

     Another result of height map experiments.

     Initially the terrain was flat and rather boring looking, so I decided to spice things up a notch.

   

     I do like creating outdoors so much better.

Danilov's House

     One the "Booze" missions from my previous mod. I think I'll include it simply out of nostalgic considerations.

A small church

German Farm

Germany: Forest Road

  
     After multiple futile attempts to use the original textures for hills I came to realization that some new textures needed to be added to the mix. And as a result - 4 new Cliff textures were created in a furious artistic explosion.

The Castle

  

    




     After an epic battle with the height map and building a maze of stairs, doors and passages "The Castle" was erected.

    




     It features breathtaking classical art, exquisite wood paneling, an extremely uncomfortable dungeon and the most efficient torture devices found anywhere.

    




     Try it - you'll love it :)

German Inn

     Oh my! The memories!

     Remember that house in the first Sentinels mission where you met Boris (the agent with a terrible Russian accent)...

     Well, that's where I started. And later ended up with an Inn and a gazebo and many other things...

The Bridge Encounter

   
     It might not ring a bell, but this template was built using one of the original Silent Storm's random encounters as its base. Then the height map was modified, the bridge changed, the house added, the spots substituted, the ditch dug and... You get the picture...

     Yeah, that's when I thought of adding some moss to the roof, and then the shingles idea struck me as something that just had to be done no matter what. Although it might need some refinement, don't you think?

Various Bandit Camps

     This is the same template with 4 variants (not counting the countless subtemplate variants for houses, different objects and so forth).

     You might have noticed the occasional birches here and there, the snow covered pines and spruces are now green and available for summer scenes.

     After some deliberation the barbed wire was saved for more official military installations and the  pallisade wall was born out of spruce trunks (with a different texture, of course)

 

    
      Oh, and the ground textures are all spots - I decided against the default "texture" for height map ground painting.

     They just didn't provide enough variety, unfortunately.

Russian Village

     The infamous trio (Fritz, Rocco and Klaus) are testing a new RU template.











     Mossy log houses, sticky mud, terrible roads and vast beautiful countryside...






     

One of the "Booze Missions"

      This image is of one of the missions you'll be able to choose. (Okay, it's not all about me and alcohol. Blunter is just a Booze baron and thus is part of the story.) Several competing groups try to gain monopoly on alcohol distribution in West Berlin. Becoming one of the suppliers could be a good cover up for a Soviet counter-intelligence officer. The border guard are bribed, the train is loaded. But wait ...first enough booze needs to be aquired ...right?

Colonel Mikhalev's (a.k.a. "Mikhailich") new HQ

      The address says "Ogare/V.A. Strabe 6. If you remember the original H&S had Peterstrabe 38 as the address of the first mission. It is obviously a cultural reference to Petrovka 38, which is Moscow Criminal Police HQ address. Ogareva 6 is a Leningrad/St.Petersburg Criminal Police HQ.

     Anyway, that is Mikhailich's new base of operations where he resides during work hours. This particular mission is all huge sequence, giving the player a lot of information about what's going on. 

     Yes, the successful completion of the previous big mission (unraveling of "Operation Tornado" and neutralizing the threat it presented) - everyone got promotions. Lt.Colonel Mikhalev - to Colonel, Colonel Kuzmenko - to General, etc.

     Here we'll see:

   - General Kuzmenko (of MGB) consulting Mihailich (from counter-intelligence) about a radiogram they intercpted

   - Colonel talking to one of his underlings

   - The overview of the new HQ

Dutch Quarter, Blunter Bar, September, 1950

      Another View of the Dutch Quarter district. It is really beautiful looking during the day, but most of the first missions happen at night, so no beauty for you ( and me ...sob! ...sob!) just business.
     Seriously, though - it is a lot of fun creating new textures and playing around with them :) .

     Volks Polizei (GDR's police units) are sniffing around the Blunter Bar in Dutch Quater in Potsdam, September 1950. Yes, the whole story starts with an alcohol deal "going bad".

     The interesting thing about their officer uniforms is that they looked very much like sturmstaffel ones. And, of course, most of their higher ranking personel were former Wermacht (up to 80%). Hmm...

     Also, you might have noticed the:

   - Cars now have destructible lights (front and back)

   - houses have street names and numbers

   - most of the walls, windows, doors and their frames have different textures. More European than the original Silent storm.

These are a few models I've created for my "Back to Berlin 1949"/"Amery Affair" Mod (using Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8).

Here are some plot snippets:

A former NKVD/MGB operative is sent into the West Berlin to investigate recent disappearance of one of the Soviet agents in the region. There are many factions to interact with, gain favor or provoke hostilities...

After the "Berlin Blockade" fiasco, Soviet command is well aware of Germans' pro-American sentiments.

...German Communists, Neo-Nazi groups are struggling to get the upper hand in the "besieged" city of West Berlin...

...Various criminal organizations are busy supplying the huge Allied garrison with booze and girls...

...For reasons unknown a quarantine is set by the newly appointed Military Governor of W.B. - M.Taylor in Grunewald and Spandau. Americans are tight lipped about the incident but the "green mist of death" rumours are spreading like wildfire across the city and the surrounding areas...

...CIA office in Berlin might contain some critical information about the activities of Gehlen Organization...

...The missing RHSA archives could shed some light on the allied intelligence operations and the many former Nazis they are imploying...

...III Reich loot..., etc.

you get the idea!

"Paranormal Lab"

All right, "Paranormal Lab" is ready now.
In this picture we observe: Dr. Gertrude Roth and her assistant Otis Schroeder performing some tests on a giant brain and a huge eyestalk of "unknown" origin. Their underground facility is well equipped and has many chambers with all sorts of different contraptions... well worth exploring, don't you think?
It seems there is (literature, internet) enough material for a whole new game, or at least a totally new branch, the "paranormal branch", not pure sci-fi but a srong reference to it:
- Ahnenerbe - (Ahnenerbe Forschungs und Lehrgemeinschaft) organization was founded by Heinrich Himmler in 1935, and later was incorporated into SS in 1939. The Aryan ancestral heritage research undertaken by Ahnenrbe, including all kinds of expeditions (Iceland, Tibet), excavations (of different burial grounds, etc.), and all kinds of medical experiments (most of which were condemned during the Nurenberg trials)
- Thule society - (founded in 1918 by Rudolf von Sebottendorf, named after Ultima Thule - most distant land, in the North, believed to be the place where the Aryan race came from,) was engaged in many different activities, including Nazi mysticism and political intrigue. Thule society is considered to be a predecessor of DAP (German Workers Party) formed in 1919, which later became NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers Party). It is said that Hitler himself was a member of Thule society. Although to avoid embarrasment of being associated with the occult Hitler later absorbed them into NSDAP with many active Thule society's members like Rudolf Hess and Alfred Rosenberg assuming different roles in it.
In relation to Silent Storm I think the mystical part is probably the most interesting (possibly because it is a safe (not condemned) topic due to being highly improbable and unlikely), but I am more interested in the medical aspect of their research, making it a source of certain medications and possibly of some rare tools (unlimited surgical set, for example), statistics modifying equipment (one-time only) or some strange, unexplained extracensoric gadgets or implants.

Here is another picture (Jasc paint shop pro 8 image) I drew the other day.

From left to right:
Generalmajor Otto Ernst Remer, the founder of Socialist Reich Party (SRP), the extreme right-wing splittoff of the German Empire Party - left (I used a real photo of him), Remer's secretary and personal
bodyguard Carmelia Donitz - middle ( fictional, maybe Grand Admiral Karl Donitz' daughter or niece, who knows?), Lukas Kahl - right (fictional, the head of SRP's paramilitary organization Reichsfront).
Note their insignia and symbols resemble those of Nazis.

A short summary of their activities: Formed in 1949, engaged in Holocaust denial, critisizing FRG's chancellor Adenauer for being an American puppet, advocated Karl Donitz as the last rightful leader of Germany, etc. In 1952 SRP was accused of being neo-nazi and banned by Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court of West Germany).
It is also believed that SRP was financed by Soviet Union with the goal to destabilize the young, then, FRG.
Could be an interesting twist in the plot, couldn't it?

Daily newspaper, Office of Military government for Germany (U.S.)

This is an example of a periodical that could be made available for purchase from newspaper stands or book dealers like Gunther (in Zeizenburg, H&S). they may contain: - clues (articles, ads, "Wanted" posters, etc.), - overviews of political events (in this issue I used some of the "Time" magazine's archived articles (photos I got in many different places, including Wikipedia), meaning that the events described here indeed took place in the second half of December 1949, - weather changes (affecting the choice of clothes for the characters to enable them to operate without certain penalties, etc.

The "Massacre at Bogenschaffen" (T.H. base) article is the only one related to the game Hammer & Sickle. There could be more if I had a specific plot event that needed to be described or introduced.

The Communist and Nationalistic periodical could also be created allowing the player to learn about different perspectives and enter different branches/quests, examples: "Paranormal branch/large quest"(Ahnenerbe, mind control research, etc.), "Power branch"(pure "hack and slash"), "Gehlen Org. branch"(ex-nazis, CIA (Critchfield) - Nazi (Gehlen) connection, BND, Munich, Pullah ), "German Communists branch/large quest"(internal conflicts between Communists and Social Democrats in SED), "Neo-Nazi branch" Socialist Reich party, their paramilitary org. Reichsfront under the leadership of Generalmajor Remer and his cronies, "Mossad quests" (Israeli Intelligence Agency was formed on Dec13, 1949), British and French military publications could be imitated too. The possibilities are numerous.

The newspapers would permit the player to actively look for the information about the area he/she is in and the world.

"Keyhole Berlin 1949" poster

West Berlin 1949 (military installations, airports, districts, transportation network)

Dec.29, 1949. 11:57 p.m. Grosser Wansee, Zehlendorf, West Berlin.(H&S poster).