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I have been playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare recently instead of Modern War-fail. So I decided to whip up an SMG Spetsnaz soldier. He is wielding a AK-74u in woodland camouflage.
(The figure isnt entirely accurate, I just made it off of the top of my head)
HMS Ark Royal (R09) was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier. She was the Royal Navy's first aircraft carrier to be equipped with an angled flight deck.
Ark Royal was the sister ship to HMS Eagle, which was initially named HMS Audacious, hence the name of the class. Four Audacious-class ships were laid down, but two (HMS Africa and the original HMS Eagle) were cancelled at the end of the war, and construction of the other two suspended for several years. Both surviving ships were extensively upgraded throughout their lifetimes.
809 NAS – 12 Buccaneer S2 Strike
892 NAS – 14 Phantom FG1 Fleet Air Defence
B Flight 849 NAS – 4 Gannet AEW3 Airborne Early Warning
849 NAS. – 1 Gannet COD4 Carrier Onboard Delivery
824 NAS – 7 Sea King HAS2 Helicopter Anti-submarine warfare
Ships Flight – 2 Wessex HAS1 Search and Rescue
(Text Wikipedia)
Shots in this album are from slides/prints bought in the ’70s
No idea who any one slide/print was from, nor who owns any copyright. If you think it's you, let me know.
I haven’t cleaned them up to any great extent yet
I don’t know or care, where they were taken, or when
All generally Geo-Located to Edinburgh with a generic 1/1/75 date unless the location is obvious
A vaguely COD4 inspired minifig, this guy came to fruition from me attempting flag patches on the arms (credit to R.Goff1 for the technique). I got a little carried away and this is the result.
Fig has custom painted legs, painted and customised tac-belt, custom flag patches on the arms and a modified Brickarms M4 with rail system.
Another atmospheric diorama on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier with Fairey Gannet COD4 XA466 stowed by the edge of the deck while a Westland Wessex hovers on rescue duty alongside the ship.
This aircraft was delivered in 1957 and was in service until 1978. Its role was as COD, Carrier Onboard Delivery Aircraft —the aerial supply of mail and light cargo to the fleet.
Fairey Ganney COD.4
Royal Navy
XA466
RNAS Yeovilton YEO EGDY
05/04/2013
Preserved at The Fleet Air Arm Museum
one of my favorite guns, ive been wanting to make one for a while and finally got around to doing it
Built at Stockport in 1957 and delivered to Anthorn Receipt And Dispatch Unit then to Aircraft Holding Unit Abbotsinch also in 1957. To RNAS Culdrose 1960 and to Naval Air Radio Installation Unit (NARIU) at RNAS Lee on Solent for modifications. May 1961 to 849 NAS HQ Flt at RNAS Culdrose
and loaned for a month to B Flt as courier aircraft on HMS Hermes returning to Culdrose 25/10/1963. December 1963 to Fairey Aviation at White Waltham for modernisation then in 1964 back to NARIU at RNAS Lee on Solent for more modifications and conversion to COD4. May 1966 to 849 NAS A Flt at RNAS Brawdy and June 1967 to Naval Air Support Unit (NASU) at Brawdy for modifications and repairs before issue to 849 NAS A Flt at RNAS Brawdy in October. March 1968 to NASU at Brawdy before storage until 1969. Then issued to 849 NAS A Flt on HMS Eagle before returning to Brawdy in December 1969 then in September back to 849 NAS B flight. Short term storage until 1971 then more modifications and updates before return to 849 NAS in 1972. On to Lee on Solent , Lossiemouth in 1973 and flown to Lee on Solent in 1978 and towed to RN Air Yard at Fleetlands for respraying.
May 1978 to the Naval Air Trial Installation Unit at Lee on Solent before finally serving once again in July with 849 NAS HQ Flt at RNAS Lossiemouth. Allocated to the FAA Museum in December 1978 and taken by road to Wroughton for storage. Back to Yeovilton in 1999 and into Cobham Hall by April 2000. Placed on display in the Aircraft Carrier Exhibition in March 2011.
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ps4.infogratuite.com/cod4-usb-teh-poison-v1-mod-menu-xbox...
“I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.”
George F. Burns
I have been tagged by { :: alive :: }
1) I am 35 years old man.
2) I love music, my favorite song is 1812 but Madeleine Peyroux is OK
3) I have one 1 year-old beagle, his name is Se-ew (...chinese style sauce).
4) I hate television but like movies.
5) I have one daugther, her name is Jhinnr.
6) I live in Thailand.
7) I like drawing, but do not like colored them.
8) I can not swim.
9) I hate soccer, in fact...every sports!!
10) I have a PS3 and love to play LBP, COD4, GH...but do not have enough time to finish them all.
11) I like juices...every kind of juices, esp. with SODA.
12) I never go aboard ... but if I have 2 chances, the first choice is Japan and the second is China.
13) I'm lazy but I do love to take photos.
14) I started with Pentax K1000 then Yashica FX3-Super 2000 then EOS5 then EOS3...and now goes DSLR.
15) Now, I own 5 cameras; 2 Canons, 1 Lubitel, 1 Ricoh, 1 Hasselblad.
16) I have 1-2 free days a week to take photos, 1 hr a day to search some quotes, 1 hr a day to explore Flickr...just that, but my favorite refreshing time!!
This really didn't take nearly as much time to paint as I expected it to. I'm really happy with the results. The AK-47 and the minifig itself were both painted by me, along with the RPG-7. C&C appreciated!
TAGGED ! ~ by alvin.lamucho [ ;))].... cheers mate.
10 things
1. Same age as the dude who tagged me : )
2. Met my wife to be in an elevator
3. Allergy to crustaceons - which makes me a cheap date
4. All time favourite game is COD4
5. Love freeze dried food on a long multiday hike
6. Hit off 18 if I had a handicap
7. Fluent in Japanese
8. Last car blew a head gasket
9. Can wear pink but prefer not too
10.Long black - a hangover from student days, we always ran out of milk for coffee
Now i feel like the kid who wasn't fast enough to tag anyone : )
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Jervis Bay, taken by caroline a few weeks ago. It was a cold day but just beautiful in the sun : )
Canon 300D
Canon 17-40 f/4L USM
Photoshop CS
1/320s | f/8 | 19mm | ISO 100
The minifigs used in my Intervention vignette. Left to right: Russian officer, Russian soldier, British SAS, Russian sailor.
Credit for gasmask goes to MagicLlama.
"Hermes Airways" COD4 Gannet XA454 on detachment to NAS Nowra (HMAS Albatross), New South Wales, Australia, 4th November 1968.
HMS Hermes was a conventional British aircraft carrier and the last of the Centaur-class.
Hermes was in service with the Royal Navy from 1959 until 1984, and she served as the flagship of the British forces during the 1982 Falklands War.
The final CATOBAR air wing in 1968-1970 consisted of:
809 NAS. 7 Buccaneer S2 naval strike aircraft
892 NAS. 12 Sea Vixen FAW2 all-weather fighter
849 NAS. A flt. 4 Fairey Gannet AEW.3 airborne early warning
849 NAS. 1 Gannet COD4 for carrier onboard delivery
826 NAS. 5 Wessex HAS3 anti-submarine warfare
Ships Flight 1 Wessex HAS1 air-sea rescue.
When the decision was made in the mid-1960s to phase out fixed wing carrier operations Hermes was slated to become a "Commando Carrier" for Royal Marine operations (similar in concept to a US Navy LHA), and in 1972 underwent a refit in which her arresting cables, steam catapults, and 3-D radar were removed. Landing craft and berthing for 800 troops were added and her airwing became approximately 20 Sea King helicopters. By 1976, with the Soviet submarine threat becoming apparent and through NATO pressure, a further mild conversion was performed for Hermes to become an Anti-submarine warfare carrier to patrol the North Atlantic. Hermes underwent one more conversion and new capabilities were added when she was refitted at Portsmouth from 1980 to June 1981, during which a 12-degree ski-jump and facilities for operating Sea Harriers were incorporated. After this refit the air wing comprised:
800 NAS 5 Sea Harrier FRS1 Fighter
826 NAS 12 Sea King HAS5 ASW
Falklands War
Hermes was due to be decommissioned in 1982 after a defence review by the British government, but when the Falklands War broke out, she was made the flagship of the British forces, setting sail for the South Atlantic just three days after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. She sailed for the Falklands with an airgroup of 12 Sea Harrier FRS1 of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, and 18 Sea Kings. A few weeks after sailing, more aircraft were flown or transported via other ships to replace some losses and augment the task force. Hermes airgroup grew to 16 Sea Harriers, 10 Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3 s of the Royal Air Force, and 10 Sea Kings (after some of the helicopters were dispersed to other ships) as well as a troop of Special Air Service (SAS) and Royal Marines. As she was the RN's largest carrier, she was considered too valuable to risk close into the Falklands, due to the possibility of Argentinian airforce attacks. Her Harriers therefore operated at the limit of their endurance radius, but were very successful in keeping the enemy aircraft at bay.
Air group at the height of the Falklands Conflict:
800 NAS - 16 Sea Harrier FRS.1
826 NAS - 5 Sea King HAS.5
846 NAS - 5 Sea King HC.4
No. 1 Squadron RAF - 10 Harrier GR.3
(Text Wikipedia)
Check out the first official KCK Customs figure, up for sale as of today! =D
More to come soon!
Give me your feedback on the overall website experience! :)
~Entropy~
A vaguely COD4 inspired minifig, this guy came to fruition from me attempting flag patches on the arms (credit to R.Goff1 for the technique). I got a little carried away and this is the result.
Fig has custom painted legs, painted and customised tac-belt, custom flag patches on the arms and a modified Brickarms M4 with rail system.
HMS Ark Royal (R09) was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier. She was the Royal Navy's first aircraft carrier to be equipped with an angled flight deck.
Ark Royal was the sister ship to HMS Eagle, which was initially named HMS Audacious, hence the name of the class. Four Audacious-class ships were laid down, but two (HMS Africa and the original HMS Eagle) were cancelled at the end of the war, and construction of the other two suspended for several years. Both surviving ships were extensively upgraded throughout their lifetimes.
809 NAS – 12 Buccaneer S2 Strike
892 NAS – 14 Phantom FG1 Fleet Air Defence
B Flight 849 NAS – 4 Gannet AEW3 Airborne Early Warning
849 NAS. – 1 Gannet COD4 Carrier Onboard Delivery
824 NAS – 7 Sea King HAS2 Helicopter Anti-submarine warfare
Ships Flight – 2 Wessex HAS1 Search and Rescue
(Text Wikipedia)
HMS Ark Royal (R09) was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier. She was the Royal Navy's first aircraft carrier to be equipped with an angled flight deck.
Ark Royal was the sister ship to HMS Eagle, which was initially named HMS Audacious, hence the name of the class. Four Audacious-class ships were laid down, but two (HMS Africa and the original HMS Eagle) were cancelled at the end of the war, and construction of the other two suspended for several years. Both surviving ships were extensively upgraded throughout their lifetimes.
809 NAS – 12 Buccaneer S2 Strike
892 NAS – 14 Phantom FG1 Fleet Air Defence
B Flight 849 NAS – 4 Gannet AEW3 Airborne Early Warning
849 NAS. – 1 Gannet COD4 Carrier Onboard Delivery
824 NAS – 7 Sea King HAS2 Helicopter Anti-submarine warfare
Ships Flight – 2 Wessex HAS1 Search and Rescue
(Text Wikipedia)
HMS Ark Royal (R09) was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier. She was the Royal Navy's first aircraft carrier to be equipped with an angled flight deck.
Ark Royal was the sister ship to HMS Eagle, which was initially named HMS Audacious, hence the name of the class. Four Audacious-class ships were laid down, but two (HMS Africa and the original HMS Eagle) were cancelled at the end of the war, and construction of the other two suspended for several years. Both surviving ships were extensively upgraded throughout their lifetimes.
809 NAS – 12 Buccaneer S2 Strike
892 NAS – 14 Phantom FG1 Fleet Air Defence
B Flight 849 NAS – 4 Gannet AEW3 Airborne Early Warning
849 NAS. – 1 Gannet COD4 Carrier Onboard Delivery
824 NAS – 7 Sea King HAS2 Helicopter Anti-submarine warfare
Ships Flight – 2 Wessex HAS1 Search and Rescue
(Text Wikipedia)
Using my new parts from my loot I created these OpFor (bad guys in CoD4 mw desert missions)
The back ground is my geography assignment.
Aircraft from HMS Hermes are seen visiting NAS Nowra (HMAS Albatross), New South Wales, Australia, on 4th November 1968.. In the foreground we can see the Ship's Flight Fairey Gannet COD4 and next in line is an 849 NAS A Flight Gannet AEW3 (most likely XL451).
My friend was staying over for the night, I turned on the X360 to play some COD4, And look what happens -.-
I'll send this off to Microsoft in a few days, it should then take around 2 - 3 Weeks to come back.
Also id like to add, This is my third xbox. LOL
HMS Hermes was a conventional British aircraft carrier and the last of the Centaur-class.
Hermes was in service with the Royal Navy from 1959 until 1984, and she served as the flagship of the British forces during the 1982 Falklands War.
The final CATOBAR air wing in 1968-1970 consisted of:
809 NAS. 7 Buccaneer S2 naval strike aircraft
892 NAS. 12 Sea Vixen FAW2 all-weather fighter
849 NAS. A flt. 4 Fairey Gannet AEW.3 airborne early warning
849 NAS. 1 Gannet COD4 for carrier onboard delivery
826 NAS. 5 Wessex HAS3 anti-submarine warfare
Ships Flight 1 Wessex HAS1 air-sea rescue.
When the decision was made in the mid-1960s to phase out fixed wing carrier operations Hermes was slated to become a "Commando Carrier" for Royal Marine operations (similar in concept to a US Navy LHA), and in 1972 underwent a refit in which her arresting cables, steam catapults, and 3-D radar were removed. Landing craft and berthing for 800 troops were added and her airwing became approximately 20 Sea King helicopters. By 1976, with the Soviet submarine threat becoming apparent and through NATO pressure, a further mild conversion was performed for Hermes to become an Anti-submarine warfare carrier to patrol the North Atlantic. Hermes underwent one more conversion and new capabilities were added when she was refitted at Portsmouth from 1980 to June 1981, during which a 12-degree ski-jump and facilities for operating Sea Harriers were incorporated. After this refit the air wing comprised:
800 NAS 5 Sea Harrier FRS1 Fighter
826 NAS 12 Sea King HAS5 ASW
Falklands War
Hermes was due to be decommissioned in 1982 after a defence review by the British government, but when the Falklands War broke out, she was made the flagship of the British forces, setting sail for the South Atlantic just three days after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. She sailed for the Falklands with an airgroup of 12 Sea Harrier FRS1 of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, and 18 Sea Kings. A few weeks after sailing, more aircraft were flown or transported via other ships to replace some losses and augment the task force. Hermes airgroup grew to 16 Sea Harriers, 10 Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3 s of the Royal Air Force, and 10 Sea Kings (after some of the helicopters were dispersed to other ships) as well as a troop of Special Air Service (SAS) and Royal Marines. As she was the RN's largest carrier, she was considered too valuable to risk close into the Falklands, due to the possibility of Argentinian airforce attacks. Her Harriers therefore operated at the limit of their endurance radius, but were very successful in keeping the enemy aircraft at bay.
Air group at the height of the Falklands Conflict:
800 NAS - 16 Sea Harrier FRS.1
826 NAS - 5 Sea King HAS.5
846 NAS - 5 Sea King HC.4
No. 1 Squadron RAF - 10 Harrier GR.3
(Text Wikipedia)
Alright, since I probably won't take another photo of all my Xbox 360 games until Spring of 2010, I thought I'd take a quick moment to review Borderlands and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, since they both deserve it.
The MW2 review will be longer than normal, but I have strong opinions on it.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
★★☆☆☆
This game was absolutely disappointing. I will speak about the single player and "Special Ops" game modes briefly, but the main reason I purchased this game was for the multiplayer, and the multiplayer component of the game will be the main topic as a result.
Multiplayer
First off, let me say that in theory, the changes and additions from COD4, overall, look like good decisions. Things like HQ being up for a while before you can capture and changes to perks are all things I either outright like or things I am open minded about. It's the matchmaking, UI, netcode and Party Chat restrictions that I have the most issues with, and that frustration is likely having an impact on how much I actually enjoy the multiplayer games themselves.
None of the three dozen or so people (friends and friends of friends) that I have played with have seen issues like this with COD4 or COD:WaW, and every single one of them has experienced issues with Modern Warfare 2. Those of you who have been following Modern Warfare 2 for a while now may remember that back in September, Infinity Ward's community manager, Robert Bowling (aka Fourzerotwo), said the following:
"Alright, let me attempt to clarify as much as possible as its clear that there is some misunderstanding on how matchmaking works in Modern Warfare 2 for international users. The functionality you're asking for, the ability to connect to BEST connection rather than first available game aka quickest match, is already built into the matchmaking. There is no need to include an additional toggle where you manually have to ask it to put you in the game best suited for your connection, that should all be done automatically without requiring you, the player, to go through an extra step to request it. That's what I was referring to in the tweet of, "you don't select a region or country, it is auto-assist". Meaning, matchmaking will automatically put you in the best game for YOUR connection."
If that's true, why is MW2 the only game where I've spent upwards of 30 minutes with five other friends, all within 20 km of each other, with each of us on fiber internet connection, being unable to get a game started, despite regularly gaming together for quite a while?
(To give you a background on what that "YOUR connection" would mean to me, SpeedTest shows I'm on the following connection: Download 94.63 Mb/s, Upload 65.67 Mb/s, 3 ms ping, Open NAT dedicated IP that is MAC tied exclusively to my primary Xbox 360 )
The matchmaking isn't necessarily fast, I've seen it be very fast, and I've seen it take several minutes. Regardless of whether it is fast or slow, my friends and I find ourselves losing party members more than half the time. That is unacceptably bad.
I fail to understand how, with my connection, people who connect to me with no problems, who play COD 4 and COD:WaW with me with no problems, don't even have a 50/50 chance of joining a game with me successfully.
When we do lose people, they have no way of telling us, as you might have already heard about Infinity Ward's controversial decision to restrict Party Chat from all but a few maps. That means we have to visually scan for who is and who isn't there. If Modern Warfare 2 would allow Party Chat, they'd be able to say, "Hey guys, I got booted." But virtually every game mode requires you to leave party chat to play. Even game modes where you can speak to living teammates while waiting for your respawn.
I understand there will be those people who prefer the lack of party chat, in hopes that it will encourage team communication between strangers, but literally everyone I know who's playing MW2 either mutes everyone or now has their 360 set so that they can only hear people on their friend list.
The lack of Party Chat irks me as I am one of those people who mutes everyone. I would prefer not to eliminate game chat from every other game I own just because of Infinity Ward's restrictions on Party Chat. I do want the option of people able to talk to the people I play in fighting games, most recently Street Fighter IV, so often times I will use game chat in games like Street Fighter IV. But when it comes to a social team game like the Call of Duty titles, I want to jump on with a group of friends as a team and socialize with them while playing. No one else wants to hear the details of how work is going, and I don't want strangers listening in while I'm socializing and talking about game strategy concurrently.
You do have the option to mute people rather quickly, but as Tycho said in his Penny-Arcade news post, "There are playlists that support Party Chat, identified by a black asterisk, but players who are just beginning to play don't have access to any gametypes that actually support multiple party members. it wasn't a dealbreaker, in that we could mute people (everyone) in either the lobby on the in-game roster, but anytime you take a process that involves zero inputs and substitute fourteen, it's something you should take pretty f**king seriously."
Again, just the lack of Party Chat wouldn't be a deal breaker, but coupled with the ridiculous difficulty of getting five friends into a single game successfully does make it extremely frustrating.
When we did finally get into a game, over half the games we entered were yellow connections or worse, and the majority of those were quit out of because the connection was so bad it was unplayable. The same problem plagued Call of Duty 4 but wasn't nearly as pronounced as it is here.
Treyarch was able to add a "Local" and "Locale Only" search option to Call of Duty: World at War, which allowed my friends and I to wait for a good game. If it took 10 minutes to get a game going, it was better than spending 30 minutes jumping out of unplayable games that we were repeatedly thrown into, losing friends on the way, and constantly having to re-invite people to the party but being unable to talk with them half the time due to the lack of Party Chat. (Party chat allows you to talk during loading screens and when people are booted or trying to join.) The "Locale Only" search option was a key reason World at War was my group of friends' game of choice over the last year. After a full year of caring about each win (2,747), and loss (645), in World at War, I very quickly hit the point that I no llonger care about taking a loss in Modern Warfare 2, because the number of unplayable connections and friends lost when joining games means that dropping out of games is a regular occurrence, and win/loss stats mean nothing as a result.
Treyarch's World at War was also smart enough to include a "Leave with party" option that meant the party leader could pull everyone out of a game together. If someone was getting a drink or using the restroom, the party leader didn't need to wait for them to return to change game types. In MW2, everyone needs to quit out individually, and again, without Party Chat, people sometimes get lost. This may not seem like a big deal for many, but for those of us who work and have families, we're rarely all jumping on or logging off at the same time, and what was a brief wait in World at War has become a point of dread in MW2. (Jumping out to get someone means there's a possibility that you'll spend the next 30 minutes unsuccessfully trying to enter a playable game without losing a party member again.)
Now you may wonder why I'm waiting so long to talk about the game play. The truth is that I've yet to formulate a final opinion. There are really fun games and there are really frustrating games...but the game community is still evolving. If camping seems problematic or levels seem unfair, those issues may change as players become familiar with the maps, other people's tactics and the vast majority of people have seen all the perks and weapons. I'm giving Modern Warfare 2 a much longer look than I would give most games, because I truly do want it to be great. I want it to be more fun than World at War with a larger active community than World at War had. However, truthfully, I'm not sure how enjoyable this game will be, nor how many people will stick around after the first month.
Here are the things I think urgently need to be addressed, as they're easy to fix but complete game breakers for many:
1. Party Chat: Put party chat back in for everything but S&D. Put in an MLG game room or whatever alternative rooms you want for angry young racists with a mic that don't want anyone using Party Chat, and let them yell at each other in there. Those of us who view online games as a social outlet to play with friends want this...BADLY. Even Penny-Arcade is wondering why this decision was made. If it was to keep us from talking after we die...why can we still talk after we're dead in game chat in every game type I've played so far? (I have not played S&D yet) Is it technologically impossible to prevent people in Party Chat from playing on the other team? I would love it if Party Chat guaranteed that people in your party would be on your team.
2. Match Making - Lost Team Members: I'm still repeatedly losing party members when trying to get games going. Is this really that difficult to fix? I can understand there are bugs that need to be worked out, but thanks to the lack of Party Chat, there's no way for dropped people to let their team know they've been dropped. A message like, "Party Members were unable to join the game, would you like to back out and get them or continue the game without them?" would be helpful. Baring that, making your squad members easy to visually differentiate (possibly a blue background or text for everyone in the party) which would make it possible to quickly confirm all X number of party members made it. Also, just enabling Party Chat would make it easier to communicate in cases where some people don't make it.
3. Match Making - Bad Connections: I'm still regularly being thrown into games where we have unplayable connections (people in our squad will be all red and yellow connections, even when there's six of us geographically within 20 km of each other jumping into a 6-on-6 game). A "Locale Only" option would be very welcome. I'm happy to sit around for minutes waiting for a playable game. I doubt a patch will come soon enough to make me care about my W/L stats...so I will continue jumping out of games with bad connections...but again, I'm more than willing to wait for a game where everyone on both teams has a reasonable playable connection. Net code improvements? Server upgrades? You guys can do whatever you want there...but until I see a "Locale Only" or "Maximum acceptable ping" or similar option, I'll be of the assumption that you really don't care about my interest in a playable connection, and my team will keep jumping out of matches with bad connections, which is a less than ideal solution when it isn't an issue in other games...
The following are improvements that seem obvious to me, most of which are probably seen in the majority of online games:
1. Leave with Party: This one is obvious. If a group of friends playing together wants to change games types, the party leader should have the option to leave with group. The group can enter games together...why can't they leave games together? COD:WaW did this, so it can't be hard to implement. Everyone dropping in and out separately is annoying enough when you are able to use Party Chat. It's horrible without Party Chat.
2. Add to Squad: There were squads in COD that meant we didn't all have to jump out every time a friend jumped on. They could join the game and if they were on our team, they could join our squad and stay on our team without everyone having to drop out and try to jump back into a game again. Again, this was in COD:WaW, so it can't be that hard to implement and it keeps people playing instead of having them search for games...(with the currently inevitable booting of people randomly and joining games with unplayable connections.)
3. "Invite" option: Why would I want to invite people from the game menu and then play against them? The only benefit I can see for this is people who spam invite people they've played against and beaten... If I use the invite option to invite a friend, I want to play with them. Why not have invites sent this way automatically add them to your squad when they accept? I don't want random spam invites to play against people I don't know, and I was excited at the possibility that we could just invite friends to our team without quitting out of the game.
4. X to skip: I'm not big on skipping levels, and I haven't played enough to dislike any levels enough to skip, so I didn't notice this at first, but why make skipping more difficult than it needs to be? Neither this or the items the follow below are nearly as important as the first six points in my mind.
5. Volume control: Another option I used in World at War that disappeared is the ability to adjust individual volume sliders for the game sound effects, music, and other noises. I have A40 headphones now, so it's no longer an issue for me personally, but if someone's trying to keep the volume at a reasonable level, let them lower the BGM slider and other non game sounds while keeping the SFX (the important game sounds) at the highest setting. When I did adjust these settings, I never felt it gave me any sort of advantage in hearing people in the game, it just lowered the pre and post game music enough to placate my wife.
Lastly, improvements that I'd like to see when getting into games with friends and having fun is taken care of:
1. Barracks Leaderboards: Where did the breakdown by game type go? I could care less about K/D in any game type other than Deathmatch, as that's the only time it's the main point. Even in Free-For-All, killing 25 people and dying 20 times is better than killing 15 people and not dying if you're playing in the spirit of the game...so why create leaderboards that encourage people to focus on kills in game types that focus on objectives? (In the last COD game, I'm 2.27 k/d in TDM and 1.5 in Headquarters, but I believe I have a better win rate in HQ because I play the game...) The new stat system leaves a lot to be desired. It would be great to see a lot of information available, and I understand this may be coming in the future.
2. Lobby Leaderboard: Something to look at between matches when you aren't adjusting classes, and wondering who exactly you're playing with and against.
3. Online Leaderboards: Again these are all things that can be added in the future, and would add to the fun, but aren't as important as the points above: Online stats, iPhone app, Web based challenges you can complete in game, being able to compare accolades with friends, being able to compare individual gun stats with friends, stats by game type, trending stats (k/d average for each hour of a given game type, etc.), etc, etc, etc. There's plenty of data people would love to gobble up, and stats added to my enjoyment of Halo 3 and Call of Duty: World at War. But really, it's secondary to all the multiplayer issues I listed above, and I'd be very happy if IW took those points into consideration and made changes to improve the multiplayer experience for everyone.
Honestly speaking, if every single one of the improvements above had been included out of the box, my rating for multiplayer would almost certainly be 3 or 4 stars, with the potential for a 5 star rating depending on how multiplayer holds up over time...but even if there's a great game under all the BS, the BS is currently getting in the way.
Single Player
I honestly enjoyed World at War more than COD4 for multiplayer, and I doubt that was just due to the improved matchmaking, but I will also say that COD4's single player is probably the greatest FPS campaign I have played. Even though I bought MW2 for the multiplayer, I was hoping that the single player would also be amazing.
Visually, this game is amazing. The sound and music are excellent. If a grade were as simple as rating how it looks and sounds, the single player would be a home run. However, this is a poor successor to COD4. The game has bugs, is short, and the story is feels like a roll of duct tape used to connect different environment and mission types.
A friend of mine said, "If you're going to make a highly detailed game, expect people to focus on the details." One such detail is the checkpoints. Multiple times I would go well past a checkpoint, yet at my death I would spawn back at a prior checkpoint, only to have the checkpoint triggered on the second time through. Near the end of the game, I was in a house on a staircase with an enemy just outside the front door (straight ahead, but just to the side of the door frame) and in the room to the right (just behind the door leading to the base of the stairs) and the game saved my check point with a flash bang about to go off at my feet. Every time I spawned, I was flash banged. After dozens and dozens of tries, I eventually was able to kill both enemies while completely blinded and continue with the game, but I knew that if I didn't make it to the next checkpoint, that I would need a lot of time and luck to pull that trick off again.
The HUD is minimalistic, which I appreciate, but multiple times the verbal directions and on screen directions are either difficult to follow or a complete lie. I don't remember my own specific examples, but a friend of mine tells me that one such point is being told to jump off a building. If you actually jump, you die from the fall. However, if you just run off the building, you're fine. (That may not be the best example, but I'm not going to bother playing with single player again to be reminded of the ones I encountered.)
While you have almost certainly already heard about the terrorist level, consider this warning for anyone who hasn't, as the next three paragraphs mention it. It occurs in the first quarter of the game, and I think any potential purchaser of this game should know about it. Discussing the game story as little as possible, I will say that it essentially ruined the game for me. First, even if you do not kill any innocent people, you cannot clear the level without attacking soldiers. I had attempted to knife terrorists in the back when they separated from the others. I attempted to shoot the terrorists. I attempted to run to the end of the level without engaging the army...despite the fact that the story could progress at my death without forcing me to play to the end of the level, the game shoe horns you into a movie that I personally wouldn't pay to see. You die at the end of the level regardless, but the game forces you to kill the soldiers trying to stop terrorists. The single player campaign lost me at this point.
The reason is simple. Good stories require the viewer/user to have empathy for the characters. If you follow the "They're not real!" school of thought, you're left with apathy for these characters, and the experience of the game suffers a result. So yeah, they're not real, and that notion stayed with me for the rest of the single player campaign. Moving my character through the level was what I did. In Modern Warfare, I crawled past the troops in the sniper level, and II felt the tension. In MW2, my character did what ever the developers demanded to progress from one checkpoint to another.
What surprises me about the terrorist level is not the people with empathy or the people with apathy, but rather the large contingent of what seems to be angry young males with antipathy for their fellow man who will tell you how they enjoyed shooting the people because it was "fun". If that was the demographic that IW was going for with this game, than it's no wonder that it missed the mark with me.
Having me select a "No, I will not be offended" option the first time I start this game up doesn't mean I won't be offended by a short, disjointed game with a bad story, mostly uninspired levels, buggy checkpoints and unclear objectives. Dying doing what I'm told to do in order to figure out the hard way what I'm actually supposed to do is not my idea of an enjoyable game.
That said, breaching was fun (and they certainly realized that, as they included more than enough), the snow level was fun, and the final cinematic quick time event ending would have been great if I cared about the characters or the game at that point. Unfortunately, a few enjoyable moments do not make a sub-par game enjoyable. As a single player game, it's several notches below World at War and a flight of stairs below Call of Duty 4.
Special Ops
If someone asked me to criticize Special Op, my response would be that you can only play with one friend at a time. Special Ops is the best part of Modern Warfare 2 in my opinion, which is shame, because it's the part of the game I was least interested in.
If you have exactly one friend you want to play with who's roughly near your skill level and wants to play bite sized portions of co-op player vs. computer scenarios, Special Ops is fantastic fun. There are 15 separate challenges with no check points, and you and your friend must work together to complete them. (With the exception of the sniper level, which was fun alone, these games really need a friend to give you the proper experience.) There are a few minor design issues, such as the fact that if a friend hasn't unlocked a specific level, they won't get credit for completing it with you, and not all levels are created equal, but there's some very good fun there.
I'm not sure what the rational was for restricting the Special Ops levels. It meant that in order to play with a friend who hadn't tried it yet, he either had to play without getting credit, or I had to play through several games I'd already played so he could unlock the levels I wanted to play. All that did was confirm that these are great fun the first time, but not something I enjoy enough to want to go back and play again after completing them on Veteran difficulty.
I can't imagine anyone buying this game specifically for Special Ops, but it's a nice addition to an otherwise disappointing game so far, although I finished the 15 challenges rather quickly.
I believe that I've outlined why I've had more frustration than fun with the mutliplayer, how I felt about the single player, and what I think about Special Ops. While also disappointed with the single player, I bought this game primarily for the multiplayer, and expected that the matchmaking, UI and feature set would reflect the fact that this game had a humongous budget and that the previous iteration of Call of Duty had so many matchmaking improvements and additions. Instead the feature set and functionality feels barebones and buggy, and the problems are so bad that the ability to enjoy the game suffer. A controversial decision to restrict Party Chat from almost every game type compounds things even worse. To quote a friend:
"It's such a damned shame. Some small details are killing a fantastic game. The thing is that those small details add up freaking fast and it makes the game sooo much less fun."
That friend has spent his last 24+ gaming hours playing COD:WaW and Borderlands because, in his words, "I just want to get online and play a fun games where I can talk to my friends."
Gaming details: Completed single player campaign on Hardened, completed every Special Ops on Veteran and played +19 hours of multiplayer with an additional +8 hours trying to play multiplayer games, but with matchmaking failing to put the entire party into a game successfully.
I've done reviews for the majority of the games I've owned. Check out my March 2009 collection, my April 2008 collection or my Borderlands (★★★★★) review by clicking on the links if you're interested.
Update: You can now see my August 2010 Xbox 360 games collection photo here, and a list of my XBLA games along with ratings for each here.
HMS Hermes was a conventional British aircraft carrier and the last of the Centaur-class.
Hermes was in service with the Royal Navy from 1959 until 1984, and she served as the flagship of the British forces during the 1982 Falklands War.
The final CATOBAR air wing in 1968-1970 consisted of:
809 NAS. 7 Buccaneer S2 naval strike aircraft
892 NAS. 12 Sea Vixen FAW2 all-weather fighter
849 NAS. A flt. 4 Fairey Gannet AEW.3 airborne early warning
849 NAS. 1 Gannet COD4 for carrier onboard delivery
826 NAS. 5 Wessex HAS3 anti-submarine warfare
Ships Flight 1 Wessex HAS1 air-sea rescue.
When the decision was made in the mid-1960s to phase out fixed wing carrier operations Hermes was slated to become a "Commando Carrier" for Royal Marine operations (similar in concept to a US Navy LHA), and in 1972 underwent a refit in which her arresting cables, steam catapults, and 3-D radar were removed. Landing craft and berthing for 800 troops were added and her airwing became approximately 20 Sea King helicopters. By 1976, with the Soviet submarine threat becoming apparent and through NATO pressure, a further mild conversion was performed for Hermes to become an Anti-submarine warfare carrier to patrol the North Atlantic. Hermes underwent one more conversion and new capabilities were added when she was refitted at Portsmouth from 1980 to June 1981, during which a 12-degree ski-jump and facilities for operating Sea Harriers were incorporated. After this refit the air wing comprised:
800 NAS 5 Sea Harrier FRS1 Fighter
826 NAS 12 Sea King HAS5 ASW
Falklands War
Hermes was due to be decommissioned in 1982 after a defence review by the British government, but when the Falklands War broke out, she was made the flagship of the British forces, setting sail for the South Atlantic just three days after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. She sailed for the Falklands with an airgroup of 12 Sea Harrier FRS1 of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, and 18 Sea Kings. A few weeks after sailing, more aircraft were flown or transported via other ships to replace some losses and augment the task force. Hermes airgroup grew to 16 Sea Harriers, 10 Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3 s of the Royal Air Force, and 10 Sea Kings (after some of the helicopters were dispersed to other ships) as well as a troop of Special Air Service (SAS) and Royal Marines. As she was the RN's largest carrier, she was considered too valuable to risk close into the Falklands, due to the possibility of Argentinian airforce attacks. Her Harriers therefore operated at the limit of their endurance radius, but were very successful in keeping the enemy aircraft at bay.
Air group at the height of the Falklands Conflict:
800 NAS - 16 Sea Harrier FRS.1
826 NAS - 5 Sea King HAS.5
846 NAS - 5 Sea King HC.4
No. 1 Squadron RAF - 10 Harrier GR.3
(Text Wikipedia)
Based on the level in Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. In the level the British SAS board a russian cargo ship carrying a nuclear warhead. Your mission is to secure the nuke, located in the ships cargo hold.
Credit for gasmask goes to MagicLlama.
HMS Ark Royal (R09) was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier. She was the Royal Navy's first aircraft carrier to be equipped with an angled flight deck.
Ark Royal was the sister ship to HMS Eagle, which was initially named HMS Audacious, hence the name of the class. Four Audacious-class ships were laid down, but two (HMS Africa and the original HMS Eagle) were cancelled at the end of the war, and construction of the other two suspended for several years. Both surviving ships were extensively upgraded throughout their lifetimes.
809 NAS – 12 Buccaneer S2 Strike
892 NAS – 14 Phantom FG1 Fleet Air Defence
B Flight 849 NAS – 4 Gannet AEW3 Airborne Early Warning
849 NAS. – 1 Gannet COD4 Carrier Onboard Delivery
824 NAS – 7 Sea King HAS2 Helicopter Anti-submarine warfare
Ships Flight – 2 Wessex HAS1 Search and Rescue
(Text Wikipedia)
Call of Duty: Black Ops
★★★★★
I wrote a long, lengthy review about Modern Warfare 2 (★★☆☆☆) detailing several basic missteps that helped start a sub-par game off on the wrong foot.
Go ahead and click on that review and check out the bolded points, then come back.
All those issues? Non-issues here. Every single one of those issues, with the exception of "Add to squad" (which might exist, I just haven't figure it out yet?) has been fixed. Even the volume issue I mentioned is addressed when starting up the game for the very first time. The stats and leaderboards are improved beyond my expectations, the new voting system is excellent...but what's most important is the gameplay.
The multiplayer plays like a cross between COD4 (Modern Warfare) and COD: World At War, while keeping all of the cool ideas that MW2 tried to implement. Single Player is also a big step up from MW2, both in duration and quality. I thought I would have played more Zombies by now, but every night I play, I end up losing track of time in multiplayer, and playing far more than I should, while loving every minute of it. I am sure I'll get around to zombies (which I loved in WaW) at some point, but based on my experience with the game so far, the game is worth every penny just for multiplayer. (The single player is a great experience as well.)
I've done reviews for the majority of the games I've owned. Check out my August 2010 collection, March 2009 collection, or my April 2008 collection.
You can also see a list of my XBLA games from August 2010 along with ratings for each here, as well as my reviews for Mass Effect & Mass Effect 2.
- - - - -
I've gone ahead and written a review over at Amazon. I've pasted it below:
I am a huge fan of World at War, finding the zombies, multiplayer and single player to all be excellent game modes. I was also very impressed by Call of Duty 4's single player and multiplayer, but found myself very let down by a short, offensive and unentertaining single player campaign in MW2, coupled with a buggy multiplayer experience that I gave up on within a few months of purchasing the game. (For a long list of my complaints, see the Amazon review I wrote for MW2: www.amazon.com/review/R2ATUPNS1NWWKR/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm )
I was tentatively hopeful that Black Ops would provide a more enjoyable experience. I was blown away by how good this game is. First, if you view my MW2 review, every single one of the key issues/suggestions I had has been fixed/implemented in Black Ops. Beyond that, the single player is longer, more entertaining and more interesting than MW2. The multiplayer feels more like COD4 and COD:WaW than MW2, which is a very good thing in my book. However, the game does borrow many of the ideas, perks and tweaks that MW2 implemented, which results in the best COD multiplayer experience I have seen yet.
Zombies also makes a return in COD:BO, with two full fledged maps, as well as a hidden game (Dead Ops Arcade) and the classic game Zork both being accessible through a PC terminal hidden in the main menu of the game.
All said and done, a fan of the single player will find that the intel, variable difficulties and enjoyable campaign will provide over a dozen hours of entertainment. I know first hand that zombies alone can provide dozens and dozens hours of entertainment, and the multiplayer is the best online FPS experience I have had on the 360 to date. (I consider it superior to the past COD games, as well as Halo, Gears of War and Battlefield games.)
I've spent well over 250 hours on both COD4 and COD:WaW, and I highly expect to find even more enjoyment and reasons to keep playing with Call of Duty: Black Ops. While not all game types will align with everyone's tastes, I fully expect there to enough here for every fan of first person shooters to be able to find enough entertainment to justify a purchase.
HMS Hermes was a conventional British aircraft carrier and the last of the Centaur-class.
Hermes was in service with the Royal Navy from 1959 until 1984, and she served as the flagship of the British forces during the 1982 Falklands War.
The final CATOBAR air wing in 1968-1970 consisted of:
809 NAS. 7 Buccaneer S2 naval strike aircraft
892 NAS. 12 Sea Vixen FAW2 all-weather fighter
849 NAS. A flt. 4 Fairey Gannet AEW.3 airborne early warning
849 NAS. 1 Gannet COD4 for carrier onboard delivery
826 NAS. 5 Wessex HAS3 anti-submarine warfare
Ships Flight 1 Wessex HAS1 air-sea rescue.
When the decision was made in the mid-1960s to phase out fixed wing carrier operations Hermes was slated to become a "Commando Carrier" for Royal Marine operations (similar in concept to a US Navy LHA), and in 1972 underwent a refit in which her arresting cables, steam catapults, and 3-D radar were removed. Landing craft and berthing for 800 troops were added and her airwing became approximately 20 Sea King helicopters. By 1976, with the Soviet submarine threat becoming apparent and through NATO pressure, a further mild conversion was performed for Hermes to become an Anti-submarine warfare carrier to patrol the North Atlantic. Hermes underwent one more conversion and new capabilities were added when she was refitted at Portsmouth from 1980 to June 1981, during which a 12-degree ski-jump and facilities for operating Sea Harriers were incorporated. After this refit the air wing comprised:
800 NAS 5 Sea Harrier FRS1 Fighter
826 NAS 12 Sea King HAS5 ASW
Falklands War
Hermes was due to be decommissioned in 1982 after a defence review by the British government, but when the Falklands War broke out, she was made the flagship of the British forces, setting sail for the South Atlantic just three days after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. She sailed for the Falklands with an airgroup of 12 Sea Harrier FRS1 of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, and 18 Sea Kings. A few weeks after sailing, more aircraft were flown or transported via other ships to replace some losses and augment the task force. Hermes airgroup grew to 16 Sea Harriers, 10 Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3 s of the Royal Air Force, and 10 Sea Kings (after some of the helicopters were dispersed to other ships) as well as a troop of Special Air Service (SAS) and Royal Marines. As she was the RN's largest carrier, she was considered too valuable to risk close into the Falklands, due to the possibility of Argentinian airforce attacks. Her Harriers therefore operated at the limit of their endurance radius, but were very successful in keeping the enemy aircraft at bay.
Air group at the height of the Falklands Conflict:
800 NAS - 16 Sea Harrier FRS.1
826 NAS - 5 Sea King HAS.5
846 NAS - 5 Sea King HC.4
No. 1 Squadron RAF - 10 Harrier GR.3
(Text Wikipedia)
HMS Hermes was a conventional British aircraft carrier and the last of the Centaur-class.
Hermes was in service with the Royal Navy from 1959 until 1984, and she served as the flagship of the British forces during the 1982 Falklands War.
The final CATOBAR air wing in 1968-1970 consisted of:
809 NAS. 7 Buccaneer S2 naval strike aircraft
892 NAS. 12 Sea Vixen FAW2 all-weather fighter
849 NAS. A flt. 4 Fairey Gannet AEW.3 airborne early warning
849 NAS. 1 Gannet COD4 for carrier onboard delivery
826 NAS. 5 Wessex HAS3 anti-submarine warfare
Ships Flight 1 Wessex HAS1 air-sea rescue.
When the decision was made in the mid-1960s to phase out fixed wing carrier operations Hermes was slated to become a "Commando Carrier" for Royal Marine operations (similar in concept to a US Navy LHA), and in 1972 underwent a refit in which her arresting cables, steam catapults, and 3-D radar were removed. Landing craft and berthing for 800 troops were added and her airwing became approximately 20 Sea King helicopters. By 1976, with the Soviet submarine threat becoming apparent and through NATO pressure, a further mild conversion was performed for Hermes to become an Anti-submarine warfare carrier to patrol the North Atlantic. Hermes underwent one more conversion and new capabilities were added when she was refitted at Portsmouth from 1980 to June 1981, during which a 12-degree ski-jump and facilities for operating Sea Harriers were incorporated. After this refit the air wing comprised:
800 NAS 5 Sea Harrier FRS1 Fighter
826 NAS 12 Sea King HAS5 ASW
Falklands War
Hermes was due to be decommissioned in 1982 after a defence review by the British government, but when the Falklands War broke out, she was made the flagship of the British forces, setting sail for the South Atlantic just three days after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. She sailed for the Falklands with an airgroup of 12 Sea Harrier FRS1 of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, and 18 Sea Kings. A few weeks after sailing, more aircraft were flown or transported via other ships to replace some losses and augment the task force. Hermes airgroup grew to 16 Sea Harriers, 10 Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3 s of the Royal Air Force, and 10 Sea Kings (after some of the helicopters were dispersed to other ships) as well as a troop of Special Air Service (SAS) and Royal Marines. As she was the RN's largest carrier, she was considered too valuable to risk close into the Falklands, due to the possibility of Argentinian airforce attacks. Her Harriers therefore operated at the limit of their endurance radius, but were very successful in keeping the enemy aircraft at bay.
Air group at the height of the Falklands Conflict:
800 NAS - 16 Sea Harrier FRS.1
826 NAS - 5 Sea King HAS.5
846 NAS - 5 Sea King HC.4
No. 1 Squadron RAF - 10 Harrier GR.3
(Text Wikipedia)
Call of Duty 4 Multiplayer as seen on CoD4 party in Leipzig Old Airport. Notice the special CoD keyboards!
HMS Hermes was a conventional British aircraft carrier and the last of the Centaur-class.
Hermes was in service with the Royal Navy from 1959 until 1984, and she served as the flagship of the British forces during the 1982 Falklands War.
After being sold to India in 1986, the vessel was recommissioned and remains in service with the Indian Navy as the INS Viraat.
She was laid down by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness during WW II as HMS Elephant. Construction was suspended in 1945 but work was resumed in 1952 to clear the slipway and the hull was launched on 16 February 1953. The vessel remained unfinished until 1957, when she entered service on 18 November 1959 as HMS Hermes after extensive modifications which included installation of a massive Type 984 'searchlight' 3D radar, a fully angled deck with a deck-edge elevator, and steam catapults. With these changes she more resembled the reconstructed HMS Victorious than the other three ships in the class.
Hermes initially operated Supermarine Scimitar, de Havilland Sea Vixen, and Fairey Gannet fixed-wing aircraft, together with Westland Whirlwind helicopters.
Hermes cost £18 million,[2] with another £1 million for electronic equipment and £10 million for aircraft in 1959.
Although it was planned that that Hermes would be modernised to operate the Phantom, the plan proved unworkable owing to the ship's small size. Civil Lord of the Admiralty John Hay said in Parliament on 2 March 1964 that "Phantoms will be operated from "Hermes", "Eagle" and the new carrier when it is built. ... Our present information and advice is that the aircraft should be able to operate from "Hermes" after she has undergone her refit." This seemed optimistic, as most sources believed Victorious was the smallest carrier that the modified RN F-4K versions of the Phantom could realistically have operated from. While the Phantoms built for the RN were modified in ways similar to F-8 Crusaders for the French Navy - improving deceleration on landing, the modifications were not entirely successful. Hermes flight deck was too short, her arresting gear as well as her catapults were not powerful enough to recover or launch the F-4K's, even though they were slightly lighter, more economical and higher performing than their USN counterparts.[citation needed] The Phantom trials held on Hermes in 1969-70 proved this out, though in the views of Minister of Defence, Denis Healey, the carrier could operate the most modern aircraft, but in too small numbers to be effective. The MOD briefly considered F-8's, and then considered the A-4M Skyhawk around 1969; the French had successfully operated the F-8 from its two Clemenceau-class light fleet carriers (which were of a similar size to Hermes), while the A-4 had been selected by the Royal Australian Navy to operate from HMAS Melbourne. However, both the Crusader and the Skyhawk were already considered near-obsolete by the end of the 1960s. Nevertheless the light A-4M Skyhawks would have allowed the Hermes to carry a viable late 1970s airgroup of 20 Skyhawks, 6 Sea Kings and 4 Gannet AEW aircraft.
A 1966 review indicated that Hermes was surplus to operational requirements and she was offered to the Royal Australian Navy as a replacement for HMAS Melbourne. In 1968, Hermes took part in a combined exercise with the RAN, during which the carrier was visited by senior RAN officers and Australian government officials, while RAN A-4G Skyhawks and Grumman S-2 Trackers practised landings on the larger carrier. The offer was turned down due to operating and manpower costs.
Hermes served as one of four Royal Navy strike carriers mainly in the Indian Ocean area until 1970. She could have seen action against the Egyptians when Egypt closed off the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping in May 1967. when the UK and US contemplated forming an international fleet to open the straits with force if necessary, but the idea never materialised.
The final CATOBAR air wing in 1968-1970 consisted of:
809 NAS. 7 Buccaneer S2 naval strike aircraft
892 NAS. 12 Sea Vixen FAW2 all-weather fighter
849 NAS. A flt. 4 Fairey Gannet AEW.3 airborne early warning
849 NAS. 1 Gannet COD4 for carrier onboard delivery
826 NAS. 5 Wessex HAS3 anti-submarine warfare
Ships Flight 1 Wessex HAS1 air-sea rescue.
When the decision was made in the mid-1960s to phase out fixed wing carrier operations Hermes was slated to become a "Commando Carrier" for Royal Marine operations (similar in concept to a US Navy LHA), and in 1972 underwent a refit in which her arresting cables, steam catapults, and 3-D radar were removed. Landing craft and berthing for 800 troops were added and her airwing became approximately 20 Sea King helicopters. By 1976, with the Soviet submarine threat becoming apparent and through NATO pressure, a further mild conversion was performed for Hermes to become an Anti-submarine warfare carrier to patrol the North Atlantic. Hermes underwent one more conversion and new capabilities were added when she was refitted at Portsmouth from 1980 to June 1981, during which a 12-degree ski-jump and facilities for operating Sea Harriers were incorporated. After this refit the air wing comprised:
800 NAS 5 Sea Harrier FRS1 Fighter
826 NAS 12 Sea King HAS5 ASW
Falklands War
Hermes was due to be decommissioned in 1982 after a defence review by the British government, but when the Falklands War broke out, she was made the flagship of the British forces, setting sail for the South Atlantic just three days after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. She sailed for the Falklands with an airgroup of 12 Sea Harrier FRS1 of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, and 18 Sea Kings. A few weeks after sailing, more aircraft were flown or transported via other ships to replace some losses and augment the task force. Hermes airgroup grew to 16 Sea Harriers, 10 Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3 s of the Royal Air Force, and 10 Sea Kings (after some of the helicopters were dispersed to other ships) as well as a troop of Special Air Service (SAS) and Royal Marines. As she was the RN's largest carrier, she was considered too valuable to risk close into the Falklands, due to the possibility of Argentinian airforce attacks. Her Harriers therefore operated at the limit of their endurance radius, but were very successful in keeping the enemy aircraft at bay.
Air group at the height of the Falklands Conflict:
800 NAS - 16 Sea Harrier FRS.1
826 NAS - 5 Sea King HAS.5
846 NAS - 5 Sea King HC.4
No. 1 Squadron RAF - 10 Harrier GR.3
After her return home from the Falklands conflict Hermes entered into a much needed 4-month refit until November 1982. She then took part in NATO exercises in the North Atlantic, and the Mediterranean Sea as a commando carrier. In the autumn of 1983 she took part in her last exercise, Ocean Safari, where she reverted to a strike carrier role, embarking 12 Sea Harriers, 10 RAF Harrier GR.3s and 10 Sea Kings. After this exercise she returned to the UK for a minor refit and into maintained reserve in February 1984.
In 1983, when the proposed sale of HMS Invincible to the Royal Australian Navy was cancelled following the Falklands War, an offer was made to sell Hermes and a squadron of Sea Harriers to Australia. However the new Hawke Government decided against purchasing a replacement for HMAS Melbourne.
Hermes served with the Royal Navy until 12 April 1984. She was paid off in 1985.
In April 1986 Hermes was refitted and sold to India and recommissioned as the INS Viraat in 1989.
Her typical aircraft complement in the late 1960s consisted of 12 Sea Vixen FAW2s, 7 Buccaneer S2s, 4 Gannet AEW3s, 1 Gannet COD4, 5 Wessex HAS3s and 1 Wessex HAS1. She was recommissioned as a commando carrier in 1973, as an ASW carrier in 1976 (carrying around 20 or so Sea King and Wessex helicopters), and then as a V/STOL carrier in 1981. Hermes initial complement of aircraft as a V/STOL carrier was 5 Harriers and 12 Sea King helicopters, though she had the capacity for up to a total of 37 aircraft.
(Text Wikipedia)
HMS Hermes was a conventional British aircraft carrier and the last of the Centaur-class.
Hermes was in service with the Royal Navy from 1959 until 1984, and she served as the flagship of the British forces during the 1982 Falklands War.
The final CATOBAR air wing in 1968-1970 consisted of:
809 NAS. 7 Buccaneer S2 naval strike aircraft
892 NAS. 12 Sea Vixen FAW2 all-weather fighter
849 NAS. A flt. 4 Fairey Gannet AEW.3 airborne early warning
849 NAS. 1 Gannet COD4 for carrier onboard delivery
826 NAS. 5 Wessex HAS3 anti-submarine warfare
Ships Flight 1 Wessex HAS1 air-sea rescue.
When the decision was made in the mid-1960s to phase out fixed wing carrier operations Hermes was slated to become a "Commando Carrier" for Royal Marine operations (similar in concept to a US Navy LHA), and in 1972 underwent a refit in which her arresting cables, steam catapults, and 3-D radar were removed. Landing craft and berthing for 800 troops were added and her airwing became approximately 20 Sea King helicopters. By 1976, with the Soviet submarine threat becoming apparent and through NATO pressure, a further mild conversion was performed for Hermes to become an Anti-submarine warfare carrier to patrol the North Atlantic. Hermes underwent one more conversion and new capabilities were added when she was refitted at Portsmouth from 1980 to June 1981, during which a 12-degree ski-jump and facilities for operating Sea Harriers were incorporated. After this refit the air wing comprised:
800 NAS 5 Sea Harrier FRS1 Fighter
826 NAS 12 Sea King HAS5 ASW
Falklands War
Hermes was due to be decommissioned in 1982 after a defence review by the British government, but when the Falklands War broke out, she was made the flagship of the British forces, setting sail for the South Atlantic just three days after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. She sailed for the Falklands with an airgroup of 12 Sea Harrier FRS1 of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, and 18 Sea Kings. A few weeks after sailing, more aircraft were flown or transported via other ships to replace some losses and augment the task force. Hermes airgroup grew to 16 Sea Harriers, 10 Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3 s of the Royal Air Force, and 10 Sea Kings (after some of the helicopters were dispersed to other ships) as well as a troop of Special Air Service (SAS) and Royal Marines. As she was the RN's largest carrier, she was considered too valuable to risk close into the Falklands, due to the possibility of Argentinian airforce attacks. Her Harriers therefore operated at the limit of their endurance radius, but were very successful in keeping the enemy aircraft at bay.
Air group at the height of the Falklands Conflict:
800 NAS - 16 Sea Harrier FRS.1
826 NAS - 5 Sea King HAS.5
846 NAS - 5 Sea King HC.4
No. 1 Squadron RAF - 10 Harrier GR.3
(Text Wikipedia)
Based on the level in Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. In the level the British SAS board a russian cargo ship carrying a nuclear warhead. Your mission is to secure the nuke, located in the ships cargo hold.
Credit for gasmask goes to MagicLlama.
XA466 / 777 (cn F9319) This Gannet was built as an AS4 at Stockport and delivered to the RN in 1967. She was converted to COD4 standard at Naval Air Radio Installation Unit (NARIU), RNAS Lee on Solent.in 1964. She was donated to the Fleet Air Arm Museum in 1978 and is now on display at the 'aircraft carrier experience' in Hall 3.
HMS Ark Royal (R09) was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier. She was the Royal Navy's first aircraft carrier to be equipped with an angled flight deck.
Ark Royal was the sister ship to HMS Eagle, which was initially named HMS Audacious, hence the name of the class. Four Audacious-class ships were laid down, but two (HMS Africa and the original HMS Eagle) were cancelled at the end of the war, and construction of the other two suspended for several years. Both surviving ships were extensively upgraded throughout their lifetimes.
809 NAS – 12 Buccaneer S2 Strike
892 NAS – 14 Phantom FG1 Fleet Air Defence
B Flight 849 NAS – 4 Gannet AEW3 Airborne Early Warning
849 NAS. – 1 Gannet COD4 Carrier Onboard Delivery
824 NAS – 7 Sea King HAS2 Helicopter Anti-submarine warfare
Ships Flight – 2 Wessex HAS1 Search and Rescue
(Text Wikipedia)