Good evening.
Perhaps I could just say a few words. I'll say them in English as my German-speaking ability is very limited.
I did as much as I could with this ship:
- I started with the AI "Small Container" which was an empty hull
- I corrected some errors in the performance criteria for the AI vessel
- I looked back at the 2006 Container Ship and decided to try to get something like that as an end result
- I went through over 50 reference books in my library to try to find out the charactersitics of the vessel
- I spoke to 5 marine scrapyards and managed to pursuade them to give me the "as-fitted" equipment specifications for a number of similar vessels
- I fitted the hull with engines, propellers, rudders, bow thrusters, with the thrust characteristics in line with the technical specifications
- I added ships lights in line with COLREGS
- I added mooring points
- I added anchorage points
- I added towing points
- I modelled the various performance formulae against the published data
- I tested the vessel on over 100 test missions
- I then passed it to a team of 5 very experienced mariners, who provide dme with further information, after which I went back and modified the formulae again
The performance characteristics consist of around 50 different sets of performance calculations for movements on an x-y-z basis. Each calculation curve may have 5-20 settings within it.
All of this took around three months of my own time. I am not paid by VSTEP. And you didn't have to pay VSTEP for my work. My remit is that I cannot use up any of the time of the VSTEP developers, since that would drag them away from Extremes. So I have do it all myself, with whatever tools I have available to me.
You also need to know that the SS2006 ships are simply not compatible with SS2008. The New Horizon versions were complete re-creations of the old SS2006 vessels. What I have done with this vessel was not thought possible. Otherwise it would probably have been a ship in SS2008 already.
It is simply not possible currently to add walkthroughs. They were never modelled in the AI hull, of course.
It is simply not possible currently to add working propellers or rudders.
It is simply not possible currently to add smoke.
It is simply not possible currently to have hard surfaces onto which you can load cargo containers. However, you can come very close to that if you read the readme file for the San Francisco Caro Run (I wrote that especially for you to load cargo using the crane as well, by the way).
If I could have, I would have.
But, you have a new vessel at whose helm you can sit. You have someone sat next to you, keeping you company! (No other vessel has that, and in the English Language Forums it has been a comment from time to time that some company at the helm would be nice). It is cargo-loadable using the crane, just like Vermaas and unlike any other vessels. It performs very well, true to the published data. You have lots of missions to work through as well.
Sorry if that isn't good enough for some people, but it is truly as far as I could take it. Still, on the English-Language Forum they are very enthusiastic about it. I've received many PMs and forum posts thanking us for this FREE vessel. I guess I'll go back there now...
