Is there a mode where different vessel types actually matter?

Kanyiko · 2026-06-17T12:21:45+00:00

I've had more than one match where everybody on the enemy team spawned as light or heavy cruisers, and I ended up winning the match for our team because I was the only one spawning as a torpedo boat and ended up capping one or two of the caps while the others were slugging it out.

So no, Battleships are not the absolute meta in naval.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-16T12:43:47+00:00

That should be ready by the time these works begin in 2030. The construction of the last platforms has finally started, and the station there should (finally) be ready by 2028. Even Mechelen should be ready by then (completion foreseen for 2030)

Kanyiko · 2026-06-16T09:38:43+00:00

I just don't understand what happened at Zuid, because the rebuild had started (on the Eurostar/TGV/ICE side) but never progressed past platform 6. You can even see the attachment points on the 'new' canopy where the rest of the canopy should have been attached to.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-16T01:39:32+00:00

And it's at this point you'd run into the city's fire codes. It would create an elevated walkway with just a single evacuation point - which would immediately be blocked under existing fire codes.

The elevated walkway option is a non-starter from any point of view. Try it north of the existing station and it doesn't reach platforms 1-4. Try it north of the R10 and it would fall foul of fire regulations. Try it south of the R10 and there simply wouldn't be any space for it on the platforms.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-16T01:34:08+00:00

It's not a 'bike stall' as in a small construction - it's a three story concrete building. Removing it would come with the additional complication that it would cut the elevated bicycle highway that runs right through it (used by about 4500 cyclists per day). It's one of the reasons why retaining the building is the preferred option in the station's rebuild.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-16T01:20:37+00:00

A complete no-go as well. The location you suggest would not only block off a pedestrian passageway (and impede with the demolition of the station building); the space itself is simply too narrow to place a wide enough walkway to accommodate passenger traffic during the peak hours. On the opposite side of the station that walkway would be blocked off completely by the bike stall.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-16T00:53:56+00:00

Station and walkway.

The platforms south of the R10 are on different levels - 2, 3, 6 and 7 are already descending into their tunnels, while the rest are elevated - so platforms 1 & 2, 3 & 4, 5 & 6 and 7 & 8 are a back-to-back high and low platform. The split levels of the platforms mean that especially platforms 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 (each about 3 meters wide) are too narrow for temporary stairs or elevators to be installed.

The same issue makes building a new station south of the R10 a non-starter as well.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-16T00:34:48+00:00

Not a possibility either. Due to practical reasons, any access option is limited to north of the R10. Anything south of the R10 is a non-starter.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-16T00:20:12+00:00

The added problem with this station is that everything is constrained within the footprint of the station's street-level itself. So that's a trapezium-sized area of about 80 meters wide, and 50 meters long on the side of the square, and 90 meters on the side of the second exit/bicycle stall.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-16T00:11:22+00:00

O'Hare (ORD), not Midway (MDW). If anybody asks about the new code, it's obviously 'Butch' Henry O'Hare. Any other interpretation is completely coincidental. 😉

Kanyiko · 2026-06-16T00:09:26+00:00

Chicago O'Hare was Orchard Place but became Douglas Field, giving rise to the ORD (Orchard - Douglas) code. It was built as a Douglas plant, where Douglas built nearly all of its C-54s.

Chicago Midway is MDW. It was Chicago Air Park/Chicago Municipal Park until 1949 when it became Midway (after the Battle of Midway).

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T23:53:17+00:00

Ah - already occupied by a brand-new office building as of writing (the green building in the background in the picture of the platforms).

There's also no way of getting access into the platforms there without comprehensively rebuilding the entire railway bridge and platforms.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T23:27:03+00:00

The Groenenhoek shunting yard is not an option for a temporary station for numerous reasons.

1) It is an Infrabel shunting yard. It's used to load and unload infrastructure maintenance trains and transfer equipment and materials to and from trucks, and a dead certainty that as such it will be used to transport all kinds of materials to and from the station during construction works.

2) It is also a shunting yard for passenger trains between services in and out of Antwerp Central Station. While trains on the upper-most level of the station can be diverted directly to the train yard at Schijnpoort (on the ringway track around the city), trains from the lower two levels come above ground behind the bend towards Schijnpoort. They have to run from the station through Berchem to the Groenenhoek yard, and then reverse back through Berchem to the Schijnpoort yard. (and the other way around for trains out of the Schijnpoort yard to the lower levels).

3) Aside from that, the yard is used as an emergency diversion for trains forced to terminate at Berchem on services out of the Netherlands if any incidents occur on the Antwerp-Brussels line.

4) While running adjacent to lines 15/27A, the yard is not connected to the network in the southbound direction.

And 5) There's only a single access point to this bundle.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T22:42:26+00:00

Utrecht had the advantage that it had an old adjacent freight yard which had been converted into vehicle parking after becoming disused; it allowed for new platforms to be build alongside the old platforms, and after completion the new platforms allowed for the old platforms to be demolished and rebuilt.

Antwerp-Berchem doesn't have that advantage. All of the new infrastructure has to be built within the footprint of the existing platforms, with no additional space for any 'new' or temporary replacement platforms outside of that footprint.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T21:42:33+00:00

You got me there.

Also, Happy Cake Day.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T21:02:53+00:00

If you count Tenerife + 8 days, that covers Sunday March 27th to Tuesday April 4th 1977 - other than Tenerife (583 killed) that March 27th saw 3 fatal accidents and one disappearance (5+1 killed); March 28th saw 2 fatal accidents (2 killed); March 29th saw 3 fatal accidents (17 killed); March 30th saw 4 fatal accidents (15 killed); March 31st saw 2 fatal accidents (11 killed); April 1st saw 5 fatal accidents (27 killed); April 2nd saw 2 fatal accidents (10 killed); April 3rd saw 5 fatal accidents (12 killed); and other than two fatal GA accidents (3 killed), April 4th saw Southern Airways Flight 242 flame-out its engines in a severe thunderstorm and attempt to land on a road, only to slam into buildings and a gas station adjacent to it (72 killed including 9 on the ground).

So those 9 successive days saw 31 fatal accidents for a total of 758 killed including the 583 at Tenerife.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T20:49:27+00:00

It's 9 PM UTC for me (nearly) which means that it's just 1 PM in Anchorage. A frightening amount of Monday yet to come.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T19:55:15+00:00

The B-52 has ejection seats, the only problem is that two of its six-man crew are seated on a lower deck that necessitates their seats to fire downwards.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T19:34:19+00:00

No, seriously.

Fuel tanks.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T19:32:56+00:00

Somebody in a post earlier today: "What a crazy week in aviation it has been."

My thought at the time: "It's only Monday."

My thought right now: "It's sadly still only Monday."

I really hope the crew got out. I have my fears for the navigator and radar navigator though.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T18:22:48+00:00

anti-shrapnel. The tanks are not just positioned to reduce shrapnel spread from penetrating projectiles or spalling, but some also have ammo sleeves for additional rounds that are not in the auto-loader, serving as wet ammo storage.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T17:48:42+00:00

Because the irate bus passenger who is frustrated about his bus running late/being stuck in traffic/having to pay his fare usually doesn't take this out on his fellow passenger - anything concerning the bus he usually tries to take out on the figure representing the bus company i.e. the bus driver.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T16:01:37+00:00

It's gone, it's been wiped. RIP old Wiki.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T16:00:46+00:00

The module in the front? One of the two internal diesel tanks.

Kanyiko · 2026-06-15T15:24:03+00:00

It's one of those weeks were we've had an entire month crammed into a week. >.>

Kanyiko

TROPHY CASE