Lesta Studios & Pacific Storm Interview
ACG: How in depth can each side (USA and Japan) be played?
Sergei: The game starts in 1940 on January 1st, the player can choose either the US or Japan side. Your initial task is to get ready for the war. The situation develops in such was that if you play for the US, Japan will attack but this may happen not necessarily on December 7, 1941 and not necessarily in Pearl Harbor. You can attack first but your army morale will be very low and that may lead to defeat. If you play for Japan and do not attack the US until December 7, 1941 you will undergo Japanese dishonorable discharge. During war preparation period you organize necessary unit production, form your fleet and divisions. For the successful warfare you also need to develop military technologies including the option of producing nuclear or bacteriological weapons. You can build military bases and a large amount of various constructions such as airfields, ports, antiaircraft defense, coastal cannons, etc. The base is a defense center and it also serves as a point of fleet and aircraft location, and a repair depot.
{default}When you are ready for the war you start military activities. On the strategic map you move your counters representing military naval and aircraft divisions and carry out your strategic warfare schemes. When your counters encounter enemy units, you can choose to solve battle results automatically and stay on the strategic level of the game or proceed to the tactical level of the game and switch to a first-person action flying a plane. You can enter any of your units at any time and when you get hit you can switch to another unit. On the tactical level of the game you’ll see beautiful tropical areal landscapes, there you can operate with up to 200 detailed airplanes and 100 ships of different types.
We include the specifics of each economy and military power. The Japanese have a good starting point: they have strong aircraft and their army is more experienced in the beginning of the war. They receive German technologies. They have kamikaze pilots. The US and Japan have different price of upgrades and technological development. The Americans have strong technology and things like radiolocators and all. They are also more quick building bases. The two sides are different even in the peak of their military development: the Japanese have biological weapons and the Americans have nuclear weapons.
In order to win playing for the US you need to capture and hold Okinawa and Indochina during 4 months and start bombing Japan or use nuclear weapons. Playing for Japan you need to destroy the Panama Canal and size and hold one of the major US cities of the western coast like San Francisco or Los Angeles.
ACG: Tell us about the multiplayer mode(s).
Sergei: We have a LAN multiplayer mode in tactical level and single player skirmish mode. The multiplayer component (and human competition) comes first and the single player is adapted to it.
ACG: Will it include a scenario editor? Any plans for future mods and/or expansions?
Sergei: We don’t think there would be a scenario editor but we do every part of the game with the thought of possible future mods and expansions.
ACG: What else would you like our readers to know about Pacific Storm, and what news can we look forward to?
Sergei: Realism in games implies deep complexity and a lot of investment of the player’s time to learn the system. We are doing our game for people who want to get into the game and start playing in a few minutes and plunge in the atmosphere of that time.
Buka Entertainment www.buka.com (for Pacific Storm info, trailer, and demo)
Lesta Studios www.lesta.ru (in Russian, with English site in the works)
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