Addon for CloD - Pilot career tracker with ranks/medals etc

[ReconNZ]

EDIT: 28 September: RAF Pilot Career Tracker Version 2.0 uploaded

Change Log:

- Completely redesigned the 'Downed Pilot Outcome Generator' - it now dynamically generates outcomes for you. (same as the version with the luftwaffe pilot tracker)
- Added support for custom Squadrons - you can now enter your own virtual or historic squadrons
- improved examples on the log book page and added a button to easily delete all the examples when you are ready to use the tracker. (please not some fields in the examples such as "start" and "finish" times are intentionally left blank so they wouldn't trigger any of the ranks/medals - you should of course fill these in when you log your own flights)

New download locations:


RAF Pilot Tracker Version 2.0: http://www.savefile.com/dl/LHSQRBKV or http://airwarfare.com/sow/index.php?option=com_jdownloads&Itemid=53&task=view.download&catid=18&cid=151

Luftwaffe Pilot Tracker Version 2.0: http://www.savefile.com/dl/26W4FG9Q or http://airwarfare.com/sow/index.php?option=com_jdownloads&Itemid=53&task=view.download&catid=18&cid=148



Royal Australian Airforce Version 1.0: http://www.savefile.com/dl/HGV8A95L


http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k587/_RAAF_Recon/generator.jpg

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ____________


Hey all

One thing I thought was missing from Cliffs was a career tracker for my pilots, so i made one using excel and thought I'd share it with the community. Very keen to hear your thoughts re any enhancements/modifications etc.

This is an excel file that you run outside of cliffs, with the idea being that you enter the results of your flight sessions after each gaming session online (could be used for single player i guess but intended for online). It's designed to be very quick and easy to enter the data with key criteria including the number of sorties you flew, your start and finish times, how many kills you achieved, and the outcome of your sorties - ie did you land safely at the end.

This is designed to be one pilot for one virtual "life" - ie if you die in game, your pilot is then killed and you would start again with a new pilot and a new tracker file.

So far it's really changed the way i fly - once you have a pilot with 25 kills and 10 hours flight experience, you really start to care about the outcome of every sortie!

(I should note that i tend to fly more tactical sorties with my squad as opposed to "air-quake").

Features:

- Dynamic career tracker based on excel database which tracks your flights/kills etc.

- Commendations/medals/rank progression as you gain experience.

- A tool for generating random outcomes should your pilot bail out over the channel or over France so you can work out whether your precious pilot lived to fight another day!

- drop down menus and auto-fill forms to speed up data entry.

- RAF ranks and medals awarded dynamically throughout your career based on your achievements.

- RAF, RAAF and Luftwaffe versions



NOTES: You need to enable content and Macros on your excel in order for this to work. Also I have entered a couple of initial entries into the log as an example as to how to fill out the log - of course you will want to delete these entries before starting your pilot's career!

It has been designed so that you fill in a log entry after each game session (rather than each sortie), or when you change aircraft. You will need to keep track of how many sorties you fly in each gaming session. I keep a pen and paper next to me when i fly and just jot down the start time of my game session, the finish time, and how many kills i get as it can be tough to remember these things after an hour or so of intense dogfighting!

I also recommend only recording kills you can confirm like in WW2 - I dont trust the stat tracker in Cliffs! I assign half kills if i share it - so if my wingman and i both shoot down a HE111, I will give myself 0.5 kills.


http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k587/_RAAF_Recon/frontscreen2.jpg

http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k587/_RAAF_Recon/frontscreen3.jpg

http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k587/_RAAF_Recon/luftcopy.jpg
http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k587/_RAAF_Recon/luft2.jpg

All feedback welcome!


PS - A huge thanks to JG54Spookie for his medals images for the Luftwaffe version from Mission4today.com (great site) - thanks also to Gamekeeper for suggesting them - that saved me heaps of time!
-

[ReconNZ]

Yeah it's an outside the game thing - you need a copy of Excel to run it.

(I'd love to be smart enough to build a mod to incorporate it into the game, that is though rather far beyond my skill set!)

[adonys]

:)

[Gollum]

Hey all

One thing I thought was missing from Cliffs was a career tracker for my pilots, so i made one using excel and thought I'd share it with the community. Very keen to hear your thoughts re any enhancements/modifications etc.

This is an excel file that you run outside of cliffs, with the idea being that you enter the results of your flight sessions after each gaming session online (could be used for single player i guess but intended for online). Key criteria which you enter include the number of sorties you flew, your start and finish times, how many kills you achieved, and the outcome of your sorties - ie did you land safely at the end.

This is designed to be one pilot for one life - ie if you die, your pilot is then killed and you would start again with a new pilot and a new tracker file.

So far it's really changed the way i fly - once you have a pilot with 25 kills and 10 hours flight experience, you really start to care about the outcome of every sortie!

(I should note that i tend to fly more tactical sorties with my squad as opposed to "air-quake").

Features:

- Dynamic career tracker based on excel database which tracks your flights/kills etc.

- Commendations/medals/rank progression as you gain experience.

- A tool for generating random outcomes should your pilot bail out over the channel or over France so you can work out whether your precious pilot lived to fight another day!

- drop down menus and auto-fill forms to speed up data entry.

- RAF ranks and medals awarded based on your achievements.


KNOWN LIMITATIONS

This is based on RAF (actually RAAF as I'm in Aussie) but i could easily adapt for German pilots as well if there is any interest?


DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.savefile.com/dl/HGV8A95L

EDIT: - V1.1 uploaded (link above updated to new file) - found a few bugs caused by the protection on some of the worksheets - FIXED.


NOTES: You need to enable content and Macros on your excel in order for this to work. Also I have entered a first entry into the log as an example as to how to fill out the log - of course you will want to delete this entry before starting your pilot's career!

It has been designed so that you fill in a log entry after each game session (rather than each sortie) but you do need to keep track of how many sorties you fly. I keep a pen and paper next to me when i fly and just jot down the start time of my game session, the finish time, and how many kills i get as it can be tough to remember these things after an hour or so of intense dogfighting!

I also recommend only recording kills you can confirm like in WW2 - I dont trust the stat tracker in Cliffs! I assign half kills if i share it - so if my wingman and i both shoot down a HE111, I will give myself 0.5 kills.


http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k587/_RAAF_Recon/frontscreen2.jpg

http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k587/_RAAF_Recon/frontscreen3.jpg


All feedback welcome!

-

I've been dreaming of something like this. Hopefully someone can put it in the game / server. Imagine each server tracks your Pilot's career and assigns ranks to each player based on kills gained on the server. When you die you loose all kills and rank set back to private. It would make the game realistic since pilots would care about getting home. It also gives the bail out command a purpose. Rank would also be great because if plane restrictions are introduced it can give the better planes to the higher ranked pilots. One day....

[ReconNZ]

yeah i know there are some server stat trackers online, it might be possible for someone a lot smarted than me to find a way to incorporate those stats into something like this tracker. That would be a way off though!

In the meantime i figured this is better than nothing. It takes less than 30 seconds to enter your session results into this tracker after each game session - its all done with auto fill boxes and drop down menus so its super fast.

[ReconNZ]

I've been dreaming of something like this. Hopefully someone can put it in the game / server. Imagine each server tracks your Pilot's career and assigns ranks to each player based on kills gained on the server. When you die you loose all kills and rank set back to private. It would make the game realistic since pilots would care about getting home. It also gives the bail out command a purpose. Rank would also be great because if plane restrictions are introduced it can give the better planes to the higher ranked pilots. One day....


" Rank would also be great because if plane restrictions are introduced it can give the better planes to the higher ranked pilots. " - Good call Golum, this element definately works with this tool - one of the intentions i had with this was to add some structure around squad play within CloD - using pilot rank is a good way to mix and match roles within a squad, and especially where plane variants are limited, allowing the higher ranked pilots to take up the spit IIa's for example is interesting. Plus with the dynamic nature of the tracker, a squad player may be higher ranked for a few sorties but should his virtual tracker pilot be killed, he would then start again with e new virtual pilot giving another squad member the chance to fly as flight leader within the game.

[PeterPanPan]

Lovely work.

This has always been on the Dev's list. See the thread started by Oleg back in March 2010 ... http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpost.php?p=147541&postcount=7

PPP

[Foo'bar]

Yeah it's an outside the game thing - you need a copy of Excel to run it.

Wouldn't be a copy of Open Office Calc enough?

[ReconNZ]

I'm not familiar with open office sorry - I know though that if you dont have excel Microsoft are doing free 60 day trials of Office which includes Excel, so you can at least get it for 60 days to give it a go.

[ReconNZ]

Hey all, I've been asked if there is any chance of doing a German version of this. Happy to do so if there is any interest, so perhaps post here or pm me if you'd be interested in a German career/stat tracker.

[kiwikillemoff]

Do it. Loving your RAF (RAAF) one. Totaly changed the way I approach each flight. I fly better, land better and most of all I survive more.

Good job there mate

[ReconNZ]

Nice one Kiwikillemoff, glad you're finding it useful! Feel free to post updates in this thread as to how your current pilot is going, I'd be keen to hear what rank you've achieved and which commendations you've recieved!


Re the German version, I would need some assitance with German airforce WW2 ranks and medals if anyone has that kind of info lying around?

[LcSummers]

Nice one Kiwikillemoff, glad you're finding it useful! Feel free to post updates in this thread as to how your current pilot is going, I'd be keen to hear what rank you've achieved and which commendations you've recieved!


Re the German version, I would need some assitance with German airforce WW2 ranks and medals if anyone has that kind of info lying around?

HI!!!

Just do it.

I am not an expert but i can help you if you want.

I have it from a book. Deutsche Jagdflugzeuge in Farbprofilen.
I only write the RAF ranks not the USAAF. If you want to have the USAAF ranks too, let me know.

Luftwaffe Royal Air Force

1. Flieger Aircraftsman 2nd Class
2.Gefreiter Aircraftsman 1st Class
3.Obergefreiter Leading Aircraft
4.Hauptgefreiter

5.Unteroffizier Corporal
6.Unterfeldwebel Sergeant
7.Feldwebel Sergeant
8.Fahnenjunker-Oberfeldwebel Officer Candidate
7.Fähnrich Officer Candidate
9.Oberfeldwebel Flight Sergeant
9.Oberfähnrich Senior Officer Candidate
10.Stabsfeldwebel Warrant Officer

11.Leutnant Pilot Officer
12.Oberleutnant Flying Officer
13.Hauptmann Flight Lieutenant
14.Major Squadron Leader
15.Oberstleutnant Wing Commander
16.Oberst Group Captain
17.Generalmajor Air Commodore
18.Generalleutnant Air Vice Marshal
19.General der Jagdflieger Air Marshal
20.Generaloberst Air Chief Marshal
21.Generalfeldmarschall Marshal of the RAF

[ReconNZ]

Thanks LcSmmers - that's a great start. :-)

One question - were all Luftwaffe pilots officers like in the RAF?


EDIT: I have uploaded a version for the British RAF as well now, as I guess not everyone wants to fly for the Australian AirForce! Original post updated with British RAF download link.

[csThor]

Pilots were "all over the rank ladder", so to speak. There were simple Gefreite piloting as well as Oberste. Generally speaking it would be incorrect to have any rank above Hauptmann within a Staffel, all higher ranks were staff ranks and were usually in Staff flights (of a Gruppe or a Geschwader).

[LcSummers]

Hi ReconNZ

No they weren´t, as Thor wrote.

Sure, crew member were more often more found at the closing days of the Luftwaffe. Pilots were needed those last days and as you can imagine, those young pilots had not enough training.

LC

[csThor]

As far as medals go for the BoB the following are relevant:

1.) Iron Cross 2nd Class (Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse)
2.) Iron Cross 1st Class (Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse)
3.) Honor Cup (Ehrenpokal für besondere Leistungen im Luftkrieg)
4.) Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes)
5.) Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub)

All the other medals were of later date or not awarded to frontline units (such as the War Merit Cross and its derivates - this was reserved for people in administrative functions).

[_RAAF_Furball]

I can attest to the random number generator is now working after enabling the "Analysis ToolPak" Add-in as now included in 1st post.
@Foo'bar - Open Office should work.
__________

Very impressive work, mate - thank you for sharing it - love the background "parchment".

[bw_wolverine]

I'm having trouble getting that site to send me the file. Maybe cause I'm using Internet Explorer 9. Any other way to grab it?

[ReconNZ]

Hi Wolverine, that's weird re IE9, I think Microsoft hates me. The easiest option for you might be to just grab a copy of google chrome?

Alternatively I can try to upload it to rapidshare for u tonight although ie9 might well have a problem with that site too? Is there a fileshare site that u know works with ie9?

Ps love the signature, great idea I think I'll do the same with mine!!

[Rowddy]

i cannot download it either t's in some sort of a loop and says eternaly pls wait your download will start shortly lol. And i will never install Google Chrome on my PC (sorry) i think that's the champion of changing settings and putting crap on yur PC.

So could you pls upload somewhere else??


regards Rowddy.

[ReconNZ]

i cannot download it either t's in some sort of a loop and says eternaly pls wait your download will start shortly lol. And i will never install Google Chrome on my PC (sorry) i think that's the champion of changing settings and putting crap on yur PC.

So could you pls upload somewhere else??


regards Rowddy.

Hey Rowddy, no worries mate, I will upload it to a different location tonight when I get home from work. I'll update the original Post with the alternate download location.


Additional upload of RAF pilot career tracker complete - it can now also be downloaded from the good people at Airwarfare.com: http://airwarfare.com/sow/index.php?option=com_jdownloads&Itemid=53&task=view.download&catid=18&cid=147

OP updated also.

[Rowddy]

Thanks m8 it's highly appriciated :)

Regards Rowddy.

[ReconNZ]

No worries lads, pleased to help.

Hey has anyone got a list of the standard medals/commendations won by Luftwaffe pilots? I could use it for the Luftwaffe version of the tracker which im working on.

CHeers!

Recon.

[Gamekeeper]

Perhaps the awards and medals packs (http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=Downloads&c=64) on M4T will help?

[ReconNZ]

That's great, thanks Gamekeeper!

Luftwaffe version now uploaded! Original post updated with screenshots and 2 download locations. Enjoy.

Recon.

[ReconNZ]

Hey all

One thing I meant to mention, it might be worth keeping a clean copy of the tracker on your system, as the tracker can only be used for one pilot - (the triggers for medals and promotions will only fire once) so if you try to use the same file for two pilots the promotions and medals wont work the second time round.

If you have already overwritten your downloaded version, no worries, just download another one of the latest versions from the start of this post. You need to start a new tracker for each pilot you use.

:-)

[JagdNeun]

Much appreciated!

[bw_wolverine]

Played with it tonight. It's good! I like the logbook style too it too.

One thing. My sortie tonight included (in one flight) a destroyed 110, a damaged JU87 and a damaged bf109.

It doesn't look like I can accurately record all three enemies in one entry. Do I just enter these in below the first and then start the next log book entry on the line below the last entered kill?

That's really the only thing that seemed a bit off to me. Might just be a user error :P

[ReconNZ]

Played with it tonight. It's good! I like the logbook style too it too.

One thing. My sortie tonight included (in one flight) a destroyed 110, a damaged JU87 and a damaged bf109.

It doesn't look like I can accurately record all three enemies in one entry. Do I just enter these in below the first and then start the next log book entry on the line below the last entered kill?

That's really the only thing that seemed a bit off to me. Might just be a user error :P

Hey Wolverine, thanks for the feedback, and for the reference in your sig. I'm going to update my sig with my pilots info as well asap!

Re your question, yes you are 100% correct. Thats exactly how i record sorties with more than one enemy plane type kill - "just enter these kills in below the first and then start the next log book entry on the line below the last entered kill".

I'm keen to hear if you think there is another way to enter it more succinctly - I thought about it for ages but couldnt come up with a way that didnt involve entering in loads more columns! (which I tried to avoid as didnt want the tracker being too wide).

What I will do though is update the example in the downloaded versions to show more than one flight with multiple plane type kills so people can see how i intend that scenario to be entered!

I'm also going to redo the downed pilot random outcome generator - I've included a new version of this page in the Luftwaffe tracker which i think is much better than the RAF one - I will update the RAF one asap. The functionality is still the same, ive just improved the display significantly.

I'd be keen to hear your thoughts if you think the Luftwaffe outcome generator is better than the RAF one?

cheers,

Recon.

[bw_wolverine]

I'd be keen to hear your thoughts if you think the Luftwaffe outcome generator is better than the RAF one?

cheers,

Recon.

Haven't looked at the Luftwaffe one since I'm RAF through and through, but the downed pilot thing is kinda gravy anyway. I think it's functional as is. It would be nice to just have a button to push that would output the result rather than having to look things up on a table.

The updating the demonstration entry is a great idea in lieu of a better option.

[ReconNZ]

Version 2.0 of the RAF tracker uploaded. See original post for changes and new upload locations.

I also tidied up the OP to make it all much easier and cleaner to read!

I recommend downloading the new versions, the new downed pilot generator is a big improvement!

Regards,

Recon.

[Foo'bar]

@Foo'bar - Open Office should work.

Thanks :)

[LcSummers]

HI ReconNZ,

thank you for sharing your hard work.:)


S!

LC

[ReconNZ]

Hey LC summers, no worries at all mate, its a pleasure.

I did just run into an unforseen problem though, 104th MoGas just shot me down during his first sortie using the luftwaffe tracker.... I'm now officially a statistic on my own creation! Doh! :-)

Its a sad day here, I lost a good pilot: :(

RIP Wing Commander L. Straun, DFO, DFC, (Flight time 12:39, 25.6 Kills).


Fortunately a new recruit is ready and waiting! :cool:

[Kozi]

Thanks ReconNZ for creating and sharing this pilot tracker.

Im using ver 2.0 of RAF and Luftwaffe trackers and they both work great. :grin:

[ReconNZ]

Thanks Kozi for your feedback, great to hear the trackers are being well received.

I'm currently working on Version 3 of each, which among other improvements should feature "pilot recruitment" with randomly generated pilot names and pictures to give your virtual pilots a little more "personality".

If there are any other requests please do let me know.

Actually I could use confirmation of one thing - an ACE in the British RAF was someone who had 5 confirmed kills is that right? What was the number for the Luftwaffe?

[ReconNZ]

Hey all, how are the trackers going? I'm working on V3 - any requests for features / changes?

CHeers,

Recon.

[322Sqn_Dusty]

What about the Tigermoth? Seems it isn't in the selectionbox. So I can't train our pilots on that type. Elementary Flying School style.

And what about flight testing captured planes? :D

Nice work.

[ReconNZ]

Hi Dusty

good pick up re the tigermoth - sorry for forgetting to put it in there! I'll make sure I add it in for Version 3.

not sure about the captured German planes though! :-P

At this stage I think Version 3 will also include pilot photos and a random name generator. I may also include a "hall of fame tracker" which will automatically track the success of your pilots and keep track of fallen heroes across multiple trackers - it will likely need to be a seperate file which keeps a record of all tracker pilots you create..

cheers all,

Recon,

[Silver_Dragon]

The bomber pilots can be track mission here? targets destroy, etc?

[ReconNZ]

Hey all!! RL has slowed down development of v3, it's still in the works tho so will keep u all posted!!

[PB0_CEF]

Hello ReconNZ, first thing I thank you for this good work. I discovered it few days ago and use it with great pleasure :grin:
I don't play online any more (RL made it difficult :( ) so I use your pilots tracker for offline campaign like "501 Squadron" or "A Spitfire in my tail"...
One question : I really would like to select more precises missions types like Escort, Interception, transfert, etc...
I made the needed changes on the Luftwaffe tracker easily (no password) but it's not possible with the RAF tracker (password on).
Can it be possible for you to make a more exhaustive list or to give the password ? (only for my own use of course)

Really a more pleasant way of tracking pilots than mine when I was playing online with my squadron :
my mates pilots trackers (http://f14d.perso.sfr.fr/PB0/bomb25/Carnet_vol_b.htm)

[andrea78]

Any chance to have a career tracker for bomber?
Thanks

[DenUA]

plan to change for the patch from TF 3.0. ???
Thank you for your work!