re: gamer choice of missions in dynamic campaign engine
@csThor
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To me the campaign of SoW has to be historical first and foremost which means you have one pilot belonging to one unit (unless transfered) who get's orders and doesn't make them.
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that is a very very limited perspective of a campaign "engine" (its more a linear set of missions then), and i am fairly confident oleg has a much broader view on this (as he should, since most potential customers want bigger/more options of what a ww-1 combat sim should be)
nothing wrong with as part of the options having what you ask for (since some other die hard realists will want this to, sticking to one squadron and try and keep their pilot alive as long as possible), and i suspect it is included, but it would be a total waste of 80% of what will make BoB such a revolutionary sim environment if they limit it to that so narrowly.
i dont remember the details of the red baron campaigns, but personally i am hoping fror a combination of the falcon4 type server and "mig alley" (the old rowan sim from 10 yrs ago). this means you can select a number of missions from a "task board" once you join a server, like
- fighter combat patrol in a sector
- fighter intercept mission to engage enemy bombers/fighters in grid XYZ
- free flight from any airbase in any sector, where you can only choose a specific aircraft from what is available at that base
- downed pilot resque at sea (hopefully, but oleg says not immediately included probably)
- special mission to drop air supplies to french resistance, or land in france and pick up downed pilot saved by the resistance
- patrol over channel with anti shipping munitions to hunt for enemy shipping
- intercept stuka raid heading for radar installations
- etc
it wouldnt be to complex for programmers to have a "virtual scenario" of the 4 months of the whole BoB, and have several 100 events that unfold in a historical manner (as i believe oleg has already indicated iirc they are working with). so when you join a dynamic campaign server (or run it on your own pc in solo), then this scenario is unfolding already with multiple events in progress. the "task board" can then offer you to participate in a number of those events, each being in their own stage of unfolding, which makes it almost an obligation you end up "in the cockpit in flight" for some of those (not trying to be cynical, but in your "1 pilot identity in one squadron" scenario you might actually then sit at an airfield without being tasked for many days or hrs, which isnt realistic either)
and with the earlier suggestion i made for a more falcon-4 type mission selection, because the dynamic campaign engine keeps progressing in time, any week you join to select one of those missions, they will be in a very different environment with very different events encountered.
the good thing about the mig alley campaign engine is that you could significantly block enemy supply lines by targeting bridges and railways etc, or roads with truck convoys. this then affected the enemy ability to fight on the ground and their fighting strength, resulting in the frontline moving one way or the other. you could also close down enemy airfields and force them to relocate their aircraft to rear airfields (lengthening their flight time to the front line or interception of your flights, and hence affecting the campaign outcome etc)
i dont either see anything wrong with including some of the falcon-4 type "jump into a flight" type action in the options when you select a flight, since not everybody has always 4 hrs available to make a "pure" mission taking of from a french airbase, climbing to altitude, circle for bomber formation to arrive at meeting point, escort bombers for 30 min over channel, and then have 5 min of fun fighting it out with brittish fighters (where you either get near instantly killed or have to immediately fly back for 30 min return trip on low fuel).
the good thing about the Falcon-4 dynamic campaign server is that you could choose the type of mission you liked THAT DAY for that gaming session. most people that buy il2/BoB dont want to (and shouldnt be forced to) just stick to one type of "combat flight sim" scenario where it is always the same type of action (eg as a fighter go shoot at some other fighters and do a dogfight)
remember, most people reading this current board are older il2 users of the more fanatical type, who are more hardcore in what they want. trying to force ALL BoB-il2 users into that rigid format of following 1 pilot career will/would seriously limit sales. there is for example a significant number of ex ms-fs-X users who would enjoy flying some VFR missions in high quality plane models with good scenery and might want to simply fly supply missions (knowing that providing those supplies to a specific location makes a difference in the outcome of the unfolding game scenario) and not just "shoot em up" type missions. and many of us "combat types" might just have 1 or 2 hrs a few times per week to do some virtual flying and would prefer to choose the action/mission type we most enjoy for that day. being forced to ALWAYS follow a single "Fritz career" from flight 1 to 22 where he meets his death would be rather boring imo.