The Invasion of Sicily Historical Missions For Realistic Players (PS3)
 

Ok gents,

I'm officially calling this one my last historical for BoP since my research for the Korsun hasn't panned out and we're getting closer to the Birds of Steel release. So operations are set to begin on Sunday January 8th at 10:30pm EST with chat invites going out 10 minutes prior. As usual, if there are any other forum dwellers who play around 10:30pm EST, you are welcome to join in as well. Simply post here and send me a friend invite via PSN so I can add you to the message lists for updates! All participants will need the following planes:

Axis:
- M.C. 202
- Bf 109 E-3, F-4, G-2 & G-6 (the G-10 will not be used)
- Fw 190 A-5


Allied:
- B-17G
- A-20G
- Bleheim Mk.IV
- P-51B
- Hurricane Mk.II (with bombs)
- Spitfire Mk.II & IX

Take care guys and I'll see you on Sunday night!!!

If I can fly my spit 9 I'm in

Cool, it will be good to have you join us again, though not every mission will have a Spit 9 available (though most do), lol! I'll send you more details the next time I log back into PSN.

Since you haven't played in a while let me go ahead and give you the rules here.

1. HAVE FUN!!!
2. No "intentional" ramming!!!
3. RTB is always in effect unless otherwise noted.

RTB is a new rule that I started using with the Invasion of Sicily arcade series. Basically it forces players to return to designated areas to ditch their plane when they run out of ammo. If you fly Axis, the RTB areas will be either of the 2 airfields, Catania or Gerbini. You do not have to land, but simply be over the airfield to bail out. If you fly Allied, you will have to make your way all the way back to friendly airspace. For this purpose, imagine a line that extends the length of the map that run perpendicular to the closest friendly target on your return trip. For Sicily, that will be the battleship that is sitting off the coast. Note you do NOT have to fly back directly over the battleship, which is why the imaginary line extends the length of the map. Bombers get a second option for RTB in that they can RTB by zoning out of the battlefield and can then bail out upon re-zoning.

RTB also places restrictions on bailing out for damage as well. If you are in a fighter, you can only bail out for damage if there is a blackened area on the damage indicator. Now just know up front that this will sometimes lead to kills not being scored as players may not be able to bail out when they crash, however since most missions don't rely on the game score, this isn't really a big issue. If you are in a bomber, you can only bail for damage if any of your engines are blacked, as fuselage and wing damage have less of an impact on them.

Anyway, looking forward to flying with/against you again, take care man!

Ok sounds cool I'll get pappy on too. Not real worried about anyone not bailing they won't need to bail when I take their wing off ;). I had to get a new ps3 awhile back and I never bothered doing the unlocks again so I don't have a lot of the planes

Oh and I'll be about a half hour late I get on at 8pst When girlfriends son goes to bed

Looking forward to it. It's a shame we won't get to take the fight to Berlin, but BoS is a pretty sweet trade off. I'll see you on Sunday.

StiC

@ mav
Well you still have plenty of time to do all the unlocks since we won't start until Sunday. However, if you at least have the M.C. 202, Bf 109 E-3 and the Spitfire Mk.II, then that should allow you to play one side or the other for any of the missions.

Since you start the game with the E-3 and I'm almost certain you have a Spitfire Mk. IX that would only leave the 202 as the last unlock. To unlock the M.C. 202 simply complete the Invasion of Sicily, Single Mission; The Bait.

All the unlocks can be found in this thread:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=13167

@ StiC
Yeah, I was really looking forward to the Battle of the Bulge myself which was to follow the Korsun Pocket. However, all is not lost as if they make the Birds of Prey maps available as DLC for Birds of Steel as Anton has said is "possible", then the Korsun, Bulge and Berlin historicals are certainly not out of the question.

Hey RuffMonk where is the "Jug" :confused:

Would you care to elaborate why we don't have P-47 in this series?

Thanks,

PSN: PlaviKit

@ Plavikit
It was a big surprise to me too, but in all of my research I did to generate all of the missions, the "Jug" was nowhere to be found in the skies over Sicily! I even read through an extensive report detailing interdiction efforts of the Allied Air Force that was made for the USAAF and in the section listing planes that took part in the operations, again no Jug. From the four books I scoured through and the various online sources I found, it appears that the main fighter aircraft that operated over Sicily were Spitfires, P-40s and P-38s which is why I was baffled as to why the P-40 and P-38 weren't included in BoP. Heck, I couldn't even find evidence of P-51Bs operating over Sicily, but there were A-36s which in all respect are a mustang variant which is why I went ahead and included the P-51B in some of the missions.

Correction: I just remembered that Mustangs were referenced in the Interdiction report, but were listed as reconnaissance only. I still however, couldn't confirm any actual engagements they took part in though!

Hey guys,

Just a reminder that the Invasion of Sicily will begin on this coming Sunday (8th) at 10:30pm EST. I'm planning to set all gatherings for Sundays, Tuesdays & Thursdays and with 16 missions to run, it should take us 2.5 weeks to run the series to completion. Anyway, take care guys and I'll see you in the skies!

FYI There were no actual P-51B in Sicily. Gaijin made a big mistake with that plane in BoP. This thread http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthr...t=Mustang+mkIa explains it when the mistake was first discovered a couple of days after games launch. Notice that the developers listened to us and corrected the plane for Wings of Prey and Now Birds of Steel. The Recon Mustangs you read about are USAAF F6A Mustangs and RAF Army co-operation command (ACC) Mustang mkIa which performed low level reconaisons and ground support, replacing the Westland Lysander.
As you can see from these models this is the type that is portrayed in BoP. No other Mustang had the very noticeable 4 Hispano 20mm cannons. So you are right to use the "P-51B" in your Campaign.

F6A
http://www.b-p-p.com/images/T/AM0017-5000.jpg

Mustang mkIa
http://www.hyperscale.com/images/mustangmk1a32tb_3.jpg

Thanks for the reply RP! At the moment, I can't remember if the report actually listed them as Mustangs or P-51s, but after that, it's more likely they were listed as Mustangs.

Told pappy_boyingtn about this he will be getting on tomorrow too

Awesome!

Hey ruff... Psn network is down in the uk for maintenance (19/1/12). I might not be able to catch you guys tonight.

Hey Frog,

I think PSN is down everywhere as they have a scheduled shutdown until 9pm PST which will be 12am EST for me. If PSN isn't up and running by 10pm EST, I'm just going to postpone tonights run for Sunday (22nd) at our usual time! Glad to see you've finally joined the forum, lol!

If its down everwhere.. I dont miss anythin...lmao

Power is out for me due to massive snow/ice storm says it might be out for 3 days so don't know when I'll be back on

Thank you Ruffmonk for creating such an enjoyable series.

Your hard work is much appreciated by many (as the turnout last night shows). Looking forward to what you can do with BoS.

I've noticed a few more sim players online lately. I know you don't play sim, but if we gather enough players to run a few scenarios, would you mind hosting the chat for us?

StiC

Thanks and no problem StiC! I had almost as much fun doing the research and developing the missions as I had playing them. I'd like to thank you for taking up the lion's share of the hosting duties since my connection isn't always the best.

As for the sim series, of course I wouldn't mind, but I can do you one better! If you'd like, I'd be more then willing to send you all of my information which I kept saved in word format and let you run them yourself! The format I used for the missions is pretty self explanatory, but there might be a section or two that might need a little elaboration. Just let me know and I can give you more details. Anyway take care man and I look forward to meeting you in the skies over the Pacific.

Thank You!
 

I'd just like to take the time to thank each and every one of you who participated in ANY of my historical series which began in March of last year! In almost 1 years time, I ran 6 separate series that included 113 different missions and it has truly been a wonderful experience. If not for all of you who participated, no matter how large or small, then I would have had no reason to have put in the work in the first place! It saddens me to not have covered all 6 BoP campaigns, but perhaps I'll get the chance again if BoS brings the BoP maps to the game. I look forward to a new chapter in the historicals as we look to new battles and new planes and I hope each and everyone of you had as much fun as I did!

Hi RuffMonk,

You did a fantastic job organizing all those missions and I look forward to many more in BoS. No pressure just saying :-)

I had so much fun with your historical missions that for some time I did not feel exited about any random gathering! Truly appreciated! I'm sorry that I had to leave early yesterday as I was not able to play due to time constraints.


Take care,

PSN: PlaviKit

Ruff..its been awsome. Thanks dude, and thanks to the rest of you.