1st Multisquad Campaign Battle of Britain

[Osprey]

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

Blues complained about Reds getting info, so others decided not to give them briefings. Remember, there were days that there were holes in the radar coverage, so we can write it up as the Home Chain was under repair!

TBH this I find rather annoying. Given that the facts of history are that the RAF did have location info in the form of radar and that the only losses to radar were only ever minor and immediately post an attack on a radar station so it was never down EVER prior to a German raid. Only Ventnor was put out of action for any significant period and that was after about 30 Ju88's attacked it on 12th August. You have a stark choice really, it's historical within gaming possibilities or it's not. Personally I am not interested in the latter at all. You had may as well have us all line up on the runway for those ultra talented 109 pilots who like things to be all their way and cannot understand how Germany lost given the obvious superiority of the 109, we know it was better because Goering said so. Sorry it's a rant, I get fed up with those wanting it all their way.

As for mission 3: I would like a re-run, seems a waste of mapping not to, but it's up to the organisers. And as for those options you mention, I would go for option 2 but modify the code so that it includes damaged aeroplanes too? ie, land with damage and you're done because the aircraft needs to be taken away to be repaired. The ban on spawn is a nightmare because it's not takeoff that has taken out most of my team but CTD, then you have to refly, but that is often too late.

I'd like to see the code for the deathkick so will have a look around here.

~S~

[Sven]

It was a countermeasure to balance out another missing historical accuracy, the 'few' in this campaign are not the British, it turned out to be the Luftwaffe. Given the large formations of bombers heading to England this last mission it would have been almost impossible to miss them, unfortunately 75% didn't spawn due to an error. We also got the recon flights working who reported enemy formations for you.

We will give you your 'radars' back next mission, seeing as it had such an impact on Red's capabilities. This campaign is also a trial and error for future campaigns for us, keep that in mind.

[JG52Uther]

For all the problems, I have enjoyed this campaign, and would quite happily fly it again if the next patch fixes these crashes.
I have been lucky and only had a crash in mission 2, but some people have not managed to complete one mission yet, and that does not do the campaign justice, with the amount of work you guys have put into it.
As an online war flyer, it will be hard to go back to dogfight servers again after this.

[bw_wolverine]

Originally Posted by JG52Uther

As an online war flyer, it will be hard to go back to dogfight servers again after this.

We could always repurpose the dog fight servers to our wants as long as everyone kept to a few rules enforced by the honour system.

For example: The ATAG server has constant bomber flights taking off and attacking targets on both sides of the channel. The radar works well there too (at least it seems to).

A mission run time is given of 3:00EST to 5:00EST or whenever and we organize squadrons of 6 planes each like so:

RAF Squadron 1....RAF Squadron 2
1._____________ 1._____________
2._____________ 2._____________
3._____________ 3._____________
4._____________ 4._____________
5._____________ 5._____________
6._____________ 6._____________

LW Squadron 1.....LW Squadron 2
1._____________ 1._____________
2._____________ 2._____________
3._____________ 3._____________
4._____________ 4._____________
5._____________ 5._____________
6._____________ 6._____________


People sign up for a slot and each Squadron is assigned a tag that they attach to their steam name for the duration of the mission. Then, everyone joins the server at the 3:00 time or thereabouts. Mission goals are determined by the squadron leaders. IE: If a flight of bombers takes off from France heading to attack Lympne, one of the LW squadrons might be assigned to escort it. The other squadron might fly a fighter sweep or recon or whatever. RAF squadrons might wait on the ground until an enemy bomber group has been identified and then scramble. Whatever the squadron leaders want to do. This might not mean you always see the enemy but then that's sometimes what happens.

Rules for rearm/refuel:
If you bring your plane back to base, you can respawn when/if the rest of your squadron has returned to base.

Rules for death/crashes/etc.:

Launcher Crash = You can respawn and regroup with your flight.
Safe bail out over friendly territory = You can respawn when/if your entire flight has RTB'd or safely bailed out over friendly territory
Pilot death/bail out over water/enemy territory = your day is done

So, for example, a 6 plane squadron goes out. One pilot is shot down over home territory and bails out safely. In combat, two more pilots are shot down. One is killed in the cockpit and the other bails out safely over water. Three remaining planes return to base and all three land safely. At this point, the first pilot and the three who returned home may spawn new aircraft.

Obviously this wouldn't exactly be historic in nature, but it might be at least a half way point between the launcher crash friendly environment of the dog fight server and the restrictions of the historic campaign server.

The biggest flaw in this idea is flying on a public server and all the hazards that entails with people who aren't actually participating. The ATAG missions being run would be great for this (with their constant bomber streams), but perhaps it could be run on a private passworded server for this semi-campaign style game?

[ATAG_Bliss]

Rudelmann,

Saw your post about the Script Spawn C. I don't think it does quite what you think it does. I'll start off with the caveat I could be wrong , but IMO I think it's a mis-translation or typo and should actually read Script Spawn On. If you put AI flights or moving ground objects for that matter (any object with that check mark) they will spawn in the mission upon mission start up unless you have it checked.

In other words, if you are using a script to spawn them, you need that section checked. I have a gazillion airgroups in one .mis file. If I didn't have that checked (on all the airgroups I want delayed) they would all start flying at the same time!

[ATAG_Bliss]

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

Right, I know how it works, and we cleaned this mission up from the server based mission of the same name (made it more for campaign, took escorts out, no red attackers). In the main server map, I use the script spawn C triggers/actions to split up the spawns, so you don't have literally 75 planes spawning in the exact same second. When I removed the triggers/actions, I forgot to correspondingly remove the check box.... I'M AN IDIOT!!


Edit: The other thing it does, is after that point, it stops loading scripts in. For example, if you use sub-missions like we do, and there's a ScriptSpawnC error in sm2, then it won't load sm3 and on at all. That killed my mission, as the 2nd sub-mission had 1 thing checked still.

Hmm - I've never had the that check box stop loading a script. Actually I have about 65 separate triggers with Script Spawn C and the next one always loads at the corresponding time regardless if they're activated in a submission or not. I've never seen the ScriptSpawnC error though. I guess your scripts must be a bit different than mine.. Interesting.

[Osprey]

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

lol, count me in one of those who haven't finished. In fact, this mission was the first time I'd made it even half way across the Channel!

Wolv, your idea has merits, but isn't exactly what we're trying to accomplish. We need something seperate from a public server to really get into squadron flights. Random elements (newbie pilots spawn crashing, people already in the air vulching, people jumping your flights, friendly killing) are just too many variables for systems like that to work on the highest pop server out there now!

We do not encourage lone wolves, but for sake of pulling the community together, allowed it this time. Next campaign will be more strict on squadrons only.

With you all the way here Cheesehawk. This is a great way to get into working groups. DF server flying is too random, it's not structured and doesn't best reflect the possibilities. Under 1946 our crew ran campaign of semi-re-enactment for a number of weeks and there was nothing quite like all taking off in a large group and heading somewhere then being attacked by another large group with the melee that follows! It was vs AI, but the best and most relaxed fun you can have.

I like the grand plan here cheese, and my crew is in on it

[bw_wolverine]

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

Wolv, your idea has merits, but isn't exactly what we're trying to accomplish. We need something seperate from a public server to really get into squadron flights. Random elements (newbie pilots spawn crashing, people already in the air vulching, people jumping your flights, friendly killing) are just too many variables for systems like that to work on the highest pop server out there now!

I agree, this sort of idea would work best on a private server (passworded as I said). I just hate the idea of having to wait a long time to do these sorts of events again.

I think the respawning rules I laid out would work with the current campaign system you guys are running. It just wouldn't really be something you could code (or it would be difficult to). People would just have to follow the rules.

Anyway, looking forward to Sunday.

[5./JG27.Farber]

Patience...

Running it one day day a week allows you to train online in public servers... then bring your A game to the special event...

Its more exciting that way...


Dont worry, as soon as we have stats running, the CTD is fixed and we have done some more work... It will be better, bigger and worthwhile!

Glad so many enjoyed it. This was our primary aim. It makes it a whorthwhile project and justifies our time making it so. Next time there will be more planning by each side and statistics making it a little more competitive! Our main aim here was to bring the MP community together and justify its longevity. I think we achieved it but it wasnt without help... Before this is all finished, I'd like to thank Kodiak for helping us with scripts and keeping the secret. I'd also like to thank the community for taking part.... With out you guys it would be nothing.

Note for next time... Pick one side! Seen a few Squads changing side... Well after next sunday It'll be done and dusted. When they fix the CTD'ing we will be ready and waiting!

S!

[JTDawg]

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

lol, count me in one of those who haven't finished. In fact, this mission was the first time I'd made it even half way across the Channel!

Wolv, your idea has merits, but isn't exactly what we're trying to accomplish. We need something seperate from a public server to really get into squadron flights. Random elements (newbie pilots spawn crashing, people already in the air vulching, people jumping your flights, friendly killing) are just too many variables for systems like that to work on the highest pop server out there now!

We do not encourage lone wolves, but for sake of pulling the community together, allowed it this time. Next campaign will be more strict on squadrons only.

WOW IF I WANT TO PLAY JOIN A CLAN ! LONE WOLVES, VULCHING, JUMPINGING IN FIGHTS = BS MOST OF US TEAM PLAYERS DONT DO THIS .WE FLY WINGMAN TACTICS, AN IN GROUPS .I PERSONALLY NEVER VULCH!!! YOU WANT TO EXCLUDE CERTAIN PLAYERS FINE .BUT MAKING US JOIN A CLAN TO PLAY IS B.S-----SIGNED JUST A TEAM PLAYER!!!!