Hi all

I'm creating this thread so people with technical problems playing, or problems understanding certain game mechanics can get help. For example, if you don't know how to correctly set up a SPC Luftwaffe Campaign, or if you have GFX anomalies, this stuff all goes here.

We encourage everyone to fly at least a few throw-away missions or start a test campaign, so you guys can be sure everything works come 10th July.

I also suggest you check out the A2A forums if you have any technical issues, everyone is extremely helpful over there:

http://shockwaveproductions.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=42&sid=c7fc4f665bd52572199d9dac9cf63a39

Thank you.

Itkovian

Hi everyone,

I'm having a little trouble with the BF-110. On the ground, no matter what I do, the aircraft spins port around its normal axis on application of power (like turning with an idle port engine and differential brake.)

I've tried a few things, but I just don't know how to fix it. In the air the aircraft handles just fine (I think) and looking at the engine gauges the engines are both running okay with normal readings and no indication of failure.

My Throttle and Right Throttle axes are mapped to the throttle of my X-52 Pro.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

- Argy

Hello Argy,

Are you releasing the brakes ok? Don't forget you have to release both left & right brakes (comma & period keys by default).
Also, AFAIK, if you only have a single throttle stick you need only assign it to the main throttle axis - the "right" throttle & prop axis are only for use with a dual throttle set up. Just leave the right throttle & prop pitch as keyboard control.
You can then swap engine priority in flight by cycling engines using "E" on the keyboard.

Let us know how you get on. I have an X-52pro, so if the trouble persists just shout and I'll check out the setup on my install and report back.

Cheers!
Rob

CPS_Bomber

Sounds to me like you are applying assymetric trust due to the control setup. Unmap right axis...

Hi everyone, and thank you all for your consideration.

At the eleventh hour (!) I identified the problem. I had manual propeller pitch enabled and assumed that, like in IL-2 and MSFS, it would default to the fully forward "coarse" position. But the default is actually the fully aft "fine" position, which I discovered when I tried to taxi a BF-109 and it wouldn't go! Apparently for the 110 with fully "fine" pitch the thrust and torque produced merely spins the aircraft around as I described...

...so next time it's more care with the checks, ja?

Once again - thank you to all who responded!

- Argy

I'm wondering: At the Squadron Diary (which seems the most reliable source for our combat reports) what does it means when it says in the enemy Claims column "20/20"

Does that mean damaged/destroyed?

So if we had damaged 20, but destroyed 10, we'd see "20/10" or such?

My pilot diary only mentions 1 claim, so I think the PD counts only your own kills, squadron diary lists squadron claims?

Also, still not clear what the reported wind speed means. I got a "bearing 145, 088" today - that can't be 88 knots wind?

Another thing I already asked at A2A forum:
http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=21911

Is it confirmed that you can get attacked on Convoy patrols even if you stay in 3d cockpit all the time? So, in other words, does the game launch German Raids AFTER you have taken off?

The no intercept quirk works both ways. IE if you fly as either RAF or Luftwaffe, and stayin 3D cockpit the whole way from takeoff (before any LW raids are seen on the board), the AI will not generate either RAF patrols or Luftwaffe raids.

H

That's what I was guessing because I saw the relation to the Luftwaffe no Intercept bug. So when flying an extended convoy patrol without a dedicated raid to intercept, it may be better to frag out and back in, to give the campaign engine a window to generate a raid?

Yep.

On your other questions... squadron diary is plagued by 'fog of war' and has always been approximate, not accurate. It is a little confusing as eg 5/5 in squadron diary means 5 destroyed / 5 damaged.

In your pilot log, 5/5 109s, 0/1 Stuka would mean you got 5 of the 5 109s destroyed and none of the 1 Stukas.

Hi chaps,

Hope you're all enjoying your campaigns. I certainly am! I have a few frame rate issues to solve but I should be able to fix that.

My main problem is this. Is there any way that I can increase the cruising speed of the aircraft I am to escort? Today I escorted a Gruppe of Stukas that cruised at just 180-ish km/h according to my ASI, when I believe they should have flown faster. Even with full "up" trim and all available lift flap (i.e. not drag flap) I could not stay level without stalling out. My AI squadron mates seemed to have no difficulty in flying this slowly, and I did not want to range ahead on my own.

What shall I do? If I can't increase the speed of the Stukas, I will probably take charge of a Schwarm of my own and range ahead, doglegging to allow the Stukas (and the rest of the Staffel) to keep up. Will this be acceptable?

Pip! Pip! Tally Ho!

- Argy

I'm sure some Luftwaffe expert will step in, but I believe that a laden Ju87-B really did cruise around that speed (approx 190 kmh) normally. (It does have all the aerodynamics of a small shed, afterall). So the issue is around the trimming of the Me110s to fly at that speed. It's perillously close to the 150kmh landing speed, isn't it.....

Perhaps fighter pilots don't want to fly close escort


[EDIT]
Well I just tried it at various heights, and I can fly the Me110 at those speeds- Just. But it requires both full pitch trim and also a lot of backwards stick. It's really not designed to fly at such low speeds. You are also very nose high in flight. Dropping some flap helps that. Truth is that escorting Ju87s (the slowest cruisers of the lot by a way) is painful if you try to match their speed..

109 ace Ulrich Steinhilper describes the difficulty of escorting Stukas in 'Spitfire on my tail'. The 109s would fly a figure 8 over the Stuka formation, or constantly weave back and forth, to stay with them. BOBII doesn't model that.

Hi,

It looks like my squadron is getting missions but for some reason I'm not being prompted to frag.

If I go into the squadron diary it shows three missions so far with planes lost and shot down - so they're clearly engaging the enemy. I'm just not being prompted to frag.

Here is a screenshot with my favourites as well as the squadron diary showing.

Any ideas?

That is exactly what I noted on my mission yesterday. As the aircraft at this speed is dangerously close to a quasi-stalled condition, I figured it couldn't be right. Nice to have some confirmation though. Thanks!



OK. That's what I thought I'd do for my next missions. I don't want the responsibility of a full Staffel, and a Rotte is a bit small if I happen to come across a fight, so I'll take a Schwarm and do that. Thanks!

All the best,

- Argy

P.S. (Last but not least!)



Have a look at the manual - BoBII_2.10_manual_final.pdf - on page 181 where it says,

"At the moment the fighter campaign triggers for large and small engagements do not seem to be active, but you can frag into these fights manually where you see them happening on the 2D map, by just clicking on the fighter unit you want to fight with and FRAGging in. The fighter SPC works fine though if you take the offer to fly from takeoff, or when approaching target. You can always use autopilot (TAB) for the boring commute across the channel."

The "crossing coast" trigger didn't seem to work for me so you might be stuck with the "take off" trigger if you want to see the action (apparently the only other trigger that works consistently is the "landing" trigger.) Just remember to go into map view (press M) and advance to the next waypoint to give the game engine a chance to generate some intercepts. What for a beautiful scrap to bag a brace of Spitfeurs, hein?

I'm thinking that maybe it is best (also for RAF Convoy patrols) to set down time Accel to 60x or such, and monitor the flight manually on the map with the mouse hovering above the pause button, then stop and frag in when enemy appears. Takeoff to landing isn't reliable to actually generate enemy raids, and fragging in with the engagement triggers, while it works for the RAF, often puts you into a disorganized battle. The only thing that always seems to reliable work is RAF on a dedicated intercept with an already present target on the map when you frag in for takeoff.

As German pilot, you can set time accel for "Raids" separatly so whenever your guys are underway and Raid icons are present on the map it will throttle down. Of course the Brits can do the same, but I suppose that only kicks in when raids are already detected, which may be a tad late.

Sorry Brendan, didn't know the engagement triggers don't work in German Fighter SPC. We kinda put you on the wrong track here. Maybe reload 11th July?

Oddly enough when I was testing with JG3 III it seemed to prompt just fine.

Hmmm. Try checking the takeoff, cross channel triggers and see if they are working. But remember to go to map and accelerate waypoint after takeoff (assuming you get offered!) to trigger the ai to generate intercepts.

H

Neither a technical, nor a game problem here but I couldn't find where to start a new thread so I figured that this place is better than none. Anyway - it's just a suggestion that may enhance your experience.

By using the "lean" commands Q and W to shift your eye-point left and right respectively you can see around the nose and, importantly, more of the ground on landing. Seeing more of the ground is good because suddenly it's much, much easier to judge the round-out, hold-off and touchdown. So after using this trick my landings have been nearly spot on every time!

If you open the canopy "O" (don't try it in a 109 at any time or in flight in a 110!) and then lean, your pilot will lean outside the cockpit which is great for taxiing. No more external view! My favourite for landing is to open the cockpit after leaning so the pilot's head is still (realistically) inside the cockpit but the clarity of the view to the sides is bettered without the scratched / dirty canopy glass in the way. And of course for taxiing I open the canopy before leaning, to lean outside the cockpit.

I hope you all find this useful!

- Argy

Hehe, you need to get TrackIR my friend

Just for general info, this board is set such that only a few people can create new topics. This is to keep it easy to view the information and the daily threads.

TrackIR? TrackIR? I'm more hardcore than that (!) I use FreeTrack because I can't afford TrackIR yet because I'm a MAN but at the moment it's in a box at home... about 200 miles from my student digs...

... although I'd be the first to admit that TrackIR is wa-a-ay better than FreeTrack!

Cheers (and thanks for clearing up the situation regarding new topics - I thought I was going barmy...)

- Argy

Freetrack would also support 6DOF and leaning out of the pit. It is as you wrote, truly great to open the canopy and lean outside.

Something odd here, apparently Pete-Townsend is CO of both 85 and (from memory) 263 squadron. I'll need to look up the latter. In 85 his morale is excellent, but in the other it's just Very-Good LOL

Well, I know that as RAF things seem to work fine, so long as I use the map accelerate options after takeoff, which I always do (I don't have the time for a full real time flight *grin*).

Itkovian

I wouldn't look too closely at the OC names, especially later on once many leaders have been killed. Let's just say Rowan got creative after a while.

Itkovian

LOL, ok

I flew today using 60x and 120x time compression, and that worked for me also. Gives much more time to react, pause before fragging...

One thing that seems to be a bug: I get repeatly wind reports of "bearing 123, 115" with severe or worse gusting. That would be 115knots of wind, and I find that I'm getting nose-over on takeoff and landing, something that hasn't happened to me the last 15 or so landings and takeoffs.

Maybe weather overmodelled? 115knots wind is a Hurricane...

I think the problem is severe gusting, if it were 115 knots being modeled we couldn't fly at all. The severe gusting however is very nasty.

Takeoff is quite feasable however (make sure to pull back to keep the tail wheel down as long as possible), but landing is definitely very tricky. If you try to land and see the gusting is nasty, I suggest letting the auto-pilot land (CTRL-A), and turning off the autopilot after you have come to a stop. That will register the end of the mission as you having landed.

Itkovian

The gusting is actually weird. There's "Gusting Severe" on the radio call, and then there's "Gusting: You are cleared to land" which must be bug. But obviously it's WORSE than severe.

Agree, as long as I have this weather, I'll just frag out of the flight before landing. While I like most of the simulation, the part where the aircraft jerks around randomly up for 10 meters or more is not it's most realistic item.

You don't need to frag out. Just let the autopilot take over and land, and then take back command once you're come to a full stop. That way, when you ALT-X back to the campaign, you will see the usual "Landed safely" or some such on your pilot record.

Itkovian

If you find that your squadron is getting low on morale, or that you are rarely being picked for intercepts (especially if the squadrons that ARE scrambled are much further than yours), I strongly suggest that you release your squadron.

By releasing your squadron, you will be giving it time to increase its morale, and it also seems to "reset" your squadron's priority when it comes for the AI to assign intercepts (at least some of the time).

To release your squadron, simply select your aerodrome, click on your squadron's tab and change the drop down box to "Release" (it should usually read "5 minutes" or some such). Your squadron will then be released for the current period (in the campaign, each day is divided into morning, afternoon, and evening periods).

Once that period is over, your squadron will be automatically returned to 5 minutes readiness by the AI. At this point its morale will likely have increased, and hopefully you will be assigned missions more readily. That last part does not always work, mind you, as there are a lot of factors used to determine who gets picked. For example, the AI will often keep a reserve of squadrons in case extra raids are launched.

So, do not hesitate to release your squadron sometimes. It will give them a bit of rest (which is always good), and may help with assignments (note that the latter is just something I have observed over several SPC campaigns, and is entirely unconfirmed).

Thank you, and enjoy the Day by Day campaign.

Itkovian

Wasn't very successful with assigning targets myself today.

First I tried to "authorize" an enemy flight when No.151 was at 5 Minutes and more than ready. It didn't take off until half an hour later, and then the game CTDed on me after takeoff.

Tried this a second time, and found a funky bug: Duplicate Squadrons! 24 aircraft taking off at the 3d airfield (even though No.151 is the only squadron there and only had 20 aircraft), and then on the 2d map I actually had TWO No.151 icons very close togehter.

I reloaded and tried setting up a patrol, then assigning the patrol to target the enemy raid - they went after the wrong enemy icon, not the one I had clicked to authorize (seems to have tacked onto the escorts which by then were heading home, and not the main flight of bombers).

Reloaded a fourth time, and as if by magic No.151 was assigned by the AI to target a late evening raid. That worked nicely.

Must admit i use manual patrols exclusively in spc. Dont have the patience to wait for chance. I set myself a patrol over a lightship or convoy and if a raid develops in that window i am airborne i vector the flight onto it. If not i go home and repeat later in the day. Works for me...the odd patrol with no trade, but no bugs or glitches in vectoring for the intercept. I guess once you find the formula that works for you, you can just repeat it.

Btw, great aars again loved the randomness of several encounters!

I didn't mind the minor problems vectoring, but the "duplicate Squadron" bug is really weird.

Also, if my Squadron is Alert 5, why does it take them over 30 minutes to take off after I set them into a raid?

Were they the only Sq in the patrol? If you had more than one they may have been waiting for the other to form up.

Do you have patrol size set to flight (6 machines) or more? The more machines in a patrol the longer they take to form up. The game will not report them as airborne until they have taken off AND formed up.

There is a random element in takeoff and formup time which is dependent on morale. If you set a unit to 5 min readiness it should take off in 5 mins if leader and pilot morale is 'excellent'. The lower the morale, the longer the takeoff time.

Also just because a unit is ordered and reported to be 'at readiness' does not always mean it is available. After returning from a patrol the game drops the sq off its active list while it refuels, rearms and repairs. Again the amount of time this takes is determined by morale. This can be very frustrating if you have a unit in the way of an incoming raid and order it to scramble and it just sits there even though the tote board shows it at readiness. It is the game using morale to simulate real life factors. Not perfect...but.

H

Ah, morale could be a factor. I was waiting for the takeoff frag, so forming up shouldn't factor, and they hadn't been flying the entire afternoon.

Actually, I think I can answer your concern:

Sometimes when you create a patrol or intercept, the game will schedule the flight for later in the day. There's probably a lot of reasons under the hood this happens (the game knows a lot more about what's going on in the game than we see), but odds are its a bug.

However, it's very easy to deal with. Simply create your patrol, intercept, then select the mission in the missions window and click ROUTE.

Then, select the initial point "waypoint" and you will see that you can raise and lower its ETA. That's how you can schedule patrols for later on, and is where you can reduce the ETA. Just make it as soon as possible (the lower limit is based on speed and time to scramble), and it will take you exactly as long as your squadron readiness indicates to take off (for an entire squadron... taking off in flights of 6 AC is actually faster by 1 minute, which makes quite a difference).

Quite frankly, I almost never manually do patrols and intercepts for my squadron. I let the AI handle it and I usually find my share of trade. The only time I ever do manual flights for myself is when I want to do a familiarization flight (usually upon moving to a new aerodrome), or when the AI consistently avoids scrambling my squadron even when it is the ideal one to use on an intercept (I find that releasing the squadron for a period fixes that, mind you, and helps your morale too). I think in all my SPC I only had to manually launch an intercept for my own squadron twice.

That said, I DO manually launch intercepts and patrols to take down recon flights. This is because when the LW start sending fighter sweeps ahead of recon flights, the AI no longer scrambles intercepts against the recon flight. So what I end up doing is when I see a fighter sweep, I scramble a single patrol on some out-of-the-way coastal location (so it doesn't run into the sweep), and if the recon flight appears I then revector it against the recon flight. Works almost every time.

And the reason I try to deny all recon flights, is that it does create a more accurate august campaign, where the LW starts hitting every aerodrome instead of just Fighter Command's (since in reality, the LW didn't know which were which). So they go after all of them, sparing the important aerodromes for a long longer. Things are still rather dire by the time septembre rolls around, but it is more realistic that way.

Itkovian

Interesting to note that my Squadron leader Paul Dunscombe in the game is the name of the 3D programmer of BOB. In the game, he gets killed the moment I lose sight of him. Sometimes he just simply disappeared. The only way to keep him alive is to stick to his tail all throughout. I have tested this a few times. He is hardly aggressive and hardly shoots at anything. Very frustrating! I am not sure if this is a bug? Do you find you sqd ldr gets killed easily?

Probably the solution is to relieve him of his position and take lead.

Igorry

Trying to send my squadron up north. But when I select 13 Group, the airfield box says "none available". Could it be that already too many other Squadrons are north, and I can only swap there if I get another squadron down?

Also, statistics bug: By the Squadron Diary, we lost 9 crew and 11 AC today. But it seems since I landed on my own, the 2d engine does not recognize this and keeps us listed at 16 pilots, 22 AC like before that terrible fight. Morale is very low, Cat C and a new SL name though. But the engine didn't deduct our losses.

U can only move a unit to 13 group if there are less than 4 units there already. This is to avoid playersbtrying to 'win' by moving everything north.

Thanks. If I clock on the "North Airfield" I do see a whole bunch of units there, much more than 4 (about 8 Hurri and 4 Spitfire Squadrons, to be precise).

I guess we'll have to recover at Manston.

why don't you move yourself to some 12 or 10 Group aerodromes? There are usually plenty of slots open there.

Itkovian

Don't I get the "resting benefits" only from 13Grp? Or is it simple enough to be out of the action, no matter where?

No. What you can do is transfer yourself to another aerodrome out of the way, and then release your squadron (and keep releasing it whenever the AI puts it on readiness).

That way you will get some rest, AND you won't run the risk of having your squadron's aeroplanes destroyed by a raid on your aerodrome.

Itkovian

In my opinion, some of the flight characteristics of the Bf 109 are under-modelled. For example the ability to accelerate much faster than its British counterparts is somewhat lacking. The top speeds of the fighters are quite accurate though. Due to this, even a Hurricane is often able to outrun a pursuing 109 in level flight which it wasn't able to do in reality. That can be annoying.

According to Stephen Bungay (in "The Most Dangerous Enemy") the 109 was able to out-climb its opponents. That's why it's called an energy fighter after all (with the British planes being angles fighters). So far this didn't work for me in the game (probably related to the acceleration problem...).

The third issue is its landing speed, which might be too low. In-game it actually still flies at 120 km/h, which is rather odd. By then, it should already have touched down while flaring... I think, there shouldn't be enough lift to sustain flight at about 150 to 160 km/h.

Those assumptions could all be wrong though, of course...

What is definitely being modelled correctly, is it being more difficult to land than the British fighters due to its very narrow undercarriage - great for immersion, you never know whether you'll be crashing it on your next landing

With all those shortcomings it is still a great plane and definitely an even match for the Spitfires!

Game Problem: The Hurris are getting slaughtered in 3d flight. And the Luftwaffe is already bombing major sector airfields (Biggin Hills...) are they supposed to do that, that early?

I'm almost afraid to frag into my flight now, since their life chances in 3d seem half of what they would do on the campaign map.

Others having it just as hard?

The campaign map tries to maintain a somewhat historical kill ratio. In 3D, however, the kill counts has to abide by what actually happens. The problem there is that in 3D the AI is a lot more persistent than they were in RL. Whereas historically many pilots tended to RTB at the drop of a hat, they only RTB in the sim under specific conditions. Furthermore, historically pilots would only "latch on" to someone for a few seconds at most, and then often they would break off for fear of someone else sneaking up on them. Very few pilots actually stuck with their target to finish them off (those that did were usually the aces).

As for Jerry striking aerodromes, yes, that's what happens to everyone I think. My guess is that when the new Luftflotte kick in they immediately start bombing targets. It's not entirely historical, but it does make July and early August more interesting (which might be why they attack so early a month of nothing but convoy patrols might get boring).

As for your Hurris dying, I don't think that's related to your 3rd flight. It is related to the AI being more persistent, which means if your flight homes in on bombers while 109s are coming in to attack, you can expect to take losses. The good news is that it goes both ways: when the RAF gets the drop on the LW, the LW takes heavy losses (and finding an unprotected raid will usually lead to a bomber massacre).

Itkovian

The AI doesnt have the restrictions and lack of clear strategy that affected the Luftwaffe during July so it doesn't see any point with wasting time.

Maybe if there was a way of delaying the availability of most of the bombers and a good amount of the fighters until into August?

S!

Itkovians observations are right, and exacerbated by fact most players fly 'lone wolf' and leave the ai to fend for themselves. I find if I concentrate on keping my wingmen alive, the tide usually turns in our favour. But that means letting them take the kills...

On the issue of tactics are you playing 'historical' or 'optimal' tactics in the options? If historical Luftwaffe should stay focused on convoys until the shipping trigger is hit (tons of shipping destroyed) at which point Brits will send fewer convoys through and Luftwaffe will turn on airfields. The better you are at protecting convoys, the later the date the airfield attacks start.

If playing optimal, they will focus on airfields earlier and not start blitzing docklands later.

Has anyone managed to command a section? Meaning, if I'm Green Leader, I have the exact same radio commands as Green 3. And when Red Leader calls, my wingmen Green 2 and Green 3 are gone and doing their own thing.

I was under the assumption that as section leader you retained control over your section somehow. Maybe not, or am I missing things?

As anything but the S/L, you only get the wingman radio options. That's as designed, I believe.

However, notice that if you lead a section you will be followed by your section as you move around. They will form on you, and you need to form on the squadron.

Also, note that you can still direct the squadron to attack a particular unit using R-3-7 (help, I believe it is). But if you want full control, you need to fly as S/L.

Itkovian

They only seem to form up on me until the S/L declares a target....

Would have been nice to see them following me in after a certain bomber.

I won't make S/L, my in-game character is over 40 years old meaning I don't want to learn being S/L for this campaign. It would be too quick and dangerous.

Well, you might still get to do it, if your squadron gets massacred.

Itkovian

I'm getting positively frustrated and close to ending my campaign here. Please help me out, guys.

The point is that the AI will scramble two, maybe three squadrons against a 150+ german raid. My Squadron gets massacred each time I frag into the 3d environment. Tonight we lost another 9 aircraft, 5 pilots in a single intercept against way overwhelming odds.

This is plain suicide and frankly not at all realistic. I'm very disappointed in the game and the AI decisions it makes.

I understand the reason and problems why it's happening, but I don't want to take S/L job and I don't want to sit out two days for every day flying because every flying day means we lose more than half the squadron.

Convoy Phase was some of the most enjoyable flight simming I ever had. But this is madness now.

I've always found this is the way it is at this stage, sadly...

Does it get better later on?

I'm half of a mind to take over the strategic command and send 10, 12 Squadrons against a single German raid, just to find out if that will grind them to dust.

I'm sure if you are doing a "Full Strategic Campaign" or at least an SPC Campaign as Squadron Leader, it can be improved, but flying as Wingman Low Rank SPC, not interfering on the strategic map this really doesn't seem like much of a future for the enjoyment of this game.

Or maybe 12th August will change tactics/things around?

As it stands now, I'm afraid to actually frag into an engagement.


Maybe I'm fragging in too late? Since the flying to/from base is now much further, I started fragging in only when combat is imminent. Maybe if I spend more time in the 3d engine the germans will split up and anihilate a different RAF Squadron instead before we arrive at the scene of the fight? Right now it seems when I enter 3d the German Formations still have perfectly lined up escorts all attached.

Actually, I don't have that problem with the AI sending 3 squadron against 150+ A/C raids. They always tend to send a proportional amount of squadrons. You still are generally outnumbered, but never this badly.

However, consider that even when you ARE outnumbered, usually the AI will only send 1 squadron after yours. Sometimes another raid will stumble in and you'll get another squadron, but generally it remains proportional.

However, there are a few things to consider:

1- You can tell when an escort squadron breaks to attack you. They're usually flying in neat formation, and then as you get closer it bursts into individual aircraft heading towards you. This is an important clue, and you need to know that you have escort after you, and which are after you. If you have trouble seeing this, turn on labels and it will be clear.

2- NEVER attack bombers with 109s attacking you. Only go after them when all escorts are busy, or otherwise not attacking you (or there are none at all).

3- NEVER attack a different escort squadron than the one attacking you. If you do this, then you'll end up having _2_ squadrons attacking you.

4- DO use R-3-7 when it is necessary. I have flown wingman SPCs before, and it does work (though admittedly not always).

5- If you ARE struggling too much, don't be afrad to increase the RAF skill by a notch or to in the config menu. For a campaign in progress you'll have to do it when you frag. If you complete the mission and save, the new skill modifier will be retained.

6- Sometimes, bad luck happens. As you can see from others, sometimes things go very well for the RAF too. It's just that when the odds reach a certain point one way or the other, things can go very badly indeed. That's when you need to pull your squadron out... which is naturally impossible as a wingman.

7- Like I said above, usually there is a proportional system involved. AI sends the right amount of squadrons, and the right amount of enemy squadrons breka to attack you. However, sometimes things go wrong. I have found that things go wrong more often than usual when you fly the mission in 3D from take-off. Next time you find yourself in a crazy situation that is impossible to win, consider reloading and waiting until your squadron makes contact before fragging in (check the "small engagement" and "large engagement" options in the menu where you choose your squadron). Often when you do this the situation will be a lot more reasonable. This especially helps with the problem of another raid barging in and sending another squadron after yours.

8- And I see yo do frag on engagement, ah, well then, you must be quite unfortunate. But I suggest then that you try it the other way when you get these frustrating missions. Maybe I am wrong adn both ways can go bad like this... but the fact is that if you frag in on take-off or on engagement, the situation will tend to be different. Formations move differently in 3D than in 2D. So, I guess for now fly in 3D from the start (using the map to accelerate to initial point), and see the difference.

Don't give up. The SPC can be very crazy at times, and sometimes you are unlucky. But I know for a fact that huge engagements ending in your favour happen regularly.

Take heart!

Itkovian

Thanks for the detailed explanations. But the "frag in upon engagement" seems to directly contradict my experience.

Somehow my guys are getting caught by much more than a proportional response. Three 109s to one Hurricane I've seen too often to discount it.

I just tested, and maybe by fragging in EARLY I can actually have the enemy raid already a bit "broken up" due to other AI Squadrons engaging.

I see your frustration and encourage you to take manual control of the campaign. Setting up your own patrols. As soon as a raid appears on the map, simply pick a landmark in its likely path, authorize a patrol over it in the strength you want, and when it gets in position, vector it onto the incoming raid.

However I must take issue with your belief the game AI is not at all realistic, though I sympathise with your frustrations.

To quote Bishop in 'Battle of Britain Day by Day' (my emphasis)

20 July

Only now was Park seeing the need to ensure his forces were not overwhelmed and increased patrol strength to as many as 24 aircraft.

29 July

The Air Ministry had been pleading with Park to provide more protection for Dover port and the 11 Group commander now obliged, sending 11 Spitfires of 41 Sq from Manston to attack the formations right flank and 12 Hurricanes of 501 Sq from Hawkinge against its left. (ie 2 Squadrons against a formation of 150 LW aircraft).

Park's tactics were not to mass his fighters against incoming raids, but to harry them with flank attacks of 2-3 squadron size, on the way into and away from the target. And these remained his tactics throughout the battle, despite the conflict with Leigh Mallory over Leigh Mallory's preferred Big Wing approach.

The problem seems to many of the Luftwaffe attached "Staffeln" breaking formation and engaging...

I concede the realism point then but I'm sure those guys did not see the entire Gruppe break formation to engage their 12 aircraft.

Another thing:

Like I previously wrote, usually the proportional response code works quite well (for example I flew a mission with a full formation with 4 escort squadrons, and only 1 squadron broke to attack.

That said, if you DO meet a situation where the odds are ridiculous, don't hesitate to manually assign a few more squadrons to the intercept.

How to do so is simple:

1- When a raid is detected, wait for the AI to assign squadrons to that raid (you will see flight plans appear, and so forth).

2- If the response seems inadequate, click on the raid to open up the enemy raid screen.

3- With the right raid selected (it should be already), simply click the "Authorize" button. This will assign one more squadron to the intercept.

4- Repeat steps 2 and 3 as needed.

I strongly suggest you try and see how the intercept works out first. If it's too crazy, then feel free to frag out and reload. Try flying there in full 3D and see if there's any difference (or, if you flew there in 3D from the start, try waiting for the engagement to start before fragging in).

If these fail, then feel free to go ahead and assign more squadrons. Just keep in mind that you will be removing squadrons from the available pool, which may be an issue if other raids show up soon.

I hope this helps.

Itkovian

Question on "Death Mechanics"

I flew trough a bomber formation today (rather by accident, actually), recived a damaged windscreen, then the AC started shaking and I jumped. Chute didn't open.

Now, I wonder: Is there actually a game mechanic for being "shot in cockpit" or "unable to escape the aircraft"? I refuse to put my pilot to rest due to a parachute fluke, but if this is merely the game's way of saying that I have been mortally wounded in the cockpit, then I'll accept it.

Can you be shot down so heavily that you can't jump (as in IL-2 where sometimes you can't get out?)

I'm reading Patrick Bishop's 'Battle of Britain' and its a reoccurring factor, parachutes not opening or not opening properly, saying that it would be a huge anti climax to go that way. I replayed a day because of a collision which didnt feel right.

On the other hand Heinkill may be getting a complex if his pilots are the only ones who get the 'chop'.

I'll be back in a couple of days with a new pilot.

S!

Hehe, I was thinking of Hein, who seems to be decidedly unlucky.

I'm actually really wondering what the "shaking/vibrating" aircraft without steering control is supposed to represent after some hits. Controls damaged? Pilot wounded? Pilot dead, but game bug still allows to jump?

I suppose fair is fair... I'll get a new pilot. After all, one of the goals in this project was to find out if we could make it trough the summer alive. I obviously couldn't, and if you say it's historical, so be it.

Okay, so I'm looking at starting a fresh career, on 12th August, Luftwaffe ZG26, Gruppe I.

But they do not get tasked? And if I try to manually create a bomb attack on an airfield with them, I can't select them?

I think that in practice the SPC doesnt eliminate player intervention - I sat around as an airgunner for a week before it dawned on me that the word 'Pilot' is significant.

S!

Hein, can you look at this? (How to task Player Me-110 for ground attack)

You certainly know...

http://a2asimulations.com/forum/posting....e7b&t=22235

I am going to be setting myself up for a Bf110 campaign starting Aug 12. Need a rest from Emils...it is getting too stressful! Two trips across the ditch with a sputtering engine two sorties in a row - I'm not made for this! And I have already lost two RAF pilots in this campaign...I couldn't stand to lose my Luftwaffe pilot as well...

But I will play around with the Bf110 campaign in the next couple of days and let you know how I find to be the best gameplay solution for an Aug 12 start.

I may however want to recreate Erpro 210 historical raids, rather than play a Bf110 SPC relying on random assignments.

Perhaps you would like to join me on this? We could set up conditions in advance by agreeing parameters in IA menu to match known EpG 210 missions, and take separate flights in the same mission profile. Or work out how best to do it in the full commander campaign game.

These are the missions I would like to fly:

Pevensey, Rye, Dover, Dunkirk CH, 4 staffel, 12 Aug 0930 - 0940 (This was quite a famous raid: "Now Erpro 210 broke up into its four sections, and Rubensdoerffer himself set course for a more inland CH station, Dunkirk, north-west of Dover. Hauptmann Martin Lutz had been assigned the first and easiest target, Pevensey CH, right at the start of their run and dead ahead as they raced towards land. Oberleutnant Wilhelm-Richard Roessiger had been ordered to follow the coast east to the towering masts just beyond Rye, while Oberleutnant Otto Hintze with his four fighter bombers was deputed to knock down those provocative towers above Dover." From Vasco, J, Bombsights over England.

Manston, gruppe, 12 Aug 1230

Hawkinge, gruppe, 12 Aug 1730. This is the raid in which aircraft Bf110D S9CK participated then was shot down and captured/reconstructed three days later.

The raid on Hawkinge was carried out without loss to Erprobungsgruppe 210 and the Hawkinge Operations Record Book recorded the raid as follows: 'Bombing attack by Ju 88's against the Station was carried out at 1730 hours and lasted approximately 10 minutes. One hangar, No. 3, was almost completely wrecked whilst one other, No. 5, was partially wrecked. A number of bombs of heavy calibre, including incendiary, were dropped. The aerodrome and buildings were machine-gunned during the attack. The main stores were partly damaged by fire, the clothing store almost completely. The fire was quickly brought under control by RAF personnel aided by local AFS. The Station Workshops were wrecked. Two houses in the Airmen's Married Quarters, occupied by airmen, were destroyed. Twenty-eight craters were made on the aerodrome, the longest being 76' x 72' x 28' deep and the smallest 10' x 10' x 8' deep, but the aerodrome was not rendered completely unserviceable. Repairs to the surface were immediately commenced by the RE's already attached for such work. Ground defences were surprised and no guns, except two Hispano, were fired. The altitude of the attacking aircraft was such that it was impracticable for the PACU to be brought into action. Two civilians employed by contractors of the Works Directorate were killed, and three airmen were killed. Six airmen received severe injuries and were admitted to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury. The Casualties occurred to personnel employed in No. 3 Hangar. Two Spitfire aircraft, under repair, were damaged, whilst one or two others were struck by splinters. Two non-operational aircraft on charge were damaged but repairable.

Rochford, gruppe, 13 Aug 1540-1630

Manston, 2 staffel, 14 Aug 1200

Martlesham, gruppe, 15 Aug 1510

Kenley, gruppe, 15 Aug 1900

(I have no information on EpG 210s actions between 15 and 20 August)

August 20 Luftwaffe planes attempt to stoke the fire at Llanreith and Erpro 210 interfere with a convoy off Aldeburgh {East Coast} before striking sharply at Southwold's defences.

Sept 15, Woolstone Supermarine, 1830



H

Hein, I was actually thinking along the lines of a semi-historical ErpGrp210 campaign, but not precise to date. I'll also swap in my group for some escort duty if it doesn't get assigned.

Seems I now know best as can be how to get the Me-110 into the action...

RSC, I've had plenty of tasks with I / ZG.26, but unfortunately not the time to fly them. However your situation reminds me of my own but with ZG.76 as follows:

Since I changed my 'Fly' settings to prompt me when ZG.76 goes up, however, I've had no tasks set... even though, by checking the squadron diary, they are quite clearly flying missions. Can anyone help me with this? It's kind of annoying since ZG.76 was the geschwader I intended to fly in from the start.

Cheers

- Argy

P.S. Kinda neat that you went for ZG.26 - especially at just the time I have "transferred" - almost like you're my replacement

That's a shame. Can't help sorry. By the time we worked it out you might have lost good flying time...maybe better to stick with ZG26. More than one pilot can fly in a Geschwader...just pick a different gruppe.

H

Hi guys,

For some reason I'm getting a lot of "Bingo Fuel Limit Broken" mission calculations. Is there anyway around this? I don't mind having a scrubbed mission once in awhile, but there only seems to be one mission a day for my Gruppe so if it's scrubbed I'm sitting out the day...

You get a lot of those missions with Stukas - usually its because the Ju87's are in Normandy and the escorts in Pas de Calais or vice versa - if you alter the units you should get the mission to work.


JG2 and JG27 are the Jagd Gruppen in Normandy - I reserve them for action West of Tangemere. Also the Bf110's have the range.

Your flying JG26 so this won't get you a mission but should make you available for the next. I think you have to resign yourself to a bit of intervention especially with the Luftwaffe.

I just watched a full squadron of 109's dive onto our squadron as the took off, miss us and ALL plough into the deck????

And people wonder why Britain won the BoB, ah!

Seriously though, yes, I've seen that happen once. It is something of a freak occurence, and not something that would happen "off screen". My solution? Either restart the mission if it's at the beginning, or ignore it.

It happened once to me in the campaign (only time it ever happened to me in fact, ever). We landed, and as we were landing a squadron of Me110 dove at us from the cloud. Remember that at high speed the A/Cs become very diffiuclt to pull out, and this is what happened: it tried to pull up too late, and could never do it.

What I did for the campaign is simply ignored it, and didn't mention it in my Combat Report.

The dynamic campaign is an extremely complex affair, and some unusual scenarios occur sometimes that the AI can't handle, this is one of them. Fortunately it is very rare.

Itkovian

Righty-ho... thanks awfully, anyway.

I'll see what happens and if the worst comes to it I'll just have to somehow engineer a transfer back to the squadron in my story line. Not to worry I guess.

Cheers

- Argy

Argy,

Check the mission folder to see who you are escorting and set to fly for that unit, you should then get a frag message and you can pick your own unit from the frag menu (where you pick your position).

Try this and see if it works.

S!

Hi Cherkasov,

I'll give this a go this weekend when I get some free time to fly and will let you know how I get on. Thanks very much for your assistance - it's much appreciated!

Best regards,

Argy

Best of luck, I'm not getting off the ground much as II/54 so I've only tested it once but it seemed to work.

S!

I think its contained in this from Heinkill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMKKV9K-poA

LOL.

Sorry 'bout the late reply.

I think the only thing that really reliable works for me is running at not too high time compression (180, 300 max) and watch the airfield where your Gruppe is stationed, to see their icon appear when they are tasked. This is generally early enough that you can frag in for the start, and with Luftwaffe I usually frag in over the channel anyway. So I watch for my airfield to become active, then slow down TC to 30 or 60 and manually frag in over the channel.

Although I'm also having some success with setting the Fly parameter to my ZG, but I also saw some bugs there.

The Luftwaffe SPC, to be enjoyable, definitly requires some player intervention. Even (maybe for Cherkasov?) to reassign your unit as escort unit on certain raids, otherwise they might see no business.

Mostly II/54 isnt there as an option when I go into the task menu.

The game seems to work numerically so JG54 is always near the end, I noticed yesterday that the 3rd Gruppe was involved so I'll keep tabs on that and if necessary arrange a transfer.

S!

They should be task-able unless they are down on men and aircraft, low on morale...?

Weird.

They are the strongest and higest morale gruppe in the Geshwader.

Anyway I transferred today, guess what happened next!

Hi all,

The Blitz has begun in earnest so I thought I'd do my bit and organise a few "hit and run" raids to knock out one or two of the RAF radar installations along the coast to make life easier for the boys in the Kampfgeschwaden... but...

... my problem is, my AI wingmen don't seem to have the same idea. The thing is my own bombing is so desperately bad that I rather need them to release their own munitions (I can't do it all on my own you know ) and not claim that they can't identify the target... despite numerous attempts on my behalf to encourage them to do so.

Any ideas chaps?



- Argy