Sometimes you get a bit of luck, and things go down easily. Other times you may empty half your magazines in a target and they refuse to go down.

Had that happen to me on the 10th with those Stukas. I was a bit rusty mind you, but those buggers didn't want to die.

On the other hand, in a previous SPC (with the 151) I ended up downing 5 Me109s in one sortie. It was glorious, and also was exactly like you describe. I set something like 3 of them brewing in a single burst. Lucky hits is all it takes.

Of course, the problem is the same applies to your own aeroplane. Sometimes you will soak up bullets like crazy and have no problems, but sometimes the only warning you'll get that you have someone firing at you is when a wing gets torn off.

Itkovian

Very true. I had changed my gun convergence though from 280 to 230. I may drop it lower, but I'll need to see the postitions I get into in the battle ahead...

Just want to say, brilliant aars everybody! I like the variety of approaches. I also like the way people capture the reality of the conflict...some are fighting for their lives, while others complain they are stuck on the ground waiting...wasn't this exactly what it was like in July 1940? For both sides. I just finished Steinhilper's 'spitfire on my tail' and he spent the whole of July waiting for action and writing home complaining to his mother either about being bored, or about what a dick Dolf Galland was. Things didn't stay that way for long!

Ps though this is a sim, so if you really are frustrated at your unit not getting into the action why not set up your own patrol or raid? It is very easy...

I set up 19 squadrons engagement. I didn't think it would work, but it did

This really is turning out to be one of the best flight sim based experiences I've had - and I've been flying them in all sorts of guises since the early 1980's.
You know, I don't even mind about ending up on the ground for a day - it's the anticipation of what could happen!

I know for a fact that flying every day is an impossibility for me due to work & family, but what I'm doing is using a random number generator online to pick the duty rota for flying each day. Each character in my squad has a number from 1 to 24 and I just get it to pick 11 values in a closed sequence between 2 and 24 (1 is the CO, and he always flies at the moment). This way, sometimes I'll be in the air, others on the ground.
Being on the ground though still means that I can play the campaign but just accel time through a whole day and note the results at the end. I've found this can take as little as 10mins and it's something I can fit into the "checking my email" routine.


Too true!
Flew my first sortie today. was determined to do it realtime from takeoff to landing. We actually ended up scrambling from Kenley alongside the resident Spit squadron - 24 RAF fighters on the off at the same time. When we actually started to get ready to merge from the intercept it really was superb. You get so focused on the job in hand that the rest of the world just ceases to exist for that moment in time.


Rob
(P/O RNH)

CPS_Bomber

I actually do not want to die! I have never played a sim so carefully before (I don't fly online) and I am avoiding risks (just as pilots then might have) which I'd usually take in any other sim.

And CPS, I am marvelling at your AAR's. I am keeping a track of a few fictional pilots in the squadron, but making a hole squadron! I take my hat off to you for that

This really is awesome everyone. Best sim experience ever.

Just some general info: We now have three threads "pinned" to the forum header graphic. We keep the "Technical/Game Problems" thread freefloating for now - it might eventually sink to the bottom. This one here is freefloating too. Between these two threads, we should be able to handle all requests, ideas and problems that come up "out of game time". Anything else goes into the AAR threads.

As I discussed with Philip today, the entire board is in fact on Giant After Action Report. That always was the idea behind setting it up as subsection of the AAR forum. So we try to minimize the threads that are not AAR related, as they kind of "break the storyline".

I think the way it's running now makes sense and will give us a great experience.

Oh, one very minor thing with the AARs:

All you guys are talented writers. You just gotta be careful when you quote BBCs total tallies for the day and they don't match or anything else that relates to other squadrons or the war as a whole.

Normally this is the stuff I try to put in the closing summary for the day, since then I can make it so that nothing new contradicts it.

For example, if someone writes "No.151 came to our aid" and I post below that No.151 was not flying the entire day, then we are creating divergent realities. I understand what you're trying to do, but often it's easier to be a bit more vague in terms.

What we're really doing here - to quote myself - is writing one Giant After Action Report, a Giant Open-Ended Story about the Battle of Britain. The more we build upon each other's story elements, the better the result will be.

Fair point. Ive edited my last AAR (12th July) with regards to the BBC report I mentioned. The number I originally quoted was taken from the end of day summary of my SPC. Will leave them out from now on as far as tallies go

Previously it read:


Now it reads:


Think this keeps it more in keeping with the bigger picture as far as air combat results go.

As far as targets/assets are concerned (airfields, RDF's, factories, convoys etc), I think as a whole we should still mention them by name if we fly patrols/intercepts/raids over them, however if we experience one or more of them taking heavy damage but it's not specific to any mission we ourselves flew on that day, then maybe we should (if we feel the need to mention their destruction at the time) just say something along the lines of:

Enough detail to be of interest to the reader, but vague enough not to break the flow of the AAR summaries.

Thanks for the compliments on the AAR's I've done so far. It's been great reading all the others. The collective imagination here could write a script for a Hollywood war movie that actually makes sense, is interesting and is (dare I say it) historically correct better than the over paid buffoons employed by the industry

Keeping tabs on a whole squadron is easy at the mo. It's all down to random numbers.... a roll of the dice so to speak and a bit of lady luck thrown in. A bit like surviving a world war or any other conflict I guess. One day that number coming up may be yours, and fate has decided there is nothing you can do about it.

Rob
(P/O RNH)

CPS_Bomber

You got it, Bomber. Generally speaking, you can always comment on the AARs above you - they are already written, so you can quote stuff from them. But at the same time it's good practice to not touch stuff that an AAR below your's might mention (like the activities of another player squadron).

You can always comment on Squadrons NOT registered to a player.

Also agree about the damage reporting.


Additional info: Doug, the Site Admin, just suggested to mark all "administrative" threads as "Reference:" So now we have a handful of "Reference" threads, and the AAR threads. That will make it easer to visually unclutter the forum reading.


Oh, and dare I say I actually enjoyed NOT fighting today.