I have been using/testing my first working version of my campaign editor which also loads and is able to edit the corresponding "sqXXYY.dat" file.
In line with one of Ray's projects I have been trying to make a bombing campaign, especially for "attack planes" which are effectively fighter-bombers and not pure bombers.

In the "sqxxyy.dat" file it is possible to set the probabilities of each of the five mission types occurring.
So I set bombing to 100% and the other four to zero.

Off I went in a career, and the first mission was an escort.
I was sure that my editor was OK, and having got the same result on the second try I checked out the EAW source code.
What I found was a section of campaign/career code in which the eaw.exe overrides the user's choice of mission type.
I am currently investigating this, and trying to produce an eaw.exe which does not override the settings in the "sqXXYY.dat" and "campXXYY.dat"files, so that users can get what they choose.

Jel

OK, not sure how it fits in with what you found but try flying a few missions in a career rather than just the first one.

What I found was that a lot of times a first mission would be an escort no matter how I set the five types. I think it's slot related because it seemed to happen more with US fighters than with the other plane types.

After the first mission the set-up would kick in and from then on I'd get the missions as defined.

Or maybe try a career with a B26, Mosquito or ME410.

Further tests confirm that with my current exe and a typhoon in UK43 I always get an escort for the first mission, then the next appear to be bombing.
At least with the editors I can investigate
However, I cannot find where the exe sets the first mission to be an escort.

I'll try other types and years.

Jel

It's not your data. When a new campaign is started, a flag is added indicating that it is the first mission. If this flag is NOT found, your dat file is read. Do a global search for _FIRST_

Thanks Aldo- I will check it out, but in the meantime here is a brief report.

I reloaded the default squadron files, then edited them to make the first plane a bomber or an attack plane, with the probability of a bombing mission 100%. I could not test the UK 1940 as there are no bombers available.

Ge 1940: He 111- escort first mission, bomb second.
Ge 1943: Me 410- bomb first mission.
Ge 1944: Ju 88c- bomb first mission. Target was the Normandy invasion




UK 1943: Typhoon- escort first mission, bomb second.
UK 1944: Mosquito- bomb first mission.

US 1943: P38H- escort first mission, bomb second.
US 1944: B17- bomb first mission.

Jel