Well, in for a penny, in for pound ( uh, Euro, no wait, pound, yeah that's it. )

While perusing the DAW scenario I noticed that there aren't that many flyable planes. We've come a long way since this was put together so it's really no surprise.

My guess is it's time to pack as much 1.28 goodness into this it as possible without it becoming the all consuming project that SPAW turned into. In other words, I'm not going to spend a year working on it with four other guys from the ModSquad.

Be that said, I wouldn't mind upgrading the targets, TMOD's and plane set.

I'm fine upgrading the targets and TMOD's on my own. In fact, it's better that way as I don't have to debate what goes where with anyone else.

But the plane set is a different story. I can put a lot of it together from existing inventory and what I can't I'm sure I can cajole Iron Mike into doing. ( Right Mike? )

So here's what I think would make a good plane mix. It is open for discussion and amendment as needed:

NOTE - *** = new plane for DAW

Whirlwind Mk I *** ( c'mon, I gotta have ONE "what-if" )
Beaufighter Mk VI
Martlet III
Gladiator II
Halifax II
Liberator II
Marauder I
Kittyhawk Ia
Tomahawk IIb
Spitfire Vb
Hurricane IIb
Hurricane IIc
Hurricane IId ***
Wellington I

109 E-7
109 F-4
109 F-2
109 G-2
110 D-3
110 E-1
MC 200
MC 202
CR 42
210 A-1
Ju-88 A-10
Ju-52 /m3
Ju-87 D-3
He111 H-6

I have two slots open on the allied side. I'm thinking about a P-39, some version of the A-20 or an early P-38

Also, with the addition of the Hurricane IId we have three different Hurricane models. If we take one out what would go in it's place? Maybe an A-36 Apache?

On the Axis side there are four different 109's. If we take one or two out what would go in their places? Some FW190 model? How about an HS129?

So, have some fun, think outside the box and post what you'd like to see.

Not strictly planes but no doubt you are looking at

246 HMS Illustrious
247 HMS Ark Royal

and replacing them with 1.28 carriers on real sea tiles.

Jel

Sea Planes?

Sunderland, and Walrus
Blohm & Voss Bv 138

Yep, I'll be looking into adding carriers similar to the SPAW setup.






Hmmm, hadn't thought about seaplanes.

I just checked out the carriers.

Right next to them is a land tile by name but a water tile in appearance.
On the tilemap one is located in col 209 row 114 and the other in col 32 row 81.

I changed them to real water tiles, and flew a groundstart from the Illustrious.
As I expected there was a crash and explosion as soon as I started the engine.
This was the old and very clever bodge to even get carriers, but now we can have "real" which are on water tiles and take off from them.

Jel

Well Ray, we have sea plane bases as an option, but very few seem to think they are worth flying. Time to change minds? Maybe a U-boat to attack, for the Brits to attack and a convoy for the Axis? Don't forget Malta convoys all had carries and a lot of destroyer cover to protect the convoys from attack.

How far West does the map cover? Any chance of Gibraltar being on it?

The map covers from Sicily on the northwest to the Nile river on the southeast.

It does include most of Greece and even has some targets on that peninsular.





I suppose adding seaplanes would be OK for single missions and online play but I find myself wondering if the effort would be worth the results. The problem with seaplanes is that they can't compete with land based planes so there's no way to complete a campaign.

Just because we CAN do something in the game doesn't mean we SHOULD do something.

I feel the same way about flyable bombers. Not much fun to sit there flying formation waiting for the target to come in range while the enemy picks off your mates one by one.

Same for the 15rpm spinners that some models have.

Just one man's opinion.

That's the thing though Ray, if you stick with the most popular aircraft all the time, life gets very boring. During WWII there were hundreds of interesting aircraft doing various missions, so try to think out side the normal default planes, which are no doubt important, to make the game more interesting.

If the map had been further West, with Gib on the western end Malta on the Eastern side, it would have made for an interesting theater.

I agree about the variety of planes.

Heck that's why I produce so many lesser known craft.

Feedback from the community tells me that the online players only want historically accurate aircraft which limits what I can add for variety.

Fortunately, offline players are more adventurous. They are more inclined to look for the various odd planes and "what-if" type stuff.





Another problem is that the game engine is not set up for lesser missions like recon, search and rescue or level bombing.

I mean, I could build a new Hudson but who's going to fly around over the open water for hours at a time looking for u-boats, probably not finding any and returning to base with a zero score?

What I've found from experience is that if you produce something unusual the players will give it a go, say "that's nice" and return to regular game play pretty quickly.

For example, Woody and I got about 85% finished with a troop glider scenario when we realized that it had limited playability and no way to judge success. Lots of fun to bring your powerless glider to a landing in a field but then what?

Hi Ray,

Pretty good list. As far as Allied a/c are concerned you might want to look at a B25 Mitchell, probably B25C and perhaps an A20. Surely you need to add an SM79 to the Italians and a Fiat G50 at the very least with a SM 81, BR20 and a Cant Bomber as possibilities, instead of duplicated Me 109/110 and the Me 210 was only I think in Italy for a short time before being replaced with the 410. Of course if you add carrier aircraft it gets far more complicated - Fulmar, Sea Hurricane and Seafire as well as Swordfish and Albacore to go with the Martlet (Wildcat),

Cheers,

Pete