Have been beta testing the new 2.12 campaign code and all I can say is, if you have never tried the Luftwaffe commander level campaign before, patch 2.12 will be your reason to come back and give it a try!!

The BOBII campaign engine is amazing in its dynamic nature and the amount of control it gives the player over the strategy of the Battle of Britain air forces.

The Luftwaffe campaign has always been doubly challenging - partly because of the general strategic objectives of the campaign which were very ambitious (bring the RAF to its knees) and partly because the original designers, Rowan, decided for whatever reason that would introduce a 'margin of error' into the ability of Luftwaffe escorts to successfully accompany their bombers to the target. While it was true that in 1940 it was often the case that bombers and escorts failed to meet up correctly, and many raids were conducted without escort, it was a bit of a gameplay destroyer for the Luftwaffe commander. And try as we might, the BDG could not track down where in the code Rowan had hidden this little foible.

Also, the Luftwaffe commander had huge resources at his command - fighter, bomber, dive bomber, heavy fighter - but a lack of detailed information on their current state of readiness meant his ability to use those resources widely was limited by a lack of information about their current state. Were they available, and if not, were they refuelling, out of action due to losses, non operational to low morale? It was all a bit of a black hole.

Well, all that has changed!

Pick your target: Tangmere station - home to three RAF squadrons
Assign your raid: 1 gruppe Do17s and 2 gruppen Bf109s in escort, split 35% attached, 35% free and 35% return (ie meet the bombers over the channel on their way back). You can determine the mix. And this is what you see now:



All escorts performing as they should

And on big raids, deep into Group 11 territory this is critical if the bombers are to make it to target. EG this raid on Biggin Hill with 75% free and 25% return escorts





On top of this the LW commander has been given unparalled access to information about his own units in the strategic reporting system

Here you can see exactly which fighter units flew in those raids. The brackets indicate they are refuelling and not available, while the clear units are available for further raids. If the units are down due to losses or morale, that will be shown too.



If you haven't tried the feast of campaigning which is the BOBII campaign, and especially the Luftwaffe campaign, get ready!!

Looking good!

Looks like the 2nd game within BOBII has just got better.
Looking forward to playing as RAF commander especially as I've only just discovered how to get Squadrons out of 13 Group!

S!

Ah, then you are also in for something new with the 2.12 patch because the RAF AI in the single player campaign now manages squadrons proactively, moving them in and out of 13 group when they are tired or low on aircraft, and filling up the empty slots in the forward bases like Manston, Hawkinge and Tangmere.

H

It just gets better and better!

S!

I think that I don't like or don't agree with the removal of 'margin of error' into the ability of Luftwaffe escorts to successfully accompany their bombers to the target. I hope that the final version doesn't remove this -> perhaps reducing this 'margin of error' would be the best thing to do, not to remove it.
I don't agree with this removal because this was realistic and IMO will make the sim more challenging as it is expected on such as sim!

BTW, does the removal of this feature also affects the RAF campaign? If yes, one more reason why I don't agree with this feature since it will make the RAF much more 'unrealistically' hard.

Hi Ric,


We have a new programmer who has been working on the Campaign for the last year, BOBII version 2.12 will be his first release. He has fixed many isues and problems but he has a very long way to go with understanding the campaign design and code.

His name is Randy and he has done research and studied BOB history.

IMHO, these are exciting times for the BOBII Campaign with many more versions to be released and tons of testing to help Randy with the changes. As always we are happy to have your feedback and opinions. I hope you will have some time to try out the 2.12 BOBII Campaign changes and provide your feedback.

Hi Buddye,

It's really great to see things moving along with BoBII and also great that BDG has another programmer and you sure need a lot of help in this regard in order to keep up your and BDG excelent work! I certainly didn't forget this awesome sim and I for sure hope to be playing with 2.12 Beta soon.

BTW, will version 2.12 have any improvements regarding Multiplayer?

No, sorry, the multiplayer update will require a experienced multiplayer programmer who understands the details of multiplayer design and can tackle and understand the BOBII multiplayer as it is very old (1995 technology). I have got it working and we have played it many times but we have identified some problems that I just do not have the multi player experience to resolve.

These multiplayer skills are in demand and finding a volunteer is very difficult as a good multiplayer programmer can earn money in today's tight economy.