I did a bit of number crunching....

I don't know if things might change a bit after the introduction of new planes and squads, but so far this is what I have.


Note that Britain has 2 squads in England in 1915.

The graph that I made.

Very interesting and informative.
Out of curiousity did you get this info from the "Start Career" screen or was there an easier way?
It would be neat to see the bulk numbers (squadrons per theater per year) like your first screen for the entire war

There might be an easier way, but I did it the hard way. It wasn't too bad for 1915 due to the low number of squads.

I'm hoping that there is someone who is knowledgeable about making rules and can use this information to help decide if and when to start a DiD in 1915.

Right now, in 1915, some French career are "stopped" due to the lack of aircraft : Nieuport 10 C1 (which will arrive) & 10 A2, (these infos are from the career enlistment panel). The shortage approximatly arrives in September 1915.

Nicely done work! OldHat.

My 2 cents of input is that fighter planes or scouts are basically non existent in the first half or so of the year 1915. Two of the German two seaters also have no guns, Aviatik BI & Aviatik BII. The EI isn't used in a scout squad until Sept 1st when MFJ1 starts, before that they are issued to high ranking members of squads flying two seaters......so we might be flying two seaters for a long time.

Good job, OldHat.
If you want to create a "DiD 1915-1918" campaign, you could use the same rules, if you want.

The pilots' records collecting is a major problem, and making a chart of them.
I have enough to do with one chart, honestly.

Are we to name our pilots alphabetically like we do in the current DiD campaign?
May be transfer to other squads if we so desire to?
Required 2 seater time?
starting rank?

more questions... what about leading our own flights?

Sounds alright to me, most of it.
Yeah, I'd suggest to use alphabetical name orders too - when the A-pilot falls, you start a B-name.

Oldhat, I'd join and I like your idea of not having the transfers automatically approved. It would force us to put more thought into which squadron we want to fly for.

Hey OldHat, I can show you how to set up a Google Form that people can report to if you just want to have a chart like I use for the latest challenge. It's pretty easy if you just do data posts once a week...

Yeah, sure. That would be great Rick. I'll PM you my email.

12 hours of time being QC added to flight training?
or 12 hours QC time?

I don't do the time compression flying.

Oh, never done flight training, approx how many hours of flight does it take to complete?

I think it sounds fun. I do have one question, after training would we be able to move to whichever squadron we want or do we then have to fly first in a two seater?

My thought is I don't need any"eFFing "training"....but if you insist, tell me how to do it and I will.

I'd rather pick my squad than have a random allocation.

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For my money, if you want the whole experience, you should sign on for training and take whatever squadron assignment is given after that and hope for the best. Later on you could try to transfer out if you so desired. This would get us all a lot closer to what it was like for our RL counterparts.

Just my two cents, and unfortunately that won't buy even one beer. Thank god for open tabs. BARKEEP!



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Nice idea Lou....very nice.

But time is too short for me to waste it on mundane tasks like going through the training in WOFF... not fun. What I like most about Rick's challenges is that it's fun from start to finish...now that is time well spent.

How can I make your idea work without actually going through training??

I'll try to clear my head and think about it some more after I consult with Mr. Samuel Adams.

Sam is a wise one...listen good

The PBR in my cooler is calling on Walter Kowalski , channeling him in every sip.

...........

...

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mmmmmmmmm - Sam Adams. I'll have an Irish Red if you'd be so kind.

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aftter consulting with Walter......He said....

.......flight training should be restricted to pilots with the first name of C or above that have fallen with less than 20 hours of flight. Ya got 3 shots or swings.

Finishing off the last of Old Man Winter.... could be winter Ale..same in my mind.

Hard to beat Boston Lager

I don't think I'd want to go through training each time. I understand it's supposed to be an incentive to be careful, but sometimes bad things happen regardless. Especially, I think, in 1915-16 when your planes are so flimsy.

Nor do I think the 2-seater idea DiD uses is the best. It's not bad, but you ran into the problem early when the Sopwith Strutter qualified, and the Strutter is one heck of a fighter in 1916. Similarly, the BrisFit is a two-seater. In 1915 it sounds like almost everyone is a two-seater anyway.

MudWasp's idea is pretty good: Training for 'A', Repeat for B and C if you fell with less than 20 hours in.

I like having some sort of points or grading system: Something like what Rick uses for his challenges would be great. If you want to change how points are awarded, you can. Rick's offered to help with Googleforms, and if you need a reporter or someone to help with the Admin end I'd be happy to do so.

Similarly, I wouldn't be too caught up with flight levels. I feel safer now as a 'B' pilot in DiD than I did as a 'C' with labels.

I'd like to suggest everyone has two characters at a time - a primary and a standby. If primary gets hurt etc., then you can play the standby (or even switch back and forth if your main pilot is starting to bore you.) This gives us two advantages:

First, if your main pilot DOES fall, you already have a backup pilot with some experience/game points stored up.

Second, it allows us to use the leave system that Rick set up or something similar. Your primary pilot made ace? Let him celebrate for a week and use your other guy for awhile.

12 hours of "intro time" can be very long, so why not at least spend them within the carreer, instead of QC?
That way, the 12 hours would be collected in the pilot's log book and add up with his flight time.
Just my 2 cents.

1) Use alphabetical order to name your pilot. The first pilot’s name will begin with “A”, then if he should fall, the next pilot’s name will begin with “B”, etc...



The way I fly, by the end of the year I'll be using names like "ZZZebadiah Zagaman" and when you say my pilot's name, it will sound like you are stuttering.

Quick question: What will the rule be on flying for other nations? As a character dies off, can I start a new one flying for a different nation?

I see no reason why not. Replacement pilots in the current DiD campaign are not restricted to one nationality. In fact the Belgians are available too, with a little imagination.

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When and if I ever get to a 'Z' pilot I will be calling him Zaphod Beeblebrox.

As to the rule set, it may be that I haven't had enough coffee yet, but I'm finding it all a tad confusing.

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I apologize that English is not my first language. I use a lot of cut and paste and modify what I need sometimes, so it seems a bit "messy".

I gladly welcome anyone who understands the gist of what I wrote (and has a bit of free time) to re-write the rules to be clearly understood by anyone.

Also, I missed the inclusion of some rules like making this a day-to-day challenge, reports get posted at least once a week and you can replace a fallen pilot with any nation.


EDIT: I attempted to clarify the rules a bit on the previous page, but I think it still needs some work to make it crystal clear.

As always, I am a little late to this party, but, sounds like a hoot to me.

It hasn't started yet MFair, so you aren't too late.
I'm not sure I'll be able to fly two DiD campaigns, although I have been able to get in more flight time than I felt I could commit to for the first one already. So I am tempted.


And hooray for a Hitchhikers' reference!

My thoughts (in red):

4) Random Squad Assignment (optional): (a) Roll a 6 sided dice three times (b) add the three numbers (e.g. 1+4+3=8) (c) choose the squad that will be on that number (e.g. choose the 8th squad that appears).
Considering you want to make it more difficult to transfer, having this optional is a good idea. That said, anyone using this system will probably want to use an online site to roll say 1 20-sided die instead. 3 six-siders (3d6) produces a bell curve where it's much more likely to roll 9-12 than 3 or 18.

5) Do not calculate any points in the training part, instead start from the QC missions.

First 3 Missions fly in QC:
1) In Workshop, choose to log all flights (not just campaign).
Note you could fly the QC flights in campaign. Simply ignore the missions' orders. That seems to be the initial assumption when these flights first came up.


2) After each completed QC flight, you must advance time by one day in your campaign screen.

3) Use the “end of mission” list below to calculate your points at the beginning of each day.

3) Day #1, Mission #1: Fly your squadron’s plane solo from any(?) “training” airfield in England or Germany to your final base.

4) Day #2, Mission #2: Fly two circuits solo around your base. If near the front, then do not cross the line.

5) Day #3, Mission #3: Fly to the Front with or without a wingman and land back at your base.

6) If you fail to end the missions by landing at your airfield, or write off your aircraft in a bad landing (the 'your aircraft has been destroyed' message) you will score negative points. If your net score at the end of the third QC mission is below '0' you will be sent back to the Home Front for further flight training (follow procedures set out in “Enlist your pilot” section). Whenever you Transfer to a new unit, you will repeat Missions 2 & 3 again.

Not sure the forced transfer rule is going to work here, especially with transfers not being automatic.


Start of your Campaign:
1) Generate missions and carry them out, as dictated by the WOFF manager’s campaign briefing screen.

2) You will calculate your score of campaign points at the start of each new day.

3) If, at the start of any new day, your campaign points score is below '0' your time with this unit will be cut short - you will transfer immediately to another unit (See: Transfers, below).



Transfers:
If your campaign points score is below '0' at the start of any new day, you will be transferred to another unit - the need for trained pilots is too great to send you back to the Home Front, but you are clearly not fitting in with this unit: it will normally be a lower rated unit (i.e. if current unit is Average look for Poor), or if no lower rated unit is available then one with the same rating. For this to happen, you will need to temporarily set your workshop transfer requests to always approve and then back to the original setting once your request is approved.

Again, not sure the transfer rule will work here. Since this is going to be a several month campaign we may not want someone to be compelled to do something.

End-Mission Effects:
Suggesting changes to some point values, again in red

1) 2 points per “confirmed” plane or target balloon shot down. Add an additional point if enemy Ace. Maximum of one time per mission.
1, no bonus for ace. DiD doesn't seem to be met to encourage this.

2) 1 point for “confirmed” non-target balloon shot down. Maximum of one time per mission.
Omit.. Balloons are too easy.

3) 2 points for any Military ground objects destroyed (visible smoke or fire). Maximum of one time per mission.
1 max for damaging ground targets

4) – 2 points for accidentally shooting same side pilot’s plane.
Omit.

5) 2 points for ending the mission by landing at your own airfield. Add an additional point if you taxi to your hanger.
1 for successful mission

6) – 2 points for being wounded with Hospital Stay.
Okay

7) – 2 points for a bad landing: 'Your aircraft has been destroyed' message.
8) 2 points for a successful end of mission or ground strike announcement
9) – 2 points for an unsuccessful end of mission or ground strike announcement
10) – 2 points for ending the mission in any other way other than by landing at your own airfield
Omit.

11) 2 points for becoming an ace. Maximum of only one time.
12) 2 points for each promotion.
Okay

13) 2 points for each medal.
Omit. WOFF's medal awards are a bit weird. For example, the German first one (Ehrenbacher) is almost impossible NOT to get.

So, basically a 1915 career will be for two-seaters and sight-seeing until September when Fokker Eindeckers start appearing to threaten the two-seaters. Also, the french pilots will be out of the game from September 1915 until 1916 when they can get planes that are in the game.

Now, the question becomes "what the #$*! is the purpose of this DiD if there will be no scourge until near the end of the year and no French pilots after September 1915?"

Possibly we should then begin around August 10 or so. This would do a couple of thinks:
1) Give the developers a chance to get the early aircraft expansion done
2) Give pilots a chance to do their 2 seater time in a relatedly safe environment
3) Give newer pilots a chance to get experience flying without labels, nav aids, with paper maps, etc

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I'll chime in here again as early war careers have always been one of my favorite things to do even way back in the RB3D days.

Start a WOFF DID campaign in February 1915 and fly real time as we do in our current DID, and see just how long you can make it in the war as a pilot. Yes, the first six months or so are going to be uneventful in terms of air-to-air combat, which is as it pretty much should be from an historical perspective. This doesn't mean though that you can't get killed or captured as you will still have to contend with bad landings, mechanical failures, Archie/Flak, getting yourself lost, and the like. Also, equipment shortages were very much a part of the experience so not having planes from time-to-time would fit right in. As for that hole in the French plane line-up? Even if we started soon, (i.e., real world soon), I am betting the N10 will be along in time to address the issue, at least in part, as it allows over three months of flying in 1915 before it would even arrive, (mid-May 1915), assuming we start at the beginning of February 1915.

I for one would like to experience, as much as it is possible with a sim, exactly what it was like for our RL counterparts who were the first to fly in the Great War.

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I agree with Lou, I don't need any enemy fighters to die, I'm quite capable of doing that on my own. Seriously, If we want to really experience, as close as possible, what these guys went through, then I think we have to follow Lou's suggestions.

I like Lou's suggestion. I think we can accept June (or July) = February 1915, and it would indeed give us plenty of time to settle in and practice with what settings we want to use before the war turns serious.

I've never flown the training when starting a new pilot.
Does the training advance through WOFF time in days?

Whatever day it is started, keep the same day number on the calendar....but what happens in say the real month of July or June which has more days than February in WOFF? Might be too confusing....for me anyway...unless some one explains it as we go.

Training has morning and afternoon or evening flights. Two flights per day for about one week.

So, any ideas on when to start with training?

Here's how I believe the calendar should look like (it will probably take me about an hour to make the whole year of 1915 like this):

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OldHat, you are missing an ideal opportunity here. Start your DID campaign on June 1 and for the first time ever the days of the week and the dates will actually coincide as they should. 1 February 1915 was a Monday.

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We can certainly do it that way. I admit I hadn't thought of the days being off when I saw Lou's February suggestion.

Would it be easier to keep the months in sync, and just slice off any extra days? For example: June 29, 2015 = February 29, 1915. Since there wasn't a February 29 in 1915, we just don't fly that day. It's not that much different from the periods of bad weather in DiD today.

If we went that route, the calendar for the rest of 1915 would look like this:

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Actually, IMHO, if you make any adjustments at all at the ends of the months it should be to keep the 1915 days of the week aligned with the 2015 days of the week. As example, you would not skip days at the end of June but rather allow Monday 29 June 2015 to serve as Monday 1 March 1915. It would be very handy when you are writing your combat reports and letters home and such to have the days jibe. I for one have always had to refer to a 'day of the week' calculator when doing my write-ups and I would no longer have to do this if we keep things aligned in such a fashion.

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Lou....

Think the moon phases will coincide?
Is WOFF that good? I've seen different phases , but never checked them out.

I try not to fly in conditions involving the moon!

I love to check it out on a morning mission.... and the stars too.

Seeing a moon on takeoff in late fall in the late afternoon is another story.

I don't think the training missions are going to work.

You can only train if you do the auto-enlistment (versus manual). Fine.

If you auto-enlist, 1) you can't control your beginning unit (other than enlisting over and over again), and 2) you can't control your start date more closely to within a three month period.

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For those of us considering a French career I suggest flying from Avord, France to our assigned camp. Avord and Pau were the two major schools at the time, IIRC, and much as I enjoy long distance cross-country navigation it would be unrealistic to have a WWI pilot fresh out of school attempt a six to eight hour trip from the SW corner of France to their assignment in one of the kites of the day. As it is Avord will be three-plus hours by air to any of the likely assignments for a French pilot in February 1915.

Also, might I suggest that the first two or three flights at your assigned camp serve as a 'Cook's Tour' of your area of operation (AO). I often do this when beginning a new career by just ignoring the assigned mission and simply flying up to front and back, making notes of landmarks and such, so I'm not completely lost when it comes time to actually do my job. This by the way was normally done by our RL counterparts back in the day for the very same reason. The CO would have the new recruit take a couple of flights to get familiar with the lay of the land.

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One other idea: Consider doing a 2 day/one RL day from February 1915 to September 1915, if the lack of hostile aircraft make the flying too boring

There will be hostile aircraft around, but I believe the main goal of this DiD is just to survive. I'd probably make 3 pilots at the same time: British, French and German and take turns flying each on a different day for variety to see which one survives the longest.

This sounds exciting and the early air war also happens to interest me even more than the later period, but unfortunately I don't have enough free time to fly two DID campaigns simultaneously.

Hasse: You could always take my suggestion regarding multiple pilots to the next level. Have one in Olham's campaign and one for OldHat's: When you're tired of being shot at, play in 1915 for awhile. When that gets old, go back to Olham's 1917. On the weekend, play both

Third Draft of Rules.

Cat's comments/opinions in red. What you say goes, OldHat. I wanted to pull a few things together so we could look at them all in one place.

Start Date
Game Start Date: February 1, 1915

Actual Start Date of "1915 DiD": Monday, June 1, 2015.

I defer to Lou here. Let's let the day of the week sync up. A weekly post (perhaps with the scores) reconciling the game date with the real one should prevent too much confusion.

Not a hard start date, it's just to let everyone know that the "1915 DiD thread" has started - it will never close to new enrollments. So, anyone is free to join after the start date anytime as well.


General Workshop Settings:

Your choice except:
•Transfer requests – subject to review
•Outcomes – normal
•Campaign date advance – Manual

Enlist your pilot: Some rearranging here.

1) Anyone is allowed to make more than one pilot at the same time. You can choose your pilots to be any nation - same or different. Also, you can replace a fallen pilot with any nation.

2) Choose Manual deployment and select a two-seater squad that starts on February 1, 1915.

I can see and understand the argument for starting a new pilot in two-seaters, but I do think this gives the Entente an advantage. The Strutter and BrisFit are terrific fighters for their time period. Couple this with the 'transfer subject to review' setting, and someone could theoretically be stuck on a crate they don't like for a very long time. I'd suggest dropping one or the other.

If you want to encourage two-seaters, here are two ideas - both require turning transfer requests back to auto-approved. First, give players a small point bonus (say 2 or 3 points) for every full game month spent in a two-seater as a reward for sticking it out. Second, have pilots start in two seaters, and don't let them transfer out until say 10 missions have gone by versus the 3 or so in Olham's campaign.

3) Use alphabetical order to name your pilot. The first pilot’s name will begin with “A”, then if he should fall, the next pilot’s name will begin with “B”, etc...

4) Since we're treating these pilots as new trainees, they should start with the lowest rank available for their military branch. Alternative: 'Four ranks down' like in Olham's campaign.

First Mission: fly to your assigned aerodrome:

Fly your squadron’s plane solo from any of the following suggested “training” airfields to your final squadron location:

British Career: Netheravon, Hounslow, Eastchurch, Biggin Hill
French Career: Etampes
German Career: Koln

This is the only mission that must be done in QC in order to select the aerodrome in England, France or Germany.
In order to get your time logged into your pilot’s log book, in Workshop, choose to log all flights (not just campaign) just for this mission. Then advance time by one day in your campaign screen. (see my previous post for an example)

Once you've accumulated 25 missions (total) in the campaign, you may (but are not required to) ignore this step for future pilots.

Second Mission: Complete two or three circuits around your home airfield. Some suggestions for these missions: (a) Get familiar with your area of operation by completing circuits around your base. Make notes of landmarks to familiarize yourself with the area (b) Practice flight leader commands: Attack (A), Rejoin (R), RTB (Ctrl + R), Land Here (Ctrl + L) and Split Formation (S). c) Practice maneuvers with your new aircraft. If hostile aircraft attempt to engage you, disengage and RTB.

Third Mission: Fly to the front and back. Otherwise same as Mission Two.

Though not required, you may choose to repeat missions two and three when moving to a new airfield, changing squads, or getting a new airplane.

For these missions only, in workshop, choose to be the flight leader. Remember to ignore the mission briefing and do not cross the Front or engage in combat. Break off and RTB.

2) Generate missions and carry them out, as dictated by the WOFF manager’s campaign briefing screen.

3) You will calculate your score of campaign points at the start of each new day.


End-Mission Effects:

1) 1 points per “confirmed” plane or target balloon shot down. Maximum of one claim per mission.

2) 1 points for any Military ground objects destroyed (visible smoke or fire). Maximum of one time per mission.

3) 1 points for a successful mission

4) – 2 points for being wounded with Hospital Stay.

5) 2 points for becoming an ace. Maximum of only one time.

6) 2 points for each promotion.


Additional Rules:

Fly only one day's worth of missions per real world date. No flying more than one day. Wait for the next real world date to advance time in the campaign.

If the WOFF manager advances days due to hospital stays, being captured, etc.. then you'll need to wait those amount of days before you can fly again.

Must post at least one combat report per week.


Thoughts?

This sounds great, but I want to make sure I understand the scoring. Will I be keeping my own score?

Lots of good thoughts and work by lots of you GREAT FOLKS. I await the final set of rules.

THANK YOU AGAIN !!

CW3SF

I flew a test mission this morning. Had to figure out how to fly from a certain base but was easy enough. Taking off and heading southeast, it was the sight of sights leaving the cliffs of Dover behind and flying over miles of ocean. Made landfall a little off course but found my way to St. Omar with 4 wingmen in tow. Lots of fun.

This may have been answered but will this be real time or is time compression allowed? Don't know how I can do 2 campaigns full real without a divorce and the ponies going to crap.

just a question...are we gona wait till the next expantion release?

It will be hard to be flying for Germany until a plane with a gun arrives, Aviatik CI, but I'll give it a go.

A thought on the date thing: the day number will get out of sync when Feb.28th goes to march 1, but real time it's june 29th? If we start both sim and real date of June 1st, that would still leave 2+ months of sightseeing as it were, which may be enough to experience the navigation, failures, etc.

Yeah it will, but He posted a calendar a page or two back to help folks like me out.

Random thoughts:

A few days ago OldHat came to me about running out the scorecards and otherwise administering the project. I accepted, but really I'll be looking for plenty of feedback and help as we roll this out of the hangar.

That said, I can try to answer a few questions:

Banjo: Rick was kind enough to show OldHat and I how he created the form for his challenges. I'd ask everyone to fill out the 'survey' once per week. It looks easy enough for me to grab the information and update accordingly.

MFair: We can't let the ponies go to crap! Players can use whatever aids they feel necessary.

Lederhosen: I think that depends on the question below.

LoftyC: There are definite advantages with going with June 1915.


Everyone: The advantages I see with June 1915 are as follows: First, there are more squads available, and the airplane choice either has improved or is about to. Second, it syncs with the calendar nicely. Third, there's something that resonates (for me) with our campaign being exactly 100 years later to the day.

On the other hand, Lou brought up some great points. The earlier in the war we start, the more we can live through (even if the first few months are slow.) February 1915 happens to sync with June 2015 perfectly for days of the week. Also, leading back to Lederhosen's question, starting in February gives us more time before we have to worry about whether the Nieuport 10 will be ready when we need it.

What do you think? February or June? Also, is there anything else the rules need to cover that we haven't discussed?

I vote for June.

I did my own bit of research since I knew there were some squads missing from Old Hat's list. I have to admit, it's pretty bleak for all of 1915.

USA - Not until 1918, or 1916 as Esc LaF.

GBR
Britain is in the strongest position for a 1915 campaign. As of February 1 there are 3 active squadrons, increasing notably by June.

I focused my own research on the 'lowest rank' tier of planes, since that is where we would probably spend the most time. Based on that, there are a small handful of squads that will introduce you to the Morane, but for the most part you're looking at the BE2c. We have two outliers, with RFC24 introducing the Airco DH.2 in September 1915 (before the lower tier Germans have a sniff of the Fokker). RNAS1 is going to switch to the Nieuport 10 in November, so we'd need a solution by then.

FRA
Well, we need a solution by October at the latest. France has one squad available on February 1, increasing to a respectable number by June. For lack of better alternatives, everyone starts with the Morane Parasol.

EVERYONE goes to the Nieuport 10 in September-October, except for one squad going to the Caudron G4, which also isn't modelled. The neat effect is that, until the next expansion comes out, it is impossible for a French campaign to continue past October 1915.

GER
On the one hand, Germany has a fair amount of squads both in February and June. On the other hand, every. single. one. is unarmed. While there are isolated instances of the Fokker series or the Aviatik C.Is reaching 'high ranked' characters sooner, for most Germans they will have a long, long wait before they can press the trigger. The earliest crate with a gun is the Aviatik C.I, and the earliest that shows up for low-rank players is September. Most squads go the entire year without firing a shot. As for the Fokker, the E.I finally reaches low-ranked players in late December.

So...the Brits are going to have trouble finding anyone to fight, and when they do they're having their observers shoot through the rear. All the French campaigns end in October, and the Germans aren't shooting back in great numbers until September.

I'm still willing to help run this thing, but I think we have a bigger question on the table: Is there a point to a 1915 campaign?

Here's my suggestion-Start on June 1, 2015 corresponding with June 1, 1915. Use the 2 missions/week format, ie 8 missions a month. By the end of summer (1 September 2015) transition to the day to day mission format. This would accomplish several goals:
1) Folks who have Real Life summer plans won't have to fly every day. Also, folks in the current DiD campaign will more easily be able to participate with the lower initial mission requirements
2) Gives new people (such as myself) a chance to get good at no label, no in game map flying and generally improve flying skills in a low threat environment
3) Not too many missions (only about 24 or so) with no hostile aircraft encounters, as we will be transitioning to the Fokker Scourge era by the end of this summer.
4) People with lower end computers who can't fly the current DiD campaign because of the aircraft density in 1917/1918 can fly this campaign, while they wait for a rich uncle to die and leave them enough money for a new computer
5) Gives the developers a chance to finish the early war aircraft add-on
6) We can start tracking the WWI centenary.

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Why do you say that OldHat? There appears to be interest and input from fellow WOFFers. These events take time to plan, just ask Olham.

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I agree with Lou.

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CatKnight, for me at least the point of the thing would be to experience the relative 'calmness' of the early air war in terms of far fewer air-to-air encounters and far more recce and gun ranging sorties as the norm. I would start as early as possible, (February 1915), for this very reason. But again, this is for me and likely will not be most folks' cup of tea. However, Olham is already running a DID for those who want more of the air-to-air combat, so ...

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I also like the early war period a lot. However, it would be even more exciting - and would probably attract more players - if WOFF actually had working recon cameras and some kind of a system for directing arty fire.

Hasse, I agree with you and would like to add that if there were early war French planes like the Voison and Caudron that would also add interest.

I like the layout in Combs' post. For all of the reasons presented. And if someone wanted to fly more than 2 of those a week, I expect there's nothing to prevent that

I for one am very interested and would hate to see this go to pot. Shoot, I'll fly months without any combat. It might be nice to concentrate on navigation and not getting my butt blown out of the sky!

Okay, I'm very glad to see people are still interested in this. My point in laying out my concern wasn't to 'shoot it down' but make sure the challenges this campaign would face are out in the open where we can look at them.

I also like Combs' idea of 2 missions/week, though that could just be personal choice rather than a rule. That way, if someone wants to fly more than twice they may. If they don't, not a problem. One thing I like about the 1917 DiD campaign is I can fly on my schedule and there's no expectation I'll be up every day, every mission.

So, we're on and I'll spend this week trying to get Google Forms to cooperate. We're back to our other question: Start in February 1915 to line up days of the week and give the Nieuport 10 extra time to show up, or start in June 1915 to line up with the calendar and get the early scouts to show up sooner?

I would prefer to start in June, but there have been great arguments for starting in February so I will go with whatever the majority wants.

.

Why not let one group start in February 1915 and one group start in June 1915. No reason we all need to start on the same in-sim date, is there?

.

Rules Version 4, still in need of a good formatting after we hash this out some more.
Changes in Red.


Start Date
Actual Start: Aiming for June 1, 2015

[color:=red]Game Start: There's no particular reason we can't run two groups, so...
Group 1: February 1, 1915
Group 2: June 1, 1915
* Both groups will advance one day at a time in sync with the actual date*[/color]

General Workshop Settings:

Your choice except:
Transfer Requests – Subject to Review
Outcomes – Normal
Campaign date advance – Manual
Weather: Historical
Campaign Mission Frequency: Historical
Historical Mission Types: On
Log: Campaign Only
Unlimited Weapons, Fuel: Off
Ground Gunnery: Hard (Let's be honest, it's not very good and we might as well have something to dodge.)
Flight Model: Realistic

Enlist your pilot

1) Anyone is allowed to make up to two pilots at the same time, one for each group. You can choose your pilots to be any nation. Also, you can replace a fallen pilot with any nation.

2) Choose Manual deployment and select a two-seater squad that starts on the group's current game date.

3) Use alphabetical order to name your pilot. The first pilot’s name will begin with “A”, then if he should fall, the next pilot’s name will begin with “B”, etc...

4) Players should start four ranks below the top rank for their military branch.

First Mission: In QC, with your workshop set to log 'all' flights, begin with a transfer flight from one of the airbases mentioned below to your airfield.

British Career: Netheravon, Hounslow, Eastchurch, Biggin Hill
French Career: Etampes
German Career: Koln

Once you've accumulated 25 missions (total) in the campaign, you may (but are not required to) ignore this step for future pilots.

Second Mission: Complete two circuits around your home airfield. Some suggestions for these missions: (a) Get familiar with your area of operation. Make notes of landmarks to familiarize yourself with the area (b) Practice flight leader commands: Attack (A), Rejoin (R), RTB (Ctrl + R), Land Here (Ctrl + L) and Split Formation (S). c) Practice maneuvers with your new aircraft. If hostile aircraft attempt to engage you, disengage and RTB.

Third Mission: Fly to the front and back. Otherwise same as Mission Two.

Though not required, you may choose to repeat missions two and three when moving to a new airfield, changing squads, or getting a new airplane.

2) Generate missions and carry them out, as dictated by the WOFF manager’s campaign briefing screen.

3) You will be asked to submit a survey weekly highlighting your accomplishments. I will use that to feed weekly reports on our progress.

Scoring:

Scoring is for those who want some sense of who's having more success than others. As a reminder, this is not a competition. You are not expected or required to fly every flight or every day. If we actually play the entire war out, this is going to be a very, very long campaign.


1) 1 points per “confirmed” plane or target balloon shot down. Maximum of one claim per mission please, so we don't make Herr von Richthofen look TOO bad.

2) 1 points for any Military ground objects destroyed. Maximum of once per mission.

3) 1 points for a successful mission. A bit subjective: Did your flight accomplish its mission, or was it chased off/you had to land/your escorts never showed?

4) –2 points for being wounded with Hospital Stay.

5) 2 points for becoming an ace. Maximum of only once per character.

6) 2 points for each promotion.

7) Random squad allocation amuses me, so I will give 3 points (one time bonus) to whoever wants to play this completely realistically, and have their first squad assigned for them among the available two-seat squads on that date. If you take this option, let me know by PM. I'll randomly roll for your squad, then you can create your character.

Fly only one day's worth of missions per real world date. No flying more than one day. Wait for the next real world date to advance time in the campaign. With the weekly 'scoreboard' I'll include a line resyncing the campaign dates with the real date to make sure we stay on the same page.

If the WOFF manager advances days due to hospital stays, being captured, etc.. then you'll need to wait those amount of days before you can fly again. As a reminder you might choose to have another pilot in the other group to take care of while you're convalescing.


*****

Other than editing, I think we're approaching final form here. If there's anything in here you disagree with, or something you think the rules need to cover that are missing, please bring them up.

I made this statement in haste being a cranky old dog. Gotta take a "chill pill" as my grand daughter would say.

Now, back to business... While reading up on the aerial warfare in 1915, I came across some interesting points which I'd like to share.


Training

Royal Flying Corps (RFC) had existed in a honeymoon period of military aviation, where the seriousness of their endeavour had yet to be established. A small force, the RFC had only 153 aircraft in September 1915 the aircrew were stereotypically upper-class, with a public school or university background considered desirable. Coupled with a sense of elitism was a widespread lack of experience. The average British pilot of 1915 had a little over 20 hours flying time, a state that would be described in retrospect as ‘criminal negligence’ once the well-groomed pilots came up against serious opposition.

I know the Germans had better trained pilots at that time, but I couldn't find any information on the number of flight hours they had before deployment to the front.


Aerial Casualties

In the 19 October 1918 issue of “ Plane News, ” a weekly newspaper published at Issoudun, Wilmer wrote that “ in the first year of World War I ” (presumably August 1914 – July 1915), 90% of Allied losses were due to what we might today term ‘ human factors’, 8% from mechanical failure (which might include maintenance errors), and 2% from enemy action. Of the 90%, 60% were due to “ defects ” in the fliers themselves. (90-8-2 theory)

In six months of aggressive combat flying, Captain Albert Moris’s Farman biplane had been hit 253 times in air-to-air combat and as a result of ground fire, but he had survived unharmed.




Based on my reading, I'd suggest to change the ground gunnery to less accurate or leave on normal. It appears that 1915 aerial operations did not suffer from ground fire casualties too much, and if the workshop setting is left on hard, I fear that there will be many artificial hospitalizations or deaths which did not happen in 1915.

Also, I'd like to have the historical missions set to "user preference" as I use custom missions based on the aerial operations of the squadron I'm flying.

Sources:
(Thesis) Between Barons and Wolves, British and German Tactical Command in the First Air War, 1914-1918
-Morrow, J. & Rogers, E., A Yankee Ace in the RAF: The World War 1 Letters of Captain Bogart Rogers. Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1996.
-Morley, R., “Earning Their Wings: British Pilot Training, 1912-1918.” Canada: University of Saskatchewan, 2006.
-Hobson C . Airmen died in the Great War, 1914 - 1918. The roll of honour of the British and Commonwealth Air Services of the First World War . Suffolk : J.B. Hayward & Son ; 1995
-Bennet, L., Gunning for the Red Baron. Texas: A&M University Press, 2006., p. 24.


EDIT:

Link to calendars have been updated per Lou's suggestion of 30 day month.

Group 1: Feb 1915

Group 2: Jun 1915

.

CatKnight and OldHat, it's all looking very good.

I agree about the AA accuracy being dialed down for the early part of the war as there were very few deaths or crashes caused by AA hits, as noted by OldHat.

Also, on the calender, you will need to adjust for the fact that WOFF skips over the last day in months with 31 days in them.

.

Thanks for that info on 31 day months, Lou. I noticed that WOFF jumped ahead a few times, but thought it was just me.

OK, let's rescind the rules regarding ground fire accuracy and historical missions. That's up to the individual.

Let's also rescind the score bonuses for random squad assignment and ace. I still think random assignment is a fun idea, but I'd like to keep the administration as straight forward as possible. As for ace, you're already getting credit for confirmed claims.

Lou: Would you do us the honor of handling awards for this campaign, or would that be too much?

Excellent catch on the 30 day months! I never noticed it either, but just verified it.

OldHat: The June 1915 group should be in sync with the real calendar (June 1, 1915 = June 1, 2015). Part of their point was to line up with the centennial anniversary. There isn't much need for a separate calendar for them. Thank you very much for the February calendar!


EDIT:
Also, here is a rough draft for the form we can use for reporting. It does need correcting - for example I spelled centenary wrong, and it could probably use a few more drop down menus.

Feel free to look around though, and please let us know what you think.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VKtvQ6J_IIAeMa-FsZMyC5JnYPhPB1LAEZbQ20RS77k/viewform?usp=send_form

Looks good to me, just a question, are we using Olham's graduated kill scoring system where 1 to 3 equals 1 and so on or are we just saying you only get one kill per mission regardless of how many you actually got in the sim?

Count me in. For some reason these DID campaigns are more fun to fly than my ordinary by myself campaigns.

Thank you OldHat for starting this endeavor and all who are contributing to it!

I agree with Mfair. The DiD campaigns and Challenges are more Fun then the ordinary campaigns.

A few more things:

First, I attempted a major upgrade to our reporting form. Again, thanks Rick for giving OldHat I a crash course in these. Please let me know what you think.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VKtvQ6J_IIAeMa-FsZMyC5JnYPhPB1LAEZbQ20RS77k/viewform?usp=send_form

Banjoman: Let's leave it at one (reported to us) kill per mission. That'll keep the numbers reasonable. We can always take another look at that in 1917 or so when the war heats up.

OldHat: I'd like to record total wounds over a pilot's career - so a single four day wound counts the same as a fourteen day wound. That'll help with point totals.

Also, the form won't auto-tally your total, but since it downloads to a spreadsheet it's easy enough for me to plug in the necessary formulas.

Revision: After much thought, I'd like to revoke the requirement that pilots use 'Transfer requires approval.' Players can still keep it on if they feel it would add realism to their campaign, but we're seeing in 1917 (and earlier) that some players are having trouble finding certain squadrons interesting or fun. Since we're trying to keep this rules light so people can enjoy the game their way, I'd rather not oblige someone to play a pilot that's not fun for them.

Form's looking good, CatKnight, the split form into different nationalities is a nice touch!

This looks great! My DID pilot is resting because he has been wounded again so maybe I can alternate between pilots. When '17 pilot is wounded I fly the '15 pilot and vice versa.

Rules are getting into good shape, Cat!
Just one question about this point:



Must the 2-seat squad actually begin their "carreer" on that day, or can we choose one that begins earlier,
and just advance time until we hit the right date?

Olham: Oh dear. Yes, I can see where I could have phrased that better.

Absolutely. What I meant was you start your career on the current campaign date, but the squadron could certainly have existed longer.

Help me out with rules;
I'm thinking of starting a British flyer on Feb 1st and a German flyer on June 1st.
Should one have a first name starting with "A" and the other with a "B" ?

Hm. Good question: Do we want each group to have its own 'alphabet', so....
(Group 1) A, (Group 2) A - Group 1 pilot dies, so I start B in group 1,

or do we want the 'alphabet' to be for the entire campaign, so...
(Group 1) A, (Group 2) B - Group 1 pilot dies, so I start C in group 1.

What do you all think?

ummmmm...doesn't matter to me....
If forced to choose I'd pick the second option with an advancing alphabet for the entire campaign.

I think the first option would be easier, then when we look at the reports it won't matter which group everyone started on because everybody will have an 'A' pilot.

I agree with Banjoman. Fast I.D.

I thought the same as Banjoman.

Alright, let's do it that way then. Each group will have its own alphabet. (The first pilot for each group will be 'A', etc.)

That will work fine.

Great, But what name ?

French: Alphonse, Adrien, André
German: Alfred, Adrian, Andreas
British: Alan, Archibald, Andrew
American: Abraham, Adam, Abel

...for example...

I'm glad I didn't delete my excel spreadsheet of Pilot Names that I had used for OFF.

Pilot Names for British, French, German and American (download link)

Rules Version 5
Changes in Red

The main changes I've added which we haven't discussed, is minimum time in your first (two-seater) squadron - I suggested ten, and what to do if your squad runs out of useable aircraft.



Start Date
Signups: May 24, 2015
Actual Start: June 1, 2015

Game Start: There are two groups. You may join one or both. They are:
Intrepid Fliers: February 1, 1915 - The game will advance in sync with the day of the week.
Warbirds Rising: June 1, 1915 - This game will advance with the real calendar.

* You will be provided updates weekly to keep in sync with the real calendar. OldHat's also prepared a calendar. Since WOFF only allows for 30 day months, there will be days when no one is flying.


General Workshop Settings:

Your choice except:
Outcomes – Normal
Campaign date advance – Manual
Weather: Historical
Campaign Mission Frequency: Historical
Log: Campaign Only (except for your transfer mission)
Unlimited Weapons, Fuel: Off
Flight Model: Realistic

Enlist your pilot

1) Anyone is allowed to make up to two pilots at the same time, one for each group. You can choose your pilots to be any nation. Also, you can replace a fallen pilot with any nation.

2) Choose Manual deployment and select a two-seater squad that starts on the group's current game date.

3) Use alphabetical order to name your pilot. The first pilot’s name within each group will begin with “A”, then if he should fall, the next pilot’s name will begin with “B”, etc...

4) Players should start at the following ranks:
Britain: Sergeant (Flight Sub-Lieutenant)
Germany: Offizerstellverter (Flugmeister)
France, Belgium: Sergent

[color:red}5. As a reminder, certain squads and possibly all of France will be unplayable after a certain point due to lack of available aircraft. If your pilot is stuck, then you can either:
A> ask for an 'emergency' transfer. Your pilot takes 7 days off, then make a new one in a squadron of your choice. All records are retained but you'd have to track them manually.
B> place the pilot in 'reserve' until his squad becomes flyable again. All records will be retained, but he's inactive and you can only have one pilot per group.
C> retire the pilot and start a new one.[/color]

First Mission: In QC, with your workshop set to log 'all' flights, begin with a transfer flight from one of the airbases mentioned below to your airfield.

British Career: Netheravon, Hounslow, Eastchurch, Biggin Hill
French Career: Etampes
German Career: Koln

Once you've accumulated 25 missions (total) in the campaign, you may (but are not required to) ignore this step for future pilots.

Second Mission: Complete two circuits around your home airfield. Some suggestions for these missions: (a) Get familiar with your area of operation. Make notes of landmarks to familiarize yourself with the area (b) Practice flight leader commands: Attack (A), Rejoin (R), RTB (Ctrl + R), Land Here (Ctrl + L) and Split Formation (S). c) Practice maneuvers with your new aircraft. If hostile aircraft attempt to engage you, disengage and RTB.

Third Mission: Fly to the front and back. Otherwise same as Mission Two.

Though not required, you may choose to repeat missions two and three when moving to a new airfield, changing squads, or getting a new airplane.

2) Generate missions and carry them out, as dictated by the WOFF manager’s campaign briefing screen.

3) You will be asked to submit a survey weekly highlighting your accomplishments. I will use that to feed weekly reports on our progress. [color=red]The survey is at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VKtvQ6J_IIAeMa-FsZMyC5JnYPhPB1LAEZbQ20RS77k/viewform?usp=send_form [/color]

4) After 10 missions (including the ones above) you may, but are not required to, request a transfer to another squadron. Once in a new squadron, you may not ask again until 10 more missions have passed.

Scoring:

Scoring is for those who want some sense of who's having more success than others. As a reminder, this is not a competition. You are not expected or required to fly every flight or every day. If we actually play the entire war out, this is going to be a very, very long campaign.


1) 1 points per “confirmed” plane or target balloon shot down. Maximum of one claim per mission please. We'll review this rule as the war heats up. I like it because it's simple.

2) 1 points for any Military ground objects destroyed. Maximum of once per mission.

3) 1 points for a successful mission. A bit subjective: Did your flight accomplish its mission, or was it chased off/you had to land/your escorts never showed?

4) –2 points for being wounded with Hospital Stay.

5) 2 points for becoming an ace. Maximum of only once per character.

6) 2 points for each promotion.

7) 2 points for each WOFF medal.

Fly only one day's worth of missions per real world date. No flying more than one day. Wait for the next real world date to advance time in the campaign. With the weekly 'scoreboard' I'll include a line resyncing the campaign dates with the real date to make sure we stay on the same page.

If the WOFF manager advances days due to hospital stays, being captured, etc.. then you'll need to wait those amount of days before you can fly again. As a reminder you might choose to have another pilot in the other group to take care of while you're convalescing.


I hope to begin signups on next Saturday or Sunday. It might be time to start rolling your B.E. 2s and Aviatiks out of the hangar to see what they can do.

Oldhat & Catknight, your project looks great. Two thoughts, Cat: at the top, describing the 2 groups, you say "the game...", whereas I'm sure you meant "life". and at the bottom, you sugggest rolling out a BE2 to see what it can do, whereas surely you meant what it can't do?!

(how many days till June? thanks in advance for the fun, guys!)

Maybe this was mentioned before - a problem arises from the fact, that February has only 28 days.
The switching to the next month will so be too early.
Same goes for a start in March 1915 - March has 31 days, but real life June has only 30.

OldHat:

Scoring
I think we want to be careful about making the scoring (and thus the reporting) too complicated. Here's what we currently have, renumbered. (I'd meant to drop the ace designation, and I'm willing to drop the medals.)

1) 1 points per confirmed plane/balloon (1 max)
2) 1 points per ground object (1 max)
3) 1 points for a successful mission. A bit subjective: Did your flight accomplish its mission, or was it chased off/you had to land/your escorts never showed?
4) –2 points per hospital stay
5) 2 points per promotion.

We can try to put a better definition on successful missions and define unsuccessful ones. Bear in mind that since this is not a zero-sum game, a steadily rising score is a good thing. What did you have in mind?



Calendar

I believe you're mistaken. Since the February calendar is keeping in sync with days of the week, while the June calendar with the real calendar, both will have days off. Consider the following two scenarios:

(June group - Syncing with real calendar: July 1915)


(February Group - syncing with days of the week: March 1915)


I'd say consider it a 24 hour leave, or your CO simply doesn't need you today. Or orders you to babysit the newbie while he makes his circuits around the field.

Olham:

Since the February group's syncing with the day of the week rather than the calendar (per Lou's idea back on page 2 or 3), they'll be fine.



As you noticed, when there are 31 days in the month there's going to need to be a little recalibrating as above. Since I've been in and out of your campaign for almost a year and didn't notice until Lou said something, I'm hoping it won't get in the way.

Mm....Meh. A few things off the top of my head. I'm curious what others think about the rest.

If we keep scoring:

Flying to get a replacement: Just no. That would be another QC flight - without any danger whatsoever other than landing badly.

Landing at another airbase: What happens if that's what your flight commander tells you to do? IE- you find your group, and they're all landing elsewhere.

It's true that the early going favors the Entente ... but that won't be true the entire war. Plus, this IS a sim, and wars are by their nature unbalanced.

Honestly, since there's zero competition, there's some argument for just dropping scoring altogether and letting people tell the war their way. Then if people feel it's important to go to St. Omer (or Paris for that matter), there's no issue. That eliminates the need for almost any rule really. We simply provide the thread and make an effort to keep everyone's calendars synced.