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#4140404 - 06/28/15 04:02 AM Campaign Ponderings  
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BKCason Offline
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Maryland, USA
I have a campaign going [my first] in March of 1915. I picked this early start partially under the influence of "Wings". All missions so far have been patrols of either friendly airspace or hostile airspace right on the trench lines. This is due to the new setting "Closest Target Allocated" which have set ON instead of historical. This results in shorter travel times to a mission objective. This seems like a good thing for me.

However, either because this setting decreases time in hostile airspace or the lower level of encounters in March of 1915, I have only seen EA in 4 of 6 missions and the enemy only attacked me in 1 of the 4. I do have "always attack" set in the Workshop.

Where is all this going? you ask. I am curious how others handle the mission objectives. During a patrol in a flight with 1 or 2 other AC and I am not the flight leader [too junior still], I am hesitant to leave the formation [on purpose, I do it by accident all too often but do rejoin asap] and try to attack the EA seen during the patrol. Would this affect anything in the mission?

On one hand, I am inexperience still and flying a BE2c. The BE2c does not exactly encourage aggressive action. On the other hand, attacking EA, especially in your airspace, would seem the historical action to take... shoot them down or drive them off. Put me in "scout" and I know what I would do... dive out of the sun... live hard, die young, & leave a handsome corpse [well, handsome may be a bit of an overstatement].

So, please share your approach when on a campaign mission in a 2seater and not the flight leader.


Regards,
Ben Cason
"I shall endeavor to persevere" - Chief Dan George in "Outlaw Josey Wales"

#4140411 - 06/28/15 05:32 AM Re: Campaign Ponderings [Re: BKCason]  
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Smosh Offline
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Gisborne, New Zealand
If you want to play slightly historical then it would have been very unusual to try and fight a in a two seater at this stage in the war. The first Aces were still months away from claiming their first victories.


Rabbits, break right and climb.
#4140416 - 06/28/15 06:30 AM Re: Campaign Ponderings [Re: BKCason]  
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CatKnight Offline
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Yeah, if you wanted action you started a bit early. Some people are having luck with a BE2 in the Centenary campaign, but they're 1) very skilled, and 2) playing ahistorically.

In my June 1915 Aviatik campaign I've seen hostiles MAYBE three times in over 20 missions.

#4140419 - 06/28/15 06:36 AM Re: Campaign Ponderings [Re: BKCason]  
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Cavaliere57 Offline
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Tuscany coast,Italy
You want to attack enemy planes with a BE2? Brave man!!!! biggrin Soon you'll be a name on a wall,just look for Eindeckers,then your time will come. Amen.


" In vino veritas "
#4140463 - 06/28/15 01:25 PM Re: Campaign Ponderings [Re: BKCason]  
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MudWasp Offline
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a shack in da woods
Originally Posted By: BKCason


However, either because this setting decreases time in hostile airspace or the lower level of encounters in March of 1915, I have only seen EA in 4 of 6 missions and the enemy only attacked me in 1 of the 4. I do have "always attack" set in the Workshop.



Tell me more about the EA that attacked you.
Haven't had that happen yet in spring or summer 1915 and have campaigns for various countries

#4140470 - 06/28/15 01:47 PM Re: Campaign Ponderings [Re: BKCason]  
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actionjoe Offline
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Nord, France.
Quote:
If you want to play slightly historical then it would have been very unusual to try and fight a in a two seater at this stage in the war. The first Aces were still months away from claiming their first victories.


Not really, in March 1915, Eugène Gilbert already had 4 confirmed victories, Adolphe Péguod 3, Navarre scored for the first time on 1st April, and all were flying two seaters : Morane-Saulniers for Gilbert and Navarre, Maurice Farman for Péguod, but these planes sure have better offensive capabilities than the BE2.

#4140474 - 06/28/15 01:53 PM Re: Campaign Ponderings [Re: BKCason]  
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Rick_Rawlings Offline
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BKCason, for me it helps to have more than one campaign going. I started one in November of 1915 to try out the N10 and the pace is...leisurely, to say the least! I can then jump to one of my guys in 1917 if I want some action, helps keep me from doing something regrettable with my 1915 character! winkngrin


The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
#4140476 - 06/28/15 01:58 PM Re: Campaign Ponderings [Re: CatKnight]  
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Combs Offline
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I'm one of the folks that is playing the campaign game as a BE2 pilot. I am definitely playing ahistorically. I'm improving my chances of spotting German aircraft by hanging out on projected flight routes between their airfields, or taking deviations to get closer to airfields. While it definitely improves my chances for contact, it isn't realistic. I also have been using the BE2 as a fighter, which is definitely ahistorical. Even with these advantages, of the 16 completed missions I've flown, I have seen EA only 4 times. When you figure that the maximum spotting range is at best 4 miles, (realistically, much less than that) and the aircraft density is as low as it is, a 25% contact rate is very high. In fact, had I strictly flown the mission profile I was assigned, I maybe would have seen EA a single time. As far as skill? I'm not particularly skilled-just lucky so far. I've had several very near misses while attacking targets. The approach you have to make with a BE2 to engage a target is very dangerous, even for a target such as an Avitak, which doesn't maneuver much in the game, and (more importantly) doesn't shoot back. I wouldn't last a mission if I were to fly against an armed aircraft the way I'm flying now.

Originally Posted By: CatKnight
Yeah, if you wanted action you started a bit early. Some people are having luck with a BE2 in the Centenary campaign, but they're 1) very skilled, and 2) playing ahistorically.

In my June 1915 Aviatik campaign I've seen hostiles MAYBE three times in over 20 missions.

Last edited by Combs; 06/28/15 02:02 PM.

No man commands safely unless he has learned well how to obey.
#4140477 - 06/28/15 02:07 PM Re: Campaign Ponderings [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Combs Offline
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I agree the pace is leisurely in the early war. That's one of the reasons I started an early war campaign, to get my non-aided piloting skills up to snuff. However, July and the Fokker Scourge are about to start, so I think it is going to get more interesting. I'm hoping my character can get himself a scout soon....


Originally Posted By: Rick_Rawlings
BKCason, for me it helps to have more than one campaign going. I started one in November of 1915 to try out the N10 and the pace is...leisurely, to say the least! I can then jump to one of my guys in 1917 if I want some action, helps keep me from doing something regrettable with my 1915 character! winkngrin


No man commands safely unless he has learned well how to obey.
#4140480 - 06/28/15 02:27 PM Re: Campaign Ponderings [Re: BKCason]  
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BKCason Offline
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Maryland, USA
I deliberately chose the early start to give myself some learning time. I do play with all the aids so I am not surprised that I "see" EA frequently. The labels give me "Chuck Yeager" eyes so to speak. I suspect that using the "historical" setting instead of "closest target allocated" might reduce the number of EA seen. Although it is possible it would be offset by missions that may increase the time in hostile airspace. In any case, with my limited time, the shorter missions work for me.

I am happy with the slower pace right now since I am still gaining experience. After a bit more experience, I may start another campaign, in say 1916, to see some of the later "early" aircraft. I thought about participating in the Did Centenary Challenge but decided I could not fly missions often enough for that. I can only fly 2-3 missions a week due to work and house chores [gosh the grass grows fast this time of year when it gets as much rain as we have been getting].

I was just curious how other people approached these early missions and how much lee-way there was in achieving the mission objective. If I do fly off to engage an EA with my mighty BE2c fighting machine [ rofl ], what effect would it have on the mission? Maybe some, maybe none. It might slow down promotions and such a bit or it might not.

I guess this will be part of the learning as I plan stick to the mission objectives and leave the adventuring to my practice time in QC.


Regards,
Ben Cason
"I shall endeavor to persevere" - Chief Dan George in "Outlaw Josey Wales"

#4140482 - 06/28/15 02:42 PM Re: Campaign Ponderings [Re: MudWasp]  
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BKCason Offline
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Originally Posted By: MudWasp
Originally Posted By: BKCason
However, either because this setting decreases time in hostile airspace or the lower level of encounters in March of 1915, I have only seen EA in 4 of 6 missions and the enemy only attacked me in 1 of the 4. I do have "always attack" set in the Workshop.


Tell me more about the EA that attacked you.
Haven't had that happen yet in spring or summer 1915 and have campaigns for various countries


The mission was to patrol enemy front lines around Abschnitt FF2214. The EA only made one pass, light damage to my AC, and my gunner never fired back. It was a total surprise to me as I was on auto-pilot at the time trying to get back into formation. I was behind and 400-500 feet lower than the rest of the flight which was at about 5000 feet. The label on the EA showed something like "attacking" as far as I remember. I dropped out of autopilot and the EA was shown as "returning" by the label at that point. We must have flown right by it. I did have AI set to "always attacks" in the Workshop. It was probably a statistical fluke. How often does an oblivious BE2 fly right in front of an EA? There was nothing in the log about the encounter other than a mention of light damage. I found a note I made saying it was a Pfalz E.III [armed version of Pfalz A.2]. I do have the "Balance of Power" addon which includes this AC.

Last edited by BKCason; 06/28/15 03:00 PM. Reason: found notes and corrected info

Regards,
Ben Cason
"I shall endeavor to persevere" - Chief Dan George in "Outlaw Josey Wales"

#4140494 - 06/28/15 03:29 PM Re: Campaign Ponderings [Re: BKCason]  
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Combs Offline
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Combs  Offline
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Just a thought, but if you would like to shorten up the missions in the campaign, you could do the form up and transit in 2X speed. With a BE2, it is still pretty slow, effectively 120 mph. It cuts about 30 minutes off the game time that way.

Originally Posted By: BKCason
I deliberately chose the early start to give myself some learning time. I do play with all the aids so I am not surprised that I "see" EA frequently. The labels give me "Chuck Yeager" eyes so to speak. I suspect that using the "historical" setting instead of "closest target allocated" might reduce the number of EA seen. Although it is possible it would be offset by missions that may increase the time in hostile airspace. In any case, with my limited time, the shorter missions work for me.


No man commands safely unless he has learned well how to obey.
#4140502 - 06/28/15 03:57 PM Re: Campaign Ponderings [Re: BKCason]  
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MudWasp Offline
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a shack in da woods
Thanks for the details. Bet that Pfalz wouldn't have attacked if "enemy always attacks" wasn't selected.

#4140511 - 06/28/15 04:17 PM Re: Campaign Ponderings [Re: MudWasp]  
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BKCason Offline
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Maryland, USA
Originally Posted By: MudWasp
Thanks for the details. Bet that Pfalz wouldn't have attacked if "enemy always attacks" wasn't selected.

You are probably right. I have turned the "enemy always attacks" off since then.


Regards,
Ben Cason
"I shall endeavor to persevere" - Chief Dan George in "Outlaw Josey Wales"


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