Just a quick note to say that I am fully patched up to WOFF v.2.13 now with all add-on packs, and my missions mods still seem to work OK, so far as I can tell so far... not sure if anyone else is still using them, but if you are and have noticed any new glitches please let me know!

Also, if anyone is interested in the research that went into the German fuel restrictions, see this thread at The Aerodrome, where I posted the results of my digging around in various primary and secondary sources:

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63517

B.

Bletchley, I've been using your mod for so long it seems like it is just part of the sim, I love it. I haven't had any glitches or problems with any of the updates.

You are attracting a long-time WOFFer with this post now, Bletchley.
I don't know why I never tried your mod before - maybe I just wanted to fly
WOFF for a long time, as it was meant to be, without further hassles.

But I understand that you have put a huge amount of knowledge and research
into this mod, and I am thinking of trying it out soon. I would like to know
especially, how much it may change for an early war carreer, in late 1915
or early 1916?

Yes, I use your mission mod without any problem (WOFF 2.13) too. Thank you.

OK, thanks Banjoman and JJJ65, it is great to hear that others are still using it, and without any problems. Having spent the summer away from WOFF, and only just patched up to 2.13 and only just added the last two addon packs, I was wondering if anything might have changed to break it

Olham, yes, it changes quite a lot. At a superficial level your Jasta pilot's log book will fill up with German-language entries (I hope the German is correct, not my first language, but I did get advice from others here - if anything seems clumsy or not right for the period please let me know). The missions are, I think, also more tuned in to the actual roles - as a Jasta pilot, for example, you will get mainly barrage patrols early on, giving way to mostly intercept tasks from 1917 onwards, and very few escort missions (these were mainly flown by the two-seaters from early 1917). In 1918 you will face fuel restrictions if you follow the advice (less so if you are in an elite unit that is on an 'active' front). Missions also change depending on the status of your sector (active or quiet). Try it and see - you can always change back again to stock missions if you don't like it or get tired of it - it has been thoroughly tested and won't break anything! There was anecdotal concern that it might reduce the number of two-seater flights encountered, but I tested this quite thoroughly a year or so back and could find no evidence for this (and could not think of any mechanism that would cause this), but there is still a warning in the Readme that this might be the case. I am not sure how much difference to stock that you will notice in 1915/16, but the best way to find out is to try it and see.

I have also been with WOFF and OFF from the beginning, and before that RB3D

B.

I am definitely still using it, and the mission file dates are the first thing I check after patches, though I "modded the mod."
As all my time is in scouts I use your fighter missions but cut & pasted in the Stock escort missions to the fighter files overwriting yours.
In our previous discussions, if you recall, if I use the modded escort missions I get the quirk where the two-seaters fly the "behind enemy lines" leg twice if no opposition is encountered. Of course that was a couple of patches ago - I wonder if OBD might have changed something on their end to modify the behavior. Unless I am crazy sometimes it seems a lot of tweaks aren't documented.

Is your "Mission Type Mod" made ready for JSGME, Bletchley?
That would make it easiest to use.

Yes, it is Olham: "packaged for JSGME in a self-extracting exe by Robert Wiggins"

Once downloaded, you click on the exe file and it will extract into your JSGME file - you then just have to activate it via JSGME and select "3rd Party Missions" in WOFF Workshop. You will know if it has worked, as the mission briefing should look quite different!

B.

Great, thank you, Bletchley - I will try that out!

Thank you DIH - I vaguely remember your experiments with the Escort missions, but I think it must have been around the time I stopped playing WOFF for the summer. If stock Escort missions work better than mine, I will put the relevant bits back in for the next version. Now the boat has been lifted out for the winter I will have time to do some more work on this mod, if there are any other improvements that people would like to see.

I am not aware of OBD doing anything that would directly effect the mod, but then I haven't been around much since April

B.

With my mod it appears to happen when the 'target' is close behind the lines. There seems to be a minimum length of time allocated to flying 'behind the enemy lines' and if this is not met or exceeded the escorted 2-seaters will make a second run back across the lines. I am not sure if this is also the case with the stock Escort missions - if DIH's experience is that the stock Escort missions are somehow exempt from this and only make one flight to the target, then it might be worth writing them back into the mission files. Do you have experience of the same back-and-forth type of behaviour with the stock Escort mission, OldHat?

B.

Your memory is fine sir.
You were just getting ready to "go to sea" when we were having the discussion.
And FWIW I don't recall in stock missions the two-seater a doing a "two fer" so far...that's why I cut & paste.

"So, does that mean that most deep offensive patrols/bombings will not go back and forth if they meet the time limit behind the lines"

I think so OldHat - it must be an in-built time or distance thing, as I have noticed that when the randomly selected target is a 'deep' one, a reasonable distance behind the lines, they will only go there-and-back once. It appears to be only when it is a 'shallow' target that they will do it twice. Or that's the way it seems to me, at least for recce missions and DOPs - not sure if that applies to bombing missions as well, I am working from memory here!

If a mission has a 'loiter' command in it, I guess the same inbuilt limit keeps the flight over the target for a set time, or for a set number of circuits.

B.

The problem with getting a firm handle on this phenomenon is the actions of the enemy
Once an interception occurs it's hard to follow the action after that reference the "two trip" leg so I only see it during no interception missions which are not all that uncommon...at least in 1917 and in bad weather.
But when no interception happens it seems like it does happen even on the deep targets for the two-seaters. Deep to me anyway.
The time factor is an interesting conjecture.

Usually the way points in question are one just behind friendly lines and the next - the long straight one to the target. This is the one they repeat if no contact is made. Maybe even after contact but in the herky jerk of the moment I can't tell. Total there may be 4 or 5 waypoints in a typical mission? Is there a limit to the number of waypoints, more specifically the location of said waypoints, that can be assigned or is that done by the CFS3.exe?

If you do the waypoints (and on further reflection I think it's out of your hands) is there a limit on the number? My thought is a "bunch" of waypoints with one just before the target and one just after. That way if the is a "two legger" it is short and right near the target. Like a BDA run, another visual look, or more photos. Sounds great if doable but in looking at the mission files I am gonna guess not.

The way points are generated automatically

Yes, in thinking of your mod as I was typing, I was afraid of that.