I was reading the Gamespot preview article and stumbled upon some irritating words about the campaign:

"You won't see the AI flying its own missions like in Battle of Britain, but you will get a sense of the vastness of the conflict."

It sounds like no AI flights are taking part in the campaigns - only those that are related to your mission? And only your missions will influence the course of the war? That would be a real setback for me... I'm currently not very enthusiastic about some screenshots, but I thought the dynamic campaign might be what could make this game very special. But now I'm not so sure anymore... I doubt I'll get immersed in a WW2 campaign where it's only my flight that counts...

So does anyone know how exactly the campaign system works, whether there'll be more action going on around you in the air (doesn't have to be the same numbers like with BOB - that campaign had too many bugs anyway)? Anything else would be a real setback for me...

- Caretaker

The way I understood it was that the AI would be flying in your immediate vicinity but in areas of the "map" where you would have no "influence", some sort of algorithm or such would dictate how the war is going on over there.

So, yes - the AI will only be flying around you. But, no - your actions will not be the only ones influencing how the war goes as some algorithm will dictate what goes on elsewhere.

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"Forget it Ming, Dale's with me." - Flash Gordon

Sounds just like EAW's system, if I recall - There was certainly nothing wrong with that. There was your mission, and there was maybe one or two unrelated missions going on (from which you could ocasionally call fighter support). But if you flew away from the mission area, the skies were pretty barren.

Well that's exactly what I'm afraid of - I never liked the EAW system too much, although for its time it was ok I guess. I was expecting something more along the lines of Falcon4 though - not quite with the same scope of course (couldn't care less about some patrols over south England when I'm flying CAP over Berlin...), but you get the idea.

- Caretaker

If I recall they are using a "bubble" system similar to F4. Makes sense, since the key engineer from F4 is on the CFS team.

The "bubble" system would mean that yes, in fact, wherever you go you will find action. Flights will even scramble if you pass near a hostile airfield.

Ha, that sounds better, exactly what I was hoping for! Bubble approach is much less critical with a WW2 game anyway as only the view distance, not the radar distance needs to be taken care of in more detail.

The only problem then is to make the outcome of battles within and without the bubble consistent, something which BOB failed at.

Thanks for the info, that sounds much better than that Gamespot preview

- Caretaker

Just curious, why does BoB failed here?

There were sometimes big differences between results in-game (when flying) and when in the campaign screen. I just read about attacking convoys, where someone recommends playing the first attack wave yourself and then switching to the map view so that the result is better... I don't like that.

Though I haven't played it now for quite some time and forgot about most issues in detail... perhaps I'll revisit it some day when the BDG guys have made some more progress. Weren't the convoy attacks much more successfull when watching from the map compared to the 3D mode?

There were other problems with the campaign unfortunately, because in principle it was absolutely great. Same with MiG Alley before, with dead ends where you simply couldn't advance anymore

- Caretaker

I know this contradicts what Gamespot said, but I thought the designers were making it so that if you did happen to wonder into another combat zone, there would be other action going on. Tanks blasting tanks, convoys moving, and aircraft flying about conducting missions of their own.

What I would give to be flying a fighter sweep and be called in to help some Fighter-Bombers who were getting wiped out by enemy fighters.

Or better yet, to play as on-call close air support able to react to calls from troops on the ground.

This was an area in which the Allies excelled during the later years of WW2. Why engage that nasty Tiger if you can call up a gaggle of Tiffies or Jugs to rain some hell down on the panzers?

thx Caretaker.
BoB is still a diamond in the rough but getting better due to the BDG.
I haven't touched the campaign in BoB for a long time due to technical probs and never noticed what you descibed.
Anyway, from the imersion factor and depth BoB still holds on his own... imo.

Yeah Fishbed that would be way cool! Coming to the aid of the grunts and pounding the resisitance into the dust. Of course with my target fixation problems I'm usually mingling with that dust!

BF

Yeah it will be nice to see battles going on around you,makes you feel more like a part of the picture.

Oh and BOB, the BDG has just corrected the CTD during campaign play. I have the game and think it is simply awesome.

The problem with BoB's campaign was if you click to fly, you'd lose points no matter what happened. When a player enters the 3D it causes a decrease in overall kills and an increase in overall squadron losses, even if you did well during your flight by scoring kills and not losing your squadron mates. This scenario becomes more apparent as the amount of aircraft involved increases.

I was hoping the campaign in CFSIII will be a giant step forward. It appears it certainly will be an improvement, and that's good news as far as I'm concerned. It does sound like it will be different from what we've seen so far, interesting .

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"Murphy's Law"