CoD Offline Tournament! The RAF CoD Ace is...drum roll...

The 2011 Tournament is complete, but you can still download and play through the missions at your own pace! The best efforts to date have been:

RAF
AJAY: 17 victories
JIMBOP: 16 victories

LW
SOLARIAN: 21 victories
CHEESEHAWK: 19 victories
DIRECTXXX: 14 victories

Post your score on this thread.

DOWNLOAD AND PLAY IN THE COD OFFLINE TOURNAMENT NOW! Easy self installing missions: http://www.box.com/s/mbl65u8uvtoaemgti2ns

Screenshots from missions:



******

16 (8RAF + 8LW) specially designed offline missions which together form a tournament that you can fly at your own pace and in your own time.

The challenge is three-fold:

- Fly each mission in the tournament at your usual realism settings
- Score as many victories as you can with your pilot
- Keep your wingman alive

Complete the 8 missions and tally up your victories!



Some missions include bonus challenges, such as bringing down enemy bombers, protecting your own bombers or attacking ground targets.

You choose your own side and aircraft...the defaults are either the RAF/Spitfire IIa, or the Luftwaffe/Bf109e4, but the aircraft and number of opponents are customisable to your taste.

RULES

You should fly each mission only twice: once for practice, and once for real. The best of your two missions can be submitted. If you are shot down in the mission, no victories count. You must move on to the next mission. The only other rules are you MUST fly with limited ammo and vulnerability ON!

PSEUDO-DYNAMIC(TM) MISSION DIFFICULTY

Missions and enemies increase in difficulty as you progress. You start against fewer, slower, weaker opponents. You finish in all out melees against the Luftwaffe's finest.

You are not flying alone - your wingman ('Fatty' for RAF or 'Fritz' for LW) is at your side. Try not to lose him. Losing your wingman is bad karma. He is a tough nut, and if he is shot down he will walk, swim or limp back so that he is with you again for your next mission, but you will lose 1 victory each time he is shot down.

Your wingman's skill and aggression will increase as you progress. Fatty starts mission 1 as a timid undisciplined Rookie, and ends as an aggressive and disciplined Veteran.

.

BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW TO INSTALL CUSTOM MISSIONS![/b]

The tournament download includes a self-installer/uninstaller. Just point it at the CoD Folder on your hard drive and it will do the rest for you, installing the missions and any skins needed. The missions will appear in your Single Missions menu. If you get stuck, someone here will talk you through it.

This looks like fun. I'm in!

Only question I have, will there be different catagories based off Realism levels? Seems rough if you fly with limited ammo to compete with unlimited.

Now watching this topic for updates and links to the missions.

Charlo

Absolutely right, we should agree minimum realism settings to avoid unrealistic kill tallies. Even flyers like Wick and Deere only claimed two or three kills per sortie...in a BoBII tournament one of our flyers claimed Six kills in one mission - but he had the film to prove it (one fighter he shot down took out two bombers on its way down!)

No unlimited ammo is definitely a rule we should add.
And No invulnerability, of course.

What else...remembering we want to keep it open to players of all skill levels.

Fuel will not be an issue, these are quick dogfights.

What about clouds off. I have just designed one of the later missions with medium cloud to make the targets harder to find, but would 'no clouds off' be going too far? Don't want to create too many rules.

H

Feel free to invite your fellow ATAGers...a difference from online flying is that keeping a novice AI like Fatty alive adds that extra element of challenge to becoming the leading ace! You might score one kill per mission for a nice total of ten, but if Fatty is shot down ten times your total score is zero!

Done!

Posted this over at the ATAG forum:

Keep Fatty Alive!!!
This is just a fun OFFline challenge that my fellow SimHQ member, Heinkill, has offered us. Details here (including the reason I titled this thread "Keep Fatty Alive"! )

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.ph...ml#Post3438876

Heinkill has built an excellent track record in providing excellent offline CoD missions that are based on actual Battle of Britain engagements. He even provides a simple installer that effectively places the mission folders where you point it (ie. 1C Softclub Single Missions).

It's just for fun and glory, but I've found his missions well thought out, challenging, and great practice.

-- Snapper

Build us a Luftwhiner version too? Pretty please!

Could do...they could run at the same time, but the two tournaments would have to have separate winners as the mission designs would be different ...might take a bit more time of course...I could limit each tournament to 8 missions instead of ten...hmmm...nope, nope, can't be done...when could I possibly find the time...oh, all right!

An RAF ace tournament and a Luftwaffe ace tournament? Why not?

It should center around the Bf109, but which marque? E3? E4? Or do you Luftwhiffy loons want to duke it out in Bf110s?

H

And for the wingman in the Luftwaffe Tournament, I think...yes...it should be FRITZ.

I'm shooting Fritz down on takeoff as a matter of principle! I think his defection was the real reason for losing BoB, and hence, the entire war!

My computer looks to be down for a few days/weeks, take your time on the LW version of the competition, I know how long it takes to make things like this.

Make the 109 the players choice which version, the FM's are the same, its just the gunnery that different. I think most fly either the E-4 or the E-1, at least online that seems to be the case.

~S!

Ok im in

So are we locked in cockpit or not ? No outside views ? Outside versus locked will make a huge difference .. and why does Fatty have a Hurri

I've had a few "Ace-in-a-day" sorties on ATAG (full real) flying the 109. One time I got 9 Blenheims and two fighters. I don't say this to toot my own horn, only to caution that it's possible to score some very high tallies if you shoot well and are conservative with your ammo.

I think some things need to still be at discretion of player. Less experienced players need outside view and padlock to identify enemies, just as they might need labels...but if we can agree no unlimited ammo, vulnerability on, then you still have to get your (limited supply of) lead on target to score a kill, plus your own life is on the line.

And Fatty did his first solo in a Hurri...but as we speak he is nervously taking his check ride in the Spit IIa! It will be lucky if he can take off, let alone land, in the first couple of missions.

H

PS Have been putting a lot of hours into experimenting with the AI parameters to simulate Fatty gaining experience as the tournament progresses. I think this is something which the devs seem to have done which actually does have an impact on the way the the AI pilot flies, which is important considering we still can't give them commands. I am customising Fatty's skill level for every mission and I can really see a difference in his behaviour/success depending on what I tweak in his skill profile.)

I'll go with the E4 as default then, because the Spit IIa is default in the RAF tournament. Though personally I would choose the Bf110C, remembering that no matter how I tweak them, these are still CoD AI opponents. More firepower = more kills, even in a kite that corners like a '76 Caddy!

Interesting stuff HeinKill

Hope you join in Bisher...

BTW I was in Toronto a couple of weeks ago. Staying at a hotel near the Rogers Center with a view out my window to a huge screen showing the Leafs game. I think they won (not that you'd care as a Jets fan?), though for an Aussie it's hard to know. I do like the fact that the Canadian national sporting obsession is as violent as our own.





Although, funny enough, someone told me once the official 'Canadian national sport' is lacrosse...tell me it isn't so?

H

Lacrosse truly is Canada's national sport. It was played originally by the fierce Iroquois and Huron tribes in a huge area now comprised by the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The game was toned down significantly when the hard rawhide lacrosse ball was modified by the artisan Nerf tribe from the Awe Phucket Indian Nation.

It's true, what Snapper said, though it's the first time I've heard of the Awe Phucket Indian Nation.

lol! bit like Mike Hunts car dealership here

Have created two sets of missions - LW and RAF. Writing the briefings over the weekend.

Mission sets should be avail Wed next week.

H

RAF and LW Missions are done. Just need to build the installer.

Teasers follow:

Death from above


Not going home


Trailing fire


Away in time


Beware the Ace


How not to win a Tournament

Just testing the installer now...will upload Wed Nov 30. There are 8 missions per side, for either LW or RAF...

I created each mission to average five to ten minutes of fighting so the entire tournament will take about an hour, (Not counting of course the flight home for those who want to see if their perforated crate can make it down again!)

I have also changed the entry conditions...

You can either play for the prize (in which case you need to submit your summary screen after each mission) or
You can just play for the fun and glory, and submit your score without a screen dump, just brag about your tally at the end of one or all the missions.

(Of course you can just download the mission sets for your own amusement, fly them, keep your tally to youself and gloat over how hopeless those braggers on SimHQ are...if only they knew...)

H

DOWNLOAD AND PLAY NOW! http://www.box.com/s/mbl65u8uvtoaemgti2ns

******

The challenge is three-fold:

- Fly each mission in the tournament at your usual realism settings
- Score as many victories as you can with your pilot
- Keep your wingman alive

The winner is the pilot who completes the 8 missions with the greatest number of victories!

Post your After Action Reports, Summary Screens or screenshots and combat tally here!

Sample After Action Report...

Mission: LW Mission #?

Report: We flew with Corpo Aero Italiano as 'observers' but couldn't resist beating up the enemy airfield - had to fight off heavy resistance.

My claims this mission: 1 Spitfire IIa destroyed



My total score: 4 destroyed, 3 damaged

Woot, thanks HK, can't wait to get home and give it a twirl!

Question though, will we have to hunt for the enemy, or are these airstarts in position for the attack?

I flew - one time - the first Spit mission, downed two Bf-110 (PK).
When return to base Patty Spit frozen in the air near Lympne...
I land safety.

Sokol1

I enjoyed that clip HK thanks

Mission 1, 3rd try, I couldn't find the enemy, flew 2 times before I was forced to turn map icons on. Navigation didn't give me enough time to figure out where I was with the airstart. After flying for 25 minutes (and Fritz claiming he was out of gas!), I restarted, turning map icons on, and found out you put them behind me! LOL sneaky sneaky HK! REstarted with map icons off...

Scoreboard first






I knew I should have went with my first instinct, and shoot Fritz down myself, he shoulder shot me and got the 2nd Hurri. Ahhh well, such is life. Not bad for Fritz going from "can barely handle the stick" to getting his first confirmed kill! =)

Addendum....


If Fritz is still giving me competition by the last mission, all bets are off...

Well Fatty..Fatty Fatty Fatty.About as useful as tits on a bull Nearly pranged me causing me to stall as he pulled over my head by inches when i slowed to get a shot at a turning 110! I ended up rolling and outpacing him enough so i could concentrate on my 110. Got a heap of hits all along one wing, killed one engine and silenced the rear gunner..who was actually not a bad shot putting a few holes in me.Bullets hit me from behind and whizzed over my skull so i rolled and dived under and around the second 110 who decided he wanted a turn fight..silly man. On his tail fairly quickly and smoked his engine and bits of plane flying of into the slipstream.

Fatty hung back behind me now but i could two of his gun ports, well looked like it, had busted the tape so he must have had a shot at something.Every time i made a violent move it took considerable time for Fats to catch up again and in many cases i saw him heading off in the wrong direction.

Anyway the first 110 was low and dirty so i dived on him and plugged a heap more hits then watched as he dove straight into the channel,looped over onto the tail of the other one who was also nursing it low on one engine, shot him up some more for the same result.Fatty cam confirm both kills ...i hope Luckily i took my new fandangled kodak, colour film no less, for a spin and managed a few pics as i do not really trust Fattie's recollection of events.

Was also displeased with Fattie's landing as he picked a runway at 45 degree's to the one i had already landed on, the main one, and caused me to break violently and nearly upend my precious spit at the end of a good mission.At the last second he turned and taxied opposite to me whistling away without a care in the world.I have decided he will have no bacon tomorrow morning as punishment...and whilst he is in the shower tonight i shall steal his pillow.It's the only mature punishment i can think of.

Splash 1



Second one smoking low



Splash 2



Landing



Brief






Heinkill i crapped myself when the 110's buzzed past as i did not see them and thought ' great..109's and i have a rookie..' I was just going to keep buzzing straight ahead for England but had grabbed enough height that i thought ..meh..might as well have a dekko, quite a relief when i saw the familiar shape of the twin tail 110. Definitely should pay attention to the briefing!

I had a sneak peek at the 2nd briefing, trust me..i am a bit worried and have not decided whether i can just use Fats as bait and try to keep his tail clear and rack up a kill or head for the hills at warp speed!

LOL! im sorta feeling the same about Fat's at this stage..maybe i just take the minus point as a give in and then don't worry about him..i really dont want to waste my ammo on him though! Who knows. maybe Fritz will grow on you...like a boil

One thing you can do, is when the ground control tell you to join the pattern, use the comms and order Fritz/Fatty back to base. I wasn't convinced it worked, but in both missions, Fritz went in and landed before me, which obviously takes him out of the equation for killing me on landing!

Ok, that's second mission that 5 minutes in Fritz is whining about his fuel... ended mission before landing, as we were still over England with a long way to go. I don't want to lose points for him going dry and crashing in the ocean! lol

Second mission and Fats has improved markedly.On the way out he mentioned he had a bad sleep and had to use his life vest as a pillow and has a bright yellow stain on his face, must be the cheap dye i said but at least if he ends up in the drink all he has to do is keep looking up and he should be spotted.So we were passed head on by a brace of 109's which we dove under and then pouring it on we climbed as high as we could still going straight then came on then from well above, we noticed two 110's but decided to leave them alone as the 109's were the bigger threat.

I dived down and tackled the front one with a burst setting him off into some wild moves that i could not repeat so i swooped up into a roll keeping him in sight and then Fatty passed me like a rocket and latched onto the 109 all guns blazing!He wasn't hitting but i bet he was making that Jerries butt pucker!

I jumped in behind him ready to clear his tail as the other 109 was not too far off , but Fatty peeled away and was set on by a 110 that hit him a few times and he dove down and away.I got a pot shot at the 110's and then broke as some tracers peeled over my wing, i saw Fatty being set on by a diving 109 so panicked and bolted after him again.

The 109 managed two diving bursts before i could get there and as i flashed up past Fatty i could see his tail was a mess and he was struggling to keep an even keel..noooooo, cmon Fatty! The 109 was flying in a lazy wide arc in front of Fat's so i cut his corner and got a burst through that started him smoking, his mate who i had not seen sent a blast past me again and i pulled up and to the left trying to keep an eye on Fat's who was now nearly over the coast.The attacking 109 flew beneath me and i saw the first one crash into the channel so now it was just me and and one other fighter, as long as Fatty could land i was all good.

We ended up in a good 5 minute battle with the 109 not managing to get behind me but making it difficult for me to get a good burst at him.In a rolling scissors i chopped my throttle and got a burst as he flew in front and i saw fuel and puffs of smoke come from the 109.He headed low and i went high , then diving down with the Spit creaking around me i waited until the last second when he filled my screen and let loose striking him from one wing root to the other and just managing to flash underneath him, eyes closed as i thought i was going to collide! By the time i climbed and then rolled to look back where he had been there was nothing, not even a splash so he must have went in like a torpedo.

Being halfway across the channel and about 25 minutes flying time up already i thought i better head in as my fuel is probably low, and then came across the two 110's close in to the coast. I still had plenty of ammo so latched onto them as they turned and punished one with an engine burst which stopped immediately, the other dived then swooped up over my head so i put another burst into my original target, suddenly black dots started falling off it which i realised were the crew, i followed it down and watched it splash and tumble into the channel. The other was now above and behind me so i turned, climbed and met it with gritted teeth and slitted eyes. Its frontal armament is quite devastating and this could be the stupidest thing i had done in a long time..plus how was Fatty ever going to find his pillow that i had stashed behind the oven in the kitchen if i bought the farm ?

I managed a few hits on his wing and dove under , all of his rounds passed over excepting a few i copped somewhere behind me but hitting nothing vital, no smoke, no fire, all controls good.I know had the advantage and stall turned down on him, then looking at my fuel i freaked ! Bingo fuel! I decided three kills was a good enough haul and didn't want to push my luck , or have written on my tombstone..Here Lies Ajay..Stealer of Pillows, so i hightailed it back to Blighty. Not wanting to push i made for Wilmington which was the closest base and put her down.On closer inspection once i turned the wonderful Merlin off i saw i had been looking at my empty oxygen tank and had enough fuel to have kept on the 110.

Tonight i may explain to Fatty the importance of instrument training , of course i will sneak his pillow back first.


Fatty blazing away!



Hitting one and being shot at by his wingy



Splash 1



Above the other one after a prolonged duel



Flat out pass, a kill and nearly colliding!



110 boys bailing



At Wilmington with no oxygen but plenty of fuel..







Heinkill i went into that mission pretty worried about Fatty but he pulled his weight ok and made it back , scored no hits but at least he had a bit of spirit

Once more into the breech..Fatty and i had been tasked with ship patrol, he said he had slept like a baby , apparently his pillow was bunched up under his bed behind his kit box...he also said he had dreams of bacon and sausages all night and could still smell them in the morning, at least the yellow stain is gone from his face.

My spit was in for servicing so i took a fresh one today, real smart bit of kit with its grey on darker grey paint job and should be perfect for the early evening patrol out over the darkening channel.We met the slow moving convoy and waggled our wings giving the boys a show by diving down in between them at full noise and then rocketing up.We settled in at about 300 feet and started scanning the sky, cruising along low and doing circuits.A weird feeling made me look behind as we approached the front of the ships.Fatty! A 109 right behind him and diving! We had been bounced but he flick rolled and headed off in the opposite direction to the attacker, he really was improving!

I pulled as tight as i could and was straight away on the tail of the 109 and saw another in front of him higher and climbing. I rattled off a good long burst as he climbed to follow his leader scoring hits. Myself losing to much speed i had to side slip down to stop a stall and he managed to turn away from me, once i had some speed i saw he had turned back again and was going to come right across in front of me, i waited until i thought he was nearly there then sent a hail of lead out that he flew straight through. I had either hit him or a vital part as he never deviated and dove straight down and smashed into the sea. Ahead of me Fatty was cutting the corner of the other 109, i had once again lost some speed in my tight turn and when i straightened and looked for the other 109 i saw Fatty pull a head on pass at him and flash by me at top speed, turning into a real fighter he was!

I settled in behind the now severely disadvantaged 109 pilot, both of us above him, lining him up i saw strikes on his tail, wings and fuselage.Overshooting the 109 i had to pull up and come back down on him as he headed away low over the ships, i thought about saving him for Fatty but i was in a prime position so dove down and applied the coup de grâce , sending him barreling into the ocean after his mate.For a bounce we were lucky so i am thinking maybe they were overconfident and expected us to scatter as they should have nailed at least one of us in that first pass.

We did two more passes over the ships where i saw the men all out on the deck waving and jumping , poor buggers slogging along down there , they looked like great slugs just barely moving as we shot past them.We waggled our wings one last time and headed home so as to get there before dark, Fatty landing first this time , both of us grinning as we clambered out of our cockpits. 'Bacon' said Fatty.. 'it's all i have been thinking about!'... 'Bacon indeed' said i.

Bounced



Smoking first 109 and side slipping



Snapshot



Splash 1


Fatty head on attack



Splash 2



Vertical entertainment for the ships

Well today..more ship patrol, and thanks to Fatty, felt a bit queasy over the waves.All that bacon, and up and down and up and...eeeerp!There goes the bacon! Chiefy is gonna hate me , and with that swill rolling around on the floor i don't really want any violent acrobatics..

So we were just approaching a small convoy when Fatty called out incoming and dove away, i chased him down and saw two big planes coming in low..real big. Fat's dove in with a tallyho and tore in between them like a man possessed and i followed watching tracer shooting up after him.Condors! Plenty of armament but flying low and slow.I started my attack from above and behind lining up and getting a four second burst into really close range when it's wing tank exploded nearly taking me out and violenty surging me upwards!I looked back and the condor was a flaming wreck plummeting into the sea.

I saw Fatty engaging what must have a 110 near the ships and decided to take on the other condor.Chasing him down i came in from the side and got a good burst that straddled him from front to rear, leaping over the great plane i rolled and settled in behind him..sending him into the drink with another burst on the wing, once again igniting the fuel.Seems they have a vulnerable spot.

Looking back towards the ships i could see Fatty was still tangling so i went to join in the fun with the 110's, sizing up one that was coming around on Fat's i got what must have been a half second burst on his outer wing and he spun into the sea out of control! Fatty had now settled in behind me and we chased down the one he had fired on which was leaking coolant or fuel.A prolonged fight with this one as he threw her about the sky, she seemed to be made of iron as it absorbed round after round but flew like she was made of balsa.Must have put a couple of hundred rounds into her over a few minutes but she just kept on flying and making an impossible target. His mistake was to go low and when i fired on it his next violent move put it in the sea , rolling on its wing leaving its tail bobbing up with the waves.

Fatty got his first shared kill so it was a big moment for him and he said he was going to double his bacon order in celebration! This made me remember my own bacon chunks slopping around on the floor , one piece sliding down the canopy slowly..chiefy was going to have a fit!Then when all seemed well and we were landing, Fat's reared up and stalled on the edge of the runway then plummeted in! A fireball and bits of Spitfire everywhere! ..and out of the carnage i saw him running..smacking his head like a mental patient as his hair had caught alight! sheeeesh..he must have an angel over him.

Condor explodes in first pass



Looking back



Fatty engaged



Second Condor under attack



Splash 2



Splash 110



The 110 that took more than half of my ammo..old ironside



but finally down



And the brief..Fatty down.




So total claims after 4 missions will be as follows...

6 109's

2 110's

1 110 shared and 1 damaged

2 Condors

and a -1 for Fatty down.

so 10 total kills and 1 shared - with Fattie's loss dropping it to 9 and 1 shared

Great stuff, Heinkill! Can hardly wait to try this. I've posted this over at the ATAG forum:

http://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/showthread.php?840-Keep-Fatty-Alive-Challenge!!&p=5493#post5493

Thanks very much for doing this!

'On the way out he mentioned he had a bad sleep and had to use his life vest as a pillow and has a bright yellow stain on his face'

lol this is good stuff Ajay

Good tip, Cheesehawk. I'll have to resurrect my Voice Commander utility. Not many of the CoD comms work (yet), but at least some do.

Ajay - great AAR's!!!

Hi guys

Glad it is working out...I am at work all day and night at the moment but will start tallying up the kills at the end of the week. Warning, the missions get progressively harder...

What settings are you running Ajay? I'm having a hard time finding more than 2 contacts. Fritz hasn't been exactly helpful either, I swear the only thing he's looking at is his fuel gauge, lol.

Missions 1-2 are intended as intro missions...in 1 you will only find 2 contacts, in 2 there are 2 primary and two secondaries. in 3 the same, with tougher opponents. in 4 you get some heavies with escort. 5 you either escort or intercept a raid. Six... Well, enough said for now!

Great AARs. Luckily Freddy and Fritz are flameproof, waterproof, and fly with a lucky rabbit's foot and horseshoe...

H

On the map i have the waypoints listed but no map icons or plane icons, i despise the plane icons just too damned ugly. Locked in pit as well.

1 think generally the enemy (so far) has found me rather than me find them except for the condors that Fatty found before me.The first mission they were head on and i didnt see them until they buzzed past, the second was the same again with a head on by the 109's.Then the third they found us. Twice i encountered the 110's near the coast lapping back and forth but i knew they were there somewhere as i had spotted them earlier so i just kept me eyes peeled and hung around in the general target area. Mostly staying low enough i can spot them against the sky, i find if i am too high i have no chance seeing them against the water unless i am very close.

I intend to give the Luftwaffe version a run next as i am more comfortable in the 109 and the hitting power with the cannon makes a real difference in close.I know when shooting down 109's with the 109 (yeh yeh i know but it was for a good cause ) i find i use a lot less ammo and i am more likely to get a wing seperation at the wingroot or a good wing or engine fire , whereas with the spit i hardly ever get a wing seperation or a fire with a lot more ammo put on the target.I have managed to get very conserative with my shooting though and normally i am only putting in half second bursts , so many snap shots! Only giving it more than that if the plane is filling my sights.

And dont think all that ramble makes me a good pilot, i can juggle an enemy around my sight for ages before i get a kill, i seem to be able to be steady as on approaches or when diving or climbing for them but once i have the, lined up i am all over the place like a madman , i find i used to use rudder to line up in IL2 a lot and it is a nasty habit to kick now in CloD.I think the slipstreaming must come into play a bit too ?

I realised i have radio messages off , was too annoyed by the constant pointless dribble that kept coming over it , maybe i am missing something there, will check that tonight.

Let me know if the early LW missions need tweaking to get enemy in your face. Can quickly adjust proximity and aggression and repost the download. It isn't intended to be Where's Wally. (Or Vere ist Valdemar)

As to Fritz crying low fuel, this is a skill issue, so a sign the skill settings work. Novices bug out at any excuse...fuel less than 50pc, slight damage, you name it...feigling! He will get better. As Ajay has noted with Fatty, he does improve and in later missions he might actually outscore you...

H

I doubt it, he's going to end up a casualty if he shoots across my canopy again!

So far Fatty hasn't shoulder shot once, both times when i thought he was i looked and saw enemy fighters.The biggest problem i am having with him atm is the complaints about the lack of bacon in the mess!

During my second mission, after wiping the floor with the 2 Hurris, I was off to hunt the Defiants down. 30 seconds over England, Fritz announced his fuel was low, and he promptly veered off back to France. Not knowing how HK has these set up, I thought this was a prompt for me to follow and observe Fritz getting jumped (although now that I think about it, getting "jumped" by Defiants would be about the safest thing I can imagine for Fritz), so I gamely followed him home.

I also found you can keep your wingman safer by allowing him more room when the @#$# hits the fan. Go to the formation actions, and set to either Middle or Far. I prefer Middle, as I can keep a better eye on him that way. If he's Near or Close, anyone turning on you, will set up on him first, and he's not the pilot you are (hopefully!).

Mission 3...

Perhaps give a few more seconds before being jumped HK. I barely had time to center TrackIR, open rads, and they were already on us. Hadn't even disengaged my AutoPP. Quite a fight, those birds are FAAAST.

that was kind of the idea! Catch all you CEMers fiddling with yer knobs.

Wouldn't be bad if it weren't an AirStart. That's just picking on those with too many controllers! heh (TrackIR was the worst offender there)

I have found the worst thing is the shifting between instrument view and then sitting back view..that second and a half or two seconds when the view adjusts and stays centered.Man! Anooooying! For that split bit of time you are stuck in centre view and thats all it can take to miss a dead certainty shot or the other plane getting out of your sights or peel off and peeling away then you have to go through the motions again.

Anyway.. Fat's my main man and myself found a gaggle of Stukas heading in for what looked like a strike on Dover , we were in a perfect bounce position and just waded right in blazing.I was trying to tell Fat's to seperate but got task saturated and had to leave him to his own devices..he seems pretty well on the ball now so i was not too worried about him and could not see any fighters.I watched him wading in amongst the Stukas as i was coming up from underneath , loosing a few burst's at them. flashing through the middle and then gaining height, rolling down and having a shot at them with a pile of speed on.We repeated this a few times and had four of the six trailing various oils and fuel , i think nearly all six had some sustained some type of damage by now in a matter of a minute or two.

Two Stukas dove down so i followed them but couldn't get a burst at them while were vertically diving, i lost them in the pull out but came up and saw three more off to my right and just above.I called Fatty back to me as i could not see him and climbed up firing at the front Stuka , his mate crossing my sight and managed to gets bits of both in one burst! The first one i hit took most of the rounds and dived to his left and his two mates followed , then me behind still firing. They corkscrewed down and two seperated from the one i was firing on who i flew over at top speed, having to pull up to avoid becoming a submarine by the time i could look back i could not see a trace of him so he must have went in.

We found the other two , one smoking and i sent a burst from below and watched his upper tailplane and rudder assembly break loose and flutter off, then he slowly circled loosing height and smacked into the sea upside down.Fatty confirmed two definite for me and i may have nailed another but never saw him go in, just saw him drop out of formation in our initial scrap and dive downwards.I will let the Kill board decide on that on one.

Going back over the action in my head i think i did see another single engined fighter a few minutes into our attack but i am unsure whether it was friend or foe as there was a lot going on.Fatty has no recollection and said he more worried if the bacon he hid in the early hours of the morning in his kit locker has been discovered.Maybe it's time to steal his pillow again...

Coming in to the coast Hawkinge was closer so i opted to land there and despite telling Fatty several times to rtb he plodded along behind me so i am guessing his set was on the blink, being worried about what he was doing and if he would land on me or not i executed some violent turns before landing to try and throw him off and as i was touching down he flew low over my head causing me to panic and lock the brakes..thus upending my crate.His pillow is definitely gone when i get back!

Initial pass through the middle of the Stukas, bit of spray and prey



Rolling and turning as i was copping some mg hits from the rear gunners



Fatty getting in there



Impact from underneath



Follow the smokey leader



Finishing him off



Tail being swallowed



...not impressed, really , you should have seen my stern look.



Brief.



Now the brief. As i look at it i get three kills credited to me and two damaged with Fatty claiming none..correct?

Just wondering as in my mission 4 above, the condor one, it shows three destroyed 2 x condors and 1x 110 by me, and then in damaged it shows the four enemy craft with one of the 110s at 50 percent damage by me.. but doesnt list it as destroyed anywhere in the statistics though i saw it splash down and claimed it as a shared between me and Fatty.So i am guessing you only see Player destroyed and not other planes destroyed by ai pilots on your side.

Seems a bit of a mess the way they list the destroyed and damaged with the same percentage.Once it is destroyed there really is no reason to show it as damaged at the same percent. Looking at that same one (condor mission) you can see my three kills listed in both destroyed and damaged at 77 and 96 for the Condor and 100 for the 110.Makes no sense having it twice? Or am i missing something basic here?

Reason i am asking is that, is it possible Fatty got a kill in the above Stuka mission and it is not listed as the 110 was not ? And is the Stuka i got a 17% damage on listed as destroyed all mine or did Fatty maybe get 50 % ? I know it will not always need a 100% to be a kill as a pilot kill may only be 10 % or something..dunno.Just seems strange.

Quite a few pics in this one..but it needs it

Lifted off under attack, looked back and saw a bunch of fighters so gained some speed keeping low and turned into them, Italians! Nifty looking little rigs too..rather sporty! Had one on my tail that i easily out climbed then dove on, the buggers are that slow that they are actually a harder target than the Messers, so played with him for a while back and forth over Manston , must have put nearly half of my ammo into the little ruddy thing but he just kept on flying and diving and weaving and rolling, i dont know what they make these machines out of over there in Italy but they are rugged!

His mate kept on popping up behind me so i pulled up and he overshot , losing his tail on my wing in the process, but causing no damage to me, i let him go and managed to finally get a good hit on the other Fiat and saw him slowing and going low so thinking he was a goner i swooped straight over onto 'Mr i don't need a tail'.

He was flying on merrily as if a tail was just an inconvenience and had only hindered the progress of flight.So lining up i plugged him with a good two second burst, weave, duck,roll,climb,dive..this dude was out of control! I had to keep on popping my flaps to drop speed and stay behind him, then he would dart away and flaps back in, i would give chase and pour more lead in.Like a sponge to water he just absorbed the rounds and i swear i saw him give a middle finger salute when i pulled alongside..more holes than a cheap spy novel! And she just kept on flying like a piece of paper caught in an ever increasing updraft.

I then decided it was my mission in life to down this pesky little freak of a plane, slowing down and not wasting any ammo i shot at him every time i had a dead certain chance of a hit, twang! tink! twank!waaang! bzzzzzz! bits kept on flying off , smoke puffs lit of his wings and fuselage but he just kept on keeping on.One of his other pals passed me head on firing and another was off to my left and coming in but i was oblivious to these and had blacked out everything around me and could only now focus on the super plane of absorbance.

Another 10 pounds of lead in his direction and i think the weight of .303 bullets was finally starting to tell as he definitely was slower in his turns, then his flaps popped so i dropped mine and slowed to just above a stall, she was getting a bit shaky so gentle movements on the stick and keep on plugging away at this plane of invulnerability.Rage, disbelief..and a little fear had now built in me and i knew then that i was never too have this victory.

He had scared me by not plopping into the sea under the repeated attack by His Majesty's finest aircraft and was now just stirring the pot.I was beyond caring and even thought of tickling him in the rear with my Merlin but surely his tail would open and eat whatever i offered! I held my finger down as if it was glued to the trigger and was scoring hits everywhere, but still he flew and slower even, but his engine just burbled on.. not missing a beat! Then it happened, i stalled, less than 20 feet above the Channel..no chance of recovery..splash down.And he just flew on trailing a little smoke in his wake, probably not even from his Fiat but no doubt a reverse victory cigar! I seethed in my cockpit upside down, and finally decided that as much as i could have just sunk with my spit in shame ..i just really do not like the squidlike creatures that abound here so crawled up onto the undercarriage and awaited the rescue boat.

I heard someone mention that Galland or one of those Lufty boys had asked for a few Spitfires..myself..i knew what we needed to win the war.Fiats...and probably not many.

Takeoff for what seemed like another normal series of duals..



First hits on a nimble but slow Italian job



A good look at the little sporty machine



Quick burst



Mr invulnerable approaches..



Spraying red dots of evil scorn at me



So up i go and chop his tail off..then after a last burst at his mate, begin the pursuit..



after enough hits to shoot down two Condors he pulls up beside me to show off his speed holes



Blasting bits of him for the umpteenth time, maybe he was throwing my bullets back at me, chewed up between his teeth while smiling



The battle of who is the slowest, proving the Fiat can outclass my Spit in this area..



My final burst just before the stall and noticing i had quite a few holes myself



Kicking an own goal and thinking of squid...while supes fly of into the distance..grinning, with a fat cigar trailing smoke.



Brief.



Fatty must have went down early, i didn't even see him once.

Shame! All that hard work and no kills to show for it...the bombers would have been worth more points! And by the look of it, easier to bring down! I do wonder though if Luigi would have made it back across the ditch...

I think the mission report from earlier shows you getting 2 kills, with Fatty or someone else getting 1. 3 Aircraft were destroyed, but with you having 17%, someone else got in a large amount of damage. You had assists on all 3, but 2 of them you got majority damage. Not sure how that would translate in RL back in the day, but game-wise, Fatty looks to have put a licking on at least 1.

HK can score this however, I'm simply stating how the in-game is divided.

There are 109s flying escort in the Stuka mission and they do go after you, though they have only 'average' skills. If you are as fixated on the Stukas as you probably were, and maneouvering as radically as you definitely were, you either just didn't see them or were lucky and lost them! There are also Hurris from 111 squadron helping out against the Stukas so it could also been one of these you saw.

I do love the way missions like this play out when you are really focused on your own flying and fighting - you experience that feeling of fighting your own fight and only notice half of what is going on around you, and then often you get those moments where you are in a furball with several machines, chase a foe and knock him down, then look around and the sky around you is suddenly empty and you are all alone.

As to kills I also find it is hard to judge from the pure combat report, hence the player does need to assess. In your Stuka mission AAR you listed two definite kills and a probable. That should be your score... ie 2.

In the 'Italian Job', you listed 1 kill and 1 damaged and this is what the summary shows. Unfortunately, you crashed, so no kills count in that mission, but kudos for the HONOURABLE HONESTY!!

And keep them AARs coming! I hope to contribute my own when I get back from work, but of course I won't be eligible for the prize!

The tournament has also been posted at Airwarfare and 1C. Here is one of the other player's AARs...

pacer12

Mission: RAF Mission 1
Report: The enemy planes came at us and quickly we got them in a turn and as they slower moveing I could easily hit them from behind. I went for there cooling systems. I damaged both on the one and one on the other, but also made a fual leak Both crashed.

Claims: 1X BF 110 C-4 player damage: 100 %
1X BF 110 C-4 player damage: 50 %
Score to date: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged.

I will tell you why in a pm that i did not go after the bombers Heinkill, i flew that las mission twice, first time i played with a Fiat for a minute or so then climbed after the bombers and decided they were far too easy to bring down so hit restart and left them alone the second time

Well to me the scoring system within clod leaves something to be desired, but i suppose in the fog of battle it should not really be that easy to confirm some kills, i know with the Stuka action i totally was not worrying about Fatty at all and just hoping he was hanging with me..and not wanting to dive after a smoking stuka to confirm a kill as the others were all still up high. So do you chase and confirm to get a definite or go for the two in the bush. Happy with a probable or damaged that may or may not make it home and he has been diverted from his attack so in a way it is a small victory.

So if i sum up then Heinkeill, correct me if i am wrong as we are using you as the Kill board judge jury and executioner


So total claims after 6 missions will be as follows...

After 4 missions


6 109's

2 110's

1 110 shared and 1 damaged

2 Condors

and a -1 for Fatty down.

so 10 total kills and 1 shared - with Fattie's loss dropping it to 9 and 1 shared

After mission 5

2 Ju87's

1 shared with Fatty so he gets a full kill now (yay Fat's) ..obviously i wont be claiming shareds, just getting Fatty some action.

2 damaged

Takes total to 11 kills , 1 shared , 2 damaged.

After mission 6

1 kill and 1 damaged , me in the drink and Fatty down.

Total still 11 kills , 1 shared , 3 damaged.

Luftwaffe mission 1

Bloody &%¤#!!! Fritz.

We catch 2 Hurricanes sleeping at the stick, low and slow. I call the enemy and dive down behind them.



Fritz poodles along up above without reacting.



But he looks pretty safe up there on his own. The Hurricanes execute a slow turn in vic formation, so I go after the rearmost Hurricane. Get a few deflection shots in and then lose them momentarily. When I locate them again...



Fritz is under attack!

I close frantically, firing at his attacker from long range to drive him off



This works...unfortunately his wingman has snuck up behind me and hammers my tail and I start streaming glycol.



What a b*llsup! Of course if I had a wingman of any worth, he'd be back protecting my six, but Fritz is waddling around 500m below.



I head for France.



Gauges look ok, temps look okay, France getting closer



Coast of Le Havre comes into view. A beautiful sight!



My engine seizes, oil sprays over the windscreen.



Engine completely kaput.



I go in like a flying brick.



As I float around off the cliffs of Le Havre, fuming...



Fritz makes a lovely three pointer and goes in to call the rescue services



Claims:



Funnily the summary screen doesn't show I lost my machine, but no matter. No claims. Grrrrrrrrrr.

Luftwaffe mission 2

Much more satisfactory! Fritz just followed around behind me like a placid duckling, staying out of trouble while I dealt with a couple of Hurris and then found a couple of Defiants but was lucky to get away with my skin intact after a mid air collision. Got a nice bag to kick off my scoring though with 3 destroyed.



Clipped the first Hurri with a head on shot that ripped off his elevator





Then closed behind him and gave him a long burst which set something alight



Followed up by chewing the tail off his mate





Then lucked onto a couple of Defiants but got too close



Clipped him with my tail, ripped off his wing and my rudder





I could still maneouvre though, so called it a day! Foibles of war, the summary screen shows the Hurri destroyed after the Defiant, but it was the other way around. I realised later the Hurri was limping along with the pilot dead, so he must have gone in after I hit the Defiant, and it is recorded that way. Something to remember in future if the mission summary seems strange.

Unlucky Cheese, Fatty seems a bit better than Fritz Are you going to try the RAF version ? Maybe you should just RTB Fritz at the beginning of the missions and continue alone

I haven't decided yet, just looking at the briefs, seems there's a few more planes to hunt in the RAF version, but I love my big explosions in the 109! Hadn't had much time the last couple of nights, but I'll get the campaign done this weekend.

HK, any rules concerning modding your mission files? I want to change my loadout, I didn't realize it was stock, and convergence is also way out of whack compared to what I normally use. Probably save me 50% of my ammo right there, lol.

The only mandatory things are limited ammo and invulnernerability off. All other settings are up to you...including changing kites if you don't like the marque, or increasing the number of opponents if you want a tougher challenge earlier on. Go for it!

Good form HeinKill - thanks for the effort! I'm glad we are allowed two attempts at each map since my first didn't go well... I sidled up to the first 110 and the gunner nailed me, radiator and regulator gone just like that but luckily able to limp back to land. Second effort was much cleaner.

RAF #1

Well, it was a good first outing for Fatty with a couple of 110s to play with. I landed a few deflection shots on the rear 110:

+2011-12-03_00002

He didn't like it much and was leaking like a sieve on my second pass:

+2011-12-03_00014

The third pass probably wasn't necessary since he went in immediately after this (but who knew?)

+2011-12-03_00019

I had been negligent, taking too much time with the 110 and Fatty was being harassed by the other enemy. I closed and landed a few shots on him after which he broke from Fatty's six. Not surprising since his gunner was dead:

+2011-12-03_00037

You can take some liberties with a 110 without a gunner. This vertical pass finished him off - he dropped straight into the drink with his tail blown off:


Claim: 2 kills and Fatty safe.

1-result

Oh, by the way this was full real except for anthropomorphic. I will use map icons for the rest though since figuring out where you are after an air start is not much fun!

Nice work! Better start than my own!

Mission 7.

Escorting some Wellibags to hit the Jerries, about time we had a crack at them.I seperated Fatty out to my right so i could keep and eye on him we slowed off so we could stay behind the bombers.Just as we picked up again 4 single engined fighters buzzed below the Welli's , my instinct was to break down into them but i thought if i stay behind they will come onto them and we can get a shot..then Fatty broke.Damn.So i followed Fatty down and before you knew it he was on the tail of a 109 and one was on his and firing , being right behind i sent a good burst which rocked the 109 and he peeled off slowly to the right trailing all sorts of fluids,leaving Fat's out of danger.I was going to follow him and see if he went down but was more worried about the Welli's now than a confirm.

When i looked off towards the Wellibags i saw they had already bombed as smoke was rising from the Jerry field, i called Fatty back and headed towards a bunch of dots i could see over France that i guessed must be the bombers. Yep, the Welli's and they had two planes zooming on them from behind.Being too far away all i could was watch as the 109's chewed into them, one started smoking and headed straight down, another one followed trailing a thinner trail, maybe oil.

The 109's zooomed up after their pass no doubt getting ready for a second attack so i kept my speed but climbed slowly so as to be in position behind the Welli's when they came in again.I could see the first smoking bomber had gone in leaving a pall of smoke on the edge of some town, the second one was clawing back up to the other two who the 109's were now attacking again. This time i was close enough to send a burst and seperate the fighters, i released Fatty to send him after them to try to keep them off the bombers, then concentrated on the one i had seperated who was now climbing to try and rejoin his mate.

Getting in behind and below i got a good burst and he broke and dove low..following him i raked his engine , cockpit and fuselage from above and he dived and never recovered, down into the channel.

Pulling back up i could see the Welli's were heading home and nothing anything else in the area.I called Fat's back from wherever he was and within a minute or so he was behind me and we headed to the bombers.One was badly damaged and crabbing off to the left of the other two who were heading straight for England.By the time we were nearly near over the coast the wounded Welli was out of sight and we last saw him flying one wing down and heading towards the open sea.They had plenty of height so should have been able to parachute and we had sent of multiple distress calls so i expect they will be ok.

Landed behind one of the Welli's with Fat's once again not hearing my rtb radio messages and flying low beside me then buzzing the field about three times whilst i came to a stop near the hangar the welli had pulled up in.I switched off and watched one more come in safely then headed to find a good rt guy and see if they had any good working sets for Fatty's Spitfire.Obviously the ones our chiefy was putting in were second rate as they only worked half the time.

Fatty ruining my plan..



The result of Fatty breaking away



Revenge for the lost Wellibag



Splash 1



Damaged Welli



One Welli home with Fatty upper right



2 home.



Brief



I only saw one 109 go in so i am only claiming one definite and 1 probable on this mission.

One welli and 1 escorting spit lost and 1 Wellibag possibly still on its way to America So two bombers down.

Last mission.

Well we got word to meet a flight of 109's over the channel.By way of a dropped message..very pistols at dawn type of stuff!I made sure Fatty had his pillow and a stomach full of bacon before bed, i needed him in top form!I hand picked 4 other leading pilots as i am sure we would be facing the Luftwaffes best, i didn't want to go into this fight with bad odds.

A bit nerve racking over the channel wondering where they were so we climbed and climbed , i did not want to be under them.I dropped my nose to have a look and there they were! In front but lower and flying straight under us! I gave the order to attack and dove around and into them, i picked one who was climbing below and in front, waited until he appeared in my sights and gave him a burst observing several strikes, he rolled and dove and i chased him down in a spiral not able to get a bead on him until he started climbing again.I saw a heap of tracer come past my canopy at that moment and looking behind a 109 was closing on me and firing.I rolled and peeled her her down as tight as icould and called on help as the 109 stuck with me.

Another 109 flashed past in a head on pass on me and then another off to my right who i got a snap shot on as he flew across in front.Looking behind i saw the boys had arrived and were dealing with my attacker so i pulled around after the one i had just hit.He was now low and flying straight leaking coolant or fuel, i got a good hit on him from above and he slowly peeled off on one wing into the channel, no chute. Anotehr 109 had got in behind and made a pass on me hitting me somewhere in the rear and the wing, flashing over the top i let go a burst but nearly stalled when pulling up and noticed she was handling a bit sloppy so i must have something damaged.

I called my lads to rejoin, and circled looking for any threats, two 109s were low and heading away and one was high above looking like he was heading in their sirection too. A few more circles keeping my eyes peeled and four spits joined me so we lost someone , but i had nailed one and damaged another so it was an even brawl. Climbing slowly and feeling my aircraft we headed through some clouds and i rtb'd the other spits when we hit the coast. I landed at the first field i saw as i did not want to risk whatever damage i had suddenly plummeting me into the ground or something silly.

Landed safely and as usual was buzzed by Fatty..damn him.

After first 109



Under attack myself



Trying to shake him



Snap shot



Calling in the boys !



Splash 1



Iced over on the way home



Fatty the buzzer



Brief



1 x 109 claimed , 1 damaged.


So total overall for kills is

13 kills ,1 probable, 1 shared , 4 damaged.

Plus two welli's home is +2 each?

Heinkill..you can take it from there

Cheers for the missions and flying , was cool

Luftwaffe Mission 3:

Summary: (2nd try, first try I put my Emil into a flat spin and hit the sea.) Bounced by Spits. I broke left, Fritz broke right, Spits broke left and came after me. I made a dumb climbing turn. Got slaughtered. Caught fire. Died. Fritz fled. End of mission.

Bounced



Slaughtered



Caught fire, died. Ouch, my pride...



Fritz runs for it.

Have posted the first 'Leaderboard'

See who is leading the tournament as of Sunday 4 December!

http://bobgamehub.blogspot.com/p/cod-honour-tournament.html

Players with (DOT) above their name are playing the tournament but have not submitted summary screens so are deemed 'playing for fun', not for the 25USD prize...

I fear losing Fatty and not shooting down that Fiat will come back to haunt me

Can't wait to get into that 109 and have the extra firepower of the cannn in close!

C'mon the rest of you guys, jump in and have a crack at the missions!

Those ATAG boys will be along any time now . . . can't believe they would let the RAF run away with all the glory (and looking at my LW AARs they know I am not going to win the war for them!) eh Snapper?!

RAF #2

After the first mission I was expecting a pair of 109s in the second mission and was not disappointed. However, since my first attempt was very short-lived (a head-on collision with a 109 that took my right wing off on the initial pass!) I was unaware of the two 110s in this mission and Fatty paid for my overconfidence...

We had just taken off and were low just off the coast when we spotted a pair of 109s diving on us. We split and climbed, turning, to meet them. Fatty almost collided with the lead 109 and we both turned hard to chase, not having enough speed to climb away from them. They were foolish enough to try turning & burning with our pair of spits and we started to line them up without checking six. This was evidently their plan! The pair of 110s that were following close behind, unspotted by us, pounced and shot off Fatty’s rudder and elevator. He bailed.

(Yes, that is Fatty's rudder falling away)


(Fatty bailing)


I was lucky enough to get away with a few holes in my right aileron which left my handling a bit sloppy. Thankfully the fire went out just as I was about to bail!


At this point I didn’t know that Fatty had bailed (I thought he had crashed) so after confirming that I had evaded the 110s I continued chasing down the 109s. Both went down in the same pass, only 10 seconds apart. I had a clean hit on the first pilot and the second bailed when his plane caught fire and crashed. Two down, two to go...

(First 109 hit with canopy falling away, lining second one up)


(Second 109 about to be extinguished the hard way)


The 110s were doing a slow turn just off the coast when I caught them. I quickly nailed the first one – not sure what the damage was but the crew both bailed although the gunner jumped only just before the plane hit the water. I got a few good hits on the other 110 before running out of ammo and collected a few extra holes in the fuselage from the gunner as I turned for home. The last I saw he was streaming oil or fuel and water so I hoped he might not make it back. After landing at the nearest field I check with radar (i.e. the icons on the map…) and he was still up! Tough old birds those 110s!

(Pilot bailing from the 110)


Claim: +3 for 2 x 109s and 1 x 110, -1 for Fatty (sorry mate but at least you made it home looking a bit soggy). External shots were taken during replay.

RAF #3

Well I forgot to take a screenie of the results page but never mind.

There we were, flying along innocently, when we were bounced by a couple of 109s! How rude... We broke and engaged them in a turning fight. Fatty killed one by neatly removing the wing:



The other guy fled and we had a long chase through the clouds back toward France. We finally caught up with him - not a good day to be a 109 pilot I think. Just look at the .303 cases:



We shot his rudder off in the next pass...



...but never mind the rudder since the pilot was not looking too healthy:



We rejoined the ships before flying back to Hawkinge at the cloudtops. A very uneventful finish (surprisingly so?) to an exciting day.

Nice, those 110's are pretty tough hey , wait till you meet the Uber Fiats

Sure are tough. I like that about the damage modeling though; sometimes you can empty your entire loadout on a bomber and it flies on but a well placed burst can blow a wing off! I find it interesting to watch enemy damage reports in single player.

I'm speculating, but is it possible the G50 was made of wood? .303s (non incendiary) would pass straight through it unless they hit something vital. I couldn't find anything about their construction in a quick net search, just saw that the G50 was about a tonne lighter than even the wooden framed Hurricane.

OK...back to business. LW Mission 5 for me! No pics (I sneaked this one in between dinner and dessert last night!)

Summary: Objectives - protect the Stukas in a raid on Dover, get some Stukas and Fritz back to France alive. I have to say the two objectives proved mutually exclusive. We were attacked by Spits from above, while the Stukas were attacked by Hurricanes from below. I did the math and worked out that if I could get a Hurricane, and get some Stukas back to France, I would still net out better off than if I just kept Fritz alive and maybe bagged a Spit, but lost all the Stukas. But Stukas were going down like ducks in a shooting alley, and once they had made their dive bombing run they were scattered all over Kent, with Hurricanes on their tails, so I ended evading the Spits, then choosing one helpless Stuka, driving the Hurricane off his tail, and focused on bringing that Hurricane down. He dived for the trees, took a few hits to a wing, then barrel rolled straight into a barn. (Jokes about spilt milk will not be tolerated).

I then caught up to and shepherded my rescued Stuka all the way back to France. I checked on Fritz occasionally, but he was tangled with Spits, so I didn't hold out any hope. On the way back over the Channel with my Stuka we were joined by another (yay, 2 survivors!) and I could see Fritz was making a break for France with a Spit in pursuit. I didn't see the end game, but that was the last I saw of him and he is probably still swimming as I write this! Landed in France with my two Stukas and lo and behold, a third bird, trailing smoke, made it back as well. So all up we lost only slightly more than half of the Stukas!

Points: 1 point for the Hurricane kill, +2 for getting some Stukas home: minus one for losing Fritz: total 2 points. Phew!

After being Hi-Jacked all weekend for Xmas shopping, I can finally get back to a little bit of flying today.

Luftwaffe #3

This one was hairy, Fritz was leaking everything, amazed he didnt die. Had to end the mission before his plane gave up (kinda cheating I know, you can take points if you want HK)





Luftwaffe #4
Here's the report:




Fritz attracts fighters like flies. That at least makes it easy to find them

Not sure what the 5% of the Sunderland was, I think it was my pilot kill, first burst, never needed to go back. I'm sure Fritz never got a shot on it.

All 4 E/A downed, no loss, best mission yet

RAF #4

It was fun hunting the condors until the 110s closed in and it became interesting for a while! Fatty collected one bomber, I got the other:





Claim: +1 for bomber

RAF #5

No kills but we both survived. I avoided the stukas and went after the 109s but despite getting good hits on both neither went down.

RAF #6

Didn't even get warmed up... No result screen for this one, the outcome is pretty obvious!



RAF #7

I enjoyed this one a lot - I had forgotten how interesting bomber defence can be. I sure felt helpless watching a faster 109 closing in on the Wellingtons. My first attempt resulted in KIA from friendly fire, one of the bombers. Second time around I managed to keep four of them alive by harassing the 109s and 110s as they closed. I also collected a 109:





Claim: +1 for the 109, +8 for four surviving bombers (is that right?)

My latest mission (sure is nice after a hectic day to come home to this!)

Mission 5

109's - 0 losses
Ju-87s - 1 loss (don't think they made it to the target though, never saw them dive)

Shot down:

1 Spit II
3 Hurri's

Mission 6 (I think, maybe 7)

Italians were interesting, flying slow circles with the Hurricanes, watched them for awhile, quite beautiful, before I got bored and went in. I am probably getting court martialled after this mission, as I shoulder shot everyone!

Results were pathetic, I was messing around with targetting, so wasted a LOT of bullets. Also was flying with flaps down, engine slowed, trying to imitate H.J. Marseilles. It's tricky flying the 109 that deep, but pretty fun. Managed 3 kills, and 1 Spit heading home that should have been dead, if I didn't waste all my ammo earlier.

Numbers are ok, but don't tell the whole story this flight.

Good job lads! I'll update the leaderboard this weekend. Am in transit from Europe to Australia via Dubai...

Cheers!

H

Commiserations, that's a dog of a route...

On the homestretch now, mission 7 complete. Had to restart to be honest, I nosed over trying to get airborne too fast on the first try, lol. On the 2nd start, I ignored Fritz, as the briefing said he had gotten better... ah well, at least I didn't have to shoot him down myself.



The last Wellie was the funniest kill, out of cannons long ago, I brought 4 Wellies down with just MG's. The last one was on final approach at Lympne, flaps/wheels down, maybe at 200m alt. I came in on him hard, head on at first, and then looped over him. I didn't get the pilot kill, but when I closed on him again, I spooked the pilot into pulling too hard, he stalled it and went in. Never thought the AI would do that! Very pleasantly surprised.

Kills weren't bad, 6 planes in 1 sortie, but I did lose Fritz, and it looks like a couple of the other 109s got killed before I could get in. Fun mission HK, thanks!

During takeoff, watching the Wellingtons come in, you could see little black dots dropping, thought they were bombs!! It ended up it was the 109s BnZ'ing the Wellies, and the Spits chasing them. Great mission design!

HK, are you back from your trip yet? I can't get the last LW mission to load!

Sorry, no. Tell you what though, it is a straight 6 vs 6 mellee vs Spit IIa veterans. Head on merge. The added elements were Frantisek and Galland skins and added points for keeping your flight leader (Galland) alive. And If you can't wait until I get back (22 Dec), just set it up and run it as a quick mission...

I can wait. It might be something in my game. Noticed a problem somewhere else as well.

Got it working again, something corrupted in the game files.

On a side note, I installed Voice Activated Commands, and set it up. Far better control over AI wingmen now. Might have to run through this whole campaign again and see how much better I can do being able to actually give Fritz some commands!

Well my last mission was rather embarrassing! I was hit in the head-on pass (water jacket, radiator) and oil started spreading rapidly over the cockpit. As I turned for home I saw a spit with a 109 stuck tight on his tail so I vectored in and opened fire on deflection. I gave him a few good seconds worth (unlikely to need them after all) and hit the 109. He started streaming fluid badly and disengaged from the spit. Unfortunately I found out later that I landed a couple of hits on the spit, too, so got partial credit for that kill when he came down a few minutes later!

I limped home and landed, badly damaged.



Thanks for the missions - much enjoyed!

If I can catch fritz after my last mission is over, I'm shooting him down on purpose!

Glad to hear, saves me a redo! Am back in Europe again now. When you have posted your last mission result I'll tally up!

Whoops, I'll get on it tonight. I've played it several different times, to see what changes in tactics during the merge does. I'm impressed, the outcomes are very different based off what I do in the first 10-15 seconds!

I haven't pushed for kills hard myself, but I've had 1 mission where RAF losses =5 and LW =0. It was a slaughter! Won't say what I did at the beginning in case there's others that haven't played through it yet.

Exactly! I learned in designing this apparently simple mission what a difference the players actions have on the outcome.

(Also, what a difference it makes to gameplay what formation the two opponents use - line astern was a completely different experience from line abreast or vic. It's entirely subjective but a line astern merge seemed to generate more realistic AI behaviour. Line abreast just saw the two formations sail through each other without firing.)

Any chance you will finish the tournament when you are done with holidays Sokol?

Not the best posting I did on this mission, but a typical result, I'm satisfied.

2 PK's, pretty lucky with my shooting, heard Galland call for help, but someone else cleared him.

2 Kills.

Ha! I better not win! Crap, the Luftwaffe would have been sitting in the pig n whistle on day three of the battle if i was flying a Spit in 1940

LoL Ajay!

I would have changed the course of history pretty badly too. First play of the last mission, I crashed into Galland 5 seconds into the mission! Sneaky guy was hiding beneath my nose!

Phew, it was close! Only one kill in it!

Ajay is the winner of the CoD offline tournament, with 17 victories, over JimboP with 16! Jimbo will no doubt be regretting having lost his copilot Fatty to a Bf110 in mission 2...



Ah, the perils of target fixation...

Well done Ajay!



H

Looks like we have a new Ace around here

Congrats to the winner, nice tournament btw, pity that Clod does not run on my rig

Cheers

Ajay! Ajay! Ajay!

Congrats Ajay - well deserved! Thanks for the missions, Heinkill.

Way to go, Ajay!!!!!!!

Johnnie Johnson will be rolling in his grave

Cheers guys , big thanks and cheers to Heinkel for the work he put in

Ajay has (no surprise) chosen to donate his prize to SimHQ so the 25USD has been sent to Doug today. Nice one Ajay!

The missions can still be downloaded if anyone wants to see how many victories they can rack up. About 200 downloads so far, so if you do play the tournament through, come back and let us know your score!

DOWNLOAD AND PLAY NOW! www.box.com/s/mbl65u8uvtoaemgti2ns

Good job Ajay!

HK, what were the LW scores?

Thanks for the hard work on making these, I really enjoyed them!

Hi, UR welcome CH. Luftwaffe topscorers below. 2 of the Luftwaffe flyers came in via other sites than SImHQ. SOLARIAN substantiated by emailing screenshots, DirectXXX did not/has not completed the full tournament yet.

SOLARIAN: 21 victories
CHEESEHAWK: 19 victories
DIRECTXXX: 14 victories

It seems the Luftwaffe flyers generally got bigger bags, than the RAF flyers. The 20mm MGFF no doubt helps...funny how the tournament mirrored real life in that way!