waypoint woes

maybe a dev question.....and maybe it's been addressed already......but does anybody know if you just bang in the next waypoint instead of circling for altitude...if that screws up anything...bad guys met, escorts unmet,etc? generally there's a long run to target which seems to get the job done to altitude w/out circling behind the lines. anathema, I'm sure for the hard core guys, but the question stands if you please. any perspective would be appreciated...thx

All mission waypoints are visible using JJJ's ME and can be edited before you spawn on the field. You can modify or remove any waypoint leg including other flights such as escorts. So, you can move escort's waypoints closer to your flights path and altitude. Or you can remove A and B flight's altitude leg so that they fly together. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

Gaw1, if I'm the leader I skip the circling to altitude. As you say, there is enough distance (unless your airfield is right by the trenches) to make up the height en route. One disadvantage is that you will lose the A Flight, but typically it's not a big loss. Also, if you skip the climb to altitude while on escort duty, you will eventually end up circling anyways while waiting for them, so pick your poison. HTH

Shift+W is the "next waypoint" command, as you probably know already

If you are following (not leading) then once the flight leader begins the "spiral up to altitude" thing you can hit next-waypoint and he will lead you off to the next waypoint. Saves time but leaves A-Flight behind as mentioned above

If you are the flight leader, then once you have reached 500 feet altitude and your wingmen have snapped out of the takeoff routine and begun to follow you then you can hit next waypoint twice to get the waypoint set at Waypoint#1. Hit it a third time and the waypoint will now be the target. (test it with the TAC on to see how it works)

Once you have the hang of it, you can do all of this without bringing up the TAC assuming you like to play 'real' and have no crap on your screen.

I am recently coming to believe that maybe I can even ignore waypoints and just fly. WOFF seems to give credit for reaching the target even if you bypass earlier waypoints? This is new to me and I have to test this some more. Anybody able to confirm?

Invaluable. Thank you all.......

Wow, that is good gouge! I'd love to bypass the escort whifferdill and just provide TARCAP for the escortees. I had no idea you could force lead to skip waypoints as wing.

Thanks for that!

What is the "TAC"?

TAC means tactical display. It toggles on/off using "shift+T". It shows the flight path to the next waypoint and objects such as aircraft, balloons, structures, and airfields. You can adjust which objects are depicted and the range.

Yes you can skip waypoints up to a point, but whatever you do you must do the mission, escort the bombers, patrol whatever..

Yes shift+W works in most modes and skips to next waypoint as 77_Scout said.

Sweet!