Multiplayer bomber experience

[VBF-12_Stick-95]

Yesterday and today I went on Wings of Liberty for some high level bombing in an He-111.  I like the  way the mission designers have done their target areas, very nice.

 

Yesterday.  I checked the time when I came onto the server.  There was 1 hour and 36 minutes left.  Great, time for a run.  Took off, and climbed for altitude.  I was going for a back target so it was going to take a while to get there.  After reaching altitude I cruised to target,  Got on my final run, target in sight, watching as the angle gets closer.  Just about ready to drop and BOOM, end of mission.  I thought, really?  I know there was plenty of time left.  One side or the other must have won and the mission rotated.  Oh well...

 

Today.  I checked the time, 3 hours and 6 minutes left.  Great!  What about the remaining targets?  Only 1 taken out.  Very promising.  Again I took off, and climbed for altitude.  The target was closer than the day before so in order to get to proper altitude I had to climb in a rectangle before heading out.  After reaching altitude I set out to the target, Had the target in sight and was double checking all settings when BOOM, end of mission, the Germans won.  I thought you have got be be sh.tt.ng me, really?  There was over 2 hours left on the clock.

 

Mission designers, do you expect guys to make level bombing runs?  I don't think I will be any time soon.  You are going to have to come up with something better than the current situation.  Just because one side wins does not mean you have to immediately roll the map, especially if there is 2 hours left.  What if you notice that one side won and then give a remaining 20 to 30 minutes for people to finish up whatever they are doing, i.e. bombing, dogfighting, landing, etc.

 

Sorry, don't mean to rag on you, I know you do this for nothing, it just was frustrating.

 

[361fundahl]

Just low level dive bomb with the sc2500 on a 5 second time and you should be okay. (Stay above 350kph!)

 

 

Just kidding! (Not really, it's fun)

[LAL_Luny]

I agree, when the objective is reached there should be enough time after to properly finish the mission.

 

Its also not so fun when its you who effectively gets the last target remaining : you hit and then change of mission..no time to get back home

Edited April 9, 2015 by UF_Luny

[sturmkraehe]

There are level bombers for a reason: To do level bombing. I hope in the future that good mission designs will come up that manage to incide people to go for ground targets in all sort of ways - including rewarding targets for level bombers.

 

Edit: I think it is not practicable to allow to finish an individual sortie after objectives have been done. If the mission is won how long could this be? 30mins? Experience is that people will leave the server. However, mission should be such that winning a mission is possible within the aloted mission time but require some effort so that the average mission completion time is not excessively shorter than the aloted ontine of a mission. But to tweak a mission like this needs a lot of experience and the fmb of BoS is not out long enough to have acquired sufficient experience. So give the designers some time to optimize their design.

Edited April 9, 2015 by sturmkraehe

[LAL_Luny]

There are level bombers for a reason: To do level bombing. I hope in the future that good mission designs will come up that manage to incide people to go for ground targets in all sort of ways - including rewarding targets for level bombers.

 

Edit: I think it is not practicable to allow to finish an individual sortie after objectives have been done. If the mission is won how long could this be? 30mins? Experience is that people will leave the server. However, mission should be such that winning a mission is possible within the aloted mission time but require some effort so that the average mission completion time is not excessively shorter than the aloted ontine of a mission. But to tweak a mission like this needs a lot of experience and the fmb of BoS is not out long enough to have acquired sufficient experience. So give the designers some time to optimize their design.

 

 

That's a point, but leaving maybe 10 mins between objective completion and mission end would be less frustrating. That is not so difficult in the FME.

 

Btw : I also often fly long (2hrs and more) level bombing missions on He111,  usually either with squad mates or french speaking buddies from others squads.

[AbortedMan]

I create on screen notifications for objective status on my mission on the Eagle's Nest so people know how far along the mission is. I don't use timers, only whether or not all objectives are complete. You may want to try it this weekend.

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

There are level bombers for a reason: To do level bombing. I hope in the future that good mission designs will come up that manage to incide people to go for ground targets in all sort of ways - including rewarding targets for level bombers.

 

Edit: I think it is not practicable to allow to finish an individual sortie after objectives have been done. If the mission is won how long could this be? 30mins? Experience is that people will leave the server. However, mission should be such that winning a mission is possible within the aloted mission time but require some effort so that the average mission completion time is not excessively shorter than the aloted ontine of a mission. But to tweak a mission like this needs a lot of experience and the fmb of BoS is not out long enough to have acquired sufficient experience. So give the designers some time to optimize their design

Wouldn't it be easy to make the winning formula be destroy at least one of several objectives in the rear for mission completion? Then someone HAS to hit one of those outlying objectives. Exhaust the points/tickets AND one or more outlying objective. Seems like a pretty easy solution.

Edited April 9, 2015 by HerrMurf

[coconut]

I create on screen notifications for objective status on my mission on the Eagle's Nest so people know how far along the mission is. I don't use timers, only whether or not all objectives are complete. You may want to try it this weekend.

 

The problem is what happens if someone starts a flight, and 20 minutes in, the game is over because all objectives are achieved? How does one, upon logging in, that this train station has already been bombed to the ground, and that the enemy is about to destroy your last factory and win the game?

 

In-game messages help those who have already spawned to adapt their strategies, but the player looking at the map is blind.

 

Mission creators need tools to build dynamic maps that show the current status of the battle. It seems MCU_Icons are designed for that, as they can be enabled and disabled, but the game ignores that.

 

In the current state of the game, the only way I can see to make a dynamic map is to use fake airfields that change sides or become neutral, and spotters. Which is always something, and will have to do until the missing bits are added to the game. From now on I think I'll always put indestructible friendly spotters with a tiny radius near objectives that are active, and delete them when the objective becomes inactive. The question is whether the average player will understand that.

[Willy__]

 

 

The question is whether the average player will understand that.

 

You can always explain that on the briefings of the mission!   

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

Slightly off topic but ground objects need to have their point values increased so they are more important to the overall game and draw new pilots to the mud moving role. Dogfighting is hard for newbies. So, it's frustrating and rarely results in points for them. Ground attack is considerably easier, results in points, and would contribute more to the team/side things as well.

[Zjahna]

+1 Murf, I tend to play bombers so at least I can contribute and if I escape being shot down, all the better. I survive an avg of 15secs on the DF servers once engaged so have a lot of work to do there. I suspect I am not the only one in this position as some pilots are far too good for novices. I am glad thus is just a game, but u can see why so many pilots lasted only a few missions