Finnish VirtualPilots - Dynamic War

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

By the way, when a battle occurs, is it the old version where tanks drive towards the enemy lines without firing, or the newer version where they move, stip, fire and move again? Also, I know people will likely scold me for this but is it possible to add the F4 viewpoint? It would be nice to be able to admire our planes and the ground below, flying the He111 alone across the map is lonely stuff. I am trying to recruit a few classmates of mine and form a bomber group, so that it is not as boring.

The tanks' waypoint priority is set as medium, so once they are fired upon they return fire.

 

We would like to add outside views, but we also would like to restrict outside views to bombers only. Therefore, no outside views, sorry

[LLv34_Untamo 379]

...I would certainly love to see you guys add in AI fighters during low population/imbalanced periods that would be great

 

This is in the realm of possibilities. We are currently designing/pondering what we want to do next, so... yeah, maybe

[=IL2AU=chappyj 119]

Well let us know because as low pop players with high pings we can help test

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

The Allied side managed to score a victory yesterday, but due to a bug it looks like it wasn't properly handled, and thus isn't shown in the stats.

[LLv34_Untamo 379]

S!

 

We have been experincing some mystery hangs on our server for some time. We have no idea what is causing them, but we are trying to make the mission lighter, to see if it helps. For the time being, well just give the server a kick everytime it needs.

[=TBAS=Sshadow14 487]

yeah i seem to only get a problem with this server also..

Re: Very long mission download time (upto 5 minutes where as wings or random expert around 15-30 seconds.
Also often when leaving server  game will hang then sit on map screen or exit screen for long time then just closes itself.

only played on 3 diff servers but yours only one i had this happen on .

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

yeah i seem to only get a problem with this server also..

 

Re: Very long mission download time (upto 5 minutes where as wings or random expert around 15-30 seconds.

Also often when leaving server  game will hang then sit on map screen or exit screen for long time then just closes itself.

 

only played on 3 diff servers but yours only one i had this happen on .

Yeah, it's the amount of objects. For example:

WoL mission (just random one I picked)

Buildings with entities 321

Vehicles 191

Entities 552

Mission size 385 KB

 

VirtualPilots mission:

Buildings with entities 332

Vehicles 1432

Entities 1822

Mission size 2970 KB

 

We've tried to build the dynamic things into single mission. That's the reason for the high number of Vehicles and Entities -> larger mission -> hangs.

We have an idea how to work around this, but it will take a while to implement.

Edited February 19, 2017 by LLv34_Temuri

[[CPT]CptJackSparrow 225]

It's a nice server. We messed around on it yesterday. Very impressed with the scripting.

[=TBAS=Sshadow14 487]

what i said a while back might really help to remove the server load..

wish it was easy to do..

Only have the game upload/download the language of mission the client needs.
eg, scan pc for the language then only send that 1 not all 6

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

Well, the language files total about 200-300 KB. They are downloaded once per client, and if there are no changes to the mission, they aren't re-downloaded ever. So that is not the issue here.

 

The issue here is that the dserver/architecture/netcode whatever doesn't seem to be able to handle a mission with our amount of objects/vehicles with entities.

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

The Allied side managed to score a victory yesterday, but due to a bug it looks like it wasn't properly handled, and thus isn't shown in the stats.

Found the bug and fixed it.

[hames123 108]

Does the attack have multiple waves? I triggered a German tank attack on Soviet lines and watched them all get killed, then saw another group of friendly vehicles on the map, advancing. I had to log off so I have no idea if they managed to capture the objective, but I think the German attacks need more tanks, especially with the dug-in KVs which are nearly impossible to destroy. On the other hand, the T-34s seem to easily kill everything and shrug off hits. I noticed that a few things that I had killed earlier respawned to cause more trouble to the advancing tanks, maybe they should respawn after 4 hours and not 45 minutes, it would be very hard to rush replacements to the line that quickly!

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

Does the attack have multiple waves? I triggered a German tank attack on Soviet lines and watched them all get killed, then saw another group of friendly vehicles on the map, advancing. I had to log off so I have no idea if they managed to capture the objective, but I think the German attacks need more tanks, especially with the dug-in KVs which are nearly impossible to destroy. On the other hand, the T-34s seem to easily kill everything and shrug off hits. I noticed that a few things that I had killed earlier respawned to cause more trouble to the advancing tanks, maybe they should respawn after 4 hours and not 45 minutes, it would be very hard to rush replacements to the line that quickly!

The tank base object respawn time currently is 60 minutes, and the tank attack interval is 40 minutes. So yes, there's time for a second wave to start if 50% of the enemy's base stays destroyed.

 

There are no KVs in the Russian tank bases, just T-34s and T-70s. We've been thinking about cutting down the number of T-34s and PzIVs on the defense lines and the attacking tanks, and using lighter tanks. We'll probably do that for the next iteration of the implementation.

 

There's a balance to be struck between realistic battle and what is deemed "gamey". If the respawn time of the defenses were by default 4 hours, it would mean that once you destroy an object, it would stay destroyed for pretty much the whole evening (thinking playing time from 20:00 to 00:00). That being said, we've had some discussions about having depots and factories affect the respawn time of the defenses. Current plan is to do it so that factories affect respawn times of depots and aircraft availability, whereas depots affect the respawn times of defenses. We're ok with longer respawn times, but we think it's players who should increase the respawn times of the defenses by taking out the depots and factories. We'll just need to think how long the maximum respawn time would be, maybe it could be the 4 hours you suggest.

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

One more idea about depots: the longer the distance to a tank base the depot is supplying, the longer the respawn time of the tank base defenses. Distance in this case would be calculated as "hops" between tank base battle zones.

[Aap 548]

Could you add the map situation on your stats page also, similarly to what Random Expert or TAW have?

I also think that radar gives too much information by making the icons visible. Maybe should get messages from ground control instead.

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

Could you add the map situation on your stats page also, similarly to what Random Expert or TAW have?

I also think that radar gives too much information by making the icons visible. Maybe should get messages from ground control instead.

We want to add the situation map at some point, but it takes time to implement, and there's only two of us doing this.

 

Having only the messages from ground control could be confusing as it's not very clear which ground control is giving the message. And the radar can be destroyed

[Aap 548]

Would it be important to know which radar gave the message? It could just say:"Bandit at 0926 (1500 metres)" or something like that. Or if messages could get confusing, having an icon on map, showing what radar has sighted an enemy. Or having a 40 second delay on the shown plane icons. Right now, seeing your own plane and live icons of other planes, you could check your six from radar and otherwise just check radar for full situational awareness. I feel that it takes away part of the immersion of WWII air combat. But that is just my personal opinion of course, other people may have other preferences.

Other than that the dynamic battlefield is really great.

Edited February 22, 2017 by II./JG77_Kemp

[LLv34_Untamo 379]

S!

 

If it would be possible, we would add delay to the radar, but there is no such option. But as said, you can destroy it. And as it is such a big force multiplier for the defending side, it is also should be the first target to take out on the airfield when attacking it. In giving advance warning it is no different to the airfield spawn air attack warning (red upper semi-circle), as they both warn you at 10km range.

[hames123 108]

I had an idea today, you should consider placing many defense lines on the map, so that a breakthrough in one place is not the end of that section of front. You could have an object of retreating trucks or something to attack, as the defenders would be vulnerable at that point. By the way, do you collect stats on what ground units have been destroyed in your server, and by what? I would like to see them, out of curiousity.

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

I had an idea today, you should consider placing many defense lines on the map, so that a breakthrough in one place is not the end of that section of front. You could have an object of retreating trucks or something to attack, as the defenders would be vulnerable at that point. By the way, do you collect stats on what ground units have been destroyed in your server, and by what? I would like to see them, out of curiousity.

There will be progress like "Battle in zone 1 -> Battle in zone 2 -> Airfield -> Battle in zone 3....". Retreating trucks we most likely won't do, it's getting complex enough already.

 

Stats from the server are available at http://ts3.virtualpilots.fi:8000/

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

Added Fw 190 A-5 and He 111 H16 to the mission. In addition, La-5 should also have the M-82F engine modification available.

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

Also: replaced the tank spawns with just icons.

 

We know there now won't be a notification about tank base being under air/ground attack like the spawns have, but we are going to have the mission show a subtitle when an object in the tank base is damaged/destroyed.

[hames123 108]

By the way, do you guys have any interest in a large community event? I was just thinking that maybe a large bombing raid like the FNBF thing, when TAW is out of rotation, with the German team flying He111s and Me109s and the Soviets getting only I-16s and Laggs, but with AA and radar, the German objective being to bomb Moscow or Stalingrad, and the Soviets having to stop them. The event should be timed to be when TAW is not up, and after one side has one the map(a special event, basically). This could help draw players from TAW to this server.

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

By the way, do you guys have any interest in a large community event?

 

Event: yes. We've had a couple of bombing events where we've taken a bunch of Ju-88s to bomb the Russian factory area with some 109 G-2s as cover.

Moscow or Stalingrad as target and limited planeset: no. Would require specific stuff done on the mission, for which we simply do not have time. Plus, you can't really fly on top of Moscow city anyway.

 

We have started implementation for the next iteration of the mission and background java application. So for now, the mission will run pretty much as it is, and any events need to be done with the functionality there currently is. For example the factory areas have "radar" cover and AAA. Think of it as a type of sandbox as regards events.

[hames123 108]

Yes, I understand that it may not be possible, however, I was talking about what ATAG does, have a server with a comstant campaign, and then an event every now and then.

[LLv34_Untamo 379]

S!

 

As Temuri said, it can be thought of as a sandbox, where you can do whatever you want... that includes events ... And that is what we have had. Organized bomber flights etc. to accomplish tasks in the mission that are normally there, but with more people

Edited March 1, 2017 by LLv34_Untamo

[1./KG4_Ben_C 41]

We had a great time flying on the server last night as a flight of 3 x He-111.  A couple times fighting our way into the bomb run and out again and thanks to the blue fighters who assisted.

 

I've got to point to Odessa achieving 5 air to air kills whilst flying the He-111, which technically makes him an ace?!  That's what you get for flying at the tail end of the formation.

[SvAF/F16_radek 219]

Temuri. So no player tanks anymore?

It's a great mission and server. The one thing I miss is varied planesets. As is now, both sides fly the best they got and so most ac are unused. E7, Ratas and laggs are good fun, but not when facing endless hordes of a-5's

[LLv34_Untamo 379]

S!

 

Rolling plane set is on the TODO list. Not sure when we get around it though

[SvAF/F16_radek 219]

Good to know your aiming for that!

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

Temuri. So no player tanks anymore?

No player tanks. They add load, and I'd like to have a bit more balanced selection of tanks for both sides to merit the added load.

[hames123 108]

Can we have an Odessa map? With both the Germans spawning Panzer 3s and Panzer 38ts and the Soviets spawning Bt-7s and T-60s for their tank attacks? All the defenses should be made of 37mm and 47mm AT guns and dug in versions of the tanks above. With an early war set-up(1941 Il2s, PE-2s, Mig 3s vs Stuka, Me110, He111 and 109E7).

When the community Oddesa map is released

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

Can we have an Odessa map? With both the Germans spawning Panzer 3s and Panzer 38ts and the Soviets spawning Bt-7s and T-60s for their tank attacks? All the defenses should be made of 37mm and 47mm AT guns and dug in versions of the tanks above. With an early war set-up(1941 Il2s, PE-2s, Mig 3s vs Stuka, Me110, He111 and 109E7).

When the community Oddesa map is released

Maybe, but don't hold your breath

[LLv34_Untamo 379]

Hi.

To all having problems with the server (problems getting in, lag, etc.):
What you experience is due to the mission being too heavy. The sorry bit is, that the dedicated server software does a lousy job of communicating this to the admin. The software doesn't use a lot of CPU, even if the mission is too heavy, which is odd. When it gets too heavy, the players see it as lag. Then, after a random amount of time, the map (GPS plane) stops, AAA stops firing, etc... and on the server side it stops to write log files (which we use to fuel the server side logic). This we can detect, and then we have to boot the server manually, which is of course a bummer for all currently in flight.

There's hope:
We are making the mission a lot more lighter, but at the same time, much more complex ... More clearly put, the mission being run is made smaller by taking into the mission only the bits that are near the front line plus few things further back. This allows us to make the total mission also lot larger. The mission now has 10 airfields which all are in every mission. In the next version we will have 31, but only few of them in the mission that is running. Also, there will be more stuff to blow up for the bomber guys, like depots and more factories, which will have more clear and direct consequences on the overall strategic situation. The next version is still a few weeks away. "Two weeks, be sure."

best regards,
LLv34_Untamo

[Retnek 422]

"there will be more stuff to blow up for the bomber guys, like depots and more factories, which will have more clear and direct consequences on the overall strategic situation"

 

 

 

GREAT news! Thanks for all the work, time and energy - that's a fine sever! Please feel free to drop a note if there is something to test.

[SvAF/F16_radek 219]

Be sure we are looking forward to this!

[LLv34_Temuri 913]

We'll let you know once we are ready to start testing with players.

 

All the airfields, depots, and factories are set up in the mission now. Next to do is placement of tank bases, there's going to be a whole lot of those too. Luckily we are having bit of help in placing the tank bases from LLv32_vvaris and a couple of other Finnish pilots.

 

Java side is coming along nicely too. So, like LLv34_Untamo said "Two weeks"

[hames123 108]

More things for bombers to blow up? That sounds promising. This server seems to care more about the ground war, which I like. More ground pounding and less dogfighting.

[LLv34_Untamo 379]

S!

 

Yes, it's on the ground where the real war goes on. The air war is in there only for support ... This is something we want to get closer to anyways. Getting something like SEOW campaigns from old-IL2 is the long term dream/plan.

[Retnek 422]

... something like SEOW campaigns from old-IL2 is the long term dream/plan.

Yes-yes-yes, me too, me too! Someone flying with that very special rudder set (btw: my favourite detail next to the lurking tips of the screws: footrest covered with sandpaper for optimum grip! ) definitely is able to create "something like SEOW"! (honest compliment, no offence!)