Coconut's dynamic campaign hardcore and casual

[Sketch]

Isn't this a player-side setting? Where red will always be vvs, blue=lw? Or am I misunderstanding you? My map icons load correctly for me in the server.

[katdog5]

flying russian has been epic. were just getting blasted. takkng off with flames all around you. miracle i got a hold of a lagg and shot down a 109 this aft. also made a dent in reclaiming an airfield with some pe2s. wing and i dropped bombs and strafed and made it back with burning mayhem and planes all round

[Sketch]

flying russian has been epic. were just getting blasted. takkng off with flames all around you. miracle i got a hold of a lagg and shot down a 109 this aft. also made a dent in reclaiming an airfield with some pe2s. wing and i dropped bombs and strafed and made it back with burning mayhem and planes all round

 

I can't agree more... This server is very refreshing. Explosions, smoke, tanks moving, hidden FOBs... and I love the casual feel of it. Plus the "transport tycoon" feel of the battlefield going on down below... just feels right.

[StG77_Kondor]

I appreciate the video! That certainly can be annoying. i'm sure Coconut will get it fixed soon.

[coconut]

The colors of borders can be a bug in my mission generation code, but the icons are the “correct” color according to my settings (blue for friendly and red for enemy).

Because the icon colors ignore the user settings I can’t make it right for everybody, only the devs can fully fix this.

[6./ZG26_Klaus_Mann]

Well, Custard and I properly bombed the living Baby Jezza out of a Red Icon once, and really wondered about the friendly fire Messages. 

 

What Setting do you recommend? 

[[CPT]Pike*HarryM]

So user change of icons to friendly = blue will "fix" it then I guess. I usually do USSR always red but can do it the other way for this server.

Edited January 11, 2018 by [CPT]Pike*HarryM

[katdog5]

oh man cant wait to fly the Kuban version! 

[=FI=Blue2]

Cocunut,

Finally found some time to dip into your server last night for the 1st time since you stood up the 2 versions, but I just took time to actually read the manual (so I could understand all those symbols!).

All I can say is wow, you've put together something really special here - THANK YOU!

The 'simulation' aspects of this design really appeal to me.  Persistence, ground war driven, vital logistics... all the concepts are solid.  Up until now I've usually only flown your 'Normal' server during our Sunday squad casual meeting times, when we're time limited & have some guys with us who're new to BOS.  That is very likely to change now for me.  I've enjoyed Random Expert and TAW when I've found time for them - and will again when they return - but this is bound to become another favorite go-to spot.  Look forward to investing some serious hours here.

 

For you guys who haven't read Cocunut's manual, it took me all of 8 or 10 minutes - not long at all.  DO IT.  You'll be glad you did.

[katdog5]

awesome flight yesterday at sunset on Kuban.  Fantastic

[[CPT]Pike*HarryM]

A little of something for everyone on here :

 

Air to air, shoot down enemy human controlled or AI controlled planes doing their thing, yes the latter can shoot you down

Strategic bombing, destroy factories to lower production of supplies/tanks/planes or supply dumps to destroy supplies directly.

Interdiction, hit supply convoys or trains carrying supplies to front line bases or tanks en route to front

CAS, destroy enemy tanks in ground battles

Supply/Repositioning (logistics) run supply to front line bases or transfer planes to bases that need them

Edited January 12, 2018 by [CPT]Pike*HarryM

[KG_S_Kalle_Kalutz82]

Heya!

Yesterday late evening (CET) we were flying on your server.

Map Kuban, Expert

We flew out 2x and were noticing something, what we believe, should not happen:

 

a)

bombing and sinking a ship without kill-rewarding

b)

there were soviet "factories" shown on the map, but it were little earthy bunkers or so. I bombed - without result (village Bugaz) and there were no (!) factory.

Then we flew further, cause my wingman had still his bomb under carriage, the next bigger town across (northern-east), where the map also showed the same factory symbol.

There were a factory indeed and my wingman dived on it with a 1800kg bomb and a good hit (!), destroying in our opinion only 1 small building, others around were not even damaged (!?).

Further on, there were also no kill-rewarding message shown.

We were back than in main menu and spawning shortly again to check the statistic list after landing so to say.

c)

A soviet AF had parked german planes on it?

Or was the frontline new drawn and the Luftwaffe let behind some parked healthy and destroyed planes?

 

Some clearification would be nice, to reduce the "weird" factor in us

Edited January 13, 2018 by KG_S_Kalle_Kalutz82

[coconut]

Hi

 

 

 

a) bombing and sinking a ship without kill-rewarding

Game notifications are known to be skipped when the server is under load. Campaign actions are however built from the log, which is usually not affected (it can be affected too when the server is under very heavy load, but that should not happen on my server with the player limits I have set).

 

 

 

) there were soviet "factories" shown on the map, but it were little earthy bunkers or so.

Somewhat counter-intuitive, but the factory symbols mark the positions of bunkers, not factories. (See "Depots appear on the map as a factory icon 5 minutes after they have been approached (“spotted”) by an enemy plane." in the manual, p.7)

On certain maps such as Kuban, there are too many factories for all of them to have icons, but maybe I should at least give icons to the "most important ones", according to size and position, maybe.

 

 

 

There were a factory indeed and my wingman dived on it with a 1800kg bomb and a good hit (!), destroying in our opinion only 1 small building, others around were not even damaged (!?).

Normally a direct hit with a 100kg bomb is needed on bunkers, factory buildings are normally somewhat more fragile. I imagine a 1800kg bomb should do a lot of damage, so this is surprising to me.

 

 

 

We were back than in main menu and spawning shortly again to check the statistic list after landing so to say.

Sorry, I did not understand that sentence

 

 

 

A soviet AF had parked german planes on it? Or was the frontline new drawn and the Luftwaffe let behind some parked healthy and destroyed planes?

Yes, this is it. On the normal server (which has icons on), planes can be captured and flown by players.

On the expert server I don't allow spawning in captured planes, but captured planes still exist. Maybe I should "convert" them to resources, so that capturing planes still has advantages.

 

From the manual, p. 13,14:

"When a region is captured, so are all the airfields in that region. During a capture, most of the planes automatically get destroyed, but some may be taken over by the conqueror. Depending on the server settings, captured planes can be used by players. The NORMAL server allows the use of captured planes, whereas the EXPERT server is set to forbid it."

Edited January 13, 2018 by coconut

[[CPT]CptJackSparrow]

What happens to airplanes being flown when mission ends? Lost, teleported?

[ACG_HotLunch]

They are considered Lost. Have to time your flight accordingly.

[SCG_OpticFlow]

They are considered Lost. Have to time your flight accordingly.

 

Coco said that undamaged planes are returned to home airfield; damaged are lost.

[Jade_Monkey]

Flew on the expert one in Kuban yesterday, it was fun! Very nice server/mission!

[ACG_HotLunch]

He must have changed it then Optic because at one point they were counted as lost.

[coconut]

Regarding interrupted flights: They are returned to the starting airfield if the planes are undamaged. At least that's the intent, there might be bugs. In other words: Best time your flights to be sure

[Banshee]

Tried the expert server for the first time with a friend last week, very nice system with IA flown aircrafts which allow you to play well even with few players, very nice and helping community, complex but very well made campaign system very enjoyable to play!....

Well done and thanks for all the work to make this original server running!!!..

Long life to it!...

[SvAF/F16_Petter]

Nice to see some new players on that have discovered how good this is.

 

Dont forget, the Coconut server runs a Discord! 
Use it! 

 

The last few weeks I have teamed up with some extraordinary people, achieving extraordinary goals.

So you better ask yourself,

 

Do you feel extraordinary?

 

https://discord.gg/9wKKd8

[VBF-12_Gosling-71]

I don't think so. I am not saying they cannot go on another offensive mission,  I am just saying that if you have just lost an aircraft from a field that did not have many to start with then your next mission should be from a different field.  If you survive that, whether it was a combat  mission or a 5 minute resupply or even a quick circuit, then you go back to using the front line field again.   It is not really a major punishment, just a reminder to be careful.

I kind of see Roblex's point - If I'd been shot down, I would expect a period in hospital followed by rejoining at a rear base to get back to operational fitness...  Maybe forcing them to launch from a rear base would simulate this.  Also, their squadron mates probabaly havent landed yet so a quick resupply mission (They are doable in 10 Mins) would mean supplyig a replacement airframe just about the time their mates are landing....  Just an idea...

Flying on the normal Server last night I was contacted by 85Camm ! but  looks like i gave him wrong email while battling with Ai for info on his Squadron !  If your about could you reply to email i sent to your Bos account or if anyone else knows details could you send me a pm to save taking up room here ! Apologies for this people 

I know him - Check your PMs...

[71st_AH_Gamecock]

Nice work, my squad mates have enjoyed your server. S!

[WWGriphos]

A buddy and I flew last night for an hour or so on the non-expert server (we wanted to dip our toes, since neither of us has done much on the public MP servers).  We had a blast.  I'd forgotten there was a Discord server.  We'll hop on next time.  

[[CPT]Pike*HarryM]

Expert server needs flak, I don't think have been shot at once on Kuban map, nor have squadmates. It makes moving aircraft to forward bases sort of pointless as enemy planes can destroy them as statics at leisure on the next mission. I think even a low supply base should have a minimum of flak. Base personnel or ground crews would find a way to get some light flak up, by scavenging light MGs from aircraft for example. There was a famous case in late war where Germans mounted an MK108 on the trolley from a Me-163 and used that to repell a Russian ground attack .Also consider adding a minimum of flak to supply/tank columns and or trains, of course this adds load to server so needs balancing understandably.  

[coconut]

 

 

Pike*HarryM' timestamp='1516033368' post='560704'] It makes moving aircraft to forward bases sort of pointless as enemy planes can destroy them as statics at leisure on the next mission

Which is why it's important to replenish the supplies first. This can be done using transport flights - same as bombs, some magic algorithm chooses the assignment upon landing. Maybe this algo needs tuning.

 

 

 

Pike*HarryM' timestamp='1516033368' post='560704'] I think even a low supply base should have a minimum of flak

Sounds reasonable, but I need to think about it. Maybe bombs at airfields should be convertible to ammo for flak.

 

 

 

Pike*HarryM' timestamp='1516033368' post='560704'] Also consider adding a minimum of flak to supply/tank columns and or trains

There are already some. Every fifth truck in a convoy is AA, every train has an AA wagon (or is it 2), in tank columns light vehicles are flak trucks (can be 0, can be the entire column, depends on the column's content of light vehicles). Maybe I can raise their level and willingness to fire, but let's see what others have to say first.

[[CPT]Pike*HarryM]

Well I think we are talking bomb supplies versus overall supply. I do alot of running supplies and get the target base up to decent amount (say 3K or 4K of bombs) but the overall situation in the area is still poor (red or brown bar on the nearest big city) so it seems like it is the latter setting the flak levels in spite of supply runs, at least that is the way it appears. 

 

Yes, IIRC there is flak in tank columns, not really effective which is why I probably forgot about it, that was in the Stalingrad map. 

Edited January 15, 2018 by [CPT]Pike*HarryM

[coconut]

Recent updates, from my memory, I may be missing a few things:

• Multiple layers of winds. Wind is no longer uniform at all altitudes.
• Less prevalent rainy weather, fiddled a bit with cloud heights in overcast weather. It should be higher during summer/autumn now.
• Vehicle kills in battles now count only for 20%. It takes 5 kills to get a vehicle removed from the battle resolution at the end of the mission.
• Battle labels now include the region being contested and the number of vehicles on each side
• A chat message is generated when the max amount of damage has been inflicted in a battle. Only the side inflicting damage sees the message.
• Player count balancing was adjusted. At most 6 players absolute difference, at most 2:1 ratio. Kicks in from 8 players IIRC.

[coconut]

 

 

Which is why it's important to replenish the supplies first. This can be done using transport flights - same as bombs, some magic algorithm chooses the assignment upon landing. Maybe this algo needs tuning.

 

It definitely needs tuning: What it currently does is that all cargo goes to bomb stocks. I have fixed that now but I don't dare deploy that before I've had a chance to test it.

[StG77_Kondor]

It definitely needs tuning: What it currently does is that all cargo goes to bomb stocks. I have fixed that now but I don't dare deploy that before I've had a chance to test it.

If you need guinea pigs to take very slow, very vulnerable planes over enemy AFs to test AA...I'm sure we could find some other people to do it

[Babayega]

I havent had a chance to fly in the server yet but I plan to tonight. This looks very refreshing and a lot of fun from what  I can tell. So my question is, even if there is only say 4 or 5 actual live players on the server, are there plenty of AI fighters/bombers to have a crack at booming and zooming?? 

[StG77_Kondor]

I havent had a chance to fly in the server yet but I plan to tonight. This looks very refreshing and a lot of fun from what  I can tell. So my question is, even if there is only say 4 or 5 actual live players on the server, are there plenty of AI fighters/bombers to have a crack at booming and zooming?? 

Yes. They may not show up on the map (spawn) until you fly over an area that's set up to be protected by enemy CAP. Additionally there could be AI ground attackers that spawn near the front line and nearby AFs.

[Babayega]

Yes. They may not show up on the map (spawn) until you fly over an area that's set up to be protected by enemy CAP. Additionally there could be AI ground attackers that spawn near the front line and nearby AFs.

thats awesome! thanks for the clarification. I will give it a go tonight  

[coconut]

 

 

It definitely needs tuning: What it currently does is that all cargo goes to bomb stocks. I have fixed that now but I don't dare deploy that before I've had a chance to test it.

Tested, fixed again... Just deployed, hopefully things will work out well.

 

I have also started a new campaign on the Normal server on VLuki. Axis won the previous one on Stalingrad.

[VBF-12_Stick-95]

I made several Pe-2 supply sorties (4 on one map and 2 on the next).  For each of the 4 I received both takeoff and landings text messages and after the map rolled the airfield (Novo) kg count increased..  For the next 2 I received no text and after the map roll the kg count remained the same.  Were these 2 perhaps when fixes were being implemented?

 

Just a thought and I don't know if this can happen, it would be nice to see in the stats that a supply mission was completed and maybe even get some token points.

[=FI=Blue2]

I noticed this same issue while flying this past Friday and Sunday:  several supply missions flown, none of which seemed to affect the supply number of the receiving base (either during that map, or after the map rolled).  We flew 'empty' Peskas on those missions, but not with full fuel since I was told that's not a requirement.  I would suspect that enemy action negated some or all of our efforts - IF the supply numbers hadn't been exactly the same after the maps rolled.

 

Another question I had:  I've yet to find any group of dugouts that were not 100% destroyed - or at least, they are displayed as destroyed (pile of timbers where the door should be is the giveaway).  Also, none have been affected by the several 250KG bombs I dropped on them, just to test them out.  I know a precise hit is required to kill a dugout, and several of those bombs landed on or very close to one.  Haven't tried dropping smaller bombs on them from an IL-2 yet but wanted to ask about this.  Suspect the game may be displaying the wrong visual for intact bunkers, or else perhaps displaying the 'destroyed' visuals for ALL bunkers...?

[coconut]

For the next 2 I received no text and after the map roll the kg count remained the same

If you tell me the mission when this happened I can check, but here is a number of possible explanations:

1. Someone else took off with the bombs, same amount you transported. Not too unlikely, since one supply mission in a pe2 transfers 1000kg, and popular bomb loadouts are also 1000kg
2. The airfield was already supplied to the max. This can happen if the hangars are destroyed or damaged
3. I'm not sure about this one, but I think that if the starting airfield doesn't have enough bombs, you can't start a supply mission from there.
4. The update I installed changed the way supplies are used. Maybe your supply was used for something else than bombs. See below

Currently, supplies from flights are used in the current way, with decreasing priority. Lower priority gets served only if the higher prio items haven't consumed all the supplies:

• Repairs to factories
• Filling the ammo depots
• Repairing ammo depots
• Repairing the airfield hangars
• Filling the airfield with bombs

80% of a supply flight is used for the stuff described above, 20% is reserved for bombs at airfields. Because all this is done at the region level, your supplies and bombs may end up at another airfield, if there's more than one in the region.

 

Regarding the lack of messages in the chat: This happens sometimes, I'm not sure why yet. The update that happens after the mission redoes all the work, it does not depend on the live messaging part, and is therefore not affected. That is, as long as the game produces log files.

Edited January 17, 2018 by coconut

[coconut]

 

 

uspect the game may be displaying the wrong visual for intact bunkers, or else perhaps displaying the 'destroyed' visuals for ALL bunkers...?

When a battle happens in a region, the region suffers damages. This can contribute to destroy lots of things. The harder the battle, i.e. the more forces are involved, the more damage it takes. Other than that, it's possible that players have been good at bombing dugouts, and I also suspect bugs in the logistic system to have prevented proper recovery and filling of dugouts. I have fixed a number of those bugs, so hopefully dugouts should start to be better again, but it may take days to be visible, assuming players don't keep destroying them.

[VBF-12_Stick-95]

Coconut, for those 2 sorties that didn't seem to work, I think I just hit a time when the server wasn't working properly. 

 

Here's another possible instance from last night.  Three of us flew more supply sorties.  We were pretty much by ourselves.  We ran 5 supply missions to: Staro (2), Krim (2) and Novo (1).  Krim and Novo were at 0 and I think Staro was a slight negative.  After the map roll Krim and Staro showed appropriate increases to the kg count.  Novo on the other hand still showed 0.  All flights showed all the supply text messages.  Possibly 100% of the supplies to Novo were used on restorative items?

 

Overall, just reflecting on supply, one thing that struck me was that during the actual war generally there was an abundance of ordnance and a shortage of planes to carry it.  Here the opposite seems true, at least for the Russians.

 

That aside, the fact is, we are loving the server and appreciate all your hard work.

[[SRH]Festa_VR_Noob]

I must apologise to those who play this as realistically as possible.

 

Myself and 2 of my buddies have been darting in and out of your servers, just flying and looking for some dogfighting.

 

We haven`t really read the PDF and 'things we should be doing' in the mission and so have likely lost planes etc where we wouldn`t have, had we known what we should be doing properly.

 

I`ve since read the PDF and will be making sure they do too, so that we can participate much more realistically.

 

This is for anyone who has seen us flying and thinking 'what the bloody hell are those three idiots doing?!' lol