Official Campaign Havoc Over the Kuban - RELEASED

[Gambit21]

Release notes.

 

1. The campaign is designed to be flown with Icons OFF for maximum immersion.

Way-points are present only so that the AI flight leader flies where he's supposed to, rather than for player reference.

 

Eagle Lead grew up in the area and knows it well, for this reason you may notice that way-points might deviate slightly from the basic, simple flight route  out on the mission map.

Don't worry about this, or report as a bug. It's just your flight lead going "seat of the pants" a bit based on his knowledge and to avoid most of the enemy fighters in the area.

 

Your reference is your flight lead - follow him and his instructions.

If you get lost or need some help, then by all means flip on the Icons for a moment, but please understand that you'll get the most out of this campaign with Icons off.

Icons give you "spoilers" as to what's coming up ahead, etc.

 

2. You'll notice that your bomb load-out is sometimes different than the rest of the flight.

This is because AI will only execute dive/low level attacks with an external load. Therefore because of the nature of this campaign, they will always have external bombs, even if the ideal (and your aircraft) is outfitted with internal bombs.

 

3. Mission logic is based on the flight lead, and timing etc is triggered according to his aircraft.

If for some reason he crashes during an attack, mission logic will not progress properly. There will be no "form up, let's go home" message etc.

This never happened during testing, but with the AI under constant development, and with so many playing the missions now, the possibility exists of this happening to

some of you at some point. (maybe logic changes temporarily with a build and the AI crash into low hills for instance) If so, please report here.

 

If this occurs you can simply ignore, fly back to base on your own and progress to the next mission, or re-fly.\

 

Finally - enjoy!

 

Best Regards

Gambit21

 

[Swing]

Looking forward to trying this Gambit

[Gambit21]

[Gambit21]

[Gambit21]

Now for a bit about the campaign itself.

 

Is it historical?

 Strictly speaking - sort of.

It’s what I like to term “historically plausible” – or “semi-historical”

Calling it “non-historical” however doesn’t do the effort justice, as this term can mean something somewhat historical, to something completely out of left field with wildly out of date aircraft etc. While this campaign isn’t dealing with a specific squadron that was stationed at A, B or C airfields during such and such dates etc, it does place the player amidst the Battle for the Caucasus and the German push toward Taupse in 1942 in a believable way.

 The fact of the matter is that in 1942 when this campaign occurs, the entirety of the map north and northwest of the mountains was in German hands. Russian bombers were making extremely long trips from bases far north of the map boundary. Even if our map covered this area, most players would not want to fly for this long.

 The point of the campaign is first and foremost…fun. I want the player flying over the most interesting parts of the map, and I want the experience of just FLYING to play as big of a part in the experience as actual combat. Which brings up a good point...

...this campaign is for those that enjoy the experience of flying in IL2 - it's not about quick action, or squeezing in 20 minutes of flying while the wife is taking a bath. This is about taking time and sinking your teeth into the experience.

Some missions are in the 45 - 50 minute range. This is still short by real-life standards, but long'ish by flight-sim standards.

Again as I said above,  it’s designed to get the player flying over the most interesting portions of the map while remaining within the context of historical events. Again - fun.

 

Why 1942?

 For my money this is the most interesting part of the Caucas campaign, and…one more time for grins…. puts the player over the most beautiful parts of the map.

The air battles might not have been as large or as fierce,  but it saw the furthest southward extent of the German thrust toward the Black Sea and Taupse, with German Mountain Divisions penetrating deep into the snow-capped mountains.

Also with the career covering 1943, an earlier campaign serves as a nice compliment. The defining characteristic of the Kuban Bridgehead battles/sheer numbers of aircraft are not practical within the sim anyway, thus ambience/atmosphere, experience are most important to me, and the experience in that ONE mission. NOT this or that mission did/didn't happen on this day, from this base, etc etc. Every mission is treated/built as if it was the only one. Then about the time I'm burned out, I move to a fresh mission build. Anyhow...I digress....

Also, I'm not Russian...therefore a certain amount of artistic license is the absolute only way I can accomplish this task.

How many aircraft in the player flight?

 

From 2 to 8, depending on mission and circumstances, with maybe possibly more in a few missions depending on how upcoming builds/testing goes. Regardless of the number of aircraft in your flight, there are always 'scenery' flights around.

 

What type of missions?

 

Largely interdiction, attacking supply columns and interrupting the enemy’s ability to transport resources to the front. That’s your squadron’s “specialty” so to speak. This is where the A-20 shines, so this is how we’ll mostly use it…with some exceptions.

 

Anti-Shipping?

 

Screen shots say it all there. If/when (my money is on WHEN) we get torpedoes then certain missions will be updated to include that load-out.

 

Which maps will be needed?

Kuban obviously, and possibly Moscow OR Stalingrad to simulate the northern portion of the map covered in snow… if I stretch to 18 missions that is. We shall see.

 

When will it be finished?

 

When I’m happy with it, which I’m guessing as of March 14^th,  I’m a few months away from still. These missions take a HUGE...HUUUUUGGGGE amount of time, 20-25+ hours each of my spare time - easy. I work full time, I have other things to do, so this is a significant undertaking for me. If I kept careful track of time invested I’d probably stop…so I maintain a bit of denial in that department. In any case, a LOT of time and energy is invested. I’m also dealing with some AI behavior issues that have to be sorted by the Devs. When the build is done and testing is finished, and everything works as I envision, I will release the final campaign.

 

 

Edited March 15, 2018 by Gambit21

[Gambit21]

[F/JG300_Gruber]

Nice project !

 

I'm looking forward to the release 

 

 

[BOO]

Thank you Gambit!!

[Archie]

Really looking forward to this! Thanks Gambit!

[Toxin1]

The anticipation of flying one of your campaigns after I got a little taste of what you did with the Ju52 missions is the only reason I would fly the A20.  Can't wait!!  I would pre-order it now if it was put up as payware

[Pajeka]

Looks fantastic, really looking forward to flying it - many thanks!

[katdog5]

ooooh ahhhhh

fly this coop possible?

[Gambit21]

Thanks guys

 

katdog, this will be an official single player campaign available for purchase - I'll look into online use of a few missions later after consulting with the Devs.

I can't make any unilateral decisions on my own in that regard.

[NETSCAPE]

Good choice on the 1942 time-frame. Are you trying to get this one to be official or do you just want to build more?

[Banshee]

Very nice news and choices !... Count me in 

[Albino]

Hi mate

 

I appreciate the enormous effort you are making. Rest assured you are furthering enjoyment of our favourite hobby, and contributing to the success of the product. 

 

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my gaming rig to my new home. Can't wait to fly the A-20 and your missions when you're done. 

[Gambit21]

9 hours ago, NETSCAPE said:

Good choice on the 1942 time-frame. Are you trying to get this one to be official or do you just want to build more?

 

It will be an official campaign.

Not sure what the second part means...next one after this will be 9th Air Force P-47's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2018 by Gambit21

[deleted@31403]

12 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

 

It will be an official campaign.

Not sure what the second part means...next one after this will be 9th Air Force P-47's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11

I will buy both. That P-47 campaign is going to be like Christmas cant wait.

[Hoss]

To bad it's not the 361st eh TooLate!............... Stanger............

 

Hoss

 

[Gambit21]

A pair of A-20's keeps German torpedo boats at bay during an early morning rescue operation a few kilometers west of Sochi.

 

 

 

[Poochnboo]

Next one will be 9TH Air Force P-47's!!? What!? Do you know something we don't know. Don't tease, for Pete's sake! Let us in on it.

[Gambit21]

23 minutes ago, Poochnboo said:

Next one will be 9TH Air Force P-47's!!? What!? Do you know something we don't know. Don't tease, for Pete's sake! Let us in on it.

 

Sounds like WE know something you don't know.

 

Next release is Belgium, Jugs, P-38's, Dora, Tempest....

[Chief_Mouser]

Really looking forward to this Gambit, thanks for all your hard work. Btw, 45-50 minute missions for the A-20 are short - I'm doing an hour to an hour and a half every time in the career!  Yours will be a refreshing change .

Cheers.

[Trooper117]

I am waiting with an avid interest for this campaign.    

By the time you are finished, I'll hopefully be more proficient in handling the old girl!

[pilotpierre]

Wow, really looking forward to this one gambit 

[Poochnboo]

"Sounds like WE know something you don't know. 

 

Next release is Belgium, Jugs, P-38's, Dora, Tempest...."

 

  Oh yeah...I know all about that. I have it on pre-order. But, he says his next campaign concerns Jugs...so I'm wondering if we're going to see those P-47's sooner than I thought. 

 

[Gambit21]

2 hours ago, Poochnboo said:

"Sounds like WE know something you don't know. 

 

Next release is Belgium, Jugs, P-38's, Dora, Tempest...."

 

  Oh yeah...I know all about that. I have it on pre-order. But, he says his next campaign concerns Jugs...so I'm wondering if we're going to see those P-47's sooner than I thought. 

 

 

It takes a while to build one of these.

So after I finish here, I'll be building groups/logic, laying out missions for the Jug campaign, even if that means using a stand-in map and a stand-in aircraft for a while.

Months before the A-20 hit beta I had 7 or so of these missions built using the Peshka as a stand-in.

[Poochnboo]

Ah, I see. Thanks for that clarification, Gambit. Oh...and thanks for bursting my bubble! Lol!

[Gambit21]

A German column having a very bad day....

 

[Lusekofte]

Lovely, as said many times before, Iam really looking forward to this

[Gambit21]

Some low level armed recon - the Maikop Oil Fields burn in the distance.

[Gambit21]

A few more screens from tonight's testing...

 

 

 

[Gambit21]

Fritz, don't be a hero...get down.

Fritz...get down...

FRITZ!!!!!

 

 

[56RAF_Roblex]

Just in case you have not yet been convinced that what you are doing will prove popular,    I am also looking forward to this very much.   40-50 minutes is a good length for a mission.  If there is any concern that people may not manage to squeeze it all in before the wife gets dressed and insists that you have to go shopping *now* then maybe put in a secret emergency field close to the objective that you may land on and get reduced score.  Even better, add an optional 'Fly home' mission between each combat mission that is only used when the previous mission ended at the emergency field. It only has to be written once.  Pretend it is a field in enemy territory that they are unaware of. Shades of the fantastic 'Castaway' campaign that there was in IL2-1946 (Recreating that is your next project  ).

 

By the screenshots it seems there are a lot of low level raids which is fantastic though the occasional 'Carpet bomb the crap out of it' mission would be OK.  Brilliant work. Good luck.

[Gambit21]

OK - one carpet bombing mission coming up.

I've avoided them because if you want that, then the career is full of em.

It's easy though...didn't want to put any "cheater" missions but one or two won't hurt.

 

As for the rest, the day I have branching campaign functionality I can do that sort of thing.

Fly mission 1...IF this condition is met then on to mission 2, if not then branch to mission 1.1.

 

Right now I cant' do that, but I'll need it for PTO if we go to Midway.

[56RAF_Roblex]

8 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

OK - one carpet bombing mission coming up.

I've avoided them because if you want that, then the career is full of em.

It's easy though...didn't want to put any "cheater" missions but one or two won't hurt.

 

I understand what you mean.  Maybe add something extra to it.  There are things that happen in level bombing raids that don't happen in low level raids.   I would say add getting intercepted by fighters that harass you for several minutes, that is a  pretty intense experience, but that kind of adds in a random death element that you cannot do much about no matter how skilled you are. Maybe setting the fighter AI to 'Imperial Stormtrooper' levels of inaccuracy  & low ammo would work?  .   Perhaps an impressive but ineffectual flak barrage near the target eg  set the barrage height as slightly lower  & slightly higher than the altitude of the bombers so it looks scary but has little chance of killing you. Maybe make it a joint raid with another squadron and we see them getting  ripped apart by ack just as we are arriving :-)

[Blitzen]

Looking forward to seeing the fruits of your labor....soon I hope!?

[Gambit21]

On mission 13 of 16, then have to turn it over to a few testers while I work on the maps a little.

Getting there - there's some buggy AI attack behavior that I need fixed before I release, or can even finish testing it as well.

[Thad]

On ‎4‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 9:26 PM, Gambit21 said:

Fritz, don't be a hero...get down.

Fritz...get down...

FRITZ!!!!!

 

 

Don't grieve. He didn't feel a thing. 

[Gambit21]

Getting close.

16  missions mostly complete (aside from last minute tweaks and fixes)

I'm starting to send missions to testers.

 

Here's a shot from the last mission build (not necessarily number 16 in the campaign)