Campaign Difficulty

[unlikely_spider]

What does the Difficulty dropdown in the campaign affect? Is it the skill level of the AI pilots, gunners, and AAA? Or something else?

[JG1_Labroisse]

I would like to know this as well.  Also, does setting front activity to dense increase air and ground activity or just one or the other?  Seems like on hard difficulty and dense front activity, my entire flight gets wiped out every mission.  I usually survive, but barely.

Edited March 17, 2018 by II./JG1_Labroisse

[Finkeren]

Hard difficulty definitely means you have to deal with more AAA. Flak is of very little threat on the easier settings. 

 

It also makes the odds be stacked slightly against you. On easy difficulty it seems you almost always outnumber the enemy significantly. On medium difficulty you might get attacked by a numerically superior foe, but most often there will be a flight of friendly fighters close by that will join in - I've had that happen too many times for it to be a coincidence. 

[sevenless]

Any ideas on the dense front setting? What is the recommended CPU performance for having more AI units fighting a virtual war? Does it have any impact on overall performance?

 

I have a I7 2600K @4.000Mhz with 16gigs Ram and a 980 SLI combo. Will that be sufficient to play with both hard settings and dense front or will my PC melt? Any experiences?

[[Pb]Bones18]

Ahhhh, this explains why I'm sent with my 4 man flight to knock down 12 bombers with 8 escorts.    I thought hard would basically adjust AI difficulty, not necessarily the amount of planes.   I thought density would control the amount of planes.

 

 

Edited March 17, 2018 by bmsimpson93

[Yogiflight]

Would be nice, if there was some kind of manual for the new career mode, to explain, which setting influences what exactly in which way. It is quite odd to have to do it yourself in try and error.

[sevsterino]

I am on medium level and often have to go with 5 planes against 10-15 enemies. Other times against 3 to 5. It really seems super random, but in the first case scenario my entire flight of 5 gets wiped out including me. There is something strange with the campaign. Although maybe realistic, feels not very adjusted to player's level. I will play on easy I guess.

[busdriver]

25 minutes ago, sevsterino said:

I am on medium level and often have to go with 5 planes against 10-15 enemies. Other times against 3 to 5. It really seems super random, but in the first case scenario my entire flight of 5 gets wiped out including me. There is something strange with the campaign. Although maybe realistic, feels not very adjusted to player's level. I will play on easy I guess.

 

In testing I played both Easy and Moderate with Dense activity. Fortunately you can change that prior to each sortie. Some missions seemed easy with Moderate selected, and sometimes I had my hands full if I dinked around (getting greedy) in the target area after my Flight had begun to RTB.

[LukeFF]

I'm sure the developers will eventually give a fuller explanation, but I have a feeling right now that Moderate is meant to be the most "historically realistic" setting, while Hard is meant to give the player the hardest challenge possible, with ~12 AA guns defending every target.

[DaGengster]

On 3/17/2018 at 4:56 PM, sevenless said:

Any ideas on the dense front setting? What is the recommended CPU performance for having more AI units fighting a virtual war? Does it have any impact on overall performance?

 

I have a I7 2600K @4.000Mhz with 16gigs Ram and a 980 SLI combo. Will that be sufficient to play with both hard settings and dense front or will my PC melt? Any experiences?

Im running a i5 4690k OC to 4.4 ghz (in VR) and dense got me a ton for micro stutters when I go near blobs of ground units. The density option seems to only rely on CPU from what I can tell since my single 980 TI only reaches 60% max. It certainly looks amazing having the sky light up with tracers though lol (just hopefully flying towards an enemy)

I would say a scattered is probs best for CPUs like ours (depending on your tolerance for stutters)

Edited March 19, 2018 by DaGengster

[LukeFF]

I'm finding Moderate difficulty to have a nice balance between not making things be a bore and having it be unrealistically difficult. Ground targets, in particular, are still defended by plenty of flak guns at this level and will bite hard if one stays around for too long.

[blitze]

Loving the campaign.  Wolfgang, my pilot, downed 4 Il2's yesterday but had to land at a forward operating airfield as his engine got shot by ground fire I think and there was no way he would have made it back to base.  The 109 G2 was doing nicely against the Il2's though to my surprise.

 

Difficulty on Hard and Medium Density settings.  I'm still working out the best settings for smooth fighting in Kuban.  The other maps seem to be easier on my system so I have pulled distance from 150kms to 130 which helped but I might settle for 100kms.  That and 3 for visual distance rendering.  AA at 4 ingame, V-Sync in Nvidia Pannel, SSOA, HDR, Full Screen all on.  1440p resolution on a 1070 Max-Q powered note book connected to a 27" 144Hz monitor.

[JaffaCake]

Did the career mode for a bit - its so much better than what it used to be. Actually gives some meaning to the fights and your own performance.

 

The AI is still very poor though - Not once was I rammed or shot to bits by a friendly fighter slotting on the 6 of my current target. Makes it hard to play on ironman..

[Finkeren]

For me, the friendly AI continues to be the greatest threat to my virtual life. A couple missions ago, I nearly lost my MiG pilot, when during an escort mission I let the autopilot take over for a while. It promptly throttled down, went into a shallow dive for no apparent reason and smashed straight into the lead bomber without as much as attempting to avoid it. Luckily the collision happened at fairly low speed and I was able to bail out and escape with nothing but a failed mission.

 

 

[EAF19_Marsh]

I have it in Hard / Dense (that sounds rude, tbh) and the missions are really gripping. Reminds me of my first Il-2 career back in 2002, flying a MiG-3 and being really apprehensive of being caught at a disadvantage by 109s.

 

Wish I understood the success / failure principle, though.

[LLv24_SukkaVR]

It feels it affects flak mostly, havent noticed any difference in amount of fighters or their skill. If you ever feel suicidal try Hs-129 career with moderate/high difficulty and iron man on. If you're lucky enough to not get shot down en route to target, theres plenty of flak waiting for you in the target area.

[Herne]

I think difficulty determines the numbers of enemies you meet at your encounters. Their skill, is based on what rank they are. The frontline density determines how many other AI groups, both friendly and hostile are flying around outside of your objective encounters

[Swing]

8 hours ago, =FEW=Herne said:

I think difficulty determines the numbers of enemies you meet at your encounters. Their skill, is based on what rank they are. The frontline density determines how many other AI groups, both friendly and hostile are flying around outside of your objective encounters

 

Yes, that seems to work like that

[Porkins]

Huh, I assumed front line density determined the number of ground units battling it out on the literal front lines of the map. It'd be nice if there were tool tips to describe what the different settings do. 

[sevenless]

3 minutes ago, Porkins said:

Huh, I assumed front line density determined the number of ground units battling it out on the literal front lines of the map. It'd be nice if there were tool tips to describe what the different settings do. 

 

After having played around with the setting a little bit it appears to me that changing the density setting also increases the number of air units, not only ground units. Yes a little official guide explaining what which setting influences would be nice. 

[busdriver]

10 hours ago, JaffaCake said:

The AI is still very poor though - Not once was I rammed or shot to bits by a friendly fighter slotting on the 6 of my current target. Makes it hard to play on ironman..

 

Clarify...are you getting shot by friendly AI while you're all chasing the same bandit? 

[Godspeed]

On hard you get to see AA hell.

There is more AA than actual targets.

 

I tuned it to medium after few careers with 110.

Everyday my unit got annihilated because the AI thinks its good to attack such places after dropping bombs with cannons.

 

On medium it feels quite realistic to be plausible.

 

Nrmal everyday target site on hard :

Edited March 21, 2018 by Godspeed

[Trooper117]

Jesus!  ?

[EAF19_Marsh]

'Hard' should be the BoBP standard for Allied - that looks like footage of German flak late in the war.

[Finkeren]

22 minutes ago, EAF19_Marsh said:

'Hard' should be the BoBP standard for Allied - that looks like footage of German flak late in the war.

 

You have to view the number of guns in relation to the number of planes in the air.

 

The day we are able to do realistic formation sizes in the sim is the day we should have realistic amounts of AAA.

[JaffaCake]

13 hours ago, busdriver said:

 

Clarify...are you getting shot by friendly AI while you're all chasing the same bandit? 

 

 

Indeed, park yourself on close 6 of a bandit, and a friendly AI would slot in behind you, shooting streams at the bandit and you (if it misses the bandit). A few times I was rammed by a friendly trying to line up on the same bandit I was after. (Friendly was not in my view to be able to avoid).

[busdriver]

6 hours ago, JaffaCake said:

Indeed, park yourself on close 6 of a bandit, and a friendly AI would slot in behind you, shooting streams at the bandit and you (if it misses the bandit). A few times I was rammed by a friendly trying to line up on the same bandit I was after. (Friendly was not in my view to be able to avoid).

 

I've seen AI shoot friendlies after reviewing TacView ACMI files. I make it a habit not to chase a bandit that has AI chasing it. I don't poke my nose into the middle of a fight...I try to go for bandits on the outer edge. Sounds like you're playing at the Hard level. 

[LukeFF]

I did some more testing this weekend and figured out the AI skill levels at each difficulty level. Note: these skill levels apply only to planes outside your squadron. Your squadron's pilots can be any skill level:

 

Easy: friendly pilots Expert, enemy pilots Novice

Moderate: friendly pilots Veteran, enemy pilots Regular

Hard: friendly pilots Regular, enemy pilots Veteran

[senseispcc]

A little less allied AAA bashing should be nice!

The allied anti air guns and gunners where of good quality and once they were there in quantity they shot down a lot of the few planes that the axes forces did send over the front but they did like in WW1 not send a lot of planes the other side of the front line, even on the Russian front.

Do never forget that the first line of defense against the V1 where anti-aircraft guns how for some where manhandled by woman?! With success. 

[dburne]

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 10:11 PM, LukeFF said:

I did some more testing this weekend and figured out the AI skill levels at each difficulty level. Note: these skill levels apply only to planes outside your squadron. Your squadron's pilots can be any skill level:

 

Easy: friendly pilots Expert, enemy pilots Novice

Moderate: friendly pilots Veteran, enemy pilots Regular

Hard: friendly pilots Regular, enemy pilots Veteran

 

Good info to know, thanks for sharing.

 

Would be cool if someday these settings could be individually tweaked by the user in the Career Mode. 

[dkoor]

On 3/17/2018 at 10:22 PM, Finkeren said:

Hard difficulty definitely means you have to deal with more AAA. Flak is of very little threat on the easier settings. 

 

It also makes the odds be stacked slightly against you. On easy difficulty it seems you almost always outnumber the enemy significantly. On medium difficulty you might get attacked by a numerically superior foe, but most often there will be a flight of friendly fighters close by that will join in - I've had that happen too many times for it to be a coincidence. 

Nice info, thanks.

 

I'm currently playing rear gunner career in He-111/Ju-88... In so far like 10 sorties or so, on hard difficulty my flight haven't encountered superior force, also every time group was instructed to attack targets over hostile land (understandable since group flies medium bombers).

 

Played some missions in attack aircraft such as IL-2 and Ju-87... they are by far more dangerous to operate than level bombers... I think it's pretty safe to say that you probably wont get to see the end of the war in attack aircraft no matter how cautious you are.

[dburne]

Just now, dkoor said:

Nice info, thanks.

 

I'm currently playing rear gunner career in He-111/Ju-88... In so far like 10 sorties or so, on hard difficulty my flight haven't encountered superior force, also every time group was instructed to attack targets over hostile land (understandable since group flies medium bombers).

 

Played some missions in attack aircraft such as IL-2 and Ju-87... they are by far more dangerous to operate than level bombers... I think it's pretty safe to say that you probably wont get to see the end of the war in attack aircraft no matter how cautious you are.

  

I made it through my Kuban Career in the Spit ( not to end of war though as it was historical I reckon), one time and am working on a second time currently. Had about 7 other attempts though that did not end well lol.

[Herne]

2 minutes ago, dburne said:

  

I made it through my Kuban Career in the Spit ( not to end of war though as it was historical I reckon), one time and am working on a second time currently. Had about 7 other attempts though that did not end well lol.

 

well done ! I've had a couple of spit careers, sorties are really long for bomber escorts because the airfield you start from is far behind the front line. Do you get relocated at all ?

thing I fear most with the spit career is the ground attack. I might have a quick burst at the target location but I want to keep as much ammo as I can for the journey home. Some of my spit sorties were well over an hour

[dkoor]

1 hour ago, dburne said:

  

I made it through my Kuban Career in the Spit ( not to end of war though as it was historical I reckon), one time and am working on a second time currently. Had about 7 other attempts though that did not end well lol.

I'm yet to finish one campaign (iron mode).

Edited May 23, 2018 by dkoor

[dburne]

1 hour ago, =FEW=Herne said:

 

well done ! I've had a couple of spit careers, sorties are really long for bomber escorts because the airfield you start from is far behind the front line. Do you get relocated at all ?

thing I fear most with the spit career is the ground attack. I might have a quick burst at the target location but I want to keep as much ammo as I can for the journey home. Some of my spit sorties were well over an hour

 

Yep the first half of the campaign is brutal in that regard, especially the bomber escort missions as they usually fly around 160-180 mph. Auto-level and time acceleration helps a little, but just a little for me as 2x acceleration is about all I can get on my rig, and sometimes less than that.

You do relocate closer to the front at some point, it is a while before you do though.

 

Yeah on ground attack I will usually try and take out one or two targets with short bursts of cannon, and let wingmen try and handle the rest until we get successful mission message.

Edited May 23, 2018 by dburne

[LukeFF]

8 hours ago, dburne said:

 

Good info to know, thanks for sharing.

 

Would be cool if someday these settings could be individually tweaked by the user in the Career Mode. 

 

Yeah, what I'd like to see one day is a setting called something like "realiistc", where the AI of friendly and enemy flights is (1) based on the historical timeline and (2) has a mix of skill levels within each flight, e.g., a flight of MiGs on the Moscow map where the flight leader is a veteran and the rest are a mix of rookie or regular skill levels.

[dburne]

45 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

 

Yeah, what I'd like to see one day is a setting called something like "realiistc", where the AI of friendly and enemy flights is (1) based on the historical timeline and (2) has a mix of skill levels within each flight, e.g., a flight of MiGs on the Moscow map where the flight leader is a veteran and the rest are a mix of rookie or regular skill levels.

 

Yep that would be pretty cool as well.

[seafireliv]

I noticed Easy didn`t feel `real` enough as a starting Russian pilot taking on the victorious Luftwaffe, so popped up to Medium. On that, the Germans definitely started kicking not just my, but my AI comrade`s butt.

 

Also increased ground density to maximum. Ground forces never seem as much to me as I would expect in the real thing.

[eRoN]

Not to derail, but is it intended that you miss vast amounts of days (months) during campaigns? i play on realistic progression and on moscow campaign for example the campaign is meant to end on 20/4/ but once i went past 20/1 it auto skipped to 20/4 and finished the campaign. This also happened in my stalingrad campaign where i missed over a month at some point.

[RedKestrel]

44 minutes ago, eRoN said:

Not to derail, but is it intended that you miss vast amounts of days (months) during campaigns? i play on realistic progression and on moscow campaign for example the campaign is meant to end on 20/4/ but once i went past 20/1 it auto skipped to 20/4 and finished the campaign. This also happened in my stalingrad campaign where i missed over a month at some point.

That can happen if you are injured. I think, also, it depends on the squadron. Maybe some squadrons were withdrawn for certain periods during the battle, and that is modeled? Havent gotten that far in the campaign yet myself.