Airfield immersion ideas ONLY!!

[Kling]

As the other thread was a mix of various immersion ideas (although a great thread) I thought maybe its good to have a separate thread for this only. So what are you immersion ideas for the base before and after a mission or when you come back from a mission...

 

I personally like

 

1. Ambulance and firetruck to be on standby in case you signal that you are wounded or damaged. And these drive up to you after landed.

 

2. I would LOVE to have a first person view of walking around inside the barracks and hangar although I understand this will not happen. However the old style EAW and Silent hunter 3 And B17 II The mighty eighth had at least roos you could visit and that was great. Background music would also be cool... Some life is nice.

 

So lets help the devs as they asked us for ideas.

Edited February 3, 2013 by Kling

[FlatSpinMan]

I'd like the ability to preview my plane before the flight, like now in RoF but done in a more period way, perhaps with static or moving airfield backdrops.

I also liked the rooms in B17. That'd be fun. A gun film room would be so cool

 

More realistic perhaps would be to have boxes, crates, trucks, trailers scattered around the aurfield to suggest the place was an active workplace. Of course ground crew figures would be superb, even static ones.

[No105_Swoose]

1. A wind sock: Of course that would imply the sim would actually model wind direction and speed.

 

2. Light and medium AAA in sandbagged revetments along with functional searchlights.

 

3. A dog (your pet or squadron mascot) that would run around your plane and greet you after parking and engine shutdown.

[AX2]

 

3. A dog (your pet or squadron mascot) that would run around your plane and greet you after parking and engine shutdown.

 

 

 

 

[Bearcat]

1. A wind sock: Of course that would imply the sim would actually model wind direction and speed.

 

2. Light and medium AAA in sandbagged revetments along with functional searchlights.

 

3. A dog (your pet or squadron mascot) that would run around your plane and greet you after parking and engine shutdown.

 

That may be very doable .. and well ..

[Skoshi_Tiger]

I'd like the ability to preview my plane before the flight, like now in RoF but done in a more period way, perhaps with static or moving airfield backdrops.

I also liked the rooms in B17. That'd be fun. A gun film room would be so cool

 

More realistic perhaps would be to have boxes, crates, trucks, trailers scattered around the aurfield to suggest the place was an active workplace. Of course ground crew figures would be superb, even static ones.

+1

 

The Briefing room in B17-II was really good with recon film showing targets etc. Also the debriefing at the end of the mission showing film of your attack runs gave a real sence of achevement after successfully completing a mission.

[StrIke]

The ambulance firetruck thing I think we can bury under the ground right now. Not meaning to burst your bubble, but coding this is just... it offers so little functionality over resources put in to design the system. When you crashland, you hit bail, and the rest is history. If you think about it, the ambulance/firetrucks would have to sit somewhere safe and wait. Then once you screech to a halt, they would have to calculate a safe route to you, making sure not to slam into landing aircraft or other things. Then, they would have to reach you, and by that time, you are already outside of your aircraft, brushing dust off your flight jacket. The aircraft is most likely engulfed in flames. IL-2 style "bail, run and hit the ground" works sufficiently.

 

A really cool way to do this, would be to have 3 different fleeing animations:

 

If the pilot is not injured after crash - the player runs like in IL-2 1946.

 

If the pilot is lightly injured after crash - the player limps across the field and ducks for cover/collapses

 

If the pilot is severely injured after the crash -  the player crawls on the ground, dragging himself slowly away from the wreckage and eventually collapses.

 

This would require only 3 different animations, and would work anywhere. If a bomber ditches in a field, you can see the crew limping/running/crawling out of the wreckage.

 

Creating ambulances to rush out to your wreck, is just much work for no reason. I'd click "end mission" if I was not on fire, or bail and click end mission if I was on fire.

 

First person view has been discussed a lot, and I believe it could be an easy/cool thing to implement as part of preflight/postflight. Once you end your mission, you are brought to a first person view next to the plane, with mission debrief window, but also the possibility to walk around the aircraft and review your damage.

 

Walking around base, driving cars, talking to crew chiefs etc I think is just too much to ask at this point.

 

My immersion for airfields would be this one:

 

Minor activity - A few cars or trucks driving around the perimeter, not interfering with aircraft operations. Weather, like wind, snow or rain. Static aircraft. That's all I care for ground immersion. I'm going to spend 2% of my time on the airfrield and 98% of my time flying.

 

I'd rather they focused on immersive bailout animations. Similar to DCS P-51.

[Kling]

All great ideas... Keep them coming!

[SvAF/F19_Klunk]

windsock is already present in RoF and is absolutely necessary for making safe landings. .. so it beeing there is not only for immersion.. it has a function as well

considering that the scope of funtionality for BoS is/must be rather narrow... I believe that  the developers should focus on one feature alone.. but a feature that would immensly increase immersion: ground movement,,,, ergo personel..

 

Just to have people walking/running around the airbase would be a HUGE improvement...

 

In the "other" garme/sim in development, there are deckcrews on the carriers and they wave their arms.. might sound stupid but this feature alone.. gives a rare depth not seen in any sim I have flown anyway

 

so.. in short... moving people

Edited February 5, 2013 by F19_Klunk

[II./ZG2_Gaga]

All the above stated, are excellent ideas including the Firetruck / Ambulance routine.

 

There are some of us that relax with the game and enjoy it thoughout rather than focusing on the "kill".

We want to be part of the "movie" we're are staring in, so to speak ...

 

Furtermore in my opinion, it is crucial that the Airbases have a mind of their own.

 

I would love to be a able to triger a scrable when i'm closing in an enemy Airfield.

 

When ground forces or ships cross the borders the Ai base should deploy a full set of Bombers & FIgher escort.

Perhaps the Naval Stations are Ai too and send off Ai Ships as well.

 

That's the kind of stuff i want to have ....

 

I don't want to spent 24 hours to set up a discent mission with all the nice little detail included.

 

I would rather have an alive - ready - set up base with flags and all routines running ( People / Cars / etc), where i just insert/choose the team (weather etc), numbers and types of AC and press fly.

 

From that point on the Simulator should come to life and every little thing should have a mind of its own thus reacting to your actions.

 

Heh i hope i didn't ruin your day ... 

 

All the best!

Edited February 22, 2013 by Gagatronic

[Uufflakke]

I remember to have heard on YouTube birds chirping during take off in ROF.

And there is a mod for IL2 with all kind of ambient sounds to be used for airfields. Like people talking, a dog barking, mechanics activity etc.

It would be nice to have something like this in BoS, it creates more liveliness at airfields.

[Corsair123]

The ambulance firetruck thing I think we can bury under the ground right now. Not meaning to burst your bubble, but coding this is just... it offers so little functionality over resources put in to design the system. When you crashland, you hit bail, and the rest is history. If you think about it, the ambulance/firetrucks would have to sit somewhere safe and wait. Then once you screech to a halt, they would have to calculate a safe route to you, making sure not to slam into landing aircraft or other things. Then, they would have to reach you, and by that time, you are already outside of your aircraft, brushing dust off your flight jacket. The aircraft is most likely engulfed in flames. IL-2 style "bail, run and hit the ground" works sufficiently.

 

A really cool way to do this, would be to have 3 different fleeing animations:

 

If the pilot is not injured after crash - the player runs like in IL-2 1946.

 

If the pilot is lightly injured after crash - the player limps across the field and ducks for cover/collapses

 

If the pilot is severely injured after the crash -  the player crawls on the ground, dragging himself slowly away from the wreckage and eventually collapses.

 

This would require only 3 different animations, and would work anywhere. If a bomber ditches in a field, you can see the crew limping/running/crawling out of the wreckage.

 

Creating ambulances to rush out to your wreck, is just much work for no reason. I'd click "end mission" if I was not on fire, or bail and click end mission if I was on fire.

 

First person view has been discussed a lot, and I believe it could be an easy/cool thing to implement as part of preflight/postflight. Once you end your mission, you are brought to a first person view next to the plane, with mission debrief window, but also the possibility to walk around the aircraft and review your damage.

 

Walking around base, driving cars, talking to crew chiefs etc I think is just too much to ask at this point.

 

My immersion for airfields would be this one:

 

Minor activity - A few cars or trucks driving around the perimeter, not interfering with aircraft operations. Weather, like wind, snow or rain. Static aircraft. That's all I care for ground immersion. I'm going to spend 2% of my time on the airfrield and 98% of my time flying.

 

I'd rather they focused on immersive bailout animations. Similar to DCS P-51.

I agree with you on all points.

I did especially like the part were you walk around aircraft post mission

[Lord_Haw-Haw]

Well it would be nice if the airfields are not just generic ones like in IL2 but, are a little more oriented on the real

airfields of the time. This would also be a big plus for navigation!

Here is a British example:

[Veteran66]

Planes who drive like trucks, so it is more traffic on the airfield

[HeavyCavalrySgt]

http://youtu.be/o3tJlFsGRSE

 

That may be very doable .. and well ..

That is cool!  More than just wind,  RoF does propwash, but I don't know how.  For example, I have not been able to fly through my own propwash, which you would kind of expect to do.  I expect wind will be a factor in this game.

 

+1

 

The Briefing room in B17-II was really good with recon film showing targets etc. Also the debriefing at the end of the mission showing film of your attack runs gave a real sence of achevement after successfully completing a mission.

All of that!  The corridors, the files, checking on the condition of your aircraft and crews, picking loads, the pre and post briefings -- that was all really well done.

 

The ambulance firetruck thing I think we can bury under the ground right now. Not meaning to burst your bubble, but coding this is just... it offers so little functionality over resources put in to design the system. When you crashland, you hit bail, and the rest is history. If you think about it, the ambulance/firetrucks would have to sit somewhere safe and wait. Then once you screech to a halt, they would have to calculate a safe route to you, making sure not to slam into landing aircraft or other things. Then, they would have to reach you, and by that time, you are already outside of your aircraft, brushing dust off your flight jacket. The aircraft is most likely engulfed in flames. IL-2 style "bail, run and hit the ground" works sufficiently.

 

 

Haven't we already seen trucks in the livestream?

 

 

How about piled up wrecks off the end of the runway, or aircraft in the hangars being torn apart or put back together?  

 

It would be nice if we could make it dynamic -- those Stukas came by in the last mission and nailed some aircraft revetments, so we don't have all the machines available for this coming mission -- maybe the fires are out, or maybe not, but there are still wrecks in some of the revetments.

 

What I really would like to see is some operations off frozen lakes.  The facilities are primitive, aircraft are parked under trees, in barns, next to houses, wherever.  The fuel dump in under a tree, and the ammo dump is buried a few hundred yards away.  Briefings happen in a tent or on the wing of an airplane -- that would be cool; the crews crowd around and the view zooms to a map held down by gloved hands.

 

One thing that seemed to be missing in the last live stream was wind effects that were visible. I would have liked to see snow blowing across the runway unless it was just frozen hard.  Just a wisp of snow here and there would have been cool.  More wind, more wisps.

 

There should be the suggestion of "its cold" because we only have the winter landscape from the start - smoke from fires and chimneys, icicles, snow drifts, tracks in the snow, firewood piled up, stumps here and there.

 

The airfields definitely shouldn't be all the same, and they should have a memory of what has been done to them, and reductions in facilities impact the game.  If I have 1 large hangar and 2 small ones, maybe I can repair 8 aircraft efficiently at the same time.  Any other aircraft are fixed at a slower rate, because the guys are working outside, limited to daylight hours or whatever work can be done with artificial light, exposed to the elements.  I lose the large hangar, and now I only can fix 4 aircraft efficiently until the hangar is repaired. Also, any aircraft that were being fixed in that hangar are completely destroyed, parts on the hoof, or broken.

[Uufflakke]

Well it would be nice if the airfields are not just generic ones like in IL2 but, are a little more oriented on the real

airfields of the time. This would also be a big plus for navigation!

 

 

 

From what I've read on the (translated) Russian BoS site the airfields are generic for the time being but they will make them look like as they were during that period.

'Cause there were some Russian members complaining about the unhistorical look of them.

I think it was Loft who said something about it quite a while ago already.

[Lord_Haw-Haw]

That would be good news!

[Foobar]

What I really would like to see is a airbase ressource management. Let me try to explain:

 

Each airfield has its certain amount of planes, amunition, fuel and anti aircraft artillery. Each time a player gets a new plane, the amount of amunition and fuel will be taken from the airfields overall ressource capacity. The ressources (fuel tanks and ammo bunkers), even the AA can be destroyed by enemy.

 

After those ressources are down to zero they can't be taken any more by new players. As soon AA is destroyed or out of ammo there's no AA defence any more.

 

The ressources have to be filled up by several ways, lets say ships, railways, trucks or cargo planes. Those could drive randomly all over the map and resupply airbases on their way.

 

The enemy is trying to prevent the supply forces to reach empty airfields and try to take over such a empty airfield and use it for his own.

 

For sure there are even more things to think about, but this is my idea/wish in raw lines. Imagine the fun.

[Uufflakke]

That would be good news!

 

My memory still seems to work.

 

Found Loft's answer to a comment about the non historical airfields that will be corrected and detailed.

Read answer #66. Sorry for mr. Google's translation skills.

 

http://translate.google.nl/translate?hl=nl&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.il2sturmovik.ru%2Fforum%2F7-obshie-temy%2F

[leitmotiv]

What I really would like to see is a airbase ressource management. Let me try to explain:

 

Each airfield has its certain amount of planes, amunition, fuel and anti aircraft artillery. Each time a player gets a new plane, the amount of amunition and fuel will be taken from the airfields overall ressource capacity. The ressources (fuel tanks and ammo bunkers), even the AA can be destroyed by enemy.

 

After those ressources are down to zero they can't be taken any more by new players. As soon AA is destroyed or out of ammo there's no AA defence any more.

 

The ressources have to be filled up by several ways, lets say ships, railways, trucks or cargo planes. Those could drive randomly all over the map and resupply airbases on their way.

 

The enemy is trying to prevent the supply forces to reach empty airfields and try to take over such a empty airfield and use it for his own.

 

For sure there are even more things to think about, but this is my idea/wish in raw lines. Imagine the fun.

 

Idea that works in air war servers, that will probably be developed by other people then devs of BoS like its done for old il2, just yesterday i spend a few hours resupplying just captured airfield with transport airplane (carying fuel, ammo and so on) in ADW server so i can activate airbase and re-base my squadron on that base to attack enemy ground units and supply points close to it to move the front, for some this is fun for some boring