Sea Dragons is full of bugs

[Zeev]

Hi,

I have purchased today Battle of Kuban and started playing the scripted campaign Sea Dragons.
First mission was an intro, nice formation flying, I have enjoyed it, despite the AI being on steroids changing its speed from 80% to 100% just before landing.
The issues started with the second mission "Malaya Zemla" when we got the objective to attack an artillery position. Sounds fun.
Took off with my squad, another formation flying, spotted the enemy positions, then bam - like its 1945 and war is over - our glorious flight leader decided to continue his flight and ignore the enemy, despite they started to shoot at us with AA.
I was sure it is some kind of Red Army tactics to confuse the enemy, but no, we continued to follow the scripted waypoint straight to our airfield.
Then I have landed, speed was high, ended in the ocean but still "mission complete" because this trigger "0 altitude" worked and triggered "mission complete".
Gah. What a buggy mess.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Zeev

[Jade_Monkey]

There is no such thing as '0 altitude' trigger, so stop spreading BS. If you are so upset that the mission was completed instead of failed, why dont you fly it again and land properly?

 

The campaign was built several patches ago, so it's possible that with the AI behavior changes some missions might not work as expected and need to be tweaked by @BlackSix.

It's also possible that it was just a fluke and that the next time you fly it the AI will engage just fine. Don't run and create a rant right away.

[Zeev]

6 minutes ago, Jade_Monkey said:

There is no such thing as '0 altitude' trigger, so stop spreading BS. If you are so upset that the mission was completed instead of failed, why dont you fly it again and land properly?

 

The campaign was built several patches ago, so it's possible that with the AI behavior changes some missions might not work as expected and need to be tweaked by @BlackSix.

It's also possible that it was just a fluke and that the next time you fly it the AI will engage just fine. Don't run and create a rant right away.

 

Back in the 90's the AI was way better and I could even fly my plane with keyboard without the fear that I will lose formation because the AI is stupid.
Back in the 90's there were bugs, but not game breaking that cause me to restart mission and hope that AI will engage its enemies.
Back in the 90's the game cost was low and I am pretty sure I got the game with one of those 222 demo discs.
This game I already spent around 100$ or more, and I get a buggy mess, without any quality assurance.
Developers release a patch? They need to make sure that the AI works properly in all their official campaign missions, where is the quality assurance in this game?

Edited July 5, 2019 by Zeev

[Jade_Monkey]

I honestly think you should go back to the 90's.

Also, have you ever heard of inflation?

[radio]

The grafic in 90 s was very bad and cost of development low! So the games are cheaper.

[Herne]

5 minutes ago, Zeev said:

 

Back in the 90's the AI was way better and I could even fly my plane with keyboard without the fear that I will lose formation because the AI is stupid.
Back in the 90's there were bugs, but not game breaking that cause me to restart mission and hope that AI will engage its enemies.
Back in the 90's the game cost was low and I am pretty sure I got the game with one of those 222 demo discs.
This game I already spent around 100$ or more, and I get a buggy mess, without any quality assurance.
Developers release a patch? They need to make sure that the AI works properly in all their official campaign missions, where is the quality assurance in this game?

 

Calm down.

As development continues, any changes to the game engine can sometimes have an impact to all IL2 great battles titles. Any changes to AI for instance would /could effect all IL2 Great Battle Titles, including the scripted campaigns.

As Dev's become aware of problems they can prioritise them for fixing. You are more likely to be taken seriously though, if you can explain what is happening providing a trak or video to help illustrate the problems that you are experiencing, than if you are perceived to be having a rant.

If the scripted campaign is borked for now try the Career mode, and come back later to Sea Dragons

[Zeev]

20 minutes ago, Herne said:

 

Calm down.

As development continues, any changes to the game engine can sometimes have an impact to all IL2 great battles titles. Any changes to AI for instance would /could effect all IL2 Great Battle Titles, including the scripted campaigns.

As Dev's become aware of problems they can prioritise them for fixing. You are more likely to be taken seriously though, if you can explain what is happening providing a trak or video to help illustrate the problems that you are experiencing, than if you are perceived to be having a rant.

If the scripted campaign is borked for now try the Career mode, and come back later to Sea Dragons

I am completely aware how bugs come, I am tester myself (quality assurance).
But what I do not understand is, how they release a new version without testing their missions.
Before a new version is released, you have to do a sanity tests. Sure, you cannot test all the missions, but if I find a game breaking bug within 40 minutes of playing the first missions in a campaign, its not that hard to reproduce.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Start the second mission of the campaign in the latest game version (3.101b).
2. Fly after your squad lead.
3. Approach attack waypoint with your squad.
4. Do not shoot or throw bombs.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Zeev

[sevenless]

[Jade_Monkey]

15 minutes ago, Zeev said:

I am completely aware how bugs come, I am tester myself (quality assurance).
But what I do not understand is, how they release a new version without testing their missions.
Before a new version is released, you have to do a sanity tests. Sure, you cannot test all the missions, but if I find a game breaking bug within 40 minutes of playing the first missions in a campaign, its not that hard to reproduce.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Start the second mission of the campaign in the latest game version (3.101b).
2. Fly after your squad lead.
3. Approach attack waypoint with your squad.
4. Do not shoot or throw bombs.

 

Have you checked wether you are the bug?

[BlackSix]

1 hour ago, Zeev said:

The issues started with the second mission "Malaya Zemla" when we got the objective to attack an artillery position. Sounds fun.
Took off with my squad, another formation flying, spotted the enemy positions, then bam - like its 1945 and war is over - our glorious flight leader decided to continue his flight and ignore the enemy, despite they started to shoot at us with AA.
I was sure it is some kind of Red Army tactics to confuse the enemy, but no, we continued to follow the scripted waypoint straight to our airfield.

 

41 minutes ago, Zeev said:

Steps to reproduce:
1. Start the second mission of the campaign in the latest game version (3.101b).
2. Fly after your squad lead.
3. Approach attack waypoint with your squad.
4. Do not shoot or throw bombs.

I've checked it twice, in the user and dev versions. It's not a bug.

This is a standard and primitive Soviet tactic. Attack planes like IL-2 often used as level bombers. You've to fly after the leader, keeping the height and course, not turning anywhere and not paying attention to anything. Anti-aircraft fire does not matter. The bombs are dropped after the flight leader, only after that you can turn aside.

[Alexmarine]

I am pretty sure that the mission briefing itself clearly state that is a level bombing attack... ?

[BlackSix]

Unfortunately, in the mission briefing it is said not quite clearly:

 

- Our targets are artillery batteries located 3 kilometers to the west of Stanichka, – he pointed his pencil at the map for the assembled pilots. - We will make our approach from the direction of Myskhako. Launch a hasty attack: drop your bombs and head back home. The situation in the air is tense. The Germans will not permit a second round of attack, so let's not take unnecessary risks.

- You will be the last in a four, – the squadron commander addressed me directly after finishing the group debriefing. - Stay in formation. Drop bombs on my command. All aboard! Taking off in 20.

and

Flight Mission: as part of a flight of bombers, stage a bomb attack on enemy artillery batteries to the west of Stanichka. You will be flying as a wingman in the second pair. Do your best to stay in formation.

 

I explain things in detail to the player that are too obvious to me not always. It's difficult to control sometimes, unfortunately.

[Alexmarine]

1 hour ago, BlackSix said:

Stay in formation. Drop bombs on my command

 

@BlackSix

 

To me it was sufficiently clear 

[Zeev]

18 hours ago, BlackSix said:

 

I've checked it twice, in the user and dev versions. It's not a bug.

This is a standard and primitive Soviet tactic. Attack planes like IL-2 often used as level bombers. You've to fly after the leader, keeping the height and course, not turning anywhere and not paying attention to anything. Anti-aircraft fire does not matter. The bombs are dropped after the flight leader, only after that you can turn aside.

I did 100% what you have described.
First time bombs were not dropped, on second try all three planes dropped the bomb.
So if there is a chance that the AI will not drop the bombs when they should, its a bug.
There is a joke among the testers when a developer says "its not a bug, its a feature", your reply reminded me this xD

 

11 hours ago, Alexmarine28 said:

I am pretty sure that the mission briefing itself clearly state that is a level bombing attack... ?

I have read the mission and followed the squad formation from the takeoff to the attack waypoint and straight to the landing phase.

If people read my first post in this thread there would not be such misunderstanding.

 

Edited July 6, 2019 by Zeev

[BlackSix]

6 minutes ago, Zeev said:

First time bombs were not dropped, on second try all three planes dropped the bomb.
So if there is a chance that the AI will not drop the bombs when they should, its a bug.

I've never seen it before, the flight leader drop his bombs in any case. This mission was tested in the different versions over 40 times.

Unless they dropped bombs, this is a unique mistake.