Career Mode AI Pilot Awards

[Ram399]

Has anyone had a German career AI squadron-mate awarded any medal above the Iron Cross 1st Class?  In my current JG52 Moscow campaign I've had one AI pilot with me since the beginning, and he's achieved 77 aerial victories over the course of his 124 sorties.  

Despite this incredibly stellar record (for an AI pilot), he has yet to receive the Luftwaffe Honor Goblet, and seems to be permanently stuck with the Iron Cross 1st Class that he received 2 Months and 36 kills ago.  He was promoted to Major some time ago, but that seems to have been the extent of his recognition from Luftflotte 2.
Has anyone had an ace level AI wingman receive the Knights Cross?

Attached pics are him, he probably creeps most of his kills to death tbh

[RedKestrel]

15 minutes ago, Ram399 said:

Has anyone had a German career AI squadron-mate awarded any medal above the Iron Cross 1st Class?  In my current JG52 Moscow campaign I've had one AI pilot with me since the beginning, and he's achieved 77 aerial victories over the course of his 124 sorties.  

Despite this incredibly stellar record (for an AI pilot), he has yet to receive the Luftwaffe Honor Goblet, and seems to be permanently stuck with the Iron Cross 1st Class that he received 2 Months and 36 kills ago.  He was promoted to Major some time ago, but that seems to have been the extent of his recognition from Luftflotte 2.
Has anyone had an ace level AI wingman receive the Knights Cross?

Attached pics are him, he probably creeps most of his kills to death tbh

Goering maybe thinks he's too creepy to give more awards to. And that's saying something, coming from Goering. 

[Ram399]

35 minutes ago, RedKestrel said:

Goering maybe thinks he's too creepy to give more awards to. And that's saying something, coming from Goering. 

I'm perfectly willing to accept that as canon within the campaign lol
He's starting to run out of room for kill tabs on his tail though, so I might just have to do an Iron Cross Emblem on his rudder with 50 or so under it.
He's creepy but extraordinarily effective somehow.

 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Ram399
removed swastika in screenshot

[Xyperion]

I'm  just amazed that you had an AI pilot that survived for 77 victories! Maximum i've seen is ~15-20. 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Xyperion

[Ram399]

Just now, Xyperion said:

I'm  just amazed that you had an AI pilot that survived for 77 victories! Maximum i've had is ~15-20. 

He always seems to come back somehow. 
I've had him disappear mid-sortie before, only for him to show up an hour later when we're all in the landing pattern.

Also helps that I've taken to only engaging enemy fighters when they threaten my flight.
AI Bf-109s have a bad habit of just flying straight and level when MiGs get on their tail so I feel like I'm herding cats in any sort of major dogfight.

[RedKestrel]

"Herr Goering! We have found you a pilot to fly you out of the city to our secret mountain base before the Soviets arrive in Berlin!"
"Excellent! Who is it?"
"Major Weizsacker!"
"...Ah. Never mind, then. I will be walking. Help me with this luggage full of methamphetamines, would you?"

[Ram399]

7 minutes ago, RedKestrel said:

"Herr Goering! We have found you a pilot to fly you out of the city to our secret mountain base before the Soviets arrive in Berlin!"
"Excellent! Who is it?"
"Major Weizsacker!"
"...Ah. Never mind, then. I will be walking. Help me with this luggage full of methamphetamines, would you?"

If you think Weizsacker is something, you should see my second most successful pilot lol
Deputy Commandant, Hauptmann Bernd Berger who has somehow achieved 38 kills.
Like really, a burned burger.  Could only be better if his wife's name was Frieda Berger. 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Ram399

[sevenless]

59 minutes ago, Ram399 said:

Has anyone had a German career AI squadron-mate awarded any medal above the Iron Cross 1st Class?  In my current JG52 Moscow campaign I've had one AI pilot with me since the beginning, and he's achieved 77 aerial victories over the course of his 124 sorties.  

Despite this incredibly stellar record (for an AI pilot), he has yet to receive the Luftwaffe Honor Goblet, and seems to be permanently stuck with the Iron Cross 1st Class that he received 2 Months and 36 kills ago.  He was promoted to Major some time ago, but that seems to have been the extent of his recognition from Luftflotte 2.
Has anyone had an ace level AI wingman receive the Knights Cross?

Attached pics are him, he probably creeps most of his kills to death tbh

 

Nope, my highest ranking AI pal scored 136 kills over the Kuban career, but never received iron cross first class or higher.

 

 

[Feathered_IV]

1 hour ago, Ram399 said:

If you think Weizsacker is something, you should see my second most successful pilot lol
Deputy Commandant, Hauptmann Bernd Berger who has somehow achieved 38 kills.
Like really, a burned burger.  Could only be better if his wife's name was Frieda Berger. 

 

I had a Russian AI wingman called Arsen Titov.  Really weird looking guy, but he knew what he liked.  

[Ram399]

Well damn thats a shame, 136 victories is more than enough for a Knights Cross, even in '43- nevermind the Honor Goblet.
Plus your guy is a lot less creepy looking so we can rule that out as a factor lol. 
Oddly enough I've seen AI pilots with the Honor Goblet before, but they spawned with them and weren't awarded them during the course of my campaign.

[LukeFF]

34 minutes ago, Ram399 said:

Well damn thats a shame, 136 victories is more than enough for a Knights Cross, even in '43- nevermind the Honor Goblet.
Plus your guy is a lot less creepy looking so we can rule that out as a factor lol. 
Oddly enough I've seen AI pilots with the Honor Goblet before, but they spawned with them and weren't awarded them during the course of my campaign.

 

It'd be a good idea to PM @airahusky about these sorts of things. ?

[US63_SpadLivesMatter]

Not award related, but I remember my great AI squadron commander Alexander von Trotha.  At some point during the Battle of Moscow, his younger brother Sven von Trotha was assigned to the unit.  Alas Sven didn't share the great talent of his older brother, but somehow he hung around for months with his sole air victory.

 

Sadly, Alexander was killed in the early weeks of Stalingrad, and so I made it my duty to shepherd Sven, so his mum wouldn't lose both her sons.  For a long while I was successful, until we were surprised by some LaGGs and a huge number of Yaks during a ground attack mission.  Overwhelmed myself, I was just out of range, but close enough to watch as a russian put down Sven's 109.

 

I watched hoping for a parachute, but he never made it out.

 

[Ram399]

4 hours ago, hrafnkolbrandr said:

Not award related, but I remember my great AI squadron commander Alexander von Trotha.  At some point during the Battle of Moscow, his younger brother Sven von Trotha was assigned to the unit.  Alas Sven didn't share the great talent of his older brother, but somehow he hung around for months with his sole air victory.

 

Sadly, Alexander was killed in the early weeks of Stalingrad, and so I made it my duty to shepherd Sven, so his mum wouldn't lose both her sons.  For a long while I was successful, until we were surprised by some LaGGs and a huge number of Yaks during a ground attack mission.  Overwhelmed myself, I was just out of range, but close enough to watch as a russian put down Sven's 109.

 

I watched hoping for a parachute, but he never made it out.

 

Thats sad to hear, but its a good story.  Its nice to know I'm not the only one who likes to assign backgrounds to my AI mates as well. 
I had a new pilot named Paul Grob who joined the squadron in my Moscow campaign in mid November as an OFW.  He had 0 combat experience at the start, but an incredible ability to continuously get shot down, crash, and survive.  Soon enough after he had crashed his 4th plane in 2 weeks I added a giant red bar to his aircraft behind the cowling so I could keep special track of him in combat- which he still ended up crashing.  He did figure out how to fly eventually though, and managed to get promoted while achieving 14 kills before being transferred in early January (which was kind of lame).
All in all I've found the Career mode much more enjoyable when one gets into it like this lol.
Pic related is Grob sitting in his third crashed F2, (Not so) "Lucky Number 3" 

[InProgress]

11 hours ago, Ram399 said:

Despite this incredibly stellar record (for an AI pilot),

Problem is, every AI pilot gets pro stats in every category. If you start ju52 campaign, you see all of them with bunch air kills, ships, buildings etc. like that ju52 pilot dropped cargo on building and it collapsed. It's a small detail but would be nice to get it improved one day. Fighter pilots getting more air kills, bombers ground kills. Now everyone gets everything.

[US63_SpadLivesMatter]

11 minutes ago, InProgress said:

Problem is, every AI pilot gets pro stats in every category. If you start ju52 campaign, you see all of them with bunch air kills, ships, buildings etc. like that ju52 pilot dropped cargo on building and it collapsed.

 

Dudes used to be hotshots.  Now they're hauling rubber dog shit outta Hong Kong.

[Godspeed]

=Weirdsacker= has become Legend.

 

I have never seen AI survive this long usually they all die in a week.

Edited September 19, 2019 by Godspeed

[danielprates]

On 9/18/2019 at 5:36 PM, Ram399 said:

 

 

This pilot of yours, Christian von Weizacker, he looks just like the actor JON POLITO.

[Ram399]

7 minutes ago, danielprates said:

 

This pilot of yours, Christian von Weizacker, he looks just like the actor JON POLITO.

That is a scarily accurate comparison lol

[InProgress]

It's a bit of but why can't we have real pilots pictures? We already have real photos in newspaper or some events and you can see people's faces. I remember Panzer Corps 2 devs were looking for historical pictures with no copyrights so it should be possible.

 

https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=464&t=92440&sid=1ba92e7c6bbcf080187faf1d786b64d1

 

I really like when there is real photo popping up in career. Shame there is not that much of them.

[unreasonable]

54 minutes ago, InProgress said:

It's a bit of but why can't we have real pilots pictures?

 

You mean they are not real? I pictured the devs sitting round a table with a few bottles of vodka, laughing uproariously,  choosing all the most weird looking people from a huge pile of historical photographs. Especially for the German pilots, who do not look at all like Übermensch - more like extras from a zombie movie. 

[Feathered_IV]

1 hour ago, InProgress said:

It's a bit of but why can't we have real pilots pictures?

 

The families of those real people can often object to a video games using the images of their relatives without permission.  Particularly if they happen to have died horribly.

[InProgress]

10 minutes ago, Feathered_IV said:

The families of those real people can often object to a video games using the images of their relatives without permission.  Particularly if they happen to have died horribly.

I don't think you need any permission. There are open source images, you can even buy others from archives and use them. This argument does not really make much sense to me. One can see it maybe in a bad way but legally, there would not be any problem. These photos are already used in books, movies, games. Panzer Corps 2 is doing it, other games did this. There was never any problem with it. It's still better than have your face on a book about war crimes don't you think?

 

Here they used his face on a steam trading card. No one complained.

 

It would still be better to have guy who makes loading screens art works, at least made some of the portraits, instead of these random pictures. It's a small thing but quite an immersion killer.

[Cpt_Cool]

The portrait generator technology is what sets BOX apart from lesser games.

[Feathered_IV]

It always reminds me of that infamous fresco restoration.  

 

[Ram399]

A bit of an update for those who might be interested. 

On December 1st, 1942 Weizsacker achieved his 100th victory, an La-5 near Stalingrad.  Just two days later on December 3rd after downing an A-20 for his 101st kill he was (finally) awarded the Luftwaffe Honor Goblet.  My new theory is that AI pilots are actually capable of receiving all of the awards available to the player, the catch is that they can only do so as a result of actions taken while flying with the player.  So in effect, victories scored over the course of autoresolved sorties which the player has not taken part in will not count towards the pilot's overall award score.  I could be completely wrong, but it seems like a decent theory at least.

Pics related are Major von Weirdsacker making a century as well as his awards.

[falle96]

This has been a beautiful thread to read through, and I thank you all. Had to stifle a lot of laughter while sitting in class today.

 

All the more reason we should have a dedicated Career Mode forum channel(? is that the right word?) so people can put their stories down.

[RedKestrel]

15 hours ago, Ram399 said:

A bit of an update for those who might be interested. 

On December 1st, 1942 Weizsacker achieved his 100th victory, an La-5 near Stalingrad.  Just two days later on December 3rd after downing an A-20 for his 101st kill he was (finally) awarded the Luftwaffe Honor Goblet.  My new theory is that AI pilots are actually capable of receiving all of the awards available to the player, the catch is that they can only do so as a result of actions taken while flying with the player.  So in effect, victories scored over the course of autoresolved sorties which the player has not taken part in will not count towards the pilot's overall award score.  I could be completely wrong, but it seems like a decent theory at least.

Pics related are Major von Weirdsacker making a century as well as his awards.

Godspeed, creepy weirdo experten. Godspeed.

[Ram399]

Have to resurrect this thread one final time lol.

With the newest update, it appears that the AI now receives awards just as the player does regardless of how their kills were achieved.
This seems to have had a retroactive effect, as on April 19th, 1943 an entire crate full of honor goblets and iron crosses were bestowed upon my AI brethren, including 3 German Crosses in Gold which went to Berger, Schulte, and Weizsacker respectively.

 

More importantly for the resident creepy experten however, is that on April 20th, 1943, following an hour long free hunt over Kuban, Weirdsacker was finally awarded the Knight's Cross at 125 aerial victories.
I feel like a father finally proud of his irredeemably ugly son.
Perhaps Goering is trying to bribe him away.

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, Ram399 said:

Perhaps Goering is trying to bribe him away.

 

Indeed. ? 

 

But yes, the awards are now all set up so that the AI have the same award criteria as the player.

[Goffik]

Was there an issue with player awards too before? Immediately after the latest patch, I went on a sweep mission where I had no enemy contact at all. On landing I was awarded the Knight's Cross and the Wound Badge in gold, despite no injury during the mission. Seems like it was catching up on things I should already have had.

 

This was accompanied by most of my AI fellows receiving a glut of medals between them too, including those that didn't actually fly.

[Ram399]

5 hours ago, Goffik said:

Was there an issue with player awards too before?

When the career mode first came out there was some sort of issue that I remember where you could get the awards in the wrong order, but that got patched early and I haven't seen it since.

It is possible that the latest update altered the criteria and you were retroactively awarded the medals, or maybe its decided to factor in the number of missions flown, I'm not sure.
I do know that for my career, the first time I started a new day with the latest patch active I got spammed with medals for my AI squadronmates who had reached the required status but had not been awarded them.  I myself was re-awarded the bronze and silver flying clasps for whatever reason, since I had already achieved the gold clasp which used to supplant those, I guess now I get to keep them. 

 

Other than that though, I haven't seen anything particularly odd pertaining to player awards.  

You being awarded a Gold Wound Badge seems especially unusual as a retroactive award though, have you been seriously wounded at any point in your campaign?

[LukeFF]

The game is in essence, yes, catching up on awards you should already have. It's looking for simple parameters and if those are met, then the award will be given.

 

Basically, the goal of revising the awards was to get them more in line with reality, along with fixing a couple of problems. 

2 hours ago, Ram399 said:

 I myself was re-awarded the bronze and silver flying clasps for whatever reason, since I had already achieved the gold clasp which used to supplant those, I guess now I get to keep them. 

 

Yes, under the old system, the bronze and silver clasps would be "removed" when earning a higher level award. Now, every clasp you've earned will be permanently displayed. 

[Goffik]

15 hours ago, Ram399 said:

You being awarded a Gold Wound Badge seems especially unusual as a retroactive award though, have you been seriously wounded at any point in your campaign?

 

Yes, I went through a period where I was ending up wounded quite a lot! It seems that every time I manage to get command of my squadron, I end up getting wounded shortly after and losing it again! 

[71st_AH_Rob_XR-R]

On 12/16/2019 at 8:45 AM, Goffik said:

Was there an issue with player awards too before? Immediately after the latest patch, I went on a sweep mission where I had no enemy contact at all. On landing I was awarded the Knight's Cross and the Wound Badge in gold, despite no injury during the mission. Seems like it was catching up on things I should already have had.

 

This was accompanied by most of my AI fellows receiving a glut of medals between them too, including those that didn't actually fly.

Bureaucracy....

[Tailpipe]

Hate to resurrect a dead post, but I haven't been able to find an answer to this.

 

I noticed you have pilots who have achieved the rank of Major for the German campaign. Has this been patched out of the game? I haven't seen that as an option

[LukeFF]

49 minutes ago, Tailpipe11 said:

Hate to resurrect a dead post, but I haven't been able to find an answer to this.

 

I noticed you have pilots who have achieved the rank of Major for the German campaign. Has this been patched out of the game? I haven't seen that as an option

 

Yes, the ranks have been reworked, so that more enlisted pilots will end up in your unit. The old starting rank of Oberfeldwebel wasn't really accurate.

[Ram399]

17 hours ago, LukeFF said:

Yes, the ranks have been reworked, so that more enlisted pilots will end up in your unit.

I'm glad they reworked it as well as increased the size of the unit, makes for a more realistic experience all around.  Just prior to the patch my unit had reached a point where we had four Majors and then only eight other pilots of varying rank, which I can only imagine would be a too many cooks type scenario.  We do have five Hauptmanns now but thats far more bearable with 13 other pilots to supplement them- although I think it would be nice if only the CO of the unit could achieve a higher rank, as in the case of the Luftwaffe most Gruppen units were commanded by someone of the rank of Major or higher.

[UFA_Bagel]

On 5/6/2020 at 7:36 PM, Ram399 said:

I'm glad they reworked it as well as increased the size of the unit, makes for a more realistic experience all around.  Just prior to the patch my unit had reached a point where we had four Majors and then only eight other pilots of varying rank, which I can only imagine would be a too many cooks type scenario.  We do have five Hauptmanns now but thats far more bearable with 13 other pilots to supplement them- although I think it would be nice if only the CO of the unit could achieve a higher rank, as in the case of the Luftwaffe most Gruppen units were commanded by someone of the rank of Major or higher.

 

Other pilots could be transfered, indeed.

[Ram399]

Well, its me again.
Sorry to yet again revive what should be a dead thread, its just that I seem to have noticed something a bit peculiar in the awards system and was wondering if any changes had been made.

In short, while =Weirdsacker= is now pushing 200 kills, currently sitting at 191, he has yet to receive the Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross that he was retroactively awarded at 120 kills.

Furthermore, since the time that I last posted on this topic, I had another pilot receive the KC- this time Hauptmann Bernd Berger who got it at 100 air kills.
Since this award was received after the update which had fixed the allotment system I assumed that 100 kills was now the bar in Kuban for pilots to receive the medal.

However, a couple weeks (and a few updates) later I had another pilot reach the century mark- in this case the current deputy CO Anton Schulte. 
Upon achieving his 100th kill he was not awarded the KC though, something which he is no doubt extremely upset by (See pic related).
My first thought was that perhaps the passage of time had moved the bar for the KC upwards a bit and he was just lagging behind, so I've just continued flying as is.

But Schulte is now sitting at 119 kills on June 27th, 1943 and has yet to receive anything, and that combined with another pilot I now have at 68 kills without receiving the Cross in Gold, and Weizsackers lack of the Oak Leaves at 191 kills makes me at least somewhat suspicious.

I noticed some time ago that the duplicate flying wings had been removed from the inventories so that it now shows only the highest tier wings awarded to a given pilot, though I doubt that would have messed with anything related to other awards it is at least indicative of changes having been made in the awards area.

In an effort to find out for myself what was up I've dug through some of the config files, but in doing so found the bar for the base KC in Kuban to be at 50 kills which doesn't seem quite right considering Berger had 100 when he was awarded it and also that Schulte now has over twice the supposedly required amount.

Kuban KC Requirements:

Spoiler

If anyone has some ideas on what might be up please let me know.

Current Scores and Highest Awards:

Spoiler

Hauptmann Schulte:

Spoiler

 

Edited August 4, 2020 by Ram399

[[SKY]BigB]

While I don't have an answer for your award issue, I did love reading about Weizsacker. You should do a full fledged AAR with your unit.