Bloody April X, British aircraft identifiers

[HagarTheHorrible]

I assume voice comm's will be acceptable during play ?

 

Idenifying individual players, using British aircraft, during multiplayer,  can be challenging, especially if they have "traditional" custom skins.   For the forthcoming campaign, would it be a good idea, for somebody, who is clever and knows what they're on about, to create some standard skins, but with large individual numbers on the wings and fuselage, in a historically accurat'ish way, a bit like McCudden's "G" ?  Numbers 1 through 4 would, I think, be sufficient, possibly in a couple of different colours, as long as they're obvious.  This way, it might be possible to have informal flights, of Allied aircraft,  in traditional skins, but enable them to identify and co-ordinate with each other.   If only white lettering is used, different flights could further self identify by using different coloured streamers.  I'm reading " No parachute" at the moment and he talks about having the number "4"  prominently marked on his Pup wings and fuselage.

Edited March 10, 2020 by HagarTheHorrible

[J5_Gamecock]

10 minutes ago, HagarTheHorrible said:

I assume voice comm's will be acceptable during play ?

 Acceptable, with limits.

  Pilots in the same flight, who leave from the same field, at the same time, can all be on comm,s together. Once you are in the air you should not be talking to anyone else not in your flight, and no one else should be joining your channel.

  In the past, the one exception to this rule was two seaters and their escorts. If you are assigned escort duty for a bomber or recon plane, you may be on the same channel with him even though you did not roll from the same field.

 

 Full rules will be posted in time. 

[HagarTheHorrible]

Ok .

 

Numbers would still work though ?

Edited March 10, 2020 by HagarTheHorrible

[No.23_Triggers]

From my experience numbers don't do an awful lot to help with identification anywhere outside of formation range. Might be different with white on PC10 though...

[HagarTheHorrible]

3 hours ago, US93_Larner said:

From my experience numbers don't do an awful lot to help with identification anywhere outside of formation range. Might be different with white on PC10 though...

I was only thinking about it in terms of formation organization, either flying to target or post combat and yes I was thinking white on a standard paint job, McCuddens SE5a is a good example, although there are other fonts that could separate different formations. 

 

Given that the campaign will be flown WITHOUT comm’s, it would help with Allies who want to fly as a team, Central have a big advantage, out of the box, in this regard, with a large choice of individual colours.  
 

Even if only one colour of number and font is used, different flights, or groups, could then further differentiate with coloured streamers.

 

The markings would only make sense to the individuals in the formation, knowing who was who but it would aid co-ordination without the use of voice.

 

It would also be historically accurate.

[No.23_Triggers]

Yeah, these kind of markings would work for general recognition purposes. But you'd probably need a squadron marking (like the white band on the tail) to know for sure it's a guy from your flight.

 

I'm all for it - but good luck convincing everyone else to go along with it...! 

 

[J2_Trupobaw]

Filghts can agree on the same skin so pilots form the same flight can find each other. Everyone else is off comms for them, information "my flight - not my flight" is crucial. 

No.60 squadron had these great red / blue /yellow noses to mark their three flights. That's enough for three S.E.5.a flights in BA if we put this in official skinpack.




 

[No.23_Triggers]

Yeah, 60 Sqn's flight markings would be a good one for BA. No. 10 RNAS would be good for Camels, too...very distinctive! Black stripes for 'A' flight, red for 'B' and blue for 'C'. Individual markings were wheel covers, fuselages were marked 'A', 'B' or 'C' for flights as well...

 

Edited March 14, 2020 by US93_Larner

[HagarTheHorrible]

2 hours ago, US93_Larner said:

Yeah, 60 Sqn's flight markings would be a good one for BA. No. 10 RNAS would be good for Camels, too...very distinctive! Black stripes for 'A' flight, red for 'B' and blue for 'C'. Individual markings were wheel covers, fuselages were marked 'A', 'B' or 'C' for flights as well...

 

 

They're very nice, very colourful, in a generic unit type of way and certainly good for identifying different groups.  I was hoping for something in addition to group markings, that would identify individual pilots, within a small flight, or possie.  The "C" in the picture above works for that aircraft and worked in real life, Arthur Gould Lee (No Parachute) talks about his Pup being identified with the number "4".  For FC, with graphical limitations, the identifiers need to be big and bold, numbers, as with McCuddens Se5a, would be historically correct, and if a small group of players were flying together and personal skins were not allowed then pilots could identify each other and know who was following who.

 

The problem with trying to do too many unit skins, like the lovely picture above, then sub-divided by individual aircraft number, would mean a potentially huge list of skins (the group skin + however many "numbered" individual aircraft).  If it is kept simple, a well exected base skin, then an individual number, as with McCuddens, is all that is needed. Different units/groups/flights can differentiate by the use of coloured streamers.

 

FC is multiplayer biased, even if comm's are used it's still nice to recognise which aircraft is being flown by whom, in your comm's channel, without the need for specific or personal skins

[No.23_Triggers]

So what you mean is a generic RFC skin with a generic assigned number / letter? 

Different RFC Squadrons used different individual marking 'codes' (for example, some units would use letters for 'A' and 'C' flights, and numbers for 'B' flight, or some units wouldn't use 'X' because it was thought that it might be mistaken for a hun marking), but you could probably just pick any old squadron's historical codes  for a 'Generic' set

Personally, I'd want the unit marking and the personal marking rather than different coloured streamers...! For one, streamers can be pretty annoying when they're flapping in your eyes while you're trying to scan, and I'm a bit of a stickler for historical accuracy - only Flight Leads should be carrying streamers! But, generic markings with streamers would work...

Edited March 15, 2020 by US93_Larner