Changes and tweaks to career mode

[9./JG52Gruber]

On 11/20/2022 at 12:20 PM, LukeFF said:

 

Yes

Do I need to own the plane? I'm in the counter offensive phase of BoM and yet to see a hurricane.

[LukeFF]

1 minute ago, 9./JG52Gruber said:

Do I need to own the plane? I'm in the counter offensive phase of BoM and yet to see a hurricane.

 

No, it'll show up regardless of whether you own the plane.

[kraut1]

On 2/3/2021 at 8:41 AM, Bill_Bates said:

Some things off the top of my head that would keep me interested longer and relieve some frustration would be:

 

First and most important for me as a SP career only player would be the addition of a chance to escape or make it back to base after an extended amount of time after bailing out or crash landing in enemy territory. A lot of my careers have been ended due to being a prisoner of war and some of those have been a subtle crash landing near the front line next to ally ground troops. 

 

Second would be a bit more details when it comes to your squadron, specifically logbooks for pilots. stats, awards, and events tracked. 

 

Third would be the option to change mission diversity. Whether you want it historical based on your squadron, random, more/less air to air/ground missions. I guess mainly just more customization options for the career mode. 

 

Forth would being able to add a new pilot to an existing campaign so if the current pilot dies or is captured you can continue at or around the same time. 

 

 

Yes, chance to escape would be great.

In Red Baron (ca.1990) when I was prisoner a picture of a camp was shown with some music. and after some time a text: "The war is over" or "After 3 months you escaped" and than the career could be continued.

Because of that I am writing all mission results in an Excel Log Book and after being captured I use another Excel File with random results of a escape:

-Succesful Escape, Shot by the guards,...     ...and start another career. And I use the Excel log book for mixed careers eg.: CLOD1940-41 and the Rest GB.

-And for some years I created some missions with Arma2 Invasion44 or Iron Front that started with a damaged plane and I as a pilot, just armed with a pistol.

Enemy patrols searching the area, in some distance the front line with my comrades and sometimes rescue patrols helped me.

 

Your forth point is possible in PWCG: you start with one pilot, but when he is dead or wounded you can define another pilot in the same squadron and continue at the same point.

Edited December 9, 2022 by kraut1
mistakes corrected

[LukeFF]

Guys, this is a topic to discuss recent changes made to career mode, not a wish list of things you want to see added or changed. ?

Edited December 9, 2022 by LukeFF

[tattywelshie]

Forgive me if these are part of the Normandy career mode, haven’t had any so far, but is there any chance of having missions to destroy German radar instillations? Was reading the excellent D-day book by James Holland and he mentioned a large number of missions were carried out by Typhoons to destroy many German radar sites before d-day. As I say, apologies if these mission types exist. Actually, are there even German radar objects in the game?

[LukeFF]

There are German radar objects in the game, but missions to destroy them in career mode have not been created yet. 

[tattywelshie]

10 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

There are German radar objects in the game, but missions to destroy them in career mode have not been created yet. 

Ah fab, according to the book there were a large amount of missions by typhoon to knock these out. Is there scope to get a new mission type into career mode then? 

[LukeFF]

16 minutes ago, tattywelshie said:

Ah fab, according to the book there were a large amount of missions by typhoon to knock these out. Is there scope to get a new mission type into career mode then? 

 

Yes, I know it's on VikS's list of mission types to add, but unfortunately he's swamped with a thousand different things to do. ?

[tattywelshie]

1 minute ago, LukeFF said:

 

Yes, I know it's on VikS's list of mission types to add, but unfortunately he's swamped with a thousand different things to do. ?

Ah fab, glad it’s in the pipeline down the road ?

[migmadmarine]

On 12/18/2022 at 12:43 PM, LukeFF said:

 

Yes, I know it's on VikS's list of mission types to add, but unfortunately he's swamped with a thousand different things to do. ?

Really hope that as they expand the team as they say they plan to there will be someone dedicated to career mode in a larger way. 

[Yogiflight]

Is it on purpose, that in the Normandy career the FW 190 A6 of the I./SKG 10 are flying in the 'Schlachflieger' version G-3/R-5, with wing bombs, but the A8s in the default version, with fuselage bomb, only?

[LukeFF]

12 hours ago, Yogiflight said:

Is it on purpose, that in the Normandy career the FW 190 A6 of the I./SKG 10 are flying in the 'Schlachflieger' version G-3/R-5, with wing bombs, but the A8s in the default version, with fuselage bomb, only?

 

Yes,that was my interpretation from Das Flurschaden Geschwader of what they were carrying; if it's incorrect, though, I can always change it to what it should be.

[LukeFF]

Hey all, so there have been some other updates recently that weren't listed in the change logs:

• A large number of the P-38 and P-47 squadrons have been reclassified as attack units, so that there will be a higher chance of seeing them on ground attack missions when the player is assigned to either intercept or escort attack planes.
• The Typhoon armament bug was fixed that was showing up in June 1944.
• Day fighter RAF squadrons assigned to V-1 intercepts now have the chance of being assigned to nighttime V-1 intercept patrols.
• Some small adjustments to the VVS mission profiles during Kuban.
• I updated the times the U-2 can fly at both Stalingrad and Kuban (they can now fly early morning missions) and I fixed and updated a few things with their skins and tactical codes (white codes in spring/summer/fall, and red codes in winter; and the default skin with the early red stars is now the default spring/summer/fall skin until August 1943).
• The arrangement of awards on each pilot's page is now based on their order of precedence. Before, it was quite random in most cases. As an example: for the USAAF, the pilot's badge is shown first, followed by the Air Medal, DFC, etc.
• The initial experience by rank files for the 3 Eastern Front maps was updated some more. I can't do anything about bomber and transport pilots having kills when they join a squadron, but everything else now should look more in line with reality.

[FoxbatRU]

4 минуты назад, LukeFF сказал:

so there have been some other updates recently that weren't listed in the change logs:

Thank you very much for your hard work. For me, these updates are even more important than those listed in the news.

[Yogiflight]

6 hours ago, LukeFF said:

if it's incorrect, though, I can always change it to what it should be.

It was a serious question. I can absolutely imagine, that they didn't have the F8 version (yet?)

I just thought, I ask, because sometimes mistakes happen.

[Alexmarine]

9 hours ago, LukeFF said:

 

Yes,that was my interpretation from Das Flurschaden Geschwader of what they were carrying; if it's incorrect, though, I can always change it to what it should be.

 

https://www.ww2.dk/oob/bestand/schlacht/biskg10.html

 

I see some G-8 since april untill they are overtaken by the F-8 in July. Wouldn't be the best solution to have the A-8 appear with the ground attack mod + uninstalled cowl MGs (to represent the G-8) untill the start of 07.44 being then replaced with just the ground attack mod (to represent the F-8)? I know that it's not that a clean transition but I guess the career system can't track two different default loadouts on the same type of plane... This is possibly the best solution 

[LukeFF]

42 minutes ago, Alexmarine said:

https://www.ww2.dk/oob/bestand/schlacht/biskg10.html

 

I see some G-8 since april untill they are overtaken by the F-8 in July. Wouldn't be the best solution to have the A-8 appear with the ground attack mod + uninstalled cowl MGs (to represent the G-8) untill the start of 07.44 being then replaced with just the ground attack mod (to represent the F-8)? I know that it's not that a clean transition but I guess the career system can't track two different default loadouts on the same type of plane... This is possibly the best solution 

 

Thanks - I'll have to have another look at this and see what can be done.

 

EDIT: according to this page, the late G-8/R5s had the MG 131s installed, so essentially the F-8 and late G-8/R5 (which is what I./SKG 10 had in the spring of 1944) are the same plane:

 

Quote

Production of G-8 version continued from September 1943 to February 1944. In the late series G-8 planes (from February 1944), the autopilot device was not used. Also, late-production Fw 190G-8 aircraft had the fuselage MG 131 guns installed, effectively eliminating the difference between this variant and the F-8. Thus, ”pure” Fw 190G8 became identical with Fw 190F-8/U1, and G-8/R5 identical with F-8/R1.

 

As a consequence, G-8 production was abandoned in February 1944 in favour of modified F-8 series planes.

 

2 hours ago, Yogiflight said:

It was a serious question. I can absolutely imagine, that they didn't have the F8 version (yet?)

I just thought, I ask, because sometimes mistakes happen.

 

Nono, no worries at all. ? I didn't mean anything negative by it. Like I wrote above, I'll have another look and said if anything needs to be changed.

Edited January 2, 2023 by LukeFF

[Yogiflight]

2 hours ago, LukeFF said:

EDIT: according to this page, the late G-8/R5s had the MG 131s installed, so essentially the F-8 and late G-8/R5 (which is what I./SKG 10 had in the spring of 1944) are the same plane:

Ok, so we should be flying the F-8 in this career, right? I was just flying an artillery position bombing mission with an F-8 with four wing bombs added. If we fly it in one mission type, we should be flying it in the other mission types as well. And you can fly the F-8 with only the fuselage bomb.

This would, of course, also count for the A-6, which should then always be the G-3/R-5.

BTW, we had a 500kg fuselage bomb, which seems a little big for bombing an artillery position.

 

Almost forgot it, shouldn't the A-6 also have the bulges over the wing guns? As far as I know, they were necessary, because the gun case of the MG151s was larger than the one of the MG/FFs.

 

Another thing, I just saw again in the career. After transfer to Lonrai, the night bombing missions start. Here the starting times are too close together. I once had the two missions just 15 minutes apart, with me assigned to both missions. Seems pretty ambitious.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Yogiflight

[Alexmarine]

@LukeFF tbh, I do kinda miss some of those differences between the G series models. If you say so I guess the plain F-8 will do 

[FoxbatRU]

It is a pity that in the game it is impossible to make F and G have their own designation. Those. if he shot down F, then he would write that F was shot down.

[LukeFF]

4 hours ago, Yogiflight said:

Ok, so we should be flying the F-8 in this career, right? I was just flying an artillery position bombing mission with an F-8 with four wing bombs added. If we fly it in one mission type, we should be flying it in the other mission types as well. And you can fly the F-8 with only the fuselage bomb.

This would, of course, also count for the A-6, which should then always be the G-3/R-5.

BTW, we had a 500kg fuselage bomb, which seems a little big for bombing an artillery position.

 

Almost forgot it, shouldn't the A-6 also have the bulges over the wing guns? As far as I know, they were necessary, because the gun case of the MG151s was larger than the one of the MG/FFs.

 

Another thing, I just saw again in the career. After transfer to Lonrai, the night bombing missions start. Here the starting times are too close together. I once had the two missions just 15 minutes apart, with me assigned to both missions. Seems pretty ambitious.

 

If I recall correctly, that bomb load out is based on what I read in the book on KG 51, but I can always go back and see if it needs to be adjusted.

 

As for the times of night missions, I can go in and adjust it so that they also fly early morning missions like I did with the U-2. It won't entirely fix the problem but it will make it better for sure. 

Edited January 2, 2023 by LukeFF

[sevenless]

@LukeFF Any chance you might be able to convince Viks to integrate the strike which wiped out the HQ of Panzergruppe West at La Caine on 10th June 1944? Strike was flown by 2nd TAF Tiffies and B25s.

 

Could be used as a blueprint for a "Strike at enemy HQ" career mission?

 

RAF raid on La Caine (1944) - Wikipedia

Edited January 2, 2023 by sevenless

[Yogiflight]

31 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

If I recall correctly, that bomb load out is based on what I read in the book on KG 51, but I can always go back and see if it needs to be adjusted.

You mean the 500kg bomb? It is just, that those, who know morer about it always state, that the 500kg bombs were not used too often. More for special targets like ships or bunkers.

 

36 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

As for the times of night missions, I can go in and adjust it so that they also fly early morning missions like I did with the U-2. It won't entirely fix the problem but it will make it better for sure.

Doesn't have to be. If you fly the first mission at 21.00h, you can fly a second mission at 00.00h or 01.00h or even later. It is just that, from what I saw so far, the second mission is always less than one hour after the first one.

 

I was flying a supply depot bombing mission today, it really is a pitty with AI. The developers changed it with one of the last updates, that the first half of the flight attacks the AAA and the second half the target (still doesn't make too much sense, as the first flight attacks the AAA at the same moment, the second flight attacks the target, but the AAA should be attacked before the target). But in night time missions every pilot is his own flight, so my AI squadmates of course didn't bomb the depot houses, but only AAA.

My pilot was soooo disappointed, that he rammed one of the searchlights at the beginning of the runway and was killed

[LukeFF]

6 hours ago, sevenless said:

@LukeFF Any chance you might be able to convince Viks to integrate the strike which wiped out the HQ of Panzergruppe West at La Caine on 10th June 1944? Strike was flown by 2nd TAF Tiffies and B25s.

 

Could be used as a blueprint for a "Strike at enemy HQ" career mission?

 

RAF raid on La Caine (1944) - Wikipedia

 

It's possible, but I'm not sure how quickly he could get to something like that right now. For the time being, the Attack Troop Concentration mission template is the closest we can get. At the least, I could set the relevant Typhoon squadrons to that mission type on that day, but there's no guarantee of course that they'd hit that target.

 

6 hours ago, Yogiflight said:

You mean the 500kg bomb? It is just, that those, who know morer about it always state, that the 500kg bombs were not used too often. More for special targets like ships or bunkers.

 

Yes, it's interesting, in Das Flurschaden Geschwader, it's almost always AB 500 or SC 500 bombs that are mentioned as the type of bomb used. Maybe 500 kg bombs were used because of the larger area effect negating the difficulties of bombing at night?

 

6 hours ago, Yogiflight said:

Doesn't have to be. If you fly the first mission at 21.00h, you can fly a second mission at 00.00h or 01.00h or even later. It is just that, from what I saw so far, the second mission is always less than one hour after the first one.

 

Yes, but this way, the mission generator would typically first generate a mission in the early morning hours and then another one later in the day late evening hours. That's what I saw when I was testing the U-2s. In any case, it's definitely worth doing. 

 

6 hours ago, Yogiflight said:

I was flying a supply depot bombing mission today, it really is a pitty with AI. The developers changed it with one of the last updates, that the first half of the flight attacks the AAA and the second half the target (still doesn't make too much sense, as the first flight attacks the AAA at the same moment, the second flight attacks the target, but the AAA should be attacked before the target). But in night time missions every pilot is his own flight, so my AI squadmates of course didn't bomb the depot houses, but only AAA.

My pilot was soooo disappointed, that he rammed one of the searchlights at the beginning of the runway and was killed

 

Yes, I asked about this during testing, and unfortunately nothing can be done about it. ?

Edited January 3, 2023 by LukeFF

[sevenless]

4 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

It's possible, but I'm not sure how quickly he could get to something like that right now. For the time being, the Attack Troop Concentration mission template is the closest we can get. At the least, I could set the relevant Typhoon squadrons to that mission type on that day, but there's no guarantee of course that they'd hit that target.

 

Thanks for taking that into consideration. As you know everything which helps to increase mission variety is heartly appreciated. 

[Yogiflight]

7 hours ago, LukeFF said:

Maybe 500 kg bombs were used because of the larger area effect negating the difficulties of bombing at night?

Especially with the AB 500 this definitely makes sense. Dropping bomblet ammunition on an artillery battery should have a devastating effect.

But you are also right with the SC 500, that the larger radius makes at night definitely sense. 

 

8 hours ago, LukeFF said:

Yes, but this way, the mission generator would typically first generate a mission in the early morning hours and then another one later in the day late evening hours. That's what I saw when I was testing the U-2s. In any case, it's definitely worth doing. 

I started a Me 410 career, yesterday, and the times fit definitely better here. The time intervals are more like three hours.

On a sidenote, did the pilots fly more than one mission per night?

[LukeFF]

7 hours ago, Yogiflight said:

On a sidenote, did the pilots fly more than one mission per night?

 

It varied. Sometimes it was 1, other times it was 2. The config files only allow me to set up the same number of missions the unit will fly every day, so there is no variance at all. Because of that, I tried to base it on an overall average sortie rate for a given time period.

[dbuile]

I only managed 3 night missions (He-111) before a hardware failure sidelined my playing, but: do all the night missions have searchlights right at the target?  I realize it's a concession to ease of gameplay, but I'm curious if there's another way to handle night mission generation, ie, avoid spotlights announcing target location?  If harder to find the literal target, then perhaps mission success params can become more relaxed.

 

Impressions/Questions from the missions:

• None of the 3 had moonlight (would mission planners have selected timings when the moon is up?). 
  • My (gamma?) settings allowed me to see NOTHING....  I don't want to game-the-game by playing with gamma.  If I should see ZERO, then I will fly with zero vis... Heck, I play at bombers for the navigation challenges.
• All 3 had a fair amount of cloud cover
  • flight heights put you right into the clouds, probably not a recipe for accurate nav/bombing... (this is a general complaint for career mission planning ever since we got those excellent new clouds... flight leads insist on dragging folks through clouds).
    • everything was so dark, I couldn't even tell if I was in clouds or not.  Incorrect gamma setting, or expected results?  If that's realistic, I accept it wholeheartedly  
• Two or three missions ~may have been~ unsuitable for actual night bombing (ie, sitting in a field). 
  • I assume targets were likely chosen as identifiable via large visible landmarks (cities/rivers, though I couldn't see either in the game).  
    • I tried plotting a course that would take me to a major river junction, but I couldn't visually detect overflying any river.

I'm not aware of any beam-bombing used in Eastern Front by Luftwaffe... was it?   Anyways, radio nav in the game doesn't simulate this method; but, on my 3rd mission, I kinda sorta used the outbound DF radial, accounting for drift, etc, and I actually ended up with the target right out my front window, making with a successful bomb run... but only because the searchlights confirm I'm right on target.

 

I haven't tried dropping flares for light...  

 

Anways, I'm VERY pleased night missions are in the game!

Edited January 3, 2023 by dbuile

[LukeFF]

3 hours ago, dbuile said:

do all the night missions have searchlights right at the target?

 

Yes, that's a product of the mission templates created by someone on the development team.

 

3 hours ago, dbuile said:

All 3 had a fair amount of cloud cover

 

Yes, that's something I need to get around too as well and update. I can tell the game when to generate night missions based on the weather, and right now that's everything minus full-on rain showers (i.e., the first 3 weather conditions listed in the setup options).

[LukeFF]

Alright, so I had a look again at what I./SKG 10 has in terms of default loadouts: it has the F-8/R1 modification by default for the A-8 and the G-3/R5 mod for the A-6. For the A-6, the "plain" G-3 mod is available but not enabled by default for any missions. Should that particular mod be locked for the A-6?

 

Beyond that, it looks like the one thing that needs to be done is to add early morning bombing missions; that will help add variety to the mission start times and reduce the instances where back-to-back missions are scheduled far too close to each other.

Edited January 5, 2023 by LukeFF

[Yogiflight]

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

For the A-6, the "plain" G-3 mod is available but not enabled by default for any missions. Should that particular mod be locked for the A-6?

I wouldn't go that far. If you go that way, you would have to lock pretty much every mod for each aircraft, which it didn't use for that mission historically.

If someone wants to fly with 250kg wing bombs, why not?

 

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

it has the F-8/R1 modification by default for the A-8

in game? In game I was, apart from artillery bombing missions, flying the A8 with center bomb rack, no F8. But it should be the F8, even for transfer missions.

Did the I./SKG 10 fly fighter missions, like I saw in game?

EDIT: OK, I think I found where the difference between, what you are saying about the A8 loadout and what I experienced, is coming from. I always had started with the Operation Overlord phase, in which the default loadout is the A8 with center bomb rack only. Now I looked for the loadout, when starting at the beginning, with the preparation phase, and here indeed the loadout seems to be F8 with wing bombs included, by default.

Edited January 5, 2023 by Yogiflight

[LukeFF]

2 hours ago, Yogiflight said:

Did the I./SKG 10 fly fighter missions, like I saw in game?

 

Yes, it flew a handful, right around the time of the invasion.

[Ram399]

On 10/13/2022 at 12:29 PM, Ram399 said:

I regularly fly in career mode using a custom skin set which already includes ID numbers, and the additional codes being overlayed on them is jarring to say the least. 

I'm not sure if this is the right thread to revisit this topic in but its been helpful before so I'll give it a shot.

As it works in game currently it seems that aircraft flying with player-made skins in career mode will still receive the auto ID markings, but aircraft flying with official in-game skins (outside of the defaults) will have the ID markings removed.

While I've been able to get around the custom skin ID issue by just pulling the chunk of code for whatever unit I'm in out of the squadron-codes.cfg file, I've now encountered another issue pertaining to the official in-game skins.

What I've done recently is create a number of unit accurate "default" skins for the Kuban theater and then used a mod loader to replace the in-game official skins, which allows me to assign them to the units present on the map in the skins.cfg file.  Up until recently this worked without a hitch as aircraft encountered would have varied paint schemes as well as the ID numbers, but whatever recent update which has removed the ID markings from the official skins has now also applied to this setup so that the markings are no longer appearing.

Its probably a long shot but is there is any way I can access the files where the game determines how ID-markings are applied?

[FoxbatRU]

@LukeFF do you have a cheat sheet with a description of the air regiment and the types of missions that may fall out in a particular chapter? I looked through the files and saw that, for example, neighboring Typhoon squadrons have a rather different set of mission types. And this cannot be predicted from the description of the history of the squadron. I would like to try all types of missions, but not act randomly.

[LukeFF]

23 minutes ago, FoxbatRU said:

@LukeFF do you have a cheat sheet with a description of the air regiment and the types of missions that may fall out in a particular chapter? I looked through the files and saw that, for example, neighboring Typhoon squadrons have a rather different set of mission types. And this cannot be predicted from the description of the history of the squadron. I would like to try all types of missions, but not act randomly.

 

I don't, but I can go through some of them and list what you can expect here.

Edited February 11, 2023 by LukeFF

[FoxbatRU]

12 часов назад, FoxbatRU сказал:

neighboring Typhoon squadrons have a rather different set of mission types

[Mission=1123] // Free Hunt

[Mission=1128] // Armed Reconnaissance

[Mission=1128] // Armed Reconnaissance

[Mission=1123] // Free Hunt

weight=0.05

weight=0.7

weight=0.7

weight=0.05

weight=0.05

[Mission=1128] // Armed Reconnaissance

[Mission=1203] // Attack Artillery

[Mission=1202] // Attack Armored Column

[Mission=1128] // Armed Reconnaissance

weight=0.1

weight=0.05

weight=0.05

weight=0.05

[Mission=1215] // Traffic Interdiction

[Mission=1204] // Enemy frontline attack

[Mission=1203] // Attack Artillery

[Mission=1151] // Escort Bombers

weight=0.45

weight=0.1

weight=0.1

weight=0.05

[Mission=1501] // Bomb Artillery

[Mission=1205] // Attack Railway Junction

[Mission=1204] // Enemy frontline attack

[Mission=1215] // Traffic Interdiction

weight=0.1

weight=0.05

weight=0.05

weight=0.7

[Mission=1502] // Bomb Strongpoint

[Mission=1206] // Attack Airfield

[Mission=1205] // Attack Railway Junction

[Mission=1502] // Bomb Strongpoint

weight=0.15

weight=0.05

weight=0.05

weight=0.05

[Mission=1506] // Bomb Railway Junction

[Mission=1209] // Attack Troops

[Mission=1209] // Attack Troops

[Mission=1506] // Bomb Railway Junction

weight=0.05

weight=0.05

weight=0.05

weight=0.05

weight=0.1

weight=0.05

weight=0.05

name="No. 197 Squadron RAF"

name="No. 175 Squadron RAF"

name="No. 247 Squadron RAF"

name="No. 440 Squadron RCAF"

 

 

 

[LukeFF]

LOL yep, there you go. ? The higher the weight, the more likely you are to see that mission type generated.

[FoxbatRU]

2 часа назад, LukeFF сказал:

The higher the weight, the more likely you are to see that mission type generated.

I understood it. Just a different set. Someone has a tank attack, someone will never have it, for example.

[LukeFF]

3 hours ago, FoxbatRU said:

I understood it. Just a different set. Someone has a tank attack, someone will never have it, for example.

 

Yes, it is based on what the squadron flew for a given time period.

[tattywelshie]

We need radar site destruction missions as well as Typhoon squadrons conducted a high number of these before D-day, is there a likely hood of these being included?