Few questions regarding Bodenplatte

[Gr3y]

Hi, I came back from a little break since last summer and since I bought Bodenplatte wanted to try it out. Usually I start with the "Missions" first, therefore I went for the top one (BF 109G14 - Defensive Patrol) 

 

First was bit surprised that I'm starting knee deep in the grass but well, maybe Reich ran out of lawn movers at that time, then I tried to taxi to the 'runaway' and that was horrible, with tailwheel unlocked it was close to impossible to turn right (I used +1 stabilizer, 20 degrees flaps, rudder with turn brakes, stick pulled back), but apparently I wasn't the only one having problems as the bots from my flight kept on spinning, and doing all crazy stuff too.

After some time trying to follow the "road" in search for a runway I ended up who knows where, then changed to external camera to find the bots, all of them were aligned, ready to take off, cool, they found the runway, went there and was again surprised that entire runway is covered with high grass and is no different than fields around the arfield (really, don't know if it's intended).

During my way to my destination I have noticed there are no notifcations about reached checkpoints (was it changed?), then when I finally found some action was bit disappointed that my bots left me for obliteration, even though I told them to "fight the nearest air targets", they kept on following me, ok, I thought maybe they got bit fed up with waiting for me at the airfield or the mission is bugged.

Tried for the second time, all the stuff repeating, got badly wounded in enemies first burst, so decided to ran away to my airport. When I was about to land... SURPRISE someone shooting at me (why would they follow me all the way back here?) 

 

Tried second one (Bf 109K4 - Protect the Ruhr) - same problems with taxing, bots "dancing" with their Bfs as well, but this time they didn't have to wait for me at the runway, so I might get some help. 

Going for the Düsseldorf, again no checkpoint reached notifications.

Enemies appear, this time my friends decided just to fly and let enemies shred them to pieces without firing back, ok, that's not normal. Some Me262 came and rescued us, at least there are some allies fighting. Finished the mission, landed at the airport. (mission failed for some reason, no clue way)

 

Was bit tired with the taxing stuff, so decided I will check how I taxi in Lapino, and hurray no problem at all, did it fast and at first try. Concluding:

 

- Were there some changes in friendly bots AI that they became more "peaceful"/useless?

- Were "checkpoint reached" notifications removed?

- Is airport at Köln with all the grass and "hardly taxable" ground correct?

- Enemies hate Germans even more, so they will keep on following till death (victims or their)?

 

EDIT: I reminded myself that bots were also unusually silent, they stopped communicating with me after leaving the airfield, they were not answering to my orders, nor saying anything about spooted enemies/engagment, nothing.

 

Hope that this post makes any sense, thanks in advance for any answers/clarifications.

 

For additional information here are the settings I use:

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by TrueGrey
Additional information

[oc2209]

What's the mission difficulty set on? I only play career or quick, so I can't speak with any experience on missions in particular.

 

I can say the following, based on my career experiences:

 

I've been playing for about 10 months now, so I can't say if waypoint/checkpoint notifications ever existed. Also never flown from Köln.

 

I can, however, comment on AI. I play career on hard difficulty. The enemy AI at that level have improved; if not tactically, certainly their aim has.

 

 

I had a career about 6 months ago that I put ~80 sorties into. It was prior to the latest AI improvements. The screenshot above was taken today. Flying at such proximity to the ground (or even a little higher) used to make me invincible; the AI wouldn't even attempt to shoot at me. Now, it does. The AI is more accurate (at least on highest difficulty) against maneuvering targets and low/landing/landed targets.

 

Overall, I think this makes the friendly AI weaker against enemy AI. Again, provided the enemy AI is set to max difficulty. I haven't played on easy or moderate for a long time, certainly not since the recent changes to AI.

 

As for enemies chasing you back to your base; that's always been an issue in my time (400 hours played so far). I don't notice it being particularly better or worse. It's just a possibility. It doesn't happen every sortie, but it does occur with some regularity. What triggers it is a mystery to me. Yesterday I had several MiGs approach my field as I landed, and I thought, 'great, here we go again,' only to have them suddenly turn around and leave without attacking.

 

As annoying as it is, generally you're pretty safe if you just hurry up and land (at your base or not; in one piece, or not), and then immediately quit the sortie.

 

About AI wingmen communicating with you: honestly, I gave up trying to command them. I make all of my careers so that I'm in command from the start, but I intentionally fly last in my flight, and give my next ranking officer(s) leadership of each sortie. This way I can control which sorties I fly, and my flight's loadout, without caring about telling the AI what to do during each sortie. It generally governs itself adequately enough--at least enough to satisfy the objective.

 

My wingmen do still talk to me, though. Like, 'out of ammo!' and 'I'm wounded!' and landing requests. I hear all that, usually.

[oc2209]

Okay, flew the mission (109K-4, Ruhr) just to test it out. I now understand there's no way to adjust the AI difficulty, unlike career or quick mode.

 

I didn't have any trouble taking off, mainly because I always disregard all takeoff and landing procedures, and I took off from my starting point on the field. Not proud of it, but I'm being honest here. I did notice my wingmen struggling to turn on the ground, though. They took a long time to assemble and takeoff, so I just circled above the field until they were ready. I issued no orders. They followed me dutifully. I followed the route until its northernmost terminus, whereupon I spotted some B-26s and Thunderbolts. My flight didn't seem to engage anyone, but the 262s in the area did ineffectually fire at the Thunderbolts. I guess they might've downed one, because I downed 3, and I'm assuming at least 4 were in the area. But all the times I saw 262s make passes at TBs, they missed wildly. I was only credited with 1 TB kill, because 2 of them bellied in after I damaged them. Funnily, I was pursuing one to finish him off, and right before I fired, he dropped beneath me. We were already at very low altitude. When I saw him dive, I thought it'd be fatal, but no, he bellied in neatly and survived. I've never seen the AI do that when I'm about to finish it off.

 

Anyway, I downed one B-26 before I got tangled up in the TBs. As far as I could tell, there were no friendly losses. At whatever difficulty level this mission was, the enemy seemed to aim just as badly as the friendlies. The rear gunner fire from the B-26s wasn't the laser accurate variety you get on hard mode.

 

I landed back at base (didn't feel like searching/waiting for more enemy planes to show up, as the sortie was already ~35 minutes long), and also failed the mission. I imagine because I didn't circle long enough at certain waypoints, or because the B-26s successfully dropped their bombs (which I witnessed).

 

Whatever the case, I like career more after trying this mission. Career sortie parameters and AI behavior seem more functional.

[Gr3y]

Thanks for the reply. 

 

Ok, so it seems the AI problems and mission failing (for unclear reason, hopefully they don't expect killing all the enemies on your own) are mostly related to these missions only.

 

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I've been playing for about 10 months now, so I can't say if waypoint/checkpoint notifications ever existed.

 

I usually play scripted campaigns, so maybe it's connected to this mode then, will need to check it out.

 

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I didn't have any trouble taking off, mainly because I always disregard all takeoff and landing procedures, and I took off from my starting point on the field.

 

Regarding Köln, there are only problems with visuals (can't really tell the difference between the runaway and surrounding fields, and taxing.

 

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My wingmen do still talk to me, though. Like, 'out of ammo!' and 'I'm wounded!' and landing requests. I hear all that, usually.

 

In my case they were talking when taking off, when landing and getting shot, not once said anything about spotting or engaging an enemy.

[Juri_JS]

A lot of the AI behaviour depends on mission design. For example enemies chasing you to your home airfield is something that can be easily avoid by good mission design. For comparison purposes I would suggest to test the free "Wind of Fury" scripted campaign or the Battle of Kuban scenario missions to see if they work better than the Bodenplatte single missions.

Edited February 7, 2021 by Juri_JS