Spring Offensive - Operation Michael

[J5_Baeumer 1132]

Notice to Pilots:

Final Rule Set ver3 posted 1645 GMT 4/09/21

 Spring Offensive XI Final Rules ver3.zip

See the helpful rules summary by gascan/Kotori (note that official rules above take precedence).  Updated to reflect rules changes 1645 GMT 4/09/21  
Unclassified Operation Michael Briefing.zip

 

 

4/13/21 -

Roster updated below.
Rules Addendum:  Event Manager and Commanders met Monday to discuss "live" streaming.  Both Commanders agreed to a rule addendum requiring all "live" streaming to be delayed 30 minutes.  Everyone recognizes and appreciates the potential for promotion of the community that our "streamers" provide.

 

4/10/21 -

Results Week 1 - Inconclusive after Central overran one of three sectors. 

http://stats.jasta5.org:8000/en/?tour=39

 

4/9/21 -

Unit/Pilot assignments updated below;
RULE Addendum: 

See updated/corrected win conditions in final rules set consistent with changes made during previous campaign.

While not originally mentioned in the rules, some Entente sectors do not have railways and/or railway bridge required for completion of Phase IV.  Only the South Sector has train and bridge as stated in the rules.  Middle Sector has lorry convoy with lorry depot.  North Sector has train and train depot.  Per the rules, destroying either the train or lorries before reaching the front OR destroying the bridge/depot before they pass it on the way to the front, will interrupt the resupply effort for that sector.

 

Correction:  No Entente scouts will be equipped with bombs during this campaign.  Entente scouts in Black September have some bombs when in the offensive campaign.

!ACHTUNG!  remember that when entering the server there is a 4 hour wait period if you click on the wrong coalition/side!!!  Neither side is likely to want a captured spy flying with them!   Be careful when you enter the server to select your assigned side. 

Central (Blue) Entente (Red) [ER]Baron1112021 [Pb]Cybermat47 [ER]Dixxen =FEW=Hauggy [ER]Nordseefischer =GEMINI=Stoppani =LD=BlackKnight  =IRFC=Artun J133-A_V_Manstein =IRFC=Hbender J133-t_Kestrik =IRFC=SmokinHole J15_Gontermann =RAW=76SQN-Wellington J2_Bidu 1PL-adso-2esk J2_Drookasi 1PL-Banzai-1Esk J2_Hornet 1PL-Grzana-ESzk J2_Jakob 1PL-Husar-1Esk J2_NobiWan 1PL-KJ-1Esk J2_Oelmann 1PL-Lucas-1Esk J2_raker 1PL-Sahaj-1Esk J2_Rudy 1PL-Shoki-2Esk J2_Seya 1PL-TiMm-1Esk J2_Trupobaw ACG_Talisman J5_Adam CfC=76SQN-FatherTed J5_Baeumer Crooner J5_Daedallus CSW_AB1Richard J5_Eck CubanCoveRunner J5_Gamecock Enceladus J5_Goettel Gardimus J5_HellCat_ gascan J5_HotWaffle hoytboy J5_Josef_Tabone IV./JG51-Bulldog J5_JosefMai JG1_GenMarkof J5_Killerhase JG1_Hotlead_J10 J5_Klugermann JG1_leeG J5_Konnecke Khangirey J5_Loppnow-Sch27b killer1941 J5_Mueller kotori87 J5_NiiranenVR-Gfr Kurtz28 J5_Ragnutz Miners J5_Rumey Montag J5_Spyboy NO.20_Krispy_Duck J5_Stachel NO.20_W_M_Thomson J5_Ste1nh0ff No56_Badger85 J5_Sturm Oliver88 J5_vonGuettler Oskary J5_Wilhellm Ryanair_modzel J5_Winkelmann SCG_Faerber J5_Wolff SCG_FeuerFliegen J99*Basti SPA3_Ace_Ivo J99*SpitFire SPA3_Alphawolf J99*vonBu SPA3_Jukebocks J99_Himmelhund Superflyer J99_Sizzlorr Tailmange J99Kobold Tally Resolute tikijoetots37 RFC_Maqui US103_Parsons seck143 US213_Biddle TheBishop US213_Talbot Throatwobbler US93_Larner   US93_Maxwell   Wolfpack345   Y-29.BeeDog   ZaknafeinTV   Zatch

4/1/21 - Email sent out to all prior registered players via J5 event forum.  There are private/secure areas for each team to discuss tactics/strategy and to sign up for each mission on a excel spreadsheet linked in each teams operations area.  Check your spam boxes. 

http://www.jasta5.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=87&sid=e96c43e1b321653acbc7dfd2fe5f6124

 

If you do not have a account on the J5 event forum follow the instructions found at the link above for creating one and requesting to join either Blue (Central) or Red (Entente) team and watch for notification of approval within 24 hours.

 

Event Announcement

Jasta 5 is pleased to present and host this years spring campaign in collaboration with J99_Sizzlor as mission builder.   Our 11th annual April campaign moves from the "Bloody" space above Arras and Vimy Ridge.   

 

Spring Offensive - Operation Michael

When:  Saturdays 1600-2000 GMT

 

April 3 Easter Truce
April 8 Test mission (Thursday Night Fights)
April 10, 17, 24, May 1

 

Inventories:

Central  - Albatross DVa, Pfalz DIII, Fokker Dr1, Halberstadt CLII

vs.

Entente - Camel (w/bomb), Spad XIII, SE5a, Bristol II

 

Summary:  The campaign will follow closely the format and rules from Black September, but with mission objectives reversed for both sides.  Entente will be on defense and Central will be on offense.  For 2021 we would like to connect both the April and September campaigns together, with an award and bragging rights given to the side that is able to win both events in 2021.

Please participate in the poll for this event and indicate your interest in flying in this campaign.  A set of draft rules for the campaign are posted here for review.    Updates will be announced here.  Consider clicking the "Follow Topic" button below to be alerted of updates and new posts to this thread.

 

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 12:37 AM by J5_Baeumer
added update

[Ghost666 102]

Sorry, but my work prevents me from having steady days off. So I had to vote "NO". If that was not the case I would be glad to join you. In 18 months I retire and can spend more time doing what I want.

[J5_Mueller 40]

Looking forward to this event!

[J2_Oelmann 115]

Will try to slot it into my scedule.

[ACG_Talisman 581]

Please count me in for Entente and a Camel squadron if possible.  Thanks.

 

Happy landings,

 

Talisman

[J2_Drookasi 428]

Great news! Once again, thanks to Jasta 5 for their long standing community events.

[J2_Bidu 455]

Oh boy we needed this!

 

Thank you, J5!

[[ER]Nordseefischer 10]

I'm looking forward to participate.

[Cynic_Al 269]

Purely on a statistical point, I don't quite see the need for two separate questions here, particularly as answering the second question is not conditional upon a Yes to the first.  Given that you can't be certain of eliciting a response from the entire community, what significance could you attach to the size of the No response? 

[J2_Trupobaw 946]

Isn't it customary in such polls to give people not interesting in giving meaningful answer a non-answer, to make them feel important and not-excluded? (Are you US citizen? Yes() No() Neither(x) ). 

[Stoopy 1118]

7 minutes ago, J2_Trupobaw said:

Isn't it customary in such polls to give people not interesting in giving meaningful answer a non-answer, to make them feel important and not-excluded? (Are you US citizen? Yes() No() Neither(x) ). 

 

How can you be neither a citizen of a country nor a citizen at all?   Would that apply to a hermit? 

 

And do hermits usually respond to polls?

 

Not criticizing, just honestly curious.  For a friend.

Edited March 8 by Stoopy

[J5_Spyboy 102]

Because I couldn't think of a witty reply to Cynic Al I am just going to say this is now drifting off topic.

[J5_Klugermann 720]

5 hours ago, [ER]Nordseefischer said:

I'm looking forward to participate.

 

I'm looking forward to flying a Stuka.

[J2_Bidu 455]

2 hours ago, J2_Trupobaw said:

Isn't it customary in such polls to give people not interesting in giving meaningful answer a non-answer, to make them feel important and not-excluded? (Are you US citizen? Yes() No() Neither(x) ). 

 

[1PL-Sahaj-1Esk 74]

Good decision there, the spring offensive will make more sense with our current planeset!

 

The balance between planes looks like a true challenge this time as DVIIs are missing.

 

 

[Gardimus 13]

On 3/8/2021 at 5:06 AM, J5_Baeumer said:

Entente will be on defense and Central will be on offense. 

 

[edited] are you sure this isn't a typo? There will be some disorientated Central pilots who have never seen the West side of the front. 

Edited March 9 by SYN_Haashashin
Language

[Cynic_Al 269]

1 hour ago, J5_Klugermann said:

I'm looking forward to flying a Stuka.

 

Which is more than real Stuka pilots ever were in WW2.

[NO.20_W_M_Thomson 415]

Will there be D7f's dr1's and phalz's? 

[US28_Baer 453]

Oh, look at that, an early-18 / late-17 planeset!

Been asking for this for ages. Sincerely hope a version of it can stay in rotation.

 

[=IRFC=Hbender 1453]

1 hour ago, NO.20_W_M_Thomson said:

Will there be D7f's dr1's and phalz's? 

 

> Inventories:

> Central  - Albatross DVa, Pfalz DIII, Fokker Dr1, Halberstadt CLII

> vs.

> Entente - Camel, Spad XIII, SE5a w/bombs, Bristol II

 

No D.VIIF back in April 1918. There would have only been a single squadron of early D.VII operational in April.

 

 

19 minutes ago, US28_Baer said:

Oh, look at that, an early-18 / late-17 planeset!

Been asking for this for ages. Sincerely hope a version of it can stay in rotation.

 

To be fair: the S.E.5a we have in-game with the Wolseley Viper V8 wasn't operational in any numbers before the summer of 1918. The British had one (maybe two?) squadrons of SPAD XIII who converted to Sopwith Dolphin around that time, and in any case every single British machine powered by a French Hispano-Suiza V8 had reliability issues. In other words: it was trench attack Camels (with bombs) all the way down, literally, plus a few Bristol Fighters (F.II) flying top cover.

 

Then you have to envision the sheer number of Halberstadt that were fielded. Typically this was several Schlastas of 6 machines grouped together in a Schlachtgruppe of 20+ machines, and multiple Schlachtgruppen were deployed along the front ahead of infantry charges to clear out enemy trenches with machineguns and grenades. They didn't even need escorts, no one was crazy enough to attack them. The Jastas were mostly relegated to airspace defense.

 

But again: if more than half the community wanted to fly trench attack planes 7 days a week — and if we had actual infantry and trenches to attack and grenades to attack them with — this would be a very different sim. For typical AirQuake scenarios, the best we can hope for are late 1918 Entente scouts to compete with the D.VIIF, or a 200hp D.VII.

[Miners 5]

I'm hoping to participate in this event but I could only fly for the first hour or so.  Would it be okay if I was on for just the first bit or do I need to stay on for all four hours?  

[J2_Drookasi 428]

3 hours ago, Miners said:

I'm hoping to participate in this event but I could only fly for the first hour or so.  Would it be okay if I was on for just the first bit or do I need to stay on for all four hours? 

 

Past experience dictates that you can fly the amount of time that you are able to, without any further obligations, even if (as I believe you will find out) 1 hour per mission is just too little to fully feel the campaign.

So, yes, go ahead and participate.

[J99*SpitFire 0]

Looking forward to this event, and it's nice to engage in different contexts of war.

[J5_HellCat_ 156]

15 hours ago, =IRFC=Hbender said:

 

 There would have only been a single squadron of early D.VII operational in April.

 

I'm going to miss her 💔

[=IRFC=Hbender 1453]

58 minutes ago, J5_HellCat_ said:

I'm going to miss her 💔

 

Press F to pay respects.

[J5_HellCat_ 156]

25 minutes ago, =IRFC=Hbender said:

 

Press F to pay respects.

😆😆

[CfC=76SQN-FatherTed 189]

On 3/8/2021 at 5:06 AM, J5_Baeumer said:

 

 

Inventories:

Central  - Albatross DVa, Pfalz DIII, Fokker Dr1, Halberstadt CLII

vs.

Entente - Camel, Spad XIII, SE5a w/bombs, Bristol II

 

 

Can it be Camel with bombs instead of SE?  I think that'd be more historically accurate

[J2_Trupobaw 946]

On 3/9/2021 at 1:51 AM, =IRFC=Hbender said:

 

The British had one (maybe two?) squadrons of SPAD XIII who converted to Sopwith Dolphin around that time,
 

No.23 only. They converted to Dolphins in April. OTOH, however much I'd love to have mu Dolphin if pressed into Entente, I think Spad is much more popular in community :). There were, however, French on he souther flnk, who'd be flying SPADs.

(The first D.VIIs came in early May (very late April at best).
 

Quote

Can it be Camel with bombs instead of SE?  I think that'd be more historically accurate

It would be if we had H-S S.E.s . As it is, what would these S.E.5s be doing with most action happening close to deck and SPAD available as recon interceptor? Even as top cover for Camels they are not that much better than Camels themselves.

 

Edited March 10 by J2_Trupobaw

[=IRFC=Hbender 1453]

3 hours ago, J2_Trupobaw said:

It would be if we had H-S S.E.s . As it is, what would these S.E.5s be doing with most action happening close to deck and SPAD available as recon interceptor? Even as top cover for Camels they are not that much better than Camels themselves.

 

It's hard to judge this before we've even played it, but having bombs on the Camels would force them down low doing trench attack where they belong. Objections from Camel pilots, myself included, duly noted, but Trenchard (a.k.a. RAF Daddy) didn't care. As for the SPAD intercepting recons... wouldn't Central need to have a recon plane avalaible?— Oh, you're going to use the Halberstadt as recon, are you?

 

I mean, whatever works. But if it's dead = dead, you better be aware that there's going to be some chuteshooting happening.

[J2_Trupobaw 946]

The Germans are on offensive, so most chuting will be on Entente side of lines; chuteshooting will be pointless.

 

Nevertheless,comments like that make me already regret I've included Entente option in my signup declaration. Only thing worse than flying against @$$holes is flying alongside them.

[J5_Klugermann 720]

32 minutes ago, J2_Trupobaw said:

The Germans are on offensive, so most chuting will be on Entente side of lines; chuteshooting will be pointless.

 

Nevertheless,comments like that make me already regret I've included Entente option in my signup declaration. Only thing worse than flying against @$$holes is flying alongside them.

 

 

Good to see your nads have not suffered any long term damage following your incident.

[J2_raker 3]

On 3/8/2021 at 2:21 PM, Cynic_Al said:

Purely on a statistical point, I don't quite see the need for two separate questions here, particularly as answering the second question is not conditional upon a Yes to the first.  Given that you can't be certain of eliciting a response from the entire community, what significance could you attach to the size of the No response? 

On a purely statistical point you could ask for a "yes" and a "no" reply to the question to have a statistical evaluation of the total number of people overall that participated in the  query and how many answered in the afirmative and how many in the negative so that for a future event the organizers could develop a strategy to get more "no" sayers to participate.

Does that make sense?

[=IRFC=Hbender 1453]

6 hours ago, J2_Trupobaw said:

Nevertheless,comments like that make me already regret I've included Entente option in my signup declaration. Only thing worse than flying against @$$holes is flying alongside them.

 

[Cynic_Al 269]

4 hours ago, J2_raker said:

On a purely statistical point you could ask for a "yes" and a "no" reply to the question to have a statistical evaluation of the total number of people overall that participated in the  query and how many answered in the afirmative and how many in the negative so that for a future event the organizers could develop a strategy to get more "no" sayers to participate.

 

That data would be of little value unless the reason for declining were also polled.

[=IRFC=Hbender 1453]

1 hour ago, Cynic_Al said:

That data would be of little value unless the reason for declining were also polled.

 

 

Okay, just tell us, why did you decline?

[CubanCoveRunner 33]

Here we go again! Looking forward to it gentlemen S!

 

[gascan 162]

I notice that the rules specify all pilots must use Discord to receive pre-flight briefings and server password. Is there going to be a password for this event?

[J2_Trupobaw 946]

There always was before.

[J5_HellCat_ 156]

15 minutes ago, J2_Trupobaw said:

There always was before.

 

If I remember right the last one was open to allow more people to participate but it led to issues. Namely constantly having to request uncooperative pilots move to the less fielded side as well as plane allocation woes.

 

If the Operation Michael rules state there will be a password then I suspect that's what will be happening.

Edited March 11 by J5_HellCat_

[US213_Talbot 1397]

Why the SE5 with BOOM BOOMS and not the Camel with BOOM BOOMS?

Edited March 11 by US213_Talbot