When will the following be fixed in career mode?

[Sybreed]

1 - Several planes are never encountered

 

 For example: the P-51, P-38, JU-88, MC 202, HE-111 (after BoM), JU-53 just to name a few are planes that are never encountered in career. These are assets that are produced that aren't used to their fullest potential. I know it has something to do with which airport are near the mission markers, but PatWilson's campaign generator can bypass it, so why can't we in stock career?

 

2. Ground attack AI mechanics being poor

 

It's a known issue for almost 2 years: AI won't attack a mission target if there are AA units nearby, and will waste all bombs trying to destroy said AA and will be rendered ineffective against the mission target. The priority needs to be changed. Bombs on target, guns on AA. This makes some missions extremely frustrating as your friendlies will waste their bombs on AA and if you miss your bomb on the target, you'll be stuck circle strafing for no damage for 10 minutes until everyone runs out of ammo.

 

3. Might be a new issue, but I've seen a lot of AI suicide lately.

 

Doesn't seem to be plane dependant, but I've seen a bunch of planes crash on their own lately for no reason at all. In my HS-129 career, I've been able to "kill" enemy planes by flying low and doing basic maneuvers. AI will just ram the ground.

 

Career mode is an important part of this game! It's the main reason why I play IL-2 more than DCS, I hope it will continue to be looked at!

Edited April 27, 2021 by Sybreed

[AEthelraedUnraed]

Well, 2) and 3) have nothing to do with the career mode, but are AI issues. They do have a guy working specifically on AI improvements, so in due time I would say.

[I./JG52_Woutwocampe]

@Sybreed

 

Last 2 missions in my 190A8 BoBP career there was Mustangs. I dont know if something changed lately with the last update, but I had NEVER seen Mustangs before unless I was flying one. I have encountered several Mc202's in Stalingrad when flying Yak 1. I agree we should see more german bombers, even in BOM I usually only encounter formations of 3x He111's, no more, but since Im flying Il2 I dont really mind for now. The Ju88 is too rare indeed, apart from a recon plane here and there in Kuban...

 

Talking about Kuban, in every intercept ground attack planes/bombers you fly as a russian you'll only encounter Stukas, even when their target is a strategic target deep behind enemy lines, missions well suited for the Ju88. There is clearly tweaking to be done about aircrafts encoutered in careers. 

 

And yeah, AI...what can we say. Certainely the most crippling issue in SP. Some aspects have improved with time but huge flaws remain. Indeed the AI really loves to ram the ground. Sometimes its so ridiculous its laughable. I was escaping in my damaged 110 lately, 3 hurricanes committed suicide behind me in less than a minute. The game was so bamboozled by its own stupidity that it even credited a kill to me. The AI and career mode are two different things but AI issues certainely can decrease gameplay experience in careers.

Edited April 27, 2021 by I./JG52_Woutwocampe

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, I./JG52_Woutwocampe said:

Talking about Kuban, in every intercept ground attack planes/bombers you fly as a russian you'll only encounter Stukas, even when their target is a strategic target deep behind enemy lines, missions well suited for the Ju88.

 

No, that is clearly not the case. I'm in the middle of a Yak-7B career right now, and it's consistently Fw 190 jabos we meet on ground attack intercept missions. 15 IAP.

Edited April 27, 2021 by LukeFF

[I./JG52_Woutwocampe]

8 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

 

No, that is clearly not the case. I'm in the middle of a Yak-7B career right now, and it's consistently Fw 190 jabos we meet on ground attack intercept missions. 15 IAP.

 

I wasnt talking about fighter bombers but ground attack planes and bombers. I also have a Yak 1b/7b/9 career and I see them often too. But lets talk about Ju88 now?

[Cleo9]

I am presently in the late stages of a FW190 (A8 and D9) career in BoBP. I'm way into March 1945 and the campaign is about to come to an end. Initially, I flew in the British sector and after a few missions of the "intercept enemy planes " and "troop cover" variety, all I was flying were Free Hunt missions. My last 40 missions at least have been Free Hunts. I recently transferred to the American sector (late February 1945), flying the D9, and I'm still getting one Free Hunt mission after another. 

 

Against the RAF/RCAF, I initially encountered Spits and even some P47s in the ground attack role (with British markings, mind you...), but after a few missions I only encountered Tempests. On some rare occasions they were escorting a lone B25 or A20. In the American sector I have only encountered P47s so far.

 

I shot down 47 Tempests overall. Which is historically embarrassing, since few Tempests were lost in air-to-air combat during WW2 (wiki says only 31, but I seriously question that number...still... 47... compared to only 8 Spits...)

 

So let's say to sum things up that although dogfights against Tempests are epic, they become repetitive after a while... 

 

I love, love the game... 1200 hours of gameplay are there to prove it, but as I always say : Career mode is an acquired taste, although it is improving, one step at a time …

Edited May 13, 2021 by Cleo9

[LukeFF]

Just as a reminder: most Luftwaffe fighter missions at this time of the war were of the Free Hunt variety (in particular Jabojagd missions - that is, hunts for Allied fighter-bombers). The command had concluded long ago that the losses being suffered trying to shoot down bombers was not worth the few bombers being downed. It doesn't mean they completely abandoned trying to intercept them, but it did mean that 9 missions out of 10 were going to be Free Hunts.

 

You'll start to see some ground attack missions in about mid-March 1945. Otherwise, hopefully we'll have jet airfield defense missions sooner rather than later - that mission type will then really complete the mission set for the German fighter units stationed on the Rhineland map. 

Edited May 12, 2021 by LukeFF

[Cleo9]

33 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

Just as a reminder: most Luftwaffe fighter missions at this time of the war were of the Free Hunt variety (in particular Jabojagd missions - that is, hunts for Allied fighter-bombers). The command had concluded long ago that the losses being suffered trying to shoot down bombers was not worth the few bombers being downed. It doesn't mean they completely abandoned trying to intercept them, but it did mean that 9 missions out of 10 were going to be Free Hunts.

 

Thanks for your answer. This I know and can understand... But 8 or 9 out of 10 is not 40 out of 40.... In any case, the main issue remains the fact that you always encounter the same E/A, mission after mission. No Spit in sight for months ? No P51 ? It is a bit awkward. On a different note, It looks strange to see British fighters escorting P47s with British markings... To my knowledge, most if not all RAF squadrons flying the P47 served against the Japanese, not in NWE. Hopefully, with the Typhoon, this historical inaccuracy will be corrected and British planes will conduct ground attack missions in the British sector...  

 

This is a great game, always evolving

Edited May 12, 2021 by Cleo9

[Feathered_IV]

Hopefully they can figure out how to get AI Ju-52 activity into the Stalingrad career.  Particularly around the Gumrak and Pitomnik areas.  I’ve flown three VVS careers there now and never seen a single one.  Even during the airlift period 

[Eisenfaustus]

13 hours ago, Feathered_IV said:

Hopefully they can figure out how to get AI Ju-52 activity into the Stalingrad career.  Particularly around the Gumrak and Pitomnik areas.  I’ve flown three VVS careers there now and never seen a single one.  Even during the airlift period 

I flew a campaign with platzschutzstaffel pitomnik - there I to protect incomming aunt Jus once every four missions. 

[Feathered_IV]

2 hours ago, Eisenfaustus said:

I flew a campaign with platzschutzstaffel pitomnik - there I to protect incomming aunt Jus once every four missions. 

 

I said where are they if you play a VVS career.

[anwhitmore]

Well, seeing as we are talking about improving the career mode, I will add some suggestions about things that I feel could do with improving (or just outright fix), starting with the bad first

 

1 - disappearing enemy. Many times enemy AI just vanish, right in front of your eyes, often while you are still pumping bullets into them.

 

2 - That wretched "right across your bloody eyes" bright yellow mission success banner. REALLY? which genius decided popping up a massive yellow success banner across the players view and gun sight was a good idea. Try lining up a bomber with that wretched thing across your view. For goodness sake 1C, could you not have put it along the border or have a small icon to the side indicating success. Its worst of all in the Bomber intercepts where you right in the throws of lining up a bomber and trying to avoid "Yoda" who is in the rear gunner positions and is ripping bullets into you plane with amazing accuracy, so much so that he must be using "the force" to guide them  

 

3 - Intercept ground attack planes fails even if they don't arrive. Often the ground attack planes get waylaid  by other friendlies or the timing is out. Is it right to consider it a fail if you didn't meet. Does it really matter

 

4 - ground attach missions (Vehicle column or Artillery) fail even though you destroy at least 1 target. It seems to be time based, not quantity destroyed and everyone who has played knows that there is a high chance of getting intercepted by enemy planes, some it is not possible nor sensible to "hang around". I have had many situations where I have destroyed 4 or 5 of the ground targets, gone home and sat on the airstrip for ages waiting for a success that never came and I have no idea why. Maybe a change of logic , like say, if you destroy at least 4 ground units, its deemed a success.

 

5 -why are the bombers so slow. Wouldn't it be nice if the pe2 and ju88 cruised at speeds more realistic to their actual capabilities. All the bombers seem to fly at the lowest speed of something like 260KPH (or at least that's how it seems). I suppose the devs are concerned about not being able to intercept the formation if it is doing over 300kph but it would certainly speed up what is often a laborious mission and would make protecting them so much easier. But hang on... devs cant be worried too much about intercept capabilities because the FW190 jabos cruise at high speed and trying to join up with them in Kuban in your G4 is always a challenge.

 

6 -unnecessary wayward waypoints. The course routing tool plots unnecessary wayward waypoints which are often well off the beaten track.  What is wrong with just plotting a path straight from your airbase to the objective and back again? Why plot a pointless roundabout course when all it does is waste flying time.  Not a problem for the player because he/she can simply ignore them but friendly AI will not, so you end up having to wait for them. I assume in the war they plotted roundabout courses to throw off the enemy but do we really need that much realism?

 

7 - Fighter relocation missions? Really! Do we really need that much realism... I just cancel them... but why have them at all.

 

8 - Does shooting down AI or succeeding in missions have any bearing on future missions. I know loosing friendly pilots does affect rosters as you go forward but does the same happen for the enemy. I bet not as this is probably a "too hard basket"

 

9 -  More mission types would be cool. Things like:

- ground attack railway stations, bridges, trains, airbases, etc

- scramble to protect your airbase (or be able to call up scramble fighters when you are bringing 1/2 the entire Luftwaffe with you on your way home) 

- Attacking JU52s or night witches

 

Anyway, cant think of anything else at the moment. I am sure I will as soon as I post this

Would be nice to have other career players way in on these and share their thoughts.

 

 

 

 

[Sybreed]

On 5/18/2021 at 10:23 AM, anwhitmore said:

Well, seeing as we are talking about improving the career mode, I will add some suggestions about things that I feel could do with improving (or just outright fix), starting with the bad first

 

1 - disappearing enemy. Many times enemy AI just vanish, right in front of your eyes, often while you are still pumping bullets into them.

 

2 - That wretched "right across your bloody eyes" bright yellow mission success banner. REALLY? which genius decided popping up a massive yellow success banner across the players view and gun sight was a good idea. Try lining up a bomber with that wretched thing across your view. For goodness sake 1C, could you not have put it along the border or have a small icon to the side indicating success. Its worst of all in the Bomber intercepts where you right in the throws of lining up a bomber and trying to avoid "Yoda" who is in the rear gunner positions and is ripping bullets into you plane with amazing accuracy, so much so that he must be using "the force" to guide them  

 

3 - Intercept ground attack planes fails even if they don't arrive. Often the ground attack planes get waylaid  by other friendlies or the timing is out. Is it right to consider it a fail if you didn't meet. Does it really matter

 

4 - ground attach missions (Vehicle column or Artillery) fail even though you destroy at least 1 target. It seems to be time based, not quantity destroyed and everyone who has played knows that there is a high chance of getting intercepted by enemy planes, some it is not possible nor sensible to "hang around". I have had many situations where I have destroyed 4 or 5 of the ground targets, gone home and sat on the airstrip for ages waiting for a success that never came and I have no idea why. Maybe a change of logic , like say, if you destroy at least 4 ground units, its deemed a success.

 

5 -why are the bombers so slow. Wouldn't it be nice if the pe2 and ju88 cruised at speeds more realistic to their actual capabilities. All the bombers seem to fly at the lowest speed of something like 260KPH (or at least that's how it seems). I suppose the devs are concerned about not being able to intercept the formation if it is doing over 300kph but it would certainly speed up what is often a laborious mission and would make protecting them so much easier. But hang on... devs cant be worried too much about intercept capabilities because the FW190 jabos cruise at high speed and trying to join up with them in Kuban in your G4 is always a challenge.

 

6 -unnecessary wayward waypoints. The course routing tool plots unnecessary wayward waypoints which are often well off the beaten track.  What is wrong with just plotting a path straight from your airbase to the objective and back again? Why plot a pointless roundabout course when all it does is waste flying time.  Not a problem for the player because he/she can simply ignore them but friendly AI will not, so you end up having to wait for them. I assume in the war they plotted roundabout courses to throw off the enemy but do we really need that much realism?

 

7 - Fighter relocation missions? Really! Do we really need that much realism... I just cancel them... but why have them at all.

 

8 - Does shooting down AI or succeeding in missions have any bearing on future missions. I know loosing friendly pilots does affect rosters as you go forward but does the same happen for the enemy. I bet not as this is probably a "too hard basket"

 

9 -  More mission types would be cool. Things like:

- ground attack railway stations, bridges, trains, airbases, etc

- scramble to protect your airbase (or be able to call up scramble fighters when you are bringing 1/2 the entire Luftwaffe with you on your way home) 

- Attacking JU52s or night witches

 

Anyway, cant think of anything else at the moment. I am sure I will as soon as I post this

Would be nice to have other career players way in on these and share their thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't think I've ever encountered #1...

 

Agree with the rest, especially #5. It used to be worst before, but there was a bug forcing AI to be slower than needed. The thing is, the career uses a template for "bombers" in general and won't take into account the actual performances of the aircraft. A perfect scenario would be that each airplanes max continuous setting would be their cruise setting

 

I don't really mind #8, the devs said the career is there to make you feel like you're in a war, but you won't have much impact on the overall results.

 

#9, they keep improving on that front but yeah, boat attacks would be nice for example.

[anwhitmore]

#1, Maybe I play this game way too much but I regularly see enemy AI just vanish. Just had an F2 lined up for the final blow (in my beloved Mig3 with twin BS MGs) and... poof!... gone... left his smoke trail behind though. Maybe you are faster at dispatching them than I am..

 

#8, what would be nice is if you spend ages downing one of those twisty turny buggers, (i.e. ace AI) then he wont come back in a later mission... that's all.

 

#9, yeah, boats and harbours would be really cool. There only seems to be 3 ground attack missions. convoy, artillery and river crossing.

 

#5, Bombers , Yes I imagine that the template for bomber missions is set to the lowest common denominator for speed which is probably the HE111, I would imagine. I get it but it would be nice if it set the speed, as you say, based on the stats of the bombers. Wouldn't it be great to see the Ju88 cracking along at top speed of 450kph.

Edited May 24, 2021 by anwhitmore