Post Your Career Stats!

[oc2209]

I'd like to compare performance throughout careers to see which planes are the most popular in single player, and which excel in certain roles. The simplest way to do this is to list relevant stats. I'll begin with my own.

 

In descending order:

 

Germany, 109F-4, G-6, G-14, K-4, Moscow to Bodenplatte, 362 kills in 84 sorties (76 successful).

 

Germany, 109F-4, G-14, Stalingrad to Bodenplatte, 182 kills in 49 sorties (46 successful) (Ironman).

 

Russia, MiG-3, Yak-1, Yak-9, 9T, Moscow to Kuban, 80 kills in 41 sorties (29 successful).

 

Britain, Spitfire XIV, Bodenplatte, 62 kills in 22 sorties (19 successful).

 

Britain, Tempest, Bodenplatte, 60 kills in 22 sorties (16 successful).

 

USA, P-47, Bodenplatte, 19 kills in 19 sorties (14 successful).

 

USA, P-38, Bodenplatte, 18 kills in 4 sorties.

 

In terms of abandoned careers, I have several Fw-190, Spitfire IX, and P-51 careers I've just never gotten into.

 

All careers are from within the last year; all were on hard difficulty with no realism simplifications.

 

For German careers, I only fly intercepts. For Russia, Britain, and the US, I fly mostly ground cover sorties when possible. I avoid escorts and free hunts (i.e, anything that puts you too far into enemy territory). Even without flying in ironman mode, it pays to be over friendly territory. Restarts are a pain.

 

Bomber/ground attack stats are also welcome. I only listed fighters because that's all I do.

Edited April 29, 2021 by oc2209

[=FI=Genosse]

If you find a platform to present your career stats I'd like to point you to this tool here, mate.

Gen "Who needs stats anyway?" osse

[Ram399]

That's a pretty cool tool, I'll have to play around with it later.

As is I only really have one career I've gone any meaningful distance on, and its my overly long II./JG 52 one.
I actually started it around 6 months after career mode came out and have been playing off and on ever since, so its seen quite a few changes.

Plus, I started this career with the express purpose of protecting and carrying my AI squadronmates as much as humanely possible, and as such I place a lot of value on the unit's statistics overall. 

Also the career is still ongoing- though I intend to either just end it after Kuban or wait in case a later Eastern Front module is released as I refuse to leave my unit due to all the time I've invested in the AI pilots.

Difficulty on Expert with Ironman off, Realistic Career speed with Moderate Difficulty and High Density.

Aircraft:
Bf-109 F2, Bf-109 F4, Bf-109 G2, Bf-109 G4, Bf-109 G6.

Moscow, Stalingrad, Kuban
October 11th, 1941 - July 7th, 1943.

Player Pilot Stats:
Sorties: 258 - 255 Successful (173 Hours)
Air Kills: 1028 - 809 Light, 124 Medium, 94 Heavy, 1 Parked
Vehicles: 67 - 65 Transport, 2 Light Armored

Heavy Weapons: 47 - 17 Machine Guns, 12 Cannons, 18 AAA Guns

Buildings: 5 - 5 Bridges

Unit Stats Overall:
2081 Planes, 221 Vehicles, 13 Railroad, 175 Heavy Weapons, 49 Buildings, 11 Marine
Pilots Transferred Out: 25
Pilots Lost: 56 - 45 KIA, 11 MIA

Top 5 AI Pilot Stats:

Spoiler

Hauptmann Christian von Weizsacker:
(October 11th, 1941 - July 7th, 1943 - Started as Oberleutnant)
Sorties: 309 - 226 Successful (274 Hours)
Air Kills: 195 - 75 Light, 31 Medium, 87 Heavy, 2 Parked

Hauptmann Bernd Berger: 
(October 11th, 1941 - July 7th, 1943 - Started as Oberleutnant)
Sorties: 279 - 198 Successful (231 Hours)
Air Kills: 138 - 45 Light, 19 Medium, 73 Heavy, 1 Parked

Hauptmann Anton Schulte:
(November 24th, 1941 - July 7th, 1943 - Transferred as Oberleutnant)
Sorties: 249 - 204 Successful (227 Hours)
Air Kills: 127 - 43 Light, 18 Medium, 64 Heavy, 2 Parked

Hauptmann Klaus Neumann:
(August 31st, 1942 - July 7th, 1943 - Transferred as Oberleutnant)
Sorties: 165 - 137 Successful (162 Hours)
Air Kills: 73 - 25 Light, 10 Medium, 36 Heavy, 2 Parked

Oberleutnant Sebastian Seidel:
(December 29th, 1941 - July 7th, 1943 - Assigned as Feldwebel)
Sorties: 123 - 114 Successful (65 Hours)
Air Kills: 42 - 17 Light, 2 Medium, 23 Heavy, 0 Parked

 

[oc2209]

12 hours ago, Ram399 said:

As is I only really have one career I've gone any meaningful distance on, and its my overly long II./JG 52 one.
I actually started it around 6 months after career mode came out and have been playing off and on ever since, so its seen quite a few changes.
 

 

Nice details, thanks for posting. Have you had many save errors so far? My longest (the 84 sortie) career was bugged and I've never been able to recover it, even using database editing as described elsewhere in the forum. I don't mind too much, as most of those kills were prior to the latest AI changes; what I'm waiting to do is the Normandy career, which will fill the 1944 gap from Kuban to Bodenplatte, and essentially give the full scope of the war at last (minus Eastern Front '44-45, of course).

 

I figure I won't bother starting a career until Normandy's ready; there will surely be more AI tweaks by then as well. The better the AI gets, the lower I expect my German kill-per-sortie count to go. It still, however, will probably be in the 3s. My Spitfire XIV career might get up into the low 3s at some point, since I'm getting better with it the more I fly it. I used to think the Tempest was godmode for the Allies, but I actually get shot down in it much more often than I do in the XIV.

 

14 hours ago, =FI=Genosse said:

If you find a platform to present your career stats I'd like to point you to this tool here, mate.

Gen "Who needs stats anyway?" osse

 

Thanks for the link, the app looks quite comprehensive.

[Ram399]

46 minutes ago, oc2209 said:

Have you had many save errors so far?

I have been fortunate enough to have never encountered any save error issues.
Though its worth noting that at this point I am rather paranoid about them and as such make backups of the career files pretty much every time I start a new day.
These backups also come in handy should any pilots who I deem valuable get transferred out, I really wish the CO had control over that system.

I am always wishing for greater AI improvements, but I doubt they will ever really reach a point where they are really competitive.
As is I would just be happy if they do what I tell them when I tell them, and hit their targets about as much as they miss them.

As boring as it sounds, I feel like for a realistic Western Allies career to be viable, the Luftwaffe presence would have to be toned way way down.
That would definitely annoy a few people I think, but honestly I doubt that I would mind too much.
 

[oc2209]

2 hours ago, Ram399 said:

I have been fortunate enough to have never encountered any save error issues.

I am always wishing for greater AI improvements, but I doubt they will ever really reach a point where they are really competitive.

As boring as it sounds, I feel like for a realistic Western Allies career to be viable, the Luftwaffe presence would have to be toned way way down.
 

 

I get most of my save errors during Bodenplatte. I don't think it's a coincidence.

 

In terms of the AI being competitive, it's pretty situational. In the Spit XIV career, my wingmen can be killed quickly after first contact (usually with Fw-190s), but other times not. Sometimes they run up a respectable group score, other times not. I mean, it's easy to pick out the times the AI's braindead, but the overall performance level is pretty average. Like people, it has good days and bad days.

 

What exactly do you mean about Allied careers being viable? As British, I get plenty of fighter action. As Americans, I find my P-51 careers get fewer encounters. P-47 ground attack sorties get attacked regularly, of course.

 

The only change I think would make sense (without totally drying up kill opportunities) would be to reduce the size of Luftwaffe flights, especially those sent against P-47s. In other words, 4 should be the typical size of an enemy Luftwaffe flight in Bodenplatte, not 6 or 8. It would coincidentally reduce CPU demands as well. I've had as many as 16 enemy Luftwaffe planes in my sortie objective area, while the number of friendlies never exceeds 10 (my flight plus 2 stragglers, usually). Even on hard mode, there shouldn't be more than 8-10 Luftwaffe planes in any one area at one time.

[I./JG52_Woutwocampe]

Here we go, actual BOM campaigns only, for now :

 

All dense setting, realistic engine management, not ironman, moderate difficulty, realistic length

 

BOM

 

IL2 41 mod

21.3.42

 

Planes 295

light 213

medium 25

heavy 14

parked 43

 

vehicles 665

transport 354

light armored 99

medium armored 212

heavy armored 0

 

railroad 103

locomotives 12

railroad cars 83

Station facilities 8

 

Heavy weapons 337

Machine guns 15

Cannons 128

AAA guns 175

Rocket launchers 19

 

Buildings 23

residential buildings 0

facilities 9

Bridges 14

 

Marine 0

 

 

BOM

BF110 E-2

 

16.3.42

 

Planes 519

Light 326

Medium 118

Heavy 64

Parked 11

 

Vehicles 197

Transport 103

Light armored 41

Medium armored 36

Heavy armored 17

 

Railroad 70

Locomotives 4

Railroad cars 60

Station facilities 6

 

Heavy weapons 140

Machine guns 38

Cannons 42

AAA guns 50

Rocket launchers 10

 

Buildings 9

Facities 7

Bridges 2

 

Marine 0

 

 

Next I'll post my Kuban careers.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2021 by I./JG52_Woutwocampe

[Ram399]

3 hours ago, oc2209 said:

What exactly do you mean about Allied careers being viable?

Historically viable being what I was referring to here, and pretty much what you said effectively.

From a historical perspective the Allied campaigns in Bodenplatte should be almost devoid of any meaningful Luftwaffe presence. 
Obviously that's boring and not for everyone, but outside of Operation Baseplate and the Battle of the Bulge itself, actual air to air combat should be a rare occurrence.

As is flying a ground attack P-47 career is pretty much unfeasible due to the amount of Bf-109s roaming about. 
If it had been the same case historically we would not have used P-47s like that without an escort, and my great uncle would likely have died a firey death.

I think a good historical way to have the AI portray the late war Luftwaffe would to either be by encountering rare flights of 4 to 6 AI pilots on the lowest skill setting with a single competent leader or an even rarer flight of 2 Ace AI pilots who make one or two passes before running for the hills at the first sign of trouble- trouble which would come in the form of an overwhelmingly large number of other Allied flights kicking about ready to converge as soon as any meaningful resistance is located.

[oc2209]

2 hours ago, I./JG52_Woutwocampe said:

Here we go, actual BOM campaigns only, for now :

 

BOM

IL2 41 mod

21.3.42

 

Planes 295

light 213

medium 25

parked 43

 

vehicles 665

transport 354

light armored 99

medium armored 212

heavy armored 0

 

 

BOM

BF110 E-2

16.3.42

 

Planes 519

Light 326

Medium 118

Heavy 64

Parked 11

 

Vehicles 197

Transport 103

Light armored 41

Medium armored 36

Heavy armored 17

 

Wow, quite the mix of air and ground kills. Do you get all of these going to and from the target area, or do you have to go out on your own to find targets of opportunity?

 

42 minutes ago, Ram399 said:

I think a good historical way to have the AI portray the late war Luftwaffe would to either be by encountering rare flights of 4 to 6 AI pilots on the lowest skill setting with a single competent leader or an even rarer flight of 2 Ace AI pilots who make one or two passes before running for the hills at the first sign of trouble- trouble which would come in the form of an overwhelmingly large number of other Allied flights kicking about ready to converge as soon as any meaningful resistance is located.

 

I think this could work. The rarity of encounters could be determined by career difficulty settings. Easy would be practically no air enemies; moderate would be a smattering; hard would be a steady but not overwhelming enemy presence.

 

Getting the ace rotte to engage and disengage in a truly hit and run manner--that might be a bridge too far. I like the idea, of course.

[Ram399]

2 minutes ago, oc2209 said:

might be a bridge too far.

I can imagine that behavior would be rather difficult to program.
Plus, in order for them to be effective, they'd have to actually be able to hit the target during their one high speed pass.

[oc2209]

18 minutes ago, Ram399 said:

I can imagine that behavior would be rather difficult to program.
Plus, in order for them to be effective, they'd have to actually be able to hit the target during their one high speed pass.

 

As I said, the AI has good days and bad days in terms of aiming. I've been bounced by a Fw-190 very well before--and very poorly. Just lately, I was on my way home after getting a record personal high of 6 kills in a career sortie in the Spit XIV. (*Edit: and I had no ammo left, I meant to add; and I was feeling really cocky and totally oblivious to my surroundings, thinking there were no enemies left in the area) I saw a yellow flash in my canopy. Thought it must've been some graphic anomaly. Ignored it. Then I saw the tracers going all around me. A 190 had bounced me, but missed every shot.

 

Now, just a few sorties later, I got bounced by another 190, this time coming at me not from dead six, but an angle about 45 degrees off my tail (which I only learned subsequently by pausing the game and going into external view). He hit my tail in one pass, crippling the plane. It could definitely be considered a high speed pass.

 

I took a screen of a recent quick battle shot the AI took. It reminds me of the laser deflection accuracy from IL-2 1946. Needless to say, we don't want it getting that good all the time.

 

View of the target:

 

 

View from the attacker (AI):

 

Edited April 30, 2021 by oc2209

[Ram399]

1 hour ago, oc2209 said:

AI has good days and bad days in terms of aiming

With the most recent update I have also noticed this.

The AI, in particular the higher level ones, now go for and seem to consistently land high deflection shots at impressive ranges, often with high rates of closure.
Yet that same AI will then struggle to hit a shallowly banking target from dead six.
Something has definitely changed in the way they lead their more difficult shots, it seems to me that the easier shooting logic just needs to catch up now.

Here's two screenshots of one of the pilots I mentioned earlier, Anton Schulte, landing similar kill shots to the one you observed.
Both these Hail Mary shots were fatal in just this single mission, and both were on targets I would consider myself lucky to hit.

Spoiler

 

[357th_KW]

2 hours ago, Ram399 said:

From a historical perspective the Allied campaigns in Bodenplatte should be almost devoid of any meaningful Luftwaffe presence. 
Obviously that's boring and not for everyone, but outside of Operation Baseplate and the Battle of the Bulge itself, actual air to air combat should be a rare occurrence.

As is flying a ground attack P-47 career is pretty much unfeasible due to the amount of Bf-109s roaming about. 
If it had been the same case historically we would not have used P-47s like that without an escort, and my great uncle would likely have died a firey death.

I think a good historical way to have the AI portray the late war Luftwaffe would to either be by encountering rare flights of 4 to 6 AI pilots on the lowest skill setting with a single competent leader or an even rarer flight of 2 Ace AI pilots who make one or two passes before running for the hills at the first sign of trouble- trouble which would come in the form of an overwhelmingly large number of other Allied flights kicking about ready to converge as soon as any meaningful resistance is located.

 

The Luftwaffe was most definitely present during the Battle of the Bulge.  They'd built up a significant reserve of aircraft (around 1900 single engine fighters with a smattering of other types) and ended up deploying in support of the Ardennes offensive.  To put that in perspective, the 8th and 9th AF had 33 Fighter Groups (roughly 1650 aircraft) with the RAF's 2nd TAF having another 55 squadrons (roughly 700 aircraft). 

 

In terms of actual combat, things had been very quiet on the tactical front during October and November.  2nd TAF claimed a total of just 32 victories during daylight in these two months.  From Dec 17th through January 14th they claimed 188!  8th and 9th AF claims totaled another 800 (with around 250 of those claims from 9th AF P-47s)!  By mid January it was obvious that the offensive had failed and that the Luftwaffe was no longer capable of making an impact, and most units were shifted to the east.  After that, encounters tailed off substantially. 

 

 

[Ram399]

2 minutes ago, VBF-12_KW said:

The Luftwaffe was most definitely present during the Battle of the Bulge.

That's what I said?

[I./JG52_Woutwocampe]

8 hours ago, oc2209 said:

 

Wow, quite the mix of air and ground kills. Do you get all of these going to and from the target area, or do you have to go out on your own to find targets of opportunity?

 

 

 

 

The way I approach campaigns, first of all they arent ironman but I try to fly like dying or being captured was the end of the world. So I always try to go for the main objective first but depending on how it goes, I might very well go for opportunities if I deem it safe and worth it.

 

If I inflict serious damage to the railway junction with my 6x FAB 100 for instance (primary objective), I might go for the few 111's I spotted 10 km's north beginning their landing maneuvers. I might also help our hurricanes escort finish the pesky 109F2's remaining. The BOM 110 career itself brings all sorts of different missions and great variety so your stats should look like that too.

 

I dont die or get captured often, if I do, I restart it but take myself out of the mission and proceed to the next mission. I try to act as much like it was an ironman career but, the way my last ironman career ended, no thanks

[oc2209]

17 hours ago, Ram399 said:

The AI, in particular the higher level ones, now go for and seem to consistently land high deflection shots at impressive ranges, often with high rates of closure.
Yet that same AI will then struggle to hit a shallowly banking target from dead six.
Something has definitely changed in the way they lead their more difficult shots, it seems to me that the easier shooting logic just needs to catch up now.

Here's two screenshots of one of the pilots I mentioned earlier, Anton Schulte, landing similar kill shots to the one you observed.
Both these Hail Mary shots were fatal in just this single mission, and both were on targets I would consider myself lucky to hit.

 

I think it's good it misses 'easy' shots sometimes. As ridiculous as it may look to observers. The truth is, even with my experience, I can totally botch a shot at a close target that I know I'd make otherwise. The AI shouldn't, even at ace level, be 100% guaranteed to hit a totally immobile (relative to the shooter) target. I've botched attacks from dead six; I've botched attacks on shallow turners. It's just one of those vagaries of air combat that the AI should be subject to; lest it become too perfect and thereby more an annoyance than a challenge.

 

The only way I'd want an even more accurate AI is if an extra difficulty level was added, like 'super ace' or something.

 

As for what your AI wingman hit, those are indeed both good shots. But the one on the climbing target looks relatively easy because of the slow speeds involved. The one I'd most likely miss is the approaching target in the turn. And even if I hit him, I doubt it'd be fatal.

 

9 hours ago, I./JG52_Woutwocampe said:

I dont die or get captured often, if I do, I restart it but take myself out of the mission and proceed to the next mission. I try to act as much like it was an ironman career but, the way my last ironman career ended, no thanks

 

Agreed, that's pretty much my policy too. I only have one ironman career, and it's probably going to stay that way.

[Ram399]

4 hours ago, oc2209 said:

But the one on the climbing target looks relatively easy

The 2nd screenshot is kind of confusing so far as the angles are concerned.  The P-39 is actually in a shallow dive and moving relatively quickly while Schulte is pointed almost straight up in a prop-hang.

Spoiler

The 1st shot was the harder of the 2 though you are correct.
 

4 hours ago, oc2209 said:

I think it's good it misses 'easy' shots sometimes.

It is good that it sometimes misses in these occasions I agree, and honestly I feel like the rookie/novice AI should generally miss these shots a lot more than they land them.
I only take particular issue with this sort of situation when the higher level AI fires either from dead six or at shallow deflection, misses, and then fires again at the same target without adjusting their aim whatsoever.

[oc2209]

50 minutes ago, Ram399 said:

I only take particular issue with this sort of situation when the higher level AI fires either from dead six or at shallow deflection, misses, and then fires again at the same target without adjusting their aim whatsoever.

 

Fair point. Maybe an adjustment period could be tied in with AI level.

 

Example: on ace level, the AI has a chance to miss the first one or two bursts when firing on a low/no deflection target. But by the third, it will fire on target. The possibility of missing will still exist, but by inches instead of feet.

 

On average level, it might take until the fifth burst to 'zero in' on you.

 

On novice, it just sprays, never really getting a solid fix.

 

Actually, now that I mention it, burst versus sustained fire should also be more closely tied with AI level. I have seen it burst conservatively, but also spray. Only novice AI should lay on the trigger (while missing badly).

[Ram399]

4 minutes ago, oc2209 said:

Actually, now that I mention it, burst versus sustained fire should also be more closely tied with AI level. I have seen it burst conservatively, but also spray. Only novice AI should lay on the trigger (while missing badly).

In the past this was how the AI's firing control worked, though they've shuffled things around recently so I'm not sure what its at exactly now.
I think it was two or three builds ago that all the AI models got really trigger happy and did nothing but sustained bursts.  Saw a lot of wasted bullets then.
Luckily it seems a bit more restrained now.