'Death is rebirth' campaign option...

[Avimimus]

 

Many people have commented on or experienced how much more immersive it is to fly a campaign 'dead is dead' - where, if the pilot dies, the campaign ends. However, this has the issue that only the best and luckiest of us manage to make it through the whole campaign.

 

My father had an interesting solution. It is as follows:

- If they pilot dies then they are dead. Their story comes to an end and the kill count, rank and all other characteristics become part of 'history'. Any progress in these areas is lost.

- However, the player gets 're-incarnated' into another unit in the same campaign. They start with all progress lost in the career, but at the exact point in the campaign where their last pilot was lost. This allows to continue progression through time and experiencing multiple parts of the front and multiple units.

 

This would allow flying 'dead is dead' and trying to keep a pilot alive, increase kills and rank... but it would allow seeing the whole campaign. Most of what makes 'dead is dead' engaging would remain.

 

What is more... one could end up seeing the same campaign from a different unit's perspective, and even a different type of aircraft. This would also help mitigate issues like tending to fly over the same part of the map or encounter enemies from the same enemy squadron... at least if one was sufficiently unlucky to lose their pilots often.

 

Of course, the normal 'dead is dead' and 'immortal' options wouldn't go away... just the optional ability would be added to continue the campaign in a random unit on the same side.

Edited May 16, 2021 by Avimimus

[migmadmarine]

When you specify "another unit" do you imagine the player getting a squadron select screen like when they transfer units, or just being randomly assigned to another unit? I for one would most likely choose to carry on with my same one as a new pilot if the option is available, as I have a habit of only starting campaigns at the start of the battle, meant by I've rarely played the ending phases of many of them. Also, seeing as we cannot start part way through a phase, being able to resume from where one "left off" as it were would be quite good. 

[jeanba]

I like it 

We can do this in PWCG

[Avimimus]

6 hours ago, migmadmarine said:

When you specify "another unit" do you imagine the player getting a squadron select screen like when they transfer units, or just being randomly assigned to another unit? I for one would most likely choose to carry on with my same one as a new pilot if the option is available, as I have a habit of only starting campaigns at the start of the battle, meant by I've rarely played the ending phases of many of them. Also, seeing as we cannot start part way through a phase, being able to resume from where one "left off" as it were would be quite good. 

 

Hmm... well, continuing on with the same unit might feel a bit to much like a normal resurrection... so I was thinking more of being randomly re-assigned (or, at most, given a choice of two kinds units - for those who really want to avoid having to fly bombers etc.)

 

54 minutes ago, jeanba said:

I like it 

We can do this in PWCG

 

Interesting! I'll have to try it.

Edited May 31, 2021 by Avimimus

[migmadmarine]

I would think it best to just give the player a squadron select screen, allowing them to choose any squadron of their nation, so that those who wish to just "re-roll" their pilot like it was an RPG character and start other with the same unit can. 

[oskar93]

I believe the topic is about career mode, and not about a scripted campaign? I have tried iron man mode a couple times, but as a green pilot and didn't survive that long, that's on me. Because the campaign phase is choosable in the career timeframe, and the pace of the career is adjustable, you can "catch up" the day you were killed/captured  by doing missions in "rapid" mode. Therefore the real loss is your time (some missions) in addition to your progress in kill count and awards. By adding a "rebirth",  iron man mode loses this time penalty which comes with the pilot's demise. Should there be this penalty, is debatable. Maybe there is a loss of immersion that comes with repeating the same career days/missions. One solution would be adding a third, "softer" iron man mode where there exists the rebirth option. Gold man mode? ?

 

But in normal (non-iron man) mode, I have ended two careers prematurely by clicking a wrong button instead of restarting the mission, escpecially in the "details screen" after a mission. Because if I return to lobby after death/capture, the career gets locked, or I haven't found a way to continue after this ?. One way to prevent this to place a warning before a career gets locked, another way is to add the beforementioned rebirth option, at least to the normal career mode.

Edited June 7, 2021 by oskar93