Playing Their Finest Hour

[PB0_Roll]

Thank you for providing, it's very well written, and the first 3 missions were a nice experience.

 

I had to keep my own logbook since game still does not yet has one, and while not to be specially proud of I was satisfied in averaging 1 kill per sortie, considering being quite rusty. I had a few holes in one after attacking a twin (Ju88 or Do17) and had to perform an emergency landing at nearest airfield. A 109 vulched me but I decided to end the game before being dead sitting in my cockpit, given that if the game allowed it I would have jumped into a trench nearby and not stayed in the cockpit for minutes until my aircraft was straffed into pieces.

 

Mission 4, however, proved too hard for me.

 

Spoiler Alert

 

Spoiler

3 spitfires vs 9 110s, likely fighter bombers, but I didn't see any bombing.

 

Rear gunners, Richtoffen like pilots, outnumbered..... I tried 3 times, managed each time to get a few hits before dying, then decided I was not having fun. Too bad, campaign was quite enjoyable this far.

 

 

If you manage to do better, please report your tactic ?

[PB0_Roll]

So, not much better, but I decided it was time to put an end to this suffering.

 

Spoiler

Climbed moderately to be able to dive on the formation before they reached the airfield, but from the rear left quarter to be able to shoot one long burst and damage a 110. Didn't leave it until it crashed 30 secs later, rear gunner killed my engine as usual. Tried to divert immediately at very low alt, only to get caught 2 mins later by a vengeful 110. Elected to crashland in a field, pretty small one and I ended up inverted, both wings destroyed, but alive. Both my wingmen were dead as usual, but at least we got that one 110 as a payback. Other 110s went back home happily barrel rolling , diving and climbing all the way. Those amphetamins their docs give them must be a tad stronger than ours.

 

 

Next mission was much more fun.

[Peachy9]

Agree

I have mentioned before to the Devs that the 110 and JU87 Bomber gunners (not medium bomber gunners) are far too accurate especially with quarter attacks. I think mission builders need to dumb down the AI gunnery for JU87 and 110 -  problem with 110 is that if you do that then their forward gunnery becomes poor as well!

[ACG_Dunkz]

Ok great, i thought it was just me being a noob, i have tried this campaign many times and i find it totally unbalanced to the point of being broken.  I think when they designed this campaign, perhaps they assumed you would be able to change the loadout of your spitfire so that it fires armour piercing/incendiary rounds instead of the default ball bearings but you can't change loadout so it takes alot of shots to down a plane.

 

The best i have achieved is just to down 1 plane per mission and move on but that is not very fun and just seems stupid to have a huge formation of enemy bombers and you take 1 out then have to land and exit mission.  Maybe the people who designed this campaign are amazing pilots and can shoot down enemy planes 1 shot but im afraid this campaign totally killed my enthusiasm for the game

[343KKT_Kintaro]

8 minutes ago, DunkzGM said:

The best i have achieved is just to down 1 plane per mission and move on but that is not very fun

 

 

Please step into your time machine, go back to the Summer of 1940 and ask a British pilot if whether or not that would be fun to got down one Fritz per sortie, survive long enough to go back home, fly another day... and so on. Please gentlemen remember that Cliffs of Dover is serious simulation, not an arcade shooter.

 

 

[ACG_Dunkz]

ok  but the store page for this game says:

"Challenging campaigns in Single Player and a flexible and detailed Mission Builder provide endless hours of enjoyment."

 

So it is perhaps misleading.  Perhaps it should instead say : "Includes a campaign intended to accurately simulate the perils of taking on the might of the luftwaffe whilst totally outnumbered and outgunned and just hoping you can scrape a kill and land the plane afterwards" 

 

and then maybe i (and the OP) wouldn't feel down about this game and negatively reviewed it.

 

[343KKT_Kintaro]

"Challenging campaigns in Single Player and a flexible and detailed Mission Builder provide endless hours of enjoyment"

 

I'm always very happy when I go back home being alive on board a plane that is full of holes and leaking oil and fuel... even if I have no victories to add to the roster. So the above fits quite well with my experience of the game, I really love it as it is. If I don't accomplish heroic deeds I put the blame on myself because I know that other players, both in multiplayer and singleplayer mode, do obtain excellent results.

 

As a combat flight simulator, "Cliffs of Dover - Blitz" is a bit more difficult than others, more difficult than the Great Battles simulator for example. A friend of mine stated "more difficult doesn't mean more realistic" and he may be right but, well, this games is as it is and I know players who are absolutely accomplished aces in it.

 

If you are a beginner in Cliffs of Dover, I suggest you improve your practice with it until you get used in its simulated environment. You'll upgrade your skills for sure but you'll need perseverance and patience. Friendly: Kintaro.

 

 

[9./JG52_J-HAT]

It‘s a hard mission. You have 3 minutes to get up to their altitude.

 

I hand‘t flown the Spitfire in years, but this is what I did. Second try.

Scramble as fast as you can, full throttle and full rpm. Once airborne, boost cut-out and shove the throttle to the firewall (12 lbs. I believe). Climb hard W until you are at their height. Keep an eye on temps. Rpm and throttle back and turn into them. Tell your group to engage fighters (press „a“ for autopilot twice before using the commands so they work).

First pass head-on, go for a single bomber, hit as you can. Keep checking where the escorts went.  Loop back and dive on a bomber, fire from close enough.

Keep doing this until you run out of ammo. Use evasive manouvers when 109s get on your tail.

I shot one down before they released their payload. Two more went down afterwards from damage.

Shoot just as long as needed for them to drop out of formation, drop their ordnance, bail out etc. Sometimes you do a pass and notice things that indicate the bomber is out of action.

 

In my sortie 6 bombers returned. I had to ditch at Lympne and all my wingmen got shot down too.

It is impossible to shoot them all down, let alone before they drop, so don‘t get stuck with this objective. You can only do so much. Watch your six and try no to get shot down.

 

 

[DD_Arthur]

36% hit rate?  

[BOO]

9 hours ago, 9./JG52_J-HAT said:

look at you posing with yer fancy VR ?

 

How can you damage somthing a 100% and not destroy it? 

 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by BOO

[343KKT_Kintaro]

9 minutes ago, BOO said:

look at you posing with yer fancy VR ?

 

 

Yep, I noticed that too

 

 

9 minutes ago, BOO said:

How can you damage somthing a 100% and not destroy it?

 

 

This is the list of destroyed aircraft all in all, destroyed by the player... but by other pilots too, either AI or human, when it is the case. The game just informs of how is distributed the percentage of damage that was required for the destruction of the destroyed aircraft. That could be a different example:

 

Aircraft destroyed

[9:37:22]. Do 17 Z-2. Player damage: 1%  Damage by 343KKT_Kintaro: 99%

 

Simply a joke that 99% to me attributed... but I guess you got it: the aircraft has been destroyed, but the percentage of damage that was required for that is shared between the different participants in its destruction.

 

[9./JG52_J-HAT]

7 hours ago, BOO said:

look at you posing with yer fancy VR ?

 

How can you damage somthing a 100% and not destroy it? 

 

 

 

No no, it‘s just a pic a took of my 2d screen ?

And no idea what happened. I know I saw 6 going back over the channel. So one Kette was lost… maybe he was straggling but hadn‘t crashed when I finished the mission. Sat there on the runway and a 109 tried to strafe me…
 

I tried Mission 4 twice, no joy yet. Those 110s just gang up on you. I‘ll try to do it more seriously (ie trying to survive) when I have time.

Edited October 25, 2022 by 9./JG52_J-HAT

[OBT-Eazy]

57 minutes ago, 9./JG52_J-HAT said:

....Sat there on the runway and a 109 tried to strafe me…

 

Hmmmmm
Appens to me saturday evening on TWC.
A coward straffed me at Canterbury...  

[9./JG52_J-HAT]

30 minutes ago, OBT-Eazy said:

Hmmmmm
Appens to me saturday evening on TWC.
A coward straffed me at Canterbury...  

 

?

 

Sorry, we had been flying for almost two hours without any contacts and at some point we had to leave and saw you there and just dove in! If it makes you feel better I made a crater right next to you. With my own plane ?
 

Edit: as usual, we‘ll be waiting for OBT up there for good fun fights ?

Edited October 25, 2022 by 9./JG52_J-HAT

[OBT-Eazy]

39 minutes ago, 9./JG52_J-HAT said:

 

?

 

Sorry, we had been flying for almost two hours without any contacts and at some point we had to leave and saw you there and just dove in! If it makes you feel better I made a crater right next to you. With my own plane ?
 

Edit: as usual, we‘ll be waiting for OBT up there for good fun fights ?

Don't worry, it's war!  And yes, I saw your demonstration on how to make a crater.  

 

I'm not a member of OBT anymore but I agree, they are deadly. ?

[ACG_Dunkz]

On 10/24/2022 at 2:44 PM, 9./JG52_J-HAT said:

It‘s a hard mission. You have 3 minutes to get up to their altitude.

 

I hand‘t flown the Spitfire in years, but this is what I did. Second try.

Scramble as fast as you can, full throttle and full rpm. Once airborne, boost cut-out and shove the throttle to the firewall (12 lbs. I believe). Climb hard W until you are at their height. Keep an eye on temps. Rpm and throttle back and turn into them. Tell your group to engage fighters (press „a“ for autopilot twice before using the commands so they work).

First pass head-on, go for a single bomber, hit as you can. Keep checking where the escorts went.  Loop back and dive on a bomber, fire from close enough.

Keep doing this until you run out of ammo. Use evasive manouvers when 109s get on your tail.

I shot one down before they released their payload. Two more went down afterwards from damage.

Shoot just as long as needed for them to drop out of formation, drop their ordnance, bail out etc. Sometimes you do a pass and notice things that indicate the bomber is out of action.

 

In my sortie 6 bombers returned. I had to ditch at Lympne and all my wingmen got shot down too.

It is impossible to shoot them all down, let alone before they drop, so don‘t get stuck with this objective. You can only do so much. Watch your six and try no to get shot down.

 

 

ok thanks i did not know that you could order the other planes in your squadron so i will try it.  and yes, mission 4 is probably harder because those 110s are deadly af