Career Mode: Am I Doing Something Wrong?

[elawsonjr30]

I'm just a little bit into the career mode and have been mostly enjoying it. The challenge of learning to take off, fly, and land has been fun. But I've already gotten to the point where missions are starting to get a little boring I've flown two missions now for ground support where nothing happens but flying in a circle for 20 minutes before being told we accomplished our mission. Now a third ground support mission is scheduled and I suspect it'll be the same. I know historically some missions were a lot of nothing happening, but two missions of the same type in the span of just a few in-game days seems a bit much. And when there is enemy contact, it almost seems too easy. The enemy AI isn't all that great and I am constantly able to get myself behind them into decent firing opportunities. Is there any way to maybe make career mode a bit more exciting? Maybe mods than enhance the AI or add some variation to missions?

[jtbg]

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 I've flown two missions now for ground support where nothing happens but flying in a circle for 20 minutes before being told we accomplished our mission

 

Are you starting off in the air, or on the ground? The baddies always start on the ground, and there is a small bug where their timing isn't adjusted for air-starts -- they end up over the area after you've already left. If that's the case, just start on the ground and you can AI autopilot or whatever for a bit if you don't feel like managing the takeoff.

 

 

On 6/14/2022 at 10:05 PM, elawsonjr30 said:

The enemy AI isn't all that great and I am constantly able to get myself behind them into decent firing opportunities

Crank up your difficulty and the density of frontline activity and turn off a few of the various assists in the realism settings. Keep in mind that it's not _designed_ to be 50/50 on each dogfight (otherwise even the luckiest pilot would only survive a few missions). 

You also might enjoy setting yourself as the squadron commander from the beginning, and you can assign fewer wingmen on the missions you are flying. That makes it a lot tougher in a hurry! 

[Skycat1969]

I'm currently playing a P-47 career and the mission variety and design has improved a lot since 2019. Back then, every mission was a suicide run with no top cover, assigned to bomb the same train station again and again; the Luftwaffe would arrive from three different directions in their Wunder machines, attack your squad before you could reach the target, and chase the survivors all the way back to home base. I resorted to flying as invulnerable and dragging the interceptors away from the main flight so they could reach the target. The missions were so unfair I gave up on USAAF and instead worked my way up from Moscow to Kuban in a BF 109 career.

 

I've noticed in replaying P-47s and also Typhoon IB's that the careers I think give you some softball missions at the outset to get you acclimated. There will be harder missions, either intentionally or by random generation. Last night I had to replay the same 'bomb airfield' mission three times because I got killed by an AA gun on first attempt; literally blown out of the sky by a FW 190 stooging over the airfield on second attempt; and dragged myself home after the same FW 190 tore up my tail on third attempt.

Edited June 19, 2022 by Skycat1969

[marcobona]

On 6/15/2022 at 5:05 AM, elawsonjr30 said:

I've flown two missions now for ground support where nothing happens but flying in a circle for 20 minutes before being told we accomplished our mission

 

Try to stay on the target again for 10-15 minutes, you will see that a flight of attackers with escort fighters always arrives.

 

On 6/15/2022 at 5:05 AM, elawsonjr30 said:

Is there any way to maybe make career mode a bit more exciting? Maybe mods than enhance the AI or add some variation to missions?

 

Yes: increases the difficulty level; plan your missions by changing the flight parameters (altitude, routes, etc.); choose the most dangerous missions (free hunt you and only one wingman, escort to bombers with only three wingmen). Personally I find that missions with a fighter bomber are the most complete, customizable and exciting!

[R33GZ]

I think he said he was flying ground support ie. He is attacking ground targets? 

 

If this is the case. Sometimes your mission targets can be shot by friendly fire. I have had the same thing and noticed that an enemy AAA asset destroyed 2x enemy feild guns by trying to shoot at low flying aircraft. This must have triggered the required damage level which in turn triggered the mission complete, even though I had yet to break formation and drop ordanance

[elawsonjr30]

10 hours ago, marcobona said:

 

Try to stay on the target again for 10-15 minutes, you will see that a flight of attackers with escort fighters always arrives.

 

 

Yes: increases the difficulty level; plan your missions by changing the flight parameters (altitude, routes, etc.); choose the most dangerous missions (free hunt you and only one wingman, escort to bombers with only three wingmen). Personally I find that missions with a fighter bomber are the most complete, customizable and exciting!

 

I'm not the squadron commander, so I don't get to pick missions. But when we got the mission accomplished announcement during those, the rest of my flight would turn around and head home. If I stayed around it'd be just me there, which seems less than realistic.

 

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I think he said he was flying ground support ie. He is attacking ground targets? 

 

In my case ground support meant flying cover for ground forces crossing a river. Ground forces that didn't appear to move at all during the mission.

[jtbg]

3 hours ago, elawsonjr30 said:

I'm not the squadron commander, so I don't get to pick missions.

You might consider starting a new career where you are commander from the beginning (it's an option on the same screen where you pick your pilot name/picture/bio). It is worth it simply to make sure you are able to skip missions that you're bored of

[RedeyeStorm]

Not strictly needed. If you start the mission ready for take off you can end the mission before take off and skimping that way. You will get a mission failed but nothing bad happens anyway.

[twilson37]

I assume you are flying for the Allies in BoBp if so you already have the odds stacked in your favor by the nature of the war at that time.  Here are some options that may help:

 

Option #1

Becoming a traitor and joining the Luftwaffe with harder difficulty, I think you will find it more challenging.

Option #2

   Transfer to a different squadron maybe one that does bomber escort or CAS.

Option #3:

    Buy one of the Eastern Front maps and try flying a I-16 or a Lagg.

Finally,

   See if you can complete a full campaign on Iron Man may seem easy after 5 or 10 missions but when mission 50 rolls around and you have a coolant leak over enemy territory, praying your engine doesn't quit before you make it back can be quite exhilarating.

[elawsonjr30]

On 6/21/2022 at 3:10 PM, twilson37 said:

I assume you are flying for the Allies in BoBp if so you already have the odds stacked in your favor by the nature of the war at that time.  Here are some options that may help:

 

Option #1

Becoming a traitor and joining the Luftwaffe with harder difficulty, I think you will find it more challenging.

Option #2

   Transfer to a different squadron maybe one that does bomber escort or CAS.

Option #3:

    Buy one of the Eastern Front maps and try flying a I-16 or a Lagg.

Finally,

   See if you can complete a full campaign on Iron Man may seem easy after 5 or 10 missions but when mission 50 rolls around and you have a coolant leak over enemy territory, praying your engine doesn't quit before you make it back can be quite exhilarating.

 

Battle of Moscow as the Soviets.

[twilson37]

17 minutes ago, elawsonjr30 said:

 

Battle of Moscow as the Soviets.

If you are starting out on hard difficulty on BoM and are not finding it challenging then I got nothing, after 3 years of flying I usually die after two missions in the I-16 especially when I choose the more accurate loadout of just 4 ShKAS machine guns,

[Lusekofte]

I like your taste. Moscow , Stalingrad and Kuban is the best in my opinion.

You have several ways of increasing density and difficulty.

But if you are new , frustration level can be too high if you set the bar too high.

Fly iron-man  in light to medium settings and focus on helping your mates and stay alive. Careers can be monotonous,  you need to make them mean something