Tactical codes

[PatrickAWlson]

The game allows you to assign tactical codes.  Each aircraft/nation has a specific number of symbols allocated to specific positions.  The following is a combination of quick reference for what the game does and how it corresponds to historical markings.

 

Colors for German:
Black, White, Yellow, Red, Green, Blue

 

Colors for German:
Black, White, Yellow, Red, Blue

 

Colors for Britain:
White, Blue, Red, Sky

 

Colors for USA:
Black, White, Yellow, Red, Blue

=========================================

Russian:
2 Numbers on the fuselage
5 Possible number styles
Russian colors

 

Russian numbers from 1-10 come in 5 different styles.

"%21", "%22","%23", "%24", "%25", "%26", "%27", "%28", "%29", "%2a"
"0", "1","2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9"
"%3a", "%3b","%3c", "%3d", "%3e", "%3f", "%40", "A", "B", "C"
"D", "E","F", "G", "H", "I", "J", "K", "L", "M"
"N", "O","P", "Q", "R", "S", "T", "U", "V", "W"
 

Exceptions:
Lagg3 (have not yet looked at every plane)
4 Numbers.  First two are fuselage and second two are tail.  

 

Britain:
3 Numbers/Letters
1 style
Usually Sky.  I think some white on bombers and sometimes blue early war.

Seems to be consistent for all planes

USA general:
3 Numbers/Letters
1 style
Usually white if the skin is green or black if the skin is silver.
While Red. Yellow, and Blue are options I have seen no evidence of their use except as outlines on black/white markings

German:
let the fun begin
Bombers: 4 possible numbers/letters.
Letters 1 and 2:Geschwader Identifier
Cross +
letter 3: Aircraft Id (red or otheer color)
Letter 4: Staffel Id

Fighter:
Symbol 1 and 2: Number: Aircraft Id.  Can be Geschwader markings instead of a number
Cross +
Symbol 3: Gruppe Id.  Blank for I, - or ~ for II, | for 3, + or cocked ~ for IV
<<  = Geschwader Commodore
<|  = Geschwader Adjudant
<-  = Geschwader IA
<O| = Geschwader Technical Officer
<|| = Geschwader Stab

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by PatrickAWlson

[LukeFF]

Another good reference. For career mode, every German fighter unit marked as a Jagdgruppe or Schlachtgruppe has a Gruppen Kommodore and Gruppen Adjutant. Some of them (depending on the colors I had to work, among other things) with also have a Gruppen Technical Officer and Gruppen Beim Stab.

 

The one addition to make to this page is that when the Luftwaffe when to 4-staffeln units, blue was the standard color of the 4th staffel in each unit.

Edited October 15, 2022 by LukeFF

[=621=Samikatz]

There's a couple of interesting exceptions, like a USA-flagged Spitfire IX gets four characters to play with but other USAAF fighters don't seem to share that. With the Soviets it's highly airframe dependent, the A-20 gets two slots, but the Pe-2 gets four?

[LukeFF]

Just now, =621=Samikatz said:

There's a couple of interesting exceptions, like a USA-flagged Spitfire IX gets four characters to play with but other USAAF fighters don't seem to share that. With the Soviets it's highly airframe dependent, the A-20 gets two slots, but the Pe-2 gets four?

 

The Pe-2 (and Il-2) gets four, because some planes had the codes on the fuselage and others had it on the tail.

[czech693]

The Gerschwader codes on the Bf-110G, Me-410, He-111H-16, Ju-88C, and Arado are all very small, less than 20% of the Gruppe and aircraft code size.  The codes on the Bf-110E, He-111H-6, and Ju-88A are the same size as the Gruppe and aircraft codes.

[LukeFF]

Just now, czech693 said:

The Gerschwader codes on the Bf-110G, Me-410, He-111H-16, Ju-88C, and Arado are all very small, less than 20% of the Gruppe and aircraft code size.  The codes on the Bf-110E, He-111H-6, and Ju-88A are the same size as the Gruppe and aircraft codes.

 

Yes, that's by design.

[PatrickAWlson]

14 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

 

The Pe-2 (and Il-2) gets four, because some planes had the codes on the fuselage and others had it on the tail.

 

So it was fuselage and tail but not both?

if it was both would the values be the same?

 

I know Russian markings were not very formalized.

[LukeFF]

1 minute ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

So it was fuselage and tail but not both?

if it was both would the values be the same?

 

I know Russian markings were not very formalized.

 

Typically, yes, it was either the tail or fuselage, but not both. For some good references, check this page out: https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/index.html

[Stonehouse]

RAF bombers also used red at times

[PhilthySpud]

16 hours ago, LukeFF said:For career mode, every German fighter unit marked as a Jagdgruppe or Schlachtgruppe has a Gruppen Kommodore …

 

Gruppenkommandeur

[RedeyeStorm]

Mayby a bug? I am flying a RAF Typhoon career on Bodenplatte. My escorting Spitfire Mk9 squadron had black numbers as tactical code. see below. In another mission I had Spitfire Mk14 as escort and they had a single blue number. Is this correct?

 

 

[senseispcc]

19 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

RAF bombers also used red at times

 

Night bombers or fighters. But some squadron leaders could chose teihr fuselage codes that had often nothing to do with the suqdron ones!

The Navy or costal command had only two codes for their planes but that is not a real rule. 

[LukeFF]

17 minutes ago, senseispcc said:

 

Night bombers or fighters. But some squadron leaders could chose teihr fuselage codes that had often nothing to do with the suqdron ones!

The Navy or costal command had only two codes for their planes but that is not a real rule. 

 

Day bombers wore red codes as well. 

[Zeev]

All this would be useful if I could find how to add these codes to the aircraft on a quick mission...

The ux ui in the latest game features for the past 1-2 years, including how to activate the roughness of the land could be better.

I understand that the team is small and they want to rush a lot of features, but without either a proper documentation or a user experience some users will not use these new features.

 

I read all the dev diaries on a weekly basis and I am not sure how to:

1. Add codes to planes

2. Did I activate the terrain roughtness correctly?

3. Did I activate the new clouds, because I can swear I do not see any difference in the sky between now and 2 years ago.

Edited October 16, 2022 by Zeev

[LukeFF]

32 minutes ago, Zeev said:

All this would be useful if I could find how to add these codes to the aircraft on a quick mission...

The ux ui in the latest game features for the past 1-2 years, including how to activate the roughness of the land could be better.

I understand that the team is small and they want to rush a lot of features, but without either a proper documentation or a user experience some users will not use these new features.

 

I read all the dev diaries on a weekly basis and I am not sure how to:

1. Add codes to planes

2. Did I activate the terrain roughtness correctly?

3. Did I activate the new clouds, because I can swear I do not see any difference in the sky between now and 2 years ago.

 

As I've explained above and repeatedly before, the codes are applied in quick missions in the same place paint schemes are chosen, and all of that is explained in the official manual that is available right here, in the section on manuals and tips. 

 

I'm not sure what else you're looking for, because the information is right there for the taking. Have you downloaded the official manual and read through it?

Edited October 16, 2022 by LukeFF

[[CPT]milopugdog]

1 hour ago, Zeev said:

-snip-

1. Add codes to planes

2. Did I activate the terrain roughtness correctly?

3. Did I activate the new clouds, because I can swear I do not see any difference in the sky between now and 2 years ago.

1. Go to the mission start screen where you choose your modification options, and it's where you select the skin you want. Only generic skins can have have codes applied.

 

2. Terrain roughness is just a thing. If you want to visually see it, there's an option to enable it in the graphics options.

 

3. New clouds are also just a thing. To see the difference, I would recommend increasing cloud detail in the graphics options, or going to the QMB and checking out the numerous cloud formations you can generate. My favorite are the Cumulus formations!

 

Hope this helps.

Edited October 16, 2022 by [CPT]milopugdog

[Sheriff88]

On 10/16/2022 at 3:41 PM, [CPT]milopugdog said:

1. Go to the mission start screen where you choose your modification options, and it's where you select the skin you want. Only generic skins can have have codes applied.

 

 

Two things to note here.
1. Codes are also automatically applied to custom skins. So all that hard work is trashed!!

2. Codes are applied to all official skins not just generic skin.

 

Supposedly this will be fixed soon.

[[CPT]milopugdog]

7 minutes ago, Sheriff88 said:

Two things to note here.
1. Codes are also automatically applied to custom skins. So all that hard work is trashed!!

2. Codes are applied to all official skins not just generic skin.

 

Supposedly this will be fixed soon.

1. This is a known bug, and will be fixed in the next update

2. This was supposed fixed in the 5.002b update, and if you still encounter it, I suggest you should make a report.

 

So no, two should not be wrong. And yes, I'm sorry I left out that they currently can be applied to custom skins. Since OP couldn't find where to apply codes to begin with, I didn't think it was worth mentioning. Thank you for the correction though.

[ITAF_Airone1989]

Does anyone know how the code for Hs129 works?
It doesn't appear to be that of fighters or bombers...

[LukeFF]

58 minutes ago, ITAF_Airone1989 said:

Does anyone know how the code for Hs129 works?
It doesn't appear to be that of fighters or bombers...

 

It's fighter-like in its implementation - two slots in front of the insignia, one behind it.

Edited February 24, 2023 by LukeFF

[ITAF_Airone1989]

3 hours ago, LukeFF said:

 

It's fighter-like in its implementation - two slots in front of the insignia, one behind it.

But they used letters, as the bombers...

 

 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

36 minutes ago, ITAF_Airone1989 said:

But they used letters, as the bombers...

 

 

And you have that option in game as well

[ITAF_Airone1989]

31 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

And you have that option in game as well

 

Yes, I know...

I just want to understand how should I use them.

Example: what should be the code for the third plane of I./Sch.G1?

 

Letters? Numbers? And which colour?

Edited February 24, 2023 by ITAF_Airone1989

[Ram399]

5 hours ago, ITAF_Airone1989 said:

Example: what should be the code for the third plane of I./Sch.G1?

Which Staffel and what time period?

[ITAF_Airone1989]

2 hours ago, Ram399 said:

Which Staffel and what time period?

 

2 staffel, August/September 1942

[Wardog5711]

A friendly reminder, do not post pics with visible swastikas. 
Either edit them out, or hide the image under a spoiler. 

 

[JG4_Moltke1871]

On 10/15/2022 at 6:52 PM, LukeFF said:

Another good reference. For career mode, every German fighter unit marked as a Jagdgruppe or Schlachtgruppe has a Gruppen Kommodore and Gruppen Adjutant. Some of them (depending on the colors I had to work, among other things) with also have a Gruppen Technical Officer and Gruppen Beim Stab.

 

The one addition to make to this page is that when the Luftwaffe when to 4-staffeln units, blue was the standard color of the 4th staffel in each unit.

Hey Luke, 

there are a lot of tactical markings like circle’s, triangles, arrows etc from WW1 to WW2. Do you have more of that for both periods and multiple fractions? Maybe a source?

[LukeFF]

20 minutes ago, JG4_Moltke1871 said:

Hey Luke, 

there are a lot of tactical markings like circle’s, triangles, arrows etc from WW1 to WW2. Do you have more of that for both periods and multiple fractions? Maybe a source?

 

Hi,

 

There isn't one single source, and when it comes to WWI, there wasn't much standardization when it came to the Germans. For the British, they were a lot more consistent, and I can heartily recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/British-Aviation-Squadron-Markings-World/dp/0764312847/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=rfc+markings+ww1&qid=1677535557&sr=8-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.18630bbb-fcbb-42f8-9767-857e17e03685. It's what I'm using to set up their tactical codes for WWI career mode.

 

As for WWII, the triangle tactical codes of the Schlachtflieger were employed until the spring of 1943, when the Luftwaffe then mandated these units switch over to the tactical codes used by the fighter arm. 

[Corralandy120000]

Speaking of the tactical codes: will there be possibility to have tak digit codes (i. e. 13, 14...) for german fighters? It's a bit strange I can't use two digit codes, which were widely used in reality. I tried to mod it, but the code is reverted on the right side of the fuselage. I'd really like to have some info on this. Thanks.

[LukeFF]

6 minutes ago, Corralandy120000 said:

Speaking of the tactical codes: will there be possibility to have tak digit codes (i. e. 13, 14...) for german fighters? It's a bit strange I can't use two digit codes, which were widely used in reality. I tried to mod it, but the code is reverted on the right side of the fuselage. I'd really like to have some info on this. Thanks.

 

Well, that's why we're limited to 1-9 right now - they're mirrored on the righthand side. ? I really don't see a way right now that it can be changed.

[Corralandy120000]

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

 

Well, that's why we're limited to 1-9 right now - they're mirrored on the righthand side. ? I really don't see a way right now that it can be changed.

I see. That's a pitty. But I think with a little coding it can be done Althouhg It has to be done by the devs I guess. But I thing It's not that difficult and It's worth of the effort. I've managed to got it mirrored right by using 102 insted of -1 in the code line, but than I couldn't acess any number but the first symbol... So I guess the code has to be alterned so it won't revert the symbols but will revert the numbers. With the little help from the devs I see it entairly possible

[IckyATLAS]

On 3/1/2023 at 8:53 PM, LukeFF said:

 

Well, that's why we're limited to 1-9 right now - they're mirrored on the righthand side. ? I really don't see a way right now that it can be changed.

Just brainstorming here. As for the skins template we could have a  template or templates for the tactical codes that we could use to paint them on the skin templates.

In this way we would have the exact font and letter geometry for US, British, German Soviet planes. Does this sound realistic?

[AEthelraedUnraed]

40 minutes ago, IckyATLAS said:

Just brainstorming here. As for the skins template we could have a  template or templates for the tactical codes that we could use to paint them on the skin templates.

In this way we would have the exact font and letter geometry for US, British, German Soviet planes. Does this sound realistic?

Not sure what you're proposing here. Templates for skin creators that they can use for their custom skins? I think most experienced skinners already have fonts installed for that purpose. Also it kinda defeats the purpose of tactical codes if we create everything as separate skins again.

[IckyATLAS]

52 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

Not sure what you're proposing here. Templates for skin creators that they can use for their custom skins? I think most experienced skinners already have fonts installed for that purpose. Also it kinda defeats the purpose of tactical codes if we create everything as separate skins again.

My suggestion here is for the cases where there is a limitation with the tactical codes like the one mentioned at the beginning of this thread. The only solution would then to have it done manually. 

I am not a very experienced skin creator but did some skinning. I did also numbering and things like this and it takes time to find the right size, shape font etc.

What I was mentioning here is that we could have a template of the tactical codes that we can then adapt and use on the skins that we already have.

I would say it does not defeat but complements the tactical code functionality. This would be useful to "intermediate" skinners if you wish, but would make things faster for everybody I suppose. 

Now, not knowing how the tactical codes are managed and generated in the sim, maybe it is not feasible.

[jollyjack]

Maybe y'all seen this already? : http://www.rlm.at/cont/archiv02_e.htm

[sevenless]

Really minor thing:

 

Any chance the german planes can get white outlines on the black numbers?

[jollyjack]

You can do that in Photoshop, even in the text input field. Use "Stroke', set line thickness, color and within or outside the font.

Guess that you cannot edit tactical code fonts, i could not find them.

Edited October 13, 2023 by jollyjack

[LukeFF]

2 hours ago, sevenless said:

Really minor thing:

 

Any chance the german planes can get white outlines on the black numbers?

 

Not with what we were told back when this was in beta testing.

[sevenless]

3 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

 

Not with what we were told back when this was in beta testing.

 

Ahh too bad. I thought it was just a minor thing. Change some templates and hey presto. 

[JG5_Schuck]

Regarding tactical markings,
Would it be possible that ALL the official skins could be made available without the markings so we can apply our own.
There are some cracking skins, but they already have markings that cannot be removed...