Official Free Historical Campaign "Wings Over Caen"

[BlackSix]

On 4/15/2023 at 4:38 AM, kilroy987 said:

When I read that Battle Over Normandy now has a scripted campaign, I picked it up.

 

I tried the first mission.  It's quite some distance to the attack point - 30 minutes of travel, 4 minutes of hell.

Unfortunately, I got shot down.

 

I hope the rest of the campaign offers more of a view than being over water all the time.

I guess I'll find out!

 

I hope more scripted campaigns are on their way, too.  They are my preferred way to play the game.

I had strict instructions to start the campaign with such a mission, it wasn't my idea. All other missions start from the airfield near the front line and there will be no more long flights.

[Sandmarken]

On 4/18/2023 at 9:35 AM, BlackSix said:

I had strict instructions to start the campaign with such a mission, it wasn't my idea. All other missions start from the airfield near the front line and there will be no more long flights.

Nothing wrong with a channel crossing. Alot of ship and airtraffic makes it intresting.  Dont like the once where the channle is completly emtpy of life. Looking in many mp servers and career direction?

 

[Hanu]

I liked the first mission too, it gives you atmosphere that now we are going into the hot zone; bye bye safe England.

[Sandmarken]

1 hour ago, Hanu said:

I liked the first mission too, it gives you atmosphere that now we are going into the hot zone; bye bye safe England.

If people want short missions with loads of action there is so many options. Quick missions, mp server wings and beloga to mention a few ?

[FoxbatRU]

Cool campaign. Play, enjoy!?

[Billsponge1972]

I'm not going to spoil anything but that last mission is a doozy! Anything but a walk in the park. I've flown it half a dozen times and have yet to make it back to my home airfield.

[[LeLv34]Lykurgos88]

Hi! I'm wondering about the effectiveness of the AP rockets of the Typhoon.

 

My issues start in the 3rd (?) mission where you have to attack a bunch of Panzer IV:s. During my first couple tries I didn't hit anything with rockets so I dry practiced hitting lighter targets in the Quick Mission mode over and over again until I memorised the right distance and reticle position to launch the rockets.

 

So, I fixed my aim, but AP rockets seem to be absolutely worthless againt Panzer IVs. I counted from an external camera view that I landed three direct hits with three different attack runs against a SINGLE Panzer IV. One hit was to the back of the turret, one was against side armor and one is against the top the turret. None of them was enough to even disable the tank.

 

However I managed to destroy/disable 2 other Panzer IVs with only using my 20 mm cannons. So it seems AP rockets are totally worthless against Panzer IV.

 

Is anyone else experiencing this? I understand those AP rockets aren't supposed to be any super weapons but Panzer IVs are not exactly the most heavily armoured tanks in 1944. Panthers and Tigers I could understand but Panzer IV.

[FoxbatRU]

2 минуты назад, [LeLv34]Lykurgos88 сказал:

Is anyone else experiencing this? I understand those AP rockets aren't supposed to be any super weapons but Panzer IVs are not exactly the most heavily armoured tanks in 1944. Panthers and Tigers I could understand but Panzer IV.

Rockets are not useless. They can even destroy the Panther. Tiger didn't try. But maybe if you knock down the caterpillar. The problem is a bug in the game. The destruction of the tank in the campaign is counted only if in front of the missiles, hit it from a cannon. If the rockets blow up the tank before the cannons, the destruction does not count. If after at least one projectile from cannons, it counts.

[LukeFF]

3 hours ago, [LeLv34]Lykurgos88 said:

Hi! I'm wondering about the effectiveness of the AP rockets of the Typhoon.

 

My issues start in the 3rd (?) mission where you have to attack a bunch of Panzer IV:s. During my first couple tries I didn't hit anything with rockets so I dry practiced hitting lighter targets in the Quick Mission mode over and over again until I memorised the right distance and reticle position to launch the rockets.

 

So, I fixed my aim, but AP rockets seem to be absolutely worthless againt Panzer IVs. I counted from an external camera view that I landed three direct hits with three different attack runs against a SINGLE Panzer IV. One hit was to the back of the turret, one was against side armor and one is against the top the turret. None of them was enough to even disable the tank.

 

However I managed to destroy/disable 2 other Panzer IVs with only using my 20 mm cannons. So it seems AP rockets are totally worthless against Panzer IV.

 

Is anyone else experiencing this? I understand those AP rockets aren't supposed to be any super weapons but Panzer IVs are not exactly the most heavily armoured tanks in 1944. Panthers and Tigers I could understand but Panzer IV.

 

Don't bother with the AP rockets - they were seldom used in reality. The SAP/HE ones are far better all-rounders.

[FoxbatRU]

1 час назад, LukeFF сказал:

The SAP/HE ones are far better all-rounders.

By the way, yes, today I calmly destroyed the Pz-IV with SAP/HE rockets (but for a guarantee, at first he still fired at him from cannons). But in the campaign, we cannot change weapons. And for me it's good. There is a chance to try everything that was applied. Otherwise, it would be easier to just carry bombs.

[Gingerwelsh]

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

 

Don't bother with the AP rockets - they were seldom used in reality. The SAP/HE ones are far better all-rounders.

It's all about too high expectations.

 

The rockets were designed to be used against ships, IRL.

 

The 25lb AP were highly successful against ships and subs.

Their high velocity penetrated the hull and left a large exit hole. In game they are completely useless.

The low velocity 60lb SAP couldn't penetrate half inch decks, IRL, so how would people expect to kill heavy tanks with it.

 

They were then used for vehicles and light armour attacks for which a direct hit was required.

 

In game they have good splash damage against railroad and road trucks and artillery, but with a measly 12lb explosive charge, they are not going to much against heavy tanks and neither should they.

 

..

 

[Sandmarken]

On mission five i got a bug where you wont get a mission complete when landing ? didnt help to fly all over the airfield or using autopilot either. All other task where complete, didnt miss a waypoint. 

[SYN_Vander]

Haven't been flying for a while (both online and offline) and came back to start this campaign. Absolutely loving it! Only two missions in, but very impressed so far with overall atmosphere. It's not just that the missions are well designed (they are!), but also shows how much the game has progressed in all those years. Normandy terrain looks great, map does not feel empty. Improved weather/clouds really adds to realism and diversion. Smoke in the distance shows where the fighting is, ambient flights flying across the Channel, radio chatter, multitude of vehicles on the ground, formation flying improved, aircraft codes...

 

Had a great experience in the first mission. After crossing the Channel I had to attack artillery west of Caen before landing. Just before firing my rockets I got hit hard by AAA (I think?). Controlling the aircraft was difficult and I was streaming all kind of fluids and the windscreen was already showing oil. I had to land fast or jump. Luckily the airstrip was really close so I lined up for that. Doing so I noticed I was slowly passing out, which was strange since it didn't seem I was wounded. I quickly realized that my oxygen tank had been hit so I was slowly suffocating! Quickly opened the canopy and that solved the problem so I could land safely.

[BlackSix]

4 hours ago, SYN_Vander said:

Haven't been flying for a while (both online and offline) and came back to start this campaign. Absolutely loving it! Only two missions in, but very impressed so far with overall atmosphere. It's not just that the missions are well designed (they are!), but also shows how much the game has progressed in all those years. Normandy terrain looks great, map does not feel empty. Improved weather/clouds really adds to realism and diversion. Smoke in the distance shows where the fighting is, ambient flights flying across the Channel, radio chatter, multitude of vehicles on the ground, formation flying improved, aircraft codes...

Thanks!

 

5 hours ago, Sandmarken said:

On mission five i got a bug where you wont get a mission complete when landing ? didnt help to fly all over the airfield or using autopilot either. All other task where complete, didnt miss a waypoint. 

Just successfully completed this mission on autopilot...

Please try again by doing these steps:

1) disable all mods;

2) select custom realism level and enable the option "Invulnerability";

3) start the mission, turn on the autopilot and 8х accelerate time.

[Sandmarken]

59 minutes ago, BlackSix said:

Thanks!

 

Just successfully completed this mission on autopilot...

Please try again by doing these steps:

1) disable all mods;

2) select custom realism level and enable the option "Invulnerability";

3) start the mission, turn on the autopilot and 8х accelerate time.

Thx il try. Im not using mods so cant be that.

[T24_Martin]

In Mission 9 my squad is not attacking any ground vehicles. They are flying over the column of vehicles and don't use cannon or rockets. 

[Letka_13/Major*]

Hi all, very thanks for that nice campaign, I like flying Typhoon. Campaign is excellent, I have only question to author about possibility to unlock HE rockets because AP rockets are useless against panzers, all we know it. Thank you very much.

 

Good luck

[FoxbatRU]

They are not useless. It's just that the game does not count the destruction of some tanks by a rocket or a bomb, unless you first hit this tank with firearms.

[Letka_13/Major*]

1 hour ago, FoxbatRU said:

They are not useless. It's just that the game does not count the destruction of some tanks by a rocket or a bomb, unless you first hit this tank with firearms.

So if I hit the tank by cannons and then hit it by AP rockets, tank can be destroyed?

[FoxbatRU]

42 минуты назад, Letka_13/Major* сказал:

So if I hit the tank by cannons and then hit it by AP rockets, tank can be destroyed?

I am based on my experience. The tank is considered destroyed even if it does not catch fire, even if it simply breaks the caterpillar. But sometimes the game does not count the destruction of the tank. I.e. the tank is destroyed, its marker is extinguished (you can check in the record), but there is no offset. And if you make at least one hit from a machine gun before that, then after the destruction of the player's tank, it will be counted. This system has another disadvantage. You can fire a bunch of tanks from a machine gun, and if they are then destroyed by wingmen or ground troops, the credit will still go to the player.

[Trooper117]

8 minutes ago, FoxbatRU said:

You can fire a bunch of tanks from a machine gun, and if they are then destroyed by wingmen or ground troops, the credit will still go to the player.

 

Something else that needs sorting then... 

[Letka_13/Major*]

On 7/1/2023 at 2:28 PM, FoxbatRU said:

I am based on my experience. The tank is considered destroyed even if it does not catch fire, even if it simply breaks the caterpillar. But sometimes the game does not count the destruction of the tank. I.e. the tank is destroyed, its marker is extinguished (you can check in the record), but there is no offset. And if you make at least one hit from a machine gun before that, then after the destruction of the player's tank, it will be counted. This system has another disadvantage. You can fire a bunch of tanks from a machine gun, and if they are then destroyed by wingmen or ground troops, the credit will still go to the player.

Ok, thank you, I'll try it.

Salute

[F19_Haddock]

On 4/18/2023 at 8:35 AM, BlackSix said:

I had strict instructions to start the campaign with such a mission, it wasn't my idea. All other missions start from the airfield near the front line and there will be no more long flights.

I've been putting off this campaign precisely because this first mission... But I finally had some free time over the weekend and managed to complete it. It took me 46 minutes.  Great ambience, though! I loved the sense of achievement at the end. And very much looking forward to the rest.

No fault to the campaign, but IL2 could do with a "skip to next waypoint" option like Strike Fighters did 20 years ago. Probably impossible to retro-fit now, but that was a very elegant solution. 

[BlackSix]

15 hours ago, F19_Haddock said:

I've been putting off this campaign precisely because this first mission... But I finally had some free time over the weekend and managed to complete it. It took me 46 minutes.  Great ambience, though! I loved the sense of achievement at the end. And very much looking forward to the rest.

Thank you! In any case, you always have the opportunity to turn on the autopilot and time acceleration and temporarily switch to something else, because long flights are enough in my Western front campaigns.

[Flying_Anchor]

Terrible experience. 1st mission is ridiculous as mentioned before, so i wont repeat it.
So, emergency landing? MISSION FAILED, RESTART.
Landed not on your airfield? MISSION FAILED, RESTART.
Destroyed ~20 enemy units, got engine damage, pilot hurt but SUCCESFULLY landed on a nearby airfield? Gonna get the Purple Heart? SHAME ON YOU, MISSION FAILED, RETARD  RESTART.
I wish you'll make some tweaks because your missions used to have much better logic.

 

I lost my ssd with campaign progress and, God, i dont want to replay these missions again.

[BlackSix]

I've partially solved this problem by introducing reserve airfields, landing on which also allows you to successfully complete the mission. This was used in the Sky Nomads (Yak-7b) campaign for the Eastern Front.
But I still have a hard time imagining how this can be solved with such a dense network of Allied airfields as in Normandy or Rhineland.

[Jaegermeister]

6 hours ago, BlackSix said:

But I still have a hard time imagining how this can be solved with such a dense network of Allied airfields as in Normandy or Rhineland.

 

If landing is your primary goal, then you would have to use a complex trigger activated by "on landed" at each friendly airfield. Then if the player is stationary and alive at any given airfield, they complete the mission. I use them for a subtitle "press esc to end the mission". Here is a group if you want to look at it.

 

Land Goal.zip

 

It would take a little while to place them for all the missions with 20+ airfields, but if it is really ruining it for some people, it might be worth it?

[BlackSix]

11 minutes ago, Jaegermeister said:

If landing is your primary goal, then you would have to use a complex trigger activated by "on landed" at each friendly airfield. Then if the player is stationary and alive at any given airfield, they complete the mission. I use them for a subtitle "press esc to end the mission". Here is a group if you want to look at it.

Land Goal.zip 1.15 kB · 0 downloads

It would take a little while to place them for all the missions with 20+ airfields, but if it is really ruining it for some people, it might be worth it?

Thanks, in this case it's easier to place checkzone triggers, as I did for several reserve airfields, because I remember well the moment when very big changes were made to complex triggers several years ago. If I used them, I would have to check and redo all the campaigns.

In any case, I'll not get permission to remake old free campaigns now, because there is a lot of work on the new project.

[Jaegermeister]

2 hours ago, BlackSix said:

Thanks, in this case it's easier to place checkzone triggers, as I did for several reserve airfields, because I remember well the moment when very big changes were made to complex triggers several years ago. If I used them, I would have to check and redo all the campaigns.

In any case, I'll not get permission to remake old free campaigns now, because there is a lot of work on the new project.

 

Thankfully the complex triggers have continued to work as landing indicators for me but I will see if I can get the checkzone to do the same thing just in case.

 

Glad to hear they are keeping you busy!   

[BlackSix]

The simplest and even primitive solutions usually turn out to be the most reliable when it comes to the editor)) And they are often better in terms of performance.

[Sandmarken]

3 hours ago, BlackSix said:

The simplest and even primitive solutions usually turn out to be the most reliable when it comes to the editor)) And they are often better in terms of performance.

A 5-minute timer checking for takeoff or landing, giving a mission complete is my favorite. Then you can choose for yourself if you feel it was a mission complete or if you should do it again. 😁

[Jaegermeister]

12 minutes ago, Sandmarken said:

A 5-minute timer checking for takeoff or landing, giving a mission complete is my favorite. Then you can choose for yourself if you feel it was a mission complete or if you should do it again. 😁

 

Unfortunately in this age of everyone getting a trophy for being on the team, that is the only way to avoid complaints. I thought that was more or less how it is set up in this campaign too, but I may be confusing it with another one

[BlackSix]

41 minutes ago, Sandmarken said:

A 5-minute timer checking for takeoff or landing, giving a mission complete is my favorite. Then you can choose for yourself if you feel it was a mission complete or if you should do it again. 😁

30 minutes ago, Jaegermeister said:

Unfortunately in this age of everyone getting a trophy for being on the team, that is the only way to avoid complaints. I thought that was more or less how it is set up in this campaign too, but I may be confusing it with another one

I still believe that, first of all, this is a game, and not a special Air Force military training computer program where completely different criteria for completing the task are used.

And missions in the game must have at least some conditions for their completion, otherwise players may become completely bored. I want to make the player act carefully, fear for his virtual life and strive to return to base. This should eliminate unnecessary heroics and huge winning scores.

[Sandmarken]

1 hour ago, BlackSix said:

And missions in the game must have at least some conditions for their completion, otherwise players may become completely bored.

You are probably right, but then there is always the risk of people not completing that task and being annoyed. I don’t think one can please all in a sim like this. 

[Anonymousgamer]

On 4/10/2023 at 4:23 AM, BlackSix said:

Thanks!

Yes, as Luke said, the Typhoon squadrons were very specialized. Bombs are much easier to use and would have been a great addition to the gameplay but No. 245 Squadron used rockets only.

I am experiencing an issue in the "Wings over Caen" campaign. The mandatory AP rockets cannot disable a single tank even after a barrage of all eight rockets or even a simple truck. 

[Jaegermeister]

On 5/10/2024 at 5:16 PM, Anonymousgamer said:

I am experiencing an issue in the "Wings over Caen" campaign. The mandatory AP rockets cannot disable a single tank even after a barrage of all eight rockets or even a simple truck. 

 

The RP-3 SAP/HE rockets you carry on the Typhoon are the 60# warhead version and they will indeed kill tanks and trucks if you actually hit them. I agree it is very challenging, as it was at the time. It takes practice and coming in at the correct angle and firing at the correct range. You might want to set up a quick mission and fire them in singles or pairs to get used to the trajectory. I have scored a few direct hits in that campaign and the vehicles were destroyed.

 

Apparently they were so intimidating to the truck drivers and tankers that a lot of them jumped out of their vehicles and ran away when they were attacked even though the vehicle was not destroyed. There is some research available on how many tanks were actually hit by rockets and it was a very small number like 6% of the total rockets fired.

 

 

Edited May 19, 2024 by Jaegermeister

[sevenless]

On 5/19/2024 at 5:22 AM, Jaegermeister said:

The RP-3 SAP/HE rockets you carry on the Typhoon are the 60# warhead version and they will indeed kill tanks and trucks if you actually hit them. I agree it is very challenging, as it was at the time. It takes practice and coming in at the correct angle and firing at the correct range. You might want to set up a quick mission and fire them in singles or pairs to get used to the trajectory. I have scored a few direct hits in that campaign and the vehicles were destroyed.

 

Apparently they were so intimidating to the truck drivers and tankers that a lot of them jumped out of their vehicles and ran away when they were attacked even though the vehicle was not destroyed. There is some research available on how many tanks were actually hit by rockets and it was a very small number like 6% of the total rockets fired.

 

To get a good seperation of myth from realities, I suggest to read at least Chapter V of Ian Goodersons work. Available online here:

 

Allied close air support 1943-1945. — King's College London (kcl.ac.uk)

 

 

 

[LukeFF]

Yes, there was a battlefield analysis of German vehicles destroyed during the fighting around Mortain, and the conclusion was that the number of vehicles destroyed by aircraft rocket fire was comparatively small to all other sources of destruction. 

[Anonymousgamer]

This campaign would be much more enjoyable if I could customize armaments and fire rockets one at a time. I know and respect historical accuracy, but I feel the player should have some choice in the matter.

[LukeFF]

5 hours ago, Anonymousgamer said:

This campaign would be much more enjoyable if I could customize armaments and fire rockets one at a time. I know and respect historical accuracy, but I feel the player should have some choice in the matter.

 

?
 

You can change the rocket firing mode at any time you want - pairs or salvo. That's all that was available to the real plane.