Defend Velikie Luki 1941 - scripted campaign [I-16 type 24]

[CzechTexan]

DEFEND VELIKIE LUKI 1941

single player scripted campaign for I-16

DOWNLOAD:  https://www.mediafire.com/file/0idnl911s8mvg2h/DefendVelikieLuki1941.zip/file

 

 

Defend Velikie Luki 1941 is a 15-mission single player scripted campaign in which the Player will fly the I-16 Type 24.  Missions are set in the last two weeks of July 1941 during Operation Barbarossa - the German invasion of the Soviet Union.  The German attacks on Nevel and Velikie Luki are considered an "unnecessary diversion" since the region was on the far northern flank of Army Group Center and only limited forces were available.  The Battle of Smolensk was taking place during the same time period so most of the focus and forces were dedicated to that battle.  That, however, did not make Velikie Luki any less important to the men fighting and dying there.  

 

According to author Christer Bergstrom, "Velikie Luki, 160 km northwest of Smolensk, was a virtual "poor man's war" being fought between equally weak air units on both sides."  The Russians in this region had no Sturmoviks so the I-16 was used heavily as a ground attack fighter-bomber.  29 IAP's "Ishaks" bombed and strafed at will while the Luftwaffe was few and far between, unable to be everywhere with such few planes available.  

 

**Notes:  A mission is completed when the player lands back at his home airfield.  So, even if targets are not destroyed, if you make it back alive, then you have accomplished the mission!

All missions include takeoff on the runway with engine running.

Enjoy!!

[Sandmarken]

This looks like a really good one!  ?

[CzechTexan]

Thanks, Sandmarken.  The more experience I get, the better the missions.

 

btw, This campaign is based on historical events and I got the information from David M. Glantz's BARBAROSSA DERAILED: The Battle for Smolensk 10 July-10 September 1941.  The book has daily situation maps and I also used maps found in the post by Kur12 here:  

 

[justin_z3r0]

13 hours ago, CzechTexan said:

DEFEND VELIKIE LUKI 1941

single player scripted campaign for I-16

DOWNLOAD:  https://www.mediafire.com/file/0idnl911s8mvg2h/DefendVelikieLuki1941.zip/file

 

 

Defend Velikie Luki 1941 is a 15-mission single player scripted campaign in which the Player will fly the I-16 Type 24.  Missions are set in the last two weeks of July 1941 during Operation Barbarossa - the German invasion of the Soviet Union.  The German attacks on Nevel and Velikie Luki are considered an "unnecessary diversion" since the region was on the far northern flank of Army Group Center and only limited forces were available.  The Battle of Smolensk was taking place during the same time period so most of the focus and forces were dedicated to that battle.  That, however, did not make Velikie Luki any less important to the men fighting and dying there.  

 

According to author Christer Bergstrom, "Velikie Luki, 160 km northwest of Smolensk, was a virtual "poor man's war" being fought between equally weak air units on both sides."  The Russians in this region had no Sturmoviks so the I-16 was used heavily as a ground attack fighter-bomber.  29 IAP's "Ishaks" bombed and strafed at will while the Luftwaffe was few and far between, unable to be everywhere with such few planes available.  

 

**Notes:  A mission is completed when the player lands back at his home airfield.  So, even if targets are not destroyed, if you make it back alive, then you have accomplished the mission!

All missions include takeoff on the runway with engine running.

Enjoy!!

 

thanks. I love this map. Currently playing through jg51 over velikie Luki. I’ll switch back in the timeline and play through this one next I think. 
 

thanks a lot!!!!

[Sandmarken]

On first mission my wingmen all crashed and died on takeoff ? might check that out! 

[CzechTexan]

15 hours ago, Sandmarken said:

On first mission my wingmen all crashed and died on takeoff ? might check that out! 

I find that hard to believe, unless maybe you are taking off before the escort flight takes off and they maybe crash into each other... which I have never witnessed.

In the mission brief it states that the escort flight will takeoff first.

The takeoff is always the same in the first five missions and in all my testing I have never had crashes.  

Anyhow, I just checked it out again and had no crashes.

[Aleksander55]

Thank you for this great campaign. It's much easier than the pilot career but I'm not complaining, it's a good change of pace from watching my squadron getting anihilated almost every mission. The flak is more lethal than current settings in Moscow and Stalingrad though, I paid for my arrogance in the 2nd mission by getting very slow and low  over them and getting vaporised.

 

There are a few hiccups here and there, but nothing game breaking. Mostly trains colliding with the scenery and vehicles at the player airbase also crashing around sometimes. One mission at the Velikie Luki airfield also had a bonfire floating very high in the air. Mostly cosmetic stuff.

 

In the 1st mission my wingmen also took their time taking off. I waited for the escort to go 1st, waited about 5 seconds and took-off. My wingmen stayed on the ground. I gave the F5 command, they seemed to start taking off but stopped, then mistakenly gave the 'cover me' command and they started turning all over the place. I restarted the mission and waited a bit and eventually they took off. This only happened in this 1st mission, every other had no problem. One landed wingman also taxied into the trees in the 1st airfield after I decided to refuel and rearm. Nothing serious, he just damaged the engine I think.

 

The wingmen seem to be always active, which is all I can hope for the engine nowadays. When they die it's because of unfortunate odds/starting positions, not because they turn into letargic zombies. I notice that the Mig-3 friendlies in some missions are always re-issuing the order to fight air targets.

 

Velikie Luki is a beautiful map, the main city is fantastically detailed, but every mission up to now (I'm on the 11th) runs great on my oldish system even when I'm recording. After I'm landed and decide to not rearm and attack again I like to watch the ground combat, some good fights happen a few times. I'm going to take one of the free tanks and sightsee around the cities.

 

Thank you again for this great campaign.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Aleksander55

[CzechTexan]

That's a great review Aleksander55!  Yes, at Porechye the wingmen are slow to takeoff and I haven't figured that out yet.  But, for me, they always do takeoff, eventually, and it's good to wait for them to catch up to you. 

 

About that bonfire thingy at the airfield tower... I tried to catch all those floaties in the air but must have missed that one.  It's weird, and I don't know if it's a bug, but I'd re-use a mission to build the next mission and the previous mission would have no floaties but then the next would have them.  I wouldn't notice til later and I'd wonder how the heck did that happen?!  Somehow some things just started floating in the air!  It's a lot of extra work having to go back and look for those floaters when they should have stayed on the ground.

 

And yes, I did purposely add the re-arming area so that if pilots want to, they can rearm and have another go at it.  But the missions are not specifically designed for  rearming and re-attacking.

Thanks for the review.

[Sandmarken]

6 hours ago, CzechTexan said:

I find that hard to believe, unless maybe you are taking off before the escort flight takes off and they maybe crash into each other... which I have never witnessed.

In the mission brief it states that the escort flight will takeoff first.

The takeoff is always the same in the first five missions and in all my testing I have never had crashes.  

Anyhow, I just checked it out again and had no crashes.

I did wait for the escort. Il try it again, probably just unlucky on first try ?

[alpenspion]

On 7/21/2023 at 9:04 AM, Sandmarken said:

On first mission my wingmen all crashed and died on takeoff ? might check that out! 

Same here. Mission 2 - no problmens with the wingmens

[Ulricus]

Surprising - I flew yesterday Mission 1 without problems - and wingmen and escort planes covered me, so I could achieve the mission object. Flew back, landed and taxied into the service area. Re-fueled and -armed ... and waited for further orders (as mentioned in the description ... but none came, which I didn't expect either ).

 

CzechTexan, you did a great job. This is the 3rd Velikie Luki campaign in my collection with a clear cut mission end and with a service area feature (a la TX_Tips - some  balalaika welcome sound would be nice). All in what I love about campaigns plus flying the I-16.

 

Looking forward to the next campaign missions.

Edited April 10, 2024 by Ulricus

[CzechTexan]

Haaha!  Forgot to add balalaika muzika!  ?

Thanks for the feedback guys!

[nachinus]

Thanks for the campaign! I really enjoyed it, and experienced no bugs. This must be my favourite eastern front map in the game, and I love how you set mission waypoints so the player can use lakes and rivers to navigate your flight plan. 

 

Just a minor correction is needed in last mission's briefing: Flight plan says to land back in Velikie Luki, but the orders are to transfer to Kuniya.

Edited November 10, 2023 by nachinus

[CzechTexan]

16 hours ago, nachinus said:

Thanks for the campaign! I really enjoyed it, and experienced no bugs. This must be my favourite eastern front map in the game, and I love how you set mission waypoints so the player can use lakes and rivers to navigate your flight plan. 

 

Just a minor correction is needed in last mission's briefing: Flight plan says to land back in Velikie Luki, but the orders are to transfer to Kuniya.

ah!  Those orders must be confusing!  Sorry about that.  

And, yes, I try to use landmarks in the waypoints since I've read that's how much of the navigation was done.

Glad you like this campaign!  Thanks for the the comments.

[FoxbatRU]

Completed this campaign! Thank you! It was nice to feel how the author’s skill grew from the first missions to the subsequent ones. I especially liked the interestingly choreographed ground war with the competent placement of units and the opportunity for the player to participate.

 

 

I made a translation into Russian for myself.

 

 

[jg123410]

I finally had a chance to do something today I wanted to do for a while - play a CzechTexan IL2 GB campaign.

 

I was not disappointed! - Thank you @CzechTexan so much.

 

I took my time and flew the first mission. I wanted to do a mini review/after action report but that might spoil it for some. Suffice to say the design work and immersion for me were excellent! - Arriving at the recon point for the first mission I felt like I was there and something was happening to my country. Great stuff!!

 

I also wanted to call out the extra detail on the home airfield/airbase and include a screenshot from after the mission. Having soldiers walk around and a well designed airfield really adds a lot!!

 

[wiscstar]

I can't get the first mission started.  I start with the engine running on the runway but when I advance the throttle, nothing happens.  Using autopilot doesn't help either.I'm stuck on the ground.  Any help?

[CzechTexan]

57 minutes ago, wiscstar said:

I can't get the first mission started.  I start with the engine running on the runway but when I advance the throttle, nothing happens.  Using autopilot doesn't help either.I'm stuck on the ground.  Any help?

Make sure the Autopilot is OFF.  I took off just fine and I assume everyone else did so too.

The plane sits there on Autopilot because the Runway Path is running the opposite way.  When I built these missions, in my early days of mission-building, I did not know about the Runways and how they worked.  But things should be fine if you do not use Autopilot.

[wiscstar]

I didn't use autopilot and the plane still won't move.

[CzechTexan]

The only thing I can think of is that your throttle is not working right.  Maybe for your I-16 the throttle is not synced with your joystick (or keyboard).

[wiscstar]

I got it to work, but the I-16 is a real kicker getting off of the ground.  I had to hold down the plus key to get 100% power and had to keep right full rudder for the whole takeoff run.  No wonder the I-16 was called the "donkey" by its pilots!

[Tony_Kito]

I'm having trouble downloading from the mediafire link, it keeps trying to generate a download key to no avail. I've been able to download all your other campaigns save for this one, any way to re-upload it?

[marcost]

Confirmed here, mediafire problem

[CzechTexan]

10 hours ago, Tony_Kito said:

I'm having trouble downloading from the mediafire link, it keeps trying to generate a download key to no avail. I've been able to download all your other campaigns save for this one, any way to re-upload it?

 

6 hours ago, marcost said:

Confirmed here, mediafire problem

I see the problem too but it must be a Mediafire problem.  I will re-upload it.  You will have to wait til Wednesday, though.  I am on vacation.🚣‍♂️

[CzechTexan]

On 7/26/2025 at 10:40 AM, Tony_Kito said:

I'm having trouble downloading from the mediafire link, it keeps trying to generate a download key to no avail. I've been able to download all your other campaigns save for this one, any way to re-upload it?

 

On 7/26/2025 at 2:38 PM, marcost said:

Confirmed here, mediafire problem

I just checked the same link and it seems to be working again.

[marcost]

Yes it is, thank you 👍

[Tony_Kito]

Yes indeed, thank you very much CzechTexan!

[Tony_Kito]

Some free publicity shots for this quite fun, immersive campaign:

(SKINS NOT PART OF MISSION PACK AND ARE FROM MY OWN COLLECTION)