Night Witches Campaign

[Fall_Blau]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone has a copy of the Night Witches Campaign for the U-2VS by Utopioneer. I see it listed on the spreadsheet but the link doesn't work anymore.

[jollyjack]

i have a Uv2s_NightWitchesOneNight.zip dated august 2023 on my drive. is that the one? It says made by Utopioneer .. works on 5.204b.

You could try opening the editor and under tools use "resave all missions in folder" to fix it.

Edited September 24, 2024 by jollyjack

[Fall_Blau]

I believe that's it. I don't know what happened to the original post, if it got taken down or what.

[Fall_Blau]

If you can post it here somehow I will be forever in your debt good sir 😆It looks really interesting

[jollyjack]

PM'd you a download link ...

[Fall_Blau]

Thanks again, this campaign is a blast.

[jollyjack]

Load your Ufo with rockets; shooting the lights is even more fun ...

[Spidey002]

How is this campaign no longer listed? It should be an official campaign! It actually made me buy and fly the U-2vs!

[Aapje]

@LukeFF Would it be possible for 1CGS to provide hosting space so user created campaigns wouldn't disappear so easily?

[LukeFF]

35 minutes ago, Aapje said:

@LukeFF Would it be possible for 1CGS to provide hosting space so user created campaigns wouldn't disappear so easily?

 

Mmm, not unless something is added officially, I imagine. 

[TimSell75]

@jollyjack I would be really thankfull to get that download link to as a PM!

[jollyjack]

10 hours ago, TimSell75 said:

@jollyjack I would be really thankfull to get that download link to as a PM!

 

Done, also asked Utopioneer if i could post it publicly, as it is his work ..

[kraut1]

1 hour ago, jollyjack said:

 

Done, also asked Utopioneer if i could post it publicly, as it is his work ..

Sorry for my question, but has happened?

The campaign forum has only 5 pages and the post of this campaign has been deleted?

[jollyjack]

PM'd you .. mailbox full?

Edited October 4, 2024 by jollyjack

[Sandmarken]

I do wonder how difficult it would be to make, for example, Steam Workshop work with IL-2. That way, user-made campaigns would be much easier to distribute and reach quite a few players who don't seem to use the forum.

[Jaegermeister]

On 10/2/2024 at 2:01 PM, Spidey002 said:

How is this campaign no longer listed? It should be an official campaign! It actually made me buy and fly the U-2vs!

To be included as an official campaign the author would need to request that and agree to certain conditions. It is not as simple as just placing it in the game files.

[Spidey002]

2 minutes ago, Jaegermeister said:

To be included as an official campaign the author would need to request that and agree to certain conditions. It is not as simple as just placing it in the game files.

 

Of course. But it should still happen.

[Jaegermeister]

1 minute ago, Spidey002 said:

 

Of course. But it should still happen.

And it probably could if he asks. Sounds like you would have to track him down. I was just looking for the original thread but I got kicked out of the search feature

[Spidey002]

Just now, Jaegermeister said:

And it probably could if he asks. Sounds like you would have to track him down. I was just looking for the original thread but I got kicked out of the search feature

 

@Utopioneer, you still around? 

[Utopioneer]

Not sure what happened to original post, links to it are dead.

 

My files are still up at my google drive link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10UHCXftFJYr2z_RtpU7StMBAaNfFVzDe/view?usp=drive_link

[Utopioneer]

2 hours ago, Jaegermeister said:

And it probably could if he asks. Sounds like you would have to track him down. I was just looking for the original thread but I got kicked out of the search feature

I appreciate you saying that, I have offered the campaign to the devs (twice, I think) but nothing came of it.

[Jaegermeister]

1 hour ago, Utopioneer said:

I appreciate you saying that, I have offered the campaign to the devs (twice, I think) but nothing came of it.

 

No telling why, busy with other stuff I guess. They have a lot on their plates at the moment and I would guess free campaigns that people can already access is not a high priority right now. 

[Aapje]

That's why I suggested they offer hosting, perhaps with a volunteer to manage it. Then they don't have to add it to the game or such, but it is much more likely for the campaigns and other mods to remain available.

[Spidey002]

3 hours ago, Utopioneer said:

Not sure what happened to original post, links to it are dead.

 

My files are still up at my google drive link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10UHCXftFJYr2z_RtpU7StMBAaNfFVzDe/view?usp=drive_link

Seriously, this should be an official campaign. I loved the maps. Instead of the typical, “Fly this heading at this speed for X minutes,” it was more like, “fly west till you hit the train tracks and follow them to the river.” Really cool for low altitude night flying!

 

@LukeFF is there anything we can do to get this to be an official campaign?
 

Seriously, I bought the U-2 to fly this!

 

As far as I’m aware, it’s also one of the few campaigns that makes use of the female pilots. 
 

It would be awesome if this were available to fly when the collector’s plane is purchased. Kind of like “Lightning Strikes” for the P-38. 

[CzechTexan]

3 hours ago, Utopioneer said:

Not sure what happened to original post, links to it are dead.

 

My files are still up at my google drive link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10UHCXftFJYr2z_RtpU7StMBAaNfFVzDe/view?usp=drive_link

Thanks for this.  I was not aware of this campaign before.  Probably because I did not have the U-2vs at the time and I didn't pay attention to it.

I'll probably use some of your clever ideas (since everyone says this is a great one) to include in a new campaign for the Night Witches... I'll get around to it...some day.

[Utopioneer]

Thanks for the kind words everybody. Once I had the idea for a whole night witches "campaign" taking place in a single night, I couldn't get it out of my head and constantly came back to it until I felt it was good enough to share. Glad folks are still discovering and experiencing this one.

[Fall_Blau]

That campaign was so good, like Spidey said, the navigation by using landmarks was brilliant. You really connected with the map, and even if you got lost you could easily find your way back. By the end you really knew the area well. And the final mission of being hunted by a much, much stronger enemy really evoked a sense of terror. I was flying below the treetops too scared to look behind me, because what would I be able to do anyways? Brilliant work

[LukeFF]

On 10/5/2024 at 12:48 PM, Spidey002 said:

is there anything we can do to get this to be an official campaign?

 

I just don't see that happening right now. We are way too busy with preparing the next update. 

[jollyjack]

Pff, inspired by you all i played it, but i give up; keep lawndarting with that Uv2s. It's engine is just too powerless. A ww1 Bristol is twice as fast ...

[Sandmarken]

On 10/8/2024 at 7:51 PM, jollyjack said:

Pff, inspired by you all i played it, but i give up; keep lawndarting with that Uv2s. It's engine is just too powerless. A ww1 Bristol is twice as fast ...

Isn't that the charm of the plane? That something with an engine weaker than most cars today had bombs and rockets strapped to it and was given to women flying in the freezing Russian winter night? 😁

 

Iv played around half the campaign its great! Also the other one called silent movie for the same plane is great! 

Edited October 11, 2024 by Sandmarken

[Ulricus]

@Utopioneer

This is the fourth U-2VS campaign in my collection. After getting used to plane (Your Flight School and Silent Movie) and to night operations (Maloyaroslavets at Night), I played your campaign -- Night Witches - One Night!
Great idea to group the different challenges of this famous flying group in a single night in your campaign - and well done. Your campaign is quite immersive (searchbeams!) and it was a lot of excitement (and pure fun) to "re-fly" these challenges. Thank you for that!

Edited November 17, 2024 by Ulricus

[Utopioneer]

On 11/17/2024 at 11:01 AM, Ulricus said:

@Utopioneer

This is the fourth U-2VS campaign in my collection. After getting used to plane (Your Flight School and Silent Movie) and to night operations (Maloyaroslavets at Night), I played your campaign -- Night Witches - One Night!
Great idea to group the different challenges of this famous flying group in a single night in your campaign - and well done. Your campaign is quite immersive (searchbeams!) and it was a lot of excitement (and pure fun) to "re-fly" these challenges. Thank you for that!

This is the kind of stuff I love hearing, I really appreciate it. Hope I've communicated what I love about this hobby in a fun and interesting way, and hid the vegetables of learning.

[AndreiTomescu]

First time jumping my pilot soul into this aircraft..... into female character, no problem , I'm a great fan of the hole Tomb Rider games series! (althought Nate from Uncharted certainly is my favourite one from this kind of games)

So, WOW. I think all those pilots and navigators should have been made Hero of the Soviet Union, for their bravery. I've read that the officer who created the group , Major Marina Raskova , had personal connections with Stalin and so he reluctantly accepted the creation of this squadron: all females, all flying this ......training / duster aircraft.

Just to fly into enemy/war territory with this "great" airframe, capable of an astonishing 125 km/h and half the horsepower of a decent WW1 fighter, denotes great courage and determination.

We also had female pilots in Romania in WW2, but those girls flew non combat missions, evacuating wounded soldiers (were called The White Squadron (Escadrila Alba)) and had pretty decent aircraft for non combat, the Polish RWD 13S planes.

Anyhow, this campaign is very good, really gets you into the feeling of darkness and somehow being hopeless once detected, mostly being so vulnerable to even light flak. Also the fact that the real names of the pilots are used, especially if you search them on the internet first, is very immersive.

I liked a lot the search and rescue mission, like i really love those in other campaigns that have this(War in the Channel, Taman Bridgehead, Fire and Ice, for ex).

The mission description is a bit short, imho, but given the fact that the hole campaign takes places in just one night, maybe contributes to the feeling of things going on pretty fast. (not in the air, no)

In conclusion it's a really good campaign, very different from the usual daytime/boy's stuff, and also the navigator you have in the back it's quite a beautiful face to see!