Official Mosquito Historical Campaign "Gestapo Hunters"

[Jaegermeister]

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

@Jaegermeister, on mission 3, is it intended for the #3 guy in the flight to be the #2 plane in the line astern formation? I noticed each time that I thought I was a safe distance behind our leader, he'd be right on top of me passing me in an attempt to get in front of me. First time I got away with it because I was just to the side of him and managed to hit the target (before being shot down), but on attempt #2 he dropped his bombs on my plane and blew us up. 

 

No @LukeFF, you are number 2.  I have also notice that in the line astern formation, the formations fly very close together, even with the "loose" formation.

 

When dive bombing a single target, the attackers have to be in trail formation or they will all drop their bombs at the same time and spread out over an area the same size and shape as their formation. The end result of that is not very "precision" unfortunately.

 

 

 

 

[LukeFF]

Just flew mission 4 - great, great job. Don't know how we made it through unscathed but we did. 

 

Spoiler

I was going to drop my bombs and make a run for it, but Spud was insistent on us switching to guns. 😄 I thought he was nuts! 

 

[Hyperion35]

Is the path to the runway in the first mission intended to be a maze?  I really want to like this campaign, but I keep having difficulty taxiing and there are obstacles left and right along the path, including one right out of the starting spot!

 

And to make matters worse, each time I have to replay it through the startup sequence, which can't be fast-forwarded due to the voice recording, which was really cool the first time but not so much after the 5th or 6th.  I still haven't gotten up in the air.

 

Definitely not a campaign for beginner Mosquito pilots!  I guess I'll sadly have to come back to this one some time before the next D-Day anniversary.

[Jaegermeister]

30 minutes ago, Hyperion35 said:

Is the path to the runway in the first mission intended to be a maze?  I really want to like this campaign, but I keep having difficulty taxiing and there are obstacles left and right along the path, including one right out of the starting spot!

 

And to make matters worse, each time I have to replay it through the startup sequence, which can't be fast-forwarded due to the voice recording, which was really cool the first time but not so much after the 5th or 6th.  I still haven't gotten up in the air.

 

Definitely not a campaign for beginner Mosquito pilots!  I guess I'll sadly have to come back to this one some time before the next D-Day anniversary.

 

Just put it on to autopilot until you are on the runway. Simple

[Hyperion35]

50 minutes ago, Jaegermeister said:

 

Just put it on to autopilot until you are on the runway. Simple

 

The AI autopilot function that maps to the letter A by default?  I tried that, and tried it mapped to a button on my Warthog.  No luck.  I also tried the other Autopilot function that defaults to RCtrl-A and mapped that as well, and this did not work.

 

It appears that autopilot is disabled for this campaign, perhaps?  It's hard to navigate that maze using differential thrust and braking, and the one time I did, I did something wrong on takeoff.

 

It seems pretty obvious from the maze we have to navigate in the dark that this campaign was intended for more experienced pilots.  I just don't think the developers considered what this first mission feels like if you keep making mistakes during taxiing.

 

I would strongly suggest the developers try this and see how many times they enjoy hearing the engine start checks over and over and over.

[Calos_01]

Yes, letter A by default is the AI autopilot. Ctrl+A is the level autopilot, it works in flight only - keeps the aircraft level. You can still operate throttle, mixture, proppeler etc. 
You can also try to switch landing lights on during taxi, you’ll see more🙂

Edited December 28, 2024 by Calos_01

[Hyperion35]

9 minutes ago, Calos_01 said:

Yes, letter A by default is an AI autopilot. Ctrl+A is level autopilot, it works in flight only - keeps aircraft level. You can still operate throttle, mixture, proppeler etc. 
You can also try to switch landing lights on during taxi, you’ll see more🙂

 

I have the landing lights on, which is why I can see that stack of supplies barely past my right wingtip, and the other stuff to the left if I turn too far that way to go around.  It's how I can see the various equipment on either side of the flight line as I taxi to the runway, forcing me to keep goosing the left and right throttles to keep from going too far off in either direction.  And again, if you make even a slight mistake and your wingtips go too far to the side and catch something, it's right back to the beginning and the startup voiceover.

 

I get that it's a challenge.  It just seems like a steep obstacle course for the very first part of the very first mission.

Edited December 28, 2024 by Hyperion35

[Calos_01]

For me differential throttle is not necessary to taxi Mosquito. I simply use 15% throttle or so and differential braking, works fine. 

[Jaegermeister]

4 hours ago, Hyperion35 said:

 

The AI autopilot function that maps to the letter A by default?  I tried that, and tried it mapped to a button on my Warthog.  No luck.  I also tried the other Autopilot function that defaults to RCtrl-A and mapped that as well, and this did not work.

 

It appears that autopilot is disabled for this campaign, perhaps?  It's hard to navigate that maze using differential thrust and braking, and the one time I did, I did something wrong on takeoff.

 

It seems pretty obvious from the maze we have to navigate in the dark that this campaign was intended for more experienced pilots.  I just don't think the developers considered what this first mission feels like if you keep making mistakes during taxiing.

 

I would strongly suggest the developers try this and see how many times they enjoy hearing the engine start checks over and over and over.

 

Although I appreciate your observations... no, Autopilot is not disabled nor can it be. I have used Autopilot many times during this mission for testing and it works just fine to taxi to the runway. There is another thread currently regarding how to taxi the mosquito relatively easily. How to map autopilot to a button is not relevant to this campaign and I won't go into it here.

 

 

The purpose of placing the player in that location was actually to keep the aircraft as close to the runway as possible, yet still allow the experience of taxiing to the runway and have other aircraft taxi also as would have been done at the time. Almost any other parking spot on the taxi way would have been just as difficult if not more so. You do not have to go through the entire start up procedure for every mission.

 

Also the "maze" as you call it involves a 75 meter taxi straight forward from the parking spot, a 45 degree turn to port with nothing close to your aircraft and another 200 meters straight to the runway. The fuel tanks to the right and the net you are parked under were all stock features of the airfield that were placed there for release by the map designers. The "developers", testers and various others have tried this campaign and yours are actually the first negative comments I have heard regarding the parking, taxi or general ambiance of the missions. Although there are many reasons why there are 2 aircraft in your flight (1 being that's what actually happened) another reason is so the lead Mosquito guides you to the runway and you know which way to go. If you lose sight of him during the mission it is to be expected and will not change the outcome in any way.

 

You are also correct that this was not intended as a beginner campaign, even though the navigator is talking you through various procedures. In order to avoid further frustration you might want to consider taking the Mosquito up in a QMB mission starting "on parking" to learn the basics, map your controls and how to handle the aircraft before re-starting the Campaign. You will need to map other controls such as open bomb bay doors and selecting various bomb drop configurations as well. Trying to navigate in the dark and land afterwards might also be challenging for you without some practice first. 

 

 

Edited December 29, 2024 by Jaegermeister

[Ulricus]

On 12/28/2024 at 7:59 PM, Hyperion35 said:

Definitely not a campaign for beginner Mosquito pilots! 

Perhaps this is of some help:

 

 

Edited January 3 by Ulricus

[Ulricus]

Jaegermeister,

I have a long list of positive remarks, but to keep it short: Your campaign is Impressive & Immersive!!!

I don't mind long channel crossings (time for a cup of tea! 😉) and the Nav's vocal instructions are an immersive blast!

Pure fun to play!!! Thx.

Edited January 7 by Ulricus

[Jaegermeister]

20 hours ago, Ulricus said:

Jaegermeister,

I have a long list of positive remarks, but to keep it short: Your campaign is Impressive & Immersive!!!

I don't mind long channel crossings (time for a cup of tea! 😉) and the Nav's vocal instructions are an immersive blast!

Pure fun to play!!! Thx.

 

 

I'm glad you are enjoying it and thanks for the feedback! Feel free to post the long list of positive remarks if you have the time... 

 

 

[Ulricus]

20 hours ago, Jaegermeister said:

Feel free to post the long list of positive remarks if you have the time...

I'm afraid that publishing my list would be a spoiler - especially for some surprising, immersive moments. And your beautiful campaign doesn't deserve this!

 

Maybe only this: The historical accuracy and technical programming of your campaigns always inspire me - as ME newbie - to invest more time/work in creating own missions/campaigns. Thx for that too! 🙂

[Freycinet]

Thank you for doing the campaign!

 

New book out, see attached.

 

 

[Jaegermeister]

9 hours ago, Ulricus said:

I'm afraid that publishing my list would be a spoiler - especially for some surprising, immersive moments. And your beautiful campaign doesn't deserve this!

 

Maybe only this: The historical accuracy and technical programming of your campaigns always inspire me - as ME newbie - to invest more time/work in creating own missions/campaigns. Thx for that too! 🙂

 

Sounds good, thanks for the comments. It's always a challenge to figure out how to make the ME do what you want it to and have it run smoothly like it is supposed to be that way. Sometimes it works out relatively easy, but more often it requires a lot of small adjustments in a lot of places.

 

My only advice for an inspired "ME Newbie" mission builder would be to test your finished missions over and over again until you can't find anything wrong or missing... then come back to it later and test it again. You will always find something that can be improved.

.

[Anonymousgamer]

I have been encountering this issue for a while now, but in mission 2 the autopilot circles the runway endlessly until the plane crashes. 

[Jaegermeister]

3 hours ago, Anonymousgamer said:

I have been encountering this issue for a while now, but in mission 2 the autopilot circles the runway endlessly until the plane crashes. 

 

I would need more details to look at that.

 

What plane, at what point during the mission and what other planes were present in the flight at the time?

[Anonymousgamer]

19 hours ago, Jaegermeister said:

 

I would need more details to look at that.

 

What plane, at what point during the mission and what other planes were present in the flight at the time?

It was a Mosquito (isn't that the only plane in this campaign?). It happened at the end of the mission when the planes were supposed to come in for a landing. I think that most of the other NPC Maquitos were also endlessly circling the airfield, waiting for authorization to land that never came.  

[Jaegermeister]

4 hours ago, Anonymousgamer said:

It was a Mosquito (isn't that the only plane in this campaign?). It happened at the end of the mission when the planes were supposed to come in for a landing. I think that most of the other NPC Maquitos were also endlessly circling the airfield, waiting for authorization to land that never came.  

 

OK. thanks...

 

Edit @Anonymousgamer I ran a test flight of mission number 2 and did not find any issue. Number 3 in my flight landed after one go round, I didn't wait to see if any others landed because if one will, they all will eventually

 

Edited January 15 by Jaegermeister

[Anonymousgamer]

18 hours ago, Jaegermeister said:

 

OK. thanks...

 

Edit @Anonymousgamer I ran a test flight of mission number 2 and did not find any issue. Number 3 in my flight landed after one go round, I didn't wait to see if any others landed because if one will, they all will eventually

 

I reran the mission. This time, it landed, though, after a long while. Thanks.  

[Jaegermeister]

10 hours ago, Anonymousgamer said:

I reran the mission. This time, it landed, though, after a long while. Thanks.  

 

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the landing routine either. It does take a long time but it's hard coded so we will just have to hope for something a little more expeditious in the next game  engine upgrade

[1714ERIXX11]

Today I did my first night mission in the Mossie (Muschie? 😜 )

Excellent experience, thanks so much!

 

[LukeFF]

Fantastic job with the D-Day mission. 👍🏻

[Jaegermeister]

4 hours ago, LukeFF said:

Fantastic job with the D-Day mission. 👍🏻

 

Glad you liked it, I had a good time with that one. Probably my personal favorite.

 

[AndreiTomescu]

Hello guys! Just flew the first mission. Wonderful. Very immersive, very "true", really loosing yourself there, in the night. My first remarks:

- the night is dark but not empty. There are trucks, guns and trains on both sides of the channel. On the egress found a train near Marseilles, i think. Ended up all my ammo on it. "cause I assumed it was enemy train (of course it was)

-when you eventually find the target, aim, drop and don't loiter around. The flak is deadly, once the searchlights find you.

-Mr Nick , the navigator, is giving his instructions on a time based trigger, i think, during the ingress leg, and on a point reach trigger, on the egress. If you don't stick to the plan , speed and heading, his info is less relevant on the ingress.

-landed on one engine, 'cause the starboard one got damaged by the train's debrits or flak. But it failed only far above the Channel.

WOW. Awesome. There's also a deep sentiment of solitude and being lost in these long range almost single night missions.

Thank you, Jaegermeister-boss !

On 12/29/2024 at 2:38 AM, Jaegermeister said:

taxi the mosquito relatively easily

put the brakes on an axis, not a switch/button. It was nightmare to maneuver the beast before. Being able to control the amount of brake left/right, and to apply pressure gradually makes thing so much easy compared to full bursts of full brake.

Edited January 21 by AndreiTomescu

[1714ERIXX11]

yeah! I started these days and it's so well done!

Mosquito: yes, axis brakes is the trick

[Jaegermeister]

6 hours ago, AndreiTomescu said:

 

-Mr Nick , the navigator, is giving his instructions on a time based trigger, i think, during the ingress leg, and on a point reach trigger, on the egress. If you don't stick to the plan , speed and heading, his info is less relevant on the ingress.

 

 

I'm glad ya'll are enjoying it so far.

 

The audio triggers are exclusively check zones for both ingress and egress so they are the same. Some audio tracks have event triggers also, such as when you hit a target or get damaged, etc. As long as you stay near the waypoints you will be fine. I would advise using the cockpit GUI map to stay on course as it would have been a ton more work to add in corrections if you wander.

 

If you go off course and miss the target, just consider it an even more accurate simulation. I don't have statistics but after reading the Operations reports it looks like they historically missed their targets as often as they found them.

 

Regarding the brakes, the TM Warthog HOTAS I use in VR has a lever on the stick that duplicates the air brake lever on the Mossie control column perfectly.

 

 

 

Edited January 21 by Jaegermeister

[AndreiTomescu]

2 hours ago, Jaegermeister said:

TM Warthog HOTAS I use in VR has a lever on the stick that duplicates the air brake lever

I guess it's the handle on the stick.....cause i have exactly the same throttle, but the entry level virpil stick. The Warthog stick doesn't have Z axis, and my wife put a ban on rudder pedals! :)) and the virpil lacks that lever.

but i got a cheap, all plastic logitech toy with 3 levers,  and now it's an abundance of axis! :)))

can hardly wait for tommorow to have 1,5 h for myself for mission nr 2. Sooo excited, because the campaign is awesome. Thx again for it.

[Aapje]

1 hour ago, AndreiTomescu said:

I guess it's the handle on the stick.....cause i have exactly the same throttle, but the entry level virpil stick.

 

That is how the Russians do the brakes (where you press the rudder pedals to brake on one wheel). It's a very convenient way to add an axis to a joystick, which is why many sticks have it, even those that pretend to mimic a real Western plane like the Warthog (which does not have this brake lever).

[AndreiTomescu]

Mission 3. The raid on Amiens. I'm still dazzled. It's the first time I manage to shoot down an fighter (Fw-190) with a Mosquito!

First of all, the Mossie is not a fighter. Split S is the only thing i could do, tried a chandelle and it didn't work, despite having good speed. Short use of emergency power to try and catch the bastard. Compared to me, he's turning like hell. But man, one burst from those 8 barrels it's death....

Initially my aim was to escape, but the bastard just keept coming. The escort was busy somewhere else...It was a 1vs1 confrontation. Mossie vs Fw. So my fighter reflexes kicked in. Actually it was fear.

Of couse the AI enemy pilot was newbie, 'cause i'm not a good pilot. Lost the no 1 engine and a quarter of the starboard wing in the process, and got all my external tanks riddled with holes, but I was lucky.

The trip back to base was a different trouble. Limping from 100 to 200 feet, couldn't get higher. My bird simply wanted to drop..... I could really use some hints as how to do that.....one engine dead , the other overheating, plane tilting to starboard hard, despite full trim and the lift greatly decreased , it was a nightmare. Average speed: 130 mph.

Can i feather the propeller of the dead engine once has stopped?

Anyways, it was a great experience. And this campaign is full of surprises, just like the real life.

Jaegermeister-boss, you've done a tremendous job, like always, but seems this time you've done it even better. If it's ok, and it's not polluting the thread, i would continue to tell some stories, just to convince other folks to buy this wonderful campaign.

 

Edited January 23 by AndreiTomescu

[Ulricus]

3 hours ago, AndreiTomescu said:

Can i feather the propeller of the dead engine once has stopped?

@AndreiTomescu Yes, you can: 

• Select the dead engine -> Left or Right Engine (default keys: 1 or 2)
• Then enable prop feathering (LCtl+F)
• Don't forget to select the remaining engine -> Left or Right Engine (1 or 2) for throttle control 

If you want to start in air the dead engine again, you have to dis-able prop feathering - first two steps as above, than engine start (E) and select both engines for throttle control (0) afterwards.

Edited January 23 by Ulricus

[unlikely_spider]

4 hours ago, Ulricus said:

@AndreiTomescu Yes, you can: 

• Select the dead engine -> Left or Right Engine (default keys: 1 or 2)
• Then enable prop feathering (LCtl+F)
• Don't forget to select the remaining engine -> Left or Right Engine (1 or 2) for throttle control 

If you want to start in air the dead engine again, you have to dis-able prop feathering - first two steps as above, than engine start (E) and select both engines for throttle control (0) afterwards.

I think there's also a way to key bind the engines separately for feathering, so that you don't have to manually select which engine is affected by your next actions (which can be very dangerous if done incorrectly)

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, unlikely_spider said:

I think there's also a way to key bind the engines separately for feathering, so that you don't have to manually select which engine is affected by your next actions (which can be very dangerous if done incorrectly)

 

Yes, that's the easier way to do it. 

[AndreiTomescu]

On 12/27/2024 at 3:09 AM, LukeFF said:

Spoiler

Spud was insistent on us switching to guns. 😄 I thought he was nuts! 

 

Nick, my navigator, is nuts too !! :)) Did some strafing, got a FLAK and a searchlight (by luck, or it was close to the gun when it exploded, probably). got out with no 1 engine loosing oil, but it hold on well till landing. With the elevators being punctured, that was all quite a different deal.....

Thing I understand why Nick's indications are sometimes done when on nav point, so usefull, and sometimes when i have crossed that long ago: i think he gives them related to the lead plane, when that plane reaches the point.

[Jaegermeister]

On 1/24/2025 at 5:45 AM, AndreiTomescu said:

Thing I understand why Nick's indications are sometimes done when on nav point, so usefull, and sometimes when i have crossed that long ago: i think he gives them related to the lead plane, when that plane reaches the point.

 

As I mentioned above, all of the audio messages are triggered by check zones object linked to the Player. Your relationship to a flight leader should have no effect on any part of any missions really except activating attack area MCUs and waypoints. The in game radio calls are usually activated by those MCUs. I learned a long time ago not to assume that people will either follow directions, or stay in formation.

 

You may have as much as a 4 second delay before the new heading is given after triggering a check zone, which is almost always before passing over the waypoint. It should not make a huge difference because at 425 KPH you would be traveling roughly 120 meters per second, so it would only put you off course about 500 meters. If you consider that a long time OK, it is impossible for everything to be timed exactly perfect with so many simultaneous variables in play.

 

 

I would like to thank @ShamrockOneFive for posting a blow by blow flight journal covering Mission 1 of this Campaign, and look forward to reading the rest of his observations once he flies all the way through it!

 

Stormbirds - Gestapo Hunters Flight Journal

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 25 by Jaegermeister

[AndreiTomescu]

7 hours ago, Jaegermeister said:

If you consider that a long time OK, it is impossible for everything to be timed exactly perfect with so many simultaneous variables in play

Sorry i got you upset. Really not my intention. 4 seconds is obviously very short time, I  guess for a real navigator these delays/variables could easily take longer. IMHO, pretty much everything IS timed perfectly for the given purpose: to offer a proper and immersive experience for the player.

After laying the eggs, if not ordered to, I usually don't loiter around to get .....flak-ed down. :))

So I egress sometimes a bit sooner than the AI. When I pass the French coast, towards the channel, Nick doesn't mention this. But 3-4 min later, when I guess the rest of the flight crosses, he says "crossing the coast now". Sometimes same for the ingress.

Actually my hole debate upon this was and is without sense, because each mission is PERFECTLY playable, no bugs, no problems. 

For my curious mind (part of my job is to put diagnostics and find ways of solving the problem) I kept wondering why did this happened, even though it didn't bother me at all.

So: pls accept my apologies. 

Edited January 25 by AndreiTomescu

[Jaegermeister]

9 hours ago, AndreiTomescu said:

Sorry i got you upset. Really not my intention. 4 seconds is obviously very short time, I  guess for a real navigator these delays/variables could easily take longer. IMHO, pretty much everything IS timed perfectly for the given purpose: to offer a proper and immersive experience for the player.

After laying the eggs, if not ordered to, I usually don't loiter around to get .....flak-ed down. :))

So I egress sometimes a bit sooner than the AI. When I pass the French coast, towards the channel, Nick doesn't mention this. But 3-4 min later, when I guess the rest of the flight crosses, he says "crossing the coast now". Sometimes same for the ingress.

Actually my hole debate upon this was and is without sense, because each mission is PERFECTLY playable, no bugs, no problems. 

For my curious mind (part of my job is to put diagnostics and find ways of solving the problem) I kept wondering why did this happened, even though it didn't bother me at all.

So: pls accept my apologies. 

 

No worries at all, I'm not upset. I'll take a look at the triggers and see if some of them are linked wrong. I always welcome constructive criticism and a couple of errors almost always get through the testing process.

 

Also it occurred to me that if you are a little off course it could progressively become further with each waypoint and if you just skimmed the edge of the check zone, it could be quite a bit later. I know it might be considered cheating but checking the GUI map every now and then will keep you on course too, even without icons since staying near the flight path will do it.

 

 

Edited January 25 by Jaegermeister

[LukeFF]

9 hours ago, Jaegermeister said:

I know it might be considered cheating but checking the GUI map every now and then will keep you on course too, even without icons since staying near the flight path will do it.

 

Whenever I fly a multi-seater aircraft I typically enable the on-map icons to simulate the navigator giving heading instructions, so I don't really consider it cheating. Plus, that mute navigator needs to earn his pay. 😄  

[LukeFF]

I noticed it tonight on mission 11 that the callsigns for the player are different than what is in the mission briefing. 

[Jaegermeister]

23 hours ago, LukeFF said:

I noticed it tonight on mission 11 that the callsigns for the player are different than what is in the mission briefing. 

 

Thanks, I just sent a correction for the text files.