Important! About the timeline and campaign start dates in Bombing the Reich

[daveballmh]

I have a lot of sympathy with the various requests for game variants, but on the other hand I do like the game in its current formats. What is missing is the two way nature of the air war which I guess would be very hard to model. By 1943 the German air war in the West was much more defensive in nature, although there were some significant night attacks on Britain in 43 and 44.

The proposed increase in aircraft type will add much to the game. Can I suggest though that the penalty in upgrading production lines for the axis needs looking at? Moving from Bf109G2 to Bf109G6 production is obviously much quicker than going from Bf109G2 to Fw190A5 production, for instance.

A game variant that might be interesting is putting the war back by 12 months. Thus you start the existing 43 scenario in what would be 1944 with the war going into 1946. You would then have more jets available to both sides, including some German projects that did not enter production, and the B29 and Avro Lincoln could be there, along with types such as the Spiteful, Tempest II, Fury and later P47s and P51s. Instead of the D520 being inherited from the Vichy air force you could assume the Bloch 157 had made it into production?

Doing it this way you would not have the problem of the earlier aircraft where limited fighter range makes it harder to play sensibly.

What about an even more "fantasy" scenario where the enemy is not even Germany, but is the Soviets in the late 40s who have captured all of Western Europe? Run the scenario from 49 to 51 (or even 47 - 53!!!) and think of the aircraft you could have involved! Obviously there would have to be no A bombs!

[wernerpruckner]

I am sure That I am not the only one with several played PBEMs.
To the bloody end: 3 as Allied player ( all ended between 3/45 und 5/45 ); and several as Axis ( so far 20+ games, most often the Allied player surrendered between 2/44 und 8/44 due to lack of score; and one lost Axis PBEM - that one ended in 5/45).
Aktive games at the moment: one as Allied and 6 as Axis ( with all kind of OB/OAs between 1.03 and 1.06 [:)] )

[HMSWarspite]

Wow, Swift. I am not sure whether to tell you to get a life, or fall down at you feet in awe![;)]

I only had 2 serious PBEM, and they are both still on (3/44 for the longest, as Allies, and I am not about to surrender yet)

Beaten AI a few times, but that hardly counts.

[wernerpruckner]

ooh,
I do have a life [X(], but what I do not have is a TV [:)], therefor I read a lot ( ultra fast reader with more than 8k books - once again looking for a bigger place !!! )

usually a BTR turn as Axis is between 15 and 30 minutes( with heavy night action up to 2 hours), as Allied it depends on the weather; but after I usually use all 199 raids as long as the weather is below 60... ( but normally only raids up to a weather over my fields with max 40 weather, the rest is recce !!)

[wernerpruckner]

maybe I should add that I worked for a university until the end of summer 2003 - I had lots of time during the day [:D]

[Prussia]

Great thread guys. A lot of good stuff here.

But...............

Personally, I've never particularly liked the August 17th, '43 start date, but from a historical standpoint, and a game design standpoint it makes a lot sense. So I have to give that decision, both in USAAF and in BTR, credit.

As it stands now: I essentially have to reinput a 3,000 location database- it was probably less than 2k before I started the OB's, but all of that now has to be redone from scratch, and to boot, the database is now 6,000 locations. And I'm going to fill up a lot of that as well. Not all at once, but progressively. Now bear in mind, every change in the db affects planes, groups, leaders, etc. So all of that has to be relinked.

Additionally, whereas once upon a time you had maybe a shade less than a hundred aircraft in BTR, you now have something like 225-227. And I can add more if neccessary. Of course, all of that how has to be re-inputed, and relinked.

Same for equipment- the entire radar array is going to be changed and dramatically expanded... as well as more traditionally types of equipment... did someone say RP's?

Bottom line though, change the date even marginally, you now have to refight Sicily, Pantelleria (sp?), etc... change it a bit more, you are now fighting in North Africa... change it a bit more, and now you have to factor in Citadel (Kursk)... so on so forth. Even changing the date to include the first raid of Ploesti... which was essentially a wing and prayer enterprise, would be a massive undertaking not warranted by any conceivable return on game play.

And frankly, prior to August 17th, the 8th really didn't do that much... the tenets, emphasis, coda and final realization of the CBO really only started with the first raid on Schweinfurth... which conveniently for us, started on August 17th, 1943. The forthcoming game as it is, will be an entirely new game; but to change this particular dynamic would require, essentially, a full gutting of the engine, and we simply don't have the time, given the planned release date.

Best to all,

Jean-Claude

[Augenstein]

Thanks for your clarifying reply, JCL. I believe it will be a mind blowing release and I'll most certainly buy the game, no matter what the start date is going to be [:D]

[Prussia]

Thank you.

Once the steam is really up and running: updates and clarifications will be more forthcoming. Right now it's mostly grunt work time. But suffice to say, as the details start to fall into place, I believe you will like what is enfolding.

Best for now,

Jean-Claude

[harley]

Someone mentioned stupid deep raids by the early AI.

Are we going to do something about that?

Day one should feature a big raid, and it should emulate the Schweinfurt raids to some extent, but not these nearly to Berlin raids we do get. Can we somehow tie the AI to modest raids when they have few fighters?