UPDATE IV

[Hard Sarge]

Hmmm

P-47 Razorback, from the 61th FS of the 56th FG

[wernerpruckner]

welcome back Carlos..

werner

[Golden Bear]

Wow, a lot of the old crowd IS here. I've been dropping by now and again to see if there's anything new happening but haven't bothered to post.

HS asked me in a PM about what I didn't like in the old interface. It seems to me that this is old ground, but I don't mind reviewing the reasons that I've put down the game. In no particular order:

1) having to "cheat" to get the RAF to fly escort with U.S. planes. Tedious.
2) having to plot all recon - yeah you can tell the AI to do it but they are awful. Tedious.
3) NF plotting. Tedious.
4) FS suiciding on LW airfields.
5) Mossies too easy to shoot down.
6) Medium Bombers not accepting escort.
7) Bomber unit morale and experience.

There's a short list off of the top of my head. I also don't like the newest OB that delivers Allied units with only a couple planes.

It has also occured to me that there is a "joke" built into the game. From the start in 1943 up until after the bombers get released from DDay support, you are only getting your crews killed off in order to keep the game from shutting down on you. After that, you'll basically win based upon the conquering of territory by the Russians and the Western Allies. I'm exagerating a little bit, but that's basically it. If you can survive the incredibly dull period of bombing French RRs, you'll win.

I'll pick up the new game when it comes out because I'll be interested to see a total campaign. Hopefully the interface won't be as excruciating as the original games.

Carlos

P.S. HS, you missed that it is Gabby's plane!

[Hard Sarge]

Oh, I don't know if I missed it, more I can't see the last letter, I thought it was a A, but wasn't going to go on a limb based on that, but I had the rest of it right

I get to the rest of your post in a minute

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: Golden Bear

Wow, a lot of the old crowd IS here. I've been dropping by now and again to see if there's anything new happening but haven't bothered to post.

HS asked me in a PM about what I didn't like in the old interface. It seems to me that this is old ground, but I don't mind reviewing the reasons that I've put down the game. In no particular order:

1) having to "cheat" to get the RAF to fly escort with U.S. planes. Tedious.

we got the ADGB that is set to fly with the VIIIth and IXth, still not the full force of the RAF, but a little better, we have done some talking on how to allow units to be moved between commands, but that is down the road, if we can do it

2) having to plot all recon - yeah you can tell the AI to do it but they are awful. Tedious.

well, we still have to plot all Recon, but, now we do some area reconning, each plane will take a number of photos during the missions, so at times you may get 5 or 6 photos for each mission, this does make letting the AI plot much easier to take


3) NF plotting. Tedious.

one my list, would love to be able to set a profile, that can be done over again, once it has been set (who knows) also on the list is to look to see if we can get a more like daytime plotting for NFs to fly with the bomb raid, depends on time

4) FS suiciding on LW airfields.

on Airfields or RRs ?, either way, I thought we caught part of the bug that made the loop, I think we still have to put up with the first attack, but the follow ups are gone, Sweeps have some different effects now, they can be murder now, but can get hammered too

5) Mossies too easy to shoot down.

Mossies ? or you mean FB in General ?, FBs can and will fight back now, they can sweep and they can escourt other FBs, they will fight and they will get kills

6) Medium Bombers not accepting escort.

? this one is new to me ?, if you were having troubles with it before, I should be a thing of the past, I been plotting raids with Med and Lights left and right, no hassle with escourts

7) Bomber unit morale and experience.

no idea on this one, it seems to work, not see any more hassles with very low morale units, you take heavy losses they take a bit hit in morale, but most times by the time they rebuild, the morale comes back up, but to be honest, something that needs to be watched during testing, my tests have been too short to make a honest statement on this

There's a short list off of the top of my head. I also don't like the newest OB that delivers Allied units with only a couple planes.

again, sure not on this one, the unit coming in, should get it's plane numbers based on if there are enough in stock, and enough pilots in the unit, so units that I think may be in short supply, I have set to come in full (but that is still game driven, and does not mean it will always work)


It has also occured to me that there is a "joke" built into the game. From the start in 1943 up until after the bombers get released from DDay support, you are only getting your crews killed off in order to keep the game from shutting down on you. After that, you'll basically win based upon the conquering of territory by the Russians and the Western Allies. I'm exagerating a little bit, but that's basically it. If you can survive the incredibly dull period of bombing French RRs, you'll win.

Errrr, I won the game way back when, Jan 2nd 1945, and I won the game in Aug of 44, so I have not really seen this side of it, plus I think that game of yours was the 44 Campaign and there were some issues with the 44, all the work went into the 43
we have fixed some of the manatory errors that were in the game, we should be able to get out of the periods of long manatory targeting (not all the targets that are listed in Manatory targetting we counting as getting damaged)



I'll pick up the new game when it comes out because I'll be interested to see a total campaign. Hopefully the interface won't be as excruciating as the original games.

keep asking or posting what you thought about it before, keep us on our toes



Carlos

P.S. HS, you missed that it is Gabby's plane!

already posted on this, I was thinking it was, when you posted the shot from the wrong side

and of the two pilots for the 56th, I would be interested in, Gabby and the Mad Pole are them

post more shots of your planes, you do good work

[Golden Bear]

Well, I'm mildly mollified, but we'll see.

You did touch on another point... I REALLY want a 1944 start campaign that works. I actually took to saving Jan '44 positions to use as my own mini campaign.

Another thing that gripes me is that the Axis ALWAYS has swarms of jets much earlier than historically. Can we just put in a "historical" OB for the Axis to use? If the Axis AI gets early jets, why cannot the Allied AI get B29s and whatever. The more that I read about engine supplies and production generally in Europe the more aware that I become that it is too easy for the Axis side to improve their condition over historical... somehow they never seem to come out worse than historical, so it is not a random distribution.


Carl

[Golden Bear]

Oh, and here's another picture:

[Hard Sarge]

Sweet, you know my weaknesses

that is on the list, there were some oddities with the reseach and what happens while it is going on, not sure how far Harley got with it though

[Golden Bear]

You like that picture Sarge? Hey, does anybody breathe around here? No wonder I hang out at card model and civ boards. This place is ded.

[Sarge]

ORIGINAL: Golden Bear

You like that picture Sarge? Hey, does anybody breathe around here? No wonder I hang out at card model and civ boards. This place is ded.

Who me ?


...................Sorry inside joke ..............................[:D]




PS: Nice work Golden Bear [;)]

[Alfred]

I can vouch for Golden Bear's comments re the in game joke.  My first 1943 Axis game (which I lost) showed that the game could not last 700 turns because as soon as the West Wall collapses, the loss of territory and industry points was too rapid and the Allies would reach the points target well before 1 May 1945, thereby making the last 2 months completely redundant.
 
Alfred

[Hard Sarge]

Dang Carlos, you pulling out all the stops, you hitting all the right buttons, you show off Gabby, then you show off a Mc and now you show a Polish Spit

you pop up with one of my next favorites, I know you are spieing

well, if it is dead, post some more and liven the place up

[Hard Sarge]

Fudge, lets try again, last try crashed out

interesting, but overall, I think that was the plan, once the Westwall fell, what else is there for the GE to do ?, to be honest, they have to win before the Westwall falls, it is pretty much no longer a Air War by that time

(none of my games have lasted long enough to see the Westwall fall or the Russians come in from the East)

do you remember what patch verison or OOB you were playing at the time

[Golden Bear]

Here's a nice one from a different theatre. I don't think they had too many Polish pilots though...

[Golden Bear]

This one does have a pilot of Polish ancestry. The picture was taken before the model was quite complete.

[Hard Sarge]

Alexander Vraciu, before he transfered to VF 16 ?

[Alfred]

Hard Sarge,
 
IIRC, it was stock OOB, v.1.3 versus Allied AI.  Since then I have learned my lesson and the Axis has won each JCL 1943 campaign version within 6 months at the latest.  However my current 1944 campaign looks like revisiting the in joke again.
 
I agree with your comments re Westwall.  The point is that (a) contrary to what the game files suggest, there really is no draw result available - if the Axis does not win early (say by April 1944) then it is practically a guaranteed Allied victory, and (b) some of the Axis OOB (eg a couple of Hungarian units and German units scheduled to arrive about 650+ turns) will not actually arrive because of lost territory which is hard coded irrespective of how the air war is progressing.
 
Alfred

[Hard Sarge]

let me do some looking on this, that looks like it may of been a bug that was not known about

the units should of still came in, base on there Command, not on any land area

[Golden Bear]

This one didn't have a Polish pilot...

The F6F was indeed Vraciu with VF6, on Intrepid

[Hard Sarge]

LOL
if it didn't it should of