another test run

[TechSgt]

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

the total plots for the day, to the other side, a number of AF sweeps, with the main raids being to the two ports in the North, with a Tac raid on another AF, Mossies going after the OILS I missed yesterday

when it needs to be destroyed, send in the Mossies

(really, don't waste them, you only get so many, but use them when you have to get the kill)

What I noticed on this Italy attachment is the number on 'new' Allied bases. [&o]

... and the additional targets, too!

With what I've seen on other attachments, I'm guessing the Eastern Med has been made a bit more important in the campaign, too?


Your comment about Mossies' is right on 'target'.
Maybe you should write a 'manual'? [:D]

TS

[TechSgt]

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

...
112th Sqdn display
...

Very nice!

TS

[TechSgt]

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

got my first Ace

I notice Lt Col Chickering of the 357th FG, and...
1Lt Jenkins of the 357th 'B' FG.

Would you care to elaborate?

TS

[TechSgt]

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

don't know if we have shown this

this shows units that have not flown, those that have flown a mission and those that are flying a 2nd mission (from plotting)

so white, blue and red

First, thank you for the color display! [&o]

What I find most interesting on this attachment is the assigned altitudes. 24,364?
Are we plotting down to the foot level?

Next is the 'Altitude Above: 9000' at the top center? I'm assuming this is the High Escort display.

TS

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: TechSgt

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

odd, had tried to set up a BTR44 to test run and talk about

but, I have gotten the worst weather I have ever seen, so mainly been flying hassle raids and waiting for a break in the weather

finally got one !

of course, then the Med shut down

Noticed the increase in victory points... good!
Noticed the increase in targets... I think that's good! LOTS of targets, Airfields and what nots, not going to be your daddies BTR

How is the Aug '42 to March '44 damage being handled? I'm going to guess it is randomized like the old game.

basicly randomized, I was looking to try and add in a lot of damage based on earlier "known" raids, but alot of people had been asking for a undamaged map, so pretty much went with the randomized idea

Is there a "special" reason you play with highlighted damage ON? Personal preference?

more to show it, the snaps do not look as good/detailed as the in game map does, so the highlights show off the sites better

(also that is how I normally play


TS

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: TechSgt

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

2nd of March

dang

17% over England and France, but Heavy over Germany, so only close raids today, but in the long run, my bomber boys took a pounding and are not too happy, so they needed some rest

so, time to get Ike off my back, pound some of the French targets and hope for better weather tomorrow (weather will hurt more then the enemy will)

I notice here that Brest now has a railyard icon, and the area around Paris has a few more rails, also.

info from Bombing raids, if I found info, I tried to see if it matched up, Paris, one of my testers from the old days, is from Paris, he did a lot of complaining about how France was set up, we did have a big arguement about the new BB sites around Paris, he said there never were and never had been, but I pointed out the raid info to him, and he was like, hmmm, how about that, didn't know those plants were ever there, anything I put in, I know it was there, can't tell about everything that was there to start with, but have found most of them

in the BoBs, we cleaned out a lot of the bogus targets, and replaced them with what was there at the time

Has the hidden "area targets" gone away? Meaning every area now has the rail symbol?

hidden target ? I think you mean Area/Urban targets, no they are still there, there are Area targets that didn't have a Major RR, so are there as Terror Targets (touchy, almost every thing may have a RR in it, but was it importent enough to be a target, RR Centers are on the map)



Hmm... additional port sysmbols around the sub pens, too!

TS

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: TechSgt

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

one of the things the AI will do that will drive your losses up, is to get into the back path of your raid, and then pick off damaged and low on fuel aircraft, anything you can do, to break up, protect the back trail of your raids will pay off

this is a good set up, one raid is headed home, the LW is chasing and into the backpath, while a new raid in headed in

the LW on patrol, are going to jump into the attack, the LW units chasing are going to stay on the chase, the new fighters are fresh, the LW is tired and low on fuel, bad things happen, when you are low on gas

of course, the trick is to make it happen, 5 or 6 raids were sent out today, this is the only one that got the "good" set up

bad part of this kind of deal, is the newer fighters are dropping tanks and burning up gas, easly in there misson, so they are not going to hang with the bombers for long, or as long

(overall, if I am planning major raids in the area, I like to plot along the same path, but have each a little delayed behind the other, so there is always somebody new in the backpath)

This is where I think the fighter sweep is so useful! I plot a few to fly along the return path. Nothing better than long-legged Allied A/C following an Axis aircraft back to their home base! Anyone catching a big unit trying to land... you know what I mean.

TS

the way the new sweep works, makes it alot easier to use what they did at the time (I am sure 95% of the players are going to think about it different)

early planning was the idea of joining up with a Bomb Group and then flying with it, either till bingo fuel, or to the target and back, then you start to get, penetration, target, and withdraw support, later you would have postion support, a fighter group would fly to a spot that the raids would fly though, and then cover all of the groups flying though, then once they were past, then they broke off and went looking for trouble

we have a much better set up to allow all of these kinds of escourt missions

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: TechSgt

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

the total plots for the day, to the other side, a number of AF sweeps, with the main raids being to the two ports in the North, with a Tac raid on another AF, Mossies going after the OILS I missed yesterday

when it needs to be destroyed, send in the Mossies

(really, don't waste them, you only get so many, but use them when you have to get the kill)

What I noticed on this Italy attachment is the number on 'new' Allied bases. [&o]

well, to be honest, in a game about air raids and defending targets, Airfields are importent, plus I didn't want the player or the AI to be locked into place

... and the additional targets, too!

well, as I said, I read alot of raid Docs and any info I can find, targets that were seen as importent then, but unknown now, I tried to make sure they were added, biggest hassle is finding info that can be used as data (a number of BB sites, I was lucky enough to find what our reseachers knew about production, so if you have a known size, then you can work out what the other sizes should be, hopefully we got most of them close)



With what I've seen on other attachments, I'm guessing the Eastern Med has been made a bit more important in the campaign, too?

best part about something like this, now, is people who also enjoy gaming, can talk to you, I have a number of friends now, who happen to live in areas, that way back when, nobody could find out info on, so alot of info on Italy, the Balkans, Austra were able to help me with the map and targets

Bulgria and Polisti got major reworks also, the deeper eastern Med, I wasn't able to find as much, or as much that fits into our timeline


Your comment about Mossies' is right on 'target'.
Maybe you should write a 'manual'? [:D]

TS

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: TechSgt

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

got my first Ace

I notice Lt Col Chickering of the 357th FG, and...
1Lt Jenkins of the 357th 'B' FG.

Would you care to elaborate?

TS

not sure I follow the question, so will let you ask more in detail

Edward was the CO, but didn't really fly

Otto was one of the Aces, 8.5 in the air and 2 more on the ground

if you mean the B ?, we have the A and B grouping for the VIIIth FC

around end of Oct, early Nov of 43, the VIIIth upped the number of planes in a FG TO@E to allow it to fly what would be called A and B groups (some also flew C groups)

hassle is, the A and B should really be 36 plane, with the C being 18-24 planes, so a little fudge, no C groups, but the A and B are a little larger, but with wear and tear, they should not always be at max (most of the known A,B,C missions flown were with the 78th FG, if you can find the details)

so really, pilots should be seen as being in the parent group, which would fly in one of the groups (game system means if you in the A you remain in the A, you in the B you stay in the B)

(assignment to Groups is basicly random, based on how or what I needed at the time I added them)

(double hassle, there were also A and B groups for BG also, but..., we decided not to try to model that, early days of the war, our BG is larger then it should be, mid to later part of the war, out BG is smaller, so kind of a trade off)

(extra hassle, by late war, some of these units were really huge, I got reports of one Med Bomber Squadron, that was putting up more planes on a Squadron raid, then normal BGs had, one of the Kassel raids, one BG lost more planes then a BG held (if you can find the book, or info on it, that was a very nasty raid, a Sturm Gruppen, hit a B-24 BG got messed up during a turn, basicly a perfect attack, and basicly slaughtered it, lots of radio calls for help, where is our cover, and one of the newer FGs showed up, and then, slaughtered the Sturm Gruppen, lots of confusion and all, but guesses on numbers are like 70-80 planes were shot down, in less then 5 minutes between both sides, one Germen Ace (90 some kills) was shot down, bailed out, and then fell to his death, when his harness broke, the leather had rotted away)

[Hard Sarge]

Maybe you should write a 'manual'?

No you didn't !!!

most people want me very far away from the Manual, so if nothing else, they can fit it into the same box as the CD should ship with

most people think I cause more confusion then corrections when I explain something

other then that, you don't want me getting into the manual side of things, testers, programmers and I have sent in our feedback and views and the writter is trying to get it done, barring Omgea VII hitting the Earth, we should have it finished shortly

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: TechSgt

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

don't know if we have shown this

this shows units that have not flown, those that have flown a mission and those that are flying a 2nd mission (from plotting)

so white, blue and red

First, thank you for the color display! [&o]

What I find most interesting on this attachment is the assigned altitudes. 24,364?
Are we plotting down to the foot level?

close, it can be plotted by 100s or by 1,000, or 10,000

think the AI is allowed to get it by the foot, I may of set a Recon mission, and the follow on bombing missions start out with the last mission flown Alt

Hmmm, HARD To believe, that I have not shown a snap of a raid being plotted, but, maybe I tend to take snaps after I do stuff, I will add a plotting snap shortly, if nothing else, just to show it


Next is the 'Altitude Above: 9000' at the top center? I'm assuming this is the High Escort display.

Yes again, this one I think only goes 100 and 1000 per click, also the time delay you want the Fighters to take off on, that is one minute and 10 minute

High escourt is 2000 feet above, or higher, close in same level, I think I not showing all of the escourts, I do not normally fly that kind of set up, ones showing are 4000,8000 and 9000 above the raid, I am sure I had a number of Spits in the 4000 area

the ones at 4 are trying to protect the raid, the ones at 8 and 9, are really hunters

here is a raid being plotted, lots of info to play with, and once all/most of the stuff is done, you can still fine tune it from here, or from the inside screens

TS

[morganbj]

I can't wait.

[Banquet]

It's looking excellent!

[bigmilt]

Hard Sarge:
 
  I noticed on the raid info that British Fighters can now escort 8th air force bomber formations.  Can the 9th a/f fighters escort the eighth????? If the Royal a/f can escort the eighth can
it also escort the ninth????

[BigDuke66]

Just a minor thing but what are those grey only rectangles(not the 2 infantry units)?
Or are they just a ground unit without any recon so the type is unknown?

[TechSgt]

First, thanks for "all" the replies.

TS

[TechSgt]

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

ORIGINAL: TechSgt

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

one of the things the AI will do that will drive your losses up, is to get into the back path of your raid, and then pick off damaged and low on fuel aircraft, anything you can do, to break up, protect the back trail of your raids will pay off

this is a good set up, one raid is headed home, the LW is chasing and into the backpath, while a new raid in headed in

the LW on patrol, are going to jump into the attack, the LW units chasing are going to stay on the chase, the new fighters are fresh, the LW is tired and low on fuel, bad things happen, when you are low on gas

of course, the trick is to make it happen, 5 or 6 raids were sent out today, this is the only one that got the "good" set up

bad part of this kind of deal, is the newer fighters are dropping tanks and burning up gas, easly in there misson, so they are not going to hang with the bombers for long, or as long

(overall, if I am planning major raids in the area, I like to plot along the same path, but have each a little delayed behind the other, so there is always somebody new in the backpath)

This is where I think the fighter sweep is so useful! I plot a few to fly along the return path. Nothing better than long-legged Allied A/C following an Axis aircraft back to their home base! Anyone catching a big unit trying to land... you know what I mean.

TS

the way the new sweep works, makes it alot easier to use what they did at the time (I am sure 95% of the players are going to think about it different)

early planning was the idea of joining up with a Bomb Group and then flying with it, either till bingo fuel, or to the target and back, then you start to get, penetration, target, and withdraw support, later you would have postion support, a fighter group would fly to a spot that the raids would fly though, and then cover all of the groups flying though, then once they were past, then they broke off and went looking for trouble

we have a much better set up to allow all of these kinds of escourt missions

This is why I was soooo happy about the dead Dover-Dash bug! [:D]

TS

[TechSgt]

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

ORIGINAL: TechSgt

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

got my first Ace

I notice Lt Col Chickering of the 357th FG, and...
1Lt Jenkins of the 357th 'B' FG.

Would you care to elaborate?

TS

not sure I follow the question, so will let you ask more in detail

Edward was the CO, but didn't really fly

Otto was one of the Aces, 8.5 in the air and 2 more on the ground

if you mean the B ?, we have the A and B grouping for the VIIIth FC

around end of Oct, early Nov of 43, the VIIIth upped the number of planes in a FG TO@E to allow it to fly what would be called A and B groups (some also flew C groups)

hassle is, the A and B should really be 36 plane, with the C being 18-24 planes, so a little fudge, no C groups, but the A and B are a little larger, but with wear and tear, they should not always be at max (most of the known A,B,C missions flown were with the 78th FG, if you can find the details)

so really, pilots should be seen as being in the parent group, which would fly in one of the groups (game system means if you in the A you remain in the A, you in the B you stay in the B)

(assignment to Groups is basicly random, based on how or what I needed at the time I added them)

(double hassle, there were also A and B groups for BG also, but..., we decided not to try to model that, early days of the war, our BG is larger then it should be, mid to later part of the war, out BG is smaller, so kind of a trade off)

(extra hassle, by late war, some of these units were really huge, I got reports of one Med Bomber Squadron, that was putting up more planes on a Squadron raid, then normal BGs had, one of the Kassel raids, one BG lost more planes then a BG held (if you can find the book, or info on it, that was a very nasty raid, a Sturm Gruppen, hit a B-24 BG got messed up during a turn, basicly a perfect attack, and basicly slaughtered it, lots of radio calls for help, where is our cover, and one of the newer FGs showed up, and then, slaughtered the Sturm Gruppen, lots of confusion and all, but guesses on numbers are like 70-80 planes were shot down, in less then 5 minutes between both sides, one Germen Ace (90 some kills) was shot down, bailed out, and then fell to his death, when his harness broke, the leather had rotted away)

That is exactly the answer to my question.
This is why in TOH I would do detachments with my US units beginning after Jan '44. Trying to keep it along historical lines.
Yes, it would eventually make a mess of the game!

I just finished a book about the 365th FG. Similiar stories about the large size of the Group near the end of the war.


TS

[TechSgt]

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

Maybe you should write a 'manual'?

No you didn't !!!

most people want me very far away from the Manual, so if nothing else, they can fit it into the same box as the CD should ship with

most people think I cause more confusion then corrections when I explain something

other then that, you don't want me getting into the manual side of things, testers, programmers and I have sent in our feedback and views and the writter is trying to get it done, barring Omgea VII hitting the Earth, we should have it finished shortly

But, you have been so calm over these last few years ... with everyone asking "Is it done yet?" [:D]

TS

[TechSgt]

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

ORIGINAL: TechSgt

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

don't know if we have shown this

this shows units that have not flown, those that have flown a mission and those that are flying a 2nd mission (from plotting)

so white, blue and red

First, thank you for the color display! [&o]

What I find most interesting on this attachment is the assigned altitudes. 24,364?
Are we plotting down to the foot level?

close, it can be plotted by 100s or by 1,000, or 10,000

think the AI is allowed to get it by the foot, I may of set a Recon mission, and the follow on bombing missions start out with the last mission flown Alt

Hmmm, HARD To believe, that I have not shown a snap of a raid being plotted, but, maybe I tend to take snaps after I do stuff, I will add a plotting snap shortly, if nothing else, just to show it


Next is the 'Altitude Above: 9000' at the top center? I'm assuming this is the High Escort display.

Yes again, this one I think only goes 100 and 1000 per click, also the time delay you want the Fighters to take off on, that is one minute and 10 minute

High escourt is 2000 feet above, or higher, close in same level, I think I not showing all of the escourts, I do not normally fly that kind of set up, ones showing are 4000,8000 and 9000 above the raid, I am sure I had a number of Spits in the 4000 area

the ones at 4 are trying to protect the raid, the ones at 8 and 9, are really hunters

here is a raid being plotted, lots of info to play with, and once all/most of the stuff is done, you can still fine tune it from here, or from the inside screens

TS

I hate to quote all the above but...

I just noticed the subtle detail on the map! [X(]
The touches around Amsterdam, and along the northern coast, etc

I guess you have to stop and smell the roses, eh?

TS