New Games for Old – Part 2

[+Brainless 1]

Since leaving my first post about the ETO install in SFP1 I have been playing about with mission design using Kreelin’s great mission building tool.

 

I first noticed a while ago that the default aircraft made some really strange movements turning and wheeling to keep in formation. This is not so weird with fighter formations but it does look odd with large bombers which are a particular feature in the ETO instal and one of the really great plusses of the modification.

 

In order to eliminate these movements I tried a number of different formation arrangements having previously installed Charles’s super WW11 ‘formations’ which as far as I can see only really works with AI fights.

 

It seems to me the best arrangement is to organise flights using the single aircraft formation in Kreelin’s tool. This involves making separate flights for each aircraft in the formation so that for instance if a 16 bomber flight was required then 16 separate single aircraft need to be raised on the scenery file. This has a number of advantages and a few disadvantages. The advantages are that each aircraft can be made to fly its own pre-determined route in the overall formation which is predictable (mostly) and can attack individual targets in the target area. This is quite awe inspiring if the player flies at the back of the flight so that he can practise formation flying and watch the bombs fall and the resultant explosions on various targets in the target area. The aircraft fly as in real life with no dodging and weaving in almost perfect formation. There is an exception with some aircraft which seem to do their own thing after the bomb run. The scheme works well with ‘The A-teams’s’ B17 bomber and Lancaster. These are the two I have tried so far that work in the format.

 

I give an example of this later with a mission which I created to bomb Paris rail station in The A-teams’s wonderful B17 bomber.

 

The disadvantages of the single flight format are repetitive radio calls from mission control when each aircraft reach their respective waypoints and the time it takes to build a mission but in my view this is more than compensated in the experience flying the route. The player positions are really restricted to either flying lead or back of the group in a large formation but the player’s position can be changed once airborne. The important thing to remember in designing single flight formations is that the in-air formation position needs to be set on the ground if starting from take off or at the first waypoint starting in the air and at all waypoint positions along the route keeping the original formation wanted maintained through out the flight.

 

Here’s an example I mentioned earlier with a bombing run targeting Paris rail station in Major Lees European terrain.

 

 

Starting at Manston airfield using the KMD programme I set nine B17G player aircraft waypoints viz: take off, depart waypoint, marshall waypoint, initial point, objective point, another marshall point after bombing ( marshal points seem to keep the flight following the desired flight path otherwise ordinary waypoints can be ignored by AI’s) the approach, land line up and landing.

 

I then set the same waypoint arrangement for the second B17 flight and cloned it fifteen times (these need to be separated into formation or you will get one aircraft in another!). I changed the last aircraft (number fifteen) to the player flight. I started on the taxiway at Manston with a full bomb load, just past the last hangers with the fuel silos in view. I takes a bit of work to get the placing right on the taxiway and aircraft direction at the right heading but well worth the effort. I used dfang’s Norden bombsight installed in the cockpit ( a really useful tool to drop bombs accurately at high altitude and bombing level ). I am now the last in the flight pointing in the opposite direction to the main flight. I set each of the other fifteen B17s on the runway in a four flight box formation with each take off set at 5 second intervals. The player doesn’t really see these appearing sitting in the cockpit because he is facing in the opposite direction to the main flight but it doesn’t really look that odd if viewed from outside as each take off starts in sequence but perhaps the sudden appearance of each bomber might upset some people. It’s important to keep the delay to a minimum otherwise there will be too big a gap between aircraft and they don’t catch up to one another! I have not figured out how to get the taxi option to work. This only seems to be available with the default flight numbers and using this is when the aircraft perform odd air movements.

 

 

I set each of the aircraft with a different target at Paris rail yard. As the player taxis up to the take off position the other numbers in the flight start to take off so that when he arrives at the runway to take off all the other aircraft are in the air. This is when the fun starts as after take off careful formation flying is required to maintain formation position which requires a good deal of concentration and throttle adjustment but Oh how realistic all the aircraft look flying straight and level to the target. In fact when the flak opened up over the coast I jumped and ducked! I was there flying as a member of the formation in a daylight bombing raid! I was even scared!!

 

The flight reached the target I opened the bomb doors and dropped the load on target and mission control said I could return to base! ( O.K so I had been practicing with the Norden bombsight a while before and knew when to release the bombs).

 

I flew just past the target and turned back to maintain formation with the rest of the flight, which will become important later!

 

It is a feature of SFP1 that AI aircraft drop down lower than the altitude I set at 16,000 ft for the cruise height and then return to the set altitude after bombing. This works as a plus because as the player approaches the target he can see the other bombers thro’ the Norden sight drop their loads usually on target and you can see them falling and exploding on target. It’s just like the movies really and breathtaking to see the damage.

 

Oh I forgot to mention that I set a default flight of beautiful BF109s to attack the B17 formation on their return and this is where the formation I had set comes into play and is probably the best part. I set the enemy flight with a delay of 45 miniutes to attack the flight.

 

As the lead bomber shouted ‘bandits’ the fighters attacked .I put the wing leveller on having flown into my formation position and went to exterior view. What a sight!! All the bombers were in formation holding position flying straight and level with the gunners opening up on the fighters. The player can see the criss–crossing tracers as they try to bring down the enemy. They are mostly successful and they go down burning but get a couple of B17s which can be seen heading for earth (one lands at base with its tail wheel shot away).

 

I go back to the cockpit and just then I hear my tail gunner opening up on an attacker. It flies past and I can see my front gunner blasting away from the gun flashes over the windshield. What can I do! Nothing just stay in formation for protection and hope my gunners do their work. They do and I hear we’ve got one. Yes I say we because the player is just one of the many aircrew and not just in a jet or fighter fighting on his own! That’s the difference with this modification. I reminded me of the excellent B17 bomber sim but is easiler to fly in formation than that was and easier to hit the target!

 

I descend to approach staying with the flight and land with them thankful I got back safe and sound.

 

In all this the player gets an inkling of what it must have been like for those brave men on both sides who ran the gauntlet time after time and I wonder how they did it and kept their nerve.

 

God bless them all and the dedicated guys who produce the awesome aircraft scenery and modifications in this versatile sim for us to experience the thrill and the terror.

 

I make no apologise for restating that the level of detail and flight dynamics with the add on aircraft available on this site is truly remarkable and in most cases equal to and better than some of the commercial offerings. My thanks to all of them.

 

Yet another long winded post you might say (if anyone reads these) but hey I haven’t left one for a while and I know you like them!!

 

Is any of this new or do you all already know all this ??

 

If I forgot to credit someone in my text profuse apologises. I think all the aircraft are of equal quality and truly remarkable.

 

All the best Brainless