Quick Question on Lone Wolf Missions

[Bandy 3]

On a campaign generated Lone Wolf mission, are you supposed to fly the game generated flight route? I guess I'm asking whether encounters occur randomly or scripted in campaign?

 

I've noticed that one cannot anticipate where/when enemy encounters will occur in campaign as you fly the mission. (Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, it is a wonderful change from other sims!!! ) In fact I've had massive furballs at the mission objective, then regrouped the flight and headed home along the mission path only to see other enemy A/C harrassing our kite balloons near our aerodrome (they paid dearly, I might add...).

 

Anyways, if the campaign mission objectives are complete, and one has enough fuel, can you break from the mission path and simply fly along the lines and look for more trouble? Will trouble occur (ie: possible random enemy flight paths) or is toodling-about only going to add hours to the logbook (ie scripted enemy flights).

 

I simply hate to waste time if nothing is going to happen, I'd rather start a new mission. Thanks for any responses.

[Bandy 3]

Funny you should ask about witnesses, though it really doesn't matter a hill'o'beans.

Generally in dogfights I get well separated from the rest, so lately I have been entering "Ground Observer" as my witness, and some claims have been accepted. No names required...

 

On the weekend I just finished off an opponent when I saw another airplane nearly overhead. I immediately climbed and tried to get underneath him in case he was enemy, and low-and-behold it was a solo RE8 coming back from a recce! I entered "Observer RE8" as witness, but so far it is pending...

 

Back to the original question: Are these apparently random encounters (such as with the RE8 heading home) scripted or random? I do NOT want to 'take-away' any of the 'magic' of those moments, just would like to understand what I'm seeing and why.

 

I have in fact flown about for 15-20 minutes or so along the lines after a mission, but have not encountered anything... took out a balloon or two just to make it worthwhile though.

[Rickitycrate 10]

I can't answer you question with certainty but in my experience I find that I never know what to expect. I was low over the front and witnessed a train being shelled by artillery while crossing a bridge. It was fun to observe that. I think if one's approach is to minimalize the flight one may well miss out on interesting occurances. May not effect your rating but certainly adds to the immersion factor. IMHO and 2 cents.

[Olham 164]

If you watch "review" (or "replay"?) after a flight, you often realise, other fights happened around you.

As far as I believe to have understood Winder, you could really change your flightpath and hope to meet

other craft. But the most chance I think would be along the route.

But you may still be wasting time - lone wolf missions have not witnesses for kills; and so you don't get

them confirmed. or hardly ever.

Edited May 26, 2009 by Olham

[Rick Rawlings 137]

Another few interesting points: Allied Lone Wolf missions have pre-planned routes over allied lines, which seems to defeat the purpose... I always list my regular wingman as a witness, figuring that any enemy a/c shot down on my side of the lines should be easy to confirm. Is this a bug? Shouldn't allied lone wolf missions be in German territory?

 

If you are flying for Germany, your lone wolf missions properly take place west of the lines. I would still put down my regular wingman as a witness, may not be realistic, but a lot of times your ballon observers or infantry on the front could confirm actions in enemy territory and that is as close as you can get not knowing the names of any of those individuals.

 

@Rickitycrate: You went on a Lone Wolf two seater mission?!? Isn't that by definition impossible? I mean... there's two of you! And did you have to get witnesses to confirm your recon?

 

 

RR

[Bandy 3]

... It was fun to observe that. I think if one's approach is to minimalize the flight one may well miss out on interesting occurances.

I TOTALLY agree and why I started this thread! I WANT to be able to fuel up 100% (when you don't need to) and spend that extra time after completing the mission objective by flying around looking for trains being shelled (that is amazing!), or a single enemy recce machine that I could surprise, or an enemy flight taking off, or... etc.

 

Those are the random moments I truly hope exist after/off the planned misison flight path, but I would love to get some solid confirmation that they do exist. So far the few times I've tried to toodle around after the mission have been empty of action. If that IS the case, then I just want to know, I'll simply start another mission (but I HATE circling 3 times around the bloody field!!!).

 

I suspect that the shelled train you saw was scripted along the mission flight path (for ambient/aesthetic purposes), but correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Maybe I'm asking too much, but if one doesn't ask, one never knows.

 

Olham you wrote:

But you may still be wasting time - lone wolf missions have no witnesses for kills; and so you don't get them confirmed. or hardly ever.

It doesn't matter if you're alone and shoot an enemy down, just put in "Ground Observer" for the witness name. Credit is about 33% for claims as far as I can tell, so it is random what gets accepted -- there is no "formula" for claim success, and this has been verified by others.

Edited May 27, 2009 by B Bandy RFC

[Rickitycrate 10]

@Rickitycrate: You went on a Lone Wolf two seater mission?!? Isn't that by definition impossible? I mean... there's two of you! And did you have to get witnesses to confirm your recon?

 

This mission was not a Lone Wolf, I don't think that matters for my point. It was a recon flight and after engaging E/A on the way to the target and lossing the wingmen I flew way off course (not following waypoints) in an attempt to reach the target. I had decided to stay close to our lines and it was very indirect path. Soon after I saw this train I was attacked again by E/A. If what I had encountered was scripted these devs have really done something beyond all expectations. To account for my unforseen actions. Lone wolf or not, why would the generator be different? Maybe it is. One of the things I love about our sim is it's unpredictability. There is a war going on independant of our actions. I can remember other times when not flying by waypoints that I encountered and brought down E/A. Lone Wolf, I can't remember for sure. I ask why would the mission type matter for generating encounters? I believe this sim is "off the rails". Minimumly scripted and therefore exciting. Kills verified or not, IMHO. Do you ever take off from the field and say to yoourself, "nothing is going to happen on this flight"? You never know.

[Olham 164]

Hey, Bandy

you don't need to circle the field three times, if you do it right.

After takeoff, just fly slowly (60 - 70 % throttle) towards the first real waypoint.

Press "R" return several times, until your wingmen come so close, you could read

their names if you switched labels on. Now, you can go off full throttle, but press "R"

once more then.

Ground targets and balloons, as far as I know, will not be credited, when they were

not a mission target. But I'm not 100 % sure.

[griphos 0]

Like Rickity, I've often seen stuff going on that wasn't happening where my mission path was supposed to take me. I don't have many pictures of it. But on the screenshots sticky, I posted one of a convoy under attack:

 

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?s=&am...st&p=270647

 

As I said there, there appears to be a whole war going on! I think you'll notice that no matter where over the front you fly (not just along the mission path), you find artillery going off. I ALWAYS see trains and convoys and often men marching. I went on a bit of a kick about driving the Model T around until I realized you can't cross bridges or rivers with it. I kept trying to find a way into some big city so I could drive around. Anyway, on the way, I usually saw lots of activity. There's a lot happenin' in this sim while we're busy following that little pale blue line. I used to climb to about 10,000 so I could spot and dive on enemy, but I've lately gotten to where I stay down around or below 5000 (sometimes half that) and just look around to see what I can see.

Edited May 27, 2009 by griphos

[Bandy 3]

Ah, Olham, that is if you are leading the flight. I start off all my pilots as junior officers, sometimes Sargent if RFC, and fly by rank. Then move up the chain of command by accomplishements. I have worked one pilot up to Flight Commander currently in RNAS 1 in 1916. I don't know if you can hit 'R' and have it work while you fly by rank... Let me know.

 

Rickety, thank you for the full story. That was indeed a memorable mission. I know we all have quite a few of those! And you are right, it doesn't matter if it was Lone Wolf, the thread started out that way because I wanted to know if I had to follow the mission path set by the game for a Lone Wolf or whether I could stray from the path. SO the REAL underlying question was whether action only happened along or near the path...

 

Griphos, yes, I've seen the AI attacking other AI ground units as well (mentioned the AI attacking a balloon above), and it was somewhat off the flight path but close. THIS BRINGS UP ANOTHER RELATED QUESTION, I wouldn't have seen them off the path unless I used the 'radar', the game/screen resolution won't allow eyeball visualization beyond about a mile or two, and this is not realistic. I keep the radar on at 4 miles, a pretty conservative range of what real WWI pilots reported able to see. Some say they could see much further...

 

Your anecdote is most helpful. The mystery continues; ain't it great!!!

Edited May 27, 2009 by B Bandy RFC

[+Winder 32]

Guys no need to follow the waypoints at all - its your chance to head on out and do your thing.

 

And yes the whole world is alive around you....

 

 

HTH

 

WM

[Olham 164]

Bandy, I'm not sure. I only flew a couple of British missions, where I was not leader.

I believe to have noticed, that my direct wingman reacted on my orders; but am not sure.

[77Scout 3]

Nothing in the OFF campaign is 'scripted' in any way to have 'activity' placed along your flight path. All enemy and friendly flights in the game are going about their various missions all over the place as they would in real life. As Winder says, he has made the world to be 'alive' all around you. This is one of the main advertised attributes of the game, and what makes it a real gem.

[Bandy 3]

Guys no need to follow the waypoints at all - its your chance to head on out and do your thing.

And yes the whole world is alive around you....

HTH

WM

Ah! That must be one of the contributing factors to why the game is processor intensive, rather than video card dependent (or so I've heard). But that is all relative...

 

Thank you for the reply, and other comments as well.

[Mr. Lucky 0]

When I'm out and about and not being swarmed, I make notes on my map pf ballons and ground targets like army bases and train depots so when I get a lone wolf mission I can always fly to those and attack them. It at least feels like I'm making a contribution.