How to start a Campaign pilot

[Olham 164]

Reading Jim's post "17 hours", it seemed to me, that getting into Campaign may not be an obvious

procedure for everyone. So I thought, I write it down here for all, who only used QC so far.

 

When you start the sim, you see several words at the bottom of the screen. There are:

 

Leave - Pilot Dossiers - Campaign - Missions - Quick Combat - Multiplayer - Credits - Workshop

 

Now, you click Pilot Dossiers and create a pilot there.

[You can choose nationality, Squadron, time in war, and your rank to start with]

Then, you leave.

Now, you are at the start screen again and click Campaign.

From here, you get into your first real campaign briefing. Read all at the right about your mission.

Check the total flight distance and choose a right amount of fuel (best is for twice the way).

You can reject a flight route by clicking optional flight, or you can click advance time, to get a different

mission type. (For this, manual "time advance" must be allowed in "Workshop").

 

If you have more than one pilot, you must activate the one you want to fly with, in "Pilot dossiers",

by clicking on "make active" below.

[JimAttrill 24]

I have been back for a look, and the confusing thing is that once you have entered Campaign, there is no direct 'go to airfield' option. You have to go via Briefing. So I assumed you had to exit campaign (having sort-of signed on) and then re-enter Missions.

 

I still wonder how I managed to become a traitor and change sides suddenly

[Olham 164]

Well, if you took a wrong way, and had a Qick Combat mission instead the real campaign,

you could easily end up the wrong side of the line, cause in QC you can choose all this.

And when it was on "German" so to say, you would fly a German craft then. I think, you

could even choose other German craft as opponents there, but I'm not sure.

Edited June 2, 2009 by Olham

[Bullethead 12]

A few more things about starting a campaign....

 

The choices of squadron and date are extremely important for your overall enjoyment of your career. These determine what sort of plane you'll fly and how much opposition you'll face. Early in the war, there's not much doing anywhere, but after that enemy planes are usually concentrated in the areas of the major ground battles going on at the time, and are rather thin elsewhere. So, you pick a squadron that has the type of plane you want, then run the date back and forth to see where it's based in relation to the battles of that date, to set the level of challenge you want to face, at least to start with. If you live long enough, the local battle might end and if your squadron doesn't move to the new hotspot, you'll experience a lull.

 

Another VERY important thing when picking your squadron is its quality. This has a huge effect on your personal survival, because it largely determines how effective your wingmen are. In "poor" squadrons, your wingmen won't last long at all in a fight, either dying on the 1st pass or running away immediately, leaving you to face all the enemy alone. OTOH, in "elite" squadrons, your wingmen are so effective that you'll have trouble getting a shot off, and your main threat is being rammed by one of them who's trying to steal your kill. Of course, this varies with the difference in quality between your lot and the enemy. The bottom line is, when picking your squadron and your date, don't forget to check the quality, and if it's not what you want, find a different squadron.

 

Also, before going to the Briefing Room for your 1st mission, you should go to the Duty Room to meet your buddies. This is the only place where you can learn their ranks, with is important in several things, such as who ends up being the leader if it's not you. Plus, you might find it fun to keep track of how they fare throughout the war.

[Olham 164]

Great addition - thanks, Bullet.

[Bullethead 12]

I should have mentioned above that squadron quality also varies over time. I've seen squadrons that are rated as "poor" and "elite" and everything in betweeen a different times in the same year. Not that I've ever lived long enough to see that happen in the game--I just see this while scrolling the date around.

 

So that's another thing to keep in mind when picking your squadron.... You might want to scroll the date to keep an eye on the squadron quality, besides checking where it's based and what it's flying.