Launchbury 1 Posted July 7, 2009 After just 4 days of flying and 10 missions with a French Escadrille, my pilot has been promoted from Sous Lieutenant to Lieutnent to Capitaine. I haven't shot down any enemy aircraft (I haven't even SEEN any enemy aircraft) but I've destroyed 4 ground targets. This seems somewhat meteoric, and not quite right. The war on our front, however, is monumentally boring. Not a Hun in sight anywhere. Escadrille 3, by the way, Nieuport 11's. Have a look if you're tired of getting killed your first or second time up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted July 7, 2009 (edited) Where are you flying, and when? I assume, mid-1916? Maybe a quiet sector, where you are. If you like it hot, choose an Escadrille near Verdun or Douai - Cambrai, since April 1917. That should get you on your toes - arh, wings! And as for the promotions - I have ever only been promoted twice; from Leutnant to Oberleutnant, and from Oberleutnant to Hauptmann (not even the same pilot). Edited July 7, 2009 by Olham Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest British_eh Posted July 8, 2009 Well, watch the original movie Dawn Patrol, which will give you a good insight into promotions. In 3 1/2 years of flying off, I've only survived 3 promotions with my best pilot with 44 hours. Cheers, British_eh Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duce Lewis 3 Posted July 8, 2009 Well, watch the original movie Dawn Patrol... Just saw this the other night Great Movie - Highly recommend it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bletchley 8 Posted July 8, 2009 If you are in a quiet sector then you are probably completing a lot of succssful missions - and it seems to be this, not shooting things down, that leads to promotion. Bletchley Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hasse Wind 46 Posted July 8, 2009 I've also had similar experience with amazingly rapid promotions, and it has nothing to do with whose side I'm flying in. You don't have to do anything special, just keep completing missions and you'll be climbing up the ranks like crazy, if you stay alive. Sure, some exceptional individuals were promoted rapidly during the war, but nearly as rapidly as it happens in OFF. This system could use some improvements in the future. Speaking of improvements, I think it would be nice to see your rank insignia when you're pilot is promoted to the next rank. I remember some older flight sims had this kind of system, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe and Pacific Air War come to mind from the DOS era. As the medals are now being much improved, maybe something could be done to the promotions too? But it's certainly not very high in my list of priorities, just something that would be nice to have for the immersion value. :yes: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Winder 32 Posted July 8, 2009 I've also had similar experience with amazingly rapid promotions, and it has nothing to do with whose side I'm flying in. You don't have to do anything special, just keep completing missions and you'll be climbing up the ranks like crazy, if you stay alive. Sure, some exceptional individuals were promoted rapidly during the war, but nearly as rapidly as it happens in OFF. This system could use some improvements in the future. Speaking of improvements, I think it would be nice to see your rank insignia when you're pilot is promoted to the next rank. I remember some older flight sims had this kind of system, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe and Pacific Air War come to mind from the DOS era. As the medals are now being much improved, maybe something could be done to the promotions too? But it's certainly not very high in my list of priorities, just something that would be nice to have for the immersion value. :yes: Thanks for the feedback guys... Yes I can slow down promotions - its hard to gauge this from our POV as it depends on user success but its easy to do. In fact it will form part of the Cloud fix patch that should be up soon! Rank medals and all documents are being converted to more authentic WW1 documents, as closely as possible, and is part of P4. Ta WM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Polovski 428 Posted July 8, 2009 Until we have more early aircraft in that region in the early part of 1916 you will likely see little enemy contact (plus it's early days in the war). Try a later date or another Escadrille in a different area. (The only way round that is to have some long range missions from some squadrons or substituions of squads/aircraft which can get more messy). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted July 8, 2009 (edited) If Bletchley is right, and promotion comes from doing successful missions - why not leave them as they are? The "pilot", who is shooting down lots of craft, will get more medals (I assume), whilst the one, who cares for fullfilling the mission to the best, will get promoted. And with an average of 17 hours, you need to get promoted a little faster, I'd say. Edited July 8, 2009 by Olham Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hasse Wind 46 Posted July 8, 2009 I presume OFF is using some kind of points based system for determining promotions. (Of course I may be totally wrong!) If this is so, it should be a simple matter of slowing down the process. Starting a career as a non-commissioned officer (or even lower as is possible with the Germans) and then gaining the highest officer rank available in OFF in a few weeks isn't very historical. Anyway, this is not something that is extremely important for me in any flight sim, but I really appreciate the devs' willingness to listen to our feedback. In real life, promotions in the military during war time can be such a Byzantine process. There's always a lot of politics involved, and not everybody who deserves it gets promoted, and some who aren't really worthy climb up the ranks like monkeys. And some don't want to get promoted, even though they are given the chance. This isn't something that can be easily modelled in a flight sim, unless you want to add a mini-game to OFF where you can do everything to please (or displease) your CO and the other pen-pushers. Maybe send some chocolate and tobacco to the guys deciding the claims. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bletchley 8 Posted July 8, 2009 I guess the scale is linear at the moment (?), but a logarithmic scale might work better - so that the lower promotions come quicker than the higher promotions. Bletchley Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RAF_Louvert 101 Posted July 8, 2009 I would also like to add my kudos to the devs for their constant work on this project and their outstanding attitude towards our input. This is already the best WW1 combat flight sim around, and because of discussions just like this one I am sure it will stay the best for a good long while. Many thanks to all those who continue to work on and improve BHaH. It is very much appreciated. Cheers! Lou Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
