Reminder for realistic Campaignflying in P3

[Creaghorn 10]

if you want to have the chance to see many different enemy squadrons, and still want to have realistically long patrols (an hour or more) but still don't want to fight in every and each sortie, then instead of choosing long range patrols the key is to cover just one small part of the front near your airfield. somewhere where it takes maybe just 20 minutes or so to get there. and when you're there you patrol the apropriate leg back an forth not only twice, as the manager is arranging, but after finishing the second patrol leg you hit control+W once or twice to get the patrol-legs back. then you patrol them again and again. so instead of 2 times back and forth, you are patroling it maybe 5 times back and forth (more like it was in red baron 3d).

 

realistically a squadron covers one certain part of the front for patrol. for example a jasta in flanders covers everything between Douai to St.Quentin. a jasta in northern flanders covers everything from the coast down to Lille. but if you do it like that, currently your sorties would last about half an hour or so. if you want to have realistically long sorties, then you have to fly far from your own airfield. then you are patroling places which are not your business and other downside is also that mostly during the flight to the area you actually want to patrol, you often run into enemies.

 

so IMO the best and most realistic solution is to cover your front near your airfield, where you get rather quickly, and the patroling legs themself you repeat several times (as mentioned, after finishing hitting control + W to fly them again).

 

the big advantage is that your sorties last as long as they should, but still being in your own area.

it might happen that you run into many different enemy squadrons, but you will see them mostly only while patroling and when they enter your area you are watching, instead of encountering them in low altitude etc. while flying to the intended area. that results in many sorties without enemy contact, as it should be, but if you run into them, then mostly in your area at the apropriate altitude and many different enemy squadrons.

[themightysrc 5]

Hi Creaghorn,

 

I think I agree - the problem is, how do you turn that idea into a flight plan which you and your fellow flyers will follow for 30-45-60+ minutes?

 

Cheers,

Si

[themightysrc 5]

"so IMO the best and most realistic solution is to cover your front near your airfield, where you get rather quickly, and the patroling legs themself you repeat several times (as mentioned, after finishing hitting control + W to fly them again)."

 

Doh! Missed this - how stupid am I.

 

Yes. To all the uninitiated, Ctrl/W takes you back to the last waypoint, so you'll end up flying up and down a defined line near the desired area, by hitting ctrl/W again as you make towards to nexus. When you get bored with doing this, just shift/W to get the next waypoint, and repeat the shift/W until it points towards home. Jobby done.

[33LIMA 972]

Or just make up your own patrol route and fly that, visually, with reference to landmarks (you DO take the trouble to look out for the local reference points, to orient yourself in your operational area, as you get used to it, right?). OFF has a habit of giving you missions far to one side or other; if I can't get an 'alternative target' or 'optional mission' that's more sensible, I just ignore the waypoints, and only use the latter if they are for a sensible patrol route (about 3/4 of the time) or if I have to do an escort. As OFF doesn't use spawns this should not reduce your chances of a contact.

[Hasse Wind 46]

This is good advice for patrol flying. I've done it myself sometimes.

 

It will be interesting to see how the waypoint system will work in P4. It would be nice if the missions were restricted to certain sectors of the front, in order to reflect the historical organisation of aviation units. Each of them had its own role and was assigned missions accordingly to certain areas. It doesn't have to completely imitate history with every event, but it would be great if I knew that my squadron is now flying under orders from Corps X and is supporting its operations in sector Y of the front. That would be so much more immersive than what we have now (which is great too).

[Olham 164]

I mostly do it like LIMA - I fly my own patrol routes, when I lead.

They must be believeable and not too far.

OFF allows us to do that, because there are other flights around on their missions,

not only aircraft spawned in the area the manager has given.

 

My best sorties are those, when I have all the time, and fly after a map.

I often don't meet enemies, or overlook them without the TAC and Labels -

and fortunately, they seem to overlook me often, too.

 

That way I have often sighted enemies only, when they came down on our flight,

or when they were blinking in the sun, below us. That feels so thrillingly realistic!

[Creaghorn 10]

of course leaving out the waypoints completely and fly by map is by far the most realistic way . but it's often a matter of time which makes warping necessary (and to regroup your mates). and if someone warps, then the way i described is IMO very useful.

 

also flying in real time up to two hours or so is quite filling the memory and the chance that you get kicked out in the end, and all flying for nothing, is increased. at least this is what happens to me occasionally.

 

i also think that with short distances to get to the intended area, and with rather more often patroling, the memory has more recources left because it won't be stuffed so much with data of terrain etc. you actually don't need but just fly by.

[shredward 12]

 

It will be interesting to see how the waypoint system will work in P4. It would be nice if the missions were restricted to certain sectors of the front, in order to reflect the historical organisation of aviation units. Each of them had its own role and was assigned missions accordingly to certain areas.

 

When you wish upon a star......

Cheers

Shredward

[carrick58 23]

:good: I will give it a go. The idea seems well thought out.

[Hasse Wind 46]

Now THAT sounds promising!

[Olham 164]

When you wish upon a star......

Cheers

Shredward

Shredward - the dev who talks cryptic business - but I guess this one's easy...

[Britisheh 0]

Hi there,

 

So, IMHO this is one of the key features to making P4 the most realistic sim. To date it has been a super way to fly in WWI. I have spent hundreds of hours, with Bletchley doing countless hours too, researching how to make the sim align along what we have researched through a variety of resources. I will post in the near future, the SIA data so that if you wish to tweak, you can use certain criteria and apply it ( Workshop choices, Mission choices, etc) and make it real. This may take a step towards what Creaghorn is refering to. Realistically the German Scouts only went over no mans land and no deeper than 5 miles across, when they were escorting a two seater, or trying to bag a balloon. Many times especially later in the War, they were found 20 miles behind the lines, as the British continued to take the fight to the Germans, and not the other way round, save for the odd German offensive. Keeping the AI scouts on their side will be a huge challenge, and not having them chase you to your base 20 miles across the Front.

 

Cheers,

 

Britisheh

[Mr. Lucky 0]

I;ve been doing something like this for quite a while. Knowing that squadrons usually operated in their own sectors, I kept selecting alternate objectives until I got a sensible one. I also never fly using waypoints, I always navigate by map. So, I'd mark out the flight path on the map, and in the case of a patrol, I would patrol the area for a set length of time, usually 15 to 20 minutes, back and forth, then head back if no encounters. Of course I always return after any combat, not being sure how much ammo I have left or what damage taken. The improvements in P4 would be most welcome for all this.