Campaign mission slaughter

Battle of Britain "Wings of Victory"
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Badileus
Airman Basic
Posts: 4
Joined: 24 Mar 2017, 16:40

Campaign mission slaughter

Post by Badileus »

Hi,

i am quite new in this game and tried some quick missions first until got used to the AI (quite agressive...), padlock system etc. so i (for myself) can stand up to the enemy without being shot down immediately.

But the heart of the game is of course the campaign, so i started one as a pilot (Hurricane 43th Squadron). But it was quite frustrating: In nearly every mission my squadron seems outnumbered and is engaged in fights with masses of 109s without the chance getting to the bombers. Even the numbers seem to be quite balanced, the typical outcome of these battles is (for example): Own Losses 8 (or more) of 12, enemy losses 2 of 20. The enemy planes shot down by myself......so far not a single enemy was shot down by AI, even though i saw some engagements in which 1 enemy was attacked by several AI.

I tried to set the Luftwaffe skill to low and RAF skill to maximum, but to no avail.

Of course I read some post about the campaign being quite difficuilt, but is it really the only way to prevent such slaughter (in 3D mode) with all doing manually (i mean set auto-vectoring off and such, targeting the enemy and give all orders by radio)? That wouldt be too much for me at the moment, a have to admit. But without the AI seems to do what it wants, although when i am red leader (=squadron leader, am i right?). Even at the airfield they take off without me, if i am not quick enough with starting my engine...

Perhaps you have some tips for me playing campaign missions without returning to base (mostly) alone all the time, because this is really no fun and also not very realistic. Thanks!

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stickman
BDG
Posts: 8754
Joined: 05 Nov 2004, 13:17
Location: Oahu, Hawai'i

Re: Campaign mission slaughter

Post by stickman »

Badileus,

BoBII 3D combat is a very bloody affair!
Historically there were not so many losses. 2D only combat has less losses and is more historical.

We have tried to reduce the AI viscous bloody killing in 3D combat, by dumbing down weapons and aircraft capabilities,
but in doing so we also dumb down the Player's weapons and aircraft capabilities. Not what we want to do. We have not found a solution yet to be totally historical, 3D and 2D.

If you are finding it hard for your 43 Squadron (Regular skill) AI boys to do their duty, you can make them (and all of the RAF!) all Veterans or Heros!
You can also dumb the LuftWaffe pilot boys to be just as stupid and un-skilled as the LW High Command was.
I tried to set the Luftwaffe skill to low and RAF skill to maximum, but to no avail.
There are some Options settings that cannot be changed after you start a new Campaign and stay in effect.
All of the Options > Sim > Mission settings are some of them.

So if you want to decrease the LW Skill levels and set them to Low, and increase the RAF Skill levels and set them to High or Maximum,
then you you must start a new Campaign after you made those changes to have the settings made and stay in effect.


Notes:
1. If you set the RAF Skill to High, then all of your Squadrons will start out as Veterans.
If you set the RAF Skill to Maximum, then all of your Squadrons will start out as Heros!! :shock: :roll: Well, that is Maximum.

2. If you set the LW Skill to Low, then each Gruppe will have it's historical skill level decreased by 1 level,
so a Veteran Gruppe will become Regulars, Regulars will become Poor, Poor will become Novices.

3. Fatigue (morale) levels will not change when you change Skill levels.

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A unit's combat performance is influenced by both Skill and Fatigue (moral) levels.
Fatigue is a measure of "combat fatigue" both physical and mental. Just as important as Skill.
A unit with Good Fatigue level is not actually "good". They usually do not perform well in combat, and I try to rest these guys, if can. Very Good is actually "good".

Each time a unit sorties, the Fatigue level will worsen some. Each time a unit rests, Fatigue level will improve some.
When resting, the RAF recovers from Fatigue faster than the LW does. Is this unfair?

Each time a unit is involved in combat it's Skill level may increase. This is variable and sometimes (10% of the time?) it does not.
Here are all the levels of Skill in Campaign. Made by our Campaign coder.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/53mj150nnjwrm ... e.jpg?dl=0

Fatigue likewise has many sub-levels to each "main" Fatigue level. I do not have that table, tho.
Your AI pilots might be "bots".. but just like real robots, if you don't maintain them, and run them until failure, they will break down. Sooner or later.

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LuftWaffe tactics:

The LW High Command is stupid. Looting France of it's art treasures seems to be the Mission Goal!
Luft Flotte leaders Kesselring and Sperle are not so stupid. They will hit you hard with every resource they have, and try to kill your fighters using escorts with 2:1 or 3:1 odds against your Interceptors and Patrols.

A typical Raid will be:
- One Gruppe of (30) bombers
- One Gruppe of (36) fighters in Close Escort
- Two Gruppen of (72) fighters in Detached Escort

This how I do it as the LW Commander, and as the AI LW Commander does it when playing the RAF Campaign. (If enough LW fighter resources are available to do so)

Throughout history.... apes and men have never assaulted their neighbors during daylight hours.. without an assurance that the attackers can achieve at least 2:1 odds, attacker to defender.
Modern standard teaching at all Military Institutions that train Officers is.. "Never assault the enemy with less that 3:1 odds man/man, except in times of total desperation."
Even monkeys throwing rocks, knew this millions of years ago................

As RAF Commander you'll find yourself in times of total desperation. 1:1 odds if yer lucky.

There is a variable 8% coded chance that a LW escort Gruppe will fail to rendezvous properly with the bombers. However, 92% of the time the German Staff Officers know what the hell they are doing. Beware!

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Let it be known.............

The only way that the LuftWaffe can win The Battle, is if ALL RAF Squadrons are reduced to Category C status.

The only way that the LuftWaffe can do this, is if they destroy all of the Fighter Assembly, Fighter Parts, and Armaments factories to at least to 85% destroyed. Early on.
Then your supply of aircraft will be cut off. For awhile....
Fear not! All this aircraft and parts production will be Dispersed (over time) to little "ghost factories" at a production reduced rate of 60%.

Our coder stated:
"Dispersed production is roughly 60% of the original factory's maximum output, ramping up over four weeks.
Dispersed production kicks in slowly, in increments at 7, 14, 21, and 27 days after a factory reaches a fully destroyed state.
After an Assembly factory's drops to 0, then any new production rates shown at that factory represents dispersed prodution."

Supply to the Forces is Everything!

“The line between disorder and order lies in logistics” – Sun Tzu

“You will not find it difficult to prove that battles, campaigns, and even wars have been won or lost primarily because of logistics.” – General Dwight D. Eisenhower

“My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” – Alexander the Great

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Tip:

- If you want to increase your RAF fighter : LW Fighter odds,
then send Patrols over the Targets that the Nazis seem to like to bomb.
As a LW Commander, I really get pissed off when I expect 3:1 odds, and one or (god forbid) two RAF Patrol Squadrons are ALSO met, in addition to the three Intercepting Squadrons expected, and my German fighter boys get shot to hell! :shock: :cry:

"Tactically, it's always about delivering maximum available force upon Target". (I forgot who said that. I am just an old man whom was kicked out of the US Navy, 1980 for smoking whacky-tobbacky)

Aloha!

Badileus
Airman Basic
Posts: 4
Joined: 24 Mar 2017, 16:40

Re: Campaign mission slaughter

Post by Badileus »

Thanks stickman for your tips!

Regarding the skill setting: So you can only have one setting for everything (campaign, instant mission...) at the same time, if i understand right. By the way, in the campaign, when i am offered a mission to fly, in the screen directly before take off, there is an option "Sim-Config", where i can change the skill settings as well. Does this have no effect? A bit confusing....

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stickman
BDG
Posts: 8754
Joined: 05 Nov 2004, 13:17
Location: Oahu, Hawai'i

Re: Campaign mission slaughter

Post by stickman »

Regarding the skill setting: So you can only have one setting for everything (campaign, instant mission...) at the same time, if i understand right.
The Options > Sim > Mission menu only deals with Campaign.

For Skill settings, if Medium is selected then each unit will start with their historical skills which is based on their experience (or lack of) during the Battle for France.
So you will have some Poor (trained well but green), some Regular (combat experienced), and Veteran (battle hardened) Squadrons.

If you select RAF Skill to High then all of the Squadrons will be Veterans.
If you select LW Skill as Low then it works different in that each LW Gruppe will have it's skill level decreased one level. That is Veterans become Regulars, Regulars become Poor, and Poor become Novices.
By the way, in the campaign, when i am offered a mission to fly, in the screen directly before take off, there is an option "Sim-Config", where i can change the skill settings as well. Does this have no effect?
During a Campaign most Options can be changed.
You cannot change the Mission settings after you start a Campaign though. These settings get "written in stone" for that Campaign.
To change them you must change them before a Campaign is started. So you will need to change them, then start a new Campaign.

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