Buddye, H,
Yes, with the current Campaign I am testing, the only time that I saw Attached escorts not engage as they should was the one time that I
Fragged into 3D after the "You are intercepted. Take Over? pop-up menu showed, which I cancelled and Fragged into 3D many seconds later.
I quit that 3D session, and loaded the Saved Game again, and flew the same Raid again.
When the Take Over? pop-up menu appeared, I chose Fly. The escorts engaged as they should then.
69 Raids flown and except for that one time, both Attached and Detached escort behave as they should.
The exception is that using a ME110 unit as bombers, Attached Emil escorts refuse to engage any RAF interceptors.
This always been so.
However, since v2.12, Detached Emil escorts with bombing ME110s do always engage as expected.
Detached escorts also always engage as expected when escorting level bombers.
Fighter Rendezvous with bombers? FIXED!
two27 coded in a 5% chance of failure. Sometimes they do fail to rendezvous.
Currently out of 69 Raids that I sent, 60 times the rendezvous was successful. 87% successful.
Fixing the Rendezvous problem, and the Escort problems, plus all of two27's other code changes have made BoBII into a whole new game.
I can now say that BoBII is really becoming a Realistic and Historically True simulation of the Battle of Britain.
Cannot give two27 enough praise for what he has done.
Having so much fun testing the Campaign, that I have not done any dev work for many months.
Enjoying playing the simulation!
I won't call it a game anymore.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since I have been flying around a lot in the LW Campaign lately, I have noticed some things that I never noticed before.
1. The RAF campaign command AI seems to respond to my pattern of attacks.
My whole Campaign this time, has been a series of attacks on the Spitfire and Hurricane assembly factories on the Itchen River and at Brooklands.
Early on I hit all the coastal fighter fields each once, just to bruise them a bit, but not deny them use of RAF.
Then a relentless series of assaults on the assembly factories, which I was having a hard time to really destroy and put out of production,
until I learned some tactical tricks on how lay bombs with level bombers.
Back to RAF command AI.
Been hitting the two Brooklands factories two times every day for many days. Like from 13 July to (now) 20 July.
Never saw any evidence of the RAF sending Patrols over Brooklands until 19 July. Since then I now see a Patrol icon show up just over Brooklands, then it heads for my Raid.
Now I have not yet hammered all of the fighter assembly factories, but I have been hurting the RAF in the air. Thanks to working escorts.
The RAF is now late to meet my attacks and I am starting to get some un-oppossed Raids.
But they see my crazy repeated pattern of always hitting Brooklands, because I now always see a Patrol over it.
That is good campaign RAF commander code AI I think. I doubt that the RAF is sending Patrols to cover the convoys any more.
Hell! Where are they flying from now? I left all of their airfields operational. I think I am hurting them in the air.
2. Initial Way Point distance from Target, determines where level bomber's bombs are laid.
It took me awhile to notice this. Hence my seemingly endless and repeated attacks on the two Brooklands fighter assembly factories.
Ya'all that know me well, know that I am not the kind of guy that likes to follow Directives orders, which are often times stupid orders.
The BoBII Campaigns are user adjustable, and I'd be a Strategic fool to follow the game given historical Directives,
and a Tactical fool to always follow the game given Raid Way Points.
There are always different ways to approach a combat problem. Some work, some don't.
I started noticing and measuring each time, that a game given Initial Way Point is usually exactly 6 miles from the Target.
By Target, I must say that that is the most central individual target within the greater collection of individual targets within the total Target.
At least for the Targets that I built for v2.12. "Main" factory target is the center most target within the total group of targets that makes up a Target.
As I was liberally trying new Initial Way Point directions to Targets, dragging the Initial Way Point around to new approaches, to get better bomb lays,
I noticed that the distance from the Initial Way Point to Target also determines the bomb lay in a direct relationship.
That is..
Drag & drop the Initial Way Point farther away from Target, and bomb lay will fall short of the Main Target coordinates in a predictable ratio of distance.
Drag & drop the Initial Way Point closer to the Target, and bomb lay will fall and over-shoot the Main Target coordinates in a predictable ratio of distance.
I am still experimenting using a game given start baseline of 6 nautical miles.
Using that rule of thumb (btw, the width of my thumb from where the nail starts growing out of it, is exactly 1 inch. Yeah.. I measure such things..)
I have found that a Target's outlying buildings that have not yet been destroyed, can be hit goodly by adjusting the Initial Way Point
about 0.20 or 0.30 miles + or - adjustment depending on if you want Over-Shoot or Under-Shoot, to achieve good bomb lays on intended buildings designated for destruction..
Also approach direction to the Target is important. Sometimes kicking down the front door is not the best attack approach.
(I am reminded of a Saint Bernard dog in San Diego whilst kicking down a front door!)
And getting the time of bomb release can be influenced by a player!
Kind of like howitzers or mortars firing Indirect Fire.
The first shots land beyond and right of the Target. 200 meters, both.
"Correct to short and to left of Target by 200 meters! both!" The FO radios.
The second shots land goodly in line to target but are 100 meters short.
"Correct to long by 100 meters!" The FO radios.
The third shots land goodly in line, but 50 meters short. Goddamned high wind!
"Correct to long by 50 meters!" The FO radios.
The fourth shots land into target.
"Yeah!! FIRE FOR EFFECT!" The FO radios.
2. He111, and Ju88, and Do17 level bombers all have totally different and predictable bomb laying behaviors.
Kind of like different breeds of dogs, which are all bred for specialized and different tasks.
(I am reminded of my wife whom is a Bulldog-bitch. Once some-one pisses her off, she sinks her teeth into the throat of the offender and never lets go... until someone dies)
(I love her attack attitude so! I tried to cheat on her once. It did not work. She tracked me down. Lucky for me that she did NOT sink her teeth into me!)
I am really surprised that no one else in the BOB 1, or the BOB II community of players have noticed this different bomber breed behavior.
I guess most folks just want to fly with the righteous RAF, and would never ever fly with the evil nasty Luftwaffe nazis.
OK. I understand.
Nobody hates nazis more than I do, especially 2013 USA American nazis!
I do still have to be The Devil's Advocate for the B of B, tho. Until some one else takes my place.
LuftWaffe level bomber Dog Breeds, and their predictable behavior:
1. He111.
a. These dogs always run in a V formation.
b. From Take Off to Fighter Rendezvous Way Point, to Initial Way Point, to Target, then to home, they ALWAYS fly the V formation.
c. This wide V formation produces wide V shaped bomb lays.
Good for bombing airfields, but not good for precision bombing of smaller targets like the Brooklands fighter assembly factories.
The He111s are my German Shepherd dogs.
2. Ju88.
a. These dogs always run in a wide spread I columnar formation.
b. This might not be the prime formation for bomber gunner inter-locking MG fire for beating off interceptors.
c. This formation is a real BOMB IN TRAIL formation.
Hoot! Oh! Yeah! ?()^-Oh-Dear! Like directing a "stick" of B52-G bombers over Hanoi to put the fear of Death to the NVA!
I love my bomb in trail Ju88s. Tho they need careful attention and planning to Target for their bomb lays.
The Ju88s are my Doberman dogs. And I have lots of them!
3. Do17.
> The old stories that I read about the Dornier 17 Z bombers in old history books had the authors pooh-poohing these bombers as inconsequential crap! <
Maybe so in history, however in BoB II I have found these little Terrier dogs very useful as Pin-Point level bombers.
a. These dogs always run in a V formation.
Until the Initial Way Point, where after they all tighten up into a packed together dense formation to bomb target,
formations of which that never look exactly the same,
- most often a closely compacted nut-to-butt!
DENSE I colomnar formation.
- sometimes they all form into a round shaped closely compacted disc.
- sometimes I see them stack over each other
in their attempt to concentrate their bomb lays on a concentrated point!
I love my HAMMER ONE SMALL POINT! Do17 bombers.
Especially in Low Level Attacks.
b. After they bomb, they reform into a regular V wing formation.
The Do17s are my little rat hole rat killing Terrier dogs. And I find them very useful.
Hell! those low level Do17 terriers are now my Poor Weather low level raid Weapon of Choice!
They strike!
Watch out for the Barrage Balloons!
Anyway,
I have seen that each different level bomber type of air craft has different bombing formation behaviors.
Knowing so can allow me to fine stitch tailor adjust my bombing attacks accordingly.
