Oleg Maddox's Room #1

[Kurfürst]

Originally Posted by csThor

Honestly I am not a friend of that suggestion, Kurfürst. IMO the preset loadouts are the best way - both from a historical and technical POV. I mean it's not like flying a Bf 109 G-6/R6 one day and have the techs reconfigure it into a G-6/U4 ten minutes before take-off. That wouldn't work in reality and so it shouldn't in game, either.

It`s not really a question of pre-set/modular loadouts, and it could be very well done with modular layout. It`s only a matter of setting certain flags, and programming the engine to understand them. It`s not even more work to do, since it`s the same time wheter you set these flagseach and every time you add a new plane (ie. set attributes for a 109E with droptanks, then the 109F with droptaks, then the 109G with droptank - instead, it`s much easier to set attributes for droptank only once, since it`s the same on all aircraft and then just refer to this set of attributes later)

If certain equipment was historically permanent, then, during campaign, on the plane you have (as I believe SOW will keep track of the player`s aircraft log - engines, airframes will be worn out etc) it remains constant and cannot be added/selected; but for purposes of dogfight servers, they could be set to be freely choosen/removed any time by the player.

Here is how I imagine - there would be a seperate txt file (like current Il-2) describing the available loadouts; files describing aircraft FM woud refer to these files, and take them into account. Any combination that isn`t ruled out by incompatibility of loadouts (ie. you can`t have droptanks AND bombs on the fuselage rack at the same time!) can be selected with a selection box.

The advantage is that this work only needs to be done once - you describe, and later add new modules to it as development progresses, and it`s much easier to overview and debug for the developer as well; it also frees the developer to make each and every time all combinations of aircraft loadout. Ie. what is easier, having fixed preset loadouts, basically a 'new' aircraft model for every variation such as :


Bf 109G-6
Bf 109G-6 with droptank
Bf 109G-6 with 4 small bombs
Bf 109G-6 with 1 big bomb
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 1 big bomb type SC 250
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 1 big bomb type SD 250
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 1 big bomb type PC 250
Bf 109G-6 with 1 cluster bomb
Bf 109G-6 with 1 droptank

Bf 109G-6 and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with droptank and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with 4 small bombs and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with 1 big bomb and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 1 big bomb
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 1 big bomb
Bf 109G-6 with 1 cluster bomb and tropical filter

Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and droptank
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 4 small bombs
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 1 big bomb type SC 250
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 1 big bomb type SD 250
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 1 big bomb type PC 250
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 1 cluster bomb

Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and droptank and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 4 small bombs and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 1 big bomb type SC 250 and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 1 big bomb type SD 250 and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 1 big bomb type PC 250 and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with gondola cannons and 1 cluster bomb and tropical filter

Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets
Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets and droptank
Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets and 4 small bombs
Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets and 1 big bomb, type SC 250
Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets and 1 big bomb, type SD 250
Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets and 1 big bomb, type PC 250
Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets and 1 cluster bomb

Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets and droptank and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets and 4 small bombs and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets and 1 big bomb type SC 250 and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets and 1 big bomb type SD 250 and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets and 1 big bomb type PC 250 and tropical filter
Bf 109G-6 with 21 cm rockets and 1 cluster bomb and tropical filter

etc. etc.

Then do the same thing for G-2, G-14 etc, oh and yes, you will have to adjust all of their FMs every time you tune the single base aircraft`s FM...

OR as selectable checkboxes, valid for

General
X tropical filter (or in case of a 109E/F, here could be an external armored windshield, too)

Centerline rack
- 4 SD 50 small bombs
- 4 SC 50
X one SC 250
- one SC 250
- PC 250
- One AB 250/1
- One AB 250/2
- One AB 250/3 etc.
- One 300 liter droptank

Underwing pylons
- 2x21cm rockets
- 2x20mm cannons in gondola

You can select exactly the same combinations, and more...

Which one is much easier for the developer in the long term, gives much more combinations to the player to choose from, and which one makes more sense..?

;;109EFGK_centerlinedroptank
text : An external 300 liter droptank used commonly on LW fighters during WW2
type : SPcamp_selectable; MPcamp_selectable; DFser_selectable; centerlinestore
date : 9_40
ammo :
belt_customizealbe :
weapon weight : 7.5;220;0.0;0.04
drag : 0.04; 0.005
jettisonalbe : YES
hp : 1; fueltank
incompatible : 109centerline_store
designation : addnothing

;;109G_U4_MK108
text : The MK 108 was begun to be used on the Bf 109G-6 from 1943 onwards; it was a permanent installation, meaning that only aircraft which have been built as such in the factory had them; such planes received the additional designation of /U4
type : SPcamp_fixed; MPcamp_selectonce; DFser_selectable; permanent_installation; motorkanone
date : 6_43
ammo : 65
belt_customizealbe : yes; MK108_viermot
weapon weight : 58;40;0.5;0
drag : 0.0
jettisonalbe : NO
hp : 10; gun
incompatible : none
designation : addfirst_'/U4'

;;109GK_gondolas
text : The 20mm gondolas were commonly used on the G and K series, and all aircraft were factory prepeared with wiring etc. to mount them; adding/removing the gondolas before mission to a plane was a matter of a couple minutes. Adding the gondolas did not change the aircraft`s designation - the, ie. G-6/R6 designation is wrongly used, such plane was still a G-6, carrying the Rüstsätz VI (ie. gondola field kit).
available : 109G-2; 109G-6; 109G-6late;109G-6/AS;109G-14; 109G-10; 109K-4
type : SPcamp_selectable; MPcamp_selectable; DFser_selectable; wingstore
date : 5_42
ammo : 135; 135
belt_customizealbe : yes; MG151_nonviermot
weapon weight : 135;80;0;0
drag : 0.0135
jettisonalbe : NO
location : 109FGK_winggondolamount1; 109FGK_winggondolamount2
hp : 10; gun
incompatible : 109G_R3_2x300liter_DT; 109GK_21cmrockets;
designation : addnothing


;;109F_gondolas
available : 109F-4
text : Some 109F-4`s had gondolas as well, however it was only available to aircraft prepeared in the factory for them; these aircraft were historically designated F-4/R1, so we have the same gondolas, but only for the F-4, and this time add designation, too!
type : SPcamp_selectable; MPcamp_selectable; DFser_selectable; wingstore
date : 1_42
ammo : 135; 135
belt_customizealbe : yes; MG151_nonviermot
weapon weight : 135;80;0;0
drag : 0.0135
jettisonalbe : NO
location : 109FGK_winggondolamount1; 109FGK_winggondolamount2
hp : 10; gun;
incompatible :
designation : addfirst_'/R1'

- name : this shows it`s the MK 108 engine cannon for the Bf 109G series for the programmers, mainly

- text : Here a short text for a 'floating help' can be entered to give information for the player when he puts the mouse pointer over the selected loadout)

- available : this loadout module can be selected on the following aircraft (can you imagine the list for a GP purpose bomb, say an SC 250, used by almost all aircraft, how much time this can save?)

- meaning you can`t remove or add it in the SP campaign, you can add it once to your aircraft in a hypothetical MP campaign to allow players to costumize their planes, but only once then it 'stucks' (ie. like the player would pick an G-6/U4 ship when replacement planes arrive from the factory),

- meaning it`s available for selection, where selection is allowed, from say, June 1943 etc.

- number of times weapons can be fired (counter), per gun

- flag if the weapons belt combination can be set by player; default belting, in this case, historical Luftwaffe belting used in the Western front against heavy bombers.

- Weight of the loadout it adds to the plane (58 kg); second number showing additional weight of ammo, which can decrease; third at which point of aircraft`s the Centre of gravity, front-back, left-right(this may be important for GM-1 system, rear tank of Mustang etc., where CoG was important)

- drag : the amount of drag that is added to the aircraft`s FM, until loadout is not jettisoned; second number, after loadout was jettisoned (ie. bombrack remains)

- jettisonable : yes or no; gondolas, fixed rocket rails cannot be, droptanks, bombs etc. can be jettisoned.

- predefined locations at which the SOW engine should add the external model

- Hit points the loadout possess before destroyed, 'gun' is type of aircraft part for special attributes (like inflammable or not, damagable by schrapnels etc.)

- incompatible : showing if you select this loadout, which others you can`t select before you remove it

I hope you see what system I`m thinking of. Really, it`s much better for everyone, developer and user alike.