Friday Official Update, July 20, 2012

Blackdog_kt · #1 07-21-2012, 07:08 AM

First of all, thanks for the update.

Second, i have a question.

Is the team aware of the issues with bombsights? I had started a thread some time ago to collect all data with bugs and suggestions for bomber aircraft. The reason is that being able to fly bombers and hit targets, we can have missions to fly (both offline and online) that are much closer to battle of Britain.

This will make everybody happy, the bomber pilots who can finally hit targets and the fighter pilots who will have bombers to protect and intercept. With the advances being made in mission design (for example Wolf's channel command mission on the ATAG server and the campaign on the ACG server that both use C# scripts) as well as the new C# methods you gave us for setting area targets in the missions, i think it is the time to say that we really need the bombers fixed.

There were a lot of issues with higher priority and there are still many others, but at this time a few small fixes in the twin engined aircraft will help a lot with playability while you guys work on the rest.

bugged bombers that cannot aim their bombs = players don't fly bombers = no battle of Britain

There are various bugs and suggestions about bombers, but the most important one right now is to fix the bombsights. If we can hit targets we can wait to get the rest of them corrected.

The Blenheim sight is fine, but the Lofte sight on the Ju88 and He111 either needs debugging or someone to explain to us how to use it, because whatever we try either the bombs miss, or the sight doesn't track correctly when automation is engaged. I don't know about the Br.20 because i haven't tested it a lot.

Here is the link to that thread with all the bomber bugs and suggestions:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=32592

Blacksix, if you could please show it to Luthier and tell us what he thinks about it, we would really appreciate it. Fixing the Lofte is probably just a few arithmetic changes in the code (maybe just like the Hurricane 100 oct start-up fix that you did) and since we have an extra week, maybe we'll get lucky and get it debugged before the next patch. Then we will be flying some group sorties on ATAG and make some nice videos to show you all how to carpet bomb

But please, show the twin-engined birds some love just like you did with the Blenheim a few patches ago (it was almost unflyable, now it works well for the most part). I know fighters are more popular, but if there are no bombers the fighters don't have too much to shoot. Thanks

aus3620 · #2 07-21-2012, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

First of all, thanks for the update.

Second, i have a question.

Is the team aware of the issues with bombsights? I had started a thread some time ago to collect all data with bugs and suggestions for bomber aircraft. The reason is that being able to fly bombers and hit targets, we can have missions to fly (both offline and online) that are much closer to battle of Britain.

This will make everybody happy, the bomber pilots who can finally hit targets and the fighter pilots who will have bombers to protect and intercept. With the advances being made in mission design (for example Wolf's channel command mission on the ATAG server and the campaign on the ACG server that both use C# scripts) as well as the new C# methods you gave us for setting area targets in the missions, i think it is the time to say that we really need the bombers fixed.

There were a lot of issues with higher priority and there are still many others, but at this time a few small fixes in the twin engined aircraft will help a lot with playability while you guys work on the rest.

bugged bombers that cannot aim their bombs = players don't fly bombers = no battle of Britain

There are various bugs and suggestions about bombers, but the most important one right now is to fix the bombsights. If we can hit targets we can wait to get the rest of them corrected.

The Blenheim sight is fine, but the Lofte sight on the Ju88 and He111 either needs debugging or someone to explain to us how to use it, because whatever we try either the bombs miss, or the sight doesn't track correctly when automation is engaged. I don't know about the Br.20 because i haven't tested it a lot.

Here is the link to that thread with all the bomber bugs and suggestions:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=32592

Blacksix, if you could please show it to Luthier and tell us what he thinks about it, we would really appreciate it. Fixing the Lofte is probably just a few arithmetic changes in the code (maybe just like the Hurricane 100 oct start-up fix that you did) and since we have an extra week, maybe we'll get lucky and get it debugged before the next patch. Then we will be flying some group sorties on ATAG and make some nice videos to show you all how to carpet bomb

But please, show the twin-engined birds some love just like you did with the Blenheim a few patches ago (it was almost unflyable, now it works well for the most part). I know fighters are more popular, but if there are no bombers the fighters don't have too much to shoot. Thanks

+1

Osprey · #3 07-21-2012, 12:46 PM

A correction for Blackdog, ACG (Air Combat Group) runs historical missions with AI bombers and is not objective based (you can fly bombers though). The campaign server is the JG27 one, "Storm of War Campaigns".

McFeckit · #4 07-21-2012, 01:01 PM

Quote:

bugged bombers that cannot aim their bombs = players don't fly bombers = no battle of Britain

That's the hammer on the nail's head right there!

GF_Mastiff · #5 07-21-2012, 02:17 PM

I see my tears and then some in there some where..

flyingblind · #6 07-21-2012, 02:34 PM

I hope the wet floor wasn't BlackSix's reaction when Luthier said he had to do another Friday update and all they had still was a few more screenies.

Blackdog_kt · #7 07-22-2012, 02:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osprey

A correction for Blackdog, ACG (Air Combat Group) runs historical missions with AI bombers and is not objective based (you can fly bombers though). The campaign server is the JG27 one, "Storm of War Campaigns".

Thanks for the correction

Quote:

Originally Posted by McFeckit

That's the hammer on the nail's head right there!

Well, i'm glad more people see it this way.

Currently, the easiest way to make multiplayer interesting is to make it possible to drop bombs on targets.

Imagine you are flying and see a group of 10 human controlled bombers. One team will escort them and the other will intercept them. It's a magnet for getting dogfights and in servers where there are specified targets, it will make things so much more interesting because of the need to fly CAP for the defenders, or the need to come around from an unexpected angle for the attackers.

So, let's say we make a decision to fly out to sea, then attack the target from the North to surprise the defenders and just exit south to friendly airbases back to France. Now we have to coordinate with the escorts and time their departures because they won't have enough fuel to go with us the whole way. They will have to sweep the target 5-10 minutes earlier and then escort us home. So, now we also need to navigate and have an idea of our ETAs. Similarly, the defenders will have to choose between patrolling in force and relying on radar vectors, or spreading their fighter cover thinner to cover more area.

So, suddenly we have a handful of added tactical considerations that make our gameplay more interesting. Suddenly, the map is not just empty space but useful space.

We have the pilots. Not many, but there is a core of people who set aside a great deal of time, learning by themselves, testing how things work and coming up with workarounds for things that didn't work. After all their experience, if a few things get corrected it will be easy and worth the time to pass this knowledge on to others.

We have the servers. We have the mission designers and the people who can make use of scripts.

The one thing we don't have is the ability to carpet bomb an airfield from 7km of altitude and that's why we don't see epic fights. I know i'm not going to spend an hour climbing up there and getting to a target in formation, if i can't blow things up, just so the other pilots on the server have something to shoot at

Frequent_Flyer · #8 07-22-2012, 02:11 PM

Blackdog, Good points. However, it appears performance related issues, ie. the sim pausing when a group( as few as four ) EA are encountered. Dramatic framerate reduction when hits are obtained causing debris particals, vapor, smoke and/or fire to trail from an EA. Sometimes followed by CTD . Even if the bomb sight calulations are rectified it appears the performance issues most encounter would reduce the immerssion factor to an unacceptable level. I find it disconcerting no mention from the developers regarding performance increases.I was under the impression the " new graphics engine " was being implemented for this express purpose. I am cautiously optimistic the " trees" will be fixed.