No more input on what the future holds?
Colin
Sent from my iPhone
On 3 Jan 2020, at 00:19, Colin Pack <bart_56@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I changed the title as the replies are more on what 56 are going to do
rather than who is going to be CO, which needs to be resolved as a separate
subject.
I am not sure were all the fighting skills have gone Klem, if what you are
saying is what is playing out when online. Only yourselves can really answer
that, you all know what to do as a team, so why are you not executing it?
Once that is worked out you can start working on a solution.
I do think if you want to liaise with other squadrons then you might have to
use discord, like the ones provided by combat box.
I do disagree slightly on the air war point, there is an air war going on,
but it’s based around the air war supporting the tactical ground war like it
was on the Eastern front, Western Desert, Normandy, etc, not the strategic
air war of BoB or BoG. So you have to fight the air war differently but there
is loads of targets to fight just 22,000ft and below instead of above. You
don’t have to be facing an air amanda for it to be an air war.
The AI radar works well, in conjunction with the situ you get from the map,
it guides you on to air targets quite well. But the Air Marshal mode will be
a better option when it comes in. There is nothing stopping you escorting
A20’s at 30,000ft btw ;) or just go get the bad boys on these maps. We do
nothing but fighter sweeps some times we come across one or ten, so targets
are out there. Cannot answer how good you are now.
I would say we ignore the maps winning objectives, but in around about way
have some affect on the objectives. We create our own objective and fly the
sortie appropriately, the sortie is the goal. So the map can be in any state
after we leave, but we feel great if we met our goal;).
I think if you could work out a system out for yourselves to be able to use
your numbers effectively, you could cause a fair bit of damage to the enemy
aircraft, I am not sure why you have not set that as a major goal.
From the all the replies you seem to like the multi-role of the squad, with
the casual approach, like the idea of being a bit sharper, but not sure how
to get there or have the drive to get that bit extra?
Colin
Sent from my iPad
On 2 Jan 2020, at 21:41, klem56 (Redacted sender klem56 for DMARC) Here's my view, not on a new CO but on our current flying experiences. In
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
many ways they are an echo of some of the things already said.
We repeatedly fly the same kind of mission, well 90% of the time: a small
escorted attack on a target or two. This is not the fault of the CO or some
kind of squad peer pressure, it is simply what we are presented with in
scenarios. For me it gets a bit boring, the main reward being flying with
friends instead of off-line alone. We often don't find a fight or fail to
see a bounce (which could be the game visibility), we have lost our fighter
training and have no SoPs with which to respond to attacks even if we do see
incoming enemy. We scatter like chickens. When we do find a fight we seem to
have wandered into a hot spot with little advantage and we have no backup.
It's all too small, squeezed into small scenarios with insufficient players
and small (even with 56) bitty attacks. The the big picture has gone.
There's not even inter squad support or planning and too may different voice
comm systems for it to work (TS, Discord, SRS).
Talisman makes an important point. We were always a fighter squadron but
over the years and varying scenarios were happy to mix in some GA or, more
accurately, bombing missions (B17s at 30k) with escorts as most of the
scenarios presented those opportunities and other players joined in the
spirit of it on both sides. We were happy to fly 2 hour sorties because the
opportunities were there and rewarding. This was the variety of the original
IL-2 series and, before it, Aces High. What we have now in IL-2GB is a
ground war mentality bred out of BoS, BoM etc and even carried into the
European map for 'Normandy'. No-one attempts to provide an Air War scenario.
There is no GC/Radar even on later scenarios. Its all ground war. As
Talisman points out, in the good ol' days of IL-2 we could fight Pearl
Harbour, Midway, Big Week (as escorts) and, in CloD, BoB. These were Air
Wars and our task was to get up and go kill the bad guys. Someone else,
often AI, provided the enemy bomber formations and we fought the human
escorts. With the coming of CloD, even with SoW, the numbers dwindled due,
it seems, to network code issues, stutters, perhaps high fidelity
influencing data transfer etc. and we have descended into small scenarios,
penny-ante scraps and no co-ordinated plan. The reason the Blaggards are so
successful is that they essentially ignore the scenario objectives and go
hunting for kills.
I would love to do more fighter sweeps but against what? And how good are we
now? I don't know why Philstyle(?)/SoW isn't in IL-2BG, perhaps that would
help. They are starting up in DCS but we know the existing WWII problems
there.
I understand Roblex's point about mission planning but if we are to try to
achieve a GA result with minimum risk it does take some basic planning and
frankly that is in the nature of GA planning. In fighter sweeps, or
escorting, the task is much simpler and needs little planning. OTOH I agree
we have learned that the better way to fly as fighters in IL-2BG scenarios
is as loosely attached pairs because we don't encounter enemy formations but
are often bounced by a couple of aircraft, frequently unseen until its too
late so a flexible pair is a smaller target and can more easily respond
together. If you like, we become a group of Blaggards. Even so we don't seem
to have a squad response.
OK, nuff said, my medication is due :)
klem
