Working on a new campaign

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I have started my USS Essex CV-9 Campaign using Collin's excellent Essex Class ships and VN escorts. Thus far I have completed the Marcus and Wake Island strikes with a total of 11 missions and have moved on to the first attack on Tarawa. I am loading up Tarawa-Bititu with destroyable objects and bunkers. :)

Information found so far is sparse but I've read that later in the war she strikes on the Philippines (PI), Ryukus, Hong Kong and Formosa. I am using the MR Micronesia (I don't think it's GSL), MR Palau (GSL), Philippines 1 and 2 (non-GSL) and Formosa (also non GSL?). Thus comes a question: I know the PI is out for now but are there any scenery downloads with GSL for Formosa and SE China (ie: Hong Kong)?

Will keep you posted as to progress...

SW-07

[skylane]

Hi SW!

The only Formosa scenery that I am aware of is the one by Maskrider, which unfortunately is non-gsl. As a work-around you could do a layout adding a few more buildings, hangars etc to the airfields, so there are some destroyable objects to bomb..
Hong Kong and many other fields in China are available with Xavier´s east Asia gsl scenery, from which you already used Surabaya in the Saratoga campaign.

Thank you for the effects folder you sent me! Using them improved the speed of my sim a lot! I still plan to add more RAM, though.

I started flying the Saratoga campaign, and have a lot of fun with it! I like the idea with the bombers turning back after a few of them are shot down in the Guadalcanal CAP mission!

Now I´m also looking forward to this new campaign! Thanks for the great work!

skylane

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Skylane, you are welcome and thanks for the XavierB tip.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I have finished missions 12 (fighter sweep) and 13 (first strike on Tarawa) as well as the target photo mission. Mission 13 will be duplicated in one or two more missions to randomly place the player in either a TBF or an SBD. I have test flown all missions up to 12 and the photo recon - 13 will be later today.

And the beat goes on...

SW-07

PS: 14 and 15 are done too but not flight tested. 1305 hrs

[Jagdflieger]

Another good history lesson via CFS 2. Thanks!

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Another good history lesson via CFS 2. Thanks!

You're wewlcome Jagd! That FLAK was tough!

I had to modify the gsl for Tarawa for these missions. I added a few tanks (really there) and more bunkers and pillboxes as well as a seaplane wharf. The frames got so heavy that I decided to add all my add-ins to the existing gob to increase framerates. It worked! I put in everything BUT AA guns, ships and parked aircraft. The new gob will be included in the upload. :)

[mariereid]

Yehaw! Sounds great. I am using your bases in my missions. All your work is top notch stuff! I hope ya don't mind the RCN and RCAF using your bases. They have just arrived at Long Island Strip. I am going to do a little tour of all of them ending up at Morobe. I bet ya never thought your bases would be taken over by Crazy Canuks!

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Yehaw! Sounds great. I am using your bases in my missions. All your work is top notch stuff! I hope ya don't mind the RCN and RCAF using your bases. They have just arrived at Long Island Strip. I am going to do a little tour of all of them ending up at Morobe. I bet ya never thought your bases would be taken over by Crazy Canuks!

They are allies so I don't mind at all. At Morobe you can park a couple of PT boats at the base for extra effect (it was a WWII PT Boat base).

I flight tested all the Tarawa base suppression missions last night. Now I'm moving on to Lt McWhorter's missions at Tarawa as described in: http://www.ussessexcv9.org/Bravepages/thefighters.html .

"On 19 November 1943, flying off the 'roof ' of USS ESSEX during the Tarawa invasion. Mac McWhorter shot down his 5th enemy plane and became the first 'pure' F6F ACE, by having scored all five victories in the new Hellcat. On 16 February 1944 at Truk, He scored his 10th victory and became the first Hellcat double Ace. Mac flew with Carrier AirGroup 9 "Fighting Nine'

McWhorter was on combat patrol near the task force and his division was vectored out to intercept a high bogey. He turned headed out and began climbing. Mac relates "After about five miles or so, as we were passing through about 20,000 feet I spotted the bogie, a single engine plane called a 'Myrt', about three miles ahead at about 25,000 feet and going away from us. I closed to about 500 feet behind and slightly below. I fired a short burst and the Myrt flamed immediately. I was so close that oil got all over my canopy." This was Mac's highest victory as compared to his lowest one, the twin engine bomber that he shot down at Tarawa about 10 feet over the water. Shooting the 'Betty' (Bomber) down also earned him the name of "one slug" from his Squadron. After returning to ESSEX it was found that he had expended a total of 86 rounds of 50 caliber ammunition, and that included a test firing of all six guns shortly after take off... "

I'm using Thicko's "Judy" instead of an unfound "Myrt" and SG's Betty.

After those 2, I'll be doing Tarawa invasion close support missions before moving on to Kwajelein.

Pic: Morobe with PT Boats

[Shadow Wolf 07]

17 missions done and flight tested. I'm working on 3 - F6F, SBD and TBF - for invasion close support (Tarawa) with a few landing craft moving to the beaches. After that I'll do the last McWhorter, Betty intercept (see above). That's a total of 21 missions just for Wake, Marcus and Tarawa... whew! This is gonna be a big campaign.

[stuart277]

Hi Shadow Wolf
There is a Myrt available from Akemi Mizoguchi at mzc6n1saiun.zip in the Japanese aircraft section.
Cheers
Stuart

[JapLance]

I'm using Thicko's "Judy" instead of an unfound "Myrt"

Akemi did one, well, actually two: the recce and the night fighter versions.

http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/hago/h2/h2-images/c6n1.jpghttp://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/hago/h2/h2-images/c6n1j.jpg

[mariereid]

Boy, that sounds great bud. Got my SW07 install ready to go! I know ya got a lot more work to do yet. Luckily, I think most of what I need should be in my SW install now. Don't work too hard!:salute::ernae:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Hi Shadow Wolf
There is a Myrt available from Akemi Mizoguchi at mzc6n1saiun.zip in the Japanese aircraft section.
Cheers
Stuart

I appreciate the tips guys, but I might stay with the Judy, since it's gonna be used in a few more missions, later in the campaign and it would save players from downloading another plane just for one use. I'll think it over. :salute:

[SPman]

it would save players from downloading another plane just for one use Hell, we've got all the planes, anyway........haven't we.

[JapLance]

Hell, we've got all the planes, anyway........haven't we.

:icon_lol: Yes, I have it among my Pacific install planes, buit I understand the concern of SW07.

What I'm not sure is that it was a C6N1 Saiun (Myrt). All the info I've found about this plane is that it entered service in mid 44, and we're talking about Nov43 here. Maybe is the pilot report written years later and he's confusing it with another plane (a B6N Tenzan is very similar in shape)?

A Saiun (Myrt)
http://www.aviastar.org/pictures/japan/nakajima_c6n-s.gif

A Tenzan (Jill)
http://www.aviastar.org/pictures/japan/nakajima_jill-s.gif

Both were Nakajima-designed.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Good point JL...

I finished and flight tested the missions for the Tarawa invasion support and the McWhorter Betty intercept. Next is the Kwajelein/Roi raid and then the attack on the Marshalls. After those it's on to the attack on Truk. I'll probably use and update my previously published Hailstone missions for those. I'll have more accurate info on the ships used, the launch carrier, change some of the planes and utilize the existing target photos.

[Captain Kurt]

Lightning fast development there. I wish I could work that fast but I'm too nit-picky. :wiggle:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Lightning fast development there. I wish I could work that fast but I'm too nit-picky. :wiggle:

Captain: I am too sorta...

Except for the intercepts and and fighter sweeps, 2/3 of the missions are "mirrors" of the main mission. By that I mean they are the same mission with the player flying a different plane type, ie a TBF or SBD instead of a Hellcat. Those go real fast as I already have the ships, infrastructure and other planes in place. All I have to do is swap waypoints and targets for 2 flights, rewrite the mission objectives and maybe adjust the return warp waypoint position. The reason I'm doing this is because the campaign will be "dynamic" - the player wil fly a random choice of missions. I plan in most cases to have a choice of 50% for a f6f, 25% for an sbd and 25% for a tbf. Also, I try to randomly spawn enemy aircraft. The end result is that when the player comes to island X he may find himself in any of 3 planes with different objectives and enemy planes, maybe or maybe not appearing and from different directions each time.

I finished and flight tested the Kwajalein fighter sweep mission last night and started the strike mission(s). There will be 2 strikes over 2 days, times 3 = 6 missions. I hgave a good source for TF composition, but enemy strength, exact TF formation, position, course and speed I have to "guestimate." I used 10 Usio ships - 2 light cruisers and 8 cargo ships in the FS mission and noticed some minor frame rate issues when flight testing. If I still have them in the strike missions, I'll substitute other ships for some of them. I need ships, because in the historical record 5 ships were sunk and 7 damaged at Kwajalein. :jump:

I tend to use more FLAK than in my last campaign and in some missions there will be low level wind, forcing the carrier to turn into the wind at launch and landing. As you may know, I can't put in the wind until I'm finished via hand editing because Mission Builder won't save the wind data if for some reason have to save the mission again.

[Discus]

Captain: I am too sorta...

...and in some missions there will be low level wind, forcing the carrier to turn into the wind at launch and landing. As you may know, I can't put in the wind until I'm finished via hand editing because Mission Builder won't save the wind data if for some reason have to save the mission again.

SW:

It´s good to read about this campaign in development. It sure makes me want to make a PTO install!:jump:

Question: How do you make your carriers turn into the wind at take off time and make it noticeable for the flyer? You sit strapped to your cockpit waiting until given a message while the aircraft carrier reachs WP2 where it should be head on to the wind?

Cheers, Discus

[Shadow Wolf 07]

SW:

It´s good to read about this campaign in development. It sure makes me want to make a PTO install!:jump:

Question: How do you make your carriers turn into the wind at take off time and make it noticeable for the flyer? You sit strapped to your cockpit waiting until given a message while the aircraft carrier reachs WP2 where it should be head on to the wind?

Cheers, Discus

Not quite, for example the wind is out of the east at 15 kts and I have the carrier sailing east at 24 kts from the start. I don't want to waste time on the deck because those dummy wingmen have a nasty habit of colliding with each other. After T/O (a few miles), the ship and task force resume their course to the southeast. You could plot a second WP with the turn east, close to WP 1 for the ship, but I don't bother.

For the landing, I figure out where (approximately) and at what time the carrier and my return warp will meet. I usually figure 15 minutes time on target... I then place the return WP about 2 miles off the carrier's course, create another WP for the carrier and have her turn to sail east from there. Since my TF does not come under attack, I set up the TF ships as a formation (ctrl + alt + F) around my carrier and they all stay in formation and turn accordingly without having to plot a ton of waypoints. After a few miles, I have the TF return to course again. I test flew one mission and got back a few minutes early and watched the TF turning east as I was setting up my landing... it looked good! :ernae:

[Discus]

Understood. Thanks.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished and flight tested missions 22, 23 and 24 at Kwajalein. Those Usio ships, even with the Target dp used are serious "FLAK wagons!" I found little additional fleet information on the other Marshall Island invasion support efforts, so I'm debating whether or not to do 2 missions each for the invasions of Kwajalein and Roi before moving on to the attack on Truk - "Operation Hailstone." Comments or suggestions?

PS: I'm almost finished with the Roi invasion first mission... I have a total of 100 moving objects - 63 aircraft and 37 ships, to include 15 landing craft, moving in on the beaches. I'.m going to do 2 or 3 for Roi and then go on to Hailstone. :)

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Well, I finished the Truk fighter sweep last night and now I'm working on the Truk torpedo strike, divebomber strike, the night bombing raid and night intercept. I have to find more info on the type of divebombers aboard the Essex at that time - SBD-5 or SB2C - and whether she had night fighters. The presence of night fighters and radar equipped TBFs will dictate whether or not I do the intercept and night bombing raid missions for this campaign.

So far I've completed 27 missions. According to my chart, the player will randomly fly them in 16 campaign missions. Since I have that many done already, I'm gonna start work on the .cmg file with what I have, whenever I get tired of looking at the MB screen. :)

Note: OB shows no night fighters and she had SBDs on board.

Pics = Roi Invasion:

[mariereid]

You are doing great work my friend. I am sure we will feel like we have gone back in time! :salute::ernae:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

You are doing great work my friend. I am sure we will feel like we have gone back in time! :salute::ernae:

Thanks Rick... I am trying to keep as close to the historical records as I can with dates, names and locations. Outcomes are the result of player action and chance :)

I finished the second day raid on Truk - mission 30 - this AM and will do the same mission for a TBF. The player will randomly fly one of these two missions. I chose not to do additional second day strikes and move on to Saipan and the Marianas instead. This campaign is going to be long enough as it is.

Back to the Truk missions: I have the player attacking targets on one island - Moen - while other formations attack other islands. This does nothing but add "eye candy" to the missions, but the frames seem okay on my laptop. With all the ships in the anchorages, I used only a few of Usio's craft so as not to significantly impact playability.

PS: Just finished mission 31. Now to do my research for 32 and beyond... :)

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished the first Marianas mission - an itercept mission - and am working on the strikes on Saipan. I'll do 3 for Saipan and 3 for Guam. I'll be adding random enemy aircraft to break the monotony of pure strike missions.

For the Aslito/Saipan strike I'm trying staggered, different flight paths to lessen collision opportunities and to break the monotony for me :) It is recom,ended that the player do not use MR's Marianas as it's too early in the war for those bases and I'm building on stock mesh/scenery there.

[mariereid]

Have ya run into a snag, my friend? Are ya busy with scenery, or are ya researching?:salute::ernae:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I had a minor snag... The Marianas CAP mission got corrupted somehow and I had to redo it. Other than that, everything is going fine. :salute: I finished the 3 Saipan strike missions and I'm about to start on the 2nd of 3 Tinian strikes tonight, then on to Guam. This is all in late FEB 44, a few months before the invaion and "Great Turkey Shoot" in June.

I'm on the road right now and without a joystick. I'll be home Friday and can resume flight testing them then.

[bearcat241]

...All the info I've found about this plane is that it entered service in mid 44, and we're talking about Nov43 here. Maybe is the pilot report written years later and he's confusing it with another plane (a B6N Tenzan is very similar in shape)?

There's only a six to seven month span - give or take a couple of weeks - from 11/43 to 6/44. Regarding the finer points, historians don't always tell the most accurate stories. They use a different set of filters in compiling the "facts". Its often best to lean some weight on the word of the men and women on the front. Just because a plane is reported as entering service on a certain date for historical record doesn't make it 100% accurate, even if collaborated from multiple sources. These reports are often based on mass deployments in numbers, whereas a plane may actually have seen operations in very limited numbers before full mass production began delivery to the front.

I've heard people say that the FW190 wasn't "operational" during the BOB period, but you may read sparodic accounts of Spit V's tangling disastrously with the early Butcherdird over northern France during the close of this campaign and the months following. Same with Zero's over China and SE Asia during the AVG heyday -- the Zero wasn't yet "operational" either during this time, but a few AVG guys claimed to have engaged them on a very limited basis.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Finished Tinian and set up Guam with all sorts of juicy targets. I'll work on the Guam missions themselves some tomorrow morning and evening. According to my sources, all these attacks took place on Feb 23rd, so I'm going to have to recover the Tinian planes, swing around and get into range to hit Guam before sunset...

My 12 year old daughter is getting an academic award here in Frederick MD for a poem she wrote and we are going to the ceremony at 6PM and dinner. I leave to go home Friday AM and will flight test the missions I finished after I get there and rest a bit. Busy day ahead... :jump:

Ooops! I just looked at my research notes and found that I forgot a fighter sweep over Guam on the 22nd. I quickly set up a shell for that and will build it first starting tomorrow.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Home now... I flight tested the Guam fighter sweep mission twice. I have 6 groups of 3-4 Japanese aircraft taking off from the airbase, and despite a 20-30 second interval between them, they kept having collisions. So I scrapped that idea and changed the mission so all but 2 have an in-the-air spawn. :173go1:

I'll flight test the remaining 6 missions this evening after dinner.

[mariereid]

Sounds like you are just about done! Jeez man, What are ya gonna do, 6 big campaigns a year!? :salute::ernae:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Sounds like you are just about done! Jeez man, What are ya gonna do, 6 big campaigns a year!? :salute::ernae:

DONE!!!??? Ha, ha... I stil have the Marianas invasion, Palau, the Philippines, Okinawa, Formosa and the raids on Japan to do. I'm only at the end of FEB 1944.

[mariereid]

Sorry bud, I wasn't trying to rush ya, hee, hee.:salute::ernae:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

DONE!!!??? Ha, ha... I stil have the Marianas invasion, Palau, the Philippines, Okinawa, Formosa and the raids on Japan to do. I'm only at the end of FEB 1944.

...But I did finish the first Marianas raids and flight tested them. Now the Essex is headed for San Fran for her only WWII overhaul. She'll be back in action in June 44 again in the Marianas invasion I will skip the training raids on Marcus and Wake) and the "Marianas Turkey Shoot." :salute:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Nakajima B6N1: Starting with the Marianas invasion I need one of these. The first one I found in the archives is Thicko's bird. It looks pretty good, and he has a good rep, so I'm just asking for any other recommendations for the "Jill".

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Sorry bud, I wasn't trying to rush ya, hee, hee.:salute::ernae:
Not trying to rush myself either. I get bored easy, being here by myself and just get the urge to open up MB.

I finished building the Marianas convoy strike mission - June 12, 1944, just before the Saipan invasion. I used a few Usio ships, some VN craft and the new ship from Collin's site - 20 ships in all. I built (as I often do) 3 missions - F6F, TBF and SB2C. I flight tested the F6F mission but got my wing shot off as soon as I released my bombs. I'll flight test that one again and the other two tomorrow. :wiggle:

Historically the Essex didn't participate in the air battles and fleet strike mission of the Battle of the Philippine Sea (Great Marianas Turkey Shoot). I'm debating using her anyway. What do you guys think? The campaign has plenty of island raids already and I'd like to break it up a bit.

[mariereid]

Hmm... your campaigns are usually a great history lesson. I know you do a lot of research and have a great deal of knowledge about military history. I will live with whatever you decide to do.:salute::salute::salute:






psst......keep it real! :ernae:

[bearcat241]

....Historically the Essex didn't participate in the air battles and fleet strike mission of the Battle of the Philippine Sea (Great Marianas Turkey Shoot). I'm debating using her anyway. What do you guys think? The campaign has plenty of island raids already and I'd like to break it up a bit.

Sounds good to me, but since we have all of the participant fleet carriers available in CFS2, do you really want the extra work?

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Sounds good to me, but since we have all of the participant fleet carriers available in CFS2, do you really want the extra work?

Thanks. Good point. I don't mind the work... it helps keep me sane. Talon has already covered that engagement. More opinions?

Update: 23 missions out of 44 possible various mission options done.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I took Marieried's suggestion and stayed historical. I can always go back and build "Turkey Shoot" missions if y'all talk me into it. :) After the strike on the convoy, I moved on to Palau/Peleliu with strikes on the island. I added some random, weak Japanese intercept to keep it interesting.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished 6 missions in the last 2 days and flight tested them. Palau is done and I'm moving on to the Philippines. 50 missions total... :)

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished 6 missions in the last 2 days and flight tested them. Palau is done and I'm moving on to the Philippines. 50 missions total... :)

After a short rest, I began the Philippines missions. I completed 2 missions for the convoy strike near Surigao, Mindinao on Sep 9 1944 - the player will fly either a TBF Avenger with torpedoes or an SB2C with bombs and rockets. Fighters will escort. The missions I'm working on now will take place 1/2 hour earlier than the above 2 and strike at the airfield at Del Monte, Mindinao. Since MR's Philippine bases are not in GSL, I peppered the airfield and harbor with "destroyable" targets.

For the fighter, divebomber and level bomber versions there will be plenty of Japanese aircraft to shoot down and dodge. I used 15 fighters for an intercept/fighter sweep role and 3 more for high escort of the dive bombers. One squadron each of TBFs and SB2Cs will compose the strike force. Random spawning of the Japanese Zekes and Oscars with varying skill levels iis used.

I'm ready to start the dive and level bomber versions of this mission this PM and will flight test all 5 before I move on. I'm building the campaign CMG as I go so as to save confusion later.

After these 5 missions are flight tested, I'm moving on to the strikes on Cebu City in the central Philippines on Sep 12th. I need a Rufe for these and I am told Akemi has a decent one. Any other suggestions? Again, the background scenery does not have destroyable objects (non-GSL), so I'll be placing a number of targets there. I spoke with Talon last night on Skype and got some good clues as to what to place there. He did the mission in an earlier campaign. :)

Cheers!

All the missions are flight tested... on to Cebu City!

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished and flight tested the Cebu City night CAP and the Manila fighter sweep missions. I'll be starting the Manila strikes later tonight.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Can anyone recommend GSL scenery for Formosa and Okinawa? I have MR's Formosa, but it's non-GSL.

I have pretty much finished the Philippines up to the end of SEP 44. I may do one more mission there after the Manila strike (one strike and a fighter sweep done already)... I'll think it over today. After the Philippines, we move on to strikes on Okinawa.

Cheers:

SW

[Ghostrider]

That sounds like a blast, SW - you are doing what I always wanted to do for CV-10/Yorktown. I think Yorktown and Essex were tag-teaming on many of those operations. I seem to have too many logs in the fire at this point to get such a sustained CFS2 effort together. Appreciate all your work!

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Thanks for your thoughts Ghostrider. :salute: I'm taking a couple of days off from my mission building while I search for more information on what targets were struck on Okinawa and Formosa. I already have some for her return to the Philippines. As I said, MR's Formosa is good but I'll have to "pepper" the target areas with destroyable objects like I did in the Philippines. Okinawa, on the other hand is a bare map. I could build something, but I don't as yet have coordinates. I will :)

I have, so far, completed 31 missions for the player out of a possible 63 random choices. That's more work than I've done on any project before and I'm at best 2/3 finished!

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I completed and flight tested 3 mission options for an Okinawa strike and moved southwest to Formosa. There I'll do a couple more strike missions with a fighter sweep on the city and base at Takao. Then I'll head for the Leyte Gulf/Sibuyan Sea engagements - fleet on fleet at last! :wiggle:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished the strikes on Takao, Formosa and I am now building missions to depict the Philippines campaign. The first will be a CAP mission on 24 OCT, where a Judy slipped through and sank the CVL Princeton. The second will also be on 24 OCT 44 to cover the strikes on IJN Center Force, where the Musashi was sunk and several other BBs and CAs were damaged.... Battle of the Sibuyan Sea.

73 missions now completed. :a1089:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished the Sibuyan Sea strike missions. They are tough! I got shot down twice. I'm working now on the CAP mission in which the Princeton was hit and later sank. Chronologically it was an hour and a half before the Sibuyan strikes, so I'll have to insert it in the cmg before the missions I've already done... no problem there though. I'm trying to use quite a bit of random spawning for the Japanese and some for US reinforcements to the CAP.

I ran into a snag yesterday with a corrupted mission file, but I think I fixed the problem and I am near finished. I may yet add a few more planes - the Japanese attacked in 3 waves of 50+ aircraft - with the player acting as the last line of defense for those enemy planes that got through the screen.

I'm going out of town for a few days for a conference (DAV) but will have my computer with me, so work should continue, albiet a bit slower.

Cheers:

SW

PS: I just arrived in Roanoke VA and am in my new command post...

[mariereid]

Man, sounds like a great one! I have been following your post, lately I don't even want to look at my pc. Maybe when you finish this campaign and upload it, I will get interested again. Nice to see you are keeping busy, my friend. :salute::ernae:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Okay Rick: I finished the Sibuyan Sea battle and CAP mission, but now it gets complicated. I have a bunch of strikes on Manila, Bataan, shipping etc in a very short timeframe to chose from. Out of all those, I'll probably do 2 or 3 including the strike on an IJN CA off Leyte. The raid on Manila harbor looks inviting too. Both were tough missions, according to one flyer's war diary.

Essex was hit by a Kamikaze in this time period, but quickly restored flight ops. The other ships in her task group were attacked, and some hit at this time, so I may do an anti-kamikaze CAP mission. Note: these are dangerous for the player, 'cause when those babies blow up, they blow up! You can't get too close.

There... just in writing this I gave myself some ideas! :jump:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I forgot to include the mission for the attack on the decoy Northern Force. I finished that mission and I'm now working on a Manila Harbor strike. I'll do 3 of those with random elements, an anti-kamikaze CAP and then move down towards Leyte.

[Captain Kurt]

What a saga this is turning out to be. I wish I could develop campaigns as quickly as you.

I'm sincerely looking forward to the release. Don't know when I will find the time to fly it, but I will eventually carve some out somewhere along the line.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Well CK, I have finished the Manila Bay strike missions and one of two (daytime or night) anti-kamikazi CAP missions and flight tested them. Once the second CAP is done, it will be a total of 87 missions, with the player flying 41 of them. I will probably cut it off at 50 player missions or maybe 100 total if I get lazy. I have all the target photos and the downloads list up to date. :salute: Maybe Rick Ried will volunteer to test them for me again? :)

[mariereid]

Sounds good to me! I will turn skype on, in case you need to get in touch with me. I am back at renovating the house, so I might miss a call now and then.

My CFS2 rig has been sitting idle for over a week now. Flying your missions might just be the kick in the pants I need! Thank you, my friend.:salute::ernae:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Sounds good to me! I will turn skype on, in case you need to get in touch with me. I am back at renovating the house, so I might miss a call now and then.

My CFS2 rig has been sitting idle for over a week now. Flying your missions might just be the kick in the pants I need! Thank you, my friend.:salute::ernae:

Dust off your set my man... the end product will be coming soon! :running:

I just finished three Ormoc Bay strikes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ormoc_Bay , added some random fighters for effect and flight tested one fine. Moving on...

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished the Manila ay strik missions and I'm now working on a convoy strike and the kamikaze raid, where the Essex suffered her first losses - Nov 25 44 for both. The Kami mission is done but for the flight testing and 1 of the convoy strikes is done. After I finish and flight test these 4 missions, I'll decide where to go next: Formosa? Hong Kong? Coast of Japan???

80 degrees F here today! (26.7 C)

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished the Manila ay strik missions and I'm now working on a convoy strike and the kamikaze raid, where the Essex suffered her first losses - Nov 25 44 for both. The Kami mission is done but for the flight testing and 1 of the convoy strikes is done. After I finish and flight test these 4 missions, I'll decide where to go next: Formosa? Hong Kong? Coast of Japan???

80 degrees F here today! (26.7 C)

I finished those missions, noted above and flight tested them all. Everything worked well, but you have to watch out for those Japanese fighters... the covering Hellcats let a few slip through! The targets, including those new transports on Colin's site are hard, so don't miss with your bombs or torpedoes... every hit helps! Collisions are the main source of losses and I've tried different formation arragements with attack angles/vectors in mind, but I can live with them (the collisions) just the same.

Those danged Kamikazes! Every time I get over anxious and get too close to the last one and blow up my own plane with the Zeke. What I usually try to do is get a fuselage hit at 500-800M and go for wing tips at close range. Wing tip hits cause him to spin out of control without blowing up (usually). This is hard to do in the dark though. I need more practice, a steadier hand and new glasses. :)

I'm a bit MB fatigued, so I'm going to take a short break before deciding on and building the closing campaign missions. I have a total of 96 individual missions completed so far with the player flying 43 of them, up to the end of 1944. I have the downloads list up to date and 31 target photos done so far. :wiggle:

Cheers:

SW-07

PS: Ashort video... http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j220/Pechora07/?action=view&current=USSEssexTorpedoRun.mp4

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished those missions, noted above and flight tested them all. Everything worked well, but you have to watch out for those Japanese fighters... the covering Hellcats let a few slip through! The targets, including those new transports on Colin's site are hard, so don't miss with your bombs or torpedoes... every hit helps! Collisions are the main source of losses and I've tried different formation arragements with attack angles/vectors in mind, but I can live with them (the collisions) just the same.

Those danged Kamikazes! Every time I get over anxious and get too close to the last one and blow up my own plane with the Zeke. What I usually try to do is get a fuselage hit at 500-800M and go for wing tips at close range. Wing tip hits cause him to spin out of control without blowing up (usually). This is hard to do in the dark though. I need more practice, a steadier hand and new glasses. :)

I'm a bit MB fatigued, so I'm going to take a short break before deciding on and building the closing campaign missions. I have a total of 96 individual missions completed so far with the player flying 43 of them, up to the end of 1944. I have the downloads list up to date and 31 target photos done so far. :wiggle:

Cheers:

SW-07

PS: Ashort video... http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j220/Pechora07/?action=view&current=USSEssexTorpedoRun.mp4

I'm now up to 46/99 missions and just started work on Operation JAMBOREE - the February 16-17 1945 strikes on the Tokyo area. I am building my own scenery for the Yokohama factories and ports and creating a GSL gob, rather than suffer the framerate drain of Mission Builder placed objects. Rami: I remembered not to put AA guns and ships in the layout/gob! :) As I often do, the Yokohama mission will be composed of 3 optional missions with different aircraft.

I finished the fighter sweep and will work on the SB2C and TBF versions later after I get home.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Yokohama missions done - 1 fighter sweep and 2 bomber missions. Missions 100-102 with the player flying 47 of them.

I've already started the next series - a massive strike on the battleship Yamato (Operation Ten-go). I have Essex strike group leading the attack with 80 planes, The fighters are going in with full loads ahead of the bombers. Their mission is to suppress AA fire from the escorting DDs and CL. Then the divebombers come in in 2 waves, followed by the torpedo planes. I'm using Usio's ships for the Japanese F, so the targets aren't going to be "pushovers."

I'm going to end the campaign wih two cap missions after the Yamato strike at 50 missions for the player. You get to go home and train new pilots after that. :) Once done, I'm going to double check my downloads list and .cmg setup. Then I'll load the campaign and test it and ask for beta testing volunteer. I should be ready for beta testing and my test by the end of this weekend.

SW07

[Ghostrider]

You get to go home and train new pilots after that. :)
SW07

Idea for an alternate ending: Tokyo Bay surrender ceremony flyover? :wavey:

Sounds like a great campaign!

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I hope so Ghostrider.

The Yamato strike missions are finished and seem to work well. We didn't sink her but inflicted the damage percentage of the mission goal... caualties were moderate. The fighters bomb and strafe the screening destroyers, while the divebombers and torpedo planes attack Yamato. After sinking my target DD, I flew around and watched the others attack the Yamato - it was a pretty sight. The mission uses 90 planes in all. I don't like the way ships just run iin any old direction when you set them to "turn," so in this one I set them to "do not evade and plotted zig-zag courses for them. Tedious but it looks good and works well.

I started work on the first of the last 2 missions last night - the intercept of a mix of conventional bombers and Kamikazes. I added some randomness to it this AM and I'm near finished with the building. Then I have to do the briefing write up and test it, add it to the .cmg and move on.

GR: That VJ-Day flyover is a good idea, but I think I'll finish up with one more CAP or perhaps a strike mission on Japan. It will make for 50 player flyable out of 107-109 mission choices. Long, yes, but survivable. The last thing I have to do is go back in and correct some errors I made: I discovered in browsing through Cody Coyote's Handbook that when attacking infrastructure, stationary ships, the attackers mission should be set for "strike" not "anti ship." I already checked and corrected over half of my missions, but need to check a few more and make the corrections.

Don't know what I'm gonna do when I finish this one. I'm not going to retire, but I will take a nice break before my next project. I expect to finish everything but final testing in the next 2 days or less. I have a lot of stuff to do around the house and the gym to keep me busy. :) Mybe Talon will find something for me to work on next... :salute:

[Ghostrider]

I hope so Ghostrider.

The Yamato strike missions are finished and seem to work well. We didn't sink her but inflicted the damage percentage of the mission goal... caualties were moderate. The fighters bomb and strafe the screening destroyers, while the divebombers and torpedo planes attack Yamato. After sinking my target DD, I flew around and watched the others attack the Yamato - it was a pretty sight. The mission uses 90 planes in all. I don't like the way ships just run iin any old direction when you set them to "turn," so in this one I set them to "do not evade and plotted zig-zag courses for them. Tedious but it looks good and works well.

I started work on the first of the last 2 missions last night - the intercept of a mix of conventional bombers and Kamikazes. I added some randomness to it this AM and I'm near finished with the building. Then I have to do the briefing write up and test it, add it to the .cmg and move on.

GR: That VJ-Day flyover is a good idea, but I think I'll finish up with one more CAP or perhaps a strike mission on Japan. It will make for 50 player flyable out of 107-109 mission choices. Long, yes, but survivable. The last thing I have to do is go back in and correct some errors I made: I discovered in browsing through Cody Coyote's Handbook that when attacking infrastructure, stationary ships, the attackers mission should be set for "strike" not "anti ship." I already checked and corrected over half of my missions, but need to check a few more and make the corrections.

Don't know what I'm gonna do when I finish this one. I'm not going to retire, but I will take a nice break before my next project. I expect to finish everything but final testing in the next 2 days or less. I have a lot of stuff to do around the house and the gym to keep me busy. :) Mybe Talon will find something for me to work on next... :salute:

Heheh - I know that Yorktown fighters had at least one "incident" after the cease-fire as well. All sorts of interesting possibilities. I'm sure whatever you do will be kick@$$! You will deserve a nice break after this one. Thank you for all of your hard work on this -

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished up the last mission this AM and added the wind (by hand editing) to several earlier ones. I fixed a few errors on the .cmg file and the campaign loads okay on my comp now.

I just sent Mariereid a copy of the work to help me test it. Any more volunteers? :salute:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I have flight tested the first 2 missions with no problems. I shouldn't have any as I am the builder. I got promoted on mission 2. :) I did learn of one error in my downloads list and fixed it though, I have 2 volunteers already - thank you guys!

[Ghostrider]

Hey SW,

I'd love to see it - hope we don't have mdlnames issues - if we do, oh well.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Hey SW,

I'd love to see it - hope we don't have mdlnames issues - if we do, oh well.

I included a copy of my mdlnames file and callsigns.dat file too in the package. :wavey:

I've run 4 missions and corrected a couple of typos in the "briefing." I'll run a few more tomorrow morning.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I included a copy of my mdlnames file and callsigns.dat file too in the package. :wavey:

I've run 4 missions and corrected a couple of typos in the "briefing." I'll run a few more tomorrow morning.

I've got 11 done now and see no need to make changes... I just made LtCDR (Major for you Army pukes :) )

[Shadow Wolf 07]

For the folks who are flight testing:

Replace the essex_a-marianas-cap_1b.mis and .dyn files with these new essex_a-marianasCap_1b.mis and .dyn files. I've already made a few "minor" tuning changes to other missions, but none as vital as these.

I have completed 19 missions now... lost a few wingmen in the Truk engagements and I'm moving on to the Marianas battles.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Halfway there ... I've got 25 missions done so far. No major issues woth the cmg since that 1. The most dangerous missions are the ones where I fly a bomber or torpedo plane, since I have to rely on the protection of others. Now, on to the Philippines! :jump:

PS: I haven't heard anything from my testers yet. (no news is good news I guess. :)

[Shadow Wolf 07]

...Del Monte Philippines fighter sweep.

[skylane]

Hi SW!
Amazing how you get this massive project done in so little time! I´m really looking forward to flying your new campaign!

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Thanks Skylane. :salute: I only work (volunteer) at my Disabled American Veterans chapter 3 days a week, 5 hours each day, so I have plenty of time for mission building. A good half of the missions are a repeat of the preceeding mission (moving from fighter to a TBF or a divebomber). And building those is relatively simple. I just swap callsigns, waypoints, targets and loadouts and a few other details and I'm done!

As I progress with my campaign testing, I am making some "fine tuning" changes to many of the missions. I've flown and finished 29 missions so far and have 21 to go. The first strike on Manila is next, then I'm moving on to the raids on Okinawa and Formosa, then back to the Philippines again.

I know some players like to fly with status messages turned off, but I strongly recommend they use them, especially for the CAP missions as a lot of the combat instructions are dispalyed, ie: the headings, distance and altitudes of intercept. I also recomment that players read the briefings, study any target photos and the map in Advance Info.

[bobhegf]

I have been unable to get on here for sometime but I also completed the Marcus Island attack about 5 missions at this point.I am doing the Enterprise missions flown durring this time. The reason there was so little info about the Marcus Island attack was because there was very little action from the fighter pilots stand point.All my missions are fighter missions only.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Five more missions done. I'm up to 35 now and I'm taking a break... no more for today! :salute:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished and cleaned up as far as mission #41 - 9 more to go.

Hey Talon: My next mission is the USN contribution to your Ormoc Bay battle! No skip bombing though. The random choice roll of the dice has me flying a divebomber this time. :salute:

I still haven't heard from my volunteers, so I guess they aren't having any major problems.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Getting some needed, and successful torpedo practice in Manila Bay (see pics) my flight and I next went on to a convoy attack mission of the west central coast of Luzon. Our fighters held the enemy planes off of us while we all got through and sank 2 ships!

Next, we go back to fighter planes to engage Kamikazes off Luzon's west coast... (Mission 45).


PS: The Kamikazes got whacked!

[Captain Kurt]

Your campaign should really be something great when you are finished :ernae:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Only missions 49 and 50 remain. I'll get to them tomorrow. :jump:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished the campaign and it ended okay. Everything checks out fine - al least on my computer. I lost a lot of wingmen - some of my best towards the end. and I destroyed a "boatload" of targets and planes. I had to refly a few missions after editing conditions but otherwise it flew smoothly - but tough. I broke a sweat a few times. :)

I double checked the readmes and other docs. Now I'm just waiting for feedback from my testers to confirm that there are no ommissions to the downloads list before I upload. Many of the missions they have are changed. I modified some or took out unrealistic goals, adjusted a few altitudes at some waypoints, corrected briefing typos etc.

I will be uploading soon...


:salute:


PS: For the first time in weeks, I have nothing to do!

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I attempted to contact my campaign testers and learned that one had to bail out becuse of personal reasons, and I haven't heard at all from the other. I am reluctant to upload an "untested" campaign set, though the missions and campaign setup work fine. I mainly need to be sure that the download list is all inclusive. I'm pretty sure it is because I added planes and ships to the list as I built each mission. But you never know... I might have missed one or two.

I don't want to go through the embarassment and inconvenience to you all of having to pull an upload after simple changes are made, like often happens here at SOH and on other sites. I'll leave it open for now, in hopes that someone will step forward and volunteer to test it. If not, I'll decide on whether or not to upload anyway in the next day or two. :salute:

Suggestions? Volunteers?

[Captain Kurt]

Hey Shadow Wolf,

I would suggest you put this request in a separate post rather than here. I will bet a lot more people will see it faster. For example, I read the newest posts, but I only check in to the long running threads occasionally and then catch up.

I would like to volunteer to test it but as you know I am currently neck deep my own campaign development. Tell you what, try the above suggestion and if no volunteers come forward I'll take a break and do it. You'll need to return the favor when I get the 354th FG campaign ready for test though LOL :wavey:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Hey Shadow Wolf,

I would suggest you put this request in a separate post rather than here. I will bet a lot more people will see it faster. For example, I read the newest posts, but I only check in to the long running threads occasionally and then catch up.

I would like to volunteer to test it but as you know I am currently neck deep my own campaign development. Tell you what, try the above suggestion and if no volunteers come forward I'll take a break and do it. You'll need to return the favor when I get the 354th FG campaign ready for test though LOL :wavey:

You are probably right CK but I'm going to let it go and go ahead and upload anyway on Monday or Tuesday if I get no responses. I'm getting bored already and may even go and re-fly the campaign myself again, just to verify the changes. I'm pretty confident on the downloads list, but would like someone to try it for a test. Oh well... :running: