Hey guys,

This thread is an idea that Shadow Wolf 07, myself, Talon, and others have kicked around periodically for a while now, and I thought since the action has been a little dull here of late, this would be a way for those who have thought about getting into Mission Builder can learn from some of the masters (Myself, Shadow Wolf 07, Devildog73, Skylane, Captain Kurt, and a few others) about how to design more complex missions and be able to make multiple missions on an event without having to start from scratch every time.

All of us have different techniques on hand-editing and mission setups that should offer some ideas and "peel the curtain" back a bit for those who find mission builder a little intimidating.

German bomber mission - This first mission is the German bomber mission, and was the most complex to set up. Each bomber formation consists of four flights of five, clustered in roughly a diamond shape. Your formation strikes Cambrai-Forenville, another strikes Denain, and the third hits Cambrai-Hayencourt.

As a personal preference, I use altitude in meters for French and German flights, and like to stagger bombers by 250 meters in altitude, or at least 500 feet for British and American flights.

I set the mission up so that each bomber flight travels the same distance on the same heading, that way all attacks are simultaneous. The bombers depart from Achmer, climb and assemble before turning southwest toward France. When they reach the Rhine Bf-110s meet them, and Bf-109s join up just before they reach Antwerp. All flights are spawned.

As a personal preference, I set up escorts to lead the bombers in most cases, so when I spawn them I place them on the same path as their escort assignment, 0.5 nautical miles ahead, and attach the escort at the next waypoint.

When the bombers approach the target, each formation faces their own fighter intercepts, and attacks their own airfield. (Cambrai-Forenville, Cambrai-Hayencourt, and Denain) One flight of fighters is set up to spawn in all cases against each formation, the others are on varying degrees of random chance percentages. Once the bombers release, the formations turn east and then northeast, heading back to Achmer. The Bf-109s break off near Asch, while the Bf-110s break off over the Rhine and return to bases near Bonn and Cologne. The bombers, including your flight, continue back to Achmer.

One major advantage about this is that only about thirty-six planes are visible at any given time, so it keep frame rate concerns in check.

I also used this mission as a template for all five of the other missions, which I will explain above. Each German mission that I go through will be in rough order, so you can see how I had to adjust, or re-time the path of the bombers to arrive in the case of the Bf-110s at the Rhine when you get there, or just northwest of Antwerp for the Bf-109s.