PNG Missions

[Talon]

Thanks to Captain Kurt I got very interested in N.G. Operations. I've found alot of info on the B-25 ,B-24,B-17,A-20 and even B-26's operations. To me this could be a very interesting mission project. I know I usually do carrier ops,LOL but have done a few missions from the ground too.

Any thoughts on this?


Talon

[Jagdflieger]

I think that a mission set or campaign based on General Kenny's 5th Air Force or the RAAF would be great. Between Maskrider, Pen32 and DVSlats the necessary airfields are in place as well as MR's Kokoda Track scenery. Much of the Milne Bay scenery would also be useful and there is good mesh available for missions to the west beyond the default MS mesh which ends in the vicinity of Wewak. A project like this would compliment the old DOA and Bismarck Sea campaigns and with the improved aeroplanes, ships and scenery it would be most immersive.

Korea is called "The Forgotten War" and perhaps the NG campaign could be called "The Forgotten Campaign." For anyone wanting to look into the aerial side of the NG campaign, I heartily suggest the book "Fire in the Sky" by Eric Bergerud.

[Ghostrider]

Great potential in this AO. bullet holes and Palm fronds in the nacelles when you get home. Lots of fun with fighters and bombers - air to ground and air to ship - love it!

[Talon]

It will start May 9,1942 with the attack on Deboyne Lagoon by B-26's and 1 B-17. This is where the float planes that found the US Fleet at the Coral Sea tookoff from.


Talon

[Captain Kurt]

Yahoo! :icon30:

[Talon]

After thinking about it I decided to start the missions August 6,1942. It will be mostly B-25's and A-20's with some fighter missions. B-17's,B24's and B-26's will be used as AI planes when needed.


Talon

[Talon]

I've started a PNG Campaign focusing on B-25 and A-20 operations. There will be a few fighter missions included when they are needed. I just did one where P=39s bombed an airfield in August 1942. I started this campaign on August 6.1942 wirh B-25s and B-25s bombing Salamaua and Lae. One of the fun missions is when 1 B-17 and 1 B-25 try to destroy a Japanese Submarine in the Gulf of Papau.

In some missions you will be going after Japanese barges on rivers and on shore. You will be doing support for the ground troops in some areas,bombing some bridges and attacking harbors.

How many missions? I have no idea yet or long it will take me to do this campaign. I still have to look up a few co-ordinates in a few places.


Talon

[watchdog22]

Really looking forward to these missions Talon, Air to surface missions are among my favourites

[Ghostrider]

Sounds very cool, Talon! I'd be glad to help as time and schedule allow.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Sounds good Talon. Glad to see you are back in the saddle again.

SW07

[Talon]

Since alot of the Medium Bombers did low level attacks or Glide Bombing I've fixed them to do this.This was no problem with the TR and Pen32Win B-25s as most already do that. I fixed the A-20 and B-26 so they could also do it. The B-17's did level bombing most of the time but also did some glide and skip bombing so I have one that will do that.


Talon

[Rami]

Talon,

Your work is fantastic, as always. Sorry I haven't been around much to lend you my support! :wavey:

[Talon]

Here's some pics of B-25s attacking Salamaua August 6,1942. B-26's were also involved in the attack.

5 missions are done.In missions 5 you observe as B-26s attack AA on Salamaua and if they don't do the job you have to do it. You can't warp to attack Lae until the AA guns are destroyed. At Lae B-17s join you in the attack. You can watch as the airfield is exploding from the B-17s.


Talon

[Talon]

Talon,

Your work is fantastic, as always. Sorry I haven't been around much to lend you my support! :wavey:

Well Rami It seems there isn't much interest in this mission set either. Only 5 people spoke up and it's the usual ones that do. I think maybe it's time for me to just hangup CFS2 and have the PHP2 missions as my last contribution. :wavey:


Talon

[skylane]

Hi Talon,
this is a very interesting project, and I would be very happy if you would go ahead with it!
I recently found this book about the war in New Guinea:


34196


It deals mostly with the offensive against Wewak and Hollandia, and it is very informative.

Regarding the number of people responding, well, I would not see this as a lack of interest. I also got very little feedback on the campaigns I did so far, but if I look at the number of downloads, there seems to be some interest in them after all. I definitely will build, and publish, more campaigns in the future, and I look forward to every new campaign from you!

[gavinc]

Hi Talon,
I for one have been lurking and following the thread with interest.

Haven't piped up because i didn't have anything constructive to add.

I must admit the thought of skip-bombing with something size of a B-17 makes me go a little wobbly.

Gavin

[Captain Kurt]

Don't give up now Talon. This is something sorely lacking in the PTO. The skip bombing tactic was a big part of the overall bombing effort. And up to now, we could not experience it. :wavey:

[Talon]

Don't give up now Talon. This is something sorely lacking in the PTO. The skip bombing tactic was a big part of the overall bombing effort. And up to now, we could not experience it. :wavey:

Captain Kurt,

Not to worry. I'm going to keep working on it because of the interest I have in doing the missions. I already have 8 missions done covering 3 - 4 days of bombing action. After a few more missions I will be doing some Milne Bay missions with P-40s and bombing of the Japanese forces by B-26s,B-26s and B-17s. As I get into 1943 the "Battle of the Bismsrck Sea" will be covered ( Those missions are already done ). I was going to release them but nobody showed much interest in them either or how to fix the B -17 or A-20 so they could skip bomb.

Well at least I'm having fun building and flying the missions and will continue to.


Talon

[UncleTgt]

Talon,

I'm with Skylane on this - please don't let a lack of posting think your work will be ignored - far from it. :ernae:

If I can stop fiddling with repaints & scenery long enough I would like to learn how to make really good missions, & following the germination of stuff like this ( & Shadow Wolf, Captain Kurt, Rami etc.) can spur the rest of us laggards into finding ways to contribute ... :monkies:

I have copies of your earlier AI notes/ threads, but like many other "latecomers" would appreciate some nuggets of mission build info being passed on through these threads.

For instance, with a ground pounding campaign, how do you make a series of missions like this less cookie cutter-ish? Is it all about randomisation, or are there other tricks & tweaks in the toolbox?

Keep us all enthralled!:applause:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Talon,

I'm with Skylane on this - please don't let a lack of posting think your work will be ignored - far from it. :ernae:

If I can stop fiddling with repaints & scenery long enough I would like to learn how to make really good missions, & following the germination of stuff like this ( & Shadow Wolf, Captain Kurt, Rami etc.) can spur the rest of us laggards into finding ways to contribute ... :monkies:

I have copies of your earlier AI notes/ threads, but like many other "latecomers" would appreciate some nuggets of mission build info being passed on through these threads.

For instance, with a ground pounding campaign, how do you make a series of missions like this less cookie cutter-ish? Is it all about randomisation, or are there other tricks & tweaks in the :salute:Keep us all enthralled!:applause:

I wholeheartedly agree with the call to not be discouraged... we do this for ourselves, not for praise. You work is appreciated bro Talon!

UncleTgt: Don't feel bad at all. You do plenty. Painting is a skill I can only dream of dabbling in.

[Pen32Win]

Hey Talon;

I think I've got another Airfield for your project, one I did and never got around to putting out. It's Hansa-South which was right down the shore from Hansa-North. I know B-25's Raided it and the shipping in Hansa Bay.

[Talon]

[QUOTE=Shadow Wolf 07;567768]I wholeheartedly agree with the call to not be discouraged... we do this for ourselves, not for praise. You work is appreciated bro Talon!

It's not about praise.I just want other peoples thoughts about what they like and what they don't like in missions.

At one time alot of people would speakup and make suggestions for a mission set or campaign. Now it's like pulling teeth to get anyone to say anything with the exception of them needing help with something.

UncleTgt

The first thing you should do is get Cody Coyote's tutorial on doing missions to start off with. Do some simple missions and than expand them as you go along. This way you get to learn about the Mission Builder. My other suggestion is to watch how the AI planes react and attack when bombing or doing torpedo attacks. You can learn alot. Attacking ships out to sea is a lot different then attacking them in a harbor.especially with mountains around the harbor. With mountains around you have to figure angles of attack so the planes don't crash into the mountains. I did a thread on this a few years ago with AI torpedo planes attacking a ship as a infrastructure in Harbor.


Talon

[skylane]

Talon,
I must have missed that thread about harbor attacks. Do you change anything in the respective aircraft´s files, or is it about plotting the waypoints for the attack?

Pen32win,
Are you planning to upload the Hansa South airfield? I´m also working on a missions project in New Guinea, and I sure could use this airfield!

[UncleTgt]

Talon,

Understand the frustration - sometimes it can feel like you're working in a vacuum...

I did a "Jagd" & got a printed copy of Cody's tutorial, it's huge repository of useful information, & not only about mission building!

I have some test missions I made that I use for viewing repaints, you're so right about watching AI behaviour. :monkies:The things I seem to struggle with are:

improving replayability by introducing more events & triggers - there's definitely an art to getting enough randomness in a mission without destroying the original set up altogether.

resisting the temptation to blame the AI performance on the airfile & go fiddle with the MOI ...

I also frequently misinterpret the effect different skill & aggression settings have on AI performance - that's another "art" that seems to be almost unique to each type of aircraft (probably partly the effect of MOI settings again). ACE/ HIGH isn't always the best settings for your AI ....

Ah well, back to the handbook....:wavey:

[Talon]

[QUOTE=skylane;567912]Talon,
I must have missed that thread about harbor attacks. Do you change anything in the respective aircraft´s files, or is it about plotting the waypoints for the attack?

Skylane,

Here's a link to that thread.The pics aren't there anymore.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/archive/index.php/t-7115.html?


Talon

[skylane]

Hi Talon!
Thanks for the link! Very useful information, and interesting what you can do with this sim if you "think outside the box"!

[Talon]

I've decided to expand on this campaign. There will be fighter missions in it also. One of the Nissions will be P-39s attacking Buna on August 25,1942 and RAAF P-40s attacking Japanese barges at Goodenough Island.

So far I have 11 missions done,in one mission you fly a B-17 to Kavieng by yourself and attack the airfield with Zeros as CAP. I've been shot down a couple of times.

Another mission you attack a Japanese convoy with B-26s with no escort and the Convoy has Fighters protecting it. Another easy mission.


Talon

[Talon]

So far I have August of 1942 almost done. A few more missions should do it,I figure about 20 missions for August. Next will be September 1942 and you will get to fly some Beaufighters.

[Captain Kurt]

I'm looking forward to it. Keep on going. :wavey:

[Talon]

August 1942 in the PNG is finished. It's 24 missions and I now have 4 missions done for September. I figure September will be about the same number of missions.

You get to fly the A-20 and Beaufighter in September.

[Captain Kurt]

A-20!!

In 2003 when I was making planes and skins for EAW, I was indirectly introduced to a gentleman named Rod Arnett - formerly a Captain in the USAAF who was a pilot with the 674th Bomb Squadron, 417th Bomb Group, 5th Air Force. He flew an A-20G named Miss Winona in the Philippines in 1944 on ground attack, airfield strikes and anti-ship missions. His group first entered comabat in NG though I never learned if he flew there as well.

I was asked to make an A-20G model so he could fly it in EAW which I did, and painted it as his ship. He was presented with a large screen capture print of it as well by a local California veterans group. He was thrilled to be able to relive his wartime experience again.

Talon, I'm looking forward to being able to fly more realistic missions in an A-20 than was possible in EAW. And I'll be thinking of Captain Arnett. :salute: