354th Fighter Group Campaign progress update

[Captain Kurt]

The first 3 missions are in the can and ??? to go.

I wish I could work as fast as Rami does, but I can't. Partly because I am developing completely from scratch but mostly because I'm not as good at it as he is. Nevertheless the mission development is finally underway.

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[Rami]

Kurt,

With a comment like that, it seems that you're trying to get me to bite like a worm on a hook. :icon_lol: I'm like you...I'm finding now that it's more the scenery (GSL ports and other stuff, like the Gosport Naval Yard I made today) that takes up more time now than the missions themselves.

It comes with experience...missions become easier to write over time...I pretty much have a set standard of how I like to do various types of missions, with variables on each one.

Beautiful picture, by the way. And, I'm looking forward to the campaign!

[Captain Kurt]

Work is progressing slowly, but it is progressing none the less. The first 15 missions are complete taking the player through February 1944 and the 8th Air Force "Big Week" operation.

I have interspersed mission development with finishing out some historical aircraft repaints, and I had to further tweak the flight models of several aircraft including the P-51B.

Unfortunately the company I have worked for is going out of busness and I am taking over several small projects on my own to see them completed and the clients taken care of. After that, necessarily, most of my time will now have to go towards finding a new position. I will continue the development but it will have to be at a slower pace.

Here is a new skin for the Rebuffat Bf109G-6/R6 from JG27 France1944, which is in large part adapted from an IL-2 skin template by a fellow called Revolver. If I had known beforehand how much trouble it was going to take, I would have just painted it from scratch, but the results look good.

Also the final P-47D paint scheme for the 356th Fighter Squadron. It took a long time to find a good source for a paint scheme for this squadron. These will of course be used in the campaign.
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[Discus]

CK

Good luck in your new adventures in real life and "first thing firts".

Your dedication has given good results. Those two skins look really good and full of details. I´d like to fly those beauties when times come!

Thanks for sharing your progress in your new ETO campaign. Will be waiting for it.

As years go by and I still see progress and interest in this sim, I would say that we will be "seeing" each other many many years from now. So don´t harry and enjoy the time being.

Cheers, Discus:salute:

[slim1]

By all means take care of your income first. I will be waiting though for your campaign, which I know will be worth the wait.

slim1

[Rami]

Kurt,

I agree with the others here, please would make sure to take care of your financial security first, we'll still be here for you.

[Ali Cat]

This is not good news and I want you to know that my heart is with you. If only you could use us as a reference then you would be rehired in a snap.

My own employment is in no danger but I must admit that it is making me miserable and in this god awful recession I don't see any alternatives. I'm afraid I too must step out of the CFS2 world – a land which I adore.

Cee's – you wanted some gauges and now that their easy to me I would be happy to do them. Another possibilty is that I could aide you if you want to make them yourself.

As of the tutorial it is a wonderful project but I'm coming to know that I have are bigger issues at hand. It is so much fun to dare to try and match “Cody”. This all will work out Captain and you like me will be OK. To a gentleman and a scholar and my friend – “the Captain”.


AC

[Captain Kurt]

Thanks for the well wishes. Ali, I hope yours is a short lived issue.

As for me, I have established my own company to take over unfinished projects from the previous employer and have won a few new ones as well. While I doubt it would be viable to make this a long term venture, (too specialized to create a consistent flow of work) it will tide us over for the short term and give me more time to find a new position.

My motto is now "It isn't over until I say it is."

[sc7500]

...My motto is now "It isn't over until I say it is."...

Spoken like a True Survivor. :applause:

You will be fine, Cap !
SC
:kilroy:

[Captain Kurt]

It takes about 1 whole evening and sometimes more to get a single escort mission completed, so it is slow going. I'm into April 1944 and have 23 missions in the can. In April, the 354th began alternating ground attack missions in preparation for D-Day and 8th Air Force bomber offensive escort missions.

At the same time they moved to the prototype Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) airfield at Lashenden to develop temporary airfield operating and living procedures.

It's hard to show a mission here, but I can show you a new skin, as the 355th FS began to strip the paint off of some of their P-51Bs at Lashenden as well. ZAT TOO FAST! was flown by an unknown pilot and the other by Lt. Wallace Emerson who didn't use a nose decoration. I also had to develop a ground attack AI flight model to get the P-51B to bomb and strafe. The original model just flew around without attacking. Works great now - really aggressive.

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[Finn]

Knowing your former formidable feats I already feel like a child waiting for X-mas:applause:
Finn

[Jagdflieger]

Lookin' good Captain.

What was the issue with the FM that kept it from attacking ground targets? A good FM is worth its weight in gold.

[Captain Kurt]

Thank you Finn.

Jagd, you can do 3 things. The first is the easiest by changing the aircraft .dp category to a dive bomber i.e. category 3. But then it won't act like a fighter anymore. If all you want to do is bomb, then that's OK but not for a fighter bomber. So I didn't use this.

The second thing is to fiddle with the trim settings. The AI fly by trim tab settings (weird huh?, but true) so the trim settings have be be loosened up using AirEd. If the trim setting is high, the AI won't press an attack, they pull out high and early to keep from crashing. Trim settings are in Section 1101, Pitch moment / Trim range and should be reset to about -0.60000 and the Aircraft.cfg file trim setting should 1.000. Test until the AI begin to obey the command to attack a ground target.

The third thing is to lower the moment of inertia settings in AirEd section 1001. These effect manueverability. The settings that are right for the player aircraft are probably too high for the computer controlled AI.
This is critical for this to work: The original moments of inertia values must be listed in the aircraft.cfg file. In CFS2 the AI will fly by the air file, but the player's aircraft uses the aircraft.cfg file IF the settings are listed there. When a setting is not in the aircraft.cfg file then the player aircraft defaults to using the air file. If the moment of inertia files are not in the aircraft.cfg file, they must be added before you start changing the settings in the air file. DO NOT change the settings that are in the aircraft.cfg file or the plane won't fly right for the player.

I used methods 2 and 3. Then test, test, test. You have to fiddle with these until the AI begin to obey the player's commands to attack ground targets.

I have the P-51B fighter flight model fine tuned so that it manuevers well against the opposing German fighters and is still true to the original aircraft specifications (within the CFS2 flight control program limitations because it isn't good enough to be right on in all flight envelops). So I still keep the AI fighter-bomber flight model separate from the fighter flight model, but that works out well for the missions I am building. The player won't notice any difference between the two in their aircraft.

Once you have an AI aircraft that will bomb and strafe, then other factors will come into play. As Talon will tell you, you have to consider the height at which the attack begins (not too high), the target must be within the AI's vision, and there has to be a fairly flat, clear area before and beyond the target for the AI to approach and pull out or they still won't go into their attack. In the ETO this is not much of a problem, but in a mountain area it is a problem. if you want them to stay and strafe after they bomb, you have to keep selecting targets for them, or if it is an AI flight (other than your own flight), then it has to have a waypoint set for them to attack with all weapons, not just bombs.

Wait until you fly the first railyard attack mission in the 354th campaign; you'll have a blast - literally and figuratively.

[Ali Cat]

Captain Kurt,

It’s little old me giving the master mission builder a tip but I’ll throw it out should it help (or help someone). On escorting I found the mission builder unsatisfactory but I did find a work around. To get a fighter escort ahead and above (or were ever you want them) do not set them as an escort. Here of course one places the players waypoint at the desired destination but how to time the arrival after warp? I did this with an intermediate waypoint. Set this waypoint to "Hidden", not "Warp To" (unchecked), and at a different speed. Careful tweaking of this waypoint towards the destination or back towards the departure will eventually result in coming out of warp in the right position relative to the bombers.

Or for the visually inclined - from "Slot Machine" …
　
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Back in the saddle Captain? If so great news,
AC

[Captain Kurt]

Well, the 354th FG has finally moved in to Lashenden ALG and has come under 9th Air Force command again. That's 29 missions done. From now until the invasion, they will alternate ground attack missions to prepare the way for D-Day and being loaned back to the 8th Air Force for bomber escort missions. The variation in missions will make it more interesting from this point on. At that time they had scored 169 victories versus 47 Mustangs recorded as missing in action.

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[Ali Cat]

And who was it who said I love the B's? Looking forward to this one Captain.


AC

[Jagdflieger]

Good news that Captain.

Those new building textures sure look good.

[Ali Cat]

The Captain is good at everything? (rhetorical)


AC

[Captain Kurt]

It was a good weekend with 5 more missions in the can. It's now the end of May and D-Day is looming. Ground attack missions have begun to intersperse escort missions.

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[Rami]

Kurt,

Once again, it's looking fantastic. Keep up the good work! :salute:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Looks like a great work in progress Captain... I salute you and your efforts. :salute:

[Captain Kurt]

This is a quick CFS2 conversion and repaint of an old, old FS2000 model of the Bu133 Jungmann by Gerry Rivera. I got the original from his site years ago. His site is long gone so I don't know where it is available anymore. There are no use restrictions in the file though. It will briefly appear as an AI plane in the upcoming campaign, with appropriate credits.

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[Jagdflieger]

Cool. It's so easy to add AI in CFS 2. It really helps liven things up when flying about.

[Rami]

Captain Kurt,

It looks pretty good to me...

[Captain Kurt]

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[Wulf190]

Captain. Looking at your P-51C, it looks like it getting a little long in the tooth when it come to it's guns. ;)

I do have an update to fix that.

[Captain Kurt]

Captain. Looking at your P-51C, it looks like it getting a little long in the tooth when it come to it's guns. ;)

I do have an update to fix that.

Wulf190,

That does look much better. Who did the work? The file properties show a 2005 date so it has been around a long time without being available? Or have I just been missing something?

[Ali Cat]

Looks fantastic Captain - "you da man".


AC

[Rami]

Kurt,

I agree with Ali Cat here, your work and attention to detail is nothing short of incredible.