401 Weekend Campaign Rules Ready

Finally have the rules prepared for the campaign on weekends. For those participating, see below!

PILOTS

We will continue with the method of pilot selection initially used for the original campaigns. This means that we will not require officers to be flight leads, etc. Only registered 401 and 450 members will select pilots for their mission. Guest pilots will remain anonymous in terms of the campaign.

This will also apply to bomber crews. A new list for No.105 Sqdn will be created with bomber pilots for those who are flying Blenheims in the campaign. This will apply to selecting full crews (pilot, gunner, bombardier). If any of the crew is killed, they are removed from the crew list.

AIRCRAFT

We will maintain records of aircraft in the same way as the original campaign for both Spitfires and Blenheims with the exception of identification letters not being pre-assigned. You are free to select any available letter for your aircraft and 're-paint' your crate.

401 Squadron will be assigned 18 Spitfires.
105 Squadron will be assigned 24 Blenheims.

All aircraft will be repaired to working order after missions as long as they are able to land safely in England following their mission. This includes wheels up belly landings that are 'safe' (no major loss of bits on landing).

OBJECTIVES

This will be the largest departure. We will fly in 4 mission tours. At the end of each tour, damage inflicted on enemy targets will be assessed and the frontline adjusted accordingly. In sectors where a target(s) have been heavily damaged, the front line will move more than in sectors where there has only been light damage, etc.

We have 8 tours before the Germans renew their assault on England. We must move the front line over the edge of France in order to obtain conditions for an invasion. We do this by hitting their targets as hard as possible. If at the conclusion tour 1 through 8 the front line has moved such that it overlaps the coastline of France, the campaign will be considered a success and the invasion of Western Europe will begin. If at the conclusion of tour 8 the conditions are not present for an invasion, the momentum will shift and the Germans will begin assaulting targets in England once more.

If at any point, either 401 or 105 squadron cannot field enough aircraft for the aircrew participating OR cannot field enough pilots or aircrew for the players participating, the squadron is placed on rest for the remainder of the tour (ending the tour prematurely). New pilots and aircraft will then be delivered to each squadron for the beginning of the next tour. All objectives completed prior to the squadron going on rest will count towards the tour result.

NOTE! Multiple missions may be undertaken on Saturday, but the 4 mission cap per tour indicates 4 SATURDAYS, not 4 flights. If a second flight is taken on Saturday, all pilot and aircraft selection/death/destruction rules remain in place. The AOC (Wolverine) must be present for additional flights in order to validate their results. On weekends when the AOC cannot attend, a secondary AOC will be appointed to validate results.

Looks spiffing. Gonna be hard pressed to put down 18 spits in four missions, but by gods we'll try.

GloriousRuse wrote:Looks spiffing. Gonna be hard pressed to put down 18 spits in four missions, but by gods we'll try.

Well, if Blue can put together a larger regular force of about 6 to 8 guys, I'd revise the rules a bit. With just the two of you being regulars it's a little harder to make things fair for both sides.

Really, you don't have to put down 18 spits. You just have to make sure your targets don't get hit, or at least don't get hit badly.

Oh, I'm not interested in fair or "winning" or whatever. I'm just having a good time. Even if we had 8 regulars, I wouldn't want a "fair" campaign. Its a historical recreation (or semi-historical). I fully realize the handful of JGs assigned to the french coats will be outnumbered and facing off against the British war machine while most of the LW in over the ostfront.

The real JGs, 2 and 26, had over 1500 kills for the loss of approximately 200 pilots killed or captured in 1941. Over a 7:1 exchange rate. And the overall consequences were negligible, strategically. And so, i'm not looking for a "fair" and "even" campaign. I'm looking to defend the coast against the slowly mounting odds.

GloriousRuse wrote:Oh, I'm not interested in fair or "winning" or whatever. I'm just having a good time. Even if we had 8 regulars, I wouldn't want a "fair" campaign.  Its a historical recreation (or semi-historical). I fully realize the handful of JGs assigned to the french coats will be outnumbered and facing off against the British war machine while most of the LW in over the ostfront.

The real JGs, 2 and 26, had over 1500 kills for the loss of approximately 200 pilots killed or captured in 1941. Over a 7:1 exchange rate. And the overall consequences were negligible, strategically. And so, i'm not looking for a "fair" and "even" campaign. I'm looking to defend the coast against the slowly mounting odds.  

You should certainly have a chance to throw a wrench into our plans if you fly well and coordinate with any allies you can find. It's going to be a long war. Hopefully by the time we're nearing the end of the 8th tour, the next TF patch will be nearly ready.

Looks good Wolverine.

I'll dust off the Sealion plan Glorius - do you still have the file?

See you tomorrow. Hopefully we might have a couple more Blue pilots to help us.

Ezzie

Yes, we will cunningly allow them to invade France and then trap the BEF there. The fueher has promised the rest of the Luftwaffe will be redeployed from the Ostfront by Christmas, allowing us to get dunkirk right this time.

The LW gave a poor showing last night, but we will be back and better. The LW learns.

And grows.

Was excellent to have some new and returning blue pilots today. Should make things interesting for the reds.

Liked the winter map too. First time I've flown on it and it was very atmospheric.

Wolverine - to keep in historical theme how far would u be happy for blue to chase returning bombers /fighters? If there are no ground defences or fighters on alert it would seem bad form and not historical to chase them overland in England.

But if its ok then we might do so should the situation arise. How would u like us to approach this?

Ezzie

Was just skimming thru my copy of the Biggin Hill Wing 1941 and was curious to see whether the Bf-110 featured at all. Interestingly there were 3 110 claims made by Biggin Hill pilots in 1941; 2 in January and 1 in April. So I don't feel totally non-historical flying the 110 now.

Ezzie

I think the 110s had been pulled from most Jagd duties, but were still used for nightfighters, and a lot of maritime patrol duties. Most of that was closer to the North Sea, where only the 110s had the fuel to search for convoys - and the Brits used Blenheims to fly cover for them! I'd assume that the 110s in the East and West parts of France were found more out to what we would think of as the map edges than map center.

Yeah i think you are right Glorious.

In addition to the night fighters EprGr 210 was still in France according to Eagle in Flames and there were 2 recon units that flew 110s still in France in 41 as well. Apparently these recon 110s flew over the Uk from time to time in 41 according to info on the Internet.

Ezzie wrote:And grows.

Was excellent to have some new and returning blue pilots today. Should make things interesting for the reds.

Liked the winter map too. First time I've flown on it and it was very atmospheric.

Wolverine - to keep in historical theme how far would u be happy for blue to chase returning bombers /fighters? If there are no ground defences or fighters on alert it would seem bad form and not historical to chase them overland in England.

But if its ok then we might do so should the situation arise. How would u like us to approach this?

Ezzie

Until I can come up with a reasonable AI response to Luftwaffe aircraft over England, I think the best way to handle it is to really restrict your flying to the following directives:

1. If you are flying as a recon aircraft, you should not be engaging enemy unless you are engaged yourself. Recon flights would have been instructed to avoid combat in order to get photos home etc. Many would not even have carried bullets to keep the aircraft light.
2. If you are operating as a fighter sweep, you are directed not to cross the front line into enemy territory. Stay within distance of France in case you need to get home with damage.
3. If you are scrambling to defend France, stay near the coastline of France. Scrambled missions would have been direct response defense of German held territory and not directed to pursue the enemy much past the coastline.

If you have been shot down, you are free to scramble again as another defending fighter HOWEVER, if you do this, you must follow two rules:

1. You MUST have at least one other pilot prepared to take-off with you from the same airfield.
2. Stay by your coastline.

The same goes for RAF fighters. If there is a Luftwaffe aircraft that has made its way to England, RAF fighters can scramble and re-scramble as necessary to defend, but cannot go out into the Channel (AI notwithstanding - they go where they like).

Also, as a rule, never abandon an aircraft that you can still fly home.

If you bail out, you must wait for your pilot to reach the ground before re-spawning. You must get the notification of whether they have drowned or been captured, or landed safely in friendly territory etc.

These rules can't really be enforced in any way, of course. Certainly, I imagine there would be pilots on both sides that ignore such directives at their own risk. As a General rule, unless you are actually making an attack on a target in enemy held territory, stay on your side of the front line. So mid-channel is your cut-off for pursuit. Hopefully, the defenses I'm going to put along the coastline will make pursuit of fighters over England a very bad decision if you want to get home safely.


I'll see about putting these rules into the mission briefing so everyone can see them.

Wolverine, could we get a LW subsection for the forums? I'll moderate.

Thanks Wolverine sound good.

One last clarification (I promise).

With the way the radar works we often are tracking the Sunderland while the other bombers are doing their thing and aren't being tracked - this might be your intent/tactic?

This was why we took it out last weekend (but I received severe damage and only just got back to Le Havre) but doing so comes at some risk so it's no lay down misere. Given that it was on your side of the line would it still be ok if we choose to do this on occasion? I imagine you could choose to escort it and thus add an extra dimension to the foreplay prior to the main event perhaps?

Ezzie

Ezzie wrote:Thanks Wolverine sound good.

One last clarification (I promise).

With the way the radar works we often are tracking the Sunderland while the other bombers are doing their thing and aren't being tracked - this might be your intent/tactic?

This was why we took it out last weekend (but I received severe damage and only just got back to Le Havre) but doing so comes at some risk so it's no lay down misere.  Given that it was on your side of the line would it still be ok if we choose to do this on occasion?  I imagine you could choose to escort it and thus add an extra dimension to the foreplay prior to the main event perhaps?

Ezzie

Identifying the actual raid is part of your puzzle to solve. There is and would have been plenty of traffic in the air to filter out. Granted, a filter room of some sort would have been doing this for you, but since our jobs as virtual fighter pilots are fairly streamlined and simplified, I feel that it is a valid game play element. This was the problem that faced the RAF controllers in the Battle of Britain and subsequently the Luftwaffe FREYA operators during '41. Identifying actual incoming raids ended up confirming very late, giving very little time to scramble and gain height in order to intercept. If you go off after something else that isn't the incoming raid, or is a fighter sweep or something else, it's part of the enemy's strategy.

So learn how to spot the characteristics of an enemy bomber raid and make sure you're sure before you scramble.

You're always free to scramble and intercept anything you pick up on radar though, of course.

GloriousRuse wrote:Wolverine, could we get a LW subsection for the forums? I'll moderate.

I'll take the question to the guys and we'll get a democratic answer on this one.

Thanks Wolverine. I realize that it isn't in the nature of the squadron, but it can only help get players involved.

GloriousRuse wrote:Thanks Wolverine. I realize that it isn't in the nature of the squadron, but it can only help get players involved.

Nah, it's mostly just a security thing.

We're a go for the sub-forum.

Keep in mind that moderators of the forum will have access to it, but we will try to keep out of your secret plans unless there are complaints. In general, we'll probably only moderate threads for dates that are already past, so I would create threads titled with the operation date for your secret plans so that we'll know to not moderate that stuff until the mission date has passed.

Rules for our forum are quite simple. Everyone is your friend here. Bickering at any level is not tolerated and is a one way ticket to no forum access. Work it out with the person on Teamspeak and then when everyone is friends access is given back. Blah blah blah.

Basically carry on your forum stuff as if you were speaking on Teamspeak and we should all be happy friends.

Give me a while to set it up and you should see it on the forum today or tomorrow.

Thanks,

Wolverine

Wolverine wrote:

GloriousRuse wrote:Wolverine, could we get a LW subsection for the forums? I'll moderate.

I'll take the question to the guys and we'll get a democratic answer on this one.

I wouldn't mind flying with the LW side, but have no way of knowing if there are going to be slots available or if it's full.  Having a post about the mission, slots available and letting people say they are "IN" and what side, plane they would like to fly would be helpful.  It would make mission planning easy for both sides.  Kind of like the old SEOW campaigns in original IL2.  When I go to the servers and comms I'm very hesitant about asking questions because it seems things are already predetermined and if your not part of No. 401, or affiliates there's no room/slot available to walk on flyers.

it would look something like this in the very first post with those slots reserved for 401 and affiliates already filled.

No.401  2x4 slots..... 8 Hurricanes
A-flight
Wolverine
Johnnie Johnson
D Bader
S Malan
B-Flight
Justin Credible
I. P. Freely
etc..
etc...

No. 5xx squad...
etc....

Luftwaffe
JG-51  2x4 slots....... Bf-109E-4
A Flight
.
.
.
.
ZG-2xx  1x4 slots..... Bf-110


and in the threads that follow the people wanting to fly would say "IN", side/plane those get filled.  I know there is a Channel for "Replacements" on ATAG's TS, you could have one on 401 comms, people who did not get on in time (slots show filled on first thead) could enter "Replacement LW or RAF or Both" and wait on a Reserve/Replacement channel on 401 comms. But pilots would also be responsible to say "Sorry, life interrupts and I can't make it now" and the first name that says Reserve/Replacement would be placed in that slot. Yeah, I know it seems like too much work, but I will guarantee it will allow missions to start sooner and fly full...

Just my two cents worth, and worth about that..

Thanks

Old Crow

Old Crow,

The only real requirement to fly on Saturday is to show up. Our campaign is structured that 401 can manage its own co-op campaign even in a public environment.

The missions aren't pre-determined for either side. The battlefield is set and each side makes their choices on the day. It's 1941 on our map so the LW's task is to defend France and they have radar to detect raids coming in. I don't mean Tab 7-1 stuff. I mean good radar with intercept vectors and all info available. So if you fly with the LW guys, your job requires you to monitor your coastline on radar so as not to fly needlessly or in the wrong area; identify and separate incoming raids from fighter sweeps; scramble to intercept enemy raids coming across; and get home safely. Because there are more than a few RAF pilots coming, it behooves you to fly as a group as well.

RAF players have to join the server, see what the weather is like for the day and then select targets based on that plus how the war is going. It's all very organic, simple, and easy to maintain. Our campaign focuses on the smaller tactical decisions at the Squadron level and not at the overall war effort level. We have to be as effective as combat pilots as we can over a limited amount of time.


So really, the one thing to remember to do is to show up before 9:00pm EST on the TeamSpeak channel so that you can be put into a flight. That's just so that you don't miss the take-off. We don't have a 'slot' system since there's no need to restrict access. We've never filled the server.

So if you want to fly with the LW guys, who are really just there to experience the style of  campaign we fly, then hop on the TS and introduce yourself. It's really casual. I'd recommend speaking to GloriousRuse as he's been great at managing the LW pilots participating. We've even set up a special forum section for people who have officially decided to play.

If you want to fly with the RAF guys, do the same thing.

If you want to take part in the actual campaign and track your pilot, etc, then join 401 :P

I guess the easiest way to describe it is that it's an open battlefield. You can join at any time and fly at any time. But scheduled operations begin at 9:00pm EST on Saturday and go to whenever we stop. If you want to be a part of that aspect, then it's just about the time you fly and being social on TS.

S!


No.401 Squadron Comms Server

• Server Type: Teamspeak 3
  
  
• IP: 70.32.46.164
  
  
• Port:10336
  

Wolverine wrote:So if you want to fly with the LW guys, who are really just there to experience the style of campaign we fly, then hop on the TS and introduce yourself. It's really casual. I'd recommend speaking to GloriousRuse as he's been great at managing the LW pilots participating. We've even set up a special forum section for people who have officially decided to play.

I can't access the LW forum thread, nor any of the others, except the public threads at top and bottom of the forum

Cheers

Old Crow

Old crow,

I'm flying lw and will log on in 8 mins. Hope to see u there.

Ts channel is 70.32.46.164:10336 I think.

Ezzie

Old Crow wrote:

Wolverine wrote:So if you want to fly with the LW guys, who are really just there to experience the style of  campaign we fly, then hop on the TS and introduce yourself. It's really casual. I'd recommend speaking to GloriousRuse as he's been great at managing the LW pilots participating. We've even set up a special forum section for people who have officially decided to play.

I can't access the LW forum thread, nor any of the others, except the public threads at top and bottom of the forum

Cheers

Old Crow

For security reasons, until it's clear that you are actually participating with the LW team, the LW section is only available to confirmed group pilots. GloriousRuse is the admin for that group and can add you once you've played with them.

Alright gentlemen, i am back form the 4th of July weekend and ready to start LW work.