Notes from the 2.12 beta testing: LW campaign is AWESOME

[heinkill]

The BOBII campaign engine, especially the LW campaign in patch 2.12, is amazing in its dynamic nature and the amount of control it gives the player over the strategy of the Battle of Britain air forces.

The Luftwaffe campaign has always been doubly challenging - partly because of the general strategic objectives of the campaign which were very ambitious (bring the RAF to its knees) and partly because the original designers, Rowan, decided for whatever reason that would introduce a 'margin of error' into the ability of Luftwaffe escorts to successfully accompany their bombers to the target. While it was true that in 1940 it was often the case that bombers and escorts failed to meet up correctly, and many raids were conducted without escort, it was a bit of a gameplay destroyer for the Luftwaffe commander. And try as we might, the BDG could not track down where in the code Rowan had hidden this little foible.

Also, the Luftwaffe commander had huge resources at his command - fighter, bomber, dive bomber, heavy fighter - but a lack of detailed information on their current state of readiness meant his ability to use those resources widely was limited by a lack of information about their current state. Were they available, and if not, were they refuelling, out of action due to losses, non operational to low morale? It was all a bit of a black hole.

Well, all that has changed!

Pick your target: Tangmere station - home to three RAF squadrons
Assign your raid: 1 gruppe Do17s and 2 gruppen Bf109s in escort, split 35% attached, 35% free and 35% return (ie meet the bombers over the channel on their way back). You can determine the mix. And this is what you see now:



All escorts performing as they should. There will still be hit and miss situations where escorts and bombers don't meet up perfectly. That is as it should be. If you want to increase the chances even more, make sure there is the max possible distance between the BOMBER RENDEZVOUS and DOGLEG waypoints.

And on big raids, deep into Group 11 territory a good escort is critical if the bombers are to make it to target. EG this raid on Biggin Hill with 75% free and 25% return escorts





On top of this the LW commander has been given unparalled access to information about his own units in the strategic reporting system

Here you can see exactly which fighter units flew in those raids. The brackets indicate they are refuelling and not available, while the clear units are available for further raids. If the units are down due to losses or morale, that will be shown too.



If you haven't tried the feast of campaigning which is the BOBII campaign, and especially the Luftwaffe campaign, get ready!!

You might find these useful...

Commander level campaign: video tutorials

A collection of video game guides to help those keen to get into the Commander level campaign game but not sure where to start.

Guide to the campaign interface, part 1
What do all those buttons actually do, and which ones are important?
Guide to the campaign interface, part 2
How do I get details on my resources, assets, squadron status, and campaign progress?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj05wE58Chk

Starting a Luftwaffe campaign: 'What to Hit'
The whole of England lies at your feet. Which targets are really critical to victory? Caution: contains potential spoilers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaTg4LUHTP8

RAF campaign tips: setting up patrols
How to set up your patrols so you can burn through to the bombers and hit them hard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxdI2CT6NNY

Luftwaffe campaign: setting up raids
How to set up your Luftwaffe raids so that your bombers are covered by escorts out and back; and which type of raids are most effective.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDjkV57NKNA

Luftwaffe campaign: the end game
How to plan your raids for maximum devastation, in the air, and on the ground

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GiwOWLkYzw

[Factor_X]

It's just amazing.

Keep up the good work.

I've only tried the RAF campaign for now (I feel strange about playing a nazi), but I'll give it a shot for the first time when the 2.12 comes out.

Is it still scheduled for this summer?

[heinkill]

Yes, on track. The beta testing of gameplay code is going well so far. No game stoppers identified yet.

Once that is done, what is left is loading into the game all the beautiful new objects, landscapey bits and new AAA positions and then this has to be merged with the updated code base, loaded into a self installer, readme updated, manual updated and readied for download!

[PV]

And in there we have to have more beta testing to make sure all
the new eye candy works right, that we haven't inadvertently
created some erroneous new landmass in the North Sea or something.

[Fish 40]

Looking forwards for this! I want to say thanks to the BDG for all their hard work! Salute guys!

[attilla]

10,

9,

8,

7,

6,

5,

4,

3,

2,

1,




Bring it in PLEASE!

[emcom1]

Hello,thanks for the report!

Like I said in a previous post,the LW campaign is great but there is a showstopper bug in 2.11.
It's impossible to do some reconn flight!Sometime.
And when you play with full realism it's hard.

Anyway somebody from your team tell me they found a way to bypass this old bug.

Thanks for the great job on this simulation.

[nachinus]

Great news! I'm very glad to hear that you guys are doing such a progress in unravelling the campaign code.

I guess there still is some room for uncoordination in escort missions as happened in RL?

[Buddye]

As most of you may already know, the BDG has a new programmer who has been working on the Campaign for about the last year, and BOBII version 2.12 will be his first major public release. He has fixed many issues and problems but he has a very long way to go with understanding all the campaign design and code.

His name is Randy and he has worked on BOB and WWII research and studied the history of WWII and BOB.

IMHO, these are exciting times for the BOBII Campaign and I have dreamed of having a BDG programmer who would work on the BOBII most valued and very rare asset, the BOBII Dynamic Campaign. If Randy can continue in the coming years, the BDG should have many more Campaign versions released and both the players and BDG testers will have tons of testing to help Randy with the changes. As always, we will need our players help, feedback, and opinions. I hope you will have some time to try out, study, and play the BOBII 2.12 Campaign and provide the BDG with your feedback so that Randy will get the help he will need.

It is my hope that the players will embrace the BOBII Dynamic Campaign and help/assist Randy in the same way as the they did to help/assist me on the very long and challenging road to improve the BOBII AI.

[DaveP63]

Fantastic!!!

[stickman]

In other, simpler words, I think that Buddye said this:

"The BDG is looking for BoBII v2.12 simulation testers."

Currently we have only 2 LW Commander Campaign testers (well, me too, but I have other priorities than pure game testing) and 2 (part time) RAF Single Player Campaign testers.
One thing that we do not want to do is screw up the RAF Single Player Campaign. It seems to be very much popular.
Me, I am a Commander war gamer kinda guy,
and so is Randy, whom has made the Campaign code changes to better reflect history and B of B military air unit operations.
Randy started with the 2D Campaign where most of the obvious code fakkups are.
He ain't no prop head, flight sim nut, and needs some 3D prop heads to test his songs.

Randy don't tell much about himself. Keeps his privacy close to his chest.
From what I know, he was US Army. Worked with the Army developing computer simulations for training purposes.
Then he had a physical Army training accident that cut his military career short.
Later... some drunk driver slammed into his car from the rear, and gave him a double whammy!
He refuses to use pain kill drugs, as he does not want to be addicted to drugs that slow up his sharp mind.
He has at least one teenage daughter.
I raised two teeny girls without too many problems.
One is now married to a (born in Viet Nam, Mekong Delta, 1973) US Air Force Staff Sergeant with a Top Secret Security Clearance.
My baby girl is married to a US Army Sergeant. Stationed Hawai'i.
Both men are good to my girls. I do wish that Josh the soldier would sell his Suzuki motor cycle that he ain't ridden in a year and a half!
and get it out of my garage, so I can park my 2004 Mustang convertible without bumping his wasted bike!
Josh, whom is Hawai'in, Irish, and Filipino is currently Army training in Arkansas.
I told him to tell them white red necked Arkys that it is not Little Rock, but properly called Little Cock!
Josh, tho soft spoken.. is big enough to get away with it!

My mind spirals ~

Randy never mentioned if he was Enlisted or Officer.
As a Navy enlisted man, I narrowed my eyes at Academy Officers, and only respected mustangs, rise up to Chief Warrant Officer leaders.
Randy, if he were serving in WWII as an enlisted man, would be one that received a Battlefield Commission to Officer.
He knows things, would survive, and knows how to lead men. I follow him.

[two27]

Hello emcom1,

The recon issue and more historical unit assignments to airfields were on my schedule for 2.13. Then in January we hit a delay of several months in the release of 2.12. I wasn't going to sit on my hands for months and do nothing so began pushing those forward.

Recon will now occur below the player's level of operations. Basically, recon missions are scheduled, flown, and results processed without player input. This has (I think) increased the usefulness of the intelligence gained. No more is the LW player limited to a max of three missions per day (if it didn't bug and lock out all recon activities). Heinkill has been testing the improved recon/intel as part of the LW campaigns he's been playing.

Here is a snapshot.
- On campaign start, there is a percent chance of obtaining intel for each British ground target.
- At the end of day there is a percent chance of obtaining intel for each British ground target.
- Bombing runs that reach their targets also have a chance of resulting in meaningful intelligence.

All well and good to get the intel (and a nice change from the stock campaign), but how good is the intelligence gained? I am not going to reveal the numbers, military campaigns have many "unknowns." What I can say is there are some significant changes in the quality of what the LW commander will see. Previously, if the "Accurate" setting was used for intel, the LW player always saw the same target damage and status information as the RAF player. Why? No idea, but it made sense to Rowan.

The new system builds in a variance even when current intel is available for a given target. So now the LW commander will have to estimate how good his own intelligence is even in the best of situations. What happens when no current intel is available for a target is the variance grows markedly. To summarize, when intel is available the variance is smaller than when no current intel is available. There is good/reasonably accurate intel, then there are guesses for when no intel available.

Another change was to hide the Damage pane for LW commanders when viewing RAF targets, IF no current intel is available. On the other hand, if intel is available, the Damage pane is available and the commander can make a direct comparison (equivalent of looking at the recon photos himself) between the Damage pane's information and the status given in the General pane.

Finally, in keeping with the LW's historical desire to identify fields servicing fighters, a new line has been added to the General tab to indicate if fighters were seen (or not) on a given RAF Fighter Command field.

Sample screenshots.

LW looking at RAF airfield, no current intel on target.


LW looking at RAF airfield, with current intel on target (no fighters seen on that field).


LW looking at RAF airfield, with current intel on target AND fighters seen at time of recon pass.



Wrapping up, the other late change made to the campaign was airfield assignments. I've relocated all units from both sides to the best available in-game fields matching the history. Perfect alignment was not possible. Still you should get a better feel for how each side was thinking of its own deployments as of July 10. For the RAF you should see a peacetime "keep them close to flagpole" mentality with squadrons stacked heavily on the sector stations. While looking over the LW locations you may wonder "what were they thinking?".

Call it a bonus if you like, I also changed LW unit activations to closely approximate historical. AND each LW unit will activate as an individual Gruppe, rather than all Gruppen of a Geschwader activating at the same time by default. This should provide the LW player with a good idea of how the LW really operated. Their basic unit of deployment and command was the Gruppe, a much larger formation than British squadrons, their conceptual (from command perspective) peer in the RAF.

All together these changes are the first steps toward moving the campaign in direction that will provide a "period and perspective" experience. Much remains to be done and I expect the project to take years to complete (if ever).

[stickman]

nachinus,

I guess there still is some room for uncoordination in escort missions as happened in RL?

Aye. There is no change with this Fighter - Bomber Rendezvous dis-connection. Yet..

Me, first, and other evil LW players hate it when the escorts fail to rendezvous properly with the bombers.
Granted, they never did so 100% of the time historically,
however, in BoBII they only do so 25% or 30% of time.
There is muddied middle ground here.
Randy wants to make Fighter - Bomber Rendezvous better, like the LW staff Officers were not a total bunch of idiots.
There are fuel considerations, here, too for the Emils.

This work will be for v2.13.
In the meantime, for v2.12, no code change for this.

[emcom1]

Hello,great to see the improvments in the reconn LW campaign.

I'v a new question,is the improvments in LW campaign have an impact in British campaign?

Thanks

[two27]

LW campaign changes impact on RAF campaign:

Not as much or as many as I'd like if I had the time to redo the LW campaign AI.

The most significant change, pulling from what I detailed above and not all the changes for 2.12, I'd say the LW activation dates will bring a noticeable change from an RAF perspective. Previously, with Gruppen activating with their parent Geschwader and all LW units being active before 1 August, LW force levels were heavily front loaded. The new activation dates and with Gruppen activating singly where appropriate, LW strength will dribble into the battle and some of the units in the game's LW order of battle will not arrive at all.

In reviewing the historical LW OOB certain obvious inconsistencies with the game popped up.
- Some Gruppen did not participate at all (while others in the same Geschwader did fly combat missions during the period. For these, I have identified same type (aircraft type) units that did fly and built their in-game morale/fatigue and experience based on the replacement unit's history. (Stickman is working on altering their skins in 3D to match the replacements.)
- In addition, some of the level bombing units only flew naval and harbor missions (primarily seeding sea mines) and can't be considered as genuine particpants in the main campaign. These no longer activate at all.
- Finally, one of the Rowan Gruppen didn't fly its first BoB mission until after the campaign ends on 7 Sept. and no longer activates.