Free France Campaign

[ColonelY]

'Should be helpful!

[ColonelY]

[...] Vesuvius might have been a decoy, in order to make Jerry think they were about to land in Napoli.

Yep, indeed, and an plausible one at that time.

[ColonelY]

Well, and of course you have this as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_o ... of_Corsica and it's (as often ) more detailled French version here: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lib%C3%A9 ... e_la_Corse

[terminator]

I saw a documentary on the liberation of Corsica:

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[ColonelY]

From here https://www.lepoint.fr/histoire/debarqu ... 0_1615.php with this (translated) text available:

"D-Day - Corsica : history of a forgotten exploit
In 1943, the communist maquis and General Giraud liberated the island, the first French department to free itself from the clutches of the German occupier.

Corsica liberated ! Corsica insurgent ! But the forgotten Corsica! What do we know on the continent of this exploit carried out on the island, first French department to have freed itself from the clutches of the occupier in September 1943? We know a lot about the Normandy landings, of course. About Provence, much less. But on Corsica, nothing or almost nothing. This peripheral event, mythologized, sometimes exaggerated, by the autonomists, has not been given a single footnote in our national novel. Without being corsophile, one can regret it, because, in addition, the history is singular..."

*******
And few pictures:

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... B0AAAAAEAM

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... B0AAAAAEAM or https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... B0AAAAAEAM

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... B0AAAAAEAM

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=x- ... B0AAAAAEAI
About the lack of maps, perhaps with a little humour, as using local guides?!
Or perhaps a more "classical" one: https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... B0AAAAAEAM

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... B0AAAAAEAI

A cool picture (with more info) here as well: https://www.wikiwand.com/fr/Conqu%C3%AA ... e_d%27Elbe

Etc.

[bru888]

It was from Borgo, south of Bastia, that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, poet and officer of the Free French Air Force, took off on July 31, 1944, for his last flight before crashing into the Mediterranean Sea aboard his P38 Lightning No. 223. Some historical event, perhaps, after this scenario?

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[bru888]

Vesuvius might have been a decoy, in order to make Jerry think they were about to land in Napoli.

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[Mascarenhas]

Normandie_Niemen 2nd try

This turn,thanks to a more proper resources supply, I could use my AA guns in more supportive role, and killed the whole bunch of Luftwaffe´s planes with French fighters. And achieved every other objectives, except for the " ace " status, ins spite of having 3 of my guys with 5 shinning stars and more than 50 damage points inflicted. Two f the killed 5 enemy planes themselves. If this is not an ace performance. what else should they do. Aerobatics?

[bru888]

Normandie_Niemen 2nd try

This turn,thanks to a more proper resources supply, I could use my AA guns in more supportive role, and killed the whole bunch of Luftwaffe´s planes with French fighters. And achieved every other objectives, except for the " ace " status, ins spite of having 3 of my guys with 5 shinning stars and more than 50 damage points inflicted. Two f the killed 5 enemy planes themselves. If this is not an ace performance. what else should they do. Aerobatics?

Sorry, Masca, but you must be mistaken. I ran a rather ridiculous test (many stationary Heinkel bombers with unlimited fuel so they would not crash until I was done with them) and I qualified two aces, completing both objectives.

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HOWEVER . . .

I noticed a couple of things, and an initial impression was confirmed.

First, I noticed that the experience of these planes/pilots kept going up as they mowed through the bombers. I overlooked something: these planes start at 6 experience at this stage of the war. If the player accomplished two objectives earlier in the campaign, that could be bumped up to 8 experience to start the scenario. Of course there will be 5-star planes/pilots as this battle goes on, so that is not a very good badge of distinction to tell who is an ace or not (that may be what confused you, although you say "3 of my guys with . . . more than 50 damage points inflicted" . . . I don't know why it would fail in that case).

Second, I noticed that it was Turn 24 (out of a total of 36) before I could complete both objectives. That, with just two planes to manage and with stationary targets to shoot at and no distractions! What about in the heat of battle?

So the initial impression which was confirmed was that these objectives are too tedious and too hard to be fun, even if they are technically achievable. The player has to keep monitoring which of his 15 pilots has a shot at being an ace by looking at unit statistics, then pushing those planes into combat. That alone is tedious and not fun.

It's not a matter of just doing what is possible when designing scenarios. It's making sure that it is fun and challenging, in that order.

So, back to the drawing board with the "Qualify ace" objectives.

[ColonelY]

One little idea about the 11Normandie-Niemen:

To help a little achieving the objective "Keep a positive land kills balance", one could perhaps consider adding some income for the Soviets on land as well... so that they can from time to time replenish parts of their damaged land units and thus make a little less likely the destruction of our own units on ground.

(I'm thinking in particular at the NE (almost-)pocket where there shall be relatively soon many bombers here above.)

[Mascarenhas]

I´d lke to add an observation on N-N map: the airport at the left side (north-east) is not releasing its bombers properly. I could not use them in my second try.

[bru888]

I´d lke to add an observation on N-N map: the airport at the left side (north-east) is not releasing its bombers properly. I could not use them in my second try.

Left side = north-east? Do you mean north-west?

EDIT: But I think I see what you mean, though. When units are placed on a map in a hangar, aren't you supposed to click on the hangar to show what's in it when it is your turn? That's not what is happening here. You can click on the airstrips, where the Normandie fighter pilots live, and select individual planes but clicking on the hangar does nothing. You can still activate the bombers by cycling through available units, but that isn't what I expected. Let me check and see if it's something I did or a bug.

[bru888]

Masca! I don't care if you cannot tell left from right or east from west. You're a genius!

I found the problem. In this scenario, I used the red Soviet alliance for all of the land units that I don't want the player touching. This alliance is controlled by the AI, and is idle:

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The trouble is, I used that alliance to place the hangars on the airfields before I moved the bombers into them. The game is thinking that I don't have control over the red hangars, so why should I be allowed to peer into them?

When I place a human-controlled, light blue hangar instead, it allows me to open it and select individual planes:

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versus the embargo that I still have with this AI-controlled, red hangar:

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You can still get at all the bombers by cycling through available units in the current version but this will be fixed in the next update. That may be as soon as later today, when I decide what to do with the "Qualify ace" objectives. (Right now, it's leaning toward doing away with them altogether.)

[ColonelY]

[...] but this will be fixed in the next update. That may be as soon as later today, when I decide what to do with the "Qualify ace" objectives. (Right now, it's leaning toward doing away with them altogether.)

Removing them (or one of them at least) will make room for other objectives...

For example, one could imagine an escort mission: At some point during the scenario, a strategic bomber unit being spawned, controlled by AI, like perhaps some Soviet B-25C (available at that time, depending on specializations unlocked... yes, we don't consider spec here, but still it's plausible based on dates )... like some important officer on board, who has to fly over the sector to maybe bring some secret documents, or to see the critical situation of the sector, or something. Trajectory, or "patrol" between different points, in absolute non-aggressive mode... Mission for our guys, so new objective: protect this aircraft as long as it flies over the area!

[ColonelY]

Another little idea: Adding one or two Soviet recon planes under our own control, perhaps even from start? Like one for the northern front and the second one for the southern front...
(Only some old Polikarpov R-5 seems to be available... )

Some target of opportunity to distract enemy fighters? A nice opportunity to spot easily some "Mockups"? (By the way, a superb idea, putting many of them on this battlefield! )

[ColonelY]

[...] but this will be fixed in the next update. That may be as soon as later today, when I decide what to do with the "Qualify ace" objectives. (Right now, it's leaning toward doing away with them altogether.)

Removing them (or one of them at least) will make room for other objectives...

For example, one could imagine an escort mission: At some point during the scenario, a strategic bomber unit being spawned, controlled by AI, like perhaps some Soviet B-25C (available at that time, depending on specializations unlocked... yes, we don't consider spec here, but still it's plausible based on dates )... like some important officer on board, who has to fly over the sector to maybe bring some secret documents, or to see the critical situation of the sector, or something. Trajectory, or "patrol" between different points, in absolute non-aggressive mode... Mission for our guys, so new objective: protect this aircraft as long as it flies over the area!

This extra bomber unit may appear already followed by one or two more extra enemy dogfighters... so when this new objective appears, it may already be accompanied by an event, like a call for help!

[bru888]

Well, one thing is for sure, I see. You will not miss the "Qualify ace" objectives, either. I don't think anybody will; as I said before, they are achievable but they are not fun. Good ideas for alternatives. Let me get started.

[ColonelY]

Sure!


Perhaps still another complementary idea about this:

Another little idea: Adding one or two Soviet recon planes under our own control, perhaps even from start? Like one for the northern front and the second one for the southern front...
(Only some old Polikarpov R-5 seems to be available... )

Some target of opportunity to distract enemy fighters? A nice opportunity to spot easily some "Mockups"? (By the way, a superb idea, putting many of them on this battlefield! )

Well, well... A new secondary objective to identify at least a certain amount (how many?) of these "Mockups" using these few reconnaissance planes?

By the way, this would not be completely anecdotal, because it will (of course besides discovering more about this cool aspect, about these mockups you've put on this battlefield) help to avoid missing another secondary objective... the one if you "get" the wrong target(s)!

[bru888]

Rejected ideas:

To help a little achieving the objective "Keep a positive land kills balance" . . . adding some income for the Soviets on land as well. - I see no reason to upset this arrangement; it should be not overly challenging to keep one land unit ahead of the enemy.

Adding one or two Soviet recon planes under our own control . . . - With flying a total of 33 planes all over the map, we need reconnaissance planes?

A new secondary objective to identify at least a certain amount (how many?) of these "Mockups" using these few reconnaissance planes? - The challenge is for the human player/pilots to identify the mockups in the heat of battle, not to have spotter planes locating them.

[bru888]

1,000th post in this thread. All good, all good.