Slitherine

Most everything about OOB is exceptionally good - it's becoming THE best of class wargame. Q1 : I would like to understand the programme logic around the number of turns (usually c.12) air units remain "in flight" - taken literally this suggests each unit remains operational for over a week measured by the calendar day count down in the game modules - is the game logic different squadrons are operating day by day from the presiding air unit and after 12 "days" the whole air unit has to re-fit/re-fuel at an air base or carrier ? Q2 : in scenarios where the weather is set to rain or tropical storm the weather does not seem to impeded air operations ? Is this a correct interpretation ? Can a Moderator enlighten ?

1/ If this game was completely accurate, in some scenarios an air unit could remain flying for the whole map (Pearl Harbour), and others for <1 turn (anything with daily turns). It is set at this level for balance and fun more than anything else.

2/ Weather (at least the rain) is purely cosmetic.

- BNC

Yeah, 1) is clearly a tribute to gameplay, and this is the "classic" approach of PG/PzC. The number of turns air units can stay airborne depends on their fuel stat.

I remember how People's General tried to provide a much more "realistic" air model where your air units flew "missions" and returned home immediately afterwards. IIRC you could start other air missions as long you got a certain amount of points left. While this method was ok for bombing runs, I found it severely lacking for air superiority/patrol etc purposes.

replying to Bitenibblechomp post item 1 : appreciate OOB has to pander to a "beer and pretzels" front end look and feel to be commercially viable - however - the game designers differentiate this game by inserting a background realism to the modules PG lacks (e.g. supply) - my sense is : play balance is over balanced by the long duration of the air unit capability - e.g. at worst Battle of Britain module has no historical relationship to the actual time-line of the 1940 German/UK air campaign. On post item 2 : if the weather factoring is cosmetic only, will this distort the role of air units in later campaign releases - e.g. Battle of the Bulge where Germans gambled on 0/low Allied air cover thru Dec '44 ? The last thing OOB needs to become is a micro managed "click-fest" such as "War in the East" - however it's the ingenious background programming that sets this game apart for those middle brow gamers such as myself who dwell between the polarities of "shoot 'em up" v "grain counting grognard" ...

This! Long live middle-brow gamers between the polarities

Yes, back in my scenario designing days, I had a mini-scenario in which the player was required to "precision fly" a flight of incoming fighters and bombers so as to avoid low-fuel damage or loss. "Great," I said. "Nice touch." I hurt my arm patting myself on the back until I realized that it took three or four days to land the aircraft properly, on time and in order!

The problem was, as has been pointed out, that I had each turn = 1 day, so the flight was therefore three and four "days" away from the airfield when they appeared on the map. "What the heck?" Then I realized that the mind can adjust for things like this, once you let it.

For example, people sometimes write here about the mismatch of unit sizes; men as large as tanks; tanks as large as destroyers, etc. What they have not experienced yet is the mind shift that occurs: If the game is enough fun and engrosses your attention, then you don't think about or notice such things anymore.

The same thing happened with that mini-scenario of mine. It was like the flight to base was occurring over a matter of hours, not days, when I was focused on that mission. Otherwise, the days elapsed as normal in my mind when turns were ended.

So, please don't change anything on this account, Artistocrats.

Circling back to my original Q1 in this thread can a brilliant and gifted mind in this forum yet offer a rational explanation of the game logic underpinning air units in relation to scenario elapsed time held against the reality measure of : primarily "air" battles such as Battle of Britain and Midway, where the ability to maintain air cover / refuelling was entirely critical to the outcome in the time-frame of a single day ? Churchill's 1939 observation of Russian foreign policy comes to mind ..."It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma" ?

The date itself doesn't really matter for this game anyway. Just the turn count.

Don't let it command too much of your attention.

- BNC

During the original beta days I proposed this for air units.

Fuel = 4-5 turns.
Launch = t-1, move to area = t-2, search/attack = t-3/4, return = t-4/5
And most air types would get longer movement rates.

Someday I'm gonna create a mod and test this for carrier battles (along with 1 launching torpedo and 1 bomb load before returning).
Same simple mechanics, but more realism.

Erik the 4-5 turn formulation you outline effectively dials the air power factor back towards a more realistic footing - in the present game default air movement distances are indeed too short per turn / game turns over extended for air units. An iteration might be for a toggle on/off option in the game setup menu for "realistic" air units v the current version of air unit ops as the default ? Ditto : weather effect on air ops as a toggle on/off option ref. my Q2 ? Thanks for sharing !