Rough Puppies is now recruiting bomber pilots and fighter escort pilots to form up 3 times a week to run U.S. prime time evening Bomber Raids to the Strats, HQ, and in support of Base Capture Missions.
Squad NightsTuesday, Thursday and Saturday night starting at 9pm Eastern (8pm Central, 7pm Mountain, 6pm Pacific) and will run for approximately 2 hours. During this time we will run 1 or 2 missions depending on the distance and time of the first mission. We may adjust the starting times and days based on input from squad members, but this is where we will start.
Non-squad NightsDo absolutely whatever you want! Drive GV’s, furball, take bases, have fun. There will be no pressure to do anything organized at all other than what you and your squaddies feel like putting together ad-hoc or what you feel like doing alone or with other friends outside the squad. Of course I'll be online a lot on non-squad nights also and we can put together ad-hoc activities. I also enjoy flying fighter sweeps and escorting bombers, so you'll see me in fighters a lot on non-squad nights.
The LowdownBomber Pilots will use the new, very powerful Autopilot Wingman Mode feature. This feature allows a formation of pilots to select a wingleader and then move into an advantageous position to that wingleader and then lock in the position of your planes relative to his. At that point the wingleader is now flying all planes in the formation. One huge advantage to this is that when you go to your guns the formations won't drift apart and you have the advantage of concentrated fire from all planes in the formation. The second big advantage is the ability to carpet bomb. The wingleader calibrates his bombsight while the other pilots man their guns, then on the command of the wingleader all pilots can jump to the pilots position (F1) and drop their bombs. No need for each pilot to calibrate their bomb sight as the wingleader has effectively calibrated for all of the planes in the formation when he calibrates his bomb sight.
This feature is very simple to use and setup:
1. First you must map the Autopilot Wingman Mode on your keyboard. Here is how to do it:
A. Go to "Options" on your clipboard
B. Select "Controls"
C. Select "Map Keys"
D. Select "Flight" on the left lower side of the keyboard display that will pop up
E. Select "Autopilot Wingman Mode"
F. Hold down the CRTL and W keys at the same time (they will both light up)
G. Press "Set Key"
H. Done!
You should only need to set CRTL-W once and you should be ready to go each time you start AH.
Here is a practical application of the above, but there are many more. You have 5 bomber pilots heading to a target to help bring it down, let's name them:
John
Tom
Dick
Harry
Pete
It is decided John will be the wingleader of the formation, so the other four pilots each use the dot command in the text buffer ".wingman John" (without the quotation marks).
The other four pilots will see John's icon turn white indicating the wingman command has been engaged. John goes to "Normal Cruise" rpms and manifold pressure. This allows the other pilots to move into position around John.
For example let's say Tom moves 200 yards to John's left, and Dick moves 200 yards to John's right forming a shallow "V" formation. Harry moves directly behind and above John by 400 yards, and Pete moves directly behind and below John by 400 yards. Harry and Pete have filled in the gap in the rear of the "V" both high and low and all pilots can bring guns to bear on just about every angle of attack from interceptors and their entire formation is only about 400 yards in size. As each pilot finds his position relative to John he holds down CRTL-W to turn on the Autopilot Wingman Mode and at that point John is now flying that pilot's planes. To break the CRTL-W lock simply touch your joystick while in the pilot’s seat, or go to your bombsight and you are flying your own planes again. This allows you to make adjustments to your position or bomb independently and then hit CRTL-W again when you are ready to lock back into the formation. There will be times where carpet bombing will not be the answer and instead each pilot will take control of their planes for precision bombing over the target, but still enjoy the defensive advantage of formation flying in transit to and from the target.
This holds the formation incredibly tight (as long as John doesn't make any radical maneuvers) allowing the other pilots to go to their guns without the formation drifting apart. John can also set his autopilot and man his guns also. Imagine the defensive fire of 5 B-17 formations (15 planes) holding this formation in route to their target.
Now the formation is nearing their target and they want to level the city at the strats or some other target. Harry and Pete swing out of their high and low rear positions and take positions to the left and right of Tom and Dick. The entire group adjusts the width of their formation to their liking and resets the Autopilot Wingman Mode by hitting CRTL-W again. John is now flying all planes again, and this allows John to calibrate the center of the target while the other pilots keep a lookout from their gun positions or F3 knowing that the group will hit everything the width of two formations to the left and right of John. Add more pilots and cut a wider path or split the formation to hit multiple targets.
I have flown in these Wingman Autopilot Mode formations with devastating defensive and bombing results. And then I have continued to fly with some groups that aren't using it with the usual results of being picked apart piecemeal by fighters as our formations drifted apart while we were in our guns either in route or over the target. The difference is night and day.
This also makes missions with the lessor bombers like the He111 and Betty more feasible. Right now a lone formation of He111's is often cannon fodder. A formation of ten He111 pilots (30 He111's) tucked in tight together with fighter escorts would be a different story. We will certainly up these types of formations for some variety and a challenge.
Fighter Escort PilotsWe plan on mixing up the composition of the bomber formations for variety (ie: B-17's one mission, Betty's the next) and flying at realistic bomber altitudes which could be anywhere from 10 or 12k up to 28k depending on the target destination and the bomber’s sweet spot for cruising. So we will be showing a large dar bar for at least 2 or 3 sectors (and often more) that should bring lots of hungry interceptors. That will mean plenty of action for escort fighters also.
We plan to fly to fight, as well as bomb! I have been on some large missions which have become epic battles at 20k, with interceptors tearing through the formations with escorts in pursuit and guns blazing everywhere. In the end the mission is not destroyed but heavily damaged with maybe a 50% loss of pilots and drones, but also many interceptors and escorts shot down and hopefully fun for all. I have been on missions where the entire bomber formation has been destroyed, and I have been on missions where we have devastated the interceptors. The risk is there that should add to the drama and fun!
I will be posting these missions as Pickup Missions to give folks an idea of what we’re doing (both within the squad and outside the squad), but you’re welcome to choose your own skin and come into the mission by upping at the field independent of the mission. Bomber pilots are strongly encouraged to bring the same bomber as listed in the mission, as the different bombers have different rates of climb and cruise speeds making mixed formations difficult to maintain and you will get left behind if you choose a bomber with a slower cruise or climb rate. Escort pilots are encouraged to bring their favorite ride and skin, although I’ll also have several escort fighters listed in the Pickup Mission.
Visitors are Welcome!Already happy with your current squadron as a bomber pilot or fighter pilot but looking for something new to do? We will be posting these missions on country radio and you are welcome to join us on any or all missions!
New players are also welcome, but I will train you on non-squad nights as we won’t hold up a mission trying to explain the basics.
I plan on rotating the wingleader for the bomber formations from mission to mission to keep things interesting for squad mates and we will often split the formations to hit multiple targets over the strats or bases, so there will be plenty of room for individuality as well as strength in numbers both defensively and offensively.
What Country?Right now I am flying Bishop, so that's where we will start, but where the Rough Puppies end up flying will depend on where the interest lies. I think most players like a “home country” so if we rotate countries it will be slowly (maybe once every 3 to 6 months) or not at all. This will be a democratic decision by the squad once we are up and running.
Send me a PM if you are interested or look me up in the MA. Join us for a few squad nights to find out if this is your cup of tea and then if things work out for both of us I’ll send you a squad invite. I think I can say this for sure once we are up and running: If you are looking for a fight, or for something different to do 2 or 3 times a week for a couple of hours, come fly with the Rough Puppies!
Minimum Age Requirement is 18For more information on the Autopilot Wingman Mode here is a thread in Help and Training. Lot's of duplicate information posted by me, but also good information and feedback posted by other AH Players:
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,351783.0.htmlBadger
