• Rook Strategic Bomber Mission [MoM] Alert - 11/25/08 •

[zoozoo]

  Cant wait!

I think thats my pic i sent u in left but im not sure 

C u there delta!

[96Delta]

If we get enough pilots, this is what we hope
to deploy.  Fighters are indexed to bombers.
The more bomber pilots we have, the more
fighters.

[PFactorDave]

96Delta, this is really a cool thing you are doing.  I applaud your efforts.

One thing you should know.  During your last one, I was a Bishop (as always).  I actually launched in a fully fueled (including DTs) Mossie and made it to 30k and the center of the map before your mission launched.  It was quite simple to figure out the bases you were launching from simply from the Dar Bars.  I actually flew over the bombers without seeing them because they were so much lower then I expected them to be.  I was seeing Jug after Jug, but no B17s.  I learned later, watching the film, that the B17s passed beneath me at about 15k while I was watching all the black dots that turned out to be Jugs.

Basically just saying that totally without spy information, I found (or would have had I been paying closer attention) the bombers while they were still pretty low (relatively speaking).

I think it would be a mistake for you to blame the interception of the mission solely on spies.  That said, anything you can think of to foil potential spies is probably a good idea.  But you might want to consider taking steps to otherwise mask your launch points.

Perhaps a classic long range NOE run at the two opposing countries' HQs to hit shortly before mission launch.

Just a thought.

 

[bongaroo]

Perhaps a classic long range NOE run at the two opposing countries' HQs to hit shortly before mission launch.

No reason.  HQ's can easily be resupplied by a few people in a matter of minutes.  The best bet is to launch from fields deep in friendly territory.  Have your close escorts watching the bombers and get your other fighters sweeping ahead.

As far as spies and not letting anyone know even what country will be targeted...well I've stated quite a number of times that it shouldn't be a big deal.  People make the "o noes!  spiiies!" excuse up for any failings.

[96Delta]

Guys,

The claim of spying wasn't conjecture.

We were told that there were spies giving out our mission particulars
before we spawned.  That gave people the chance to take-off,
get to altitude, and hit us before we were even a quarter of the way
to the target.

Dave, you used your head.  I applaud those of you who used
your noggins to intercept us.  What I am opposed to is the
guy who joins the ROOKS and looks at the missions just so they
can report on what we are doing...before we do anything!

As MoM missions grow, I hope to make them squadron-centric
where we will no longer have to post missions using the mission
editor but can pre-plan everything offline and in advance. 
Until that time I need to implement protocols to at
least minimize the success of active spying.

But not to worry, I think people who rely on "spy" intel will be sorely
disappointed this go'round.

• IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ROOK PARTICIPANTS •
It is critically important that everyone who wants to participate
join the posted missions and NOT attempt to wait on the launch base
runway for the mission to spawn. 

We may end up launching from a totally different base than the one
we originally posted in the mission editor and you will find yourself
missing the mission.  Just join the posted mission and you will be okay. 

I know that you won't have your preferred skin but there's not
much that can be done about that.  Maybe someday Hitech will
build an option into the mission editor that lets pilots select
their preferred skin when they join but until then we are stuck
with the default. (or better yet, let the mission designer select the
skin for the planes in their mission..I would LOVE that!)

David
"96Delta"

[bongaroo]

I'm not trying to tell you there were spies or not.  Don't care if there is.  They do very little to change what is going to happen.  Even if you don't announce the target they will be able to relay any info they want.

If you use your resources to up the bombers far enough back to climb and level and have a screen of fighters sweep ahead you'll be much better off than trying to prevent "spies" from raining on your parade.

What I'm trying to tell you is that you can very simply inform participants an approximate time and the country the target(s) are located in.  With that you've defeated half the problem.  No need to try and sneak around to keep spies from giving away info.

Anyways, I'd much rather have spies bringing people up to fight as opposed to some cake walk.

[96Delta]

If you use your resources to up the bombers far enough back to climb and level and have a screen of fighters sweep ahead you'll be much better off than trying to prevent "spies" from raining on your parade.

Bong, you are missing my point.
If a spy reports our launch bases and takeoff times the opposition can be
in the air and over the launch bases before we ever get airborne.
There will be no "fighter sweep" because they will be getting
vulched as they launch.

This is only possible because we have to advertise the missions publically and
solicit wider ROOK involvement. Because we want to get as many
players as possible into the mission, we leave about 30 minutes for
people to join.  Unfortunately, this gives our adversaries tons of time
to reach and orbit our bases and flight path at high alt so they can
have a grand old time at the bombers and (still-heavy) escorts expense. 
The idea behind MoM is not to setup a baby seal clubbing festival for the
Bishops or Knights.  We want a fair battle.  Spying of the type
I have already outlined makes achieving that goal more difficult.

Once we get the squadron-based participation of MoM squared away,
that will no longer be a problem as the missions will no longer be
advertised for the broader ROOK community.

Until that time, I will enjoy finding ways to turn the cheaters into
assets for our team.  It adds a whole new dimension to the
experience...and I guess that means a heightened level of
realism too.   

Finally, do you, in your wildest imaginations, ever see that a swarm
of 200 bombers and 100 fighters would not meet with significant opposition?
I don't think that any MoM mission can ever be a "cake walk"!
We will always attract far too much attention for that to ever occur. 

[bongaroo]

Bong, you are missing my point.
If a spy reports our launch bases and takeoff times the opposition can be
in the air and over the launch bases before we ever get airborne.
There will be no "fighter sweep" because they will be getting
vulched as they launch.

Not a problem if you launch away from the frontline.

This is only possible because we have to advertise the missions publically and
solicit wider ROOK involvement. Because we want to get as many
players as possible into the mission, we leave about 30 minutes for
people to join.  Unfortunately, this gives our adversaries tons of time
to reach and orbit our bases and flight path at high alt so they can
have a grand old time at the bombers and (still-heavy) escorts expense. 
The idea behind MoM is not to setup a baby seal clubbing festival for the
Bishops or Knights.  We want a fair battle.  Spying of the type
I have already outlined makes achieving that goal more difficult.

From the interest alone generated here on the BBS alone you have a lot of people wanting to play.  Have one of your escort wings up right from the beginning to go ahead and defend your launch bases if your that worried.

Once we get the squadron-based participation of MoM squared away,
that will no longer be a problem as the missions will no longer be
advertised for the broader ROOK community.

At that point lets just move it to the SEA and make it a monthly DGS thing.

Until that time, I will enjoy finding ways to turn the cheaters into
assets for our team.  It adds a whole new dimension to the
experience...and I guess that means a heightened level of
realism too.   

wtg?       sounds sillier than actually spying in a video game

Finally, do you, in your wildest imaginations, ever see that a swarm
of 200 bombers and 100 fighters would not meet with significant opposition?
I don't think that any MoM mission can ever be a "cake walk"!
We will always attract far too much attention for that to ever occur. 

actually due to the games limitations no one will ever see a swarm of bombers and fighters that big.  Thats why your bombers complained of not being able to see their attackers until they were under 2k out.  Your missions are fun but they are nothing on what the last two frames of DGS were.  Again, I think with the numbers your event can obviously attract your going to (or already have) hit a critical mass of players.  You'll need to split up the bomber groups and give them different targets to ever get past this limitation. 

Love the energy, kinda hate the implimentation your group pursues.  Good luck, I won't be making this one.  I'll be travelling for the holiday.

[96Delta]

kinda hate the implimentation your group pursues.

Wish you would offer some explanations on why you feel this way
and what you would do differently.

Anyway, always looking for some well-reasoned ideas on how
this might be improved.

[HighTone]

<S> LCA...Still cant wait

[96Delta]

I've been waiting a month for this!!!    LCA

Please use the 47N, it has better hi alt performance at WEP than the D-25.

TA-152  vs.  47N will be a great fight at 30k!

Sorry but I have to stick to the dash-25 to maintain the
historical profile.  The P-47N was relegated to the Pacific
IIRC.  These MoM missions, at least for the present,
are tyrying to capture the atmosphere of the bombing
campaign against Fortress Europa. 

[Shuffler]

I pretty sure you'll find a few 38s in your cover.

[bongaroo]

Wish you would offer some explanations on why you feel this way
and what you would do differently.

Anyway, always looking for some well-reasoned ideas on how
this might be improved.

I gave plenty of advice.  Read the green text in the quote.  Any problems you say are caused by spying are simply addressed.  The problems with the number of players that can be shown in any given area of the arena is taken care of by spreading out the bombers into groups attacking seperate but nearby targets (so your sweeps can effectively clear more airspace)

The last piece of advice I would give is to find someone to organize interceptor missions on your mission.  Sure seeing enemy planes enter the bomber box 1 by 1 to die is fun, but the sheer terror of seeing 20+ 190a8s scream in all at once to the box is amazing!

Anyways, good luck.

[96Delta]

I see a lot of fighter squadrons and individual pilots
are interested in participating.

BUT

What I tend to need are more, many more
bombers than we had last time.  I'm hoping for
60-75 sets of B-17's!  So, if you are interested in flying
a bomber (even if you are not good at it) please
consider flying one.  Even if you can't bomb you
can still man those guns and be a death star!

So I'm hoping for tons of bombers..I know I will have no
trouble attracting fighter pilots.  I plan for the mission
to have more bomber pilots than fighters to keep the
historical look and feel.  If I only have 20 B-17's,
I'm gonna have to go with less fighters...

So man those bombers...please!~ 

[HighTone]