fun night!

[Zoney]

I won't berate the planning, execution or even the skill of the players; but, the number of squads honoring the fascists is too much.

The Nazis lost. The world is better off for it.

Deal with it.

You obviously have no clue. 

[Bino]

When I was on the CM team I designed four Battle Of Britain FSO events, usually during the summer. When the "FuelBurnRateMult" setting was altered from it's FSO standard of 1.0, there were bitter complaints. Most of those were along the lines of "it's not fun". As it happens, the BOB maps we have are scaled to the real world at 1:1, so the FBRM setting of 1.0 is accurate.

The objective of FSO has been to provide an "even-ish" setup with both the high probability of contact (i.e., required targets) and historical flavor. It has not been historical re-enactment.

I think FSO is still the best thing in the game.

 

[Bannor]

When we first made contact with allied aircraft, it was one Hurri flying into the formations of the HE111's. And then they seemed to come in 2 to four at a time. If I was allied CIC, I might have played it a little differently. You know that there will be a fighter sweep prior to the bombers coming in. And figure that the bombers won't arrive until earliest t+45 and latest t+57. Instead of committing to the sweep, leave a token force of resistance and let the bombers approach target, and then, in mass, commit your entire reserves at once. Hit them when they are trying to line up and drop instead of trying to intercept early. The sweep can decimate your numbers and force your pilots to a lower altitude and then by the time the bombers arrive it's really tough to do anything in force. A smaller force drawing in the sweep would have aided the larger reserve force that would be attacking from on high en mass.

I know, easier said than done. Plans go out the window when things get hot. But I think this approach would have been the best. You know the bombers will get in and drop. Let them. If you hit them just as they are or when they are trying to turn for home with your force still intact... who knows?

<<S>> to you all. It was fun. See ya in a few weeks! 

[APDrone]

When we first made contact with allied aircraft, it was one Hurri flying into the formations of the HE111's.

...

And the vox LAG was insane. 

We all laughed as the 'There's a hurricane that just went through the bombers'  vox message finally made it through the queue.. I kid you not.. a full 3 minutes after the Hurri quit being a Hurri anymore..

 

[edge12674]

When I was on the CM team I designed four Battle Of Britain FSO events, usually during the summer. When the "FuelBurnRateMult" setting was altered from it's FSO standard of 1.0, there were bitter complaints. Most of those were along the lines of "it's not fun". As it happens, the BOB maps we have are scaled to the real world at 1:1, so the FBRM setting of 1.0 is accurate.

The objective of FSO has been to provide an "even-ish" setup with both the high probability of contact (i.e., required targets) and historical flavor. It has not been historical re-enactment.

I think FSO is still the best thing in the game.

 

Thanks for the info Bino.  I was not sure the map scale and fuel burn were the same.  I only questioned it since most historical sources note the limited combat time available to the 109's.  I have played the BoB FSO's many times before and this time it seemed more unbalanced with more loiter time for the 109's.  As Squire noted the same FSO can have many different outcomes (one of the reasons I enjoy them).  I totally agree that FSO is the best time to be had in AH and never wish it to be a historical re-enactment.  Thanks again to the FSO staff and CIC's. 

[FBDragon]

Very nice. An immersive experience to be sure. 

Quoted for truth. Perhaps in next BoB scenario, limit German fuel to 75%.

I won't berate the planning, execution or even the skill of the players; but, the number of squads honoring the fascists is too much.

The Nazis lost. The world is better off for it.

Deal with it.

I normally don't chime in on somethimg like this buy I think you need a little insight on this.  We're not honoring the fascists, were honoring the pilots who flew the planes. The nazis were a political party, not the entire German people. Most Luftwaffe pilots were not Nazis, my grandfather who flew for the Luftwaffe on the eastern front was not a Nazi. He told my father that they were not to be affiliated with any political party as a condition for acceptance into the Luftwaffe!!!  Not disrespect intended Rufleak <S>

I enjoy FSO, which totally justifies my subscription. The volunteers that put the time in deserve our appreciation.

In my opinion, the scenario is imbalanced. In every frame, there were dozens of Axis fighters overhead.

In addition to the aforementioned Axis fuel tweak:

1. Make the dar bar information real time for Allies.
2. Give the Allies radar dots.
3. Let bailed out Allies launch a fresh plane.
4. Balance the numbers.

Just some thoughts.

[Frodo]

And the vox LAG was insane. 

We all laughed as the 'There's a hurricane that just went through the bombers'  vox message finally made it through the queue.. I kid you not.. a full 3 minutes after the Hurri quit being a Hurri anymore..

 

Had the same experience and we had a good laugh too. 

[Nefarious]

Strange how the VOX appeared to be fine until that Hurricane through, I guess the reports of the Hurricane all hit at once, causing the lag.

It Was quite amusing.

[Dantoo]

When I was on the CM team I designed four Battle Of Britain FSO events, usually during the summer. When the "FuelBurnRateMult" setting was altered from it's FSO standard of 1.0, there were bitter complaints. Most of those were along the lines of "it's not fun". As it happens, the BOB maps we have are scaled to the real world at 1:1, so the FBRM setting of 1.0 is accurate.

The objective of FSO has been to provide an "even-ish" setup with both the high probability of contact (i.e., required targets) and historical flavor. It has not been historical re-enactment.

I think FSO is still the best thing in the game.

 

The 10 minutes over London story is a shibboleth.

It was originally rolled out to something of the form "30 minutes fighting time over Southern England and 10 minutes fighting time over London".  I have never seen a single reference source that has had the backing of any actual research, scientific or just practical testing.

It is more of an unknown nonsense that is just about the first thing thrown out in any high school student's essay on the Battle of Britain.

There are so many factors that involve themselves in real life situations that to make such a "rule" would be untenable.  A couple worth thinking about:

The form up time required for large formations in 1940 is significantly different to today.  Whilst the Germans actually had superior radar at the time (another shibboleth - only the British had radar) they didn't have the organisation behind the technology to gain great advantage from it.  Much fuel and time was used in just finding who you were supposed to escort at the right place and at the right time.  Both sides spent the war trying to solve those problems and never truly achieved success.

Tactical considerations were paramount.  If a 109 was to fly direct to London and conduct a leisure flight there before returning to the French coast it could spend a wonderful afternoon sight-seeing. 

It only takes a 109 about 4 and a half minutes to cross the Channel under operational conditions. Things were different in the mass daytime attacks in August 1940.  It wasn't so simple at all.
If a 109 had to climb over France, find its own wing, take up its position, intercept its bomber group and then weave back and forward above them in close escort, then it used up most of its time/fuel in those mundane tasks and not fighting.

It wasn't one-sided either. The Allies may have had a fighter that could fly to Berlin and back but they were still forced to send in relief waves as the escorts burned up their fuel long before they got there.
Believe it or not, the same still happens today.

All that said, I would reckon there weren't many Axis single-engine fighters that spent more than 10 minutes fighting over London in this last frame.

[captain1ma]

as a "almost full time" axis player, we have NOT lost the war yet. hope springs eternal!....... in my mind!! 

[Vulcan]

the number of squads honoring the fascists is too much.

What a totally insulting and immature comment to make.

[FBDragon]

I totally agree with you Vulcan, if you look at my last post, ( I did it wrong so it ended up in the middle of his post) maybe he'll understand a little better as to why we fly axis!!!

[Alpo]

I totally agree with you Vulcan, if you look at my last post, ( I did it wrong so it ended up in the middle of his post) maybe he'll understand a little better as to why we fly axis!!!

I, for one, missed it in your quoted post Dragon and because of the volumes your reply speaks, I'm quoting you...

The Nazis lost. The world is better off for it.

Deal with it.

FBDragon's reply:  I normally don't chime in on somethimg like this buy I think you need a little insight on this.  We're not honoring the fascists, were honoring the pilots who flew the planes. The nazis were a political party, not the entire German people. Most Luftwaffe pilots were not Nazis, my grandfather who flew for the Luftwaffe on the eastern front was not a Nazi. He told my father that they were not to be affiliated with any political party as a condition for acceptance into the Luftwaffe!!!  Not disrespect intended Rufleak <S>

I enjoy FSO, which totally justifies my subscription. The volunteers that put the time in deserve our appreciation.


I worked as CiC for a BoB FSO frame about a year ago and everyone lost their mind about the bases I selected for launching the Bf109s    They were too far from the coast and would not allow for any time over British soil, so I moved them forward.  Would it be more realistic to force the Axis fighter bases back a bit causing a little more of a fuel constraint?  Obviously, we can't handicap the Axis to the point that the bombers are not escorted, but the last planes over London should not be furballing Bf109s and Bf110s as the He111s are landing.  Just my $0.02

[Ratsy]

Alpo, it sometimes comes down to semantics.

Rudel was a Nazi.  Rudel was a Stuka pilot in the Luftwaffe.  Therefore...

I believe that there were folks that joined an organization (and maybe not participated in it) if it meant they could realize their dream of doing something as amazing as flying a combat aircraft.  Rudel is on record - he drank the Koolaid - and probably died still believing certain Nazi horsepucky.

Absolutes are difficult, and I'd never absolutely dispute what your grandfather said about the matter.

 

[Alpo]

 

It would appear that I screwed up my quoting too!  The italicized quote was from Rufus followed by FBDragon's response in bold.

Sorry for the confusion, but I understand what you are saying in how it all worked back then.