Aces High Bulletin Board
Special Events Forums => Friday Squad Operations => Topic started by: MDStampf93 on September 25, 2025, 05:31:26 PM
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(https://i.ibb.co/p6z6nhps/antonis-roen911-karidis-spitfire-mk-viii-fargo-express-scene-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/20t05ZBL)
Before dawn, Allied convoys sailed from North Africa and Malta toward the southern coast of Sicily. Covered by waves of Spitfires, Lightnings, and Marauders, the landings of Operation Husky marked the beginning of the campaign to drive Axis forces out of the Mediterranean. German and Italian air units scrambled from bases across Sicily to meet the assault. Luftwaffe Bf 109s and Fw 190s joined Regia Aeronautica C.205s in fierce defensive actions against Allied bombers and escorts. Despite the intensity of resistance, the Allies established fragile beachheads, striking at coastal bases and ports to open the way for a full-scale invasion of the island.
This FSO is set to depict the air battles that happened over the skies of Sicily during the Summer of 1943.
https://ahevents.net/index.php/fso-current-next-event (https://ahevents.net/index.php/fso-current-next-event)
Frame 1: 03 October 2025
Frame 2: 10 October 2025
Frame 3: 17 October 2025
Please review commitment numbers and update accordingly.
Frame 1 Objectives will go out Sunday 28 September 2025.
NOTE: The outcome of Frame 2 will determine the objectives for Frame 3.
This will be explained in Frame 2 Objectives.
See you all in October!
:salute
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(https://i.ibb.co/5gpgHYtN/Side-Splits-Oct-FSO.png) (https://ibb.co/C3C3GJNk)
Objectives coming out shortly. :aok
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Frame 1 objectives have been sent out. Please reach out with any questions.
:salute
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Husky is always a Good Time
:salute
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I believe the Axis pilots might be experiencing airsickness from eating too much pasta before the mission launch. :devil
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It has been brought to my attention that Allies have not yet received orders.
367th, please get orders out to your comrades ASAP.
I have instructed AKs to become acting CiC tonight in the event orders do not get distributed.
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Copy, it may be a bit before Rocco is away from work but I'll follow up.
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Sorry, had only mentioned that to WarHwk in CM forum, unsure if he had passed that info yet. I would recommend drafting some orders and sending them out around 5-6 pm est if nothing comes from the 367th by that time.
:salute
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Copy, I'll keep a close eye on our internal comms today. I'm sure War is on it.
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I'll get something together now
:salute
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Thank you very much Sir.
:salute
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Frame 1 logs are up, sorry they were not cooperating with me at first.
:salute
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Frame 1 Scores:
Side Total Points
Allies 366 pts
Axis 434 pts
Scoring Used
Fighter kill (1st sortie): 4 pts
Fighter kill (2nd+ sortie): 1 pt
B-26 air-to-air kill: 4 pts
B-25 air-to-air kill: 1 pt
B-26 shot down: 12
B-25 shot down: 6
Hangar destroyed: 12 pts
Fuel / Ammo / Radar / Troops @ A166: 6 pts each
Factories: 4 pts
Town building @ A166: 2 pts each
(Field guns: no points)
Ran this through AI, I unfortunately do not have the time to sit and do these scores by hand but I believe them to be pretty accurate.
Frame 2 objectives coming soon.
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Frame 2 objectives sent.
Please express any comments or concerns.
:salute
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Axis Orders are out.
:salute
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Will formations be enabled with the goons? :devil
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If I could I would lol, that would be EPIC.
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Frame 2 Logs are up.
I want to speak on something quick...
And before you even read the next part, I want to say good job tonight Allies. You successfully demolished your hour 1 fields, you hit the town at 163 2 minutes early, but that's not the topic of tonight's conversation.
At the start of both Frames 1 and 2, Sides were equally balanced. Aircraft are balanced, and targets are pretty standard. However, on both Frames 1 and Frame 2 Allied numbers dropped by nearly half by T+60 while Axis numbers remained near 100% from start. This obviously creates an unbalanced set up for the remainder of the frame.
To those who reached out... I hear you, flying into 2 or 3 v 1 odds.... sucks. So, what do we do to maintain our T60-T120 crowd? I'm not here to call any squad out, we all play our part in keeping this great game alive. But I'd be willing to bet that there are some squads who maintain higher numbers than others deeper into the night.
Player base really isn't something I can control... All I can control is the parameters in which we will do battle. Was this set up perfect? Absolutely not... I got tossed a 1943-1944 Mediterranean set up for my first set up... did with it what I could in a way where I believed people would have fun. (Frame 3 will be open season on Axis bombers for the Allies btw).
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is... Salute Gents... and thanks for flying tonight. I hope to see you all up in the air next week.
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:salute
Either way this is event I fun no matter what
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Frame 2 Logs are up.
I want to speak on something quick...
And before you even read the next part, I want to say good job tonight Allies. You successfully demolished your hour 1 fields, you hit the town at 163 2 minutes early, but that's not the topic of tonight's conversation.
At the start of both Frames 1 and 2, Sides were equally balanced. Aircraft are balanced, and targets are pretty standard. However, on both Frames 1 and Frame 2 Allied numbers dropped by nearly half by T+60 while Axis numbers remained near 100% from start. This obviously creates an unbalanced set up for the remainder of the frame.
To those who reached out... I hear you, flying into 2 or 3 v 1 odds.... sucks. So, what do we do to maintain our T60-T120 crowd? I'm not here to call any squad out, we all play our part in keeping this great game alive. But I'd be willing to bet that there are some squads who maintain higher numbers than others deeper into the night.
Player base really isn't something I can control... All I can control is the parameters in which we will do battle. Was this set up perfect? Absolutely not... I got tossed a 1943-1944 Mediterranean set up for my first set up... did with it what I could in a way where I believed people would have fun. (Frame 3 will be open season on Axis bombers for the Allies btw).
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is... Salute Gents... and thanks for flying tonight. I hope to see you all up in the air next week.
i was told 2 allied bomber squadrons didnt show. we were supposed to be escorting someone to the port but ended up a JABO hit squad. i know with the numbers, getting a goon in was next to impossible. maybe look at adjusting spawn locations if thats going to be a normal thing. i know you cant control it, but you can adjust the frame accordingly. if our guys stuck around, the frame setup wouldve been perfect.
still, hats off to you for taking on the responsibility and thanks for setting this up. i imagine these arent easy to make and moderate.
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I want to thank MDStampf for his effort to create an interesting scenario for us to fly in.
I think the early hit on the town was my fault. I thought I had timed the run to hit just after T+60 and called for bomber pilots to start their run, but apparently I mixed something up on the timing or my test flights were not as efficient as I thought.
I think the troop drops might have been doable if we had retained our pilots. I managed to get close enough to drop troops twice, though I botched both runs, once by not waiting door troops to go in before starting another run and another by clipping a tree top as I I positioned to drop. In any case, it was possible to get troops into the area.
I’m not sure what to do about retaining people. I know we lost people in our squad because second hour runs late and they had things they had to do in the morning. I’m not sure about other squadrons or why allies are more susceptible to people leaving after the first sortie.
The loss of two entire squads prior to starting the frame was probably more concerning to me. It’s a mission planning headache trying to anticipate and have contingencies for. It makes me wonder if we need to consolidate the small 3-5 size squads. I haven’t looked at correlating squad size to retaining members throughout the event yet, but I can imagine that small squads with missing members can be a disincentive to sticking around. I have been considering merging the 364th to protect against times when a member is absent due to illness or vacation, etc.
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Btw, after thinking about hitting the town early, I believe it was because I confused real time vs arena time. Even though I briefed real time being 5 minutes ahead of arena time (minute hand), I was trying to make decisions and adjustments in the heat of battle and thought I was late getting bombers up. Axis did a good job of putting pressure on us.
Even so, I was very happy with the results we were able to achieve.
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As far as the time goes there is an arena time clock in every plane, I never realized that until becoming a CM and having to be mindful of the time. Also the arena message has all of the information pertaining to the current frame.
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I wait until the CM puts in blue text that Hour 2 has begun.
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No worries Red Beard, it can certainly get crazy in the heat of the moment. You guys were set up to smash that town hard at the top of the hour regardless if it was T+58 or T+60. You all set yourselves up well for that next attack.
As far as hour 2 retention goes, It might be time to revisit moving FSO up by an hour. Even 30 minutes could make a difference for some people. A lot of us are playing 11p-1a or 12p-2a. That gets tough on them older fellas :old: :D
There are so many variables at play when it comes to events like these. I think all in all we do a pretty good job as a community in keeping what I consider Aces High’s greatest feature going. There will always be gripes, and that’s okay because there is always room for improvements.
I think it’s fair to say that not every FSO will be the same either. Some are more fast paced and action packed, others by design are more similar to the older days where you’d fly all night on a single aircraft and maybe only get 2-3 kills if you were lucky.
Some people enjoy the airspawns and quick combat, and others feel it’s gamey and takes away from the true nature of FSO, because it isn’t the MA. But that’s why we mix it up and we mix it up well. The CMs that have kept this running all these years, my hats off to you because being new to the CM thing I can see how much time goes into it all.
I want to thank everyone who has participated in this months FSO. And to those on the Allied side who may feel like they got the short end this month, next week will be your chance for some payback.
See you all next week for the final showdown.
:salute
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No worries Red Beard, it can certainly get crazy in the heat of the moment. You guys were set up to smash that town hard at the top of the hour regardless if it was T+58 or T+60. You all set yourselves up well for that next attack.
As far as hour 2 retention goes, It might be time to revisit moving FSO up by an hour. Even 30 minutes could make a difference for some people. A lot of us are playing 11p-1a or 12p-2a. That gets tough on them older fellas :old: :D
There are so many variables at play when it comes to events like these. I think all in all we do a pretty good job as a community in keeping what I consider Aces High’s greatest feature going. There will always be gripes, and that’s okay because there is always room for improvements.
I think it’s fair to say that not every FSO will be the same either. Some are more fast paced and action packed, others by design are more similar to the older days where you’d fly all night on a single aircraft and maybe only get 2-3 kills if you were lucky.
Some people enjoy the airspawns and quick combat, and others feel it’s gamey and takes away from the true nature of FSO, because it isn’t the MA. But that’s why we mix it up and we mix it up well. The CMs that have kept this running all these years, my hats off to you because being new to the CM thing I can see how much time goes into it all.
I want to thank everyone who has participated in this months FSO. And to those on the Allied side who may feel like they got the short end this month, next week will be your chance for some payback.
See you all next week for the final showdown.
:salute
We have tried so many times to do this. It even won the popular vote but someone on the West coast always shot it down. I agree its time to give it a try. If numbers, go up or retention goes up that's a win. If not, we will know. Can't hurt to try for a month. Can always go back.
You're doing great kid and those of us who don't have the time to contribute more than our two hours flight time appreciate all that you and the other CM team members do for the rest of us each and every week.
<S>
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<S> and thank you to all our CM's, past and present, FSO is something I look forward to all week, and I miss it on the week off.
Also <S> to Redbrd, I made a pretty nice pass on your B26 last night, and was pulling up and away, feeling pretty safe, next second, I was missing a whole wing and headed for the drink, it was such a good shot I thought it might have been one of my DHBG Squaddies, who spend almost all their time in bombers :)
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lol. I was surprised by that myself. Wish I had filmed it. I thought Frame 2 was one of the most fun, frenetic, action packed frames I’ve participated in in a long time. I enjoyed it regardless of how the score ends up.
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Frame 3 objectives have been sent out.
:salute
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lol. I was surprised by that myself. Wish I had filmed it. I thought Frame 2 was one of the most fun, frenetic, action packed frames I’ve participated in in a long time. I enjoyed it regardless of how the score ends up.
Youtube of my end of it if interested :)
https://youtu.be/vIUcq-mV9VY?t=78
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I miss it on the week off.
:salute Steely, apparently you aren't the only one. On off weeks, my wife OFTEN says... "Leave me alone, don't you have to fly or something???" :angel:
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Frame 3 ordinance clarifications: These should not affect axis orders.
190s will have ordinance disabled.
109s will have ordinance enabled after T+30.
Ju-88s no ordinance restrictions due to speed/armament deficiencies.
Ju-87s will not be able to carry the 1800kg bomb, will have wing points enabled.
109s can be used as phase 2 attackers.
:salute
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Frame 3 logs are up.
Thank you to all who participated in October ‘25 FSO.
I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. I know it wasn’t perfect, and I’ve taken notes for when it’s my turn to set something up again.
This last frame was some of the best fighting I’ve seen in a while, a massive salute to both sides.
Don’t forget the Scenario starts tomorrow. Walk-ons welcome, both sides could use them. Show up well before launch for side assignments if you are walking on.
:salute