Ct Set-up For Sept. 26, 2003

[Dennis]

Jester hasn't said much since releasing the setup, but reading from the original post, he says it represents the long-range bombing raids of '43.

Just to pick up on what others have said ... that sort of thing might be dandy for a scenerio -- or even one or two organized 'mishuns' during the week on squadnights -- but for the rest of the week it's dullsville for a lot of folks who frequent the CT.  

How can you have a "Strategic Bombing campaign" with strat turned off?

But mostly, the map's not conducive to a small population being able to find quick a2a COMBAT.  It caters to the bomber pilots, primarily ... and those who like long, high-altitude, uneventful escort missions.  Perhaps the kind of stuff we'll see in AH2 TOD?
I suppose we shouldn't begrudge them a setup once in a while.
Nice shot at an experiment to mix things up a bit ... but it misses the mark for the majority of CT regulars, I think.   Just sayin'.

Splash1

[SmokinSS]

Jester great set up...thanks.

to a fellow smoke eater also.
I.A.F.F. Local 2676

Where is St. Charles at? Couldn't find it on the map.

Sorry for being off topic a little.

Robert

[Oldman731]

Originally posted by Squirrel
BTW Jester I think this is a fun matchup overall!
Sqrl

Agreed.  I was skeptical when I saw how far apart the bases were, but figured I'd give it the old college try.  To my surprise, the distance factor encouraged real-life behavior:  High altitude approach to the continent, low level return, close attention to fuel consumption.  

The plane set, so far as I'm concerned, is one of the better ones we've had.  From the Axis side I expected to see a lot of 51Bs, but I guess the weak guns encouraged people to fly the 47 - again, duplicating real life.  Air-to-air, the 47 is clearly a match for the 109Gs and the FWs, but a close match.

The big flaw, as I see it, is that base capture is enabled.  There just aren't enough bases on this map to permit that, in my very humble opinion.  The problem is made worse by spill-over MA types, who I observed traveling far afield, porking fighter hangers so that the allies could Win the War.  Result was Axis having to fly multiple sectors to get to the fight.  Figure out some other objective that might attract bomber pilots (IS THERE any such alternate?  What would you fluffers like to bomb instead of bases?)

On balance, I like this setup very much, and commend Jester for a clever approach.

- oldman

[Shane]

lemme guess oldman, you flew basiclaly prime-time?

try flying off peak hrs... yaaaaaaaawwwwwnnnnnnn.

matchup good... map bad.

[Urchin]

Originally posted by Oldman731
The problem is made worse by spill-over MA types, who I observed traveling far afield, porking fighter hangers so that the allies could Win the War.  Result was Axis having to fly multiple sectors to get to the fight.  Figure out some other objective that might attract bomber pilots (IS THERE any such alternate?  What would you fluffers like to bomb instead of bases?)

On balance, I like this setup very much, and commend Jester for a clever approach.

- oldman

I like the planeset, personally.  

As far as your question goes- no, the bomber 'pilots' wouldn't bomb anything else even if it was available.  They want to feel like they 'have an impact' on the game, so dropping the fighter hangars is the only way they can have that impact.

[Ike 2K#]

i heard that USAAF squadrons in England started recieving P-51Bs in '44. Is that true?

[Arlo]

Originally posted by Shane
lemme guess oldman, you flew basiclaly prime-time?

try flying off peak hrs... yaaaaaaaawwwwwnnnnnnn.

matchup good... map bad.

You mean there's a CT map that's exciting during the off-peak hours? I mean for the guys that aren't milk/pork/risking.

[Oldman731]

Originally posted by Ike 2K#
i heard that USAAF squadrons in England started recieving P-51Bs in '44. Is that true?

First operational mission of the 51Bs (a fighter sweep) was the 354th's mission of December 1, 1943.  354th was a 9th AF unit, temporarily loaned to the 8th AF.  First escort mission was December 5, with the second on December 11, followed by missions on the 16th, 20th and January 5 and 11, 1944, and on the Bruswick mission at the end of January (the one that made Howard famous).  So, basically, there was one (count them) group flying 51Bs through the end of January.  In late January, the 9th AF traded a group's worth of 51s to the 8th, which gave them to the 357th FG, known thereafter as the Pioneer Mustang group.   Their first mission was Febuary 11, 1944.  The 8th started reequiping its 47 groups with 51s, but clearly up until late spring/early summer of 44 it was the 47 that was the main 8th AF fighter.

- oldman

[keyapaha]

I think this was a good setup,yes the fields are far apart this was supposed tobe a bomber vs fighter setup I thought,

 I spent most of sat. flying lanc and b17's flying to the industrial targets and bombing them unopposed I guess ppl dont want to take the time to climb up to intercept,hell i even announced my tgt over chan 1 and still noone even tried to intercept they were too busy trying to take fields,the more and more I think about it I think field capture has no purpose in the CT

 But during prime time on a bombing run 3 brave souls tried to intercept me and met there fate but that was it,then I took some ju88's to england and man you would think i was in a perk plane everybody and his brother was attacking me.

 I really think it comes down to ppl dont like to attack the big bombers due to the fact you spend 15-20 min climbing up to a bomber stream only to make some stupid rush 6 attack and get flamed


  BTW sorry to here about jester leaving the CM team I wished I had the time for this I would like to give it a whril but Iam afraid would not have enough time to do the job effecitivly.

[Dennis]

Hey, key ... how ya doin?

Were there lots of axis folks on during your LD Lanc & Superfortress raids?

Personally, I've just gotten to where I leave the big bombers alone unless I have lots of friendly company.  Particulary if all you're doing is bombing strat targets that have no relevance to the game.
1 fighter vs 30 .50s is a recipe for a trip to the tower, even without a stupid 6:00 attack.

Bombers are more trouble than their worth as targets, imho ... unless there's an organized mission going from both sides.  That just doesn't happen in the CT 24/7 ... as already stated.

This setup will be kewl in the TOD, i'll wager .... but probably with a new state-of-the-art map.

The complaints about the setup on this board are grounded and fair, I think. A couple of "this sux" and "this blows" comments about the map, tempered by praise for the planeset .. and a couple of fact-supported pitches for planeset changes. Some positive comments, too.  We've seen far worse during some PTO setups.

I Wasn't privy to the Friday night debacle, but if it was as bad as everyone lets on, that's a shame.  As poor a choice as this setup is for the CT, it doesn't justify chasing someone away from a volunteer staff position.

Splash1

[keyapaha]

doin fine,     yup it was 16-5 in favor of axis thats why I upped allied bombers after my first unopposed trip (almost 1hr and 5min) I started to announce where I was going but noone seemed to care.after that it was 10 -1 axis with me being the only allied and still noone showed up to intercept,but later when the numbers evened up a bit a few tried.I was just playing the set up the way it was designed thats all no complaints here.


 I dont think it really matters if i disrupt gameplay or not the object is to get to target bomb it and return safely.One thing for sure the ack was very heavy almost never came back with out damage.

[Dennis]

Originally posted by keyapaha
... the object is to get to target bomb it and return safely...

Understood.  I'm all about everyone enjoying the game.

Just to elaborate a bit on my point, though.  With only a handful of axis online (10-16 during primetime Saturday?), if you're not a threat, there's really very little incentive for me to climb up and intercept you, especially in B17x3 with its 1k forceshield.
If you were headed for HQ to kill dar, or if those factories really supplied something on this map ... then, yeah, you might have gotten some action.
(Not intended as a pitch for enabling strat, btw).

Anyway, good to see you getting some stick time in.  Been missing those days in the 13th.

Splash1

[keyapaha]

understood