Long Mission: Coop Mixed With Dogfight - New Concept. Can It Work?

[FoolTrottel]

Every now and then, it's nice to a long mission, with some adjusted difficulty settings... just for the fun.

(Well, I simply just love those)

We've got two modes of multiplay: (note that pro's and con's are listed and judged as specifically relevant for a long mission, and listed as the most relevant on top of the list)

Long mission: Up to and over 2hrs....

1.The Dogfight

Pro's

- Possibility to join the mission after it has started.

- Possibility to rejoin the fight, after a mishap.

Con's

- Rinse repeat effect

- No multi crew aircraft

2. The Coop

Pro's

- One target to fly to, head on in, do battle, return home. (ie. Historical)

- Multi crew aircraft

Con's

- Being Late is being dead. You can't join if you're a bit late.

- Dead is dead. On a long coop, yeah, too bad, sit it out as a spectater.

Now this got me thinking. Let's try and get best of both, or well, kinda get close to that...

What if a long mission was being programmed, basically as a Coop, so with a series of waypoints to the target, and back home.

But then, dead=dead, and being late=dead.

Now here's the idea: What if along the waypoints, a set of homebases are being programmed, spawpoints in the air. Run the coop as a dogfight.

A deaded pilot will have to wait, until the group (be it bombers or escorts or whatever) have got close to the next spawnpoint along the route.

Once the group is closed, the deaded pilots spawns, and rejoins the party. Same goes for late comers.

Sure, there's some issues, especially if navigation is full real, and the party gets lost. The pre-set spawnpoints will be kinda useless.

And there's the number of human pilots vs. AI pilots, a Coop will take care of that by itself, this setup will need to be tweeked to the correct numbers just before the start..

So, we got the Pro's of being late/dead and still be able to (re)join the fun, and the one-way-in-battle-and-out-to-home-route. Too bad no Multi Crew, but... Oh well...

So, question is, would this work?

Is this a feasable concept?

What do you think?

[Crash]

What do you think?

I`ll get back to you on that

Too much wine (is that possible??)

Edited September 21, 2012 by Crash

[Sweper]

I´m in!

[Friar]

A very creative idea FT, you are to be congratulated, I suspect you like me are always thinking of more and different ways to enjoy this beloved game of ours. Me, my ideas often come whilst sitting in the smallest room.....

[Painless]

~S~ FT,

That sounds like a bloody brilliant idea M8, In fact it would be great if all coops whether long or short were made that way. On a normal night we are all "late commers" except for the first couple or so . We like to land at the end of a coop but often forgo that for the sake of those waiting in the wings for the next coop, (could be 20mins+)

Downside might be the extinction of the "20 seconds" rule because the natural penalty for buggering up a take off,(or forgetting TIR etc ) would be to have to wait until your flight reached the first waypoint/spawn point. Maybe a game/mission glitch could still be 20 seconds ?

Just how accurate would a flight's navigation have to be to generate the spawn/way point ?

Anyway, getting all carried away and stuff. I like the idea.

~S~ P.

[FoolTrottel]

~S~ FT,

That sounds like a bloody brilliant idea M8, In fact it would be great if all coops whether long or short were made that way. On a normal night we are all "late commers" except for the first couple or so . We like to land at the end of a coop but often forgo that for the sake of those waiting in the wings for the next coop, (could be 20mins+)

Dowside might be the extinction of the "20 seconds" rule because the natural penalty for buggering up a take off,(or forgetting TIR etc ) would be to have to wait until your flight reached the first waypoint/spawn point. Maybe a game/mission glitch could still be 20 seconds ?

Anyway, getting all carried away and stuff. I like the idea.

~S~ P.

Mick, this is just scary! You are making sense twice in a row.... Me thinks its time thee wife returns to base soon!

Good thinkin'!

[Painless]

LOL !!! Why thank you kind sir, may your cloggs always remain termite free.

~S~ P.

[FoolTrottel]

A very creative idea FT, you are to be congratulated, I suspect you like me are always thinking of more and different ways to enjoy this beloved game of ours. Me, my ideas often come whilst sitting in the smallest room.....

Sorry, I get them ideas just sitting at the computer, browsing Google Earth, enjoying the wide screen view....

[Snacko]

Great idea! So, these spawn points would be just airstarts, not an airfield? That would also save some time climbing to alitutude, etc..

Maybe there could be a light in the sky where the spawn point is on the waypoint, and at the same spawn altitude to guide the flight a little bit to the new players? (ie let them know if they are lost or on path)

PS: It would be cool if you could get a mod that would make a spawn point move with the flight.. Hmm..

[DD_Arthur]

Speaking as a chronic late-comer and lawn-darter I think this a fantastic idea.

[DD_Brando]

Clogs?.......termites? Aaaarrghh! Google Cuprinol immediately!

B -

[Jabo]

How about making the spawn points time dependant rather than on the location of a flight? I.e. flight 1. Arrival time at waypoint 4 is 30 mins from take off so possible to spawn there from 25 to 35 mins. Dunno really, just thinking aloud. Would the triggers be any use here?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FoolTrottel]

How about making the spawn points time dependant rather than on the location of a flight? I.e. flight 1. Arrival time at waypoint 4 is 30 mins from take off so possible to spawn there from 25 to 35 mins. Dunno really, just thinking aloud. Would the triggers be any use here?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good idea, that could be very useful.

Dunno how them trigger thingies work though ....

[FoolTrottel]

Great idea! So, these spawn points would be just airstarts, not an airfield? That would also save some time climbing to alitutude, etc..

Maybe there could be a light in the sky where the spawn point is on the waypoint, and at the same spawn altitude to guide the flight a little bit to the new players? (ie let them know if they are lost or on path)

PS: It would be cool if you could get a mod that would make a spawn point move with the flight.. Hmm..

Indeed, spawn points are airspawn only. A light in the sky at the spawn point might work, you mean so the party that is en route can call out that the waypoint is in sight?

Hm. Would be a weird thing though. Maybe a balloon? This may not at all be an issue, if the difficulty settings are with own aircraft map icon. Then again, that would take away the challenge of navigating ...

What other markers are there? Hm, a light might indeed be the most suitable one...

[Ovy]

Excellent idea FT! You're da man...

[Jabo]

Hmm, just thinking aloud here really, but could a spawn point be made 'live' triggered by the location of the flight? In the case of long escort missions could shot down dogz start again from home base with fresh escorts to rendezvous with and bring the bombers home safely. ASR Catalina to pick up ditched crews?

This idea is a stunner - well done FT

Jabo

[FoolTrottel]

Hmm, just thinking aloud here really, but could a spawn point be made 'live' triggered by the location of the flight? In the case of long escort missions could shot down dogz start again from home base with fresh escorts to rendezvous with and bring the bombers home safely. ASR Catalina to pick up ditched crews?

This idea is a stunner - well done FT

Jabo

Using a trigger like that is a very cool idea... but, do we have someone in here that really knows what those triggers can do? How they work?

Hm, will start looking for some documentation... readme 4.11 me thinks?

[fruitbat]

What triggers?

We dont have any that i'm aware off yet, maybe 4.12

[FoolTrottel]

Ah, well that clears it up that I can't find anything about those.. .lol.... Thanks Kev!

[fruitbat]

By the way FT, i like the concept very much, except for the idea of floating lights/balloons etc.

In real life flights had to navigate to meet up, and it really isn't that hard to do unless your over open water.....

[Sweper]

By the way FT, i like the concept very much, except for the idea of floating lights/balloons etc.

In real life flights had to navigate to meet up, and it really isn't that hard to do unless your over open water.....

Me like concept too. Why not, if there is lots of water to fly over, put out carriers along the rout. Or if flying over land, air fields from where we spawn if late or shot down. I like Kevs idéa, that you have to navigate a bit to find and join up with the lot again.

[Jabo]

Odd, I thought a big part of Hissy was triggers for certain things to happen dependent on the actions of the players - Must have nodded off.

Jabo

[FoolTrottel]

Good show all, thanks for joining and enjoying this one!

It shows that it certainly has potential...

Have looked at the track, and it simply looks like it all was due to timing issues .... There were plenty of enemy fighters on the map, in the general area... just not there where we were at the time that they were there...

So, I will take look at them new stuff 'cap' waypoints, and make sure that next time, some 120 enemy fighters will bounce us from 12000m.... just to keep the Spits happy!

Attached is the track, starts at some 15 minutes into the mission...

Lessons learned:

1. You need fuel to get home

2. We got a fine group here!

3. This concept works!

4. We need everyone up to the same patch level...

Thanks again you gits!

B25Moerdijk.zip

[Snacko]

Did Fen say there was a newer Tiger Ultimate Sound mod? I have V3 that caused my spawn point problems..

[Sweper]

Thanks and good show FT! New thinking and exploitation of this old game is always welcome. I wonder how many "hidden" features we still have not discovered yet? I was late and spawned about the coast line and had no trouble to find the target - without mini map path. Coust lines and rivers are big help! And of course somebody tell you what the target is and where