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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

New beta MODS for Battle of Britain II



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The BoB Developers Group is still alive and ticking, improving what is still the only flight sim capable of giving you furballs with 200+ aircraft in the sky.

This week member Stickman released (leaked?) all of the 'work in progress' on the future 2.13 patch as a series of beta mods, for enthusiasts to try for themselves, rather than wait for the full update to be completed.

http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=39183

The mods include:

Campaign mod: includes some GUI improvements and the following gameplay modifications:

4. LW fighter rendezvous with bombers works now!
Changed the Fighter escort time of take off relative to bomber takeoff time to do this. This can work 100% successfully all of the time.
100% rendezvous succes unrealistic, so implemented a fixed 5% failure rate resulting in missed rendezvous.
When a fighter unit does fail to rendezvous properly, it uses old Rowan code whereas the fighter unit goes to Target many minutes ahead of Raid bombers, leaving the bombers far behind.

Image5. LW Task Summary dialog fighter and bomber spinner issues now resolved. 26 individual changes and rewrites.
Mystery LW unit lockouts removed. Both fighter and bomber spinners now work properly. Standardized bomber Staffeln to 10AC in all cases, even 110 Jabo.
Code adding and removing Staffeln will now add and subtract the correct number of Staffeln and number of aircraft.
The only LW unit lockouts are those we know about, unit use, low morale, and minimum AC.
If a unit is available for use, Task Summary will allow its allocation to missions without restriction.

6. Removed hard coded LuftWaffe Dogleg Way Points from aircraft factory and fighter field Targets.
These Targets should now have the Dogleg Way Point in a straight path from the Fighter Rendezvous Way Point to the Initial Way Point to Target.
Notable exceptions are the DO17 Gruppen flying from Antwerp and St. Trond.

7. Changed LW Detached escorts to use a block formation and not the Schwarme so the AC are easier to count in 3d.

8. In LW Directives, no major changes, but commented out most of the code dealing with the old Reconn flights.
Basic preparation of clearing clutter prior to examining LW Directives in detail. Reconn elements in the Directives dialog are now dead.
The check boxes can be marked and unmarked, but all four controls have no inputs to the code now.

9. In LuftWaffe Directives and the Task dialogs, the Raid Escorts are given a choice to Strafe Target or not.
This has previously been set ON to Strafe Target by default, which often results in very unrealistic escort behavior, especially from normally default given high altitudes for a Raid.
Now Strafe Target is set OFF by default. Can still be switched to On by the LW player.

10. The RAF and LW skill variables in Options-Sim-Mission are now live in the Campaign. Default setting for both is Medium resulting in no change.

11. RAF delayed activation now live. 302 – 7/13, 303 – 7/22, 310 – 8/18, 312 – 8/29. These units will have 0 AC until activation.
Prior to activation they can not be moved by the AI or receive new aircraft whether newly built or rebuilt.

12. LW AC consolidation code for 109s is working. All LuftFlotte 3 109 Gruppen are candidates.
When a LuftFlotte 2 109 Gruppe drops below minimum AC, a check is made to see if a LF3 Gruppe is available (has activated and still has aircraft).
If so, then the losing LF3 Gruppe's aircraft and pilots are divided among the three neediest LF2 109 Gruppen. Skill and Morale are recalculated.
At any campaign start date beyond 10 July, some LF3 Gruppen will be assumed to have been used up already.
Radar campaign -3 LF3 Gruppen. Airfield campaign -5 LF3 Gruppen, and Blitz -8 Gruppen.

13. Changed Duxford capacity to 3 squadrons. Don't know how AC takeoff spots look.

14. Substituted 312 Sq (Czech) for 245 Sq which was in Ireland during the battle. 312 located at Duxford and squadron markings of DX.
Like the LW OOB changes, 312 Squadron will still carry the original 245 label. Used 310 Squadron unit skill and morale, Veteran skill and Excellent morale.

New Multiskin Mod: Mostly this "fleshes out" all of the ME110C units, and the LW Lehr units involved in B of B.Some RAF changes, too.

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Terrain updates are among the juicy new mods from the BDG

Terrain and targets updates: huge range of work by the BDG et al to improve historical accuracy of ports, coastlines, landmarks, airfields etc

1. PV's latest terrain changes at Newhaven and the Ouse River valley; new Eastbourne and Bournemouth terrain; plus a lovely remade terrain for the Sheerness area.

2. Newhaven Docks now properly relocated from the Thames River to the Ouse River on south coast, and built in great detail upon Pete's new terrain.
Ouse river valley churches OA file that Ben made before this terrain remake, relocated to new terrain.

3. Eastbourne "Docks" remade to Pete's new terrain. Targets are now a Gas Works and Rail Yards. There were no Docks at Eastbourne!

4. Sheerness Docks and immediate area within the Queenborough Lines (The Canal) built in detail over that new terrain of Pete's.
Includes a built up Sheerness Town.

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5.

The fixes for the Shoreham airfield hangars that got offset onto the field with v2.12 release.
Plus some ObjectAdds fixes at Beckton Gas Works, Filton, and Farnborough R.A.E, that I missed for v2.12.

6. New HAA Troops placed at their historical locations during August, 1940:
-All HAA guns at London, south of the Thames, placed and firing. Nine more 4-gun Troops. ZS1, ZS2, ZS3, ZS5, ZS6, ZS7, ZS8, ZS13, and ZS27.
-Four more firing 4-gun Troops placed at London north of the Thames, at the East End, near the Thames. ZE1, ZE2, ZE4, and ZE9.
-Two more 4-gun Troops with the Thames & Medway South organization at All Hallows, TS12. (In full battery formation).

7. Some texture changes here, too.
- A fix for the little fuel drums with camo cover object. Camo was gray, now green.
- Replaced the old ugly airfield craters that show up after a field is bombed, with a better looking crater.
- Some minor changes to the Stuka and level bomber skins that are used with MultiSkin disabled. A few little somethings so they do not look so "plain Jane".

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