Kursk VVS Campaign Released!

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Some screenshots from one of the missions. I managed to down 3 of 12 escorted Hs-129s:

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

This mission is driving me crazy! I've been working on it for 4 days now and am nearly finished test flying it. It has a possible 96 aircraft, 48 vehicles and 87 objects, 38 trrigers and 34 events.

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finally got it. I cleaned up the events and made the German escorts more aggressive and now the mission works fine. I had to do some fancy flying to evade the escorts, but I managed to down 4 Hs-129/ I ran out of ammo before I could engage the Stuka flights. Here are a few screenshots for your browsing enjoyment:

 

[Captain Kurt]

Dude, you're having waay too much fun

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Dude, you're having waay too much fun

indeed Captain... I am test flying 2 more missions:

"objective_string"=In the early morning of August i, recon aircraft of both air armies spotted the retreat of Nazi truck columns and tanks from Orel toward Bryansk. They noted some 500 to 1,000 trucks and other vehicles, moving in a continuous column with fighter cover overhead. The Commander of the Red Army Air Force, himself ordered 15th and 16th Air Armies to immediately carry out day and night strikes on this withdrawal. Soviet aviation operated for the next 2 days in groups of 4-8 bombers and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. But this left the advancing Soviet tank and mechanized corps and rifle divisions elsewhere with sparse cover and vulnerable to Luftwaffe bombers, who launched 3,241 sorties on 1-2 August and inflicted severe losses.in men. tanks and equipment.

One is with the player flying an Il-2 and the other a Pe-2. Each is with escorts, but the escorts - P-39Ks - are outnumbered by enemy fighters. The player has to do some fancy flying to avoid interceptors and hit the targets.

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Having a problem

In test flying the above mission, I have found that with a flight of 8 or even 7 Pe-2s, at least 4 aircraft crash on take off in 4 out of 4 attempts. I have a few options: change to a different Pe-2; make it an air start; scrap the mission and fly it as an escort with the P-39K. Any ideas or suggestions? I'm gonna try another Pe-2 variant first.

PS: I tried it... the results an be seen in the two screenshots below.

 

[skylane]

What if you use only four planes in the player formation, and have four more ai join you somewhere after takeoff?
I don't know what models of the Pe-2 are available, but you might ant to try a different airfile in the model you use, if you have several?
Personally I'm no fan of air starts..

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Issue resolved... and Update

What if you use only four planes in the player formation, and have four more ai join you somewhere after takeoff?
I don't know what models of the Pe-2 are available, but you might ant to try a different airfile in the model you use, if you have several?
Personally I'm no fan of air starts..

I downloaded a different variant (also by Thicko) and it was a more date of employment accurate too. I'm surprised i didn't notice it when building my aircraft library months ago. Anyway, it works fine on takeoff for both the player's flight and as an 8-plane AI flight.

I have finished and flight tested both a player, Pe-2 strike on a vehicle convoy, and with the player escorting an AI Pe-2 strike on the convoy. 59 missions completed and tested... moving on.

Cheers to you all:

SW07

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Another update?

We now have 62 completed missions, I have about 2 more to do in the northern sector, Operation Kutuzov. Then I will build about 18 - 20 more to cover the Soviet counteroffensive in the southern sector

Here is summary and some screenshots from the one i just completed:

"title_string"=A_Kursk-NC_P-39-Karachev FLAK Supression-12-1ET
"summary_string"=Dobroe utro, comrades. Rytsar, you Strela and Kaska flights have the honor of initiating our first air attack in support of our ground forces' push into the town, Karachev. You will take off at 0700 hours and climbing to 12,000 feet, link up at RP-ALTAI, 86 miles on a 346 degree heading. Your squadron's mission is to suppress the enemy AA positions, 1 minute ahead of the strike by our main bomber force. From ALTAI, maintaining altitude and speed, continue west to RP-URAL, where each flight will designate and execute individual. low level attacks on enemy FLAK positions. Rytsar, you will attack the enemy positions in the center of the target area (see your maps). Then, if and when Nazi fighters counter us, you will lend assistance to the bombers' escorts. Once our bombers are clear, you can break contact and assist in covering them proceed to cover them to RP-TIAN-SHAN and return to base.
"objective_string"=Despite heavy losses, some Soviet aviation units were still able to carry out successful combat missions, as for example, on August 12 the 3rd ShAK (Attack Aviation Corps) conducted 114 sorties against the Nazi strong-point at Karachev. This was in spite of heavy AA fire and Luftwaffe fighter activity. Thanks to the thorough preparation for each flight, the allocation of units for suppressing FLAK positions and reliable air cover by fighters, losses were kept to a minimum. Note, here as often employed, the numbers of aircraft, 75 in total, is significantly reduced due to sim limitations.
"intelligence_string"=Our first mission for the day is expected to be an intense FLAK suppression and combat Air Patrol over enemy positions on the eastern side of Karachev. Our ground forces are moving into assault positions, but their long range artillery is too far behind to support them. Comrades, we are providing direct support to the shturmovik and medium bomber squadrons as their high cover. They will have also a squadron of fighters as their close escorts. The ground-fire over the area will be initially intense and Fritz will undoubtedly scramble as many fighters as he can muster to oppose us. When they do respond, your mission changes to one of intercept - protect those bombers! Knock out those AA guns! The weather this morning and today is forecast to be excellent. Expect high, scattered clouds - 15-20,000 feet -with up to 15 miles visibility.
"player_aircraft_name_string"=P-39K Airacobra 196IAP

I may build 2 more missions based on this one: One where the player is in an Il-2 squadron and the second, in a Boston III, both of course would be strike missions.

Remember tomorrow, December 7th.

Cheers:

Shadow Wolf 07

 

[scoobyman32]

That's a huge effort Shadow Wolf! Eagerly awaiting this one. Haven't flown much on the Eastern Front, this sounds like it will be very interesting to fly.

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

That's a huge effort Shadow Wolf! Eagerly awaiting this one. Haven't flown much on the Eastern Front, this sounds like it will be very interesting to fly.

I hope so, Scoobyman. I just finished the Il-2 version of the above mission. Right now I'm looking for aircraft for a night, bombing mission. Namely I'm looking for a mid-war Pe-8 or Lend Lease B-25.

Cheers

PS: I found a Pe-8 in our Warbirds Library as well as 3 B-25 skins

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Weekly update

I've been busy with life most of the past week. However I managed to get the AI P-39s to behave as desired. I will try to get soms decent screenshots later:

"title_string"=A_Kursk-NC_Il2-Karachev Defenses Supression-12-2KT
"summary_string"=Dobroe utro, comrades. Bars, you Berkut and Akula have the honor of initiating our first of today's strikes on the Nazi strong-point at Karachev. Your squadron's mission is to follow up our P-39s' AA suppression strike and destroy remaining AA, and any AT and artillery positions you spot. You will take off at 0700 hours and link up with our strike group at RP-ALTAI, 85 miles out on a 346 degree heading. From ALTAI, continue west to RP-URAL, where each flight will prepare to execute individual. low level attacks on enemy positions and fortifications. Bars, you will be attacking the enemy positions in the center of our target area (see your maps). Then, circling around through RP-KAMCHATKA and to ARARAT, where you will regroup and carry out a second run on supply points, dumps, comm sites and vehicles. Once you've expended your ordinance, or our medium bombers are clear, you can break off and withdraw to RP-TIAN-SHAN, regroup again and return to base.
"objective_string"=Despite heavy losses, some Soviet aviation units were still able to carry out successful combat missions, as for example, on August 12 the 3rd ShAK (Attack Aviation Corps) conducted 114 sorties against the Nazi strong-point at Karachev. This was in spite of heavy AA fire and Luftwaffe fighter activity. Thanks to the thorough preparation for each flight, the allocation of units for suppressing FLAK positions and reliable air cover by fighters, losses were kept to a minimum. Note, here as often employed, the numbers of aircraft, 75 in total, is significantly reduced due to sim limitations.
"intelligence_string"=Our first mission for the day is expected to be intense and demanding. FLAK suppression and combat air patrol over enemy positions will be carried out by the first wave P-39s. You are the long range artillery for our ground forces. You must conduct effective, precision strikes on the enemy's defensive strong points. Most of his large caliber AA guns should have been eliminated by the first wave. The ground-fire over the area will be initially intense, but should quickly diminish. However, but the enemy still has a large number of smaller caliber AA, heavy AT gun positions and direct support arty pieces, well dug in. These are your targets. You in turn will be closely followed by our medium bomber squadron, so do not loiter over target. You are assigned significant fighter cover but be prepared to defend yourselves just the same. The weather this morning and today is forecast to be excellent. Expect high, scattered clouds - 15-20,000 feet -with up to 15 miles visibility.
"player_aircraft_name_string"=Ilyushin_il2-HC-37

I'm going to take a break from building for a few days and set up the .cmgs and other stuff for the three parts/phases I've already completed. Then I'll get back to the fourth phase.

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

A Target Rich Environment

With this volley I only took out a UT 88 deployed for AA, a couple of trucks and foxholes. On my initial run with bombs I knocked out so many objects (23), I think that had I not turned off display messages, my mission would have crashed. I missed the opportunity to take a screenshot of that one, though.

Cheers and Merry Christmas to all:

Shadow Wolf

 

[UncleTgt]

Greg

Glad to see you're having fun. Fortifications & wire looks good in the screenie, I'm happy they're useful for you.

You got an 88 - where were it's protective 20 & 37mm flak - someone needs sending to fight on the East... - uh oh, hang on, you're already "East"

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

UT: The 10 and 37mm are there (somewhere). Maybe I'll go back and add some more to both the Il-2 and P-39 versions of this mission. Thank you for your help and recent uploads of objects and vehicles. They are magnificent! I am using them in many of the missions.

I have completed and tested 1 .cmg and 3 of the campaign introductory videos. Rami is helping me by converting the videos from MP4 to MPG format. For some reason I cannot do it on this computer, and my version of Movie Maker will not save them legibly in MPG. I will hopefully finish the remaining .cmgs tonight and tomorrow, then I'll get started mission building for (the last) Part IV.

Cheers:

Shadow Wolf

 

[scoobyman32]

This campaign just sounds better and better as you progress.

Looking forward to this one, I love the attention to detail.

When it's all done, this one will be a monster.

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Scoobyman32: Thank you! I hope it lives up to everyone's expectation. Except for Operation Dragoon, this would be my first run at a campaign in Europe.

I have completed Part I and find that I need a couple more missions each for Parts II and III. I am trying a few of what i consider to be Cody Coyote's tricks by employing goals achieved as a factor in choosing which next mission to fly. This is something i read up on in his Handbook and want to try out in Parts II and III. That's going to require some extra, alternate missions. I am trying to keep it as non-linear a campaign as I can.

Meanwhile:

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EACH OF YOU!
​

Cheers:

Shadow Wolf 07

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Weekly update

In setting up the .cmg for tie Sov counterattack in the north - "(0eration Kutuzov" - I found a need for 4 additional missions. I completed one 2 nights ago - would you believe a night mission with the Boston III?

So, I have 3 to go here and a couple for the southern front. Then I will move to the last, Part IV ; the Sov counter offensive in the south - "Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev.." That should take me most of January.

I am cosidering making 2 more campaign parts: a fighter campaign and a purely bomber campaign. Thsse should be longer, but easy to do..

 

[Roxane-21]

These campaigns look very promising, and your screenshots are quite appealing!

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Greg,

You are doing an outstanding job, I enjoy seeing your progress on this!