New AIRBOSS package is done.

E

Ettico

Charter Member
Amazingly, everything seems to be working. I just need to do some final testing.

The package will include the new compiled click-and-run BOSS and AIRBOSS applications, and 4 campaigns. The campaigns include "Coral Sea", "Midway", "Enterprise vs Japan", and "Blacksheep". These campaigns are designed for DCG + AIRBOSS. They include innovations such as multiple "squadrons" files, more coordinated task force movement, airfield suppression, and the ability for one side in a carrier battle to get off a first strike, which enables a DCG version of the Midway ambush. Normal DCG carrier battles always have both sides launching strikes at the same time, so I think this is a major improvement. And it's optional. It only happens if there are 2 "squadrons" files in the campaign folder.

The multiple "squadrons" file trick allowed me to pack all the involved carriers and their full complements of aircraft into the "Midway" and "E vs Japan" campaigns. But they won't all be in any one mission. I discovered that DCG will only tolerate a maximum of 34 squadrons in a campaign involving carriers. And, a CFS2 'squadron' is really only a division. However, swapping multiple "squadrons" files can produce a strike-counterstrike effect while staying within the squadrons limit and still getting a full complement of aircraft into the campaign.

I just finished building the Midway campaign and flew one mission in which the Americans launched a first strike, sinking Akagi, Kaga, and Zuiho. 37 American planes were lost, so it wasn't a milk run. Enterprise and Hornet launched a large swarm of bombers and escorts, but since they were all stockers, they didn't hurt my frame rates. Hiryu and Soryu survived and have launched a counter strike in the second mission, which I haven't flown yet. I'll be defending Enterprise and Hornet in that mission.

Some downloading and setup is required to get the system rolling, but experienced players shouldn't have a problem with it. Once it's all set up, it's just a few clicks to generate a mission.

I'll upload the monstrosity as soon as I do the final tests.
 
Won't be much longer. I made a couple of minor coding changes, but they were simple and easy to test. It's all good as far as I can tell. I just need to paste the package into my installs and then test the campaigns one more time to make sure the package is good.

:jump:
 
I just uploaded the "AIRBOSS 6.0 Application" to the "CFS2 Utilities" section. I'll post a heads-up when it's up.

Unfortunately, the Midway campaign crapped out on me. When I first started testing the campaign, it seemed to be working, but then DCG just stopped activating the task forces. DCG has problems with the Western hemisphere. Something about the way DCG calculates coordinates.

So the package only includes 3 campaigns, "Coral Sea", "Enterprise vs Japan", and "Blacksheep". But there will be more. Building the campaigns is the easy part. The package I just uploaded was the hard part. Once you have the system set up, new campaigns can simply be added into the system.

There already are some existing DCG campaigns. A simple code can be added to the player squadron name in existing DCG campaigns to activate the new AIRBOSS options. And of course, the "BOSS" module will have to be dropped into the campaign folders and a desktop shortcut created. I've explained the code and what it invokes in a readme included in the package.

However, most existing DCG campaigns are old and out of date, so I'm going to do a few more and maybe upgrade a couple of existing ones.
 
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