Its Circus Time!!

Hi everyone,

‘It’s Circus Time!’ should be available on the Team Fusion #3 server in the next few days hopefully. A big thanks to Artist, Spiritus Mortem, Oskar and a small number of testers for their assistance. And thanks as well to those of you who have provided feedback and thoughts on MP missions in general – I’ve included some of these ideas in this mission.

Before I post the Red and Blue briefs and target decks here’s a few notes

(a) There are essentially 2 different ‘wars’ occurring in this mission; Circus / Rhubarb type missions in Northern France circa June 1941 and a night bomber war (but in the day) in the west. Points from both ‘wars’ contribute to the overall score. There are bases in the west for bombers/nightfighters and bases in the east for the circus players as well.

(b) There are 2 types of targets; 1 x airfield target per side and several non-airfield type targets on each side which can be attacked by bombers and fighter bombers and even can be destroyed by strafing in some cases. When you drop bombs on the airfield targets you will see a percentage score displayed on the screen and when that reaches 100% your side is awarded the points (each airfield target requires just less than 1 x Welly / 111 bombload to destroy it but they are a reasonable distance away). The other targets are different in the sense that you wont get a percentage score displayed as your bombs rain down (Artist has created some script that will do this in the future for some bomb-able non-airfield targets - see his post from earlier today).

Each of these non-airfield type targets have a reasonable number of trucks/aircraft/1 or 2 trains in the target area and you have to destroy a set percentage of these to trigger the tgt destroyed message. The percentages are ~ 30-70% so you don’t have to destroy every truck or parked aircraft to destroy the target. The target decks have the aim point for many of these targets and you need to get your bombs reasonably close to the aim point to destroy the designated trucks etc. Those of you familiar with the FMB will understand how this works re triggers. So if you drop your bombs and get no message this means you haven’t destroyed enough trucks within the set range of the aim point. Or you have dropped them too far from the aim point. So bombing accuracy is rewarded in a few of these targets. And you need to take into account the tgt’s altitude when doing high alt bombing especially for those inland targets like Rouen – check the flashcard manual for target altitudes using nearby airfields as a guide

(c) Tab 7-1 has been neutered. Its still present and displays ranges/bearing to fighter and bombers but these are not relevant to the missions being flown. It wont track lone bombers flying at 5 feet out over the ocean like it does in some other missions. So this will hopefully encourage bomber pilots to do their thing without being worried/annoyed about being hunted down by a single fighter using tab 7-1.

(d) However there is a reasonably comprehensive radar system on both sides that will track bombers / fighters if flying above a specified altitude. Additionally the radar coverage is not 100% over all territory so there are large areas of enemy territory where you will be untracked (mainly inland once you are through the coastal zone). Again this will hopefully encourage bombers to do their thing without feeling like they are just meat for the slaughter. Thru trial and error you may be able to work out the lowest altitude the radar will track aircraft as well as those areas that aren’t covered.

(e) Low server numbers. As we know sometimes the servers are quiet and people dont like to play on empty servers when there’s not much to do. But often all it takes is for a small number of players to be in the mission to encourage others to join and after a while you have a reasonable number of people playing. In this mission there are plenty of targets available for both sides flying fighter bomber type sorties where strafing can take out some targets (ie rhubarb see https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-...tle-of-britain) so this hopefully will provide a nice variety of different target types to go after even in fighters.

(f) One thing you can do when server numbers are low is to spawn in on one side and send an AI raid to bomb the other side – they can be sent every 30 minutes when the number of players is less than 35. Despawn and then join the other side and try your best to intercept the raid – the AI bombing raids are about 20 mins out from their tgt when they spawn in and there are airfields near these targets to let you spawn in and then use radar control to do the intercept. The challenge will be getting to altitude in time (~ 5000-6000m) and worrying about the escort which may or may not be present. Again if you are doing this it might encourage other players to join in and before you know it there’s a few real opponents to duel with.

Comments / bug reports / suggestions are always appreciated so pls post them here.

And lastly - i know for many people (myself included) making a MP mission is daunting especially re the scripting. However Artist and Oskar and co are making available pretty much all of what you need to make these missions in terms of the scripting side of things which largely takes away that obstacle. If i can do it (I'm a scripting numptie) most other people should be able to as well. So if you have some ideas on what you'd like to see for a MP mission jump into the FMB and start building your mission and seek advice as required.

Ezzie

Red mission brief and target desk

June 1941 Red

The RAF is now on the offensive conducting circus raids into occupied France. The night bomber war is ongoing with both sides conducting nightly attacks on a range of different targets. New aircraft variants have entered service since the BoB and the fighter fight is going ever higher as performance improves.

To win Red must score 150. Circus type targets are available in northern France and bomber type targets in the Rouen-Le Havre area. Some targets can be destroyed by strafing or single /small number of bomber payloads. Points as follows

(a) Axis shipping convoy (CQ 56) bound for Dunkirk: 10
(b) Axis convoy sheltering in the mouth of the Somme (BZ25): 10
(c) Axis desert pre-deployment camp (CK24): 30
(d) He 111s at Tramcourt preparing to head east: 30
(e) Axis fuel dump at Licques (CE38): 20
(f) Hazebrouck railyard (CM37): 30
(g) Abbeville industrial park (CC23): 30
(h) Rouen industrial complex (BR8): 40
(i) Point Audemer industrial park (BJ6): 30
(j) Creil D20 assembly factory (1 Welly bombload): 50

Spit Vbs have been placed kinda/sorta in historical location as per the Biggin Hill Wing. Canterbury has a range of other aircraft including Tomahawks which were still in-theatre in June 1941, albeit they didn't fly in the Circus raids.


Attachment 50590Attachment 50591Attachment 50592Attachment 50593Attachment 50594Attachment 50595Attachment 50596Attachment 50597Attachment 50598Attachment 50599

June 1941 Blue

The RAF is now on the offensive conducting circus raids into occupied France. The night bomber war is ongoing with both sides conducting nightly attacks on a range of different targets. New aircraft variants have entered service since the BoB and the fighter fight is going ever higher as performance improves.

To win Blue must score 150. Tip and run jabo type targets are available in England and bomber type targets in the Salisbury - Reading area. Some targets can be destroyed by strafing or single /small number of bomber payloads. Points as follows

(a) Allied shipping convoy (BV54) heading to the Thames: 10
(b) Allied shipping convoy sheltering at Camber: 10
(c) Allied train at St Mary's Bay (BQ43): 20
(d) Allied train at Hastings: 20
(e) Allied desert pre-deployment camp (BM50): 30
(f) Reading factory (AP52): 40
(g) Salisbury Industrial Park: 30
(h) Harwell Spitfire assembly factory: 50

Bf109 bases are kinda/sorta based on historical locations of JG2 bases as per the internet with some modifications made for MP playability.

There are 4 x navigation beacons: Theville, Crepon, Fecamp and Boulogne. Freqs are in the in-game mission brief.

Attachment 50600Attachment 50601Attachment 50602Attachment 50603Attachment 50604Attachment 50605

Great news! These 2 weeks went by very quickly :-)

Thanks a lot Ezzie!

Really appreciated and most needed.

Looking forward to have a go in this Circus!

:salute:

Testing this mission has induced me to hop out of my beloved Spit cockpit and learn the intricacies of high altitude bombing in a Wellington 1c. I gotta admit, the Welly flashcard has been invaluable! :thumbsup:

Ezzie, your mission is, quite literally, a BLAST! And I’ve only scratched the surface....so many targets! :stunned:

:)

ah ha we can bomb Creil airbase. Did a squadron exchange visit there in the 70s when they wuz equipped with Mirage IIIs. Only squadron teabar I ever came across that would serve you pernod rather than coffee. WE wuz given very strict instructions on that score. Became somewhat unnecessary when a Mirage swapped over at Binbrook flamed out and French grounded their fleet and so Creil just shut down. Still, at least they was good enough to tell us as we still had 4 lightnings airborne when the tower shut up shop :).

It's on the rooster of Server #3

In your honour, Stickz, I undertook a bombing raid to Creil to attack the D520 assembly factory. I took off from Ford and laid a direct course at a bearing of 128 degrees for a 173 mile outbound leg. I crossed the French coast at Dieppe at 15.6 angels and maintained this course (with slight course alterations) straight in to Creil. My first pass I achieved 47% hits, my 2nd pass brought it up to 76%.

Presently heading home to Ford as I type this (I love Mode 22 :D ).

This map will be a huge success!

:salute:

its the tea bar you need to hit. Pernods bloody awfull at any time. And when the mirages got grounded so to all intents and purposes were our birds. So had four/five (I forget) days doing basically nothing but drink the stuff. The only time I remember being gratified that flying got resumed

Ezzie,this is right up my street,so thank you very much,and also thanks to Artist, Spiritus Mortem, Oskar and the small number of testers for their assistance,first class Gentlemen :salute:

I will be visiting every bomber target over the coming weeks,he,he....and I can see why you chose to undertake a bombing raid to Creil Snapper,to attack the D520 assembly factory.....that does have a very big appeal to us bomber pilots.