Op. Sandstorm, SITREP

[♣_Spiritus_♣]

Operation Sandstorm RAF.rar

Operation Sandstorm Luftwaffe.rar

[Biggs]

Sounds awesome!

Is this going to be like the channel map missions where we can call bomber raids using the tab menu?

[ATAG_Noofy]

We need more bomber pilots on the Axis side...

[♣_Spiritus_♣]

Sounds awesome!

Is this going to be like the channel map missions where we can call bomber raids using the tab menu?

That would be something that would have to be added by the people who from ATAG who did it last time. I'm all for it though, just don't have the time to implement that.

[♣_Spiritus_♣]

We need more bomber pilots on the Axis side...

Yeah, I think the ship targets for both sides will need coordinated attacks.

[Kayo]

Sounds great, warming up my Hurribomber.

[ATAG_Ribbs]

This sounds like alot of fun thanks for the hard work Spiritus! S! I cant wait to get on soon!

[ATAG_Highseas]

Yeah, I think the ship targets for both sides will need coordinated attacks.

Co ordi

Co oarden

Co aud

Ahh to hell with it.....

[Kayo]

Co ordi

Co oarden

Co aud

Ahh to hell with it.....

That would fully qualify you for membership in FG28.
Our 2 fundamental strenghts, couwardination and dipzi, äh disipl, äh, yes well this thing with you know

[ATAG_JackMaxx]

love the recon photos, looking forward to this map, can't make any promises about not bombing the hospital ship, fog of war and all that.

[ATAG_SKUD]

Please check flak settings at El Adem. My own flak was shooting at me from the moment of spawn in at El Adem 100km behind front lines Put holes in my wing.

where can I find the NAVAIDS frequencies for the air bases?

SKUD

[♣_Spiritus_♣]

Checked that out, should be corrected now.

Also added more flak/AAA. Added Halfaya as another airbase with all Allied aircraft available. Made Amseat No2 an emergency field, only Allied fighters/attack aircraft are available there. Axis now have Gambut No3 as another airbase with all Axis aircraft available. Menastir No2 is an emergency field, only fighter/attack aircraft are available there.

Also added AAA encampments for both sides along the northern front line.

Should be in the rotation in the next 24 hours I'd assume.

[DerDa]

Yeah, I think the ship targets for both sides will need coordinated attacks.

You just need one Kayo and a DerDa to be constantly shot down and a Maru to sink all those cruisers ...

a.jpg

[sw1ive]

Breafing say...
(Reconnaissance aircraft have also reported enemy submarine activity N of Ras Azzaz and NE of Tobruk.)



I cann't find Ras Azzaz.

Tobruk is AQ-19 but where is Raz Azzaz ???

.

[ATAG_Noofy]

It is at the edge of the corner north of Bardia.

I had to look it up in Mission Builder where you can zoom in further...

2020-09-02_011604.jpg

2020-09-02_011138.jpg

That puts it in quadrant AZ-18.

To locate the submarines you can take-off from Tobruk and fly on a 070 heading for a while

[DerDa]

First of all thank you for this mission!
It's great fun to fly and certainly will become one of the classics!
Especially I love the wide variety of different targets.

Just some obeservations we made (from the RED perspective only):

The red submarine convoy is reported 50% damaged right after the mission starts.

Because of the mass of flak and warships in Tobruk harbour these targets can only be attacked by a number of high flying bombers. Indeed, I find it positive that players are encouraged to try different kinds of attack, but since the blue tanker convoy also is escorted by three major warships, it seems a bit hard. We did many attempts of coordinated torpedo or low level bomber attacks (3 to 4 players) and died over and over again to rather little success.

The airfield and the water treatment facility that are other major targets are located very far to the West. It is great fun to navigate over the desert and a big achievement to find those targets, but given the fact that you need 5 bombloads of Wellingtons to destroy an airfield and an unknown number of bombs for the freshwater facility (we did not succeed with 2 Beaufighters repeatedly) it takes an enormous amount of time and/or players to destroy these targets.

Because of this it seems quite impossible to roll the map given normal amounts of players on the server.
If this is intended, fine by me.

S!

DerDa

[Kayo]

I love this map as well and reading even DerDa is considering to digg into the black art of level bombing shows how good this mission is.
Can’t wait to unleash the IID on one of these support convoys in the desert!

[9./JG52_J-HAT]

Thanks for the mission, Spiritus! I‘ve flown it a couple of times now and feel I can post my impressions.

DerDa is spot on regarding distances and targets. Adding to his comments, the action seems to be thus pretty much concentrated over the forward Blue airfield with Reds coming in from Amseat in droves. The mission tends to develop into a low level furball over the airfield or between it and Amseat. Basically turning a nice mission into something more akin of a simple dogfight server. And the later hours makes the mission playable with full daylight for around just the first half of the mission time.

As there is little coordinated flying and if, then with usually less than maybe four players, the intended targets get ignored.

I believe missions should try to bring players into coordinating larger formations to attack specific targets and destroy them. And your mission goes in this direction, which I like!

So if I am allowed to make a general suggestion: limit the amount of targets per side (say like 4), leave two closer to the frontline (for example the ships now), and the other two farther behind (but not too far). These farther out need less bomb loads to destroy (say 6 - 12 bomb loads of a 110 / Blenny / Beau or 4 - 8 of a Welly / Ju 88 / He 111 so it takes around three to six flights of two, which is more common). Place the active airfields some in between the front and the forward targets and some farther behind, in front and behind the rear targets. With a little symmetry for both sides.

For example, on the Blue side I think the middle field (Tobruk?) is already too far away from the front. For me that would be the forward-rear field.

And maybe set the mission two hours earlier, so it doesn‘t get dark. I see players leaving or not joining when it is past 8 pm on the mission. These go somewhere else and don‘t come back, leaving the server half empty.

[ATAG_Noofy]

Yep.
Great fun mission.
Huuuge map. Love the long navigations.
Would appreciate 2-3 radio nav aids to try alternative non-direct routes to target

[ATAG_SKUD]

Yep.
Great fun mission.
Huuuge map. Love the long navigations.
Would appreciate 2-3 radio nav aids to try alternative non-direct routes to target

I agree.
NAVAIDS and a
rear Axis base for bombers
add an allied storage depot as a target with large concentrations of vehicles, fuel tankers huge secondary explosions w/collateral damage...yay

skud

[Dazza]

While the major objectives require a determined effort in repeated long range navigation - not quite everyones' thing, I really like the addition of the vehicle convoys. A simple, yet very real aspect of desert warfare. Shame there's only one per side.
I'd even suggest seeing more ground targets both mobile and static concentrations as additional 'lesser value' objectives. The only issue is players don't always pay attention to who's side the convoys are on. Every Red convoy I've seen destroyed has succumbed to friendly strafing !
Strafe-able ground targets could serve the dual purpose of helping bridge the gap between players who enjoy the more 'strategic' aspects of the map and those who are happy being furball combatants. Plus giving some valuable 'life' to an otherwise barren desert battleground.

Cheers
Dazza

[5th Hellrider]

Thanks for the mission, Spiritus! I‘ve flown it a couple of times now and feel I can post my impressions.

DerDa is spot on regarding distances and targets. Adding to his comments, the action seems to be thus pretty much concentrated over the forward Blue airfield with Reds coming in from Amseat in droves. The mission tends to develop into a low level furball over the airfield or between it and Amseat. Basically turning a nice mission into something more akin of a simple dogfight server. And the later hours makes the mission playable with full daylight for around just the first half of the mission time.

As there is little coordinated flying and if, then with usually less than maybe four players, the intended targets get ignored.

I believe missions should try to bring players into coordinating larger formations to attack specific targets and destroy them. And your mission goes in this direction, which I like!

So if I am allowed to make a general suggestion: limit the amount of targets per side (say like 4), leave two closer to the frontline (for example the ships now), and the other two farther behind (but not too far). These farther out need less bomb loads to destroy (say 6 - 12 bomb loads of a 110 / Blenny / Beau or 4 - 8 of a Welly / Ju 88 / He 111 so it takes around three to six flights of two, which is more common). Place the active airfields some in between the front and the forward targets and some farther behind, in front and behind the rear targets. With a little symmetry for both sides.

For example, on the Blue side I think the middle field (Tobruk?) is already too far away from the front. For me that would be the forward-rear field.

And maybe set the mission two hours earlier, so it doesn‘t get dark. I see players leaving or not joining when it is past 8 pm on the mission. These go somewhere else and don‘t come back, leaving the server half empty.

Totally agree!

[ATAG_Jeepy]

- one "snag rep" after patch 004.

If one spawn in a gun /AA at some base, you have to restart mission to get back in a plane.

Server says you are in a plane and you can even start it, but you are still "out in the fields".

-I know, its a flight sim..

[♣_Spiritus_♣]

Changed the target airfields from 100% damage to "destroy" to 50%. Also changed all hard targets from 80% to 50% to "destroy" them.

Moved the time back by 10 minutes. There is still about 15 minutes of decent daylight when the mission turns. Players need to be willing to try new things and while the visibility isn't perfect, it isn't bad either towards the end of the mission.

Added two more spawn points for each side. Blue: Sidi Rezegh, all aircraft available. Red: Gasr el Abid, all aircraft available.

Changed the ship skill levels to average and rookie for both sides.

Added two trucking convoys for both sides which are now counted as mission objectives. See updated briefing on rough location and direction of travel.

Changed how the mission can be won. Each side needs to accumulate 5 points to win the map, each target is worth a point with the exception of the Axis's shipping convoy, if the Allied side sinks those ships it is worth two points.

So not all targets need to be destroyed now, the two trucking convoys that have been added to both sides play a role now, so each side has 7 targets and only 5 need to be destroyed to win.

Also added some NAVAIDs.

SEE POST #1 BRIEFING TO READ CHANGES

[ATAG_SKUD]

Also added some NAVAIDs.

SEE POST #1 BRIEFING TO READ CHANGES

skud

[ATAG_Noofy]

Thank you

Also added some NAVAIDs.

Whohoo

NAVAIDs: Derna 304, Gazala 306, Tobruk 308, Bardia 310

I am sure Rommel would have also requested an additional beacon to be placed more to the south, like in Almiyah al’Khafiah for example...

[III./ZG76_Saipan]

where is Alam el Neiyat?????

[DerDa]

Changed the target airfields from 100% damage to "destroy" to 50%. Also changed all hard targets from 80% to 50% to "destroy" them.

Moved the time back by 10 minutes. There is still about 15 minutes of decent daylight when the mission turns. Players need to be willing to try new things and while the visibility isn't perfect, it isn't bad either towards the end of the mission.

Added two more spawn points for each side. Blue: Sidi Rezegh, all aircraft available. Red: Gasr el Abid, all aircraft available.

Changed the ship skill levels to average and rookie for both sides.

Added two trucking convoys for both sides which are now counted as mission objectives. See updated briefing on rough location and direction of travel.

Changed how the mission can be won. Each side needs to accumulate 5 points to win the map, each target is worth a point with the exception of the Axis's shipping convoy, if the Allied side sinks those ships it is worth two points.

So not all targets need to be destroyed now, the two trucking convoys that have been added to both sides play a role now, so each side has 7 targets and only 5 need to be destroyed to win.

Also added some NAVAIDs.

SEE POST #1 BRIEFING TO READ CHANGES

Great news!
Thanky ou very much indeed!
Can't wait to give it a try.

[ATAG_Noofy]

where is Alam el Neiyat?????

It is a small town at the crossroads about 19 km to the NE of Fort Maddalena (near Scegga No1 airfield)

[DerDa]

Attack on Bir el-Hakim

a.jpg

b.jpg

Those smoke effects are simply awesome!