Ruspoli at the gates of Odesa - SP scripted campaign [MC.202 series VIII]

[Vendigo]

DOWNLOAD CAMPAIGN (version 7.002)

In 1941, the storm of war brought unexpected help in a corner of the map unknown to the newspapers. I, a Romanian fighter pilot, met a handful of Italian pilots in the days of our "Holy War for Bassarabia" and I am going to tell you about them - how their lives, now embraced with ours, flashed into the skies.

This is their story as I’ve seen from aside, from the air and from the ground, from the dawn of their arrival till the dusk of their demise. In between those moments some intense and bloody episodes bound us together as friends and comrades in arms.

So, looking back over those times, over their graves and over our graves, I’ll do my best to tell you the story of the Italian adventurers knocking with us at Odesa’s gates; a story of some young men caught in a gigantic struggle - the second World War.

This 21-mission single player Campaign features: custom radio chatter, randomized events, artillery spotting missions as well as traditional dogfights!

Required: "Siege and Liberation" module, collector aircraft MC.202 series VIII.

Installation guide: simply unzip the file to the Game root directory. Do not rename the folder containing the Campaign files! 

Get to know your bird:

Spoiler

Some historical photos of Prince Ruspoli at the time of this Campaign:

Spoiler

Last but not least, I want to express my gratitude to those who contributed to creating this Campaign: 

@AndreiTomescu – who came up with the idea, did historical research, recorded the Romanian radio, composed the briefings as well as tested the missions thoroughly;

@SARFlytitus - MC202 skins, radio messages and testing;

@kraut1 - radio messages, artillery spotter script;

This Campaign also uses the skins created by @JollyJack @spudkopf and Boo. 

Edited March 17 by Vendigo

[SARFlytitus]

@Vendigo 
Thanx so much for the outstanding work.  Definately a masterpiece amongst user Made Campaigns !

It was a pleasure to have contributed my small part to the creation of this work. You and Andrei worked together remarkably well. The variety of missions and the immersive nature, combined with Andrei's historical rigor, created this gem. BRAVISSIMI!

[sandmarken]

I've been waiting! Good job and congratulations on the release! Can't wait to fly this one!! 😄😄

[JollyJack]

Thanks bro ..

[AndreiTomescu]

I have enjoyed testing this campaign a lot.  Usually when you do same parkour 10 times, the thrill wears off,  but i'm happy to tell you that it rarely gets the same twice (random events, different variants for the same missions).

My personal recommendation is to use Romanian radio chatter: even if you don't understand a bit what they say, adds immersion and the voices are made more...temperamental 🙂 than stock ones, regardless the faction.

This is my latest version made JGSME ready by @kraut1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xF8PhV5-LbUvJvzhuqvAyeemzdp0LsPO/view?usp=sharing  

Now, about the nature of this campaign: we can call it semi-historical and not historical simply because:

- Ruspoli's aircraft was a Macchi 200 Saetta (pictures are proof), and since we don't have that, the player's aircraft is a Macchi 202 Folgore. (wonderful to fly, really worth buying it, quite a different experience from other kites)

- we know this facts about the italian presence in Basarabia, 1941, for sure, IMHO. this is my research: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dOidlURgxfoJHr6FuVj5XIO1Ma-5Ia7p/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=112978087895928289785&rtpof=true&sd=true

     but their (the Italians) actual actions, with exact date, time, are not recorded. So we took romanian actions, recalls from diaries and memoires about italians, and used a bit of imagination ( @Vendigo has plenty, and also the gift to transform a mission in a movie-like adventure) for depicting their kind of exploits. 

The hole campaign is like a narration told by an actual romanian pilot, Adj Av Tiberiu Vinca. But the Player will always be an Italian pilot, sometimes Ruspoli, sometimes other ragazzi, and the plane is always a 202.

If having a bit more performant aircraft instead of the original one worries you, well, don't, since the challenge in some missions is more than enough. A certain one took me countless attempts and Vendigo's advice to be able to end it in a.....honorable and historic plausible way. 

Be sharp for "easter eggs" and (sometimes nasty) surprises ! 

This campaign is NOT about some specific clashes in a certain time and date.

It's about some young boys who wanted to became man but some didn't. Because fate didn't allowed.

It's about a forgotten bond between some forgotten men in a forgotten (by most) time and place.

Well, you know, it's actually just another story.

Edited March 15 by AndreiTomescu

[Vendigo]

54 minutes ago, AndreiTomescu said:

Ruspoli's aircraft was a Macchi 200 Saetta (pictures are proof), and since we don't have that, the player's aircraft is a Macchi 202 Folgore. (wonderful to fly, really worth buying it, quite a different experience from other kites)

Yes, it's a pity we don't have MC.200! But I think choosing MC.202 is not too far fetched, as the Folgore was already in mass production and arriving to the squadrons of the Regia Aeronautica at the time of this Campaign. Easily, "Commando Ruspoli" could have received four of these brand new machines due to their special status.    

[sandmarken]

Just did the first 4 missions! No doubt this will be in my top 3 list! The fine details everywhere you look (only in your campaigns can I look at a road only to find a lone vehicle driving along 😄), very interesting missions, voice acting!! And all this flying with the Mc202 that hasn't really had a place anywhere until now!

 

Very good job! I look forward to flying the rest! 👏👏😁

 

[AndreiTomescu]

16 minutes ago, sandmarken said:

I look at a road only to find a lone vehicle driving along

tempts you to wave off a bit from orders/mission route to explore. sometimes i did, for @Vendigo's exasperation ! 🙂 But do not worry, he took care of almost everything. There are hot lead surprises now and there placed for the curious cats. 

[Vendigo]

19 hours ago, AndreiTomescu said:

    but their (the Italians) actual actions, with exact date, time, are not recorded. So we took romanian actions, recalls from diaries and memoires about italians, and used a bit of imagination. 

 

I wish to add that some of the missions are based on reports as narrated in "Airwar for Odessa: Soviet aces vs. Luftwaffe and Royal Romanian Airforce. 1941" by D.Zubov. 

[AndreiTomescu]

1 hour ago, Vendigo said:

"Airwar for Odessa: Soviet aces vs. Luftwaffe and Royal Romanian Airforce. 1941" by D.Zubov. 

Having also an accurate Russian source, that is superposing correct on the italian/Romanian ones, proves the actual historical nature of this awesome campaign. 

Only a simple "2" keeps us from going full historical..... 🙂 🙂 

I mean 200 vs 202..... 🙂 

[JollyJack]

At least some good stuff came and comes from Italy: ice cream, various sports-cars, cheap cars like Fix It Again Tony,  and an occasional plane. 

This Fiat G55 Centauro looks a lot like any MC202, wonder what's different.:

[Vendigo]

2 hours ago, JollyJack said:

At least some good stuff came and comes from Italy: ice cream, various sports-cars, cheap cars like Fix It Again Tony,  and an occasional plane. 

 

The list could go on further than some would be willing to admit!  

2 hours ago, JollyJack said:

This Fiat G55 Centauro looks a lot like any MC202, wonder what's different.

 

Later model, more powerful and faster, better armed but indeed they look like brothers.  

 

[AndreiTomescu]

51 minutes ago, Vendigo said:

This Fiat G55 Centauro looks a lot like any MC202, wonder what's different.

search on the old forum, i posted there the differences. they are substantial, actually

[VISHNU]

Woohoo! Finally!  Thank you for this @Vendigo!!

[JollyJack]

Beautiful intro, and then a true masterpiece !! .... but first i needed some milk for the missus:

 

Edited March 18 by JollyJack

[AndreiTomescu]

24 minutes ago, JollyJack said:

Beautiful intro

the song from the intro is one of the most popular ones in Italy in the '40. courtesy of @SARFlytitus

[SARFlytitus]

 

I had the privilege of collaborating with @Vendigo and @AndreiTomescu on this unusual and wonderful campaign.

My contribution was negligible compared to what they did. I flew all the missions in advance to test them.

Beta testing is a dark and often very boring job, (anyone testing VR Beta in CLOD ? 😉) you look for every possible flaw or bug so that the end user can enjoy the best possible experience when it's released.

Long story short, what I had intuited during testing has been amply confirmed. Excellent work from every point of view, and now that I can fly the campaign for pure pleasure...

WOW!!! What a blast!!!

 

 

Our community is full of mission and campaign creators. Masters in the magical art of mastering the Editor. To all of them, and @Vendigo in particular, goes my appreciation and gratitude because with their work, the Great Battles saga shows no signs of aging and continues to remain at the top of the list when I can find a bit of time to dedicate to flight simulation. @AndreiTomescu,my special thanks for his passion for researching with historical rigor, providing creators with ideas to recreate episodes that are unknown to most, but no less fascinating and interesting.
Thank you so much.

 

SARF

Edited March 18 by SARFlytitus

[AndreiTomescu]

The release of this campaign makes the thread to look like a Oscar gala, with so many thanks and appreciations ! 🙂 

I just hope this convinces our mate simmers that yes, it's really worth buying the Odessa and Macchi airplane.

long term, i hope some of the devs try this campaign and thus maybe convince Vendigo to go on creating content for Korea also. You see, guys, what really makes a simulator complete is its CONTENT. Immersion. Atmosphere. Relax and enjoyment. Spiked with high adrenalin. The satisfaction of making back to base. A story that gives you a sense of belonging and continuation.

All above has @Vendigo achived here.

Otherwise it's just a beautiful and sophisticaded shooter. And those we have plenty.

[VISHNU]

Just started this campaign.  Well done guys!   I love the attention to detail,  like smoke from the stacks in towns, to lots of vehicles and aircraft moving about.   Perhaps some campaigns on the Leningrad map in the future?

Edited March 18 by VISHNU

[Jaegermeister]

This is an interesting story and I really like the Macchi Mc.202, so I hope I have a chance to fly your campaign soon!

While doing research for Scripted Campaigns on the Odessa maps, I found at least three very different versions of the story regarding the Ruspoli brothers and their camera crew. I will be interested to see what information you went with in your version.

Congratulations on the release, it looks like you all put a lot of work into it.

👍

[Vendigo]

Thank you for the feedback, guys! 

23 hours ago, VISHNU said:

Perhaps some campaigns on the Leningrad map in the future?

One day, hopefully! That map is outstanding, and I always wanted to make a campaign for He-111 or Li-2, to change perspective from a fighter aircraft.     

[AndreiTomescu]

Spring sale on.

10 usd for the Macchi, 60 for the Odessa and Leningrad.

[Sparviero]

A bit off-topic: I really love the MC202 that I bought since release and I'm sure this campaign is great. Also got every maps but I'm really disappointed by the planset of Odessa and Leningrad, really nothing of interest for an Axis-planes player (or at least for me!).

[Vendigo]

I feel you, but I think the devs' limited resourced dictate it, I'm just thankful the new title is even out! 

@LLv44_Kanttori once posted a planeset of five new Finnish aircraft for the Karelia map, with two of them (Brewster and G.50) ticked as being in development, so I keep hoping we will be getting more planes in the future!      

[AndreiTomescu]

3 hours ago, Sparviero said:

I'm really disappointed by the planset of Odessa and Leningrad

ok, Leningrad is still far, far from being complete. But they're working on it. 

But Odessa? why? you've got the E4, and that yellow nose devil is really the landmark of Axis fighters. You want Hurricane on the Axis side? you've got it, really, the Ro had 15- 16 of those and really used them till were wear off (see Sandmarken's Hurricane Diaries). You want the Folgore? you can run it od Odessa now, even hear italian authentic custom messages. IMHO, this is @Vendigo's best work so far, and that's a hard level to beat. And it's historical, really.  He-111, Stuka, E7/F2/F4, they were already released, so nothing stops us from taking off on Odessa map. The IAR is a difficult plane to fly, true, but once you manage its many faults it's interesting. It was the workhorse for the southern Axis flank.

To be honest, the Soviet side was really lagging behind in types of planes for this early-war time. It was necessary to focus on that. 

But still, you have Odessa module, you have the Macchi, so i guarantee you some hours of total delight. Bring the Italian spirit and fire alive here ! Come on, you've got the italian detachment at the gates of Odessa ! Maybe you did know, but otherwise few knew about their presence here. I be not in your wildest dreams you've imagined that you could embody Ruspoli at Odessa !

Edited March 20 by AndreiTomescu