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

[VISHNU]

I have to admit, I never heard of this story.  Thanks for helping with this campaign, I look forward to more usual and historical campaigns from  you and others.

[HamilcarBarcas]

Absolute fantastic work! Thanks a lot for the attention to detail, the great mix of different mission types, and the moments of surprise you've created.

 

SPOILER ALERT

Spoiler

Those trigger happy Messers in the second mission really caught me ...

 

Edited March 21 by HamilcarBarcas

[Vendigo]

8 hours ago, HamilcarBarcas said:

Absolute fantastic work! Thanks a lot for the attention to detail, the great mix of different mission types, and the moments of surprise you've created. 

Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it and there will be some more surprises later! 

 

Edited March 21 by Vendigo

[Sparviero]

20 hours ago, AndreiTomescu said:

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 !

Surely a great campaign and I will play it when I will buy Siege and Lib... but for now 60 bucks for the map is a bit disappoint for me just for the Bf 109 E-4 (how many 109 I had? lost the count) and Ju 87 D-5 (who can tell difference from d3?). Maybe if I was a lover of allies planes it should be different.

Edited March 21 by Sparviero

[Jaegermeister]

3 hours ago, Sparviero said:

Surely a great campaign and I will play it when I will buy Siege and Lib... but for now 60 bucks for the map is a bit disappoint for me just for the Bf 109 E-4 (how many 109 I had? lost the count) and Ju 87 D-5 (who can tell difference from d3?). Maybe if I was a soviet player it should be different.

The I-153 is a surprisingly fun plane to fly. Yu should give it a try.

[AndreiTomescu]

Anybody reached the second "duel" mission? It later on in the campaign. That particular mission gave me quite a challenge. I'm interested how you guys fared and what tactics/outcome have you got.

On 3/21/2026 at 9:52 AM, HamilcarBarcas said:

and the moments of surprise you've created.

Sometimes, like quite often, it is good not to "end mission" as soon as you finally land. You might have more surprises!

[Vendigo]

Has anybody had problems with the artillery spotter script in mission 6 "Bendery spotter"? Based on my testing, it should be fine but still there are some reports of the script not working.. 

[sandmarken]

1 hour ago, Vendigo said:

Has anybody had problems with the artillery spotter script in mission 6 "Bendery spotter"? Based on my testing, it should be fine but still there are some reports of the script not working.. 

This is not the mission with the issue. It's the next spotter mission. I think mission 8 or 9? I'm at work and can't check. Very shortly after making contact with the artillery, you can encounter a U2VS flying low over the city. I think the voiceover somehow cancels the artillery script.

[Vendigo]

11 minutes ago, sandmarken said:

This is not the mission with the issue. It's the next spotter mission. I think mission 8 or 9? I'm at work and can't check. Very shortly after making contact with the artillery, you can encounter a U2VS flying low over the city. I think the voiceover somehow cancels the artillery script.

Thanks, I will look into it! I thought I had fixed it.. 

 

[Vendigo]

@sandmarken you have only the released version of the campaign - the one downloaded from the link in the first post, right? 

Actually, we had this bug in the pre-release version, and then I fixed it - it had to do with the STOPMEDIA trigger that must be used after each radio message is played (otherwise the time dilation will be disabled for the remainder of the mission) but IF we have the spotter script running then the STOPMEDIA trigger will cancel it, too (but we need to have the spotter script run for 10 minutes, as per the mission briefing).

So, in the final version I deleted STOPMEDIA triggers of every custom radio message that is played during the artillery spotter script. Today I thought that maybe I had forgotten to delete it in mission No.9 but just now I have played it twice (on autopilot) and the spotter script works fine (although I didn't wait full 10 minutes for the spotter script to auto finish). But the spotter script keeps working all right after the custom radio messages in mission 9; I also opened it with the full mission editor and I can see that all those unnecessary STOPMEDIA triggers don't activate...

So I am kinda puzzled why you experience this bug. 

Maybe anybody else can report the same problem as @sandmarken in the mission No.9 "The liberation of Tiraspol"?  

 

 

Edited March 27 by Vendigo

[sandmarken]

@Vendigo i have only the version you released here. That said i only tried once it might work in a second attempt!

[AndreiTomescu]

Test report.

Misson nr 9 : The liberation of Tiraspol"

specific reported issues mention:

- both escort E4s follow

- avoid Flak as much as possible, it's quite lethal

- spotter script activated ok after making contact with the german artillery

- there is a 10 min marker, so you should proceed with your orders, avoid loitering in search of boogies

- found target battery, it's well hidden, thou (different restarts, different locations !)

- spotter script working fine ( LWin-1 combination to use)

- warning message came, script still active

- after timer (10 min) expired, script deactivated, but by then you really have different things to worry about :) 

So the hole mission went fine. Until i've got shot down and captured.

[Vendigo]

@AndreiTomescu thank you, so mission No.9 works fine which is good news! I wonder how this mission goes for @sandmarken 

Edited March 28 by Vendigo

[sandmarken]

5 hours ago, AndreiTomescu said:

Test report.

Misson nr 9 : The liberation of Tiraspol"

specific reported issues mention:

- both escort E4s follow

- avoid Flak as much as possible, it's quite lethal

- spotter script activated ok after making contact with the german artillery

- there is a 10 min marker, so you should proceed with your orders, avoid loitering in search of boogies

- found target battery, it's well hidden, thou (different restarts, different locations !)

- spotter script working fine ( LWin-1 combination to use)

- warning message came, script still active

- after timer (10 min) expired, script deactivated, but by then you really have different things to worry about :) 

So the hole mission went fine. Until i've got shot down and captured.

Just after making contact with the artillery i also got in contat with a u2 that i shot down over the city. Custom voice reported the u2 and i think this is what messed up the mission. Il try again next time available! 

[Vendigo]

7 minutes ago, sandmarken said:

Custom voice reported the u2 and i think this is what messed up the mission. Il try again next time available! 

I see, and can you say - did the custom voice report the U2 after you shot it down?  

[sandmarken]

2 hours ago, Vendigo said:

I see, and can you say - did the custom voice report the U2 after you shot it down?  

No the u2 appeard right after i flew over the friendly artillery before i even opened the windows + 1 menu. It was reported as spotted before i even got into the fight with it. And it was a real fight it did not give up easily. 

[AndreiTomescu]

2 hours ago, sandmarken said:

Just after making contact with the artillery i also got in contat with a u2 that i shot down over the city. Custom voice reported the u2 and i think this is what messed up the mission

I love that U2. He's fierce, shoots back like mad. I NEVER let the escorting E4s deal with it, she/he's my friend. 🙂 

This last test time (last night, man  I  was sooo tired that my eyes were closing, but i know the missions so well that the muscle memory was perfect) I was already searching for the u2 before reaching the cannon' s field.

So :

- got the message ( ....at 12 o'clock) BEFORE i actually saw the u2

- got him with a high angle long burst. (From behind he's a bit dangerous)

- afterwards the spotter script worked just fine !!

So we need to know the EXACT moment when Sandmarken's script fails.

Also: @SARFlytitus, @VISHNU, guys, did you encountered this bug ?

[VISHNU]

1 hour ago, AndreiTomescu said:

I love that U2. He's fierce, shoots back like mad. I NEVER let the escorting E4s deal with it, she/he's my friend. 🙂 

This last test time (last night, man  I  was sooo tired that my eyes were closing, but i know the missions so well that the muscle memory was perfect) I was already searching for the u2 before reaching the cannon' s field.

So :

- got the message ( ....at 12 o'clock) BEFORE i actually saw the u2

- got him with a high angle long burst. (From behind he's a bit dangerous)

- afterwards the spotter script worked just fine !!

So we need to know the EXACT moment when Sandmarken's script fails.

Also: @SARFlytitus, @VISHNU, guys, did you encountered this bug ?

Haven't made it that far yet...I will report if anything happens.  Mission 9? Correct?

 

[Vendigo]

10 minutes ago, VISHNU said:

Mission 9? Correct?

 

Yes!

[sandmarken]

Maybe my computer is at fault. Havent tried again probably will work fine then no worries 😁

[AndreiTomescu]

6 hours ago, Vendigo said:

I see, and can you say - did the custom voice report the U2 after you shot it down?

A bit time ago, when I was beta testing, I managed once (i never use autopilot, I ran quite fast to the fortress, I was very low), to get the U2 just as it took off. The custom msg never came. I'm sure about this, I remember true, because i was impressed that the mission knew not to make the msg anymore

[SARFlytitus]

Flown mission 9 three times and all works fine… 👍

[Sparviero]

Finally I bought Odessa DLC just for this campaign. I really appreciated the work done, in particular 1) great immersion, you really feel to be part of the war; 2) the spotting grid is fantastic, I play GB since release but I didn't know about this feature (off topic, are there other campaigns using it?); 3)a very well balanced difficuly (I'm not a great pilot and you can finish the missions without killing tens of planes, if you feel that you have to leave the combat, you can come back home and complete the misison; at the same time, I think that a more experience pilot can fight longer in many mission and find more challenge); 4) great skins, radio messages, clear briefing. Nothing less tha a paid campaign.

Thanks to all the Authors.

I really hope in others campaigns with Macchi 202!

[AndreiTomescu]

8 hours ago, Sparviero said:

the spotting grid is fantastic,

Yes indeed!!!! Never saw this before in another campaign I've played. But clearly it would be nice to to. I think this script was created by the devs in the core game, and afterwards extracted, upgraded and made available for scripted missions designed by @kraut1, to whom i'm very grateful for that. More campaigns/missions with this feature would be lovely.

8 hours ago, Sparviero said:

and find more challenge

I have my own obsessions.... 🙂 : did you reached the "second duel" ? How did that go ?

Thank you for your appreciation. I think that:

- it was really necessary to honour the lives of those Italian pilots, and their colleagues, forgotten by time

- @Vendigo did a job that really reached a AAA title in terms both of storytelling and immersion

Edited March 29 by AndreiTomescu
corrected the origins of spotter script

[sandmarken]

19 minutes ago, AndreiTomescu said:

I think this script was designed by @kraut1, right?

If im right the script is actually made by the devs, iv seen it or very simular in career mode when flying artillery spotter squadrons. Kraut1 extracted it and might have improved on it? He helped me undertand it atleast. 

Edited March 29 by sandmarken