Official Free Historical Campaigns "Gefechtsverband Kuhlmey"

[LukeFF]

Yeah, I'm fed up with this. Five attempts, zero successes. Every time it's the same thing - a billion AIs on your tail, and your AI wingmen don't care. 

Fourth attempt: that's at least three P-39s chasing me down, while a fourth is being happily chased by one of my wingmen.

Somehow I shook them off, only to then die in a midair collision. Ironically, this probably would have led to me finishing the mission if we hadn't collided.

Fifth attempt, yep, that's 3 Yaks on my tail, even though I'd extended away from them at 700+ km/h. Mission ended as expected a few minutes later.

Sorry for the rants, Juri, but this mission is just an exercise in frustration.

[Juri_JS]

4 hours ago, LukeFF said:

In mission #4 (Stuka escort), the mission starts poorly because your wingmen don't form up with you and instead lazily are some way back, circling the Ju 87s. So when the enemy fighters eventually show up, it's you against 4 or more, trying to fend them off from every direction. Every repeated order of "cover me" does nothing - your wingmen do their own thing. And the whole time, the enemy fighters don't seem too concerned about the Ju 87s - I've never heard a single radio call about them being under attack from enemy fighters.

There isn't much I can do about AI behaviour. But when you stay near the Stukas, the enemy AI will usually concentrate on the Ju-87s and the friendly fighters will attack. Don't chase after the enemy fighters. Your comrades won't help you, because their cover command has priority. 

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, Juri_JS said:

There isn't much I can do about AI behaviour. But when you stay near the Stukas, the enemy AI will usually concentrate on the Ju-87s and the friendly fighters will attack. Don't chase after the enemy fighters. Your comrades won't help you, because their cover command has priority. 

Appreciate it, thanks. 🙂 Been a while since I did a mission like this. 

[Kubert]

I played A6 campaign four times and never died in the mission 4. Actually, this is the only mission in which I didn't need to fight in two of my four playthroughs. I stayed with my wingmen above Stukas and an enemies were too far from us. I watched them from a distance, but let them be. Stukas did their job and we went home without a combat. In one playthrough I came closer to four Cobras and they went after me, so I dragged them away from Stukas...almost over Ladoga's shore...then they turned home and again, no casualties on both sides. Only in my last attempt I fought with them. Dragged them in shallow climb to 6000 meters, then when big gap was between us, turned back, downed one Cobra in head on, damaged another in turn, other two disengaged for some reason, damaged them both in a dive and finished them near the ground. 3 kills plus one damaged. In a meantime my wingmen were still with Stukas. 

I think this mission would be better if our objective was clean a path for Stukas, not direct escort. Wingmen would be tied to player, not the Stukas, that way.

In this mission friendly AIs behave the same way as in escort missions in career mode. After "Flight XY in combat area" report, they leave a player and join Stukas. If you want them with you, you need to use order "Follow me(copy my actions)". But then wingmen stop searching for targets until you rewrite this order. If enemies are close to the bombers, order "Continue our mission" will do the trick. If enemies are near you, but far away from the bombers, this order is not always working as expected, yet "Patrol for air targets" is the most dependable back-up, but not 100%. From time to time wingmen stop attacking enemies and try to rejoin formation with you, or the bombers after "Patrol for air targets" order. I am not using "Cover me" order, because after years of flying, I never observed any consistent AI behavior after that. 

Edited September 17 by Kubert

[Juri_JS]

23 minutes ago, Kubert said:

I think this mission would be better if our objective was clean a path for Stukas, not direct escort. Wingmen would be tied to player, not the Stukas, that way.

That's what you do in mission 5.

Stuka escorts were one of the main mission types for the fighters of Gefechtsverband Kuhlmey, so I couldn't leave it out of the campaign completely. As long as you fly close escort, the missions should work well.

[LukeFF]

2 hours ago, Juri_JS said:

That's what you do in mission 5.

Stuka escorts were one of the main mission types for the fighters of Gefechtsverband Kuhlmey, so I couldn't leave it out of the campaign completely. As long as you fly close escort, the missions should work well.

Yes, I just flew this mission again and, as with Kubert's observations, I also didn't have to engage the enemy. Apparently, they are flying escort for Il-2s, so as long as you don't get too close, they stick to their task and leave your flight alone. Wish I had known that yesterday! 😄 

Anyway, yes, it looks like the next mission is what I expected mission 4 to be, aka clearing a path. 👍 That's how I approached mission 4 at first, but unless you're really good, it's going to be tough.

[Juri_JS]

9 hours ago, LukeFF said:

Yes, I just flew this mission again and, as with Kubert's observations, I also didn't have to engage the enemy. Apparently, they are flying escort for Il-2s, so as long as you don't get too close, they stick to their task and leave your flight alone. Wish I had known that yesterday! 😄 

🤔

The P-39s should attack. I think I know what the problem is. Will be fixed in the next update.