Career Mode Mission Start: Start on the Ramp or Engine off on Runway

[iflyflightsims]

One option that would add some immersion for me to Great Battles and get me to play more career mode is the option to start in parking with the engine off. IL-2 GB has great engine startup sounds and animations, but these can’t really be enjoyed in career mode because the two current mission start options are either in the air or on the runway with engines running. 
 

The AI is fully capable of starting from the ramp and taxiing. A few scripted campaigns have been able to implement this successfully. However, on the old forums one of the reasons given for not adding this as an option for career mode was the complexity of the different airfield layouts.
 

The third party mod, PWCG, added ramp starts, but, even when I tested the latest version tonight, it’s buggy. I spawned with half of my airplane inside a barracks. It’s unlikely this will be fixed unless if Pat resumes working on it and finds a solution. My understanding is that he is no longer working on PWCG 
 

I’d just like to let it be known that some of us out there would like to see ramp starts in career mode. If that is too complex to implement reliably without bugs, then on the runway with engines off would be a good compromise. 

[AndreiTomescu]

2 hours ago, iflyflightsims said:

The AI is fully capable of starting from the ramp and taxiing.

Hahaha! it's doing a better job sometimes compared to me, since I am puzzled often as WHERE is the runway on dirt tracks.

However, i doubt such improvements will find way into the game, except for a thirdparty mod-job.

That's one reason i stick to scripted campaigns.

[LukeFF]

Unfortunately, these things aren't planned for GB, but they are planned for Korea.

[iflyflightsims]

9 hours ago, LukeFF said:

Unfortunately, these things aren't planned for GB, but they are planned for Korea.

Thank you for confirming ramp starts will be in IL-2 Korea. Career mode will undoubtedly be more satisfying to play in that title.

As this is the suggestions/feedback thread for IL-2 GB, I hope everyone sees this as a suggestion for what can improve Great Battles. Even the option to start on the runway with engines off would be a good middle ground if starting from parking isn’t feasible. 🙂

13 hours ago, AndreiTomescu said:

Hahaha! it's doing a better job sometimes compared to me, since I am puzzled often as WHERE is the runway on dirt tracks.

However, i doubt such improvements will find way into the game, except for a thirdparty mod-job.

That's one reason i stick to scripted campaigns.

I like how some of the scripted campaigns I’ve played and multiplayer missions have taxi signs to help guide you out of parking lol. It’s easy to make a wrong turn if you don’t check the map.
 

One can only hope that a third party figures out how to get this to work properly in career. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough scripted campaigns to cover every aircraft in GB, so startup and taxi can only be enjoyed in multiplayer if there is a server running that plane set.

[AndreiTomescu]

10 minutes ago, iflyflightsims said:

there aren’t enough scripted campaigns to cover every aircraft in GB

right you are, but those that there are, are generally good to exceptional. (my opinion). Also there are people who have the knowledge and skill and patience to build their own campaigns/missions. If only they had the generosity to share those with others, like @kraut1 does with his huge/ extended/ al through war..... for leeches like me who enjoy them tremendously. 

I'm just guessing here, but i think stock career is hard coded, cannot be modified that much. Imagine a stock career with live surroundings, like in many scripted ones: wander around a bit, and you find planes, ground targets, stuff. wow.

also @LuftManu's ongoing project seems to me like a online career, somehow.

[iflyflightsims]

5 hours ago, AndreiTomescu said:

right you are, but those that there are, are generally good to exceptional. (my opinion). Also there are people who have the knowledge and skill and patience to build their own campaigns/missions. If only they had the generosity to share those with others, like @kraut1 does with his huge/ extended/ al through war..... for leeches like me who enjoy them tremendously. 

I'm just guessing here, but i think stock career is hard coded, cannot be modified that much. Imagine a stock career with live surroundings, like in many scripted ones: wander around a bit, and you find planes, ground targets, stuff. wow.

also @LuftManu's ongoing project seems to me like a online career, somehow.

Thank you for suggesting these. I agree with you that there are many great scripted campaigns and missions, and I think there is also a need for good PVE servers. (PVP isn’t that great when there is no server population.)

If career is hard coded, then that is just unfortunate for the modding community.

While third parties have undoubtedly created great alternatives, such as scripted campaigns, LuftManu’s dynamic PVE server, and PWCG, these are still alternatives. I’m not saying these aren’t good. What they do, they do very well, but they can’t replace career mode.

1) Compared to scripted campaigns, career offers a more dynamic experience and variety in aircraft selection. You need one scripted campaign per aircraft that you want to fly in a given theater, but career currently supports many aircraft and squadrons to choose from in each theater. Career has mission variety and stats progression that scripted campaigns don’t currently replicate. That being said, indeed, there are some great scripted campaigns like Hell Hawks Over the Bulge.

2) Compared to a PVE server (and PVP for that matter), career lets you fly what you want to when you want to. In PVP and PVE, you’re limited by the mission rotation and available spawn slots. If you want to fly a certain plane or theater, you have to wait until it comes up in the mission rotation and hope you’re available to fly at the time the server is running the mission. If you are available, you have to hope that no one else takes the spawn slot before you do. Nonetheless, I hope that LuftManu’s PVE server is successful, as I’m sure there are players out there that don’t want to do PVP, but they might try PVE.

3) PWCG is a great resource, and Pat has put a ton of work into it. I’ve used PWCG on and off since RoF, but, being a third-party tool, PWCG’s success always rested on Pat being available to develop it. The tool hasn’t been updated for a while, and Odessa and Leningrad haven’t been added. From what I read, it’s not going to be a viable alternative going forward given that he is no longer able to maintain or update it. I am grateful for the work he did for this community, though, and I wish him nothing but the best. 

I believe that career mode fills a gap that other gameplay modes currently don’t. Given that there is a portion of the player base that is single player only, a good career mode experience would be important to them. With this topic, I just wanted to provide some honest feedback and suggest that one change to career mode, such as a cold start on the runway or the ramp, would improve it in a significant way.

I’m looking forward to ramp starts in IL-2 Korea, but I wish that this feature had made it into IL-2 GB in time for the Siege and Liberation DLC.

[kraut1]

15 hours ago, AndreiTomescu said:

right you are, but those that there are, are generally good to exceptional. (my opinion). Also there are people who have the knowledge and skill and patience to build their own campaigns/missions. If only they had the generosity to share those with others, like @kraut1 does with his huge/ extended/ al through war..... for leeches like me who enjoy them tremendously. 

I'm just guessing here, but i think stock career is hard coded, cannot be modified that much. Imagine a stock career with live surroundings, like in many scripted ones: wander around a bit, and you find planes, ground targets, stuff. wow.

also @LuftManu's ongoing project seems to me like a online career, somehow.

If someone is interested to create a campaign with taxying he could try out EMG.

Maybe the static channel front 41-44. You have to try out which airfield works well with which plane with take off from ramp.

You need just the campaign folder and the 2 settings files.

You need just 1 mission to start fly the campaign and thereafter mission generation/ flying step by step...