13.09.2009, 10:56
My new campaign for Cannons outstanding new Channel 1940-41 map is now being playtested. And I hope to release it within a week.
![[Image: fb-logo2.jpg]](http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t286/Poltava/fb-logo2.jpg)
The campaign takes place in August 1940, and portrays the fighting in the air that month during the Battle of Britain. (The plan is to - eventually - make a second campaign covering the fighting in September and early October as well.) You are a rookie pilot, just out of a hurried conversion training, sent as a replacement to a Spitfire squadron. As very soon the whole might of the Luftwaffe is unleashed upon England... (Yes, the title is inspired by Patrick Bishops excellent book.)
The campaign consists of 13 missions, and all of them - except the first one - are based on history, and tries to recreate one of the fights that took place on the actual date in 1940. I have also tried to follow the historical weather. The squadron itself is ficticious. My aim is to give a Battle of Britain feel to the whole situation.
And as Canons new Channel map is pretty demanding in itself, I have decided to leave out all action that you can't actually see (or possibly could see) from your cockpit. Also the amount of FLAK and movement of ground and sea units have been kept to a minimum. What really counts is the action in the air, right? Some missions see more than 90+ aircraft in the air at the same time.
As I have begun to receive reports from playtesters, I can already now say that I am considering doing a lite version of this campaign, for those who have less muscular rigs. (There the number of aircraft in each mission is going to be reduced, and also I will dispense with the historical weather and let the sky be blue and cloudless all the time.)
UPDATE 20/9
The campaign is now being fine tuned. The number of missions has been increased to 14. Both intro and end NTRK-movies has been added. There has been lots of small changes, including briefings, numbers of aircraft, types of aircraft, fuel loads, AI skills, parachutes, radio silence, flight paths etc etc.
Regarding skins: I have always included skins in my campaigns, but for once I have decided against it, instead sticking to the default skins. For you that thinks that the default skin are less than perfect, and that care for the looks of the game (I know I do) I strongly and enthusiastically recommend you to get two Mods that I use myself. The first one is VpMedias Skin mod, that makes it very easy to swap the games default skins for one of your own liking. The second one is McWolfs superb Decals Shine mod, that gives you MUCH better looking markings on all aircraft, and also includes swastikas on German and Finnish aircraft.
All Playtesters who hasn't reported in yet, and has something to point out to me: PLEASE DO! As mentioned: I'm interested in all types of comments, no matter how small.
PS. Many playtesters have commented the strange behaviour of the Spitfire Mk I when landing: it rears up, and does a sort of bouncing move, a thing that can sometimes be fatal. This is a quirk in the FM of that plane, and one that I think really needs to be ironed out. One playtester has even suggested postphoning the release of the campaign until UI 1.2 is out. Which I just might do IF UI 1.2 is to expected pretty soon.
The campaign takes place in August 1940, and portrays the fighting in the air that month during the Battle of Britain. (The plan is to - eventually - make a second campaign covering the fighting in September and early October as well.) You are a rookie pilot, just out of a hurried conversion training, sent as a replacement to a Spitfire squadron. As very soon the whole might of the Luftwaffe is unleashed upon England... (Yes, the title is inspired by Patrick Bishops excellent book.)
The campaign consists of 13 missions, and all of them - except the first one - are based on history, and tries to recreate one of the fights that took place on the actual date in 1940. I have also tried to follow the historical weather. The squadron itself is ficticious. My aim is to give a Battle of Britain feel to the whole situation.
And as Canons new Channel map is pretty demanding in itself, I have decided to leave out all action that you can't actually see (or possibly could see) from your cockpit. Also the amount of FLAK and movement of ground and sea units have been kept to a minimum. What really counts is the action in the air, right? Some missions see more than 90+ aircraft in the air at the same time.
As I have begun to receive reports from playtesters, I can already now say that I am considering doing a lite version of this campaign, for those who have less muscular rigs. (There the number of aircraft in each mission is going to be reduced, and also I will dispense with the historical weather and let the sky be blue and cloudless all the time.)
UPDATE 20/9
The campaign is now being fine tuned. The number of missions has been increased to 14. Both intro and end NTRK-movies has been added. There has been lots of small changes, including briefings, numbers of aircraft, types of aircraft, fuel loads, AI skills, parachutes, radio silence, flight paths etc etc.
Regarding skins: I have always included skins in my campaigns, but for once I have decided against it, instead sticking to the default skins. For you that thinks that the default skin are less than perfect, and that care for the looks of the game (I know I do) I strongly and enthusiastically recommend you to get two Mods that I use myself. The first one is VpMedias Skin mod, that makes it very easy to swap the games default skins for one of your own liking. The second one is McWolfs superb Decals Shine mod, that gives you MUCH better looking markings on all aircraft, and also includes swastikas on German and Finnish aircraft.
All Playtesters who hasn't reported in yet, and has something to point out to me: PLEASE DO! As mentioned: I'm interested in all types of comments, no matter how small.
PS. Many playtesters have commented the strange behaviour of the Spitfire Mk I when landing: it rears up, and does a sort of bouncing move, a thing that can sometimes be fatal. This is a quirk in the FM of that plane, and one that I think really needs to be ironed out. One playtester has even suggested postphoning the release of the campaign until UI 1.2 is out. Which I just might do IF UI 1.2 is to expected pretty soon.
.
