Having help would be cool, unfortunately, I think it's kind of a case of Fixing the problems as I discover them. I have two computers on my desk. My main one will fly the mission while my 2nd machine runs the FMB, I can then make tweaks to the mission as I find the problems and it helps me keep on top of it.
I think once I get to about mission 8 or 9, things should become significantly easier since most of the work will already be in place, it will be just a case of tweaking targets, cities and the like.
I'll get there... Problem with having a full-time job though is that it leaves me with very little time to myself to do this kind of stuff. Luckily, I have virtually no life what-so-ever so my weekends are often full of lots of 'me'-time.
Not entirely sure when it comes to really long missions; an air-start sounds like a fair idea, pass it off like the copilot was flying up until then to give the pilot a break or something. For me the best part of the game is nursing a wounded plane home, or watching someone else do the same and hoping they'll make it. If I'm flying from one waypoint to the next I'll get bored extremely quickly, but if it's really a struggle to keep the plane aloft and my engines could give up the ghost at any moment, I'll happily sit around for anything up to an hour and a half or two hours fighting the controls. Sometimes I can sit around doing almost nothing for over five hours, just observing and waiting (no surprise I want to try qualify as a sniper at some point), but with long hauls over mononous terrain and no possibility of interaction with actual people, no way. Perhaps if someone made a mod where the crew chattered away and so on, I might become a lot more tolerant.
I like heavies, but given the flight times I'm not sure they're for me to fly... in the meantime, I think I should stick to my beloved Spitfires, nice and short-legged to match my patience :lol:
Rossmum, have you tried the inflight randomiser tool? It adds just that little bit of immersion you need to make long missions bearable.
I'm not much of a bomber pilot, much less a hardcore-one. I like the way bombers fly and they're more complex and demanding (and that way, more rewarding) to master, but I truly ..... with the bombsight. Long-range missions can be fun, though. As a fighter I love those long, early morning patrols over the Eastern Front. Just when I'm about to go daydreaming and I feel tired a few enemy aircraft appear. You constantly have to be aware.
I guess that would be even more valid with a bomber, when you can waste three hours flying time, just because you watched through the windows while your plane was about to collide with another one.
One thing, though - long missions are fun, if the campaign is short. Try to make a balance between mission/campaign lenght. So if I have a 25 mission campaign, I expect about medium to long flying time. But if I have to fly three to four hours, well... more than 6 missions would be a chore.
~S~
Thanks for asking
There ARE a group of Bomber enthuiasts here, and being from ex CFS days of bomb runs from Brooklands airfield in England, over to France and bomb Calaise and Caen on to Bomb Berlin around to drop a few on Interlaken then down on over to Bomb Italy with other targets on the way LOL
(Pity we dont have refuel boxes on runways yet. ) A TOO long a run is tiresome, BUT, at altitude you need time to set up formation and bomb site info, chose your approaches, (have some info on target and airfield runway direcitons if bombing airfields) so you get a good drop along targets with a return route home. Team Bomb maps, where you have teams completing targets with offensive fighters to stop the other team as well a defencive fighters for the bomber group. First Team to take out their targets win. Usually a three airfield strike and back to base scenerio. BE GREAT when we can have some ADF program working because you can have targets and bases off the map. Keep up the good work though, I appreciate it and am interested.
~S~
RAF_Sharkzz
Would it be helpful if you had someone to test missions, so you could spend less time sat waiting at 8x?