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Digital Gaming => Computer Gaming => Topic started by: Grim.Reaper on October 10, 2019, 06:05:20 PM

Title: Wings Over Flanders: Platinum Edition
Post by: Grim.Reaper on October 10, 2019, 06:05:20 PM
Yet another edition for the game...expansion to the Ultimate Edition.  $25 but of course you must own the Ultimate Edition first which is $29.  Nice to see them keep things up, kind of thought it would die after WOTR was released....although not sure I can keep investing in all these versions.

http://www.overflandersfields.com/store.html


Contents and Improvements WOFF Platinum V5.00

1) Revised Terrain Tiles and Scenery object textures - all seasons. A large undertaking as we have 12 front lines states for various parts of the war, plus each of those has several "seasons"!

2) Improved Terrain Blending.

3) Improved Scenery objects density and draw distance and reduced haze for greater distance visibility.

4) Revised Sound system volume mix levels and improved many sounds.

5) Ground based MGs now no longer have tracers.

6) Increased gun/artillery fire along the frontlines - changes from day to day - more battles can now be seen in action.

7) Player can now restart engine after landing/end of mission and game physics is no longer halted - eg trucks no longer stop moving etc - Note player may now be attacked when landed in good health.

8) Revised damaged and ruined scenery building and frontlines object models.

9) If player now tries to start engine with low fuel or a damaged engine the instructor states it and engine start is not attempted.

10) Now quiting a mission over enemy lines or when forced down in ememy territory, the aircraft is 'captured' and is accounted for as a lost machine even if the player escapes and returns to duty.

11) Improved aircraft accounting systems.

12) Outcomes system now specifies the airfield that each individual squadron member landed at, including player, as opposed to the current formation squad landing destination specified.

13) Outcomes system now specifies if the aircraft was over (or forced down on ground) in enemy territory or friendly territory when mission ends.

14) QC Fuel and Ammo selections are now persistent mission to mission when player remains in QC.

15) AI captivity (and loss of aircraft) is now no longer a die roll but is determined by AI Pilot health, AI Aircraft health, AI Remaining fuel, and AI Distance Behind Enemy Lines. at the time the mission ends - these are used to reasonably determine whether the AI pilot makes it home or not.

16) If the Player quits the mission whilst in/over enemy territory or is forced down in enemy territory the distance Behind Enemy Lines is now reported.

17) Operations (Air Activity) radii for Local and Regional Squadrons (Living World) are now displayed on the briefing map - they vary with workshops regional air activity settings, with player location, and types of operations/craft assignment (These are not changed from WOFFUE - just the rings display is added).
Note these rings dictate which squads are 'active/available' to put up flights and is NOT the limit of these squads flight paths.
The rings simply dictate which squads in the theatre may fly - thus it is possible that flights paths can then exceed the raddii of the rings if the specific squadrons target/directives selected during mission creation determine such (OOB system specific)!
The percentage of squads within the two radii that fly is dictated again by the workshops regional air activity setting - its used for the two functions.

Targets/Directives for the squads 'activated' by the Local and Regional radii (Search Functionality):
Fighters:
Fighter Squads generally obey their typical target range allowance as dictated by the squadron database (in Teds Squad file) - limited to a max of 70 miles.
However if they cannot find a target within that range for their given mission directive (one must understand we have a finite number of targets in any given area) the range allowance is increased incrementally by 5 miles until they do find one.
If they dont find one they simply use the last one found.
Note: at no stage do we abort the squads mission (cull the flight) - they will fly - this is important especially in sparsely populated areas (squads and targets) and early years to keep air activity going.

2 Seaters:
2 Seater Squads generally obey their typical target range allowance as dictated by the squadron database - limited to a max of 70 miles.
However if they cannot find a target within that range for their given mission directive (one must understand we have a finite number of targets in any given area) the range allowance is increased incrementally by 25 miles until they do find one.
If they dont find one they simply use the last one found.
Note: at no stage do we abort the squads mission (cull the flight) - they will fly - this is important especially in sparsely populated areas (squads and targets) and early years to keep air activity going.

Heavies:
Heavy Bomber Squads generally obey their typical target range allowance as dictated by the squadron database - and basically have no limit apart from their operational range - as they are long range bombers
If they dont find one in range (seldom happens with Heavies) they simply use the last one found (this could be improved)
Typically these squads will be flying long routes.
Note: at no stage do we abort the squads mission (cull the flight) - they will fly - this is important especially in sparsely populated areas (squads and targets) and early years to keep air activity going.

This is all part of the OBD Living World system that is SPECIFICALLY designed to avoid only having activity along the players prescribed mission path - as most other campaign systems do - and to create a world that is alive wherever the player might end up going.

18) Centres of the Local and Regional Air Activity Radii is now the nearest frontline sector to the player - where applicable. (Note does not apply to England Germany and or Heavy Bomber squads) - as opposed to always being the players airfield.

19) Frontline patrols now take place along two points on the actual frontline positions whenever possible.

20) Implemented the ability to move/edit waypoints in the mission briefing screen, so that players can setup mission routes as desired.

21) Selecting 'Airstart' now specifies where you will start, and the waypoint lines up to Waypoint 1 or the specific start waypoint are removed.

22) The approximate distance that the players airfield is from the nearest frontlines is now reported in campaign intro as well as on the small airfield location map (BFL Behind Friendly Lines) top of main campaign GUI.

23) 'Reconnaissance' craft will now also carry out bombing runs if they can carry bombs.

24) Scramble and Escort Missions are now allowed with Historical Mission Types set on in Workshops - even if squad did not carry out the role historically - for improved variation in campaign play.

25) Mission Briefing screen map now includes miscellaneous waypoints that were deemed non critical and thus not displayed (UE Map only displayed critical waypoints and objectives) these are: Altitude Up (friendly side of lines near airfield), Altitude Down (Ground Attack missions near target) and Patrol an Area (Escort Patrol Reccy craft that must note troop and or fall of shot over an area).
They are now included to allow the player to adjust them along with the main waypoints see 20)

26) Implemented Gun Lever animations for ALL fighter aircraft - they animate when fired, jammed, and when unjamming the guns. Bullet belts also move. Vickers and Spandua are brand new models with others upgraded.

27) Revised aircraft effects: 'on fire', 'smoke', 'fuel leak', 'oil leak' etc

28) Incorporated Revised and Additional Squadrons with additional aircraft allocations and airfields for WOFF Platinum : Total Squadrons inorporated are now: British(90) French(184) and German(203) Squadrons.
New aircraft coming in 2020.

29) Incorporated 3rd party weather and news files.

30) Updated all 12 Global layers 1914, 1915, 1916, 1916+6, 1917, 1917+6, 1918, 1918+2, 1918+4, 1918+6, 1918+9, 1918+11 to incorporate the additional airfields required by the Squadron Update.

31) Both Player and Regional flight target selection criteria are now more tightly bound to the region of operations (Air Activity) radii.

32) Added improved search criteria for the enemy flights that the player may face whilst on his mission as well as increased variety.

33) Revised search criteria for obtaining local Fighter Squadrons - improving campaign immersion.

34) Revised the Slot/Rank Breakpoints and optimised for each Nation to allow better allocation of the 3 Aircraft slots by Rank.

35) Implemented the ability to switch the Wingman on or off in workshops - default is off - Note if a players pilot has a wingman, and the workshop setting is toggled off and then later put back on - the last assigned Wingman is not remembered/stored even if he is still alive in the squad.

36) Implemented the ability to fly Lone Wolf missions at will from campaign interface via a new button in the button bar if player is in a Fighter, and located in either Flanders, Marne, Verdun, or Alsace and the campaign year is prior to 1917.
He must have flown at least 5 missions.
Lone Wolf missions will still be randomly assigned as well.

37) Implemented the ability to adjust Lone Wolf mission waypoints in the mission briefing screen.

38) Implemented progressive damage modelling on the Player Fuel Tank systems together with a 'Fuel is leaking - FIRE risk' TACS message prompt and a persistant fuel leak effect (moving and static).
If the player leaves his engine running whilst fuel is leaking then slowly and randomly the fuel leak gets progressively worse and a fire and death can result.
Players should be vigilant of fuel leaks and kill the engine and land ASAP.

39) Implemented Pilot progressive health deterioration if wounds are severe (Progressive DM).

40) Implemented better visual effects for the player aircraft for coolant (non rotary craft) and oil system leaks/damage together with progressive damage functionality - and implemented message prompts on the TAC. (Progressive DM)

41) Implemented progressive damage modelling on all AI craft to match players new progressive DM.

42) Cloud edge clipping in cockpit view now eliminated.

43) Scrambles missions now have revised waypoint structure to ensure the AI pilots more readily engage the enemy.

44) Fighter cockpits have new guns, and many have other visual improvements.

Plus many other fixes and improvements.
Title: Re: Wings Over Flanders: Platinum Edition
Post by: Grim.Reaper on October 11, 2019, 05:09:34 AM
Video

Title: Re: Wings Over Flanders: Platinum Edition
Post by: Jarhead0331 on October 11, 2019, 05:50:29 AM
Quite frankly, I'm annoyed they are putting so much effort into WOFF, while practically ignoring WOTR.
Title: Re: Wings Over Flanders: Platinum Edition
Post by: Grim.Reaper on October 11, 2019, 05:59:32 AM
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 11, 2019, 05:50:29 AM
Quite frankly, I'm annoyed they are putting so much effort into WOFF, while practically ignoring WOTR.

Does seem like they are working on the next update for it, some detail just posted a few days ago....it is interesting that WOTR certainly seems to take a backseat but sounded like coming soon......we'll see.  Personally, all these add-ons, editions, etc. makes my head spin and not sure I play either enough to keep buying....we'll see.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

OK guys here is the current list of features and changes for next version of WOTR :

It's work in progress and may change...

1) Formation spacing is now selectable in workshops : Tight (default - 0.9x formation separation values), Tighter (0.8x formation separation values), and Tightest(0.7x).

2) Map Player Aircraft Icon can now be switched on and off in workshops.

3) Implemented tighter Formations and revised formation layouts to be more historically accurate - see 1) above.

4) All AI air formations now comprise of the normal multiples of 3 or 4 craft as dictated by Nation and Aircraft Type i.e. 'sections' and 'schwarms' for British and German fighters respectively, and 'kette' for German bombers.
Player squadrons total pilot complement for British squads ins now 16 Pilots and 12 for German.
Players may still use existing pilot dossiers which have 15 British pilots and 14 German Pilots total complement, but ideally should start new pilots.
Note that if using older pilots prior to V1.19 update, the sections that are allocated each mission all still work to the new V1.19 section rules system.

5) Player air formations now comprise of multiples of 'sections' or 'schwarms' depending on player nation and is displayed as such in the duty roster of the campaign interface etc

6) All QC flights are now increased to 12 aircraft to allow allocation of up to 4 'sections' or 3 'schwarms' in the flights complete with the correct section names in rumtime.

7) The new Section names for the player squadron now form part of the AI aircraft Identity Label in run time.

8) Implemented progressive damage modelling on Player Aircraft and AI, for Main Tank Fuel Leak (fire Risk if engine not switched off) and Pilot.

9) Implemented progressive damage effects for Engine Oil and Coolant system damage to engine on player aircarft for more visual cues.

10) Implemented TAC messages for the player aircraft for the new progressive damage modelling.

11) Cloud edge clipping in cockpit view is now eliminated.

12) QC mission waypoints now vary randomly from QC mission to QC mission when appropriate.

13) British Player Flights now vector straight to the target area rather than going via the reported enemy ingress point - to conserve fuel.

14) British Player Flights no longer return to base via the reported(vectored) enemy egress point - to conserve fuel.

15) Search pattern in a vectored area, or on patrol, are now reverted to the original 3 point waypoint pattern around the target area, (rather than a simple circular loiter) - it will randomly vary in direction: CW and CCW and start end point location - see V1.14 10)

16) There are no longer two separate formations for the player squadron 'A and B' 'flights' in runtime - the squadron now flies as one combined formation.

17) 4 Pilots of the total complement of 16 in the British squadrons are in a reserve pool and only get put into duty when required due to squadron shortages.
German squads have no reserve pool.

18) The player's squadron always puts up the maximum number of complete 'sections' that they can muster under the circumstances - so squads without a full complement of pilots due to death missing , low aircraft due to losses etc will still fly and fight but with reduced complement
Only when the players squad is reduced to less than one flyable section are missions 'put off' until more craft or pilots come in as needed - T+

19) Player squad members now always fly with the same aircraft/skin untill they are killed or missing then the craft will be reallocated as a new squadron member comes in.
Reserve pilots will be allocated until such time as the new pilot becomes available, but will all use a common aircraft/skin ident. (AP - skin)(see 20)

20) At the moment the 4 reserve Brit pilots all have a common aircraft (AP skin) - this will be expanded in a later update to make all 16 craft unique within the players squad.
This limitation does not apply to German squads as their max complement is 12, versus the 16 British.
NOTE the skins are still being worked on for V1.19 and are not fully sorted yet!!!!

21) Increased the altitude that the Spitfires fly Patrols or Scrambles at to ensure they act more as top cover for the Hurris, when scrambled.

22) Implemented a new workshop setting: Historical Squadron Complement (max 4 British Sections or 3 German Sections in Player formation) or: Reduced Squadron Complement (Max 2 British Sections or 2 German Sections in player formation) - to aid users with lower end PCs.

23) Tweaked the large formations (must be enabled in workshops - Medium and Heavy Air Activity setting only) to get closer to a BoB feel in terms of bombers and supporting 109s. Note these larger big wing formations only appear in the last 3 phases of the battle and will not happen every scramble mission.

24) Fixed an issue that prevented skins from displaying correctly when Aircraft Skin Res is set to High in Workshops.

25) Various performance improvements.

26) Scramble missions now have the RDF data displayed to the player in the briefing - Vector bearing, Distance, Height of Enemy craft, and direction that they are coming from.
In upcoming updates the player will be able to radio to the Tower for a vector to the Incoming Raid in runtime.

27) Scramble missions now fly directly to the Vectored incoming enemy flight.

28) Night time reticle light lens (Spit and Hurri) now not as bright.

29) Various Spitfire and Hurricane model improvements.

30) Revised German Ranks - will automatically update when a pilot dossier is used in campaign.
Note: Old Pilot Dossiers created prior to V1.19, when viewed in the Pilot Dossier Interface, will still display the old Rank until the dossier is used in campaign.

31) Fixed an issue that sometimes allowed engine damage sounds for AI aircraft to be heard in the players cockpit.

32) Reduced distance that Stuka Dive siren can be heard.

33) Player will now always be low in the ranking list until he has flown 5 missions if he enlists as a Rookie, irrespective of his Rank, when Player position By Rank is selected in workshops - players can overide as they see fit or enlist as a Veteran.

34) Adjusted various sound levels.

35) Town terrain Tile updates.

36) Revised Pilot attrition rates when time advancing a week or a month (Note these are 'simulation runs' for when player advances time - to better match BoB attrition rates).

37) Fixed an issue in the aircraft training files that caused the AI Spitfires and AI 109s, when in formation, to climb too slowly between waypoints.

38) Addressed an issue that would still log a squadron as 'grounded by weather' despite player selecting Inclement Weather Flyable in workshops - missions were flown, but log incorrectly still recorded grounded.

39) Addressed an issue that would sometimes prevent the player from switching to cockpit view when starting at certain airfields in external view.
Title: Re: Wings Over Flanders: Platinum Edition
Post by: airboy on October 12, 2019, 07:50:02 PM
If I could play flight games I would get it.  Looks very neat.