B-17: The Mighty 8th - An AAR of WTHAID* (FULL CREW, but need fodder)

Started by BanzaiCat, November 07, 2014, 07:28:46 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

JasonPratt

Incidentally, I did indeed rename at least one character back when I was playing the somewhat buggy mess of that game: I always made sure the pilot was my granduncle John Reed (youngest B-17 pilot in Britain, maybe even the war).  O:-)
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

BanzaiCat

Quote from: Staggerwing on November 08, 2014, 08:30:56 AM
Tell them you have an armed and crewed B-17 and the dealership's GPS coordinates. I'm sure the bill will be quite reasonable after that.  ;)

Lol...you're assuming they know what a B-17 is in the first place.  :))

JP, that's pretty cool. How old was he?

BanzaiCat

Okay, I set up a Bomber Command scenario to play through it, and holy crap was it intense. Crew passing out left and right - including at one point BOTH the pilot and co-pilot. What a moment that was dropping into the pilot's compartment to see both of them hunched over.

The radio operator was busy as hell running back and forth healing people, as was the flight engineer. I kept thinking we'd all be a mess and rotate home from wounds, but apparently only the co-pilot had wounds serious enough to put him in the hospital and off the plane. I guess the rest of us just got flesh wounds.

The B-17 itself was shot to hell. The port wing was Swiss cheese but the engines were still going. We didn't lose any bombers, though one was trailing smoke from the #2 engine.

Our navigator got us lost several times, but he was rated 'Average' in navigation. One thing appealing about the Squadron Commander path as opposed to Bomber Commander is, I can cull all the best crew from the squadron and put them in one bomber, so we all are good at our jobs (or at least Above Average). I might go that route because I don't want a plane that resembles a slaughterhouse next time. Also will have control over target selections, which will make things more interesting. I think I'll do some more reading first.

Meanwhile we have four spots still open. I figure we have some blokes that'll play, so bring 'em in. I figure I'll have this down by tonight and will try to record the first mission tomorrow.

JasonPratt

I don't remember now; we should have recorded more of what he said before he died -- or anything really, but he didn't like to talk about it much. Super terrifying. He got in late (though he finished one and a half tours I think), so he was there when the Germans started using 262s and other jet/rocket planes. He didn't think he ever had to worry about the actual "rocket" planes (the ones with rockets instead of jets which didn't land well, and were designed to shotgun bombers with smaller rockets by flying under them with a photostatic sensor), but the 262s were murder: just about completely invulnerable to bomber guns. The only good news was to be invulnerable they had to fly so fast they couldn't aim well, and the pilots weren't experienced anymore being too young. Plus at that speed they ran out of fuel and so broke off a lot earlier.

He said he had to lie about his age to sign up, so fifteen or sixteen? (Course, other kids got in that way, but he was the youngest one to apply for pilot and pass his testing.) I have a poem written by his sister at work; it was read at his funeral, though he got to hear it because she wrote it a few years earlier -- she wanted him to be able to hear it before he died. Maybe she says there.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Barthheart

Always cool to hear first hand stories. Thanks JP.

BC if you still need one I can be engineer for ya.

BanzaiCat

Quote from: Barthheart on November 09, 2014, 09:49:10 PM
BC if you still need one I can be engineer for ya.

All yours, Barth!

I need three more before I can begin. I figure mirth and bawb are good for it. I'll send some PMs out.

Nefaro

I'll take whatever.

Maybe a Waste Gunner?

Because I'll be wastin' nine yards at a time!  :P

BanzaiCat

Thanks, Nefaro and Shelldrake, for helping to round out the roster.

One more spot. I have a PM out to possible parties, so whomever answers next will get the coveted Radio Operator position.

This position is no joke...you'll probably be up a LOT patching up crew and putting out fires.

undercovergeek

i think that was either mine or bobs post on the B29 - im sure hed be up for some

BanzaiCat

Alright, Imma put bawb into the radio operator's seat.

Anyone else wants some, please do speak up. Would love to have a few slabs of meat ready to fill in the inevitable casualties.  >:D

I did experiment with the game this weekend by starting a Bomber Command campaign and noticed a few things.

(1) The naming convention isn't conducive to single-name characters. Since most of us are one name, and it would be weird to split them up (e.g. last name, first, such as Cat, Banzai), I thought it would be funny to make everyone's last name 'Johnson' (referencing the movie Blazing Saddles). Johnson, BanzaiCat; Johnson, Staggerwing; Johnson, Mirth, etc.

(2) This game is indeed amazing for such an old title. 'Our' B-17 got shot to hell by flak; our port wing was full of friggin' holes that you could see through. Crew kept passing out from injuries. I think I already mentioned how horrific it was that I jumped into the pilot's compartment to see both pilot and co-pilot collapsed and unconscious. I figured we were dead for sure, but we landed no problem and only had one crewman that had to go to hospital.

(3) I will have no idea what I'm doing. I did try to jump in and use guns but can't figure out the control scheme. The game manual references using a joystick to aim and fire, but doesn't mention keyboard commands, and the mouse doesn't work for this. So I thought I'd just jump in and out of different positions during the missions and watch/comment.

(4) I will name the bomber The ExPUNdables, in honor of a really good name that didn't quite make the cut in my B-29 thread. If anyone has a better name suggestion (or ANY name suggestion for that matter), please don't hesitate to post.

(5) I'll do some time skipping but will not do time speed-up. I noticed whenever I sped up time that important messages would flash and then disappear immediately. Hopefully this will keep video lengths down to 30 or so minutes. I can always use the magic of video editing to fix that, too.

Thanks, all. I think I'll start the videos in a fresh thread when I'm ready to move forward, which might be tonight. I just need uninterrupted time while recording and in my house, that's a very difficult thing to get. I might have to wait until later in the evening.

Jarhead0331

Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Silent Disapproval Robot

If you name the crate the ExPUNables I'll cut the O2 to everyone on board and save the world some pain.

BanzaiCat

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on November 10, 2014, 01:49:06 PM
If you name the crate the ExPUNables I'll cut the O2 to everyone on board and save the world some pain.

Then come up with a suggestion!

Quote from: Jarhead0331
I'm in if you still need someone!

I'll definitely need replacements I think, JH! The crew is full so we're good for now, but just you wait...

mirth

"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

"you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire" - Bawb

"Can't 'un' until you 'pre', son." - Gus