BLITZ at your SIX - The post campaign ACG Cliffs experience
Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 12:50 pm
Hello all,
After a lot of discussion with various folks and listening to the Staff, I would like to propose the following as my plan for a co-ordinated Cliff's night at ACG following the end of the main Battle of Britain campaign. This is obviously subject to approval from the governing 'Peoples Front of ACG', a distant faction of 'The Peoples Front of Judea'.
I hope to be able to run an organised night for those pilots still keen to fly Cliff's at ACG (For the record I encourage everyone to try BoX and make an educated decision about their main campaign future at ACG) I do believe that Cliff's should have a presence at ACG and I hope that we can make it the second largest sim/night on the ACG portfolio of titles.
So what is it?
BLITZ At YOUR SIX! - Saturday's - 6pm - ACG - Six week 'campaign style' missions that will follow a story and plot. This will be a 'human' dynamic mission, requiring low overhead from a staffing perspective and hopefully a lot of fun, but more importantly, a very different feel to the campaign mission.
Picking a time is not easy and it will never suit everyone, but I wanted a time that was open to a lot of people, but that also enabled people to fly for a couple of hours and still have some time with the family/to go out after. So 6pm on a Saturday seemed the best time slot to achieve this.
So what can you expect?
We will run a six week ToD (Tour of Duty) mission/story (I am conscious this should not be called 'campaign' or 'mini camapign' to avoid confusion with the main event of ACG) and yes you guessed it, there will be six faction elements in total:
Three Squadrons for the RAF and Three Staffels for the Luftwaffe (more can be added if proven popular).
You will be encouraged to change up your variety in Cliff's. Too many people have flown the same aircraft for years and and then wonder why they are bored. With this new ToD period, you will request to join a particular squadron/staffel. The information about the new ToD and the six week mission scenario will be published the week before the ToD starts, to allow you to choose the unit you wish to join.
By doing this, you get to fly with different ACG members/pilots for a fixed period and this will hopefully build new friendships and keep the action varied. But I believe it is important to have a six week commitment period and in that sense we will fly the ToD in the same style as the campaign, i.e. one mission per week and no re-flights during the event, other than for personal technical issues at mission start (anyone found abusing this trust will be kicked from the server).
We will also have a unit on each side, for what we will call 'Arrive and Fly' members of ACG that just fancy a quick taste of Cliffs once more or that simply cannot commit to a full six week ToD.
I also believe that a pilot will simply be required to be a registered member of the ACG forum in order to fly in these events (Or new status TBA). These nights will not be open to the general public, but I do hope we can encourage other group squadrons/staffels from other servers to come and join us for a ToD or simply sample the 'Arrive and Fly' unit, to get a taste of what ACG is all about.
Once the six week ToD is complete, there will be a two week break (Blitz at your Six becomes an open flight night then) until the next ToD set of missions.
So what will a ToD entail?
You will be given a six week overall mission brief for what will be an 'air battle' focused set of missions. However unlike our main campaign, this will be a historically accurate set of missions in terms of kit used but NOT a historical re-enactment.
I.e. you will have the chance to win the ToD and you will discover if your side has effectively won that evenings mission via a group de-brief report.
(It would be fantastic if we could have a basic style PAM for pilots to simply record their status, but that may take a little longer to produce/may not be possible and we may use a forum posting to update on Pilot status).
You will not get a character for these missions, just your flight name and you will not win any medals.....
I am currently creating a new base map from which we can run these events with the very kind help of Donkey and his excellent Luftflotte software.
Each six week ToD will have a series of objectives for that given night. This will include bomber and fighter operations, with AI involvement as well. The missions will include elements for CAP, Escort duty, JABO, Bombing Raids, Recce and Surface hunts for targets of opportunity.
The weather and conditions will be varied and challenging and you can expect to fly some night missions once Team Fusion have completed their 'night pack' currently in the works, with full active runway lights and searchlights.
As new content becomes available on the run up to TF5, those new elements will be incorporated into the ToD for that six week period.
Many new airfields are being activated and the full use of the Cliff's map will be used. New targets of interest have been created and you will certainly get some variety in each ToD period. As pilots you can expect to fly parts of the Cliff's map which will be quite alien to many of you and it is my hope that we can run three/four ToD's per year.
We will try our best to deliver a story that is shaped and created by your efforts and whilst the six week ToD will be written in principle, the numbers or focus for a specific mission night, may reflect the actions of the previous week in some way shape or form.
Each mission is expected to run for up to two hours depending on mission focus and a pilots time in that mission will be based on the choices they make, just as it is in campaign today.
The time period will focus from the end of the Battle of Britain and so the initial ToD is likely to start in September just as the BLITZ starts. Missions will be similar to those flown in that given period in spirit, but may not be strictly accurate. I.e a JABO raid may take place when the Luftwaffe had not quite started JABO raids at that moment in history.
Each ToD will have volunteer officers to lead and organise their respective unit for that ToD (practice, attendance planning, etc). I personally believe this will encourage people to step up and give certain leadership roles a go in a slightly more relaxed environment than the main campaign, but one that possibly provides feeder stock for some great leaders in future campaigns.
So that is the working draft in principle....
I wanted folk's to know that work is already underway, maps are being created, new targets on those maps created and new Tod plans are currently being drafted and that people wanting to remain part of the ACG community, can still fly Cliff's together if they choose.
It may not be perfect, it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it will provide a CLoD focal point for ACG and if TF5 comes along, then allows us a segway/input into that new title.
I know I am a mere 'Otters Nose' seller at this moment in time, but hopefully 'the Party' will embrace this new concept, to stop many pilots from straying into the hands of the 'Judean Peoples Front' (ATAG)
BD
After a lot of discussion with various folks and listening to the Staff, I would like to propose the following as my plan for a co-ordinated Cliff's night at ACG following the end of the main Battle of Britain campaign. This is obviously subject to approval from the governing 'Peoples Front of ACG', a distant faction of 'The Peoples Front of Judea'.
I hope to be able to run an organised night for those pilots still keen to fly Cliff's at ACG (For the record I encourage everyone to try BoX and make an educated decision about their main campaign future at ACG) I do believe that Cliff's should have a presence at ACG and I hope that we can make it the second largest sim/night on the ACG portfolio of titles.
So what is it?
BLITZ At YOUR SIX! - Saturday's - 6pm - ACG - Six week 'campaign style' missions that will follow a story and plot. This will be a 'human' dynamic mission, requiring low overhead from a staffing perspective and hopefully a lot of fun, but more importantly, a very different feel to the campaign mission.
Picking a time is not easy and it will never suit everyone, but I wanted a time that was open to a lot of people, but that also enabled people to fly for a couple of hours and still have some time with the family/to go out after. So 6pm on a Saturday seemed the best time slot to achieve this.
So what can you expect?
We will run a six week ToD (Tour of Duty) mission/story (I am conscious this should not be called 'campaign' or 'mini camapign' to avoid confusion with the main event of ACG) and yes you guessed it, there will be six faction elements in total:
Three Squadrons for the RAF and Three Staffels for the Luftwaffe (more can be added if proven popular).
You will be encouraged to change up your variety in Cliff's. Too many people have flown the same aircraft for years and and then wonder why they are bored. With this new ToD period, you will request to join a particular squadron/staffel. The information about the new ToD and the six week mission scenario will be published the week before the ToD starts, to allow you to choose the unit you wish to join.
By doing this, you get to fly with different ACG members/pilots for a fixed period and this will hopefully build new friendships and keep the action varied. But I believe it is important to have a six week commitment period and in that sense we will fly the ToD in the same style as the campaign, i.e. one mission per week and no re-flights during the event, other than for personal technical issues at mission start (anyone found abusing this trust will be kicked from the server).
We will also have a unit on each side, for what we will call 'Arrive and Fly' members of ACG that just fancy a quick taste of Cliffs once more or that simply cannot commit to a full six week ToD.
I also believe that a pilot will simply be required to be a registered member of the ACG forum in order to fly in these events (Or new status TBA). These nights will not be open to the general public, but I do hope we can encourage other group squadrons/staffels from other servers to come and join us for a ToD or simply sample the 'Arrive and Fly' unit, to get a taste of what ACG is all about.
Once the six week ToD is complete, there will be a two week break (Blitz at your Six becomes an open flight night then) until the next ToD set of missions.
So what will a ToD entail?
You will be given a six week overall mission brief for what will be an 'air battle' focused set of missions. However unlike our main campaign, this will be a historically accurate set of missions in terms of kit used but NOT a historical re-enactment.
I.e. you will have the chance to win the ToD and you will discover if your side has effectively won that evenings mission via a group de-brief report.
(It would be fantastic if we could have a basic style PAM for pilots to simply record their status, but that may take a little longer to produce/may not be possible and we may use a forum posting to update on Pilot status).
You will not get a character for these missions, just your flight name and you will not win any medals.....
I am currently creating a new base map from which we can run these events with the very kind help of Donkey and his excellent Luftflotte software.
Each six week ToD will have a series of objectives for that given night. This will include bomber and fighter operations, with AI involvement as well. The missions will include elements for CAP, Escort duty, JABO, Bombing Raids, Recce and Surface hunts for targets of opportunity.
The weather and conditions will be varied and challenging and you can expect to fly some night missions once Team Fusion have completed their 'night pack' currently in the works, with full active runway lights and searchlights.
As new content becomes available on the run up to TF5, those new elements will be incorporated into the ToD for that six week period.
Many new airfields are being activated and the full use of the Cliff's map will be used. New targets of interest have been created and you will certainly get some variety in each ToD period. As pilots you can expect to fly parts of the Cliff's map which will be quite alien to many of you and it is my hope that we can run three/four ToD's per year.
We will try our best to deliver a story that is shaped and created by your efforts and whilst the six week ToD will be written in principle, the numbers or focus for a specific mission night, may reflect the actions of the previous week in some way shape or form.
Each mission is expected to run for up to two hours depending on mission focus and a pilots time in that mission will be based on the choices they make, just as it is in campaign today.
The time period will focus from the end of the Battle of Britain and so the initial ToD is likely to start in September just as the BLITZ starts. Missions will be similar to those flown in that given period in spirit, but may not be strictly accurate. I.e a JABO raid may take place when the Luftwaffe had not quite started JABO raids at that moment in history.
Each ToD will have volunteer officers to lead and organise their respective unit for that ToD (practice, attendance planning, etc). I personally believe this will encourage people to step up and give certain leadership roles a go in a slightly more relaxed environment than the main campaign, but one that possibly provides feeder stock for some great leaders in future campaigns.
So that is the working draft in principle....
I wanted folk's to know that work is already underway, maps are being created, new targets on those maps created and new Tod plans are currently being drafted and that people wanting to remain part of the ACG community, can still fly Cliff's together if they choose.
It may not be perfect, it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it will provide a CLoD focal point for ACG and if TF5 comes along, then allows us a segway/input into that new title.
I know I am a mere 'Otters Nose' seller at this moment in time, but hopefully 'the Party' will embrace this new concept, to stop many pilots from straying into the hands of the 'Judean Peoples Front' (ATAG)
BD