Squadron Challenge Event

What is it ?

The Squadron Challenge is an ad-hoc event that will run for roughly two-hours (evening) although we may use the missions for a longer campaign in the future.

The idea is that one squadron challenges another squadron for a two-mission event. Each mission, lasting for an hour, will only have one side that has to complete objectives. So during one event both sides will face a mission where they have to attack and one mission where they should defend. The combined results of the two missions decides the outcome of the Challenge. Total duration will be 2x1 hr = 2 hrs.

Several squadrons may team up for an "Inter-squadron Challenge event" to get more people in the game. A total of 32 players can join, so 16 players per side.

Examples:

1. We as Syndicate could say: "The Syndicate challenges J5 for a Squadron Challenge ". This means we will make sure we have at least 8 guys and we expect the same of J5. Of course, if we think it's manageable we could agree upon 10x10 or any other number. We found that in reality most squadrons have difficulty getting even 8 players together for such an event.

2. Or: "The Syndicate and Hellequins challenge all other squadrons for an inter-squadron challenge". This means the Syndicate and Hellequins will team-up (and together have up to 16 players), squadrons that would like to accept the challenge can form a temporary alliance to get to the same number of players.

It is allowed to invite other players, from other squadrons or "mercenaries" to get to the required number of players. However, please note that only one squadron is in the end responsible for the organization of their side/faction. So if Syndicate challenges J5 and we want to invite extra players to fill up the ranks, than Syndicate can ask players from other squadrons or individuals, but in the end Syndicate is responsible to get the numbers for their (the challengers) side and J5 is responsible for their side (the challenged party).

The challenged party may always decide on the weapon, or in this case choose for Central Forces or Allied! (or maybe later decide on which time / plane set)

The game mode is Full Real, Co-operative, so "Dead is dead", although players that are out of the fight are allowed to return as gunner in one of the two-seaters (if they are still flying).

Objectives

There are three different map types with three possible targets each, so in total there are 9 possible primary objectives per side that can be assigned.

First, one of three maps will be selected at random. Then for the attacking side one primary target will randomly be chosen out of three possible ones. This primary target will be communicated to the attacking side by subtitles at the start of the mission. When the mission ends a new random mission will be chosen, but this time the other side will have to attack.

The three map types feature the following objectives:

Photo reconnaissance

Fly to the designated target at the correct altitude, usually around 8000 ft/ 2500 m (see icon description!). While directly over the target (use your bomb sight if possible) you can make the required number of photos using the camera icon on screen. Return and land on the airfield you took off from to complete the objective.

Artillery spotting

Fly to the friendly battery closest to the designated target. A green flare and subtitle will inform you that you made contact with the battery. Now fly to the target area and when you are in visual range (within 3000 m line-of-sight distance) of the target (this will be communicated with a subtitle) you can use the Artillery Spotter Icon to transmit co-ordinates to the friendly battery. Stay over the target and correct the fire until it is destroyed. IMPORTANT: for performance reasons we chose to only use one quarter of the artillery correction map, so only rows/columns 1-4.

Bombing

Fly to the designated target and destroy the target with bombs. Because of heavy AAA around targets it is advised to stay above 1500-2000 m while doing the bomb run. When you loose more than half of the bomber flight, you will have failed the objective. This, to discourage kamikaze dive bombing attacks in order to win the misison.

Tip: use f12 to view the targets (only for the attacking side)

Scoring

Achieving a primary objective results in a victory. Sometimes there are extra conditions that have to be met such as getting photos back to the airfield or bomber losses shouldn't be too high.

Besides a primary objective, each side will have a secundary objective. Achieving this will not result in a mission victory, but in case of a draw after two missions flown, the number of completed secundary objectives may decide the overall Challenge winner.

Plane set

At the moment the following (historical) plane set is available because we feel these aircraft in Rise of Flight have an accurate Flight Model. To make things simple and not to disturb balance the same number of planes are used in each mission. We will probably make a different version with a late war plane set as well:

Allies

R.E.8 (4x)

Sopwith Triplane (8x)

Nieuport 17 (4x)

Central Forces

DFW C.V (4x)

Albatros DIII (10x) /DII (2x)

Difficulty Settings

• • "Full real": warmed-up engines and subtitles are turned on, the rest is turned off.

  • Load-outs, Skins and Fuel settings are NOT locked.

Use of AI

If a plane is not occupied by a player at the start of the mission it will be deleted, so the AI will not take over. There is one exception: The 2nd flight of two-seaters (2 planes) will have active AI and be programmed to escort the first flight. So even if no players enter the second flight, it will still take-off and follow the first flight of two-seaters. This is to provide extra protection for two-seaters in case the number of players are too low to fill all the slots.

Besides these, there may be one or two AI planes protecting a certain area, just to add to the confusion :).

Mission Map