Building an Il-2 Mission: Step 5 Mission Design

With all the information gathered, the base layout designed, it is time build the actual mission.

SPOILER WARNING – The following text will reveal parts of the mission design, scroll down to avoid this spoiler.

In the actual mission, 4 P-40's took of from Clark to fly patrols overhead. As they circled around, the Japanese bombers arrived on the scene and attacked the base. I initially wanted to put the player in these aircraft. This would have meant that the player would take-off, patrol a while before stumbling on the bombers. On the other hand I also wanted to show the devastating attack on the base itself.

But if the player is high in the sky, he would never see the attack (except for perhaps the explosions down below). So I decided to put the player on the ground, in one of the fighters that tried to take off during the Japanese attack. Now the player will see the bombs falling and the havoc they cause on the ground. By letting the player take off, he is also put in a very though spot. The Japanese fighters have the height and speed advantage. The player can try to catch up with the bombers, which already dropped their bombs or he could focus on the fighters strafing the airfield. However to balance the mission a bit, I created an equal number of Allied and Japanese fighters. This also allows the player to survive the game with a modest kill rate, because I find it highly unrealistic when a player wins a mission with 5 or more kills on his count.

END OF SPOILER

I won't be posting the mission for download yet. I want to fly it myself first and write an AAR about it. As soon as that is done, I will upload both mission and AAR.

Meanwhile you can read the final Tunis-chapter here at SimHQ or on this blog.

Happy Reading