SEOW HAS A PULSE !

Started by Kopfdorfer, July 26, 2018, 11:26:14 AM

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Kopfdorfer

Okay Guys ,

                  Without the work of Jellyman , aka AH_Kawilder , I would not be able to announce this , but an SEOW system is up and functional.

                  Because , as we all tend to do , I started with my own interests ( that is after all how we are mostly motivated) , I began building a
                  rather complex campaign with historical detail , intended to be flown in a highly realistic manner. Burma early 1942 was the setting , incidentally.
                  After a few weeks work , I realized that if I wanted participation ( which is necessary for a successful SEOW Campaign) , I had to
                  alter my goals , at least for the first barbecue ( not to be confused with AH_BBQHead) , and simplify my concept.
                  Thankfully Jellyman was still supportive , and has activated an additional Campaign Sector for which a campaign can be built.
                  Thanks KW. I know I can be a persistent bas%^&%^.

                  My hope and intent is to find a mitful of guys here at AH and out in the broader community who wish to learn/refresh the skills required to build an
                  SEOW Campaign ; kind of a group workshop ( I'll be learning as I go too).
                  At the most basic level , a good SEOW Campaign requires a concept , and 2 commanders. That's it.
                  If you want you can just command and the AI can duke it out.
                  Adding more layers - commanders , and campaign details makes it richer to be sure , but that is all you need.
                  Even human pilots are optional - but make for a lot broader enjoyment.

                  As a Campaign I have selected one of the Malta Convoys in 1942 , Operation Spotter (7 Mar 1942).
                  It will be played on the Central Med map , if you want to check it out.
                 
                  If you wish to be involved in the development of this , let us know here , and specify whether your interest is
                  simply as a pilot , or whether you would be interested in learning how to plot missions within the SEOW system ,
                  and if you would be interested in learning some of the possibilities that this system entails.

                  More info to follow after feedback.

                  I hope a few of you are as excited as I am about this.
                  Can't thank Kawilder enough.

                  Kopfdorfer

_AH_Hollywood


Kopf,

I'm game.. in either learning how to build them, as a pilot and perhaps a Commander...

I'm a bit confused though... Burma? or Med (Malta)?
"You sneaky little bastards aren't getting doodly sh*t from me, except maybe my name, rank, and Social Security number: Wood, Hollis P., Lumberjack, Social Security 106-43-2185."-Slim Pickens-The movie-1941

Kopfdorfer

My Thoughts ( or My Sales Pitch) ,

Med first - intended as a group workshop to learn the system.
Rudimentary Campaign.
Easy to master participation.
For AH , and I hope some of the broader community , but we'll see.
Aircraft , Ships , AAA. Very little ground battle - mostly moving supplies and shifting AAA positions.
Simple Victory Conditions.
Learn how to plot movement , and build missions.
This may be all that some of you want.

Burma - a full-on Kopf style campaign - it is obvious (even to me) that this will not be to everyone's taste.
Complex campaign management including supply tracking , supply drops , command and control , complex victory conditions ,
dynamic recon , conditional reinforcements ,  amphibious ops , the whole 9 Yards.

Ideally , once a few of you have tested the water , you will jump in with your own campaign ideas (Deal'n'Dave) ,
and I can sit back and just help as needed ( or pass on the questions to those who really know ,
so I can pretend I can).

This will require a bit of learning , but hopefully it will be viewed as an interesting
investment of time rather than as a chore.

That's the vision.

For those who have some curiosity , have a look at the SEOW Wiki , here :

https://seowhq.net/seowwiki-en/index.php?title=Main_Page

Just skim it to get some ideas for now.
It is vast , but you are not required to use all of it to get a campaign running (nor do I know how to do all that sh%^).
It is also out of date and could have been written in a more user friendly lingo.
Nonetheless it gives you a good idea of what it can produce , and it can really produce a lot of different kinds of
scenarios requiring different types of operational flights - THAT is what it is all about , after all -
lots of stuff to do in airplanes.

Kopf

AH_DealnDave

S~ All,

Kopf, your SEOW ideas sound great !!!  :)  However, for me it's going to be a bit of an issue.  Personal life is about to get in my way in a big way.  I'm leaving for vacation on August 7th for two weeks and will be sending Jack the remaining Sicily campaign missions so you guys can complete the campaign.  Secondly, upon returning from my vacation, my wife and I will be getting our house ready for sale. We are moving back to the mainland, heading for Las Cruses, New Mexico. So my free time will be a minimum.

During this period I have to lay two floors in the spare and master bedrooms, as well as, build a deck on the back of the house. I also have to power-wash the exterior and have the exterior painted, may have a contractor help with that part of the project. and I have to finish the B-25 and build boxes for the that and the P-51 as well.

So my time is going to be very limited. There is light at the end of the tunnel however, after our move and we get settled I'll  be able to get back into the IL-2 business and that would be for me anyway a prime time to learn a new method to mission building. 

:)
Salute,

AH_DealnDave

_AH_Bear

~S~

Just my 2 cents... i know you like the realistic settings and all and it is your thing .... but i'd like to put this little suggestion out there ... participation will be much higher with normal AH settings... again.. its your baby .. the choice is totally yours... participation WILL be greater with settings most are used to flying in..

~S~ Bear

again.. just my humble opinion! :surprised-027:

Kopfdorfer

Hey Guys

What Bear says above is expressly why I am working away on the Burma campaign as I would like it , and I am offering to help instruct anyone interested in how to set up
and run an SEOW campaign (in any way they desire) using the Central Med concept as an example.
It is a theatre easy to simplify - ships + airplanes + AAA , making the teaching of the system simpler.

Ideally the "workshops" concept , for lack of a better term , will enthuse some other(s) to try to build a campaign of their own , and I can assist as needed.
You can build one any way you desire.
We could design build and fly an entire campaign in one day if people were motivated enough to do so.

The unfortunate thing with being locked into the settings that you guys usually fly is that they render a lot of what SEOW has to offer
as superfluous.
The value of the recon aircraft - both as human flown pilot missions and as functionally important AI vital to the campaign, is removed by the settings which you
generally use. If you don't use recon in SEOW (unless you remove all the recon settings) you don't accumulate information on what enemy assets are where , and therefore your ability to decide as a commander what to attack when and where is unimportant.
We aren't even touching on the value of supply movement , if you choose to activate that part of the campaign engine.
If you do the lowly C-47s and Ju52s take on a significance that they don't have in the average mission.

If you were to prioritze what you would shoot down in a typical mission , I suggest most pilots simultaneously sighting an enemy fighter , a transport plane and a recon plane
would attack the fighter first.
What if the recon plane is flying over your previously undiscovered HQ controlling all local ground units , which would be immobilized if it was destroyed , and if the transport is about to make a supply drop to that HQ to keep it in supply for the same reason.  All of a sudden , taking the risk of giving the enemy fighter a shot at you so you can get a shot at the transport or the recon plane is a much more difficult consideration.
Now add that you are flying the only P38 left to your army - the rest of the fighters available are P40Cs - and you have a real decision to make.

In order to appreciate SEOW you have to adopt a different mindset - you have to think in terms of the campaign , operationally  , not just tactically.
You must think about two or three or more missions ahead - what happens if we have no bombers because we didn't escort the last raid ? What happens if the enemy has superior fighters ? What happens if that tanker ship makes it to port ?
If you don't succeed in sinking that freighter you'll have to go out and try to get it again - and this time the enemy may be ready for you !
It gives an elevated importance for every mission.
The Campaign designer doesn't provide intel for you , as is done in a linear , scripted campaign .
You (the commander) have to acquire it for yourself , or campaign blind.
If you don't use recon , you don't figure out what the enemy is up to , and you lose the campaign.

It's about thinking beyond "Get in Cockpit - shoot stuff down - land" .
I know that many of you won't be interested in how or why the missions are determined  , that you just want to fly them.
That's okay , there will be missions for you to fly in SEOW.
In SEOW the missions have more meaning , the outcomes have importance to future missions.
I find more interest , enthusiasm and excitement knowing that my sorties have specific goals beyond just accumulating points.
Each sortie matters in the frame of the overall campaign , far more than statistics.
Why accumulate points ? It doesn't mean anything other than you accumulated more or less points than the other guys.
How well your flying furthers the cause of your ARMY in the campaign is a much deeper - and to me much more satisfying goal.
The missions in SEOW are often quite different.
You may fly CAP for an entire mission over an important peice of infrastructure without
ever sighting the enemy. The difference is that you never know whether the enemy will appear or not , so the level of tension is very different.

That is what SEOW in a well designed campaign (whether simple OR complex) provides.

Ultimately it's up to each of you whether you wish to support this concept or not.
If you wish to shape it into your own designs , sign up and show up for the workshops and take what you learn and build a campaign.
I'll probably fly it. I may offer to take a command role if I am invited to and the concept is interesting.

At my request AH_Kawilder went to some trouble to get the system up and working , and I very much appreciate his effort.

In return I am offering to show anyone interested how to build a campaign , and how to plot the moves as a commander in an SEOW context
in the SEOW Mission Planner.
If no one else wishes to take up the mantle , I will build a campaign as the Squad wishes.

For myself , I am building a campaign that I am interested in.
Hopefully there are some others out there who will be willing to act as commanders ,  fly as a pilot in it , or both.


Kopfdorfer

Kopfdorfer

Hey Guys,

I am preparing to host a couple of Tutorial Sessions on SEOW .
I am aiming at a couple of Saturdays (no organized AH activities on Saturdays) in a row , for 2 hours per session , not immediately , but soon.
I intend to discuss SEOW and its merits and limitations as I know them.

I have built a sample Campaign Template , and I will review how to do this ( it is simply use of the IL2 Full Mission Builder
in combination with the SEDCS (Scorched Earth Dynamic Campaign System)).
We will initialize a campaign template together.
We will review how to use the SEMP (Scorched Earth Mission Planner) to plot Air Flights , Ship Movement , and Ground Force Movement.
We will learn how to use Reconnaissance to provide information on the enemy.
We will plot a mission as a group , then we will build the mission using the DCS and we will fly the mission.
We will analyze the mission results using the SEDCS , and examine how the Mission Planner Map Changes  following the Mission Analysis 
in the Mission Planner.

These tutorials will be intended to provide an understanding of how to use
the online SEOW Mission Planner as a commander.
I intend to invite the broader community to participate for 2 reasons.
First because it is a fair bit of material , and I am hoping to reduce the inevitable
repetition of instruction.
Second , because the intent is interaction - an interactive environment is (in my opinon)
much more vibrant - and I hope ultimately , that one or two of the group may get keen enough to
develop their own campaign ideas ( which I will , of course be willing to assist to come to life).

What do you need to participate in SEOW ?

As a pilot.
As a pilot you need nothing you do not have.
SEOW uses HSFX7.0.3 as its campaign engine.
You need an online Comms system.

I intend to do the tutorial on Teamspeak , simply because the preponderent number of IL2
Online pilots use it.
Its free , its easy to use (I figured it out!) and it has an insignificant footprint on your PC system.
If you aren't the host it is no imposition.
I have the use of an available TS server.
(You can use whatever platform you choose ; SEOW is run independent of the Comms System.)

As a commander.
You must have a functioning install of Internet Explorer 11.
This is the interface the SEOW system has been designed to use.


I suggest you download the SEOW DCS (Dynamic Campaign System) just so you can be aware of the
possible campaign settings , but this is not required.
You can uninstall it right after the Tutorials if you aren't interested.
Find the SEDCS download and a ReadMe here :     https://sourceforge.net/projects/seow/files/?source=navbar

Our Tutorial Campaign will be based on the first of the "Club Runs" , the Aircraft Carrier delivered Spitfire Fighters to reinforce the
Island of Malta in the Mediterranean in 1942.
I have some ideas of how to craft this into an interesting campaign , but the idea of the Tutorials is that you guys
will contribute ideas as well.
The specific Operation is referred to as Operation Spotter II (Mar 7,8 1942) ,
see here :   https://codenames.info/operation/spotter-ii/
Operation Spotter II was just the inspiration for the Campaign - we can craft it into anything we wish.

I sincerely hope that a few of you are interested.

Kopfdorfer