Part 21: S03E03: 1956.11.21-22 (Cross & Distinguished)

S03E03: 1956.11.21-22 (Cross & Distinguished)

Time for a brief explanation of how the rudimentary fighter squadron management works in SF2.

First, in each mission our group is organized into a Squadron, which contains up to four Flights, each containing up to two Elements of two planes. Adding pilots on the roster screen we have to fill each position in sequence, i.e. we can't have a Flight Two, without first stuffing 3 pilots (+ the player) into Flight One.

Second, the most important positions are the ones of flight leaders and element leaders. Element leaders are the ones, who actually actively attack things. If you were looking at statistics, you must've noticed, that the even numbers (1-2, 1-4) often don't fire a shot during missions. That's because they're wingmen and provide cover for the leads, instead of freely looking for things to kill. Therefore, you want to use the most experienced pilots as leads, especially as flight leaders, because, if I'm remembering this right, a downed flight leader removes your ability to give orders to the other three pilots.

Third, like everything in SF2 the in-flight command system is poorly documented and somewhat broken. Your wingman - the only guy you can order to cover you - will eagerly sod off, if you give Return to Base order to the Squadron or to Flight One. Technically, he is a part of both, but he has unique command options

Back to the scheduled war between whiskey and vodka.
I combed the map and found, that the reported T-62 units magically turned into the more fitting T-54/55. I also discovered, that the ace shot down earlier is gone, so he's dead, missing or captured. There's one more Red ace squadron, with two aces, flying MiG-17F. There's one more Blue ace on the map, too, a Sandy McMullen, who reached 5 kills flying a fucking Vampire



The new base location is... uhh... Are we positive, they're not trying to get rid of us? Anyway, let's put our best hunting CAP on.

The mission video


In which a MiG takes an eternity to fall from 2,800 m



We get a shiny thing, too.



I don't know, what's so special about that. I always keep my flying distinguished regardless of mood.
The wording is excellent, of course. Remember all the "extremely heavy hostile fire" I faced? It's all in the magic of report writing

Anyway, we have one more task to attend to.



Another bomberMiG intercept.

The mission video


In which you might spend more time reading this line, than watching the video



That was a proper slaughter.