The real Pat Wilson Campaign Generator begins now!
I strike forth with PWCG, the third-party add-on that claims the title of “best WW2 flight sim single-player experience.” Is it? Let’s see…
Here is our dear flight, the 27th IAD out of Sloboda, and our hero Natasha Stylov flying the classic MiG-3 ser.24. (I prefer the version with dual 12.7mm machine guns in the nose)
For whatever reason, there is no “Female voice” option for MiG pilots, which is nice for me since Natasha is canonically a trans woman.
[Natasha can sustain major wounds but is prevented from dying for the course of this career – death flag set to no – but major injuries can necessitate months of injury leave. Realistically, any accident that looks deadly I will just re-fly the mission anyway, so at least I’ll be cheating death more honestly.]
can we appreciate how good the MiG looks in the 27th IAD squadron markings? ZA RODINU – "For the Motherland!"
Our first mission: a quick border incursion to look for trouble and see what we can rustle up. It is October 1941 and we are launching from the Sloboda aerodrome, about 180km southwest of Moscow.
PWCG has created some other Allied missions that will be occurring in the same region as us – a bombing run of Pe-2’s, a Ground Attack by the US-made lend-lease aircraft the P-40E Kittyhawk, and a bomber intercept by the Minions of VVS fighters, the I-16.
Taking off in the MiG freakin sucks. It’s worth remembering that like all World War 2 frontline fighters, this is basically a Rolls Royce engine strapped to a model airplane. The MiG has a deadly combo of intense rightward engine torque and a tailwheel that automatically unlocks when you apply more than 40% rudder (say, left rudder as one might do to compensate for engine torque). As you throttle up and the machine gains speed, you’re constantly riding that line of accidentally letting the tailwheel unlock, doing your best shopping cart impression and setting off an irretrievable ground loop (usually crashing into the nearest hangar or bale of hay).
This isn’t as bad as it could be - other contemporaneous fighters like the LaGG-3 have no way to lock the tailwheel, meaning every takeoff you hold full back on the stick and pray the wheel stays put - but it also isn’t as good as a Yak where you have a simple button called “Lock Tailwheel”.
Engine torque also means as soon as you clear the ground on takeoff, your right wing dips and you’re praying to god you don’t just hit the floor. They say the most dangerous time to be in a MiG-3 is takeoff, and the second most dangerous is landing.
Anyways, my point is, here’s my first successful takeoff, on my second try, doing a sideways-skipping-stone across the runway and barely clearing the trees. It’s common to bounce on landing, but have you ever heard of a pilot bouncing the takeoff?
There’s my flight up ahead. I was generally impressed by how they stuck to the waypoints. It really makes the most of the AI’s skill in flying in formation. I am significantly less skilled at this. I may have done the Jersey Slide sideways right through the middle, nearly hitting my teammates once or twice.
Pretty soon after crossing the front, we spotted some bogeys… are those… yep, fixed landing gear, they’re Stukas. 4 of them in formation, returning from a bombing run without escort… tsk tsk. My teammates go in for a couple of ineffectual strafing runs. I however, prefer to take it slow and steady. Closer, closer…
The reason you don’t fly in tight formation while getting attacked – I strafe each Stuka in turn, doing critical damage to 3 of them. #3 goes up in a ball of fire which was quite nice to see – didn’t get a screenshot sadly. The dual 12.7mms do work.
One nice thing about this campaign generator is, my AI teammates attacked the wounded Stukas quite intelligently and savagely. MiGs on wounded Ju87s is like… I dunno, some predator-prey metaphor. Anyways I expended all my ammo and eventually had to RTB. Meanwhile ground AA (“ack-ack”) shoots at my teammates.
Here’s the Sloboda aerodrome… basically a big round field with theoretically some runways in the middle. I wasn’t quite sure what to aim for when landing so I did my best.
As always I bounced the landing, but really the approach speed is half the work. I’ve learned that as long as you do your best to emulate a classic 4-leg landing pattern, you’ll have ample opportunity to get your speed down and your angle correct.
Time for the After Action Report… Oh yeah I have to claim my victories. Ehhh I’m gonna claim all of them.
Only three kills awarded, whoops. last one must have slinked off. can’t get anything past those bean counters at the airfield.
gasp a medal, for me!? (I think this is maybe just my default ‘pilot’s wings,’ nothing special.)
Until next time…
Some other odds and ends… from the campaign generator you can get intel on the other units virtually ‘stationed’ in the area. I’m determined to kill those bastards in Jagdgruppe 51…
And you can even see the supplies of each service in the area - how many planes of each type. My understanding is that the “emergency resupply” button restocks everyone just in case the skies are running low of targets.
The last thing is a mission log of some sort – the other missions that were in the area, and whether or not you encountered them. You can see the Stuka mission I intercept, although I’m not sure about the others. I noticed a train going by below me, so maybe ground targets will feature more heavily in future.
