B17 II Interview by Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson
	B17 II: The Strategic Game Q. B17 II has a strong strategic dimension. In our interview you stated that "when all you experienced Veterans buy it you will be forced to plan missions that aren't advancing the course of the war while those green crews gain experience." Tell us more about this strategic dimension. A. As the course of the War progressed the Allied High Command identified certain target types that were considered to be vital to the German war effort. Precision daylight bombing is all about setting off in broad daylight, heading into the centre of the enemies country, thumbing your nose at his airforce, and dropping your bomb load directly onto those targets. Of course the enemy knows you're coming, and will do his best to drive you away, or make the whole process more costly to you than to him. If you lose your most experienced crews and get a load of rookies in then it would be foolish to make their first couple of missions an assault on the German heartland. It'll be the Squadron Commanders job to find some targets that are a little less protected, but still valuable enough to warrant an attack. In the end he may have to hit targets that he wouldn't normally want to, so he can build his crews up to the point where the most dangerous targets are a possibility again. Operations Room Dynamic Campaign Q. Wayward is using a dynamic campaign engine. Tell us more about this. A. We felt that a strictly limited campaign of 25 planned missions to 25 planned targets would be far too restrictive from a gameplay perspective. Instead we're building a database of some 200+ targets that the mission building engine will use to plan missions. Of course the mission builder will take into account the actual strategic imperatives from the Second World War and, of course, the Squadron Commander will plan his own missions to these targets. The upshot is that you should be able to fly many Campaigns and get a different experience each time. Q. You've seen the engines that are out there. Which are the best and why? A. I thought that the I-Magic one in Carrier Strike Fighter was quite good, because it tried to do a "whole war" simulation. Click to continue		Q. Compare Waywards dynamic engine to the best out there. A. Many World War II flight sims use very linear campaigns. We decided to model the effects of the players actions more fully within his Squadron, rather than pretend that he can affect the progress of the War directly. What we've set up is a simulation of the wartime environment, and we change that environment according to the dictates of history. As the front line moves then flak and fighters in the way of the player will get swept away, targets will be liberated and, therefore, no longer eligible for bombing. The player will never get a free ride, but when the Ground Troops push the Germans back, he'll be cheering for them! Starting Out Q. Do we enter the campaign as a raw recruit? What is the training procedure for pilot, navigator, gunner etc. and does this impact growth in skill for the AI? Squadron Commander's Office A. When you enter a B-17 campaign you get either a Crew or a Squadron of rookies. The player will never enter as a specific crewmember - we wanted the player always to have the ability to go and try out other positions, always moving to where the action is thickest. Crewmembers will improve as they fly combat missions, and those that the player interacts with personally during a mission will improve much faster than those he doesn't spend time with. Training the player is kept separate from training the crew! There are a number of Training missions that cover aspects such as flying and managing the B-17's systems, using the bombsight, gunnery practice, navigation practice and also the important skills of using 10 individuals in such a way that they work as a team. Next the player could try and master each of our extreme Quickstart situations, specially designed to present the character with a knotty problem and see how he sorts it out. Areas covered include dealing with a damaged B-17, driving off fighters from a B-17, practising in an Escort Fighter and also practising interception techniques as a Luftwaffe fighter pilot. Go to Manual Control vs. AI
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