Help needed to come up with interesting Mig-15 failure modes.

[emolina]

Hi everyone, I've started work on making my 'Interesting Missions' system create missions for the MiG-15. You can read more about the system here https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=172869

 

What I need help with is coming up with some interesting failure scenarios for the MiG-15.

 

I'm looking for things that can be realistically failed before start-up, and things that can fail during flight.

 

What I don't want is to fail the aircraft in a way that isn't fun, or doesn't promote good piloting. So for example, killing the engine right after take-off without warning isn't a lot of fun for the player. There is nothing they could have done to get themselves out of that situation, and now they've wasted a lot of time with reading a flight plan, start up, taxi etc.

 

Having the aircraft start the mission with a non-working oil pump, THEN failing the engine right after take-off is fair game though. The player should have checked the gauges while starting the engine.

 

Here are a few example failures from the Sabre to give you an idea of what I mean:

 

• The utility hydraulic system is failed at the start, gear won't go up after take off if not spotted, but easily spotted if you are carrying out the checklist.
  
• There just isn't enough fuel in the plane, you can start and take off, but c'mon, surely you checked the fuel level right?
  
• The oil pump is failed when the mission loads, then around ten minutes after that the engine fails.
  
• The oil pump fails during flight, the a few minutes after that the engine fails. If the player is looking at the gauges during flight they will spot the oil pump failure and find an alternate landing site.
  
• Multiple electrical failures, sometimes they are just one system, sometimes they cascade.
  

 

So that's the kind of thing I have in mind. Their purpose is to make the random missions more interesting, but not unfair.

 

Can you help me find similar things for the MiG?

[portman]

The thing is, if I already know what's going to be faulty while being on the ground, what's the point in starting that mission? For example: The oil pump is failed when the mission loads. So I'm going through the checklist very carefully already knowing I won't be able to startup and fly the aircraft, or fly it only for ten minutes, because I know I just started the mission where exactly this will happen. In my opinion, bad things should happen by chance, with me as the pilot not knowing beforehand what exactly will happen.

[emolina]

Of course, the generator makes many flights, you never know if the flight you are trying has a failure or not. They are assigned randomly.

 

Some flights have failures, some bad weather, there are lots of variables that the generator changes.

 

What kind of conditions you have in a particular flight depends on the difficulty of the mission.

 

The specific thing you mention, the desire for unpredictability, is the reason I'm making the generator! If you have the time read the second post in the thread I linked to above, it goes into my motivations in more detail.

[portman]

The specific thing you mention, the desire for unpredictability, is the reason I'm making the generator! If you have the time read the second post in the thread I linked to above, it goes into my motivations in more detail.

 

Sorry I guess I answered too fast - didn't realize you're talking about a mission generator. Brilliant idea :thumbup: