S3 Series

This series is identical to S3 #134 except Teams Green and Team Gold are now Axis and Allied, respectively.

It is May 1944 and the Allied invasion of Occupied Europe is imminent. To ensure success of the invasion, the Wehrmacht must be denied the ability to rapidly redeploy troops against the Allied armies soon to land in Normandy. The Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Eisenhower, has temporarily re-tasked the B-24s of the 8th Air Force to destroy the rail transportation network in Occupied France. Specifically, he has ordered that all Railyards and railway tunnels must be obliterated. P-47s of the 9th AF are to protect the B-24s from Luftwaffe fighters.

PTO will be a four frame series. Frame one starts at 2030hrs EDT, 30 April 2023. Players are strongly encouraged to log in early. Subsequent frames as follows:
7 May - Frame 2
14 May - Frame 3 (tentative - Muzz on TDY until 2000hrs and may need someone to set up the arena)
21 May - Break - Mother's Day
28 May - Frame 4 (tentative US Memorial Day Weekend)
4 June - Frame 4 back-up date.

Side assignments
Axis (Team Green): 352nd FG, okdoc-, =vslp=, any lone wolf fighter pilots
Allied (Team Gold): RCAF, 4th FG (WLDBIL and bombr- back in the fold), 23rd FG

Voice Comms
Axis - TEAMSPEAK 45.77.206.51:9745 - 352nd channel --> this may change to Discord if 352nd gets set up there.
Allied - DISCORD - If you do not already have Discord, or do not have access to the iEN Discord server, go to this address https://discord.com/invite/8u6MfGzxJQ

Game Settings
Both the Standard login and Bomber login are available. Bomber pilots are strongly encouraged to use the bomber login.
Icons – d24 friendly, d12 range, d6 enemy plane
Weather - clear
Radar – 40 miles, grey dots, inflight arrow. Minimum alt is 200 ft.
Flak - AAA limited to 30,000ft in height.
Fuel Multipler - set at 1 for all aircraft. Minfuel fighters is 100%, bombers 70%.
Rebuild Time - 300 mins
Game Length – 180 mins
Lives – 3 lives per frame. Bomber pilots using the bomber login may fly a second bomber mission (i.e. as part of a bomb group), regardless of lives lost.

NEW Inflight channel1944.dds map updated from S3 #134 and available HERE. Shows Allied targets, radar ranges and no-fly zones.
Frame 1 planning map below.


Basic Rules - any changes will be indicated in bold, red, italics.

1. Start Times - each frame uses the following schedule:

T-30 Log starts
T-5 (or sooner) Players log in for pre-flight coord
T+0 - Flight enabled.
T+160 - Last surface attacks completed all a/c must disengage ASAP.
T+180 - Dark(ish),any aircraft still in flight will be considered lost.

2. Operational Restrictions
NO FLY ZONE west of the 4,X line.
Axis
- Luftwaffe may not fly over England.
Allied
-The Allied bomber group may only attack two targets (Pri and Sec) per frame (e.g. two railyards, a railyard and both ends of the same railway tunnel, or both ends of two separate railway tunnels). Allied CO determines targets prior to frame and declares targets to Janitors (i.e. muzz--).
- Bombers MUST fly in a single group. If necessary, BG must orbit to allow any stragglers to catch up. Any bomber pilots who are shot down must wait for the bomber group to return to England before re-upping on a second sortie
- Allied fighters are tasked to escort the bomber group and may NOT carry bombs or rockets. Drop tanks are permitted. Fighters may strafe ground targets if bombers RTB and not engaged.

3. Plane Set:
Luftwaffe - Bf109G-6, Bf109G-6/RVI, Fw190A-8. Any loadout. Pilots may fly different aircraft on different sorties, but may NOT re-fly an aircraft type that they have previously lost (KIA, bail, ditch, crash, DISCO w damage, etc). All three fighters are enabled at all Geen airfields.
Allied - P-47D-25 Thunderbolt (Bubble top), B-24J Liberator. The P-47D is enabled at all Gold airfields EXCEPT F2 (Northweald). The B-24J is enabled at all large fields and a 15,000ft air start is available at F2 (Northweald).
AI Wingmen. Each bomber may have up to three (3) AI wingmen. Wingmen MUST be kept in close formation to the player's aircraft. Players using the bomber login will only be able to jump to a wingman's aircraft if it is less than 1/2 mile (2640 ft) away.

4. Teleporting
S3 mantra, teleporting is not permitted. At frame start players may launch from any field, but subsequently may only re-launch from the field they landed at. N.B. - Bomber pilots may only use the air start at F2 if they landed there. Bomber pilots who land at a field that does not have the B-24 enabled and wish to fly another bomber mission must fly a fighter from the field they landed at to a field with the B-24 enabled. Players who have lost their aircraft (KIA, Bail, Ditch, crash, etc) may re-up from any field.

5. AI Routines - RN may have several destroyer groups patrolling the Channel. Their presence might discourage Luftwaffe operations over the Channel.

6. Railyard closure requirements - Object types required for closure are Warehouse, Warehouse2, ReFinTank, Struct (water tower), Crane, CntrlRail (train station), Pontoon (railcar), ParkedAC (V-1 on railcar), AmmoDump (crates on railcar), FuelDmp (fuel tank on railcar), Weapon (Tank on railcar).
AAA, BoatEntry (trees) and Bridge objects are not required for closure.
Bomber pilots are strongly encouraged to recce their targets offline before frame start.
N.B. Destroyed objects/closed fields will be carried over to the next frame. Objects damaged, but not destroyed will be fully repaired for the next frame.

7. Railway Tunnels - Historically these were difficult targets to destroy. The target hardness of the OT_SubPen (Railway tunnel entrance) is significantly increased from the MA baseline. They require equivalent damage of a direct hit from a TallBoy bomb to be destroyed (i.e. 3 x 4,000 lb, 5 x 2,000lb, 8 x 1,600lb, 10 x 1,000lb or 13 x 500lb GP bombs to destroy)

8. Scoring
All fighter losses (any cause), score 1 VP each for the other side.
Bomber losses, including AI wingmen losses, score 4 VPs each for the Axis. Some AI wingman losses do not appear in the buffer, but are detectable in the post-game log.
Closure of each RailYard or destruction of both ends of a Railway Tunnel scores the Allies 30 VPs
The team with the most points after four frames is the winner.

S3 Clarifications - the S3 staff reserves the right to make a ruling on questions or game situations not answered completely or missed by the rules.

Questions or comments, fire away!
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Edited 1000hrs EDT, 26 Apr to clarify the lost aircraft at end of frame rule.