noobish questions

[muff1n]

playing complete hardcore mode with everything unchecked:

 

1. how do you find out your position, after heavy fighting when you're lost on the map, don't tell me you compare the map with ground as it's pretty flat (is there a way to ask the tower ?)

 

2. bomb fuse on/off in bf109 it's not visible on the instrument panel (or I'm just blind), will try other planes too, but that's pretty frustrating that you need to enable the unrealistic tips

 

3. sure more will come, just getting familiar with the game

[VBF-12_Stick-95]

1  OK, I won't tell you that.

 

2. Bomb fuse is on when you spawn in.  I suggest leaving it alone.  A bomb needs a number of seconds to arm after leaving the aircraft in order to arm.  If dropped on the ground it will not go off.

 

3. Roger

[muff1n]

common man, that makes me sad, map plane markers really, and the map ground looks almost the same on all places

 

we already have a good FM and DM, why not add more realism to the game, I hope they will do it, another warthunder is just bleeh

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

1. how do you find out your position, after heavy fighting when you're lost on the map, don't tell me you compare the map with ground as it's pretty flat (is there a way to ask the tower ?)

 

Except for comparing the map to the ground (not in terms of elevation but landmarks, this is what you should look for in this kind of terrain - blame not the map makers but the terrain in most of Western Russia, it's flat all the way mostly), you can instead orient yourself a little during the fight.

 

What you need to do is, know where you are on the map (or at least in relation to your airbase) *before* the fight. Track your progress. For example, you are going from airbase A until target E, and you know that on the way you will pass village B, city C and airbase D. See if you can keep track of what is the nearest reference point from your position. Once you get involved in a fight, check the heading you are making the first attack from (or dodging, for that matter). Since nobody will be checking compasses all the time, during a prolonged fight take a quick glance at the sun for reference (ie if the sun is to your left at the beginning and stays there most of the time, you're generally drifting along the initial heading; if you find that it is on the opposite side of where it was in the beginning, you're going more or less opposite to your initial heading). It isn't very efficient of course, but at least you know which direction you need to go in order to at least get to your lines (allowing for crash landing without being captured) and in ideal find one of your landmarks and proceed back to base.

 

Looking for major landmarks is really the best way to go. Even if you kind of suck at navigating in general but learn how to a certain landmark from any place in the map that already works well. For example, you should be able to find the city of Stalingrad or the Volga from a good distance in most cases. So if you need to go from airbase A to airbase C but can't hit a direct route, get the heading to Stalingrad from airbase A and then the heading to airbase C from Stalingrad. Does that make sense at all?

 

Likewise, if you are fighting west or north/south of it, you should still be able to find the Don if west and the Volga if north or south of it. These are massive rivers that cut through a big chunk of Russia and Ukraine (in the Don case) so they are hard to miss and you can pick the map and draw the direction to your final destination from them. Hope it helps at all.

[bokepacha]

What I do is check the railroads and roads in the map (pressing "O" to check where my plane is supposed to be) and using them as a guide of where aI am, then check the compass and see where you are supposed to be heading, correct the heading and go wherever you want to.

But yes, terrain lacks details but you can/have to work with what you have!

[Finkeren]

About finding your way: No, the map doesn't look the same all the way around (talking about the Staligrad map here)

 

For one thing, there's the city itself, visible from a large part of the map. Then there's the Volga, also quite easily recognisable.  

 

If none of those are visible, there are certain areas that look quite distinct. The area east of the Volga stretching south is brown marshland crisscrossed by hundreds of small lakes and streams. North of there, there are heavy forests. The area directly west and north-west of the river is cultivated lands with many smaller towns strewn across it. The area to the south and sout-west is open steppe broken up by forests. Once you're fairly sure in which general area you are (something you should really know before the fight started) you can start pinpointing your location most easily by recognising the shape of especially towns and rivers (those are the most easily recognisable)

 

It all comes with practice. At the start it might all look like one big mess, until you learn what to look for. If it seems imposible when flying relatively low, try climbing higher. Once you reach 4000m there is nowhere on the map where you won't be able to spot a river, town or other landmark that'll give you a definate location (Provided the weather is clear of course).

 

Finally, some planes are fitted (or can be fitted) with radio direction finding equipment, which can give you a heading to your home base. 

 

And finally: If you still suddenly find yourself lost (which will happen from time to time) you can draw some comfort from the fact, that you share a fate with many real life pilots, who despite their hundreds of hours of training navigation and the overall greater variation on the ground than can be achieved in a sim, still got lost and ended up the wrong places. At least your life doesn't depend on it.

Edited December 3, 2015 by Finkeren

[Sokol1]

1. how do you find out your position, after heavy fighting when you're lost on the map, don't tell me you compare the map with ground as it's pretty flat (is there a way to ask the tower ?)

 

Like the pilots in that era did, use the "IFRR" navigation.

 

 

I Follow Road, Rivers.

 

Other thing, when you leave for some mission, make a mental picture for what side you need fly for return to home. 

Even if you get lost after a fight, you know that need fly, for example NE for home base.

The rest is matter to find some characteristic ground feature to compare with map (full screen, key O):

 

 

 

The only place that have very few ground features, is SE of Stalingrad. If you are there, your options is fly for North or West, or you end outside of map borders.

[-TBC-AeroAce]

lol somebody that want to learn how to navigate but does not want to take information about how to do that 

[Finkeren]

playing complete hardcore mode with everything unchecked:

 

1. how do you find out your position, after heavy fighting when you're lost on the map, don't tell me you compare the map with ground as it's pretty flat (is there a way to ask the tower?)

About asking the tower: How would your home base know where you are? With the most advanced equipment (which often weren't present) your home base might be able to figure out an approximate heading home for you, but your position? No.

 

Add to that the fact that especially Soviet radio equipment was pretty poor at this point in time (when it was available at all) On board radio in a VVS fighter could have as small a range as 30-35km, so you wouldn't even be able to call your base until long after it was within visual range.

[-TBC-AeroAce]

all I can say is each little town looks distinct, there are roads, lakes, rivers................You cant just say because its flat its impossible or because you dont have a clear coast line like in CLOD its impossible.

 

I know its hard but you need to figure out what land marks you have and then use Speed = Distance/ Time!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The hard part is when you get into combat and after have to get back but my advice for that is fly around find a unique set of land marks (a certain shape town next to a river that has an east bend ....) and then circle it until you can find that on the map. Or if all else fails just fly east or west (depending on what side u are on ) to find the Volga then It should be easy

 

Also I leant this in real life, FLY LEFT OR RIGHT OF UR PLANED TRACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I was flying to a big airfield IRL and the maths said I was there but I could not see it!!!!! Why? Because it was slap bang under my nose!!!!!!!

Edited December 3, 2015 by [TBC]AeroACE

[Fern]

If you get low enough to the trees you can see the moss growing on the north side of the trees.

[-TBC-AeroAce]

If you get low enough to the trees you can see the moss growing on the north side of the trees.

 

AND U WILL ALSO SEE THE FERNS 

[Fern]

Where the red one grows

[Wulf]

Sorry this may have been covered already so ignore it if it has, but I find the easiest way to get back to base is by following a reciprocal heading.

 

Let's say your objective is North East of your base and about 15 minutes away (which you can confirm on the way if it's a direct flight).  Now, even allowing for some fighting in the general vicinity of that objective, if you head for home on a South Westerly heading, and fly for about 15 minutes, and use your map to check terrain references as you go, you'll probably end up within cooey of your base.

[muff1n]

thank you guys, so will search for this distinct markers next time, yesterday I just ended up in a place where the river looked like it could be on 4 different spots on the map, so was a bit confusing

 

probably it was necessary to search a bit more 

[Finkeren]

Again: It helps a lot, to constantly check around you during normal flight to always know exactly where you are. Then, if you get caught up in a fight, you always know where you were, when the fight began, and with all the maneuvering involved in a fight, you'd seldom end up very far from your starting point.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Finkeren