Tactical Air War

[remer 7]

2 hours ago, StG77_HvB said:

 

Make sure the word "ATTACK" appears beside the enemy airfield on the server map.

Roger on that and thanks.

[Ickenc3 2]

Can u fix the AA and AI gunners??? Today while waiting on taxiway a p40 came to the airfield at 1k,AA didnt even bother to shoot him only damage he got was from 88s that were on the taxiway,bombed both 88s,And if u fly over a allied airfield at 5k u will get sniped out before you even can drop bombs.

Edited August 17 by Ickenc3

[Mobile_BBQ 310]

2 hours ago, Ickenc3 said:

Can u fix the AA and AI gunners??? Today while waiting on taxiway a p40 came to the airfield at 1k,AA didnt even bother to shoot him only damage he got was from 88s that were on the taxiway,bombed both 88s,And if u fly over a allied airfield at 5k u will get sniped out before you even can drop bombs.

 

I'd ask if the AA was in danger of shooting friendly ground targets trying to get to the enemy and held fire, but I've already seen them destroy friendly buildings right next to them that are in the line of fire. 

[JG7_X-Man 147]

9 hours ago, remer said:

I'm really enjoying flying on TAW at the moment, so far I've not lost a life, this time round (flying red, high level bombing alone).  Where I struggle is to tell which enemy airfields have live targets on them, I've hit enemy airfields before and got no reward.  I don't fly that many sorties as mine normally last around an hour, but I'd like to make them count.  I apologise in advance for being a bit obtuse by the way, it's genetic.😀

 

Welcome! One rule of thumb is - if nothing is firing at you over a target, there is probably nothing there of military value to hit. 

[Pict 282]

11 hours ago, Ickenc3 said:

Can u fix the AA and AI gunners??? Today while waiting on taxiway a p40 came to the airfield at 1k,AA didnt even bother to shoot him only damage he got was from 88s that were on the taxiway,bombed both 88s,And if u fly over a allied airfield at 5k u will get sniped out before you even can drop bombs.

 

How did you arrive at this conclusion?

 

As there is no pilot registered at TAW under the name Ickenc3 I wondered if you had watched a video of this attack or have some telepathic powers or something 

[Pict 282]

On 8/17/2019 at 4:20 PM, remer said:

I'm really enjoying flying on TAW at the moment, so far I've not lost a life, this time round (flying red, high level bombing alone).  Where I struggle is to tell which enemy airfields have live targets on them, I've hit enemy airfields before and got no reward.  I don't fly that many sorties as mine normally last around an hour, but I'd like to make them count.  I apologise in advance for being a bit obtuse by the way, it's genetic.😀

 

This caught me out at first too. While there was some rule of thumb advice like "if it shoots back it's a target" & "front line airbases are targets", neither of these statements apply 100% of the time, as some targets will already have had their AAA knocked out and some airbases will not be marked as targets even although they are the same distance from the front line as others who are marked as a target which can be seen in the map below. Then there are the depots, who are good targets, yet nowhere near the front lines most of the time.

 

While the advice you got to make sure the word attack is next to a target is spot on, I wanted to add some other small bits and pieces I have picked up along the way, so I thought I would start at the start and do a mini tutorial on this thing

 

1st thing to do is set up the colours in the IL2 settings/flight interface so that USSR is always red, this is specific to the way TAW works and can be the opposite on other servers. Anyhow it helps to prevent confusion when reading the map.

 

Spoiler

 

Then looking at the in game map we will pick a target airfield. For now we will pick Lotoshino. It has Attack marked next to it and the prohibited sign means no-one can spawn there, so no chance of bombing someone at a spawn point and aggravating them   If we look at the other airfields on this map, Ryabinki & Ivanovskoe, we can see that they appear to be the same distance from the front lines, but only one of them is marked for Attack.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Now we go to the TAW main web page http://taw.stg2.de/index.php and look at the map there. While it appears similar to the IL2 map it's not the same for a couple of reasons. Most importantly it does not update with the current battle situation, eg., if a bridge is destroyed it will disappear from the map inside IL2 but not here on the TAW map.

 

It also displays strategic locations such as the one marked here at Karmanov. I'm not 100% sure but this may be the Warehouses referenced in section 3.10 of the TAW manual? http://taw.stg2.de/manual.php

 

An additional very useful feature is if you click anywhere on the TAW map, it will open a new tab in your browser at the excellent https://il2missionplanner.com/ site already prepared for the TAW mission in hand. Great for planning long range bombing missions. To get the best from this planner I highly recommend watching Darbzy's video IL-2 BoS: How to Navigate on IL2 Sturmovik

 

My tip about the TAW map and the il2 mission planner is to keep your web browser open at these tabs and Alt+tab between IL2 & them during your mission. Don't forget to have your aircraft nicly trimmed out or engage the "level autopilot" before you do  

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Now we will look at the list of Axis Cities on the same page as the TAW map. This gives basic information about Airbases & Depots ie., the state of their AAA and level of destruction. If you click on one, it will open a reconnaissance photo of the target, NB., for depots you need to scroll down past the nearby airfield photo. Depots are really good strategic targets, and the recon photos are essential to ensure you hit the right spots as not everything in the area counts as a target, otherwise it's a long flight for nothing.

 

It's worth noting that successful long duration bombing runs give an additional +1CM for each 20 min of flight time after the first 15 min. So if you successfully bomb a target and land after 55 mins of flight time, you get +3CM for it, that will help you get the most from you hour of flying  

 

Spoiler

 

That's about it for selecting a target airfield or depot, hope it helps someone.

 

============================

 

Some other tips about attacking;

 

While high alt level bombing is recommended by the TAW manual to avoid the huge amounts of AAA they have put at the targets, I have given up on that due to it's very low accuracy and results. Could be just my bombing technique, but I far prefer this method outlined in a cool Darbzy video in this topic, https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/49993-taw-raid-at-surovikino-live-comms/?tab=comments#comment-775908 best tips are all the way at the bottom of the short topic.

 

Communications; While you are flying alone it's easy to avoid communicating with others, but on TAW as you are flying towards a common goal, those others are your team. Say you bombed a bridge for example. I tend to let my side know in the chat, like "blue bridge down + co-ordinates* if there was more than one blue bridge. This way another red player who may be en route to that bridge can head some other place and save themselves some time and frustration. Sure the bridge will have gone from the map, but we don't always stare at the map  

 

*co-ordinates; the map in IL2 is divided into a grid of 10km squares. Each 10km square has a 4 figure number allocated to it and is sub-divided into 9 smaller squares numbered 1 - 9. Practical examples from our map above of how to use this in the chat are as follows;

Red bridge 1115-9

Blue tanks 1217-2

Blue defense 1214-8 and so on...

 

NB., there are two options when broadcasting in the chat. Enter key for all on the server & Ctrl+Enter keys for Allies only. Many people miss this and broadcast sensitive mission information to the enemy. It can also be used to sow confusion, but it's a point well worth remembering when using the chat.

Edited August 19 by Pict
Spelling, tweaking etc.

[ACG_Smokejumper 165]

What side needs guys? I'm about to register.

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf 724]

1 hour ago, ACG_Smokejumper said:

What side needs guys? I'm about to register.

Depends on your timezone

[=2ndSS=Lawyer1 124]

Yesterday I lost my last life and got a penalty for 20 hours. I thought that after that I would have 1 life, but I was surprised to find that I have 0.38 lives.
I did not die or be captured today. Why is that?

[=RS=Stix_09 86]

 

2 hours ago, =2ndSS=Lawyer1 said:

Yesterday I lost my last life and got a penalty for 20 hours. I thought that after that I would have 1 life, but I was surprised to find that I have 0.38 lives.
I did not die or be captured today. Why is that?

 

 

 

• To reduce number of “suicidal” sorties there are 3 lives for each map (there are 8 maps in total during the campaign). If pilot dies, captured or disco his live counter is reduced by:
  • 1 when he is in bigger team
  • X when he is in smaller team where X = #smaller_team/#bigger_team. Example: Axis players: 28, Allied players: 20 so X for Allied is 20/28 = 0.71.

             Every time “Lives on map” counter (shown in pilots hangar) <= 0 then pilot has 24 hours time penalty. After this penalty counter is increased by 1 so he may fly again.

 

Last two changes explain(links) (ie 20 hrs now)

 

So I guess -0.62 + 1 = 0.38

 

 

5. CHANGELOG

 

·   28.07.2018 https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/21029-tactical-air-war/?p=801160

·   12.05.2018 https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/21029-tactical-air-war/?p=768580

Edited August 18 by =RS=Stix_09

[=RS=Stix_09 86]

Not having flown TAW last 2  campaigns, are balance changes actually now working out in practice now after most of these have been in place for last and current TAW seasons for most people?

 

I imagine the main impact will be mainly limited large squad flyouts (which in game actually caused large team imbalance issues when they did happen, instead of squads limiting the squad flyout sizes and mixing large squad across dif teams....)

1)How about smaller squad flyouts of 5 people or so is that impacted much?

 

2)What about the 3 life thing is that having big impact on peoples flying time? ( I would think having disconnect issues this would suck somewhat)

 

3)And this one

"If your aircraft is damaged more than 30% then after landing it’s not available in the current and next mission"

 

Is that causing people to just ditch damage planes rather than return them?

 

4) Are there less ground attackers as a result?

 

On 8/18/2019 at 9:04 AM, Ickenc3 said:

Can u fix the AA and AI gunners??? Today while waiting on taxiway a p40 came to the airfield at 1k,AA didnt even bother to shoot him only damage he got was from 88s that were on the taxiway,bombed both 88s,And if u fly over a allied airfield at 5k u will get sniped out before you even can drop bombs.

 

My testing shows the only AA guns that can actually shoot past 3Km are the flak guns, the 20 and 37mm cannons range is under 3.5km

 

and MG AA is less  2km

Edited August 19 by =RS=Stix_09
typo

[RedKestrel 1314]

13 hours ago, =RS=Stix_09 said:

Not having flown TAW last 2  campaigns, are balance changes actually now working out in practice now after most of these have been in place for last and current TAW seasons for most people?

 

I imagine the main impact will be mainly limited large squad flyouts (which in game actually caused large team imbalance issues when they did happen, instead of squads limiting the squad flyout sizes and mixing large squad across dif teams....)

1)How about smaller squad flyouts of 5 people or so is that impacted much?

 

2)What about the 3 life thing is that having big impact on peoples flying time? ( I would think having disconnect issues this would suck somewhat)

 

3)And this one

"If your aircraft is damaged more than 30% then after landing it’s not available in the current and next mission"

 

Is that causing people to just ditch damage planes rather than return them?

 

4) Are there less ground attackers as a result?

 

 

My testing shows the only AA guns that can actually shoot past 3Km are the flak guns, the 20 and 37mm cannons range is under 3.5km

 

and MG AA is less  2km

Balancing seems to be working OK, as much as it can be. There's still side imbalances a lot of the time but what are you going to do? Some squads seem to run guys on both sides but I can see why they are reluctant to do so. The closing of front line airfields when numbers are high seems to help mitigate getting constantly swarmed by enemies running back and forth to frontline airfields.

Disconnects don't count towards lost lives IIRC, so its not really an issue. I've had a couple disconnects that didn't seem to cost me anything. The only time it does is if you were damaged just before the disco to prevent people cheating to maintain their 'streaks'. 

I don't think the damaged plane thing is really impacting people's decision to ditch or not. You have to land or ditch on an open, friendly airfield to get a CM, so if you can make it back to base people do so. And there's no reliable way to tell if your plane is more than 30% damaged while in-flight. Maybe people are ditching rather than landing when they're damaged but if you're not sure your plane is more than 30% and you can physically pull off an actual landing, the incentive is still to land properly to maximize the chances of not losing your planes.

Less ground attackers? At least on the Allied side in my time zone, I can say resoundingly "No". I get on TeamSpeak most times when I am on TAW. Usually people are talking about doing attack or bombing missions. Out of 42 sorties, I've run as an attacker or bomber 26 times, usually with a bunch of other guys. No shortage of ground attack IMO. No shortage of teamwork, either, even outside the official squads.

[RedKestrel 1314]

On a side note, do you lose all your accumulated Combat Missions when you die?

I ask, because my "Combat Missions" stat on my statistics page says I have 1/3. However, since I last earned my Yak-1, I have received two CMs, one before and one after a death. I can't find anything in the manual regarding losing Combat Missions. Can anyone advise?

[=2ndSS=Lawyer1 124]

2 minutes ago, RedKestrel said:

On a side note, do you lose all your accumulated Combat Missions when you die?

I ask, because my "Combat Missions" stat on my statistics page says I have 1/3. However, since I last earned my Yak-1, I have received two CMs, one before and one after a death. I can't find anything in the manual regarding losing Combat Missions. Can anyone advise?

If your pilot dies or is captured, then everything streaks are reset to zero. Combat missions also

Edited August 19 by =2ndSS=Lawyer1

[RedKestrel 1314]

Just now, =2ndSS=Lawyer1 said:

If your pilot dies or is captured, then everything is reset to zero. Combat missions also

I see. Good to know.

[SCG_Limbo 113]

Our squadron switched away from playing TAW last night after one of our leaders lost his remaining life, so consequently I have revised my impression of the 3 lives system slightly.  One factor that is not taken into account is that the maps are lasting a very long time on this round of TAW--around 2 weeks each.  So if you fly every night then there's a good chance you'll eventually run out of lives.

 

I think one solution is to reward like 0.1 lives after each successful combat mission up to a maximum of 3.0 lives--this would help compensate for the long maps yet still punish overly aggressive and reckless behavior.

 

Along with Fenderbird's notion, I think encouraging people to fly underrepresented planes, like the IL-2 and Stuka, would not be such a bad thing and allowing flying of these planes (plus transport planes) for people with between more than 0.0 and less than 1.0 lives would be good for the server.  One reason why I do not fly these planes is that they are simply too dangerous to fly.  Alternatively, perhaps you could give a larger life reward for underrepresented planes.

 

I think the TAW pilot population is being suppressed some on this map due to it running so long.

 

 

 

Edited August 19 by SCG_Limbo

[=RainDogs=Quimbymouse 19]

23 minutes ago, SCG_Limbo said:

So if you fly every night then there's a good chance you'll eventually run out of lives.

If you fly every night then a 20 hour wait is pretty much inconsequential.  

[Nake350 14]

Anyone tell me how to get help logging into the website please? It's saying something in my login is invalad, but can't see means of resetting?

 

Thanks.

[JG4_Widukind 85]

4 hours ago, SCG_Limbo said:

Our squadron switched away from playing TAW last night after one of our leaders lost his remaining life, so consequently I have revised my impression of the 3 lives system slightly.  One factor that is not taken into account is that the maps are lasting a very long time on this round of TAW--around 2 weeks each.  So if you fly every night then there's a good chance you'll eventually run out of lives.

 

I think one solution is to reward like 0.1 lives after each successful combat mission up to a maximum of 3.0 lives--this would help compensate for the long maps yet still punish overly aggressive and reckless behavior.

 

Along with Fenderbird's notion, I think encouraging people to fly underrepresented planes, like the IL-2 and Stuka, would not be such a bad thing and allowing flying of these planes (plus transport planes) for people with between more than 0.0 and less than 1.0 lives would be good for the server.  One reason why I do not fly these planes is that they are simply too dangerous to fly.  Alternatively, perhaps you could give a larger life reward for underrepresented planes.

 

I think the TAW pilot population is being suppressed some on this map due to it running so long.

 

 

 

Yes we need a System for a +Live

Mayby by 10 or more Compat Missions

[Cpt_Siddy 788]

Wow, i went to help my folks for a week and you managed to get to map 3, long campaign i see. 

[III./SG77-G_Boelcke 31]

Please restore one life each 48 hours after the first life restored (20 hours) until a Maximun of 3. This sufficient for no frequent suicidal bombings. After losing the lifes even If you go very carefull and survive several missions you cannot gain a life.

Add 3 criteria for recovering a life: one life Maximun each 24h, 3 combat mission, 1 transport mission.

[-332FG-Hank_DG 64]

A little off topic, but will taw have a seperate campaign when bodenplatte releases? Or will it just be included with the eastern war?

[SCG_wtornado 140]

How do you reset the password in TAW for your registration?

[72AG_Obi 91]

Question to TAW admins or whoever knows the answer.

Mission 271, blue tank convoy attacked Kalinin and was destroyed completely as showed in the mission event log.

Yet in next mission 272 it appeared again continuing advancing and attacking Kalinin.

Is it normal behavior of the script logic?

 

PS. Please ignore this message, the map wasn't refreshed and re-built completely. Then the tank convoy was gone in mission 272.

Edited August 20 by 72AG_Obi

[=2ndSS=Lawyer1 124]

9 hours ago, Cpt_Siddy said:

Wow, i went to help my folks for a week and you managed to get to map 3, long campaign i see. 

I think it happened because Admins managed to achieve  a very good balance of power on each side.

[SCG_Limbo 113]

2 hours ago, 72AG_Obi said:

PS. Please ignore this message, the map wasn't refreshed and re-built completely. Then the tank convoy was gone in mission 272.

 

Yeah, the website map can take up to like 4 or 5 minutes to update correctly and I've been confused as a result before too.  The in game map is always correct, however.

[Carl_infar 157]

@Katon

 

I thought that there is anti disco mechanizm in place which when You disco within 5 minutes of the damage You loose Your virtual life (if its only for player induced damage, it should be extended to all damage:

 

The below disco queen is not loosing the life, although is exiting just after receiving damage (one of the below discos I've seen with my own eyes and was about to attack, the disco princess shortly after joined the server again...) :

https://taw.stg2.de/pilot_sortie.php?id=44999&name=1./JG42flesch

https://taw.stg2.de/pilot_sortie.php?id=43745&name=1./JG42flesch

 

 

Edited August 20 by Carl_infar

[Nake350 14]

10 hours ago, SCG_wtornado said:

How do you reset the password in TAW for your registration?

Anyone help with this or point us in the direction of the admins please. I have the same problem. 

[=2ndSS=Lawyer1 124]

1 hour ago, Carl_infar said:

@Katon

 

I thought that there is anti disco mechanizm in place which when You disco within 5 minutes of the damage You loose Your virtual life (if its only for player induced damage, it should be extended to all damage:

 

The below disco queen is not loosing although is exiting just after receiving damage (one of the below discos I've seen with my own eyes and was about to attack, the princess shortly after joined the server again...) :

https://taw.stg2.de/pilot_sortie.php?id=44999&name=1./JG42flesch

https://taw.stg2.de/pilot_sortie.php?id=43745&name=1./JG42flesch

 

 

Looks like this guy sometimes prefers not to return home)

[WG_Magners 28]

I exited the server after successful landing at active AF and didn't get my AK, GK and CM. Is it right behavior or an error?

 

[JG4_Knipser 193]

40 minutes ago, WG_Magners said:

I exited the server after successful landing at active AF and didn't get my AK, GK and CM. Is it right behavior or an error?

It should have been my AK, but i didn't get it either, you fired at a P40 with a dead engine!

@=LG=Kathon maybe you should rethink the way TAW-statistics handles airkills. I attacked this enemy fighter, shot him up really badly, the moment i noticed that his engine was dead, i stopped attacking him. Clear airkill in my opinion, but then some kill-greedy fellow (😉 no offense intended Magners)  came along and kept on firing on the plane with the dead engine.
Ingame i got credited with the kill, which was absolutly fair and correct! On the TAW-statistics however, Magners was credited with the kill, because the sum of all the damage he did was greater than mine!?! This this is plain wrong! ... and as it turns out, in the end, not even he got the AK. 😁
This system definitely encourages pilots to shoot at burning planes or planes with dead engines, because there is still the chance they might do enough damage to get the kill. Seen it happening a few times this Campaign, feels a little bit like WOL!

Edited August 20 by JG4_Knipser

[WG_Magners 28]

10 минут назад, JG4_Knipser сказал:

you fired at a P40 with a dead engine!

 

He was still firing at our guy 😃 Anyway sorry, i didnt want to KS, just wanted to get him down completely

Edited August 20 by WG_Magners

[JG7_X-Man 147]

I have a question about this - can someone explain?

 

 

The guy ditched and that still counted as a combat mission? Which would explain his getting the aircraft he lost (ditched my guess in friendly airfield) immediately after the same mission? I thought it was replenished after the next mission i.e. 1/0/0

[HR_Tofolo 265]

He ditched but he did not get any combat mission. The plane he was using went into repair. He probably was coming from a +NA (+3CM) mission so as soon as he lost his plane it was replenished.

[JG7_X-Man 147]

1 hour ago, HR_Tofolo said:

He ditched but he did not get any combat mission. The plane he was using went into repair. He probably was coming from a +NA (+3CM) mission so as soon as he lost his plane it was replenished.

 

Ahh Understood!  Thanks

[=BAIT=CG_Justin 292]

Just wanted to say "thank you" to the guys from JG4 for giving me fighter cover today while attacking arty and tanks in the south. Much appreciated! S!

[Pict 282]

On 8/19/2019 at 6:29 PM, SCG_Limbo said:

Our squadron switched away from playing TAW last night after one of our leaders lost his remaining life

 

Brave leader, where did he lead you to?

[SCG_Kuppis 43]

On 8/19/2019 at 7:29 PM, SCG_Limbo said:

Along with Fenderbird's notion, I think encouraging people to fly underrepresented planes, like the IL-2 and Stuka, would not be such a bad thing and allowing flying of these planes (plus transport planes) for people with between more than 0.0 and less than 1.0 lives would be good for the server.  One reason why I do not fly these planes is that they are simply too dangerous to fly.  Alternatively, perhaps you could give a larger life reward for underrepresented planes.

 

I am a solid fan of 3 life system as it is, but I like this idea. Maybe even put planes on a scale and give them different values: the more underrated plane, the more you can replenish the amount of your life. If you end up using all your life, you can still team up with your squad mates, but in lesser used or obsolete planes. Adds diversion, too.

[moosya 299]

AAA is getting ridiculous, guys.  All it takes now is a single 37mm shot in my direction and I'm down. That's akin to a Flak being used as a pellet shotgun. There's no calculation of my position. It's just point and shoot and I'm down. Yesterday we had a flight of 4 with 3 getting shot down by flak.

 

I know you're after the simulation aspect, but this isn't it. There's no point in bombing anything any more, because the chance of surviving now is 50% regardless if there's 5 flak guns left or only 1.

[III./SG77-G_Boelcke 31]

22 minutes ago, pomdeterre-v said:

AAA is getting ridiculous, guys.  All it takes now is a single 37mm shot in my direction and I'm down. That's akin to a Flak being used as a pellet shotgun. There's no calculation of my position. It's just point and shoot and I'm down. Yesterday we had a flight of 4 with 3 getting shot down by flak.

 

I know you're after the simulation aspect, but this isn't it. There's no point in bombing anything any more, because the chance of surviving now is 50% regardless if there's 5 flak guns left or only 1.

Post a track or a video. Are you flying directly to the flak? You should drag the flak flying perpendicular to the direction of the shoot, alternate course and pitch for other attacking or vice versa. Take a look on ground attack handbook.