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[J37_Spyboy]

I have Gladiator / T rudder Mk3 combo. Very impressed, very accurate joystick, and the pedals have transformed flying for me.

In RoF I have improved tremendously and have mapped some functions to the stick ie zoom - flaps button, recharge guns - A1 red etc, etc,

Now I feel its time to take this combo to the next level and try BoS in depth. My previous BoS forays were assisted by a Logitech 3D twist stick with which I could get off the ground in some planes, didn't have to worry about landing as the parachute usually helped there!

my questions are:-

1) What functions do players map to their buttons, ideally if you are a Gladiator user that would be great.

2) What does 'trim' do for these planes? In RoF its not a consideration but is it important here?

3) Other than Requiems excellent Combat Flight instruction series of videos where might I find basic guides. Looking for 'IL2 BoS for Dummies' I think!

 S Thanks in advance Pilots

[Sokol1]

Chuck_Owls aircraft guides:

 

http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/10268-chucks-aircraft-guide/

 

About joystick functions, IMO you should use the grip buttons primarily for weapons, 

in MODE1 (default, green LED) eg. trigger MG, top button cannon, trigger + pinky rockets, top button + pinky bombs, 

and - if you don't use headtracker (TrackIR and cia) - for control camera POV, 

map HAT up + pinky for ZOOM +, HAT down + pinky for ZOOM -, left or right + pink can be center POV, this if use "Pan view", what give you better vision that fixed "Snap view".

 

In MODE2 (default, red LED), can use trigger for wheel brakes*, what moving rudder together give you "differential brakes" in any plane of game of BoS.

Top button can be lock tail wheel, close canopy...

 

* Or, since are using rudder pedals, you can use too the "twist" for control wheel brakes, but is need tune the axis adding a 50% deadzone, or will have undesired half brakes always pressed, and nasty collateral effects. 

 

Base buttons depends on the mode you fly, "normal" or "expert", for the last use for control engine (propeller pitch, radiators, etc.)

 

Important is define what is primary for you control and set in joystick, secondary things leave for keyboard, until don't get a dedicated throttle who allow control more things.

A good candidate for pair with Gladiator - since VKB throttle will take time to come - is Thrustmaster TWCS.

 

Updating the firmware and loading new buttons configuration you can add MODE2 and Shift in base buttons, allow use then for more functions, just don't mix ground functions with flight/combat functions. Look at VKB forum for instructions.

Edited October 16, 2016 by Sokol1

[Matt]

1) What functions do players map to their buttons, ideally if you are a Gladiator user that would be great.

 

Trigger : weapon group 1 (usually MG), rockets with shift button. Wheel brakes in flight mode (green LED).

Top button : weapon group 2 (usally cannon), bombs with shift button. Tailwheel lock on/off in flight mode.

Hatswitch : up/down = zoom in/out, left/right = snapview to look at instruments. With shift button, up/down controls elevator trim, left/right for rudder trim.

Engine button for engine on/off, eject for eject. Then the three buttons on the right of the panel for cockpit light, landing light and navigation light. 

 

I have not put anything else on it for now, because i'm using a Warthog throttle and put most important features there instead. Without throttle or other extra control, i would consider putting bomb controls (bomb doors, dive brake, bomb selector etc.) on it, as well as controls for supercharger, boost and RPM and gear and flaps controls (then i would not put the light controls on the stick though).

 

 

 

2) What does 'trim' do for these planes? In RoF its not a consideration but is it important here?

Depends, on planes with adjustable stabilizer (mostly German fighters), it's actually very important, because for instance if you trim fully nose down, you'll limit your elevator input when pulling out of a dive. Also generally, you lose a good bit of speed when the stabilizer is in a position that forces you to use your elevator to stay level.

 

On the other planes, it's not as important, but still you would want to trim your plane properly. Landing the plane when it's trimmed for high speed flight makes things harder in general.

 

Rudder is especially important when you fly planes with more than one engine and if one of the engine stops. Also you usually have to use a different rudder trim setting for fast flight and slow flight, but also many planes don't even have rudder trim. Aileron trim i don't find that important and didn't even bind it right now. It's also even less common than rudder trim for the planes avaliable right now.

Edited October 16, 2016 by Matt