A big THANK YOU to the team!

[Spindrift]

Just wanted to post a huge THANKS to the incredible team that's worked so hard to put together this sim, I have to explain why... The mission I completed just moments ago, was possibly the most fun I've ever had on a PC to date. 

 

 

 

 

I've been working my way through the BoM campaign (love the scripted missions, the snippets of pilot experiences are an invaluable part of the immersion and really lights up the imagination). Now in the final chapter, I took out the I-16 armed to the teeth with cannons and rockets to pop an enemy locomotive (challenging, but SO rewarding...) with a single wingman and a few escorts upstairs. Early en-route we're bounced by four Bf 109 F-4s... My wing and I quickly climbed into a small cloud and then dove at full throttle past the fray, our escort getting tangled up (and roundly shredded) but we raced on, after all, we had a train to catch. A few minutes later, another pair of 109s on a parallel course slowly ID us and turn in, we have no tricks up our sleeve this time, and bent to meet them head on. In the first pass, all my "spray-and-pray" missed completely, as I focused on not ramming them head-on ("Hey, this ain't War Thunder!"  ) however they do manage to jam one of my guns. In the ensuing low-level turn fight, my wingman bought the farm, but thankfully managed to damage his pursuer enough to force him to disengage. Now I'm one on one with my 109, turning hampered by the rockets, and we carve figure-eights, blasting away at each other in hasty head-on passes, until one lucky round catches his left wing. There's a puff of black smoke, he banks hard, then flips over on his back (WAY too low to recover) and smashes into the ground... 

 

I'm alone, one gun jammed, but still in one piece... I bet I can still take out that train...  

 

BANG!!

 

AAA passing beneath me throws up a friendly welcoming party as I arrive in the action point, jamming one of my cannons... crap... can you even take out a train with only a single gun and ONE 20mm? The locomotive is passing through a wide open field, and I streak along parallel with it, then bank high and hard, bending around to line up in front of it ("Red Tails style", LOL) unloading all my rockets into its cow catcher. A pretty fireworks show, but only managing to stop the engine, without visible damage. Speaking of fireworks, the on-board AAA then lights up the sky around me like New-Years eve... as I swing around for another pass, I line up on the now stationary boiler... settling into careful, steady aim. I can do this... I can do this! HAMMER DOWN!! The train, now filling the gunsight, at the last moment ERUPTS in a volcano of steam and fire, I hurtle over it, my cockpit flashing bright as the sun from beneath. Wahooo! Heading for home! A tall bottle of vodka is my next target! When I notice a message on the right HUD.... my stomach turns inside-out... "First engine damaged". 

 

What? How? was it the AAA? Was it TRAIN DEBRIS?   I glance at the map, 20km to the exit point, then another 25km to the base (I always prefer to fly the full mission). Can I limp home? Half of my instruments are shattered, but I don't seem to be smoking, leaking fuel or oiling the windscreen... I lower RPM and start climbing, in case I need to glide to an open field in the event of an engine-out procedure. but I won't be climbing for long...

 

Four more Bf 109 F-4s are cruising straight at me, with blood in their eyes. (GULP.)  

 

Diving madly for the trees, I kick the pedals wildly left and right, tracers passing me on both sides, the odd round cracking or thudding on the fuselage, the 109s swarming behind me like a kicked hornet's nest. this goes on for what feels like an eternity, when I spy a narrow gap in the trees, I jerk to the right, then roll left. Sideways, I kick the right rudder to keep my nose above the horizon (the ground is so close I can see the blades of grass). As I straighten out, I throw a glance over my left shoulder just in time to see the closest plane pull up sharply, only to catch to tree top and bend his prop! 1 down, 3 to go!!   

 

I'm counting the klicks back to base... 11,10, 9... as I scream over the base, our AAA starts pounding away the same moment the sirens start to howl, the only thing I can do now is pull into a high-G turn directly over the field, and see if the AAA can splash them all... a HUD notification shows 1, then a moment later, a plane's corpse comes loudly crashing down almost directly across my turn! Holy crap! Another notification, I see him belly-flop on the field (security better be on their way over to him)! Only 1 left, and he's closing on my six... and just as he opens fire, a burst of flak strikes his engine, and now venting water he quickly breaks off from our field, streaking away to fight another day... I circle the field for a moment, half-stunned. I come in for a gentle landing... rolling to a stop, without using the brakes.

 

YOU HAVE LANDED. "Clear the runway!"

 

...My wife walks by and asks if I'm ok... I'm actually shaking. She says I have the strangest look on my face...

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for creating this challenging, immersive and engaging simulator. All your hard work has paid off, you've earned yourself a new life-long devotee... I've pre-ordered everything on offer so far, and will continue to faithfully support your team in the future. 

 

See you upstairs...    

 

Davie "Spindrift" Warner

Edited November 9, 2016 by Spindrift

[=EXPEND=Dendro]

HaHa... you must be a writer! Good one!

[Guest deleted@50488]

Great writing!  Thanks for sharing, and yes, I am 1000% with your thoughts, although I haven't past even the first steps of the Campaign :-).

 

Just playing around at some of the MP servers, or even in QM is sufficient to feel how different IL-2 BoS / BoM are from other flightsims.

 

Feel, Detail and Immersion are the factors.

Edited November 9, 2016 by jcomm

[Bando]

Great story.

Ever contemplated being a script writer? 

[Dakpilot]

My positive experiences in flying campaign missions have far outweighed my negative ones, even from first release.

 

Things are only getting better

 

Cheers Dakpilot

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

What an excellent story

[KoN_]

Great writing!  Thanks for sharing, and yes, I am 1000% with your thoughts, although I haven't past even the first steps of the Campaign :-).

 

Just playing around at some of the MP servers, or even in QM is sufficient to feel how different IL-2 BoS / BoM are from other flightsims.

 

Feel, Detail and Immersion are the factors.

You sure your not on the payroll ......  

[216th_Peterla]

Great story. I love when the steamer blow up. Great effect.

[pilotpierre]

Eggs celent tale.

[-TBC-AeroAce]

Great story.

Ever contemplated being a script writer? 

+3

[Guest deleted@50488]

You sure your not on the payroll ......

 

I am, unfortunately in the Public Service around here, which leaves me very few margin to invest on more than one sim at the same time :-)

After years playing "I'm an airline pilot and I know all of the POHs... " and chasing a flight simulator that can give me as close to real an experience as it is possible in a PC-based sim, I found, well, I was actually made aware by a friend - il-2 BoS. 

 

It took some time, and some uninstalls ( typical of me... ) before I realised there is actually no alternative, in any of the flightsim platforms I have used along more than 25 yrs of flight simming...  Apart from a professional platform of which I am proud to be a long time user and now also "beta tester", IL-2 became my only flight simulator, and, as I never used any other sort of games, it's my only game at the moment, and... looking ahead for what it's comming along, I don't think anything will change my mind in the near future....

 

You can find my many posts at other forums, namely at AVSIM... I would like to shout out and say to all of those fellows playing other sims like FSX, XPX, P3D, DCS, etc... "Hey WAKEUP!!!!  Come and taste what the closest to flying for real can be !!!!!"

 

I do reserve the 1st place for helicopters in DCS though, and I do have some expectations for Aerofly FS2, but so far, notihing - NOTHING - comes anywhere near the immersion of IL2 for me.

Edited November 10, 2016 by jcomm

[LLv24_Zami]

Great story! Thanks for sharing.