Single player's experience in multiplayer

[40plus]

There was a thread last week on this topic which started off as a good place to discuss this topic but then devolved into an unnecessary argument about which game play was better and why, little of it handled in a mature fashion. I found that thread to be super useful and some contributors offered advice to people making the transition. Unfortunately due to the ruckus, it was ultimately locked so I'd like to start a fresh thread to share my experiences as a single player dipping his toe into the muck.

 

This past Sunday I flew ~ 8 sorties, or at least tried to, on the Wings of Liberty server.

 

First sortie I flew a 109 G14 and was hit immediately by the ammo bug, RTB, land, restart. Smart enough to check before takeoff and alas, ammo bug again. Restart, boom boom boom, OK let’s go.

 

Second sortie, same plane, same airfield got airborne and flew to the enemy airspace. I followed advice I read in the past thread about avoiding the enemy airfield space and, instead, looked for planes attacking or defending the other ground targets. Hey cool, look at that fur-ball down there. Tucked into a dive that was a bit to ambitious. Brand new 700kph crater in the country side.

 

I flew a few more sorties in G14s, F2s and even a 110 but with little success. I got shot down once, disconnected from server once, ended the session once and was plagued by my Saitek X56’s ghost button bug about three times (everything’s fine so why don’t I just randomly bail out just because. I just roll play that my pilot saw a spider in the cockpit).

The very best part was when I joined into a fight between two 109s and two I16s. I swooped down into the fray, lined up behind an I16 and boom I scored a hit! My first! Burst of cannon rounds into his left wingtip. I’m 99% sure I didn’t bring him down but one of my team mates did. It was exhilarating just to be part of the hunt! My wife laughed about the whooping and hollering I did after that.

 

The very worst part was when I shot down a friendly. I play in VR and have a huge problem ID’ing aircraft so I rely heavily on the target’s behaviour. This guy was lining up strafing runs on a friendly airfield that the server had just announced as being under enemy attack. This guy kept buzzing the planes on the ground in a strafing manner and even though I couldn’t see any shots fired I pounced on him. My cannons quickly removed his wing which mockingly flashed its Luftwaffe Insignia at me. Argh. I’m going to say it was at least 30% his fault, I’ll take the rest.

 

The end result is I had an absolute blast and have been thinking about my next session from the very moment I left. By the gods it’s fun! After years of being a dedicated single player and a vehement naysayer of multiplayer, I may just be a convert at least when it comes to flight sims. Multiplayer RTSs, FPSs and whatever the hell DOTA is are still on my bad list.

So my message to those who like me have shunned the multiplayer scene for many years, Give it a fair shake before writing it off. We all want a better Single player AI experience but in the mean-time, there’s fun to be had.

 

For what it’s worth, I’m playing from the west coast of Canada (Pacific Time zone) and have found plenty of people to play with. The WoL server was 80% full at 2-4 in the afternoon. My 30Mb connection had good pings and no lag.

[40plus]

8 minutes ago, sealgaire said:

Also I guess you didn't know this, but the airfields on almost all the servers have AA guns protecting them. So if you see a plane buzzing the field and not getting shot at, they are probably friendly. Also people are allowed to buzz the airfield for fun. It doesn't give someone on their side an excuse to shoot them down.

 

Oh FFS, it makes sense now that you point it out LOL. Argh

[CountZero]

nice to hear your having fun

 

tip:
on 109s 10% fuel will last you:
continuous mode ~8min
combat     mode ~5min

 

so basicly for 30-40min sortie (and thats long sortie on WoL) your good with 50-60% insted 100% you use, no reason to hendicape your self even more by taking to heavy airplane in fight vs veterans, and bonus will be you will learn how to conserve fuel better this way ( for when you need to do long sorties n future) even on server like wol

 

and if you plan to turn with enemys stabilizer is by default on -78% and it will not help you turn in that state, you turn better when you rais that in turns in + values, 
and flaps down will help on lower speeds.

[kissklas]

Welcome online! I wish more of the SP people came on. It's a lot of fun. You should try going on comms and fly with a group of pilots. It's another step up on the ladder of awsome.

 

Friendly kills do happen. I know, I've done it. It can be frustrating to be on the receiving end as it takes time to get airborne and to destination, so always try to get a clear ID before taking a shot. Also both Wings and Knights of the air log virtual lives on websites, so losing a virtual pilot to friendly fire can be really annoying.

 

If you havent checked out the websites, you should. It's sort of like a campaign. It's a good feeling when your virtual pilot makes ace.

Edited October 1, 2018 by kissklas

[CUJO_1970]

Believe it or not, normal settings servers can be fun too. if you come in thinking the pilots aren't as good, you may be in for a bit of a shock though.

 

My advice for new people flying online is at the beginning concentrate on two things first: altitude and speed (energy). Learn first to acquire these two things before you go off getting shot out of the sky (because you are going to get shot out of the sky a lot at first).

 

Too many new players go barreling off toward the action without learning how to enter a fight and when to enter a fight. I see this all the time with new 109 pilots especially. They fly behind a yak or a spitfire and fly as if those planes are laying tracks in the sky for them to follow, thereby giving up every natural advantage the 109 has over them. 

[Herne]

I just checked out your sortie log.

 

I noticed your 110 took 100% damage 3 minutes after take off. Do you think you had your throttle setting too high ?

 

check the engine settings for nominal  /combat and emergency ratings. 

 

See you in the skies

[US63_SpadLivesMatter]

Don't feel too bad about your friendly.  I once took out a friendly 110 after he dove straight down on a factory I was protecting.

[40plus]

4 hours ago, =FEW=Herne said:

I just checked out your sortie log.

 

I noticed your 110 took 100% damage 3 minutes after take off. Do you think you had your throttle setting too high ?

 

check the engine settings for nominal  /combat and emergency ratings. 

 

See you in the skies

 

There a sortie log? Lol, crap I have a lot to learn. Where does one find this?

 

The 110 went to 100% damage likely when it hit the water after my pilot saw a spider and bailed out. It was with the 110 that the saitek button issue came up.

 

I'm familiar with the engine management of German planes but thanks for the suggestion as it does still happen. In fact shortly after downing the friendly my 109 engine went kaput for that reason. 

 

 

[Herne]

I normally find it by entering a google search along the lines of il2 <Server Name> stats

 

http://il2stat.aviaskins.com:8008/en/sorties/25973/pfrances/?tour=39

 

is a quick link to your sorties in september

 

Edit: some servers with ongoing campaigns even have a personal hangar, encouraging you to try and bring your birds home.

 

 

 

Edited October 2, 2018 by =FEW=Herne

[40plus]

6 hours ago, =FEW=Herne said:

I normally find it by entering a google search along the lines of il2 <Server Name> stats

 

http://il2stat.aviaskins.com:8008/en/sorties/25973/pfrances/?tour=39

 

is a quick link to your sorties in september

 

Edit: some servers with ongoing campaigns even have a personal hangar, encouraging you to try and bring your birds home.

 

 

 

 

That is so awesome! Thank you!!

 

Strange that it says my 110 got 100% damage before the bailout message. perhaps the act of bailing out registers as 100% damage for the plane.

I was comfortably cruising at 1.0ATA with no adversaries in sight when my flight stick decided I should bail out.

[NO_SQDeriku777]

COOP is really the best of both worlds.  The Eagles Nest runs COOP missions open to all every Wednesday night at 8:00 Eastern.  It is open all and it is a blast.  Check the Special Events forum for details.

 

 I would strongly recommend any newer players wanting to dip their toes into multi-player to give COOP a go.  Most of the popular MP servers are not much fun at all for newer players who have to face off ( often alone ) against players that have had thousands of hours of flight time to refine their skills.  They are essentially nothing more than fresh meat who get killed again and again until the players give up and go back to multi-player.

[40plus]

HAHAHA! First kill!! And it was an adversary this time. Took off is a 109-G4, patrolled, found an IL-2 attacking my ground troops. I dove down behind him and ripped him a new one. Great fun! I even managed to fly back to base, though I botched the landing with a prop strike.

Edited October 9, 2018 by pfrances

[Nightrise]

18 hours ago, pfrances said:

HAHAHA! First kill!! And it was an adversary this time. Took off is a 109-G4, patrolled, found an IL-2 attacking my ground troops. I dove down behind him and ripped him a new one. Great fun! I even managed to fly back to base, though I botched the landing with a prop strike.

And the 100th kill is always as fun as the first  ?

[Gambit21]

On October 4, 2018 at 6:02 AM, NO_SQDeriku777 said:

COOP is really the best of both worlds.  The Eagles Nest runs COOP missions open to all every Wednesday night at 8:00 Eastern.  It is open all and it is a blast.  Check the Special Events forum for details.

 

 I would strongly recommend any newer players wanting to dip their toes into multi-player to give COOP a go.  Most of the popular MP servers are not much fun at all for newer players who have to face off ( often alone ) against players that have had thousands of hours of flight time to refine their skills.  They are essentially nothing more than fresh meat who get killed again and again until the players give up and go back to multi-player.

 

Even as an experienced pilot back in the day, I much preferred CoOps as opposed to Air-Quake rooms - but we had real CoOps then with Hyperlobby.

 

[Diggun]

I'm sure this has been said before, but I think that Coconut Expert is a really good place to experience the 'best of both worlds' type of online experience. Plus they people I bump into on there are always remarkably friendly, and up for getting on comms too....