Combat Box by Red Flight

[Blackhawk_FR]

[ROCKET_KNUT]

Some impressions from yesterdays sortie:

Enroute to target

 

@richarrrd leading the attack...

 

Spotted! Time to break up!

 

Dodging the first attack...

 

Dodging the second... while @richarrrd is going down, almost hitting the target.

 

Mine, mine mine...

 

Aaand not dodging all three of them at once... 

 

Yet blowing stuff up before hitting the ground and being smashed into a million pieces... 

 

Cheers!

[Alonzo]

We're pleased to announce a new map! Stalingrad Scramble is a fictional scenario set in February 1945, in and around the burnt-out husk of Stalingrad. Hitler's technological wonder, the Me-262 jet fighter, has entered service and is wreaking havoc on Soviet and Allied bomber formations whose escort fighters simply cannot keep pace with the jet.  Allied strategy is to hit the jets where they are most vulnerable -- on the ground or during takeoff or landing -- and by attacking fuel supplies.

 

Actual screenshots from the first public play through:

 

 

 

[Alonzo]

We have switched to a chronological (static) map rotation on Combat Box. Each map is still 2.5 hours unless one side wins outright sooner than that, and the web page shows both the current map (with time remaining) and next map. You also get a link to IL2 Mission Planner for the current Combat Box map. The previous random picking for each map was random, but unfortunately didn't give a very even distribution of maps.

 

Current map rotation:

• Operation Frantic (Moscow, Summer)
• Crimean Offensive (Kuban, Spring)
• Battle for Kalinin (Moscow, Summer)
• Operation Paravane (Kuban, Autumn)
• Operation Eisenhammer (Moscow, Winter)
• Stalingrad Scramble (Stalingrad, Winter)

You can read more about the maps here: http://combatbox.net/en/maps/

Edited July 7, 2019 by Alonzo

[FTC_Riksen]

Amazing work Alonzo. Love the description of the maps in the link provided. Let me know if you would be interested in the recon photos that I'm creating for the maps ...

 

Cheers

[Blackhawk_FR]

This server is great (to me the best) and should be more populated. 

 

Is it possible to plan a "big evening" with many players and squads meeting at the same time?

[ROCKET_KNUT]

@BigGinger, @Alonzo, @Diggun, @JimTM, @Physky and all the other involved, who´s names I don´t remeber:

It has been great fun to fly with you guys, so many A-20s, just awesome! 

(There´ve been seven in total, unable to get all in one picture...)

 

 

See you soon!

Edited July 9, 2019 by =RR=ROCKET_KNUT

[JimTM]

21 minutes ago, =RR=ROCKET_KNUT said:

@BigGinger, @Alonzo, @Diggun, @JimTM, @Physky and all the other involved, who´s names I don´t remeber:

It has been great fun to fly with you guys, so many A-20s, just awesome! 

(There´ve been seven in total, unable to get all in one picture...)

...

See you soon!

 

Yes, that was a very enjoyable mission and impressive to look at. This is what MP is all about for me. Thanks for the picture. Too bad there's no video.

 

[JonRedcorn]

The mission planner on the website is very cool.

[adler_1]

when you  join the server and at base  how do you connect with other players to join  squadron or as wing man with team speak ?

Edited July 14, 2019 by dog1

[SvAF/F16_OndaAnkan]

2 hours ago, dog1 said:

when you  join the server and at base  how do you connect with other players to join  squadron or as wing man with team speak ?

'

Join Combat box Discord https://discord.gg/hAkXck

[adler_1]

how do you get an instant invite to join server ?

 

[SvAF/F16_OndaAnkan]

2 minutes ago, dog1 said:

how do you get an instant invite to join server ?

 

click here ---> https://discord.gg/hAkXck

[adler_1]

i've never done this before , once you place announcement "looking to join wingman" what do you do ? how do you join in game ? 

[SvAF/F16_OndaAnkan]

Start the game, join the server. Then go in one of the voicechannels (Red/Blue)  But everyone that flies are not on vocie or on that discord. So therefore you can announce when and where you are flying. 
 

[adler_1]

where is  voice channels red blue situated to chose from ?  

[FTC_Riksen]

9 minutes ago, dog1 said:

where is  voice channels red blue situated to chose from ?  

 

Discord. Link in the first page.

[adler_1]

there is nothing in discord just old  chat messages , nothing to join missions or team speak . the previous message says go in game and chose channel blue red but i dont see this option when in game before or after chosing sides . 

[ROCKET_KNUT]

13 minutes ago, dog1 said:

there is nothing in discord just old  chat messages , nothing to join missions or team speak . the previous message says go in game and chose channel blue red but i dont see this option when in game before or after chosing sides . 

@dog1 What that means basically is:

Start IL2 GB, join the multiplayer server you like, choose a side and an airfield, a/c and so on. Then switch to your preferred voice-comm-application, Discord or Teamspeak, and join a voice-channel there. If you find nobody there except yourself, that means, you are the first one. Other people may see you and might join as well... 

Edited July 14, 2019 by =RR=ROCKET_KNUT

[adler_1]

join a voice channel there 

my team speak is on , so you mean just start talking when in the cockpit at  the base at start up and all on your chosen side wether Allied or Axis will hear if there is anyone playing  ? if it is like that how do you identify and  pic one buddy as wingman ,vice versa or to join a squadron in a mission ?  

Edited July 14, 2019 by dog1

[FTC_Riksen]

17 minutes ago, dog1 said:

join a voice channel there 

my team speak is on , so you mean just start talking when in the cockpit at  the base at start up and all on your chosen side wether Allied or Axis will hear if there is anyone playing  ? if it is like that how do you identify and  pic one buddy as wingman ,vice versa or to join a squadron in a mission ?  

 

No man ... There is no such feature in the game. Only people that are in either in the same Discord/Teamspeak channel will be able to hear you. These are seperate applications and have no relationship to the game but they ate often used by those who play in order to coordinate in flight but, again, they also need to be logged in.

[adler_1]

so with team speak working  when i go into any IL2 BOS  server i just  talk to anyone who has team speak on ?  discord  says get a server invite  but where do you get the invite from ? there is a chat section with very few old chats . left a message want to be a wing man got no replies , its dead there .

[Alonzo]

IL2 and voice chat are different. If you are flying IL2 on Combat Box server, you can also join our Discord (in the Discord app) and join a voice channel. The voice channels are further down the list than the text chat channels. Here you can see I am in the "Lobby" channel. The Discord gets more people when there are more folks flying on the Combat Box IL2 server, but the two are not linked. I'm not sure what you mean by "a chat section with very few old chats" -- the CB chat channels generally have a few conversations each day, so you should see at least some new messages, an announcements channel, a change-log with all the map updates, etc etc.

 

[JonRedcorn]

lol and yall are against in game voip... ?

[Sketch]

Don't feed the troll. The discussion should be about Combat Box, not in game voice communications.

[JonRedcorn]

1 hour ago, [TWB]Sketch said:

Don't feed the troll. The discussion should be about Combat Box, not in game voice communications.

Hahahahahahahahaha 

[Sketch]

In game voice communications discussion can be found here: 

 

[JonRedcorn]

5 hours ago, [TWB]Sketch said:

In game voice communications discussion can be found here: 

 

Oh trust me I fondly remember that thread, and all the we don't need it discords so easy to use crap that got sprayed all over the thread. The last 10 posts in this thread were hilarious.

[350th_Buzz]

Hello server down?

[RedKestrel]

1 hour ago, 615sqn_Buzz said:

Hello server down?

Maybe because of the hotfix that came out today.

 

[350th_Buzz]

Maybe, but the server is still down ?

[RedKestrel]

3 hours ago, 615sqn_Buzz said:

Maybe, but the server is still down ?

I pm'd Alonzo to let him know. If you have discord you could ask on the CB discord server too, they post a lot of news and such there.

[350th_Buzz]

Ok thank you. I do not have "Discord" yet. I will see that.

[Alonzo]

Hey all, thanks for the heads up. I am away from home traveling in Europe but I managed to get PC time and applied the update. Server should be back up now, thanks for letting me know.

[350th_Buzz]

Thank you.

[RedKestrel]

4 hours ago, Alonzo said:

Hey all, thanks for the heads up. I am away from home traveling in Europe but I managed to get PC time and applied the update. Server should be back up now, thanks for letting me know.

Thanks. Have a good time in Europe!

[Haza]

Alonso,

 

in my time-zone there are always a lot of Yanks in other servers (with GPS) but very few on your server and they appear to make the majority of players when I'm on-line!.

Therefore, perhaps if you were to alternate GPS being on between maps in your server it might help getting more on board, as I'm starting to think that a lot of players want historical aircraft and FMs, yet want the GPS on and perhaps lack the skill to play without GPS.

 

I appreciate that it is only a game, but perhaps some of the more "wiser" players (Old gits) perhaps have issues with navigating and just want to have their stats looking good! Therefore, perhaps you might consider having GPS on for some of your maps!?

 

Just a thought!

 

Regards

 

Haza (not yet an old git, but getting there)

 

[69th_Mobile_BBQ]

Actually, if Combat Box also ran early and mid-war scenarios in the rotation, I'd abandon WoL in a heartbeat.  All GPS really does is makes it a lot more convenient for vulch trash to point their plane at the enemy home field, totally ignore the objectives that are closer and suicide attack repeatedly.  If they actually HAD to read a map, they might actually be arsed to go to the closer objectives or actually attempt to carry out patrol routes looking for enemy planes. 

[RedKestrel]

7 minutes ago, =AVG77=Mobile_BBQ said:

Actually, if Combat Box also ran early and mid-war scenarios in the rotation, I'd abandon WoL in a heartbeat.  All GPS really does is makes it a lot more convenient for vulch trash to point their plane at the enemy home field, totally ignore the objectives that are closer and suicide attack repeatedly.  If they actually HAD to read a map, they might actually be arsed to go to the closer objectives or actually attempt to carry out patrol routes looking for enemy planes. 

Agreed RE: early war missions. Just a few in the rotation would make my day, or an "early war" event on certain days. I love the bodenplatte games but I really liike all the other ones too.

And agreed RE: GPS. Please keep GPS off. Realistic navigation is fun and its really not all that hard in most weather conditions. I don't think turning GPS off is going to bring an extremely large player base to the server. I think it would drive off just as many people as it attracts. GPS doesn't make the server beginner friendly - it makes them easy prey for people who have built their strategy around GPS on WoL and honed it for years. CombatBox has a number of prominent landmarks scattered throughout the maps that assist with orientation and navigation and its a great server to learn realistic navigation on.

KOTA had GPS on to start with , and when they removed it there was little appreciable difference in server numbers, but IMO the quality of the gameplay improved substantially. 

Right now its summer (for most of us in the northern hemisphere anyway) so people are out enjoying things other than Il-2. And TAW is on which is drawing off a lot of people (including myself, to my shame). 

[JimTM]

On 8/18/2019 at 2:13 AM, Haza said:

...I'm starting to think that a lot of players want historical aircraft and FMs, yet want the GPS on and perhaps lack the skill to play without GPS.

 

I appreciate that it is only a game, but perhaps some of the more "wiser" players (Old gits) perhaps have issues with navigating and just want to have their stats looking good! Therefore, perhaps you might consider having GPS on for some of your maps!?

...

 

While I would prefer CB to keep GPS off, I know it's a steep learning curve to navigate well without it, especially when you also need to watch out for bandits and monitor your aircraft condition. Navigation skills do get better with practice, both inside and outside of the online environment. Certainly, I'm much better at this skill than I used to be. For navigation help, check out the links under "Flying Guides and Utilities" in the IL-2 Resources post.

Edited August 19, 2019 by JimTM