Combat Box by Red Flight

[-332FG-KIWIvolshebnik]

2 hours ago, 56RAF_Roblex said:

 

...You also use Ch.2 for asking who needs an escort and reporting that you are planning on attacking a particular target in which case it informs the person asking about escorting or you may be asking for a vector to the nearest friendly airfield etc.

My understanding is that Ch.1 is for command and coordination (including with other pilots) and Ch.2 is just for airfield/tower ops.

From CB website:

 

[Alonzo]

6 hours ago, 56RAF_Roblex said:

Actually, thinking about it, the chatter I am hearing could easily be people who are on Ch1. as you are supposed to set one radio to Ch.1 and one radio to Ch.2 and you will hear both even though you are only broadcasting on one.  In that case there is no solution unless people always move away to ch3 to ch10 before talking and that will not happen.

 

I set things up so I have radio 1 in my left ear, radio 2 in my right, Discord (squad comms) in both. That should give you a clearer impression of whether the chatter is on 1 or 2.

 

I was going to code something for the bot to chide players who are chattering on channel 1, but the general consensus seemed to be that a polite "hey, you sound like you're doing squad comms, can you pick a channel for that?" on channel 1 will often get people to move. People don't want to be doing the wrong thing, they just get excited during a sortie.

[MAJ_stug41]

17 minutes ago, Alonzo said:

 

I was going to code something for the bot to chide players who are chattering on channel 1,

"Cut that Polish chit chat!"

 

[Alonzo]

Great video as always from Wim:

 

 

[56RAF_Roblex]

This is an easy question for the CB Crew I hope.  I was trying to co-ordinate with some people on the server who prefer Teamspeak over Discord and they said they were using the official CB Teamspeak but despite a lot of searching I could not find an address.      Can somebody tell me the details please?   TIA

[Talon_]

2 hours ago, 56RAF_Roblex said:

This is an easy question for the CB Crew I hope.  I was trying to co-ordinate with some people on the server who prefer Teamspeak over Discord and they said they were using the official CB Teamspeak but despite a lot of searching I could not find an address.      Can somebody tell me the details please?   TIA

 

There's no official CB teamspeak but there is an official IL-2 one (I think it's normally quite empty)

 

Better yet just use SRS and enjoy our AI ground control interception service plus hear other players!

Edited October 18, 2022 by Talon_

[56RAF_Roblex]

11 minutes ago, Talon_ said:

 

There's no official CB teamspeak but there is an official IL-2 one (I think it's normally quite empty)

 

Better yet just use SRS and enjoy our AI ground control interception service plus hear other players!

 

How odd.  Perhaps he meant to say IL2 Teamspeak.    We were using SRS and I love the features it gives but when everyone on your side is chatting in a single channel it can be hard to talk within the flight and retuning to a spare channel means you cannot hear the Command messages etc.   I know SRS is not your software but we need three channels ?

Edited October 18, 2022 by 56RAF_Roblex

[Talisman]

3 hours ago, 56RAF_Roblex said:

This is an easy question for the CB Crew I hope.  I was trying to co-ordinate with some people on the server who prefer Teamspeak over Discord and they said they were using the official CB Teamspeak but despite a lot of searching I could not find an address.      Can somebody tell me the details please?   TIA

 

LOL Roblex, I said official BoX ts3, as in official IL-2 ts3.  My fault as I should have been clearer, but we were having a devil of a job hearing each other due to a group of players talking all over the tower frequency when they should have been on channel 1 or their own frequency.

 

I have copied the details of the ts3 server below.  Branston and I use this official IL-2 users TS3 server all the time and find it very useful.

 

It was good to fly with you again and I hope to meet up with you again soon.

 

 

Pilots and Tankers,

 

Due to popular demand we have created a new Teamspeak server for all IL-2 users. We hope you find it useful. 

 

Server Address: 148.251.77.175

Server Password: il2gb2021

 

Please spread the word to you friends and squadron mates.

 

Jason

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by Talisman

[Talon_]

Often times Red Flight likes to hang out with Discord in both ears, SRS Channel 1 in left and SRS Channel 2 in right. Works really well!

[MAJ_stug41]

Last night I attacked a train near liege, and the tracks went south of the playable area before coming back. In fact a lot of the AFs and objectives are very close to the edge of the map. Could the objective area stay the same size, while the flyable area increases by a grid square on each side?

 

Another interesting thing about the train, the tracks were missing some bridges, so it flew halfway across a river like magic, then disappeared, which was pretty funny.

 

Edit

I see in discord it is mentioned that increasing the play area caused too much stress, oh well, map is great as it is and im sure youll smooth out these literal edge cases.

Edited October 18, 2022 by stug41

[Talon_]

First alpha campaign run visualised!

 

Please note we've now adjusted some values in order to gather more data before the server goes down on Thursday night

[MAJ_stug41]

Very cool to see the supply lines, then the subsequent pushes.

[FeuerFliegen]

I apologize if this has been asked/discussed already, but will there be player tanks?  I would love it if so.

 

I also would like to add another vote for ai bomber/transport flights.

 

I also think it would be cool if there were "planes trains and automobiles" transport columns that were completely unknown about, and would have to be discovered by doing recon throughout the countryside.  Then maybe we can see Steve Martin freaking out next to the destroyed vehicle?

 

 

And I know it won't be common, but I (and even though I'm told I'm in the minority, I talk to countless people who agree with me) would absolutely love some night missions, with spotlights, etc.  It's such a unique aspect of this sim that doesn't get appreciated enough.

[Barnacles]

1 hour ago, SCG_FeuerFliegen said:

I apologize if this has been asked/discussed already, but will there be player tanks?  I would love it if so.

 

I also would like to add another vote for ai bomber/transport flights.

 

I also think it would be cool if there were "planes trains and automobiles" transport columns that were completely unknown about, and would have to be discovered by doing recon throughout the countryside.  Then maybe we can see Steve Martin freaking out next to the destroyed vehicle?

 

 

And I know it won't be common, but I (and even though I'm told I'm in the minority, I talk to countless people who agree with me) would absolutely love some night missions, with spotlights, etc.  It's such a unique aspect of this sim that doesn't get appreciated enough.

On the CB Discord @AlonzoI think said there is not currently a plan to have player tanks. 

[Talon_]

4 hours ago, SCG_FeuerFliegen said:

And I know it won't be common, but I (and even though I'm told I'm in the minority, I talk to countless people who agree with me) would absolutely love some night missions, with spotlights, etc.  It's such a unique aspect of this sim that doesn't get appreciated enough.

 

Missions sometimes kick off at 7am which in September is plenty dark!

 

https://gfycat.com/oddelaborateeft

 

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Talon_

[Talon_]

I didn't get a lot of time to fly during the campaign (blame my baby daughter) but I did get a chance to get up for one Typhoon sortie which really embodied a lot of what we're hoping Apollo will bring to the server! It was really awesome flying amongst so many of you and co-ordinating via SRS with fighters and other Typhoons. It's not a proper trailer but then hey - we are only in Alpha after all ?

 

Maybe in Beta we'll get to the winter map and I can recreate the Bodenplatte action with you guys! ?

 

 

[FeuerFliegen]

19 hours ago, Talon_ said:

 

Missions sometimes kick off at 7am which in September is plenty dark!

 

https://gfycat.com/oddelaborateeft

 

 

 

 

 

even better... playing now and it's 6pm and getting very dark!! about to have a full hour at night!!  Thanks!!!

 

maybe implement spotlights? 

 

 

also, are there ai bombers?  I saw a message saying "our bombers are attacking xxx" when I'm 99% sure no player was attacking it at the time; although they had several minutes before.

[Talon_]

34 minutes ago, SCG_FeuerFliegen said:

also, are there ai bombers?  I saw a message saying "our bombers are attacking xxx" when I'm 99% sure no player was attacking it at the time; although they had several minutes before.

 

A group of players will have informed your side's GCI officer that they were attacking that target using SRS

[FeuerFliegen]

25 minutes ago, Talon_ said:

 

A group of players will have informed your side's GCI officer that they were attacking that target using SRS

 

Sorry, I don't understand... What is GCI?

[Talon_]

13 minutes ago, SCG_FeuerFliegen said:

 

Sorry, I don't understand... What is GCI?

 

@Alonzo has built a bot that lives inside SRS and communicates with players, assigning callsigns, targets and vectoring them towards hot spots and allies in need of assistance. 

 

Edit: GCI stands for Ground-Controlled Interception 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Talon_

[56RAF_Roblex]

I just want to say thanks for building this new dynamic map and I am looking forward to seeing what the new version looks like though I am not sure that anything needs fixing.    I did find it frustrating a couple of times when I could not work out what I needed to destroy to finish a target off but that is true on other servers and not really fixable unless you produced annotated diagrams of every target.  Is there a general rule you could tell us ie for an airfield , after we have destroyed the hangars and fuel & ammo what else is needed?  All the parked planes?  Control tower?  Does destroying the refuel/repair area do anything?

 

In your animation of how the lines moved, was that a real representation of how far they moved because they did not seem to move far before they got rolled back again? 

In other servers with dynamic front lines they tend to move all the way to one side or the other.  Perhaps in your map that is a result of it becoming very hard to break the supply lines when you manage to push your enemy back so it is very close to the source of its supplies?    Personally, I like the way that in CB you don't end up forced into a corner and unable to fight back.
On the subject of supply lines, last night I found a convoy about to enter an enemy city and very close to an active airfield. I destroyed the transports but then ran without bothering with the tanks and flak trucks.  Did I do enough to stop the resupply or do we need to destroy every vehicle?

Edited October 21, 2022 by 56RAF_Roblex

[Talon_]

2 hours ago, 56RAF_Roblex said:

In your animation of how the lines moved, was that a real representation of how far they moved because they did not seem to move far before they got rolled back again? 

In other servers with dynamic front lines they tend to move all the way to one side or the other.

 

We didn't know how much damage to expect from players on this run, so we can tune it. It's also worth mentioning that we only simulated the first six weeks of a six month campaign, and in that time neither side completely bottomed out their supply resource. We'll adjust for the Beta test and see how things work out!

 

2 hours ago, 56RAF_Roblex said:

Did I do enough to stop the resupply or do we need to destroy every vehicle?

You reduced the total supply delivered though I'm not sure by exactly how much! But the tanks and flak trucks are resupplying just by their presence!

[56RAF_Roblex]

1 hour ago, Talon_ said:

 

We didn't know how much damage to expect from players on this run, so we can tune it. It's also worth mentioning that we only simulated the first six weeks of a six month campaign, and in that time neither side completely bottomed out their supply resource. We'll adjust for the Beta test and see how things work out!

 

Looking forward to it ?

 

I would be wary about setting it based on real life. The thing about Jabo aircraft in IL2 is that it is almost impossible to stop someone diving in from high altitude and delivering 2000lb of bombs. Sure, you might kill them as they escape but it is too late by then and they might not care if they died if they managed to finish off a target.  It does help that they will lose a lot of points if they do not RTB and most of us do like to see points ? .   I wonder if it would help to not update the target status unless they rtb or at least bail in friendly territory?  That way suicidal attacks mean your team mates might return to an already closed target unnecessarily which reduces the effectiveness of the suicide attack.

[Alonzo]

Hey everyone, we are running a survey on the recent campaign alpha test. If you took part and would like to give us feedback in the survey, click here.

[Sitaro]

 

On 10/16/2022 at 10:42 AM, Alonzo said:

 

I'm glad you like the campaign, but I have no idea who you are. If we banned you from the Discord -- something we rarely do -- it was because your contributions were a net negative, you wrongly assumed "free speech means I can give my opinion in as offensive a form as I like with no repercussions", or you were just an egregious toss bat.

 

Anyhow, no hard feelings. We've been working on the campaign for more than a year. It's not like "do a campaign mode" is some sort of stroke of genius, given TAW and Finnish both have had great success with that formula. We just wanted to do it in a high quality way that isn't a "me, too" campaign, and that took a while. We still have more to do.

I assume nothing. I am completely aware free speech doesn't apply to forums. The point, which you clearly missed, was about how ridiculous you are. 

 

I did fly your server quite a bit. To the point that I figured that maybe I should start supporting it. But then, I started to realize that You really didn't care, or even welcome the thoughts and opinions of the people using the server. Which is fine, because it is your server. So, I pretty much quit flying it. I started flying Finnish instead.  Now, I pay to support them. 

 

And before you make your own assumption, which you will, I am just gonna answer it. I am glad you don't need more patrons. But again, that wasn't the point. 

[357th_KW]

4 hours ago, Sitaro said:

 

I assume nothing. I am completely aware free speech doesn't apply to forums. The point, which you clearly missed, was about how ridiculous you are. 

 

I did fly your server quite a bit. To the point that I figured that maybe I should start supporting it. But then, I started to realize that You really didn't care, or even welcome the thoughts and opinions of the people using the server. Which is fine, because it is your server. So, I pretty much quit flying it. I started flying Finnish instead.  Now, I pay to support them. 

 

And before you make your own assumption, which you will, I am just gonna answer it. I am glad you don't need more patrons. But again, that wasn't the point. 

 

Let's be real clear here.  Alonzo and company have been extremely open to discussing how the server runs and accepting criticism.  They've made enormous changes and improvements over the past few years.  Dozens of players contribute their time and ideas in a constructive fashion, without melting down if their ideas don't make it onto the server.  Hundreds of players donate money to keep things running because they appreciate the server and the folks who created it.  The handful of players that express the same attitude as you, as a rule, have been exceptionally rude and condescending to the volunteers who make Combat Box possible.  It's their server and their vision.  If they don't implement your suggestion, that's just how it goes.  You could always sink thousands of hours of your own time and your own $$ to build a server just the way you want it.  But don't be shocked when nobody wants to hear an endless stream of abuse, because they aren't running THEIR server exactly the way YOU want it.

[Alonzo]

Another awesome video from Wim.

 

 

[Sitaro]

On 10/23/2022 at 2:03 PM, 357th_KW said:

 

Let's be real clear here.  Alonzo and company have been extremely open to discussing how the server runs and accepting criticism.  They've made enormous changes and improvements over the past few years.  Dozens of players contribute their time and ideas in a constructive fashion, without melting down if their ideas don't make it onto the server.  Hundreds of players donate money to keep things running because they appreciate the server and the folks who created it.  The handful of players that express the same attitude as you, as a rule, have been exceptionally rude and condescending to the volunteers who make Combat Box possible.  It's their server and their vision.  If they don't implement your suggestion, that's just how it goes.  You could always sink thousands of hours of your own time and your own $$ to build a server just the way you want it.  But don't be shocked when nobody wants to hear an endless stream of abuse, because they aren't running THEIR server exactly the way YOU want it.

Well, since you completely missed the point, let me be just as clear. I am aware it's their server. I am pretty sure I eluded to that in a previous comment above. 

 

Combat Box was my go to server when I started. It was easier than Finnish. I liked the later planes. I would fly it often. 

 

My issue was not with them rejecting suggestions made to improve the server. The issue was with the attitude accompanying it. It is one thing to dismiss someone's idea. But its another to act like they just suggested cocaine for infants. 

[SCG_Tzigy]

Srry guys if this brought up already. Ar-234 bomb sight commands not working, tried 2 differnt days, and double checked both times working for me in the SPP, anyone else had this issue? 

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by SCG_Tzigy

[ATAG_Ezzie]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm relatively new to Combat Box and BON (been online flying FC for ~ 18 months and before that COD) and have been flying the Mossie for a couple of weeks learning how to fly/survive and sometimes hit stuff doing low and fast intruder-type attacks on various targets.  I'm enjoying the Alpha test of the rhineland day by day battle and have flown a bunch of sorties last weekend and now this weekend.

 

In the last couple / three sorties I've been shot down or heavily damaged by flak that seems to hit me on the first burst while I'm at ~ 330 mph, <30 ft altitude and a little bit of distance away from the flak gun that i think hit me on its first burst (using flight record tracks to locate the flak gun).

 

I was flying similar attack profiles last weekend and didnt get any golden BBs so maybe the law of averages has finally caught up with me?  But I'm wondering if the flak skill level or types of weapons have been changed in the latest version of the alpha, with the result that they are much more likely to shoot me down / Pk me on the first burst?

 

No probs if this is how it has always been in BON/BOS or if these changes have been made in the latest alpha to make low level attacks much less survivable for gameplay reasons even when doing the right things to try and survive (high speed, very low alt, attack from the rear etc). If this is the case I'll dry my eyes, adjust my attacks and see if i can reduce being hit by the first burst. 

 

But i thought i would mention it just in case the skill setting has been unknowingly set a tad too high around some targets.

 

Ezzie

Edited October 29, 2022 by ATAG_Ezzie

[MAJ_stug41]

18 minutes ago, ATAG_Ezzie said:

Hi everyone,

 

I'm relatively new to Combat Box and BON (been online flying FC for ~ 18 months and before that COD) and have been flying the Mossie for a couple of weeks learning how to fly/survive and sometimes hit stuff doing low and fast intruder-type attacks on various targets.  I'm enjoying the Alpha test of the rhineland day by day battle and have flown a bunch of sorties last weekend and now this weekend.

 

In the last couple / three sorties I've been shot down or heavily damaged by flak that seems to hit me on the first burst while I'm at ~ 330 mph, <30 ft altitude and a little bit of distance away from the flak gun that i think hit me on its first burst (using flight record tracks to locate the flak gun).

 

I was flying similar attack profiles last weekend and didnt get any golden BBs so maybe the law of averages has finally caught up with me?  But I'm wondering if the flak skill level or types of weapons have been changed in the latest version of the alpha, with the result that they are much more likely to shoot me down / Pk me on the first burst?

 

No probs if this is how it has always been in BON/BOS or if these changes have been made in the latest alpha to make low level attacks much less survivable for gameplay reasons even when doing the right things to try and survive (high speed, very low alt, attack from the rear etc). If this is the case I'll dry my eyes, adjust my attacks and see if i can reduce being hit by the first burst. 

 

But i thought i would mention it just in case the skill setting has been unknowingly set a tad too high around some targets.

 

Ezzie

All the objective and af flak is fresh since they havent been attrited yet so theyre very accurate. As the campaign goes on they should be less accurate. I too have noticed they can be scary accurate last night.

 

[JimTM]

2 hours ago, ATAG_Ezzie said:

...even when doing the right things to try and survive (high speed, very low alt, attack from the rear etc)...

 

Some random left/right turns and climbs/descents before straightening out for the drop may help increase your chances. Also, a curved approach to the target helps.

Edited October 29, 2022 by JimTM

[ROCKET_KNUT]

Find somebody, who really likes you and therefore flies the sortie with you.

Convince him to go in first, drawing the attention of the AAA. Pray for it to work. 

Fly a bit behind and offset and blast those Flak-Heinies to smithereens while they are busy concentrating on your friend.

Have a cold brew together afterwards. 

If you´re alone, well, then you´re going to die most of the times you go up, just like me.?

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by ROCKET_KNUT

[ATAG_Ezzie]

Thanks for the replies. 

 

Did a bit more random jinking on my ingress immediately prior to the tgt and afterwards and didnt get hit on the 3 tgts i attacked.  They were already damaged which might of helped as well, although the flak was still active and opened up on me just as i reached the drop point.

 

Ezzie

[Alonzo]

On 10/29/2022 at 6:41 AM, ATAG_Ezzie said:

But I'm wondering if the flak skill level or types of weapons have been changed in the latest version of the alpha, with the result that they are much more likely to shoot me down / Pk me on the first burst?

 

We overhauled the flak for alpha 2 (the one that's running this weekend). You should see more consistent spawn/despawn/respawn behavior on the guns, and in general the AA will persist (or come back) more during the mission. The "supply level" of an objective affects the number of guns, their skill level, and how quickly they respawn. If an objective has medium or heavy damage, it will have fewer guns, with lower skill, that take longer to repop. This was true in the first alpha but you might be seeing the effects of it more clearly with the better flak logic. The guns always respawn eventually, but at a heavily damaged objective they can take up to 30 minutes to do so. The exact timings and placement of the AA is randomized for each day of the campaign. You also can't 'clear' the AA and then come back to an undefended objective like you can on our regular missions (unless you're very quick).

 

Soloing a 300 supply 'strategic' objective definitely shouldn't be done lightly, neither should attacking a 200 supply airfield. Both of those are going to have nasty AA. But as the campaign wears on, fewer supply points will be at 100% and the guns will get easier.

[ATAG_Ezzie]

Thanks Alonzo - useful to know and I'll plan accordingly

 

Ezzie

[CIA_Elanski]

Like the campaign stuff...nicely done.  We left though when the map is dark for 30 minutes to start.  Just not fun.  S

[[CPT]Crunch]

On 10/30/2022 at 7:28 PM, Alonzo said:

 

We overhauled the flak for alpha 2 (the one that's running this weekend). You should see more consistent spawn/despawn/respawn behavior on the guns, and in general the AA will persist (or come back) more during the mission. The "supply level" of an objective affects the number of guns, their skill level, and how quickly they respawn. If an objective has medium or heavy damage, it will have fewer guns, with lower skill, that take longer to repop. This was true in the first alpha but you might be seeing the effects of it more clearly with the better flak logic. The guns always respawn eventually, but at a heavily damaged objective they can take up to 30 minutes to do so. The exact timings and placement of the AA is randomized for each day of the campaign. You also can't 'clear' the AA and then come back to an undefended objective like you can on our regular missions (unless you're very quick).

 

Soloing a 300 supply 'strategic' objective definitely shouldn't be done lightly, neither should attacking a 200 supply airfield. Both of those are going to have nasty AA. But as the campaign wears on, fewer supply points will be at 100% and the guns will get easier.

Any chance of the Russian guns being removed from the western side, besides being ahistorical the west shouldn't have an advantage they clearly never had even when it boils down to game balancing, flying both side as fighter attack the Russian guns are superior in range, continuous firing rates, and hitting power.  If its about balance, use the German guns to equalize so there's no advantage. 

 

There shouldn't be long range guns for the most part on the allied side of the front, those they had were generally deployed to protect the home front, strategic ports, and on V-1 routes.  The game itself reflects this reality with it being one tactically based, so the allied AAA they've issued in the mission builder isn't that great since it wasn't all that required with the allies historically holding air superiority, guessing that's why the Russian AAA has been deployed west in a balancing effort. 

 

The overly optimistic flak guns the allies currently posses seems to me is making their pilots a bit lazy, they currently seem to have little concern with covering their own back yard or targets from my observations.  Just a thought but might equalizing the guns or slightly shifting the other way per history possibly cause more blue attack sorties and relieving their air defense struggle a bit when grossly outnumbered by putting the allies more in a defensive mind the backyard mode.   

[Alonzo]

1 hour ago, [CPT]Crunch said:

If its about balance, use the German guns to equalize so there's no advantage.

 

We can't use German guns, they have the wrong tracer color. If you have specific suggestions for gun models to use on each side, we'd be happy to hear them. You can see all the gun types under 'artillery' in the mission editor, and there are also 'vehicles' that have AA guns on them, so they may be an option too.

 

We load all the information about the guns into a spreadsheet, and our campaign system then substitutes gun models depending on the country that controls each supply point. We need to know category (flak, vehicle, troops, etc), country (GB, USA, DE, USSR), weapon type and maximum attack distance.

[Alonzo]

Great video from 1./JG26_Jaydog