Combat Box by Red Flight

[JonRedcorn]

41 minutes ago, Talon_ said:

 

We have to make a choice regarding engine boost mods between balance and history, as the Allies all had theirs in service long before the K-4 even arrived, let alone ran 1.98ata. In fact the Allies were using 150 grade gas and +11lbs Tempests before even the Dora was in service!

Ooo Let's get a planeset with all the allied upgrades and stick the germans with g-14's and g-6's should be a lot of fun! Let's remember they have their superior Minengeschoß!!!

 

[RedKestrel]

P47, P38 and Spitfire are well balanced with the 109g14 and the 190a8 imo. A plane set based around that for an earlier war setting would not be bad at all for either side. Of course no one would get their super planes so it might not be very popular.

 

[Lusekofte]

I find it very hard surviving with these new planes around. 

LW fly organized as ever and protect their targets well. Always get intercepted by many. Kudos to them.  

Hard but very historically outcome. I simply need to join a group. Now I am just happy if I manage to reach target alive. 

The P 38 got a tendency to be split in two 

[StaB/Tomio_VR***]

1 hour ago, RedKestrel said:

 Of course no one would get their super planes so it might not be very popular.

 

It will. Flying P-38 or P-47 is just crazy as of now with K4 1.98 ata around.

 

 

I'm not very aware of 150 octane service use

Did all the allied planes really had it from march 44 ?

[Talon_]

3 hours ago, StaB/Tomio_VR*** said:

I'm not very aware of 150 octane service use

Did all the allied planes really had it from march 44 ?

 

Spitfires started on +25lbs in Spring of 44 yes, and by the introduction of the P-51D it was the only fuel in use for USAAF 8th Air Force units. Basically any RAF or USAAF unit flying out of England used it from that point until the end of the war.

 

On the Continent, the situation was different due to logistical concerns. American planes never got 150 grade fuel and RAF planes only got it from January 1945 - so they flew from European bases without it between June and December. This is a window we could feasibly use for restricting 150 grade for the Mustang and Spitfire.

 

The Tempest didn't need 150 octane fuel for +11lbs so used it from September 1944 regardless of location.

[RedKestrel]

10 hours ago, StaB/Tomio_VR*** said:

It will. Flying P-38 or P-47 is just crazy as of now with K4 1.98 ata around.

 

 

I'm not very aware of 150 octane service use

Did all the allied planes really had it from march 44 ?

Call me crazy then , I spent all night flying p47s. I did get killed on every sortie so not exactly a stirring recommendation....

[Haza]

Ladies/Gents,

I'm having issues logging in? Is the server down?

Cheers

Edited October 13, 2019 by Haza

[Amarnthe]

I can't get in either.  The server list shows 40 out of 72 slots taken.

 

*Nevermind, I got in. 

Edited October 13, 2019 by Aeglos

[RedKestrel]

Servers been having some issues, it seems. Not all that surprising with the new patch and the very heavy traffic it’s been getting since then.

[56RAF_Roblex]

What exactly do the airfield flares tell us?   I was joining the circuit from the Finals end a few days back and I saw a red flare an someone taking off while someone else was landing in the opposite direction.  I did a break over the field and turned downwind and this time as I neared the end I was given a green flare.

 

I am sure the game is not clever enough to recognise that a player is on finals while another is taking off so were those flares just for an AI flight?

[=RvE=Windmills]

Hostiles in the area afaik, red flare for danger, green flare for all clear?

[Lusekofte]

I thought green was clear to land / take off and red opposite. 

[Stoopy]

If the airfield flare setup that Alonzo designed and shared in the Mission Groups Sharing forum is anything to go by, the red flare indicates the presence of one of more hostiles within a specific range of the airfield, and green indicates All Clear.   At least it works that way when I use it.  A hostile that is flirting in and out of that range can also set it off more than once each time they cross over the invisible boundary.

.

 

[56RAF_Roblex]

Thanks.   I have a track so I will see if that confirms an enemy around.

 

[[DBS]TH0R]

Many thanks to our escorts, we were able to mop up two targets in one sortie tonight:

 

 

[E69_Hans_luchs]

Hello, I wanted to inform you that the pilot 106GAPON_Dietrich killed me at the aerodrome shooting flares at my pilot.
I would like you to take some punishment to avoid this kind of players.

I have screenshot if you want it

Regards

Edited October 14, 2019 by E69_Hans_Luchs

[Talon_]

26 minutes ago, E69_Hans_Luchs said:

Hello, I wanted to inform you that the pilot 106GAPON_Dietrich killed me at the aerodrome shooting flares at my pilot.
I would like you to take some punishment to avoid this kind of players.

I have screenshot if you want it

Regards

 

Go ahead and PM me.

 

Thanks

[Talon_]

Just FYI guys Combat Box has flipped over to "Alternate" spotting for a few nights to see what happens!

 

Good hunting!

[Alonzo]

On 10/13/2019 at 4:15 AM, 56RAF_Roblex said:

What exactly do the airfield flares tell us?   I was joining the circuit from the Finals end a few days back and I saw a red flare an someone taking off while someone else was landing in the opposite direction.  I did a break over the field and turned downwind and this time as I neared the end I was given a green flare.

 

I am sure the game is not clever enough to recognise that a player is on finals while another is taking off so were those flares just for an AI flight?

 

On 10/13/2019 at 10:20 AM, =[TIA]=Stoopy said:

If the airfield flare setup that Alonzo designed and shared in the Mission Groups Sharing forum is anything to go by, the red flare indicates the presence of one of more hostiles within a specific range of the airfield, and green indicates All Clear.   At least it works that way when I use it.  A hostile that is flirting in and out of that range can also set it off more than once each time they cross over the invisible boundary.

 

Stoopy has the answer -- the red warning flare fires if an enemy comes within 6km (that's less than one minute away, given the speeds we now fly at) and then a green flare fires when there are no enemies nearby (out to like 7.5km or something). If you're on the ground, you'll find the flare is accompanied by an air raid siren from the tower. My usual action on seeing a red flare is to clean up the plane, add throttle and get fast, and start to look for flak or tracers.

[RedKestrel]

38 minutes ago, Talon_ said:

Just FYI guys Combat Box has flipped over to "Alternate" spotting for a few nights to see what happens!

 

Good hunting!

Thanks for the heads up. I didn’t get a chance to fly as much as I wanted this weekend but I got in a few hours. So far my impression of normal spotting is pretty favourable. I can spot farther than I did before but it’s not crazy. I will make sure I fly some with alt vis and give feedback. Is there a good place on the discord to offer feedback?

[squidboi]

A player on that server told me I am severely disadvantaging myself by not using the late war planes in that server. So my question is, is there a change to my tactics I can employ to help counter-act this? Or is it simply hopeless for me to try and fly against late war allied planes in say, a 109 G2 or 190 A-3? Should I wait until I get BoBp to even attempt this to avoid frustrations? Thanks ?

 

3 hours ago, RedKestrel said:

Thanks for the heads up. I didn’t get a chance to fly as much as I wanted this weekend but I got in a few hours. So far my impression of normal spotting is pretty favourable. I can spot farther than I did before but it’s not crazy. I will make sure I fly some with alt vis and give feedback. Is there a good place on the discord to offer feedback?

Check #suggestions on the server discord. There is good discussion about spotting there.

[Talon_]

3 hours ago, squidboi said:

A player on that server told me I am severely disadvantaging myself by not using the late war planes in that server. So my question is, is there a change to my tactics I can employ to help counter-act this? Or is it simply hopeless for me to try and fly against late war allied planes in say, a 109 G2 or 190 A-3? Should I wait until I get BoBp to even attempt this to avoid frustrations? Thanks ?

 

You're certainly not going to find it easy ? you can still make your mark on the mission outcome with ground attack sorties but you will notice the speed difference compared to the "modern" rides when you get into a fight.

[Kurfurst]

On 10/12/2019 at 8:25 PM, Talon_ said:

 

Spitfires started on +25lbs in Spring of 44 yes, and by the introduction of the P-51D it was the only fuel in use for USAAF 8th Air Force units. Basically any RAF or USAAF unit flying out of England used it from that point until the end of the war.

 

False claim.

 

There were only two Spitfire IX Squadrons, Nos. 1 and 165 stationed at Predennack airfield (SW of Plymouth, NW of Normandy) were performing operational trials with 150 grade fuel and working out initial teething troubles, and occasional sortie or two over the Continent. They were rather far away from the Bodenplatte map BTW. 

In September 1944 it was decided to revert both Nos. 1 and 165 to 100/130 grade fuel and consequently, to +18 lbs boost. 

 

All other Spitfire IX Squadrons kept operating on +18 lbs and 100/130 grade fuel. The only RAF Squadrons using 150 grade at the time were those engaged in V-1 busting missions.

 

In other words, a handful of Spitfires had +25 lbs before September 1944, located far away from combat and not engaging the Luftwaffe much, and none had it between September 1944 till about February 1945.

 

On 10/12/2019 at 8:25 PM, Talon_ said:

The Tempest didn't need 150 octane fuel for +11lbs so used it from September 1944 regardless of location.

 

False claim. 

 

In September 1944 it was decided to revert Sabre IIAs of Tempests previously engaged on V-1 hunting missions to +9 lbs boost.

 

The Tempests series fitted with the +11 capable Sabre IIB engines began arriving at the units in early 1945, about the same time Spitfire IXs were begin testing +25 lbs on the continent in several squadrons (conversions took place in the late January 1945 - March 1945.

 

It is known that Spitfire IX units reverted to 100/130 grade in April 1945 after technical issues observed with the new fuel (engines stopping at takeoff due to lead depositing on spark plugs), but that probably does not concern the campaign period.

 

[Talon_]

1 minute ago, VO101Kurfurst said:

 

-snip-

 

 

Kurfurst is wrong about all of this but it doesn't matter as I'll be using my documents from the museum for timescales rather than his hearsay when setting up the multiplayer missions for Combat Box ?

 

Also to pre-empt any future drama, that's the last I'll say in this thread on the topic of Kurfurst's opinion of 150 grade fuel, +11lbs boost and K-4 DC availability. My decision is final and not up for debate! Kurfurst you are welcome to set up your own server to portray your own vision of reality.

 

Peace.

[Kurfurst]

Feel free to enjoy ahistorical fantasy scenarios.

 

 

 

HEADQUARTERS:
	AIR DEFENCE GREAT BRITAIN.
	ROYAL AIR FORCE
	BENTLEY PRIORY
	STANMORE
	MIDDLESEX
	18th September 1944.

 

Use of 150 Grade Fuel

Sir,

        I have the honor to refer to the above subject, and state that during the last 6 months a considerable amount of experience has been gained in A.D.G.B. with the use of 150 Grade Fuel in operational aircraft. The use of this fuel allowed higher boost pressures, which gave substantial increases in aircraft performance, and these increases were of great value when Squadrons of A.D.G.B. were employed against the flying bomb. Attached at Appendix “A” is a summary of the experience gained.

2.        Because the flying bomb menace no longer exists, and because under existing operational commitments, aircraft of A.D.G.B. will have to refuel at landing grounds in Belgium or Holland, it has been decided to revert to the use of 130 Grade Fuel and to adjust engines to their previous maximum boost pressure. To continue to use 150 Grade Fuel in operational Squadrons is undesirable for the following reasons:-

(i)	The free interchange of Squadrons with T.A.F would be complicated in that aircraft would have to be modified for the lower boost pressure on transfer.
(ii)	To use 150 Grade Fuel when operating from U.K and to use 130 Grade Fuel when refueling on the Continent, would call for repeated adjustments of the maximum boost pressure obtainable.
(iii)	The increased performance obtainable by the use of 150 Grade Fuel is not an essential operational requirement for the role, which A.D.G.B. Squadrons will be called to undertake in the near future.
(iv)	The supply of 150 Grade Fuel is such that stocks can only be laid down a certain airfields. This imposes a degree of inflexibility, which is undesirable.
(v)	The use of high boost pressures in Mosquito aircraft calls for the fitting of open exhausts as the night flying exhausts will not withstand the temperatures associated with the higher boost pressures. Therefore, to continue to use the higher boost pressures in Mosquito aircraft makes the aircraft unsuitable for normal Night Fighter operation.

The Air Officer Commanding-in – Chief,
Headquarters
Allied Expeditionary Air Force.

Edited October 15, 2019 by VO101Kurfurst

[Talon_]

7 minutes ago, VO101Kurfurst said:

Feel free to enjoy ahistorical fantasy scenarios.

 

From the OP:

 

Combat Box is focused on late-war, historically-inspired scenarios including BoBP plane sets.

 

We've hit 3,000 unique users already this month - more than any IL-2 server ever so far and with almost perfect balance red/blue - and we're only two weeks in, so for now we'll continue doing what we're doing as it's clearly popular. Thanks for your concern.

Edited October 15, 2019 by Talon_

[Kurfurst]

There is nothing wrong with ahistorical, but balanced dogfight servers. 

 

But then of course if the idea of 'balance' is that Allied side gets all the goodies, and the Axis none, then it's neither historical, neither balanced.

Edited October 15, 2019 by VO101Kurfurst

[Talon_]

4 minutes ago, VO101Kurfurst said:

There is nothing wrong with ahistorical, but balanced dogfight servers. 

 

But then of course if the idea of 'balance' is that Allied side gets all the goodies, and the Axis none, then it's neither historical, neither balanced.

 

I notice you haven't ever flown a single mission on the server, but if you'd like to do so your feedback regarding balance will be appreciated as it is from all our players.

[Kurfurst]

Well, your statistics show haven't flown much on your own server either, at least until very recently when you could give your own side boosted Allied planes. 

 

Anyway thanks for the invitation but my interest is primarily flying historically accurate scenarios/plane-sets in my rather limited stick time rather than missions tailored for easy allied wins, i.e. 80+% Allied 'win' ratio, limiting of Axis planes under various pretexts etc.

 

And as you have now stated in no uncertain terms, you very much like it to remain like that way, and you will not discuss it with anyone, so there seem to be no reason to bother. There are so many fine servers to choose from.

[Talon_]

26 minutes ago, VO101Kurfurst said:

limiting of Axis planes under various pretexts etc.

 

Currently no axis planes or mods are limited on Combat Box.

 

The missions are mostly as they were before the Mustang, Tempest and Lightning arrived with the only major tweak being the increasing availability of Me262s. The 80% winrate enjoyed this month by Allies is a result of the near-total superiority of these three new aircraft (Plus +25lbs boost Spit) over the Axis designs and is something we will be accounting for in future mission layouts and revisions of the current setups to bring the winrate back to a roughly even split as has been a defining feature of Combat Box since the early days.

Edited October 15, 2019 by Talon_

[Kurfurst]

Its nice to see that you are increasing the availability of the Me 262 which supposedly wasn't limited in availability in the first place.

[Talon_]

3 minutes ago, VO101Kurfurst said:

Its nice to see that you are increasing the availability of the Me 262 which supposedly wasn't limited in availability in the first place.

 

If you had played on the server you would know how the Me262's availability is dynamically controlled by player actions and teamwork.

 

Edit: I misspoke earlier. Bombs of 900kg and above are restricted for both sides.

Edited October 15, 2019 by Talon_

[Alonzo]

2 hours ago, VO101Kurfurst said:

Anyway thanks for the invitation but my interest is primarily flying historically accurate scenarios/plane-sets in my rather limited stick time rather than missions tailored for easy allied wins, i.e. 80+% Allied 'win' ratio, limiting of Axis planes under various pretexts etc.

 

So you play mostly single player, with Novice AI wingmen, 30% fuel loads, against 10:1 odds, and sometimes recycle years-old training aircraft into your fleet as you get increasingly desperate in your defence of the Reich? Sounds fun but has nothing to do with Combat Box.

 

This is the one and only time in this thread that I will indulge you with a response. Go troll elsewhere.

[MiloMorai]

3 hours ago, VO101Kurfurst said:

There is nothing wrong with ahistorical, but balanced dogfight servers. 

 

But then of course if the idea of 'balance' is that Allied side gets all the goodies, and the Axis none, then it's neither historical, neither balanced.

What goodies should the Axis get?

[RedKestrel]

6 hours ago, squidboi said:

A player on that server told me I am severely disadvantaging myself by not using the late war planes in that server. So my question is, is there a change to my tactics I can employ to help counter-act this? Or is it simply hopeless for me to try and fly against late war allied planes in say, a 109 G2 or 190 A-3? Should I wait until I get BoBp to even attempt this to avoid frustrations? Thanks ?

 

I wouldn't wait, this is a good server Flying 109G-2 and 190A-3 against Spitfire IXs with 18lb boost, P-38s and P-47s is probably just as doable as flying soviet aircraft against against Axis aircraft in the early or mid-war period - You'll be generally outclassed but have some ability to compete on some level. Against the Tempest, Mustang and high-boost Spitfire your ability to compete is pretty restricted. Not to say you can't occasionally surprise people, but you'll be facing aircraft that are better than you in nearly every way.

I flew on Combat Box for a long time before I had BoBP. I mostly fly allied so I was frequently engaging FW-190D9s and 109K-4s in Yak-7s and P-39s. Did I win? Not very often. But you can still have fun on the server. If you stay high and engage when you come in with the advantage you can still get kills. If you kill a Tempest in a 109G-2 it would be awesome and its worth flying on the server for that possibility alone.

If you are flying axis the 110 is still a very viable attacker with fighter-like performance. High-performance fighters are nice but moving mud wins wars. 

1 minute ago, MiloMorai said:

What goodies should the Axis get?

Super planes like the 109K-4 and 190D-9 would be nice for a start. Maybe even those super-nice new Me-262s! Oh, wait...
 

[Kurfurst]

2 hours ago, Alonzo said:

 

So you play mostly single player, with Novice AI wingmen, 30% fuel loads, against 10:1 odds, and sometimes recycle years-old training aircraft into your fleet as you get increasingly desperate in your defence of the Reich?

 

Actually that's pretty much gives us an idea of your lack of proper understanding of the historical environment and typical daily operations of 1944/45 air combat over Europe. Try reading about it a bit. Much of the autumn of 1944 for example were all about massed Luftwaffe attacks. Jabo sorties and strafing runs were extremely common especially towards the end of the war, and most went intercepted.

 

Now, it's true that I, like 99% of the playerbase play mostly single player, and as such there is not interested in 30% fuel loads (which are totally unhistorical DF server invention), pure performance tailored 'win button' builds, biased planesets and other exploits/semi-exploits the some of the hard-core MP crowd may be interested in. Getting most of the advantage, denying as much as possible for easy wins and so forth. 

 

2 hours ago, Alonzo said:

Sounds fun but has nothing to do with Combat Box.

 

Indeed a historical environment is something that has nothing to do with Combat Box, that much we can agree on.  Though I personally have limited interest in repetitive dogfight servers with ahistorical setups, where the mission designer somehow, in some way always picks ''historical dates' to get rid of certain much hated late war German planes but fulfill every hardcore Allied fanboy's fantasy and allow them and their grandmother to flying those two dozen historically existing +25 Spits and Tempests.  But that's okay, everyone has different tastes, different generations has different tastes - Inglorious Basterds is fun movie in it's own right too, even if it's a bit silly for us history buffs.

 

However perhaps one day you will manage to find out that is even more fun to fly in a historically as much as possible realistic environment, or something that gives a good taste of it, as 90% of the fun comes from exploring varying historical scenarios, even if it's sometimes against greatly uneven odds. That's part of the challenge and the experience.  Although sometimes a good, mindless scrap in a total fantasy scenario can be fun too. 

[TheOldCrow]

34 minutes ago, VO101Kurfurst said:

 

Actually that's pretty much gives us an idea of your lack of proper understanding of the historical environment and typical daily operations of 1944/45 air combat over Europe. Try reading about it a bit. Much of the autumn of 1944 for example were all about massed Luftwaffe attacks. Jabo sorties and strafing runs were extremely common especially towards the end of the war, and most went intercepted.

 

Now, it's true that I, like 99% of the playerbase play mostly single player, and as such there is not interested in 30% fuel loads (which are totally unhistorical DF server invention), pure performance tailored 'win button' builds, biased planesets and other exploits/semi-exploits the some of the hard-core MP crowd may be interested in. Getting most of the advantage, denying as much as possible for easy wins and so forth. 

 

 

Indeed a historical environment is something that has nothing to do with Combat Box, that much we can agree on.  Though I personally have limited interest in repetitive dogfight servers with ahistorical setups, where the mission designer somehow, in some way always picks ''historical dates' to get rid of certain much hated late war German planes but fulfill every hardcore Allied fanboy's fantasy and allow them and their grandmother to flying those two dozen historically existing +25 Spits and Tempests.  But that's okay, everyone has different tastes, different generations has different tastes - Inglorious Basterds is fun movie in it's own right too, even if it's a bit silly for us history buffs.

 

However perhaps one day you will manage to find out that is even more fun to fly in a historically as much as possible realistic environment, or something that gives a good taste of it, as 90% of the fun comes from exploring varying historical scenarios, even if it's sometimes against greatly uneven odds. That's part of the challenge and the experience.  Although sometimes a good, mindless scrap in a total fantasy scenario can be fun too.

 

Dude if you don't play on the server just don't respond on the topic. You obviously know a great deal about the history and that's fantastic. But, there's no reason to be toxic about it. Just let people play what they want. Doesn't matter if it's historical or not in a multiplayer server basing its self on historical accuracy. But allowing freedoms for people who don't want to know the history to still enjoy the game 

Edited October 15, 2019 by TheOldCrow

[Kurfurst]

3 minutes ago, TheOldCrow said:

 

Dude if you don't play on the server just don't respond on the topic. You obviously know a great deal about the history and that's fantastic. But, there's no reason to be toxic about it. Just let people play what they want. Doesn't matter if it's historical or not in a multiplayer server basing its self on historical accuracy. But allowing freedoms for people who don't want to know the history to still enjoy the game 

 

You are right. I was interested in Combat Box because it seemed promising with all the 'historically inspired' setups, to which obviously a great deal of work has gone. But ahistorical setups are a deal breaker for me, perhaps I am too much of a 'purist' in that regard. But that should not stop you or any other from enjoying what the server has to offer. Cheers, KF

[squidboi]

Guys lets remember to keep it on topic and not drag this into a flame war of who has the "correct" style of approaching gameplay. 

[Bilbo_Baggins]

Hello gents, do all maps in rotation have AI spawning in at low player numbers, or is just a select few? Which types of AI planes are there and what player numbers do they come in at?

 

Cheers