Combat Box by Red Flight

[Haza]

Just now, Alonzo said:

 

We have a plan for an 'anniversary event' which will feature more 262s, high altitude combat, and general shenanigans. We'll let you all know nearer the time and once we've tested it.

 

For the 262, in general there are 2 or 3 jets available in each 'unlock'. I'm away from home so this is an answer from memory, might not be 100% exact. On the Eindhoven map, there's an unlock once 25(ish) reds get in the air, and then an unlock each time a jet fuel train makes it to the jet airfield. On Scheldt there is an unlock for each 30-40 minute segment where there are 25 reds flying. On Crossing the Rhine the jets are added when there are 25 reds flying, with 2 jets available + 1 per hour.

 

On all maps if you land a jet safely at the jet airfield it is immediately available for reuse. In theory, if pilots were very careful, they could have a half dozen or so jets flying around by map end.

 

OK cheers for that clarification!

 

EDIT: Yeah, I was the first to join "Closing of the Rhur  Apr '45" and found lots of P-51s, with 150 fuel, P-38s, Tempests, P-47s and even a P-40, but alas no 262s. Does this map need the 25 reds or is the 262 just not available in the map as surely the time frame would be spot on for the 262!?

 

Just joined the server again with reds at 25, no 262, so assuming 262 is not available in the map!?  Therefore, would it be possible to have the 262 in this map as there now appears to be more maps without the 262 than with!?

 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2020 by Haza

[Fern]

I had this idea awhile back. Bomber Intercept Mode. AI Allied bombers spawn in at high altitude and randomly go towards 1 of 3 objectives. Luftwaffe have to decide which objective to defend.

 

Allies have one original spawn. You die, you spawn again at original and have to catch back up again to flight of bombers. Also if you didn't want to fly back, you could just spawn in as a gunner in a bomber.

 

Axis have two spawns. Airfield or a further airspawn of equal distance as Allied Airspawn. Airfield spawn forces you to climb back to altitude. Some sort of balance would be needed. 

 

Axis would have to recon for flight of bombers and escorts, and bring the fight.

 

Target destroyed = attackers win, round ends. Start again or rotate sides.

 

This could give everyone the high altitude fights we want with some element of surprise.

 

I just wonder how much the AI bombers would lag the server.

 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2020 by Fern

[JimTM]

11 hours ago, Alonzo said:

...

On all maps if you land a jet safely at the jet airfield it is immediately available for reuse. In theory, if pilots were very careful, they could have a half dozen or so jets flying around by map end.

 

I was looking at "crossing_the_rhine_mar_1945" from Jan. 10, 2020 and I noticed that the Return Planes checkbox for Limburg (the Me262 base) was cleared, which means that undamaged returned planes are not available again. The Renewable option is checked (with time set to 60) for the Me 262 though, so you get a new one every hour. I'm not sure if this is the latest version of the map. I haven't looked at the other maps.

[Creep]

1 hour ago, JimTM said:

 

I was looking at "crossing_the_rhine_mar_1945" from Jan. 10, 2020 and I noticed that the Return Planes checkbox for Limburg (the Me262 base) was cleared, which means that undamaged returned planes are not available again. The Renewable option is checked (with time set to 60) for the Me 262 though, so you get a new one every hour. I'm not sure if this is the latest version of the map. I haven't looked at the other maps.

 

That is very interesting. I had noticed that I spawned with bombs accidentally there once, finished the mission without so much as starting up the engine, and the plane had been removed from the airfield's inventory.

[Fritz_Faber]

Yesterday on Combat Server, how this is possible?

Was shot down flying a Me 110 by one single hit = 100% damage in 1 second and killed … my rear gunner isn't firing ??

 

 

Edited January 30, 2020 by Fritz_Faber

[310th_Diablo]

When is the server available.  Ive gone to dogfight servers just now but dont see it listed.  How do i join

[VBF-12_Snake9]

Does anyone know why this thread is not pinned?  Most popular server and I have to scroll to the bottom every time.

Did someone piss someone off or what?? 

[adler_1]

link

 Today i am unable to get into the game , it keeps sending  me back to the multiplayer page . any maintenance going on ?

[310th_Diablo]

Its not even listed on mine

[RedKestrel]

32 minutes ago, 310th_Diablo said:

Its not even listed on mine

It was having a lot of issues earlier today, they are trying some new stuff to increase server capacity but stability has not been great. They may have taken it offline until it’s fully fixed. There’s usually more details on the Discord 

[Talon_]

On 1/30/2020 at 3:57 AM, Haza said:

is the 262 just not available in the map as surely the time frame would be spot on for the 262!?

 

Check the date. On this day all 262s were committed further east covering Sonderkommando Elbe during their first and only ramming mission.

[=TBAS=Sshadow14]

14 hours ago, Fritz_Faber said:

Yesterday on Combat Server, how this is possible?

Was shot down flying a Me 110 by one single hit = 100% damage in 1 second and killed … my rear gunner isn't firing ??

100% Damage can mean nothing more than Broken Wing Spar, Destroyed Fuselage, Comprimised frame.
It can not be fixed so its destroyed 100% it does not mean 100% of the plane all its parts were destroyed just that it is Unservicable. 

If you blow away 2/3 of wing spar plane cannot be fixed, 

Edited January 31, 2020 by =TBAS=Sschatten14

[Haza]

Just now, Talon_ said:

 

Check the date. On this day all 262s were committed further east covering Sonderkommando Elbe during their first and only ramming mission.

 

Talon,

I have a book regarding the 262 so I'm well aware of the historical engagements and the 262 Squadron movements, however, I'm confused as I thought the server was not meant to be a 100% historical accurate server? Indeed, your justification for not using the 262 in this case is plausible, yet it is also not available in the Bodenplatte map. Indeed I'm reading about Bodenplatte and the aircraft that actually were airborne during that very attack, so it is interesting how the historical view is not always taken regarding Allied aircraft selection! 

 

Regards

 

Edited January 31, 2020 by Haza

[Fritz_Faber]

10 hours ago, =TBAS=Sschatten14 said:

100% Damage can mean nothing more than Broken Wing Spar, Destroyed Fuselage, Comprimised frame.
It can not be fixed so its destroyed 100% it does not mean 100% of the plane all its parts were destroyed just that it is Unservicable. 

If you blow away 2/3 of wing spar plane cannot be fixed, 

Thank you for your explanation, indeed I lost my wing. Then it was no irregular manipulation like cheating, but a lucky shot. 100% damage, instant kill and avoiding my rear gunner to shoot- in one!

[RedKestrel]

2 hours ago, Haza said:

 

Talon,

I have a book regarding the 262 so I'm well aware of the historical engagements and the 262 Squadron movements, however, I'm confused as I thought the server was not meant to be a 100% historical accurate server? Indeed, your justification for not using the 262 in this case is plausible, yet it is also not available in the Bodenplatte map. Indeed I'm reading about Bodenplatte and the aircraft that actually were airborne during that very attack, so it is interesting how the historical view is not always taken regarding Allied aircraft selection! 

 

Regards

 

There was literally just a discussion a few days ago about how mustangs and spitfires should have 150 octane fuel on A Bridge Too Far and the Tempest should have its higher boost ratings if we go by historical availability, and yet they don’t so it’s not a seal clubbing festival. 

[Haza]

1 minute ago, RedKestrel said:

There was literally just a discussion a few days ago about how mustangs and spitfires should have 150 octane fuel on A Bridge Too Far and the Tempest should have its higher boost ratings if we go by historical availability, and yet they don’t so it’s not a seal clubbing festival. 

 

Red,

 

Imagine limiting the P-47, P38, P-51 or even the Tempest to 2 aircraft per map, before you even have to worry about 150!

Irrespective of 150, the 262 is either missing or so heavily restricted it might as well be removed from the BoBp aircraft set as just about every server is scared about having it, when in fact it is hardly a game changer!

 

In deed, just been on Crossing the Rhine map and watched as III/JG52_Lucho crashed a 262 on take off (I was landing a JU-52), only to see him  spawn in again and take the last 262! This type of limitation doesn't even allow a 262 Squad to play together. I'm sorry, this certainly isn't seal clubbing as at least with seals the clubbing quota is in the hundreds of thousands (not hundreds and thousands for the Aussie readers) and not 2!

 

Regards

 

Edited February 1, 2020 by Haza

[310th_Diablo]

Is there a trick to joining the server.  Its not listed on my multiplayer dogfight list.  Does the server close when the mission starts or is fully populated

[THERION]

12 minutes ago, 310th_Diablo said:

Is there a trick to joining the server.  Its not listed on my multiplayer dogfight list.  Does the server close when the mission starts or is fully populated

 

1. Check you're not running your game "Mods On".

2. When entering the dogfighter server list (right window), be sure both filter boxes on the bottom of the list are unchecked.

[310th_Diablo]

Therion....mods was it.  Thanks.  Im still learning

[=SFG=capt_nasties]

i can see the server but when I try to join I get booted out as of 18:37 PST 1.31.20  was just in earlier today....

[Birdman]

Seeing the server but getting booted out while trying to connect.

[Oboe]

Same here.  I remember this problem from a while ago but thought it had been fixed.  Just can't seem to get in to server.

[RedKestrel]

5 hours ago, Haza said:

 

Red,

 

Imagine limiting the P-47, P38, P-51 or even the Tempest to 2 aircraft per map, before you even have to worry about 150!

Irrespective of 150, the 262 is either missing or so heavily restricted it might as well be removed from the BoBp aircraft set as just about every server is scared about having it, when in fact it is hardly a game changer!

 

In deed, just been on Crossing the Rhine map and watched as III/JG52_Lucho crashed a 262 on take off (I was landing a JU-52), only to see him  spawn in again and take the last 262! This type of limitation doesn't even allow a 262 Squad to play together. I'm sorry, this certainly isn't seal clubbing as at least with seals the clubbing quota is in the hundreds of thousands (not hundreds and thousands for the Aussie readers) and not 2!

 

Regards

 

All I’m saying is allied aircraft have ahistorical limits placed on them in the interests of fairness and keeping people wanting to play all the time.  It’s not bias. The allies have nothing with the kind of performance the 262 has, even the Tempest on its best day doesn’t exceed G14s and 190A8s as much as the 262 does for everything else. 

 

If you want to fly a squad of 262s together you are going to have a hard time doing it online because most if not all servers limit them, for the obvious reason that most people do not want to be target drones for jet aces. High 262 numbers tanked the server population the last time it was tried. That’s the issue. Would you prefer to fly a squad of jets and have no one to fly against?

[adler_1]

Is it a secret to ask at what distance from target the enemy is informed of the opposing sides presence ? is it different from one target to the other in the same mission ? random? 

[Haza]

Just now, RedKestrel said:

All I’m saying is allied aircraft have ahistorical limits placed on them in the interests of fairness and keeping people wanting to play all the time.  It’s not bias. The allies have nothing with the kind of performance the 262 has, even the Tempest on its best day doesn’t exceed G14s and 190A8s as much as the 262 does for everything else. 

 

If you want to fly a squad of 262s together you are going to have a hard time doing it online because most if not all servers limit them, for the obvious reason that most people do not want to be target drones for jet aces. High 262 numbers tanked the server population the last time it was tried. That’s the issue. Would you prefer to fly a squad of jets and have no one to fly against?

 

RED,

 

You can sprinkle a pile of **it with glitter, but at the end of the day it is still a pile of **it, so no matter how you try and dress it up and deny it, it is still biased not to have the Me262.  As I have already alluded to and pointed out, one player took out both Me262s in one map within minutes and please check his stats as the remaining Me262 didn't RTB as his last sortie lasted 17 mins (please note his first Me262 doesn't appear on stats but I did record his first Me262 non take off event albeit crash on takeoff).

 

That said, being continually attacked by Tempests or watching P-38s bomb then climb into the heavens on the Y-29 map, while the ME262 is banned, beggars belief, but this is allowed, "in the interests of fairness and keeping people wanting to play",however, in layman's terms it is just plan old biased!  I really wish I had asked my GrandFather (RAF 1935-1975) before he died, how fair war was when he fought against the Germans, Italians and then the Japanese!

 

Therefore, lets agree to disagree, however, all I was asking for was for more 262s on the few maps it in which it appears, as even the P-40 is available on some  late European maps! Currently it appears that <10% maps in this server allow the ME262 with that number then being limited again to perhaps 2 aircraft per map and then limited again being dependent on the availability of Fuel trains/fuel Factories, that are taken out usually very quickly!  Interestingly one of the maps had AI bombers to take out the fuel factory, before the 262 was available in numbers to counter the AI bombers! I left another popular server to come and play on this server as i didn't think that this server would fall into the same trap of locking Axis aircraft to please the Allied playing base, however, I guess I was wrong! 

 

Regards

 

[thatguy]

i can't tell if you're trolling or off your goddamn rocker

 

edit: Hello, world

Edited February 1, 2020 by thatguy

[Haza]

Just now, thatguy said:

i can't tell if you're trolling or off your goddamn rocker

 

edit: Hello, world

 

1st post, owns BOM and BOBP welcome, noting your Tempest, Spit and P-51 fixation!

Please, when you have at least played here for a while please feel free to throw sh**!

If you read the in game literature, it asks for suggestions and comments, so here i am or is it because it doesn't align with your views, I'm just a troll! LM**O!?

 

Regards

 

[VBF-12_Stick-95]

When I try to open the stats page I get the following warning.  Anyone else getting this?

 

 

 

EDIT:  Now its just a Service unavailable message.  Assume it's being worked on.

Edited February 1, 2020 by VBF-12_Stick-95

[Turban]

Same here ?

[Haluter]

Server was down for maintenance, but it's back up now.

[69th_Mobile_BBQ]

7 hours ago, Haza said:

 

1st post, owns BOM and BOBP welcome, noting your Tempest, Spit and P-51 fixation!

Please, when you have at least played here for a while please feel free to throw sh**!

If you read the in game literature, it asks for suggestions and comments, so here i am or is it because it doesn't align with your views, I'm just a troll! LM**O!?

 

Regards

 

 

I suppose he should buy his community rank like some sort of 1700's British lieutenant?  

 

BTW

The P-40 is available on some maps (along with some other non-BoBp planes) to allow players a chance to play on the server without owning BoBp, provided they own one of the other planes.  

 

If we get more 262s, then loosen the rules on ground strafing and make only 262 bases attackable on the spawn.  The AAA surrounding them is already more numerous and produces a volume of fire far exceeding the AAA the Allies have at their home AFs.

 

Aaaanndd….  Also ROFL!  Campaigning for 262s is the same guy who, 2 days ago, basically stated "La5FN is for girls." in complaint that it was the most able available fighter on a WoL map.  

[Talon_]

20 hours ago, Haza said:

 

Talon,

I have a book regarding the 262 so I'm well aware of the historical engagements and the 262 Squadron movements, however, I'm confused as I thought the server was not meant to be a 100% historical accurate server? Indeed, your justification for not using the 262 in this case is plausible, yet it is also not available in the Bodenplatte map. Indeed I'm reading about Bodenplatte and the aircraft that actually were airborne during that very attack, so it is interesting how the historical view is not always taken regarding Allied aircraft selection! 

 

Regards

 

 

Have you missed the heavy criticism we get for not including the P-38 on our Northern maps due to the fact it was not there?

 

I know you were active in the community back in June when the Me-262 launched, but you chose not to fly on our server at the time. If you had you would have seen the impact that 6 available with 2 more every 30 minutes had on the server - we had games with four times as many blue players as red. If you want unlimited 262s you can have them but you'll have nobody to shoot down logging in on the other side - they'll go fly Red on servers without 262s. It's not our fault that the playerbase acts this way, but we have to allow ourselves to be shaped to some extent by player demand. I'd actually argue that we have the most balanced maps of any server currently - 30 day summary with 100 player minimums is 41 red to 37 blue with 29 ties.

 

 

30 day summary during quieter hours, 50-100 players is also 32 red to 27 blue with 14 ties:

 

Edited February 1, 2020 by Talon_

[Haza]

5 hours ago, Talon_ said:

 

Have you missed the heavy criticism we get for not including the P-38 on our Northern maps due to the fact it was not there?

 

I know you were active in the community back in June when the Me-262 launched, but you chose not to fly on our server at the time. If you had you would have seen the impact that 6 available with 2 more every 30 minutes had on the server - we had games with four times as many blue players as red. If you want unlimited 262s you can have them but you'll have nobody to shoot down logging in on the other side - they'll go fly Red on servers without 262s. It's not our fault that the playerbase acts this way, but we have to allow ourselves to be shaped to some extent by player demand. I'd actually argue that we have the most balanced maps of any server currently - 30 day summary with 100 player minimums is 41 red to 37 blue with 29 ties.

 

 

30 day summary during quieter hours, 50-100 players is also 32 red to 27 blue with 14 ties:

 

 

Talon, 

I chose not to play a lot in the early days as usually during my time zone, every man and his dog was on the other server. Indeed, I actively encouraged guys to come over, although there was a reluctance because of the lack of GPS. Just to clarify, I'm certainly not requesting unlimited 262s merely requesting a few more and I believe my previous example of where somebody used both available 262's within 20mins shows that most players don't get a chance of playing it. I enjoyed your stats thank you, however, I didn't infer that your server wasn't balanced regarding maps won/lost, just requesting a few more 262s even if they were restricted and locked as 250 kg bomber or had the guns removed. 

 

As a total curve ball, I undertook a resupply JU52 mission to Limburg. There was no cargo option so I just took the empty 52 with 25% fuel and when I landed it didn't appear to register my flight. Therefore, could you explain what needs to happen on those flights please? Also, it would be great to have JU52 para drops on a Bridge to far to attack the bridges rather than just bombing. 

 

5 hours ago, Mobile_BBQ said:

 

I suppose he should buy his community rank like some sort of 1700's British lieutenant?  

 

BTW

The P-40 is available on some maps (along with some other non-BoBp planes) to allow players a chance to play on the server without owning BoBp, provided they own one of the other planes.  

 

If we get more 262s, then loosen the rules on ground strafing and make only 262 bases attackable on the spawn.  The AAA surrounding them is already more numerous and produces a volume of fire far exceeding the AAA the Allies have at their home AFs.

 

Aaaanndd….  Also ROFL!  Campaigning for 262s is the same guy who, 2 days ago, basically stated "La5FN is for girls." in complaint that it was the most able available fighter on a WoL map.  

 

Mobile,

Of course not, however, perhaps he needed his own "Hello World" statement. Regarding your P-40 comment, I'm well aware of the intent for doing that and applaud that, however allowing that in the time frame and then in the same breath saying the 262 can't be used because it was based/located somewhere else was my point. I'm not a Me262 junky nor a die hard blue, but a player that would just like an opportunity of using a 262 in a MP server.

 

Gents, as ever thank you for being civil in having these discussions and I enjoy the banter.

 

Regards

 

Edited February 1, 2020 by Haza
Typo

[69th_Mobile_BBQ]

23 minutes ago, Haza said:

 

Talon, 

I chose not to play a lot in the early days as usually during my time zone, every man and his dog was on the other server. Indeed, I actively encouraged guys to come over, although there was a reluctance because of the lack of GPS. Just to clarify, I'm certainly not requesting unlimited 262s merely requesting a few more and I believe my previous example of where somebody used both available 262's within 20mins shows that most players don't get a chance of playing it. I enjoyed your stats thank you, however, I didn't infer that your server wasn't balanced regarding maps won/lost, just requesting a few more 262s even if they were restricted and locked as 250 kg bomber or had the guns removed. 

 

As a total curve ball, I undertook a resupply JU52 mission to Limburg. There was no cargo option so I just took the empty 52 with 25% fuel and when I landed it didn't appear to register my flight. Therefore, could you explain what needs to happen on those flights please? Also, it would be great to have JU52 para drops on a Bridge to far to attack the bridges rather than just bombing. 

 

 

Mobile,

Of course not, however, perhaps he needed his own "Hello World" statement. Regarding your P-40 comment, I'm well aware of the intent for doing that and applaud that, however allowing that in the time frame and then in the same breath saying the 262 can't be used because it was based/located somewhere else was my point. I'm not a Me262 junky nor a die hard blue, but a player that would just like an opportunity of using a 262 in a MP server.

 

Gents, as ever thank you for being civil in having these discussions and I enjoy the banter.

 

Regards

 

 

262s are admittedly a thorn in the side of Allies players.  Believe it or not, I'm not a die hard Red either.  I know.... I know... my stats and all that.  I do prefer that plane set over Axis though.  

I'm personally fine with an increase in maps that have some 262, provided that there are sufficient concessions made to Allies to remain competitive.  I don't think that it should be easy to wipe them off the map or even balanced towards completely wiping them off the map either, but well-played "damage control" by Red should be possible.

I also think that it would be a very delicate balance as to how many were available and what the replenishment rate was as it only takes 2-3 good 262 pilots to almost completely shut down any Red offensive capabilities.  

 

Maybe it will change if there is ever more reason (like 4 engine bombers) to get the fight off the deck and into high alt.  Currently, the bomber/strike craft selection available is more implemented by players to do low level infiltrations and dive bombing.  Add to that that the fighter meta since the P38 and Pony were released seems to have reversed with the Axis mostly opting to deck fight and the Allies trying to get on station up high to swoop in for BnZs.  

[Haza]

1 hour ago, Mobile_BBQ said:

 

262s are admittedly a thorn in the side of Allies players.  Believe it or not, I'm not a die hard Red either.  I know.... I know... my stats and all that.  I do prefer that plane set over Axis though.  

I'm personally fine with an increase in maps that have some 262, provided that there are sufficient concessions made to Allies to remain competitive.  I don't think that it should be easy to wipe them off the map or even balanced towards completely wiping them off the map either, but well-played "damage control" by Red should be possible.

I also think that it would be a very delicate balance as to how many were available and what the replenishment rate was as it only takes 2-3 good 262 pilots to almost completely shut down any Red offensive capabilities.  

 

Maybe it will change if there is ever more reason (like 4 engine bombers) to get the fight off the deck and into high alt.  Currently, the bomber/strike craft selection available is more implemented by players to do low level infiltrations and dive bombing.  Add to that that the fighter meta since the P38 and Pony were released seems to have reversed with the Axis mostly opting to deck fight and the Allies trying to get on station up high to swoop in for BnZs.  

 

Mobile,

I totally agree. I certainly don't want one side just winning hands down and I certainly think in the interest of server population that things need to be "actively managed". Unfortunately, I for one don't have the ideal solution. However, removing the guns, adding bomb racks, limiting fuel or adding armour to the 262 to "handicap" its abilities might work.

 

Regards

 

[Alonzo]

On 1/31/2020 at 4:57 PM, Haza said:

Irrespective of 150, the 262 is either missing or so heavily restricted it might as well be removed from the BoBp aircraft set as just about every server is scared about having it, when in fact it is hardly a game changer!

 

I disagree. For every inept pilot that grabs a 262 and crashes on takeoff, there's someone who can get an ace (or double ace) in a flight with the jet. I was flying this afternoon with squad mates and we thought we were doing alright against a 262 who had decided to try to turn with us. Turns out it was only one bad pilot in a 262 -- the other 262 was also in the area and handily gibbed a couple of us while we were looking at the first one.

 

But this is just an anecdote in response to your anecdote. The data that Talon posted is that if we have too many 262s, red stays home because it's no fun. So, on balance, we're keeping the 262 as a bit of a unicorn on the maps.

 

23 hours ago, 310th_Diablo said:

Is there a trick to joining the server.  Its not listed on my multiplayer dogfight list.  Does the server close when the mission starts or is fully populated

 

21 hours ago, capt_nasties said:

i can see the server but when I try to join I get booted out as of 18:37 PST 1.31.20  was just in earlier today....

 

We've been posting on the Discord with status updates, I'll pull in a few to this thread (check Discord for faster updates if the server ever appears offline).

 

Thursday:

For the past week, Combat Box has been running on a dedicated server in a data centre in New York. This has provided better network connectivity - hence the 84 player count - but unfortunately worse CPU and dserver performance, including way more crashes and hangs. We are working with the hosting provider to tune the hardware, but you will have noticed that at peak times we now run into "server overload" messages. Our goal is to provide a great experience for all of our pilots, and we had hoped that the hosted server would allow us to do this as well as expand up to 84 players. We still have tuning options to pursue, including adjustments to our maps, but we have not decided whether to stick with the hosted server or not. We apologize for the reduced stability and hope that pilots can bear with us while we try to sort all this out.

 

Friday:

Looks like part of the problem is that Google and other web crawlers picked us up, and started hitting the IL2 stats website fairly hard. Combined with a change in the way we host the stats (they are now behind an IIS proxy which provides HTTPS security) and a change in default network behavior between Win 10 Pro (old server) and Windows Server 2019 (new server) we ran into something called "port exhaustion" on the server. I've made some config changes to improve the situation. We're now telling Google and other crawlers exactly where they can shove their stupid robot faces, and we're recycling completed connections after just 30 seconds instead of the default. Hopefully this'll fix the network weirdness.

 

Today:

For full transparency, we've been disappointed with the hardware performance on the New York server, and the vendor doesn't want to work with us to get better boost speeds out of the CPU. So we're migrating back to the hardware that has served us well over the last 6+ months (custom overclocked 8600K) and will carefully consider our options after that. For now we're back at the ~70 player limit which seems a good balance of game and network performance.

 

Today:

Combat Box now has a spectator idle timeout. If you spectate for 5 minutes without flying, you'll get a warning in chat, if you don't spawn a plane within 60 seconds after the warning you'll get kicked. We know server spots are tight during peak times and we hope this will help people get a spot slightly sooner. We think 5 minutes is a reasonable amount of time where you could grab a beer and get back to the game, or where squadmates can connect before flying (but we're open to feedback if you feel the 5 minute timer should be something different).

 

Someone had an SSL error earlier, things should be fixed and back to normal now. In fact we're in a better place than where we started because we now have SSL on the website, performance monitoring of all maps, and a combined ban hammer and ping kicker script that also kicks idle spectators. Hopefully people should be able to get in and play as a few slots are freed up because of this.

[Birdman]

Schaubix straffed me while on the ground (after crash landing) don't know if that counts.

[CIA_Luth]

maybe haza and the rest of the luftaces would be happy if blue had only 262s, and red only had p40.  im totally serious.  after 20 years of luftwhining,  this may be the only solution. 

 

love combat box.  Alonzo and team,  you are doing a great job.  

 

 

hi, thatguy. welcome aboard

Edited February 2, 2020 by CIA_Luth
say hello

[69th_Mobile_BBQ]

1 hour ago, Alonzo said:

 

 

Thursday:

For the past week, Combat Box has been running on a dedicated server in a data centre in New York. This has provided better network connectivity - hence the 84 player count - but unfortunately worse CPU and dserver performance, including way more crashes and hangs. We are working with the hosting provider to tune the hardware, but you will have noticed that at peak times we now run into "server overload" messages. Our goal is to provide a great experience for all of our pilots, and we had hoped that the hosted server would allow us to do this as well as expand up to 84 players. We still have tuning options to pursue, including adjustments to our maps, but we have not decided whether to stick with the hosted server or not. We apologize for the reduced stability and hope that pilots can bear with us while we try to sort all this out.

 

Friday:

Looks like part of the problem is that Google and other web crawlers picked us up, and started hitting the IL2 stats website fairly hard. Combined with a change in the way we host the stats (they are now behind an IIS proxy which provides HTTPS security) and a change in default network behavior between Win 10 Pro (old server) and Windows Server 2019 (new server) we ran into something called "port exhaustion" on the server. I've made some config changes to improve the situation. We're now telling Google and other crawlers exactly where they can shove their stupid robot faces, and we're recycling completed connections after just 30 seconds instead of the default. Hopefully this'll fix the network weirdness.

 

Today:

For full transparency, we've been disappointed with the hardware performance on the New York server, and the vendor doesn't want to work with us to get better boost speeds out of the CPU. So we're migrating back to the hardware that has served us well over the last 6+ months (custom overclocked 8600K) and will carefully consider our options after that. For now we're back at the ~70 player limit which seems a good balance of game and network performance.

 

Today:

Combat Box now has a spectator idle timeout. If you spectate for 5 minutes without flying, you'll get a warning in chat, if you don't spawn a plane within 60 seconds after the warning you'll get kicked. We know server spots are tight during peak times and we hope this will help people get a spot slightly sooner. We think 5 minutes is a reasonable amount of time where you could grab a beer and get back to the game, or where squadmates can connect before flying (but we're open to feedback if you feel the 5 minute timer should be something different).

 

Someone had an SSL error earlier, things should be fixed and back to normal now. In fact we're in a better place than where we started because we now have SSL on the website, performance monitoring of all maps, and a combined ban hammer and ping kicker script that also kicks idle spectators. Hopefully people should be able to get in and play as a few slots are freed up because of this.

 

 

I was wondering why I was getting 35 ping.  

Sad that it didn't work out with the vendor.  My shooting was much more effective without the packet loss.  

Perhaps your anti-bot measures will help with that.

Fair enough that you had to do what you had to do.  

 

Re; The 262s.  Like I said, I have no problem that the hunting preserve has stocked some unicorns, but those damn things are fast and aggressive and have weapons attached to their heads! 

1 hour ago, Birdman said:

Schaubix straffed me while on the ground (after crash landing) don't know if that counts.

 

IMO it should if it doesn't.  

[310th_Diablo]

I tried to spectate the other night but it froze with half a map so i kept leaving