Combat Box by Red Flight

[Denum]

7 hours ago, RedKestrel said:

I think the end result would be two large groups of fighters circling their own objectives, with a few brave souls crossing the dance floor and getting shot down.

 

I call it Il-2 Great Battles: Middle School Dance
 

Yeah I completely agree, I'm working on some suggestions to help make things a little easier to do, I've been trying other servers to get my early/ground pound fix. 

Its so hard to get to targets because so many people camp objectives with little reason to move else where. It can get really frustrating.. 

[adler_1]

Vulching 

today i got shot down next to my airfield and the bot kicker did not react immediately to kick out the attacker , he took his time to shoot me down with multiple bursts   . i was killed before it triggered and kicked him out .  Should'nt the bot react instantly ? 

[Alonzo]

3 hours ago, adler_1 said:

Vulching 

today i got shot down next to my airfield and the bot kicker did not react immediately to kick out the attacker , he took his time to shoot me down with multiple bursts   . i was killed before it triggered and kicked him out .  Should'nt the bot react instantly ? 

 

Log files are delayed by 15 - 30 seconds, so the bot is also delayed by this amount. Always check your map for hostiles near an airfield. An attacker might not know about the bot or care that it will kick them; you need to be responsible for your own safety.

[II/JG11_ATLAN_VR]

hi alonzo

somebody we dont remember his name jumped in the real gunner seat of II/JG11_PUMA Bf 110 G-2 and openens friendly fire at me First and later fired on the tail of puma own 110 and damage his Airplane Attached you find the stat of this sortie.please ban this crazy Person.

 

[adler_1]

refuel reload  issue

I tried reload and refuel for the first time during the mission and when i took of again to head back to target my Bf110 G was 140 km slower and the engines were beginning to overheat . the wheels were up and had no damage before landing , what can be the reason ?

Crimea map missions 

Has this mission been removed for good ?

Edited December 20, 2020 by adler_1

[CIA_Elanski]

server crash on crossing Rhine....shows us all as disco for the mission...server fell off list and was not coming back up....yet my stat page shows disco....welp

[III/JG52_Al-Azraq]

On 12/16/2020 at 10:48 PM, Alonzo said:

A couple of announcements from the server team today:

 

Quick announcement on the direction of Combat Box:

 

We've had some feedback from players about the focus and direction of the server. We built Combat Box to be the premier late-war server, with historically inspired, high-quality missions and innovative mechanics. We set a high bar for ourselves and we've seen a lot of success with this recipe.

 

Recently during TAW, we saw quite a drop in player numbers and were concerned our formula had gotten stale. We branched out a bit and added some mid-war missions to our rotation. Feedback on these has been mixed, and in particular, those missions moved us away from being the "go-to" place for late-war aircraft. Pilots logging on were no longer guaranteed to find their favorite late war planes and instead needed to check which mission CB was actually running.

 

The admin team has decided to refocus on late war, and as of today, we're removing the mid-war missions from our rotation. Those missions aren't dead—we have plans to use them occasionally for special events and as a special project on our secondary server. However, our main focus will be late war, historically inspired missions.

 

I want to thank everyone for their feedback and continued engagement with the Combat Box team. We have a wide variety of players, all of whom have different preferences. If we make decisions you disagree with your polite feedback is always welcome, and we encourage you to consider others' viewpoints too.

 

Mission Design Contest

 

As part of our refocus on late-war missions, we are running a mission design contest! Figuring out a good design for a mission can be extremely daunting. Our community wants historically inspired missions that are fun for both sides, include a balanced map layout for attackers and bombers, and the mission needs to have meaning behind it. As you can see, it is pretty hard to please everyone. Having said that, we have an awesome community here, and we would like to collaborate with you to create some new missions!

 

If you're interested, first make a copy of our mission design template from this Google document. Mission designs will not be accepted without using the template first.

 

We really want to use your submission, so think hard about your mission design and map layout. Does it meet the standards of the community? Would it be fun? Is it balanced and historically inspired? Use il2missionplanner.com to help design your mission. Fill in your template document, which includes a bunch of instructions and hints about good mission design, and feel free to collaborate with others or ask questions here.

 

The best mission design will win some very exclusive prizes, and your mission will be brought to life by the team. You'll also receive a headline mention in the mission credits that roll when the mission ends. Second and third place entries may also be turned into missions, time permitting.

 

You can work alone or with a group, as we are happy to receive individual submissions or a mission designed by a group. The closing date is January 3rd, so you have a little over two weeks to work on your submissions over the holidays. Please use our Discord #mission-design-contest to ask questions or to get feedback on your works-in-progress. Good luck!

 

Hi Alonzo! First and foremost, thanks for this amazing server. It is hands down the best out there and it offers curated missions with different objectives. I also like early and mid-war escenarios but I completely get your point as there are other servers like Wings of Liberty and TAW that already occupy that space (however, we refuse to fly TAW because the objectives are always the same and because of the hard team balancing the apply). Unfortunately, the simulation community is not that large so several servers offering the same can be crowded at the same time so being the late-war option is the right call in my opinion. Indeed the player numbers are low during TAW events which saddens us because we love high player numbers and balanced teams.

 

All this will get easier for you though with the release of Normandy map, Combat Box will have another map and plane-set to play offering missions ranging from 1943 to 1945 even pre-invasion of Normandy. The options with this will be endless.

 

Please keep up the amazing work you do with Combat Box and see you in the server!

[adler_1]

playing CB

Can anyone point us to a  single month where the blue beat the reds ? and its going to get worse With the new Normandy add on and the new spitfire amongst others . Where is the Yak 3 ? There is'nt 1 single mission where the airplanes are balanced , there is a net 50 km hr difference in top speed at any time , climb rate and turn rate envelopes are one sided in favour of the allied late war machinery not to mention a little more octane here and there just for kicks . This website built semi arcade missions  to please kids hell bent on shoot em up as easily and quickly  as possible with a tinge of reality and then go off and play in the backyard . To make matters worse there was even an attempt to reintroduce some old missions  so the players can use their newly purchased outdated Hurricanes !!! and what happened ? they all shelved their new gem and skipped the missions .  

Edited December 22, 2020 by adler_1

[Charlo-VRde]

(I find fascinating the differing approaches of the above two posts)

[III/JG52_Al-Azraq]

5 hours ago, adler_1 said:

playing CB

Can anyone point us to a  single month where the blue beat the reds ? and its going to get worse With the new Normandy add on and the new spitfire amongst others . Where is the Yak 3 ? There is'nt 1 single mission where the airplanes are balanced , there is a net 50 km hr difference in top speed at any time , climb rate and turn rate envelopes are one sided in favour of the allied late war machinery not to mention a little more octane here and there just for kicks . This website built semi arcade missions  to please kids hell bent on shoot em up as easily and quickly  as possible with a tinge of reality and then go off and play in the backyard . To make matters worse there was even an attempt to reintroduce some old missions  so the players can use their newly purchased outdated Hurricanes !!! and what happened ? they all shelved their new gem and skipped the missions .  

 

Hey buddy, at which times to you fly? We usually fly from 17.00 to 21.00 GMT+1 (especially on weekends) and Blue wins almost all the time. Sure many times we have the numbers (although lately I observe way more balance), but also cooperation is great with the TBAS guys on SRS. We coordinate strikes, strategies, CAP, etc. sometimes we even destroy several objectives in one sortie.

 

It is my understanding that during peak USA times the tables are turned but I'm sleeping so never experienced that.

 

I don't agree with Combat Box offering and arcade experience. I usually find the most challenging fights there and late war planes are pretty balanced. Sure the Allies have 150 octanes in some missions but Germans have the MW50, the K-4 and D-9 are just beasts so is the 110 G-2 for ground attack. Also note that there's at least one mission where you can destroy a factory providing 150º grade fuel to cut its supply. These kind of gameplay is what I value, important targets that have an impact in the battlefield.

 

Finally, regarding the old missions, they all come from the times when the Bodenplatte map hasn't been released yet but the planes were. The only thing they did is modify the plane set in favour of an earlier one but as @Alonzo said, that didn't work out as people went to TAW, Finnish, or WoL for their early war and Eastern Front fix.

 

IMO, Combat Box should stay the go-to server for Western Aircraft, not necessarily late war, but Western, because as I said before Normandy will make 1943 - 1945 air war possible even 1942 if you push me.

[CIA_Luth]

a net 50kmh speed difference?  for who?  for the germans, yes.  

[NO.20_Krispy_Duck]

13 hours ago, adler_1 said:

playing CB

Can anyone point us to a  single month where the blue beat the reds ? and its going to get worse With the new Normandy add on and the new spitfire amongst others . Where is the Yak 3 ? There is'nt 1 single mission where the airplanes are balanced , there is a net 50 km hr difference in top speed at any time , climb rate and turn rate envelopes are one sided in favour of the allied late war machinery not to mention a little more octane here and there just for kicks . This website built semi arcade missions  to please kids hell bent on shoot em up as easily and quickly  as possible with a tinge of reality and then go off and play in the backyard . To make matters worse there was even an attempt to reintroduce some old missions  so the players can use their newly purchased outdated Hurricanes !!! and what happened ? they all shelved their new gem and skipped the missions .  

 

I got a laugh of this bit of farce. Just because the scenario is not 100% realistic does not mean it somehow morphs into "arcade". On the contrary, the realism settings on CB are pretty high. Apparently none of us are flying the Hurricane, Spit V, P-40 or any of the "early" planes, even though I see them on when I fly to some extent every mission. They're not a substitute for later planes, but there's always a couple around when I fly. Apparently Hurricanes with 150 octane are ruining CB now...

[Alonzo]

13 hours ago, adler_1 said:

playing CB

Can anyone point us to a  single month where the blue beat the reds ? 

 

You're looking at the front page of the web site which includes all missions, even those in the middle of the night where very few players flew on the map, and one dedicated pilot can 'win' the mission with no opposition. If people keep making claims like this maybe we should remove all those results. If less than 50 players flew on the map, it doesn't count towards the month end total. Would you support such a change?

 

Related question: The "best live pilots" list is full of ground attack pilots who fly at off peak times and encounter little opposition. Are they really the best pilots? Do we need to change something there?

 

Here's a better picture of the balance situation.

[NO.20_Krispy_Duck]

14 minutes ago, Alonzo said:

 

You're looking at the front page of the web site which includes all missions, even those in the middle of the night where very few players flew on the map, and one dedicated pilot can 'win' the mission with no opposition. If people keep making claims like this maybe we should remove all those results. If less than 50 players flew on the map, it doesn't count towards the month end total. Would you support such a change?

 

Related question: The "best live pilots" list is full of ground attack pilots who fly at off peak times and encounter little opposition. Are they really the best pilots? Do we need to change something there?

 

Here's a better picture of the balance situation.

 

If it's technically possible, whenever there are zero planes on the other side, the score should not count. The AA can be tough on some of the maps, but it seems off that a pilot flying what amounts to a "practice" session with no opposition can run up points the same as a ground attack pilot struggling with enemy cover. If you really wanted to get into the weeds, a "handicap" to pilots flying greatly out-numbered would be interesting, say, when you're out-numbered 2-to-1 in the teams or something of that sort, you get a boost to any points you earn to reflect that you were flying for the side that needed more people.

Edited December 22, 2020 by NO.20_Krispy_Duck

[357th_KW]

If we’re going to talk balance, its worth noting that blue has outscored red in air to air kills EVERY MONTH this year.  Generally by about 20-30% based on time flown.  On the BoBP based maps, blue has K4s and D9s earlier and in much larger numbers than is justified if you were trying to have a perfectly historical planeset.  Meanwhile, 150 octane (particularly for the P-51) is more restricted, along with the Tempest.  Not to mention that there are a number of maps with Me262s available!  And the favored attacker of the blue team literally wasn’t present in any of these battles.  The current planesets are more than fair for blue.

[VBF-12_Snake9]

2 hours ago, Alonzo said:

The "best live pilots" list is full of ground attack pilots who fly at off peak times and encounter little opposition. Are they really the best pilots? Do we need to change something there?

yes please

 

But really, points will be "gamed" no matter what you do.  We have noticed that one gets huge amount of points if you RR and stack all those GKs and AKs into one complete sortie.  Comes at a risk though.  You could get shot down and lose everything when you could have landed (cashed in) three or four sorties.  

Edited December 22, 2020 by VBF-12_Snake9

[RedKestrel]

6 hours ago, VBF-12_Snake9 said:

yes please

 

But really, points will be "gamed" no matter what you do.  

This. The admin team can make changes to the way points are awarded until the cows come in for a three point landing, and someone will find a loophole to get 1000 point sorties doing little of value. Not worth the headaches to deal with it, IMO.

 

[E69_Qpassa_VR]

On 12/22/2020 at 4:59 PM, Alonzo said:

Related question: The "best live pilots" list is full of ground attack pilots who fly at off peak times and encounter little opposition. Are they really the best pilots? Do we need to change something there?

More dangerous AAA / less points per gk

Edited December 24, 2020 by E69_Qpassa_VR

[Black-Witch]

is it just me...?

 

yesterday I noticed the moon was out, don't remember seeing that in ComBox/Il-2 before.

 

 

[Alonzo]

1 hour ago, Black-Witch said:

is it just me...?

 

yesterday I noticed the moon was out, don't remember seeing that in ComBox/Il-2 before.

 

Interesting. Time of day and amount of cloud are randomized, within specific dawn-dusk parameters for each map. So you might have seen an early morning or late evening map at a particular time of year, which gives a visible moon.

[Black-Witch]

On 12/24/2020 at 8:28 PM, Alonzo said:

 

Interesting. Time of day and amount of cloud are randomized, within specific dawn-dusk parameters for each map. So you might have seen an early morning or late evening map at a particular time of year, which gives a visible moon.

 

Perhaps, but the moon is visible a lot of the time during the day in RL and I just don't recall seeing it before in the game, which is why I mentioned it. In fact when I did see it I thought it was the Death Star and thought, well, Blue and Reds are buggered now!

 

Witch

 

[CSW_606_Temp]

Stats Is broken from last update.

[adler_1]

Att Moderator

Battle of the Scheldt today

We played the mission about 6 hrs ago after mission 9154 and yet it does not appear in the list of missions played nor in the individual stats of pilots of those who played it nor have we received the credits for objectives destroyed . why ?

Edited December 29, 2020 by adler_1

[BOO]

54 minutes ago, adler_1 said:

Att Moderator

Battle of the Scheldt today

We played the mission about 6 hrs ago after mission 9154 and yet it does not appear in the list of missions played nor in the individual stats of pilots of those who played it nor have we received the credits for objectives destroyed . why ?

Perhaps the post immediately above yours answers your question.....

[RedKestrel]

In the Rhineland Campaign map today, I noted in the stats that a bomber I attacked was noted as an AI He-111. Is that a bug in the stats, or are there AI bombers on that map?

[CIA_Luth]

there are ai bombers on that particular map.  with deadly sniper gunners.

[Alonzo]

Combat Box - Recap for 2020

 

Well, we made it! I think many folks will be happy to see the back of 2020, but although Bad Things Happened (and we're going to need most of 2021 to really get a recovery going) some good things happened too. With many people forced to work from home, we discovered that maybe commuting every day isn't necessary for some jobs, which might be a benefit in future. A ton of people also discovered or rediscovered the joy of gaming -- 2020 has had "Black Friday levels" of electronics purchasing basically all year. We hope Combat Box has been a small part of keeping people sane and entertained this year, and the entire admin team would like to thank you all sincerely for flying with us and being part of the community.

 

As of this morning Combat Box had a total of 800,799 sorties flown in 2020 (that's 2,194 per day!) with a total flight time of 213,214 hours (8,884 days!). Most enthusiastic pilots in terms of hours flown are @flynvrtd  @VBF-12_Mister26 and @CIA_Elanski. This year ace pilots racked up a total of 260,063 air kills, with @flynvrtd, Krupinski and @kleks222kleks leading the body count. Not to be outdone, our dedicated ground attackers destroyed 1,005,251 ground targets -- that's right, more than a million ground kills! Top ground attackers were @=TBAS=Sshadow14, @CIA_Elanski and @=VARP=Affe-mit-Waffe.

 

The most popular aircraft this year were as follows:

• P-51D-15, 119,111 sorties
• Spitfire Mk.IXe, 75,365 sorties
• Bf 109 G-14, 72,582 sorties
• Bf 109 K-4, 62,794 sorties
• P-38J-25, 59,645 sorties

A year in review

Thanks to our Patreon supporters, in January we moved to dedicated server hosting in New York. After some mission tuning, we were able to provide great network connectivity and increased our player cap to 84 players. This really put Combat Box on the map as a 'professional' server rather than one operating out of my basement (although the basement server is still a big part of what we do -- the training and FNF servers run on that hardware). Throughout the year we continued to upgrade our web site and add features, including community-submitted banner screenshots for the home page.

 

Combat Box was featured on the Storm Birds Blog, in a Q&A with the admin team. If you want to know a little more about what keeps the server ticking and those involved, you can read more about it here.

 

In terms of maps and missions, this year we expanded on our late-war, historically inspired mission set and added interesting new mechanics to keep things fresh. Here are the highlights:

 

Mitchell's Men, including high-altitude B-25 bomber flights that must be escorted by the Allies or attacked by the Germans. Technically ambitious, this mission has provided some spectacular experiences for players. One pilot said this was the best mission they'd ever played and exactly the kind of thing they wanted from IL2 multiplayer. Big thanks to @Jakerthesnak for his mission design.

 

 

The Rhineland Campaign, featuring capturable airfields and a knife-fight over the front lines, as well as a destructible Allied fuel depot that the Germans can use to deny the other side 150 octane gas. Thank you to Riksen for some awesome posters for these missions, by the way.

 

 

The 262 Menace, featuring Ai-piloted jets attacking Allied targets. Pilots need to get some altitude in a Tempest or a P51 to catch these fast jets, or they have the option to fly the A-20 to resupply front line troops.

 

Standoff in the Lowlands has all of the cool objectives you'd expect from a Combat Box mission, plus a significant new "recon" feature. Each side has two recon missions. You'll have to take a recon plane and search for the objective to destroy. Once the objective is found, your team can then swarm the objective for the kill and gain a point for your side. Active objectives are randomized each time the mission is flown, giving over 150 possible combinations.

 

The Ardennes Counteroffensive recreates the famous "Battle of the Bulge." Support your side's tanks in the ground battle as the Germans make their final counterattack of the war. Pilots can signal their side by dropping signal flares near the convoys, and each side gets a player-flown "AWACS"-style recon bomber. Protecting this special plane can give a significant tactical advantage during the mission.

 

Skirmish at Velikie Luki is set on the gorgeous Velikie Luki summer map and features the new Hurricane in a time-appropriate setting with contemporary opponents. The map also features the new 'recon' mechanic and over a hundred possible combinations of objectives, randomized each time.

 

In April, @ShamrockOneFive organized SturmovikFest, a week-long festival of flying. Combat Box supported and participated, in including a formation flying event hosted by @JimTM and the debut of Combat Box Project R -- Air Races.

 

 

Friday Night Flights evolved from beginnings as a friday evening flyout on the main server, to a very special community event organized weekly by Sketch. He runs a hand-crafted campaign each week, with pilots signing up for a spot in a squadron and each side receiving mission briefings and sortie plans. This event has attracted up to 50 pilots each week for a good-natured set of sorties and debrief. If you find the main server a bit intimidating, this can be a way to find friendly pilots and take part in some missions in a slightly less lethal setting than the main server (but only slightly -- there are plenty of good pilots flying!).

 

 

We added a number of technical features to Combat Box. Many maps now disallow vulching at 'protected' airfields; this enabled us to use server resources for real objectives rather than protecting player airfields. There are still front-line fields on many maps where there are no rules, but rear fields generally receive this protection. With help from @ciribob we created "CB Radio", which allows pilots to hear calls from Ai Command and Airfield operators. You can receive these tactical updates using the SRS Radio software, which is now integrated into IL2 and allows auto-connect when you join Combat Box. You can monitor two channels at once (one in each ear) and coordinate with your side and your squad in a realistic manner. Just make sure you land carefully -- Bitchin' Betty will chew you out otherwise!

 

 

The Combat Box Training and Dogfight server has been updated throughout the year, and now features a takeoff and landing practice area as well as ground targets, dogfight and duelling zones. If you want to practice in a low-stress environment, you should check it out. Sketch is actively maintaining and enhancing the training server.

 

Community member QB.Creep created a special "flight following" and "map following" bot. You can use the bot to get an alert when a friend logs onto Combat Box and starts flying, or when a particular map is coming up in the rotation.
 

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their involvement over the past year. The admin team is now six strong and enables us to respond quickly to things like game patches, hotfixes, and any unexpected downtime. Our community of pilots is supportive and full of ideas, and our technical collaborations such as with Ciribob (SRS Radio) and the admins over at Finnish Virtual Pilots enable us all to build more compelling, immersive experiences. And of course no review of the year should skip over the amazing achievements by the IL2 developers -- they have continued cranking out game updates, aircraft and improvements even while being unable to access their offices during work-from-home. The core game engine has improved in leaps and bounds during 2020, and we all get a big benefit from that.

 

OK, I'll stop writing. Thanks everyone for making this a great year for Combat Box and for the flight simulation hobby. See you in the skies!

 

p.s. I know I must have forgotten important stuff and other collaborators. I apologize in advance. I'm really truly grateful for everyone who flies, comments, or contributes. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

 

[ShamrockOneFive]

Great post @Alonzo! Thanks to you and the rest of the Combat Box team for a great year and some very memorable multiplayer flights!

[Jason_Williams]

Alonzo,

 

Thank you for posting this and it all looks so great! Cheers to everyone on the Combat Box Server and here's to an even more fun 2021!

 

Jason

[JimTM]

Huge thanks to everyone involved with Combat Box. It really is a first-class server and I really enjoy the experience...gently drifting ever downward in my parachute.  

[-332FG-Micky-]

13 minutes ago, JimTM said:

Huge thanks to everyone involved with Combat Box. It really is a first-class server and I really enjoy the experience...gently drifting ever downward in my parachute.  

Well said sir!

[VBF-12_Snake9]

We enjoy your sever....  and I see my wingman really enjoys your server.  ?

[RedKestrel]

3 hours ago, Alonzo said:

Combat Box - Recap for 2020

 

Well, we made it! I think many folks will be happy to see the back of 2020, but although Bad Things Happened (and we're going to need most of 2021 to really get a recovery going) some good things happened too. With many people forced to work from home, we discovered that maybe commuting every day isn't necessary for some jobs, which might be a benefit in future. A ton of people also discovered or rediscovered the joy of gaming -- 2020 has had "Black Friday levels" of electronics purchasing basically all year. We hope Combat Box has been a small part of keeping people sane and entertained this year, and the entire admin team would like to thank you all sincerely for flying with us and being part of the community.

 

As of this morning Combat Box had a total of 800,799 sorties flown in 2020 (that's 2,194 per day!) with a total flight time of 213,214 hours (8,884 days!). Most enthusiastic pilots in terms of hours flown are @flynvrtd  @VBF-12_Mister26 and @CIA_Elanski. This year ace pilots racked up a total of 260,063 air kills, with @flynvrtd, Krupinski and @kleks222kleks leading the body count. Not to be outdone, our dedicated ground attackers destroyed 1,005,251 ground targets -- that's right, more than a million ground kills! Top ground attackers were @=TBAS=Sshadow14, @CIA_Elanski and @=VARP=Affe-mit-Waffe.

 

The most popular aircraft this year were as follows:

• P-51D-15, 119,111 sorties
• Spitfire Mk.IXe, 75,365 sorties
• Bf 109 G-14, 72,582 sorties
• Bf 109 K-4, 62,794 sorties
• P-38J-25, 59,645 sorties

A year in review

Thanks to our Patreon supporters, in January we moved to dedicated server hosting in New York. After some mission tuning, we were able to provide great network connectivity and increased our player cap to 84 players. This really put Combat Box on the map as a 'professional' server rather than one operating out of my basement (although the basement server is still a big part of what we do -- the training and FNF servers run on that hardware). Throughout the year we continued to upgrade our web site and add features, including community-submitted banner screenshots for the home page.

 

Combat Box was featured on the Storm Birds Blog, in a Q&A with the admin team. If you want to know a little more about what keeps the server ticking and those involved, you can read more about it here.

 

In terms of maps and missions, this year we expanded on our late-war, historically inspired mission set and added interesting new mechanics to keep things fresh. Here are the highlights:

 

Mitchell's Men, including high-altitude B-25 bomber flights that must be escorted by the Allies or attacked by the Germans. Technically ambitious, this mission has provided some spectacular experiences for players. One pilot said this was the best mission they'd ever played and exactly the kind of thing they wanted from IL2 multiplayer. Big thanks to @Jakerthesnak for his mission design.

 

 

The Rhineland Campaign, featuring capturable airfields and a knife-fight over the front lines, as well as a destructible Allied fuel depot that the Germans can use to deny the other side 150 octane gas. Thank you to Riksen for some awesome posters for these missions, by the way.

 

 

The 262 Menace, featuring Ai-piloted jets attacking Allied targets. Pilots need to get some altitude in a Tempest or a P51 to catch these fast jets, or they have the option to fly the A-20 to resupply front line troops.

 

Standoff in the Lowlands has all of the cool objectives you'd expect from a Combat Box mission, plus a significant new "recon" feature. Each side has two recon missions. You'll have to take a recon plane and search for the objective to destroy. Once the objective is found, your team can then swarm the objective for the kill and gain a point for your side. Active objectives are randomized each time the mission is flown, giving over 150 possible combinations.

 

The Ardennes Counteroffensive recreates the famous "Battle of the Bulge." Support your side's tanks in the ground battle as the Germans make their final counterattack of the war. Pilots can signal their side by dropping signal flares near the convoys, and each side gets a player-flown "AWACS"-style recon bomber. Protecting this special plane can give a significant tactical advantage during the mission.

 

Skirmish at Velikie Luki is set on the gorgeous Velikie Luki summer map and features the new Hurricane in a time-appropriate setting with contemporary opponents. The map also features the new 'recon' mechanic and over a hundred possible combinations of objectives, randomized each time.

 

In April, @ShamrockOneFive organized SturmovikFest, a week-long festival of flying. Combat Box supported and participated, in including a formation flying event hosted by @JimTM and the debut of Combat Box Project R -- Air Races.

 

 

Friday Night Flights evolved from beginnings as a friday evening flyout on the main server, to a very special community event organized weekly by Sketch. He runs a hand-crafted campaign each week, with pilots signing up for a spot in a squadron and each side receiving mission briefings and sortie plans. This event has attracted up to 50 pilots each week for a good-natured set of sorties and debrief. If you find the main server a bit intimidating, this can be a way to find friendly pilots and take part in some missions in a slightly less lethal setting than the main server (but only slightly -- there are plenty of good pilots flying!).

 

 

We added a number of technical features to Combat Box. Many maps now disallow vulching at 'protected' airfields; this enabled us to use server resources for real objectives rather than protecting player airfields. There are still front-line fields on many maps where there are no rules, but rear fields generally receive this protection. With help from @ciribob we created "CB Radio", which allows pilots to hear calls from Ai Command and Airfield operators. You can receive these tactical updates using the SRS Radio software, which is now integrated into IL2 and allows auto-connect when you join Combat Box. You can monitor two channels at once (one in each ear) and coordinate with your side and your squad in a realistic manner. Just make sure you land carefully -- Bitchin' Betty will chew you out otherwise!

 

 

The Combat Box Training and Dogfight server has been updated throughout the year, and now features a takeoff and landing practice area as well as ground targets, dogfight and duelling zones. If you want to practice in a low-stress environment, you should check it out. Sketch is actively maintaining and enhancing the training server.

 

Community member QB.Creep created a special "flight following" and "map following" bot. You can use the bot to get an alert when a friend logs onto Combat Box and starts flying, or when a particular map is coming up in the rotation.
 

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their involvement over the past year. The admin team is now six strong and enables us to respond quickly to things like game patches, hotfixes, and any unexpected downtime. Our community of pilots is supportive and full of ideas, and our technical collaborations such as with Ciribob (SRS Radio) and the admins over at Finnish Virtual Pilots enable us all to build more compelling, immersive experiences. And of course no review of the year should skip over the amazing achievements by the IL2 developers -- they have continued cranking out game updates, aircraft and improvements even while being unable to access their offices during work-from-home. The core game engine has improved in leaps and bounds during 2020, and we all get a big benefit from that.

 

OK, I'll stop writing. Thanks everyone for making this a great year for Combat Box and for the flight simulation hobby. See you in the skies!

 

p.s. I know I must have forgotten important stuff and other collaborators. I apologize in advance. I'm really truly grateful for everyone who flies, comments, or contributes. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

 

Despite my best (dare I say it, obsessive) efforts, the P-47 did not make the top 4. Dang!

Great job to the server admins for making a fun and engaging server! Hope 2021 treats you guys well.

[=RS=Funkie]

8884 days of flying. That's like 24 years of flying experience in total. Craaazy.

 

Well done on the housing a great server!

[102.R.dd_Blade18]

Hi Gents,

 

great server, ton of fun to fly. The only problem I had now was the P-51D in the Dogfight Late box is totally castrated. Max. 41 in/Hg manifold, 250 KTS max, constant stall and spin in a turning fight (which I didn't have in single player, just for the record ? ). It was my first flight on this server, but all other aircrafts were totally OK. Maybe some "background" limiter is on, or I dunno?... Could somebody look it up or even try sometime please?...

 

Thanks, and Happy New Year !

[357th_KW]

46 minutes ago, Razor18 said:

Hi Gents,

 

great server, ton of fun to fly. The only problem I had now was the P-51D in the Dogfight Late box is totally castrated. Max. 41 in/Hg manifold, 250 KTS max, constant stall and spin in a turning fight (which I didn't have in single player, just for the record ? ). It was my first flight on this server, but all other aircrafts were totally OK. Maybe some "background" limiter is on, or I dunno?... Could somebody look it up or even try sometime please?...

 

Thanks, and Happy New Year !

 

Did you have your RPM pulled back?  There's no server side setting that could limit it that way.

[102.R.dd_Blade18]

I don't think so, but I will try again. As I can remember, I even tried to go up to 3000 RPM, but manifold was way low even on full throttle. Will see...

[THERION]

8 hours ago, Razor18 said:

which I didn't have in single player, just for the record ?

 

It is completely different, flying online and offline (single player). In single player you actually fly very differently, because your opponent is AI

and he's actually very predictable - you seldom have to manoeuver out of extreme situations, whereas in multiplayer your opponents is human

and reacts completely different, flies to the edge and is absolutely unpredictable. This puts you in a other world and you're more prone doing

bad decisions which very often lead to the loss of control.

 

Some planes are more forgiving like Yaks and Bf109, others become nearly uncontrollable like the P51 and the Tempest just to name a few.

[1./KG4klav123]

How to open Rheine JFB airfield? It's closed most of the time. I want to fly me262 but i can't because of that... Is there any way? What should i do? It's 4 allies against 6 germans right now, should be enough but it still won't open...

[102.R.dd_Blade18]

14 hours ago, VBF-12_KW said:

 

Did you have your RPM pulled back?  There's no server side setting that could limit it that way.

 

I just made a test run. RPM moved up to 3000 once, then left on 2700 all the way. If physical throttle pushed up to 100% (as also indicated by the little pop up window to the right), manifold pressure values are changing with altitude as follows:

15k - 45

14k - 46

13k - 50

12k -53

11k - 55

10k - 55

9k -56

8k - 56

7k - 59

6k - 61

5k - 64

4k - 64

3k and below - 67.

 

Is it realistic, that I only can exceed max allowed combat manifold pressure of 61 in/Hg below 6000 feet?

 

Thanks