Experiences as an Absolute Beginner

[Handigar]

I recently got a new laptop which is just about capable of running Il2 Great Battles, and given it was on sale last week I decided I'd give Battle of Stalingrad a try. I've played quite a bit of modded 1946, though not for a while; but my main interest is single player historical campaigns rather than online multiplayer, so the older game may still serve me better. I also have no head tracking hardware to speak of, though I'm considering getting a larger external monitor for use at home, and I might try to attach something to that to that end. In 1946 I generally got by with hat-switch snap views and leaving icons on even with full flight model realism.

 

First off, I'm impressed how well this game runs on my laptop, which only has the minimum requirements in terms of VRAM.

 

On the negative side, I can't get the hang of the default pan camera views, and the snap views do weird things to the zoom. Meanwhile, I can't seem to access some of the engine controls and I'm not sure why. On the Soviet aircraft when I make the key inputs for prop pich/RPM or mixture, nothing seems to happen, and when I remap the controls it seems to have no effect. To start with my throttle was reversed as well, but I was able to correct that.

 

On to the aricraft, as I took some of them up in the free flight Quick Mission:
* The Il-2 feels really heavy, even unloaded, and the nose always wants to pitch down aggressively. I couldn't figure out the trim controls either, so it was a bit problematic. Flew around a bit at low altitude, reaching quite high speeds, then quit mission.
* Tried the Bf-109F-4 next, and this felt very nice and smooth to fly, climbing rapidly and hitting some very rapid speeds in shallow dives. Obviously no issues with prop controls here, it's automatic! Tried some manoeuvres, and climbed back up to 3000m before finding that the infamous high-speed control lock is more aggressively modelled in this sim than 1946 as I failed to pull out of a split S! I was thinking of starting out with a Soviet ground attack career, but I might be seduced by the dark(er) side. They have 109s.
* The Stuka was a lot more pleasant than the Il-2 in the realm of ground attackers, though going back to a manual engine again caused problems and I got a pretty rapid "engine damaged" message. I managed to find my airfield again, and landed successfully on the first attempt in the new sim, which surprised me! Not entirely sure I parked anywhere near where I was supposed to however, I couldn't see a thing once I'd landed.
* The Pe-2 was a much smoother and more pleasing ride than the Il-2, at least without its bombload, and would probably me my pick for that putative Soviet career. After taking off, I saw some smoke rising on the horizon, and soon was flying above the burned out city of Stalingrad. I noticed a nearby, unpopulated airfield, and strafed some 
apparently empty fuel tanks, before trying out the maximum speed I could get on the deck, and trying to fly as low as possible...which ended in a collision with a tree.
* Tried taxiing in the Bf-109G-2, and got horribly confused. I couldn't see much and wasn't sure what direction I was supposed to go to get to the runway. Couldn't get the canopy to close either. As an aside, the Pe-2 has by far the best visibility of the planes I've flown so far.
* Gave a Soviet fighter a try with the Yak-1. A nicely handling aircraft, I didn't suffere any engine damage but did have a constant tooltip telling me to adjust my mixture. Was very easy to black out in a tight turn, and tight vertical loops and split S were quite smooth. Then I pushed it too far and spun at low altitude (but I was deliberately pushing it).
* Second fly out with the Il2 felt a lot better, and brought her around for a less-hairy-than-expected landing.

 

I decided to try some combat, with the Duel quick mission flying a Bf-109F agianst a LaGG. First I gave myself an altitude advantage, but I had not idea where the enemy was, so I changed to coaltitude. I saw the enemy fighter for about half a second before the merge (we seemed to spawn very close), then I had zero situational awareness or even awareness of my own aircraft's orientation with the pan views confusing me. I entered the classic 109 high-power spiral climb, trying to find the enemy behind and below me, but didn't see him until he started shooting. I still couldn't see anything except the tracers, my canopy was shattered, and the radiator was damaged; I entered a shallow dive reaching 600kph+ IAS and the shooting stopped; I don't know if I out-paced him witht the 109's superior vertical performance, or if the AI decided I was finished. I leveled out at ~1500m, and the plane was OK at low power settings. I couldn't find an airfield, so tried to land in a field, which went OK until at the last second I realized I was about to hit a lone tree. Touched down OK, but then encoutered a small rise in the terrain, leading the prop to strike the ground. On the after action report it emerged I overflew a friendly airfield during my descent, but I couldn't see it.

 

I've since tried a few quick combats in the 109 and Yak against unescorted bombers and attack planes. In the first I lost the Sturmoviks after the first attack, but was able to reloacte them based on my AI wingman's tracersbut lost them again after my second unsuccessful pass. In the second, I managed to hit and damage a Heinkel, separating it from the formation, and chase it down to low level. I'm pretty sure it was going in, but the gunners killed me before that happened! Tracking it in three dimensions through repeated attacking passes was again really counter-intuitively difficult with the pan hat switch.
 

[ACG_Macro]

may I suggest you look up web cam head tracking (others may have good links as I have never used it) if you are on a budget, or invest in Track IR.  It really helps with situational awareness.  It really changes it for the better.

 

 

[SAG]

3 hours ago, Handigar said:

I recently got a new laptop which is just about capable of running Il2 Great Battles, and given it was on sale last week I decided I'd give Battle of Stalingrad a try. I've played quite a bit of modded 1946, though not for a while; but my main interest is single player historical campaigns rather than online multiplayer, so the older game may still serve me better. I also have no head tracking hardware to speak of, though I'm considering getting a larger external monitor for use at home, and I might try to attach something to that to that end. In 1946 I generally got by with hat-switch snap views and leaving icons on even with full flight model realism.

 

 

 

Use open track. its free and the hardware is very easy to make

 

 

[Voyager]

@Handigar One quick fix I found years ago for view control is to get a cheap track ball and put it by the throttle, and bind one of the buttons to reset the view forward. You don't need huge precision so using it off-hand isn't that big of a problem. 

 

Just something that might be worth trying. 

[Handigar]

Thanks for the replies. I've tried out a webcam based headtracker from Steam, and it wasn't smooth enough to be a huge improvement, so I think I will get an IR-based system when I order my external monitor.

 

More perplexingly, as I alluded above, I can't seem to get any key bindings to stick. The new bindings don't function but the old defaults do -- even though when I go back into Settings, my bindings are the ones displayed. And neither my nor the original prop pitch or mixture controls seem to do anything...

[Voyager]

If you are flying any of the German planes, I believe most of them have fully automatic engine controls; it's all done by how far forward you push the throttle. 

[Handigar]

1 hour ago, Voyager said:

If you are flying any of the German planes, I believe most of them have fully automatic engine controls; it's all done by how far forward you push the throttle. 

 

I'm aware of that, but I don't seem to be able to affect the engine settings in Soviet aircraft either. Meanwhile, I flew my first actual career mission...

 

My pilot is Junior Lieutenant Felix Kryukov, born to peasant farmers in eastern Ukraine and before the war a biology teacher. He's part of the 811th ShAP (ground attack aviation regiment) based at Zaplavnoye in the summer of 1942, flying the Il-2 Sturmovik.

 

His first mission is to participate in an attack by eight Sturmoviks on German units crossing the river Liska at Sukhanov, north-west of Kalach, on August 24th 1942. We're carrying two 100kg bombs and a salvo of (unguided) rockets.

 

Takeoff was straightforwards, but the prop pitch lever seemed broken (sic). The plane seemed to need almost maximum elevator trim to keep the nose up even with this modest bombload, and I struggled to reach altitude while keeping up with my squadron, who were soon a group of dots in the distance. The mission plan seemed to suggest a cruising speed of 350kph, but I couldn't get much more than 250 at continuous power; perhaps this was due to the prop pitch issue, but my squadron wasn't going any faster and by the time we crossed the Volga near Stalingrad (where fires were already burning) I'd caught up with them, though I wasn't able to really fly *in formation*.

We were meant to have an escort of Yak-1s join us at this point, and I heard their radio chatter, but never saw any fighter friendly or otherwise out of the Il-2's armoured cockpit; thank god the Luftwaffe didn't put in an appearance. I felt vulnerable behind the rear of the formation, and acutely aware that we were flying paralell to a long German salient even before we crossed the Don into enemy territory.

 

The flight was uneventful until about five minutes before the target, when suddenly tracers started flying up from the ground! I followed the leader's dive as we sook to throw off their aim, but it was already too late, and I saw two of my fellows crash into the ground. Now the tracers were streaking past me, I twisted and turned to try to throw them off, and I lost sight of the rest of my squadron. I resolved, being so close, to continue my mission and attack the target alone if need be.

 

My evasive action had left me at low altitude with a poor vantage point to identify the river crossing, but I could see the town of Sukhanov and the road approaching the river from the east. As I approached, I saw a column of vehicles on our side of the river, and a gaggle of vehicles and supplies behind. Just in time, I adjusted my course, and flew in at treetop level to drop my bombs before any defensive action could be taken. Turning back, I could see a half-track burning, and I could identify the pontoon bridges at which I unleashed my rockets. Then I opened the throttle to full power and sped away as fast as I could, hugging the ground to present as difficult a target as possible to the AAA gunners whose tracers were now streaming past my cockpit.

 

The flight plan had us egress by a more northerly route, and while that meant a longer time in enemy territory, I followed it; I had no desire to overfly that flak concentration again, and I might meet up with my squadronmates or fighter escort. The return flight seemed to progress much faster than the journey out (perhaps because I wasn't concentrating on keeping up with the formation), and I was soon relieved to cross the Don into Soviet-held territory. No free-hunting enemy fighters were encountered, and I landed back at Zaplavnoye without incident. As I opened my canopy and looked to my right to orient myself with the airfield, I noticed damage to my right wing; I had been hit, though I don't know if that happened during the attack or when we were surprised en route.

 

I was the first pilot to return, and only two more of my comrades returned; five of our eight pilots were lost. A few days later, my lone attack was "rewarded" with the Medal for Battle Merit.

[56RAF_Stickz]

Handigar I think you may need to check the difficulty settings for engine management. By default I think it is automatic so prop pitch, radiators and mixture will be game controlled. Un tick the relevant boxes ( I think at least 2 are relevant). Welcome to the game.

[Sublime]

On 11/1/2019 at 10:04 AM, Handigar said:

I recently got a new laptop which is just about capable of running Il2 Great Battles, and given it was on sale last week I decided I'd give Battle of Stalingrad a try. I've played quite a bit of modded 1946, though not for a while; but my main interest is single player historical campaigns rather than online multiplayer, so the older game may still serve me better. I also have no head tracking hardware to speak of, though I'm considering getting a larger external monitor for use at home, and I might try to attach something to that to that end. In 1946 I generally got by with hat-switch snap views and leaving icons on even with full flight model realism.

 

First off, I'm impressed how well this game runs on my laptop, which only has the minimum requirements in terms of VRAM.

 

On the negative side, I can't get the hang of the default pan camera views, and the snap views do weird things to the zoom. Meanwhile, I can't seem to access some of the engine controls and I'm not sure why. On the Soviet aircraft when I make the key inputs for prop pich/RPM or mixture, nothing seems to happen, and when I remap the controls it seems to have no effect. To start with my throttle was reversed as well, but I was able to correct that.

 

On to the aricraft, as I took some of them up in the free flight Quick Mission:
* The Il-2 feels really heavy, even unloaded, and the nose always wants to pitch down aggressively. I couldn't figure out the trim controls either, so it was a bit problematic. Flew around a bit at low altitude, reaching quite high speeds, then quit mission.
* Tried the Bf-109F-4 next, and this felt very nice and smooth to fly, climbing rapidly and hitting some very rapid speeds in shallow dives. Obviously no issues with prop controls here, it's automatic! Tried some manoeuvres, and climbed back up to 3000m before finding that the infamous high-speed control lock is more aggressively modelled in this sim than 1946 as I failed to pull out of a split S! I was thinking of starting out with a Soviet ground attack career, but I might be seduced by the dark(er) side. They have 109s.
* The Stuka was a lot more pleasant than the Il-2 in the realm of ground attackers, though going back to a manual engine again caused problems and I got a pretty rapid "engine damaged" message. I managed to find my airfield again, and landed successfully on the first attempt in the new sim, which surprised me! Not entirely sure I parked anywhere near where I was supposed to however, I couldn't see a thing once I'd landed.
* The Pe-2 was a much smoother and more pleasing ride than the Il-2, at least without its bombload, and would probably me my pick for that putative Soviet career. After taking off, I saw some smoke rising on the horizon, and soon was flying above the burned out city of Stalingrad. I noticed a nearby, unpopulated airfield, and strafed some 
apparently empty fuel tanks, before trying out the maximum speed I could get on the deck, and trying to fly as low as possible...which ended in a collision with a tree.
* Tried taxiing in the Bf-109G-2, and got horribly confused. I couldn't see much and wasn't sure what direction I was supposed to go to get to the runway. Couldn't get the canopy to close either. As an aside, the Pe-2 has by far the best visibility of the planes I've flown so far.
* Gave a Soviet fighter a try with the Yak-1. A nicely handling aircraft, I didn't suffere any engine damage but did have a constant tooltip telling me to adjust my mixture. Was very easy to black out in a tight turn, and tight vertical loops and split S were quite smooth. Then I pushed it too far and spun at low altitude (but I was deliberately pushing it).
* Second fly out with the Il2 felt a lot better, and brought her around for a less-hairy-than-expected landing.

 

I decided to try some combat, with the Duel quick mission flying a Bf-109F agianst a LaGG. First I gave myself an altitude advantage, but I had not idea where the enemy was, so I changed to coaltitude. I saw the enemy fighter for about half a second before the merge (we seemed to spawn very close), then I had zero situational awareness or even awareness of my own aircraft's orientation with the pan views confusing me. I entered the classic 109 high-power spiral climb, trying to find the enemy behind and below me, but didn't see him until he started shooting. I still couldn't see anything except the tracers, my canopy was shattered, and the radiator was damaged; I entered a shallow dive reaching 600kph+ IAS and the shooting stopped; I don't know if I out-paced him witht the 109's superior vertical performance, or if the AI decided I was finished. I leveled out at ~1500m, and the plane was OK at low power settings. I couldn't find an airfield, so tried to land in a field, which went OK until at the last second I realized I was about to hit a lone tree. Touched down OK, but then encoutered a small rise in the terrain, leading the prop to strike the ground. On the after action report it emerged I overflew a friendly airfield during my descent, but I couldn't see it.

 

I've since tried a few quick combats in the 109 and Yak against unescorted bombers and attack planes. In the first I lost the Sturmoviks after the first attack, but was able to reloacte them based on my AI wingman's tracersbut lost them again after my second unsuccessful pass. In the second, I managed to hit and damage a Heinkel, separating it from the formation, and chase it down to low level. I'm pretty sure it was going in, but the gunners killed me before that happened! Tracking it in three dimensions through repeated attacking passes was again really counter-intuitively difficult with the pan hat switch.
 

Dont give up hope.  Youll rapidly gain experience.  Are you using the mouse to look around or what? PM me if you like.

I recommend searching this forum for the grouns attackers handbook.  Should be a 90 odd page pdf. If you cant find Ill send you a copy. I recommend getting on youtube and watching 

Requiems

Videos om IL2. Though brief he does a lap, takes off a lap and lands. And will show all instruments, settings amd give advice on the aircraft.  That will help quite a bit too.

[MasserME262]

Hey it was a nice and fun reading. What I still dont understand is, you play with a stick? or with the laptop's pad? I couldn't imagine how's that even possible tho lol

[=FEW=fernando11]

Hi. Glad you are enjoying this sim!

 

About engine controls...

First, check the dificulty/realism settings. On "Easy" water, oil, mixture etc are automated.

 

Also check your key bindings. Not all planes use/ need all the keys. Also sometimes diferent planes use diferent description of key.

For example the 109e7 has manual oil and water radiator, that IRL was a leaver, and you can use an axis on a controler, ir a key on keyboard

But the bf 110 who has oil manual controls use a diferent way to control the oil raditator, More like a selector with X number of stops. So in game you have two diferent descriptions.

You can assign the same keys for both. But are treated diferent.

Same with RPM/prop pitch controls, some elevator trims (manual vs electric) etc. So look out for that.

 

[Handigar]

17 hours ago, Sublime said:

I recommend searching this forum for the grouns attackers handbook.  Should be a 90 odd page pdf. If you cant find Ill send you a copy. I recommend getting on youtube and watching Requiems Videos om IL2. Though brief he does a lap, takes off a lap and lands. And will show all instruments, settings amd give advice on the aircraft.  That will help quite a bit too.

 

That's a good read, thank you.

 

I've finally got the engine controls to work for me; it seems I can't just tap the keys, I need to wait at least half a second before they start to take effect.

Edited November 3, 2019 by Handigar

[Sublime]

Sure.  If you need more help let me know.

Also though theyre mainly for "the other title" (what we call a game made by a company named after a bird of prey)  Chuck's guides honestly have some good info on them.

Theres a guide just like it for IL2 though - Ill find a link on my other phone.  While much of those guides will be useless for this game some of it wont.  The cockpit layout and the planes strengths and whatnot are still valid points of information in those guides.

[=OT=Rollie]

Get yourself a TrackIR headset. It might seem expensive but it really is a big help with looking for the bad guys. Once you create a profile that works for you, you will never want to fly without it.

[IRRE_Axurit]

Il y a 11 heures, = OT = Rollie a dit:

Procurez-vous un casque TrackIR. Cela peut sembler cher, mais cela aide beaucoup à rechercher les méchants. Une fois que vous avez créé un profil qui vous convient, vous ne voudrez plus jamais vous en passer.

More much with vr! 

[MikhaVT]

I'll throw in another vote for the opentrack head tracking. All it takes is a PS3 eye, some software and drivers and the 3-point clip. If you dont want to make the 3-point clip you can always just buy the trackIR one and it's still fairly cheap. 

[Handigar]

The next day, the squadron's seven remaining pilots were roused early for a dawn strike against enemy armour columns moving towards the towen of Plovditoye, south of Stalingrad and dangerously close to the Volga. The plane is carrying extra weight in the form of underwing gunpods for 37mm cannon (I'm not sure these are historical for 1942?), and some RBS-82 rockets. I need to figure out the appropriate trim settings for take-off, since it took an unacceptably long time before I felt I was flying a plane rather than a brick, and was able to climb to join the rest of my squadron. With control of RPMs and a more accessible set of trims, I was more able to keep up with the squadron, they never became mere dots in the distance, but still didn't feel confident to approach close enough to enter formation; I didn't want to overtake them. Once again, I didn't make visual contact with our fighter escort, but did hear some worrying radio chatter as they engaged German fighters.

 

As we approached the target area, the squadron broke when they came under AA fire. This time there were no casualties, and I was able to keep in contact with one of the other aircraft and follow him out of the firing zone. However, he flew away to the east away from the target area; I turned back towards it, hoping to find the rest of the squadron and engage the enemy. I flew around for a while around the target waypoint, failing to see anything resembling an armoured vehicle; the trees lining the roads and the buildings of the villages did not help in this task. Eventually, I saw another aircraft in the distance, and headed towards it, hoping to follow to the target. As I approached, I worried that it might be a 109 and I may be walking to my death; but it was a Sturmovik. Settling in behind, I saw him dive towards something on the ground and followed; there was a line of german guns behind sandbags, and I unloaded my rockets on them. As I pulled up, I got an "engine damaged" message (self-inflicted, I believe), and decided to head for home, whatever my comrade was up to.

 

As I came back over the town, I saw several planes circling; the rest of my squadron! And just to the *north* of the town, I saw the column -- so many tanks! I was too close and too low to dive on them and attack when I first saw them, and in my eagerness (and damaged engine) didn't get enough height before attempting to execute my attack, and ended up striking my ground with my prop, coming to a fairly smooth belly landing but surely to become a PoW.

 

I think I'll wait till I've got a bigger screen to work with before continuing the campaign (or rather reflying this mission), and order a declanclip or similar. While I've resolved some of my keybinding issues, I can't seem to rebind Zoom controls from some buttons on the base of my stick to some on the head, which means to zoom in to identify a contact or look for vehicles I need to take my hand off the rudder/throttle control and divide my attention for a moment to ensure I have the right buttons. I think that contributed to my prop strike and crash-landing.

[Handigar]

Decided to do some "training flights" in the Il-2, to get a handle of what engine settings correspond to climb/cruise/combat settings, standard speeds, and so on. First flight was a bit of a disaster, I forgot to raise the flaps and flew around for a long time wondering why I couldn't get above 200kph, wondering if it was something to do with my mixture being fubar and fiddling with that[1]. I'd placed some vehicles on the map, but couldn't find them in their apparent location. Eventually I found an airfield protected by AA, and went in to strafe; I knocked out one gun, but got taken out on the way out.

 

Second flight I did remember to raise flaps, and got better performance than I had before with my newfound control over engine settings. After climbing to 1.5km altitude, I turned back towards the area where the game had placed several ground targets. There were supposed to be some tanks to the west of the forest, but I couldn't see them, even when I was given radio orders to attack them 2km to the north. Circling around, I did find some artillery pieces by the Don, who made themselves quite visible with their firing. I knocked out one with my bombs, then followed up with some ineffectual strafing runs. Then I returned to my very nearby base for my smoothest landing yet.

 

[1] Which raises the question: how do I know where to set my mixture at a given altitude? At takeoff it's at ~35% by default; is that appropriate? Seems low.

[Diggun]

@Handigar, I've just read through this thread and firstly, you are doing great mate. Sounds like you are approaching everything with the right spirit and applying the (excellent) advice that others have already given. This sim is hard, and there's no substitute for experience.

 

With regard to your specific mixture question, you generally want to lean (reduce) it with altitude. A good guide is to open your canopy and see if you can look behind you and if you're trailing dirty smoke you probably want to lean it more until the smoke goes away. Unless you are in a situation where you need power in which case firewall everything, survive, and worry about it later. 

 

One of the coolest/most frustrating aspects of the sim as it exists now is that a lot boils down to binding all of the available functionality in terms of key binding into a pattern that works for you. Almost everyone is running different hard and soft-ware packages, which is why you won't find any super easy guides to talk you through this process. It really does boil down to what you find works for yourself. 

 

In terms of strafing though, try setting your convergence for your guns at about 400 metres. That way, in an il2, your rounds will hit a truck / tank when it fills the space between the centre of your sight and the first 'tick' mark on one side. Use your mgs to make sure that you're on target and then squeeze the cannons for the killing shot. 

 

It's frustrating AS ALL HELL. But once you start to get it figured out, this sim (and community) is the most rewarding experience I've ever had in front of a computer. Private browsing included. 

 

Not sure if you've dipped your toe into online flying yet, but if you do, and you see me on a server, I'll gladly fly with you (and jump on discord). 

 

In short, o7! Keep at it! 

 

EDIT: also, yup, just to 2nd what others have said, this whole experience comes alive with some form of head tracking. Do it. It enables flying in such a more natural manner, and your situational awareness goes through the roof. 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2019 by [_FLAPS_]Diggun

[CUJO_1970]

Step 1: Go immediately to YouTube and study Requiem’s tutorials.

 

Step 2: Profit

[Handigar]

New monitor arrived (but not yet headtracker -- I havent decided which, if it really matters?) I've had a few chances to practice flying the Il-2 in between, and I think I've got a decent handle on engine and trim settings to allow me to climb effectively to 1km and cruise smoothly in level flight at ~290kph at continuous power. The larger screen made spotting targets on the ground a little easier too, and I even managed to hit some artillery with my guns in strafing attacks. My landings were generally surprisingly good from my memory of the old sim, but one was a bit of a disaster -- it helps to drop gear *before* touching down!

 

I was optimistic on picking the career up again, and this time there was no effort to catch up my squadron; in fact I passed them by, and had difficulty locating them again. This reminds me how in 1946 I found staying with an AI-piloted leader one of the most difficult things, and resolved to play at a rank that would allow me to lead at least a section regardless of the fiction. Still, I can't have got too far ahead of them, and received hails from out fighter escort not far from the front lines. A little while after that, I heard worrying radio warnings of an enemy fighter to the south-east; I could see nothing. I hoped this was something for the escort to deal with, but a minute or so later I saw traces streaming past my cockpit -- I was under attack! I entered a fairly gentle turn away from the shots, and a few seconds later a 109 overshot me, pulling up and away opposite my turn. I decided not to pull hard and attempt to catch him in this one opportunity for an air-air shot, but push my nose down and get out of the area as quickly as possible. Soon I heard radio chatter from the fighters engaging the enemy, and felt I could relax a little.

 

I didn't think I'd taken any damage -- I certainly didn't hear anything -- and my plane was flying well, although the manoeuvring seemed to have thrown my trim off, and the nose kept rising a few degrees, seemingly at random. No I was approaching the target area, and I was shot at again! I pulled what ended up being a full turn this time, catching a glimpse of the attacker behind me, and though I didn't see him overhsoot I think I lost him. Reorienting myself, I was now very close to the target area, and turned towards the road where I somehow knew (as if I'd been here before!) the enemy column was located. There was dust rising there, visible from far off, but as I dropped the nose to get a better look it *just kept dropping*, beyond my control. STRCTURAL FAILURE -- BAIL OUT! The plane was spinning nose over tail, making escape impossible, and dropping from the sky. This time Felix Kryukov would go to his death by Plovditoye.

Had I been hit by AAA? A look at the event log suggested not "Shot down by enemy Bf-109F-4". So I had been hit, without noticing, in one of the two attacks, damaging my tailplane (presumably), and the stress of entering that seemingly shallow dive had broken it off.

 

I don't think I'll resurrect Felix again, rather I'll start a different pilot's career, forcing myself to be a section leader from the start so I don't have to worry about staying with the formation for the moment. Maybe pick a later start date, and see if there's a different unit to fly for.

[Handigar]

One Month Update

 

I've not found as much time to play Il-2 as I might like, between life and Unity of Command II taking over my ww2 gaming until completion. This week I've picked it back up more, and used the autumn sale to pick up Moscow, Kuban and the U-2 (I can't believe the Soviet aviaation injdustry was capable of building such an advanced aircraft in the 1930s! This is the plane I bought, right?). I've mostly just enjoyed flying them around the Kuban map rather than anything more complex, though I can hit level bombers now if I set myself up for an attack in the QMB, but against fighters I rapidly lose contact and find myself flying around for 10 minutes searching for the enemy and not finding them. I've ordered a Trackhat Clip, which should arrive this week.

 

I tried out PWCG, but wasn't very impressed with the tiny target areas. I flew ~3 ground attack missions, and there were only a tiny handful of guns or vehicles standing in a field alone. I picked up the career mode again with the U-2vs in the 901st NBAP near Stalingrad, and really enjoyed the two missions I've flown so far, with the tension of the searchlights swinging as I try to locate the target in the darkness, though it's *so slow* to get there and back. But I think the most fun I've had with the sim was taking off before dawn in a Ju-88 from Kerch and flying along the Kuban coast (do I see the snowcapped Caucasus in the distance?) to bomb Sochi from 7000m. It's a pity I badly messed up my attempted landing and totalled the plane. I also got the A-20 static campaign in the sale, and I'll probably try that next.

 

I might look at multiplayer at some point, but for the moment I'm not confident in my taxiing skills. I've managed to get a U-2, Il-2, and P-39 from parked to runway, but each was an ordeal, and I'd likely be a hazard to anyone else on the airfield at the moment. I'm also not sure what server I can go on without inevitably screwing things up for "my" side, as I'm not really interested in dogfight servers. I'd probably be looking at hitting ground targets in a U-2, or maybe high-altitude bombing in the Ju-88 (not that I've proven my ability to hit a target smaller than a city, or to land it).

 

I still have the problem that I can't seem to rebind the buttons on my stick (I can rebind keys and axes), for some reason. Everything looks correct in the settings, but when I fly the original defaults still perform those commands instead of my preferences.

[Diggun]

7 minutes ago, Handigar said:

also not sure what server I can go on without inevitably screwing things up for "my" side,

There is a server called Berloga which is perfect for learning (and losing!) dogfighting. It's basically just a massive furball. You pick a side (doesn't matter which, and also there are ai fighters in the server if there aren't enough human players), pick an aircraft and load out (its basically just fighters but nevermind), and spawn in and you'll be basically plonked right into an intense furball. There are no complicated rules, so get involved and die as much as you like and, after a while, you'll start to get the swing of things. One day, I think it took me a few months of constant death, you'll actually get guns on and bring down a Real Life Human Player. I cannot possibly overstate how awesome this moment is. 

 

Go chase it! 

[unreasonable]

2 hours ago, Handigar said:

One Month Update

 

 

I still have the problem that I can't seem to rebind the buttons on my stick (I can rebind keys and axes), for some reason. Everything looks correct in the settings, but when I fly the original defaults still perform those commands instead of my preferences.

 

Have you tried deleting the defaults?   The other issue is what you are trying to bind. For some reason best known to the developers, instead of simple system where one set of commands always affects trim, whatever the the aircraft, we have a convoluted system where some need an axis setting and others have to have separate up/down buttons. So if you are having problems binding buttons for trim, you are not alone. 

 

 

[Handigar]

 

 

2 hours ago, [_FLAPS_]Diggun said:

There is a server called Berloga which is perfect for learning (and losing!) dogfighting. It's basically just a massive furball. You pick a side (doesn't matter which, and also there are ai fighters in the server if there aren't enough human players), pick an aircraft and load out (its basically just fighters but nevermind), and spawn in and you'll be basically plonked right into an intense furball. There are no complicated rules, so get involved and die as much as you like and, after a while, you'll start to get the swing of things. One day, I think it took me a few months of constant death, you'll actually get guns on and bring down a Real Life Human Player. I cannot possibly overstate how awesome this moment is. 

 

Go chase it! 

Thanks, I've given this a go, even though my main interest is in ground attack, and it was good fun. A perfect 0-5 record!

* In the Yak I just died, though in my first flight I did get into something resembling a dogfight and had one shooting opportunity (which I missed). In the second, someone just got behind me and killed me.

* In the Fw-190 I flew around for ages in circles looking for contacts; it felt like every aircraft I could positively identify at long range was friendly! When I did identify and dive on a Russian, he was already dead with a stopped engine. I went down lower looking for a furball, and got bounced myself.

* In the 109 I resolved to dive on any contact I saw, and withhold shooting if friendly. I went up and down, up and down, only able to catch up with friendlies, until I found myself zoomed in trying to identify some aircraft in a steep dive, lost awareness of my speed/altitude, and crashed.

* I decided to try a P-39 despite not flying it much in single player -- if I'm going to have very limited shooting opportunities, might as well bring the firepower! I got behind a 190 at low altitude, he went into a split-S, I followed, I blacked out and hit the ground.

 

25 minutes ago, unreasonable said:

 

Have you tried deleting the defaults?   The other issue is what you are trying to bind. For some reason best known to the developers, instead of simple system where one set of commands always affects trim, whatever the the aircraft, we have a convoluted system where some need an axis setting and others have to have separate up/down buttons. So if you are having problems binding buttons for trim, you are not alone. 

 

 

I've solved this problem, actually. It turns out the zoom control in the first person view is under pilot head controls, not camera controls, so I was rebinding the wrong command, and when I tried to bind other commands the default keys they clashed and kept the defaults.

[unreasonable]

Glad it is solved so you can enjoy our bizarre part game part interactive history and engineering teaching software!   I can assure you we have all had problems with the bindings at one time or other: there are just so many of them and I can never remember my LCtrl-RShift from my RAlt-ScratchHead-WhileRubTummy.  Makes me pine for clickable cockpits, which we are not getting.