My experience as a noob

[MasserME262]

Warning: this post is made out of my frustration.

 

I started playing, IIRC, by May 2018. So now it's 2 years and few days. 

 

As I'm writing this, out of frustration, I have all my flying sim hardware in their corresponding packaging, that is, Im giving up. Being rekt by AI, which no-matter-what keeps at my 6, and being rekt by other humans (whose skills I envy), I find no fun in that, even If I tried to force me to do so for during these 2 years.

 

I play guitar and electric bass just for fun at home, and after the initial 2 years, I made progression on both. Same goes for other video-games. Same goes for my job. But no way I progress here. Yeah, I dont crash at landings or at take-offs (I learnt to do it without dying the first 2 months actually). But no way I can be a "fighter" or a fighter-bomber or a bomber. No matter how much tutorials or manuals I watch/read, its just a "no".

 

Still cant shake a lovely AI from my tail, still cant shot down human players, except distracted players flying in Berloga, still cant notice a darn thing flying near me (that is, my situational awareness is still crap). I still miss to spot a plane 5 meters away from me, while I can see a RC plane flying at 10 feet heigth flying far away from me in RL. Well, everything that can be made wrong in this game, I STILL do it. Im not sure if it happens to someone else, and I envy those who have the patience to learn the game but... I seem to be too bad for it, word.

 

The thing is, I will probably buy BoN when I can (can't right now) and future releases, since Im still amazed at the work the devs do. The game is great, with its flaws yeah, but its great. The game, and the dev team, both.

 

Now Im kinda curious on knowing people's experience for first 2-3 years in the game. Did you improve, or you needed 30 years for that?

Are you still a noob? Are you still crashing after stalling a 190 against a AI-flown Yak? If so, you are not alone.

[Mika_87]

Sad to hear.

 

My opinion is, dont take it too seriously.

There are many ways to make IL2 more game than sim.

 

If you are all the time out of ammo, there is an option to use unlimited ammo. If you dont see other planes, there is icons.

 

I play this game for fun and some people migth think that I do it wrong. I dont care. It is my game, my time.

I like to play with unlimited ammo and with icons. Why? Because I like to have fun and shoot down enemy planes even without being accurate shooter.

 

Just give it a go with some simplifier settings and you might enjoy it more!

[Jaegermeister]

I still clearly remember trying to take off in the P-39 Airacobra in the IL-2 demo I got out of a PC Pilot magazine on CD. I crashed over and over, and when I finally did take off, I stalled and crashed right away. But it was awesome and I have flown it ever since.

It took me a long time to be able to hit enemy aircraft, but I flew QMB missions with unlimited numbers of enemies coming at me and unlimited ammo. I started with them on novice and I just kept at it until I could kill a few of them without crashing. Then it was how many can I kill before one gets me. I gradually moved up to increasing the enemy skill level, eventually dogfighting against Ace AI. I probably never even started a career for the first 6 months because I sucked and couldn’t survive a single mission.

I think I flew this sim all through IL2 1946 with engine assist on and in full screen mode with no cockpit. Wonder Woman view doesn’t even exist anymore. I only changed over to all manual controls and VR in the last couple of years since Battle of Kuban has been out.

How long is that? I don’t know, a long time. But yes, I have continued to improve. Very slowly. There is a very steep learning curve here and it takes years to get good at this stuff. You are flying a sim that is harder to get proficient at than the original version, but if you keep at it, I am sure you will continue to get better.

[Talon_]

Have you read any guides on BFM? Do you watch YouTube tutorials?

[CountZero]

55 minutes ago, ME-BFMasserME262 said:

Warning: this post is made out of my frustration.

 

I started playing, IIRC, by May 2018. So now it's 2 years and few days. 

 

As I'm writing this, out of frustration, I have all my flying sim hardware in their corresponding packaging, that is, Im giving up. Being rekt by AI, which no-matter-what keeps at my 6, and being rekt by other humans (whose skills I envy), I find no fun in that, even If I tried to force me to do so for during these 2 years.

 

I play guitar and electric bass just for fun at home, and after the initial 2 years, I made progression on both. Same goes for other video-games. Same goes for my job. But no way I progress here. Yeah, I dont crash at landings or at take-offs (I learnt to do it without dying the first 2 months actually). But no way I can be a "fighter" or a fighter-bomber or a bomber. No matter how much tutorials or manuals I watch/read, its just a "no".

 

Still cant shake a lovely AI from my tail, still cant shot down human players, except distracted players flying in Berloga, still cant notice a darn thing flying near me (that is, my situational awareness is still crap). I still miss to spot a plane 5 meters away from me, while I can see a RC plane flying at 10 feet heigth flying far away from me in RL. Well, everything that can be made wrong in this game, I STILL do it. Im not sure if it happens to someone else, and I envy those who have the patience to learn the game but... I seem to be too bad for it, word.

 

The thing is, I will probably buy BoN when I can (can't right now) and future releases, since Im still amazed at the work the devs do. The game is great, with its flaws yeah, but its great. The game, and the dev team, both.

 

Now Im kinda curious on knowing people's experience for first 2-3 years in the game. Did you improve, or you needed 30 years for that?

Are you still a noob? Are you still crashing after stalling a 190 against a AI-flown Yak? If so, you are not alone.

 

so i guess you didnt play on ts3 or discort with others, you just try alone and learn from manuals and videos ?

 

for me when i started to play in old sturm, i spend less then week playing only SP, and imidiatly joined MP, didnt even know whats who and wheres what and was shooting down frendlys and so on not understanding its not free for all. But some guy realised im playing with no icons on server with icons and padlocks he say to me to come on his squad ts3 and in few months i was able to play at same level as him. If i just stick to manuals or play alone in SP or MP it would take few years or just give up on being just target for AI or others in MP.

 

So when people say if your aim is to get good, skip on waisting time in SP and join MP and join ts3 or discort and lisen to guys trying to show you thing or two, they know what they ae talking about.

 

But many are stuborn or shy and take it slow, there is also few who will never be able to learn and there is few who learn on their own but for me faster way is join MP and ts3/discort and let be train for few weeks months and so on and even when you get shoot down many times your atleast gona have guy on ts3 to complain to about uber that or uber this and that guy is $&/&/( and so on

[Lusekofte]

You look like a nice fella. Do not loose hope. 
I fly in a group with a mix of rubbish (me) to fair flyers. 
We are not much online. But we have fun in coop. When I was more online I got slaughtered by patient opportunistic stalkers. Waiting for a heavy slow ac coming for Objective. And that is their job, 

getting many kills mean wait to a easy one come. Like you say, you do not have skill. What you lack like me is patience, not skill. 
And you need some fine peep’s to fly with. 
Ideal one of them better at spotting. 
And you need the right platform for you. 
But take a break first

[Luftschiff]

Still a huge noob, I came over from RoF and got into IL2 back in 2017 or some such. I consider myself a good attacker, but as a fighter I've only started getting regular kills in the last few months. Things are definitely improving, but it's very slow progress as even if you play often, fighting is only actively practiced for a few minutes on the hour, as 99% of most sorties are uneventful. It's easy to forget that part, and most of your enemies, moreover, have several thousand hours and years of experience. 

 

That said, there's more noticeable improvement in other aspects. I definitely I remember the days when I absolutely couldn't land a 109, I practiced it over and over and just couldn't. Shooting, Flying, Spotting, Formations, Communication, Tactics - all these are areas I can easily see improvement in - but I still fuck up all the time. The number of times I overshoot an enemy or even just ram my own right into the ground after controls lock up are embarassingly numerous considering my flight time. It's a hard and complicated piece of software, and it's occasionally very frustrating - but I keep coming back because there's nothing that quite compares. I do understand though, and I sincerely hope you will find a way to enjoy it again some time, maybe with a friend or in co-op.

[ITAF_Rani]

Like in the history no all pilots became fighter pilots ( Rudel for ex was a totally disaster to fly fighters )or bomber pilots.

 

Think to other roles like:

 

-Fly transport (important role in TAW).

 

-Gunner in bomber.If you ll be good, many bombers pilots will do the queque to have you on their planes.

 

-Or fly fighters as recon. Hope this will be inplemented in the next tournaments online. In this moment for example you can advice your team if enemy planes are close to important targets to cover/attack 

Edited May 16, 2020 by ITAF_Rani

[SCG_OpticFlow]

1 hour ago, ME-BFMasserME262 said:

Warning: this post is made out of my frustration.

 

I started playing, IIRC, by May 2018. So now it's 2 years and few days. 

 

As I'm writing this, out of frustration, I have all my flying sim hardware in their corresponding packaging, that is, Im giving up. Being rekt by AI, which no-matter-what keeps at my 6, and being rekt by other humans (whose skills I envy), I find no fun in that, even If I tried to force me to do so for during these 2 years.

 

I play guitar and electric bass just for fun at home, and after the initial 2 years, I made progression on both. Same goes for other video-games. Same goes for my job. But no way I progress here. Yeah, I dont crash at landings or at take-offs (I learnt to do it without dying the first 2 months actually). But no way I can be a "fighter" or a fighter-bomber or a bomber. No matter how much tutorials or manuals I watch/read, its just a "no".

 

Still cant shake a lovely AI from my tail, still cant shot down human players, except distracted players flying in Berloga, still cant notice a darn thing flying near me (that is, my situational awareness is still crap). I still miss to spot a plane 5 meters away from me, while I can see a RC plane flying at 10 feet heigth flying far away from me in RL. Well, everything that can be made wrong in this game, I STILL do it. Im not sure if it happens to someone else, and I envy those who have the patience to learn the game but... I seem to be too bad for it, word.

 

The thing is, I will probably buy BoN when I can (can't right now) and future releases, since Im still amazed at the work the devs do. The game is great, with its flaws yeah, but its great. The game, and the dev team, both.

 

Now Im kinda curious on knowing people's experience for first 2-3 years in the game. Did you improve, or you needed 30 years for that?

Are you still a noob? Are you still crashing after stalling a 190 against a AI-flown Yak? If so, you are not alone.

 

There is an old rule in investment, cut losses short (early) and let profits run. I suggest that you move on to a hobby (or even a job) that you enjoy and has positive impact on your life.

[Leon_Portier]

I´m actually in a similar position as you, I´m flying since 2017 and have or used to have similar issues.

Online I do get rekt almost every time I fly, I have gotten a little better, but coming back alive or even making a kill is a big success for me! (and getting shot down a big loss ?)

While I´ll probably never be able to match the old hares in ability, I do have fun flying coop or pvp with friends!

Besides moral support I can give you a few thing I figured out, like using default zoom makes spotting much easier somehow for me and the 4 vs. 4 fights in the quick mission are very entertaining!

What you end up doing is up to you, but looking at myself a year ago, improvement comes!

Edited May 16, 2020 by [N.O.G.F]Leon_Portier

[MattS]

AI have the all-seeing Eye of Sauron, and kind of cheat in general, so don't feel too bad about that.

 

As for humans...another thing to keep in mind is that most pilots IRL sucked pretty bad compared to the real killers. The answer is to train and fight with a team but of course that can be tough to do.

 

16 minutes ago, OpticFlow said:

 

There is an old rule in investment, cut losses short (early) and let profits run. I suggest that you move on to a hobby (or even a job) that you enjoy and has positive impact on your life.

 

Unless you're me and suck at everything that you do LOL.

 

I'm kidding but as a nearly 50 year old dude I've come to the realization that I will probably not be genuinely good compared to other people at anything besides writing really effective emails and cracking jokes at work. This is why we have alcohol.

[NiiranenVR]

 

Often I have the same feeling, and I have had the game about 2 years too - and I still don't feel I'm good .... I'm 2000 hours I guess

I manage SP quite good now and on MP - Beloga I'm not bad , but I guess I manage to shoot a plane down but stay alive is difficult 

So when I'm coming to the others servers MP , I'm still coming to short 

 

Now I'm new to FC , and it's going better - as long as 1-1 plane 

 

And ...., I'm playing guitar / bass too and done it more than 40 year, still do - but remember first time your body should learn to take a G or E cord and then the 7 , Sus ,Maj , 9 'er and then the solo guitar  

I still have to learn new songs - some come easy and no problem .... Other ?

 

So ...and .....often I think it's the learning process that's the half of the game 

[Zeev]

I would advice watching youtubers fly various planes, there are even tutorials on various topics.
I have learned more by watching other youtubers fly IL2 than flying myself.

[Lusekofte]

What we are talking about here is a motivation problem. 
A break from it all is the best. Remember frustration is caused by other players not flying alone, getting you flying alone.  
If you like me like to fly alone , not wanting to interact with anyone, you are in for a portion of frustration. If you turn your head around and find another perspective on it. You will find some fun in it. 
spotting issue is hard to get passed. Being where they expect you to be is a no no. Rather try to stay where they expect to be

Edited May 16, 2020 by 216th_LuseKofte

[LLv24_SukkaVR]

I've played the game since 2013, Steam says i have 1,413h played. I'm very good at against AI pilots, against human players i'd say im average. I can calmly fight AI, fighting humans in casual servers is exciting, but in servers like TAW i'm so nervous and when i'm chasing the enemy my heart is racing and my hands are shaking so bad i would'nt hit a barn even if i was inside it. I shot down 2 fighters in one sortie recently and i still don't understand how because due to adrenaline, BPM at 200, hands shaking badly i was spraying all over the place. First one i caught by surprise i think, but the second one was very aware i was on his six and did every trick to evade me. Combination of skill and luck i guess. But last night is shot down one guy and wasn't jumpy at all. When you are in a battle few times you get used to it, but i'm sure when new TAW begins some time in the future i'm sure i will be at the edge of heart attack when dogfight begins ?

[41Sqn_Skipper]

Fly with other people or join a squadron. There you can be a wingman and be more in a supportive role in dogfights. Or you can focus on ground attacks, while having effective fighter cover. 

 

Maybe consider flying different planes that are more forgiving and that are good in various situation. Some planes can only be used in very specific situations. 

[FTC_Snowy]

Some good advice here above. Don’t give it up completely unless you are sure you don’t or won’t get any enjoyment from it. That does not seem to be so in your case. I recommend going into multiplayer. There are plenty of great people willing to help with tips and flying with others is great fun and rewarding. I’m not sure what time zone you are in but I’d be happy to go online with you sometime.

Edited May 16, 2020 by No.204_Snowy
Formatting

[US63_SpadLivesMatter]

4 hours ago, ME-BFMasserME262 said:

Warning: this post is made out of my frustration.

 

I started playing, IIRC, by May 2018. So now it's 2 years and few days. 

 

As I'm writing this, out of frustration, I have all my flying sim hardware in their corresponding packaging, that is, Im giving up. Being rekt by AI, which no-matter-what keeps at my 6, and being rekt by other humans (whose skills I envy), I find no fun in that, even If I tried to force me to do so for during these 2 years.

 

I play guitar and electric bass just for fun at home, and after the initial 2 years, I made progression on both. Same goes for other video-games. Same goes for my job. But no way I progress here. Yeah, I dont crash at landings or at take-offs (I learnt to do it without dying the first 2 months actually). But no way I can be a "fighter" or a fighter-bomber or a bomber. No matter how much tutorials or manuals I watch/read, its just a "no".

 

Still cant shake a lovely AI from my tail, still cant shot down human players, except distracted players flying in Berloga, still cant notice a darn thing flying near me (that is, my situational awareness is still crap). I still miss to spot a plane 5 meters away from me, while I can see a RC plane flying at 10 feet heigth flying far away from me in RL. Well, everything that can be made wrong in this game, I STILL do it. Im not sure if it happens to someone else, and I envy those who have the patience to learn the game but... I seem to be too bad for it, word.

 

The thing is, I will probably buy BoN when I can (can't right now) and future releases, since Im still amazed at the work the devs do. The game is great, with its flaws yeah, but its great. The game, and the dev team, both.

 

Now Im kinda curious on knowing people's experience for first 2-3 years in the game. Did you improve, or you needed 30 years for that?

Are you still a noob? Are you still crashing after stalling a 190 against a AI-flown Yak? If so, you are not alone.

 

My suggestion to you is to try Flying Circus, and see if your playstyle matches up better with the WW1 aircraft than the WW2 craft.

[KG_S_Kalle_Kalutz82]

4 hours ago, ME-BFMasserME262 said:

Warning: this post is made out of my frustration.

 

I started playing, IIRC, by May 2018. So now it's 2 years and few days. 

 

As I'm writing this, out of frustration, I have all my flying sim hardware in their corresponding packaging, that is, Im giving up. Being rekt by AI, which no-matter-what keeps at my 6, and being rekt by other humans (whose skills I envy), I find no fun in that, even If I tried to force me to do so for during these 2 years.

 

I play guitar and electric bass just for fun at home, and after the initial 2 years, I made progression on both. Same goes for other video-games. Same goes for my job. But no way I progress here. Yeah, I dont crash at landings or at take-offs (I learnt to do it without dying the first 2 months actually). But no way I can be a "fighter" or a fighter-bomber or a bomber. No matter how much tutorials or manuals I watch/read, its just a "no".

 

Still cant shake a lovely AI from my tail, still cant shot down human players, except distracted players flying in Berloga, still cant notice a darn thing flying near me (that is, my situational awareness is still crap). I still miss to spot a plane 5 meters away from me, while I can see a RC plane flying at 10 feet heigth flying far away from me in RL. Well, everything that can be made wrong in this game, I STILL do it. Im not sure if it happens to someone else, and I envy those who have the patience to learn the game but... I seem to be too bad for it, word.

 

The thing is, I will probably buy BoN when I can (can't right now) and future releases, since Im still amazed at the work the devs do. The game is great, with its flaws yeah, but its great. The game, and the dev team, both.

 

Now Im kinda curious on knowing people's experience for first 2-3 years in the game. Did you improve, or you needed 30 years for that?

Are you still a noob? Are you still crashing after stalling a 190 against a AI-flown Yak? If so, you are not alone.

 

 

Yes, frustration can be high in this flight-simulation-game.

But there are ways to decrease frustation = increase of fun.

 

It sounds as you are flying alone and from being single in the sky the learn curve is really high.

Team up with some mates, join TS/Diskord if a game server is providing it.

 

I learned most of when flying with several guys at once and having one wingman in particular.

There is actual fun out in the skies when working together, also your survivability chance is higher than alone.

Also it could help to choose your "branch" aka fighter / CAS / bomber.

 

I can offer you (if you speak english at least) to fly with my squadron, and you dont even have to become a member or so.

Just hanging out with us, we have a good network with other squadrons too, so you wont be alone very often (except you wish so)

 

You can give it a try, contact me via message here, we dont bite.

 

[SCG_Wulfe]

5 hours ago, ME-BFMasserME262 said:

Warning: this post is made out of my frustration.

 

I started playing, IIRC, by May 2018. So now it's 2 years and few days. 

 

As I'm writing this, out of frustration, I have all my flying sim hardware in their corresponding packaging, that is, Im giving up. Being rekt by AI, which no-matter-what keeps at my 6, and being rekt by other humans (whose skills I envy), I find no fun in that, even If I tried to force me to do so for during these 2 years.

 

I play guitar and electric bass just for fun at home, and after the initial 2 years, I made progression on both. Same goes for other video-games. Same goes for my job. But no way I progress here. Yeah, I dont crash at landings or at take-offs (I learnt to do it without dying the first 2 months actually). But no way I can be a "fighter" or a fighter-bomber or a bomber. No matter how much tutorials or manuals I watch/read, its just a "no".

 

Still cant shake a lovely AI from my tail, still cant shot down human players, except distracted players flying in Berloga, still cant notice a darn thing flying near me (that is, my situational awareness is still crap). I still miss to spot a plane 5 meters away from me, while I can see a RC plane flying at 10 feet heigth flying far away from me in RL. Well, everything that can be made wrong in this game, I STILL do it. Im not sure if it happens to someone else, and I envy those who have the patience to learn the game but... I seem to be too bad for it, word.

 

The thing is, I will probably buy BoN when I can (can't right now) and future releases, since Im still amazed at the work the devs do. The game is great, with its flaws yeah, but its great. The game, and the dev team, both.

 

Now Im kinda curious on knowing people's experience for first 2-3 years in the game. Did you improve, or you needed 30 years for that?

Are you still a noob? Are you still crashing after stalling a 190 against a AI-flown Yak? If so, you are not alone.

the quickest acceleration of your skill will come from joining a squad that flies together and pushes you and coaches you to improve.

[cmorris975]

I tend to get pretty good, but only if I play consistently.  I’ve been playing flight sims on and off for 35 years though.

 

I tend to scale the difficulty of what I’m doing in game to my relative competence level.  If I haven’t flown Il-2 in awhile, then I will just practice takeoff and landing in one plane.  I will re-familiarize myself with the gauges and then quirks of the airplane.  Once I feel comfortable with that, only then will I setup some fights with the AI (usually ones titled it my favor, such as me in a 109F vs an inexperienced P40).  
 

Then I progress to career mode.  Then maybe multiplayer.  I stay with the same plane the whole time though.  That way I fly a little better due to being familiar with it.

 

Hope you have fun.  This is a very fun simulator!

 

Chris

[BornToBattle]

OP...

 

Many very good points explained in this thread. You’ll cherry pick which ones you think you’ll run with in the end, or simply scrap all ideas and come up with a totally different spin on things. That’s life in general I guess.
 

I don’t know, got into a back and forth banter on here in Free Subject concerning artistic abilities on how and why some people are “drawn” to certain things in life and a smaller percentage go on to rise to be known as one of the “best of the best” in whatever that may be. I think it’s safe to say that we all chose to fly (be it in a civilian setting like X-Plane or a combat setting such as RoF or one of the Great Battles series) because we want to - we hold an interest in it - be it from a historical perspective and/or aviation in general or both.

 

 I’ve always had an “inherent” want or need to fly regardless of the nature by which I’m doing it since I can remember. Unfortunately even though I still have better than 20/20 vision I was one of the extreme few who was born with red/green color blindness. There were a handful of times (particularly in the military) where it has kept me from moving on to the things I really wanted to do and I would end up getting pigeon-holed into something I didn’t. 
 

Later in life I found a few ways to work around this and yet still be contented enough to really enjoy myself while doing it. One was by becoming an aircraft refueler in which I was heavily interactive with military and civilian/commercial aircraft themselves and their respective crews and gave me some knowledge on what goes on behind the scenes particularly with commercial air flights. We also ran a flight school too so needless to say when not on duty I’d get to fly right seat on various civilian aircraft which was a blessing each time it occurred! Best job I’ve ever had.

The other way was flight simming (I hate using the word “game” but that’s another subject). I started back when Fly! was released for Apple systems, sometime in the late 80’s or early ‘90’s I believe, and have stuck with sims ever since fairly regularly. It seems as time goes on things are rapidly changing software and technology-wise by leaps and bounds. Virtual reality continues to amaze me and for now is as real as it gets for me and has added an entirely new dimension to flight from an armchair. I’ve got numerous jet modules from another sim I have but I’m an old dog and by the time I remember all the numerous startup and flight sequences and then get into weapon systems and countermeasures I’ve got to go back and re-memorize all of the stuff I already went over as aircraft cockpit is set up different.
 

Blah, blah, blah...so what’s the point? So after 30 some years of flying from a desk I have yet to conquer the feeling of being a worthy adversary in the combat world. I’ve flown careers in both RoF and the Battles series and have had my ups and downs - but I have yet to dive into multiplayer - and this is something you’ve already done. If you weren’t interested in flight to begin with I guess you wouldn’t be here posting along with the rest of us. Take a break or simply immerse yourself in the no pressure zone of flying solo in one of theses great machines in Quick Mission and set the time at about sunset with some clouds and enjoy.
 

You sound like you're putting too much pressure on yourself by comparing your musical talents to combat flight simming within a given time period. Hell, I couldn’t play a note on jack sh*t if my life depended on it. Try not to make your own level of expectations the determining factor of whether you’ll continue on with flying this series, or any for that matter. If I had let that get to me I would have given up on aviation IRL and flight simming years ago. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water my friend. 
 

 

Edited May 16, 2020 by BornToBattle

[[CPT]Crunch]

Out of curiosity, what kind of viewing system do you use?   I find that to be the single biggest factor to the enjoyment of my sim experience.

 

Ain't nothing wrong with stepping away for a while and taking a break, do it all the time.  You don't get paid for it, and if your not enjoying it currently.  The game will evolve, and you may be surprised down the road and feel the lovin once again.

[DEDMANcjp]

8 hours ago, ME-BFMasserME262 said:

Warning: this post is made out of my frustration.

 

I started playing, IIRC, by May 2018. So now it's 2 years and few days. 

 

As I'm writing this, out of frustration, I have all my flying sim hardware in their corresponding packaging, that is, Im giving up. Being rekt by AI, which no-matter-what keeps at my 6, and being rekt by other humans (whose skills I envy), I find no fun in that, even If I tried to force me to do so for during these 2 years.

 

I play guitar and electric bass just for fun at home, and after the initial 2 years, I made progression on both. Same goes for other video-games. Same goes for my job. But no way I progress here. Yeah, I dont crash at landings or at take-offs (I learnt to do it without dying the first 2 months actually). But no way I can be a "fighter" or a fighter-bomber or a bomber. No matter how much tutorials or manuals I watch/read, its just a "no".

 

Still cant shake a lovely AI from my tail, still cant shot down human players, except distracted players flying in Berloga, still cant notice a darn thing flying near me (that is, my situational awareness is still crap). I still miss to spot a plane 5 meters away from me, while I can see a RC plane flying at 10 feet heigth flying far away from me in RL. Well, everything that can be made wrong in this game, I STILL do it. Im not sure if it happens to someone else, and I envy those who have the patience to learn the game but... I seem to be too bad for it, word.

 

The thing is, I will probably buy BoN when I can (can't right now) and future releases, since Im still amazed at the work the devs do. The game is great, with its flaws yeah, but its great. The game, and the dev team, both.

 

Now Im kinda curious on knowing people's experience for first 2-3 years in the game. Did you improve, or you needed 30 years for that?

Are you still a noob? Are you still crashing after stalling a 190 against a AI-flown Yak? If so, you are not alone.

Greetings,  I feel your pain

I joined in 2016 and am about 25% competent as a dog fighter pilot in multi play. And  thats with pretty good equipment and TIR 5.  Take offs-landings have gotten easy.

If you want to level the playing field in SP or careers, turn on object and navigation markers and aim assist options.  Why not have the same advantages as the opponent AI.

Try this in QMB to learn the maneuvers to keep the enemy in view.  Its kinda gratifying to actually be able to spot the enemy at 1km.+ distances and close in to learn situational

awareness maneuvering.  Spotting is pretty bad as of now and I often loose sight of target watching it go from side to front canopy, very frustrating.

This game is very hard  and hard to learn , thats what I think.  But Im hooked 

[flagdjmetcher]

I try to stay realistic in my expectations.  This is a sim, so what would the real experience of a new pilot in ww2 be like?  Well, first of all, some huge number flew less than a dozen sorties, never shot anyone down or hit a target, and quickly died of their inexperience.

New pilots crashed on take off, crashed on landing, collided in mid-air, got disoriented in clouds, lost their formations and became easy prey, just plain got lost and ditched, or got shot down by an enemy they never saw.  

 

Of the ones who survived, the vast majority finished the war with no kills.  Getting into a dogfight - at all, ever - was widely regarded as being a really bad idea.  Many never fired their guns, many on the Allied side in the West never even saw an enemy up close.

 

So that's the realistic experience for a noob.  How's your in-game experience going compared to that? 

 

To answer your question, mine's going a bit better.  I had probably 20 career mode careers that looked like the above.  Yep, flew into the ground half a dozen times.  Yep, couldn't see anyone, ever.  My pinnacle of blindness was overshooting a smoking enemy bomber and simply never seeing it again. 

Now, with Track IR and a better monitor, I can maintain tally for more than 10 seconds (I still lose tally at some point in each and every fight), I occasionally manage to keep sight of the bomber formation I'm escorting, and every now and then I manage to RTB with the rest of my flight.  After watching a bunch of videos (seeing Sheriff pulling violent max G defensive reversals made me realise I need to up my commitment levels) yes, I can now shake off a novice AI, and I can keep a career mode pilot alive for more than a dozen sorties.  So that's improvement.  I'm happy with that. 

 

I have no doubt whatsoever I'd be nothing more than one-and-done cannon fodder in MP.   But hey, that's not realistic either.  MP is full of a bunch of pilots looking for a fight.  Most pilots in WW2 just wanted to not let their buddies down, and then get home.

[FTC_Riksen]

14 hours ago, ME-BFMasserME262 said:

Warning: this post is made out of my frustration.

 

I started playing, IIRC, by May 2018. So now it's 2 years and few days. 

 

As I'm writing this, out of frustration, I have all my flying sim hardware in their corresponding packaging, that is, Im giving up. Being rekt by AI, which no-matter-what keeps at my 6, and being rekt by other humans (whose skills I envy), I find no fun in that, even If I tried to force me to do so for during these 2 years.

 

I play guitar and electric bass just for fun at home, and after the initial 2 years, I made progression on both. Same goes for other video-games. Same goes for my job. But no way I progress here. Yeah, I dont crash at landings or at take-offs (I learnt to do it without dying the first 2 months actually). But no way I can be a "fighter" or a fighter-bomber or a bomber. No matter how much tutorials or manuals I watch/read, its just a "no".

 

Still cant shake a lovely AI from my tail, still cant shot down human players, except distracted players flying in Berloga, still cant notice a darn thing flying near me (that is, my situational awareness is still crap). I still miss to spot a plane 5 meters away from me, while I can see a RC plane flying at 10 feet heigth flying far away from me in RL. Well, everything that can be made wrong in this game, I STILL do it. Im not sure if it happens to someone else, and I envy those who have the patience to learn the game but... I seem to be too bad for it, word.

 

The thing is, I will probably buy BoN when I can (can't right now) and future releases, since Im still amazed at the work the devs do. The game is great, with its flaws yeah, but its great. The game, and the dev team, both.

 

Now Im kinda curious on knowing people's experience for first 2-3 years in the game. Did you improve, or you needed 30 years for that?

Are you still a noob? Are you still crashing after stalling a 190 against a AI-flown Yak? If so, you are not alone.

 

I've invited you to fly with me many times but you never paid much attention to it. Some people have different learning curves but this can be helped when you have someone helping you. It did for me and many others as well ... Insisting in doing it all yourself when you are stagnant is just going to lead you into frustration ... When I started in 2009, I too was pretty much in the same situation. Stay on your track and you will go nowhere ... Find a squadron .. A good one ... and you will notice the difference soon enough.

 

Cheers

[SharpeXB]

15 hours ago, ME-BFMasserME262 said:

Still cant shake a lovely AI from my tail, still cant shot down human players,

Have you tried watching this channel?

 

[SCG_Neun]

Saddle up to a  110 and join a squadron.  I think it's one of the best aircraft to get some experience, feel the cohesion of a squad, and with some fighter cover on those missions...you'll be coming back home more times than not and if you don't...well..."Where the hell were you guys!  

Edited May 17, 2020 by SCG_Neun

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

Lots of people here to help. No need to pull the plug.

[LLv34_Flanker]

S! 

 

@ME-BFMasserME262Can relate to your frustration. Stopped flying a while ago due various reasons. Continuing only to help in helping Finnish Virtualpilots server mission making etc. But other than that I do not see myself returning anytime soon. 

 

My advice is to stay clear of flying for a bit, do other things as RL>games. If coming back, do it gradually and with friends or a squad. Get a feel how it goes and go from there. No need to stress over a piece of software or a hobby. 

[PaladinX]

In the real wars of this world, the unexperienced pilots lost nearly all fights against more experienced pilots.

In our gaming world, its the same: There are people that have hardly any other content in life than one specific game (e.g. IL2...but is valid for any other computer game CS, COD, Warcraft and so on...) and they spend hundreds if not thousands of hours in this game. On the other side, there are people seeing it as a hobby, playing many different games, simulators, modelbuilding, making music and so on...they will never reach the same level. It is simple as that.

I can understand your frustration. My recommendation: Stay offline for a while, play with helpful tools (labels, unlimited ammo etc) and simply enjoy flying and shooting. Can be more satisfying than a highly set target ("compete with the online guys").

[ShamrockOneFive]

On 5/16/2020 at 6:34 AM, ME-BFMasserME262 said:

Warning: this post is made out of my frustration.

 

I started playing, IIRC, by May 2018. So now it's 2 years and few days. 

 

As I'm writing this, out of frustration, I have all my flying sim hardware in their corresponding packaging, that is, Im giving up. Being rekt by AI, which no-matter-what keeps at my 6, and being rekt by other humans (whose skills I envy), I find no fun in that, even If I tried to force me to do so for during these 2 years.

 

I play guitar and electric bass just for fun at home, and after the initial 2 years, I made progression on both. Same goes for other video-games. Same goes for my job. But no way I progress here. Yeah, I dont crash at landings or at take-offs (I learnt to do it without dying the first 2 months actually). But no way I can be a "fighter" or a fighter-bomber or a bomber. No matter how much tutorials or manuals I watch/read, its just a "no".

 

Still cant shake a lovely AI from my tail, still cant shot down human players, except distracted players flying in Berloga, still cant notice a darn thing flying near me (that is, my situational awareness is still crap). I still miss to spot a plane 5 meters away from me, while I can see a RC plane flying at 10 feet heigth flying far away from me in RL. Well, everything that can be made wrong in this game, I STILL do it. Im not sure if it happens to someone else, and I envy those who have the patience to learn the game but... I seem to be too bad for it, word.

 

The thing is, I will probably buy BoN when I can (can't right now) and future releases, since Im still amazed at the work the devs do. The game is great, with its flaws yeah, but its great. The game, and the dev team, both.

 

Now Im kinda curious on knowing people's experience for first 2-3 years in the game. Did you improve, or you needed 30 years for that?

Are you still a noob? Are you still crashing after stalling a 190 against a AI-flown Yak? If so, you are not alone.

 

Sorry to hear that you're frustrated. Some people are naturals at things and other people take time to learn how to do it. I write a blog these days but my writing used to be pretty atrocious before university forced me to write essay after essay - practice, as they say, makes perfect.

 

I encourage people who may not be the best fighter pilots to do other roles. You say you can't be a fighter, fighter-bomber, or bomber but the second two are a different skill set. Fighter versus fighter combat isn't for everyone but I know some folks who are specialists at bombers and flying them to target evading enemy patrols and getting away unscathed. That takes practice too.

 

IMHO I think a few things are necessary to help you move forward:

 

1) If you're forcing it too much, take a step away for a week or two, and come back fresh.

2) Record tracks and look for mistakes you made. I watch my own flying all the time and I see what  dummy I was and made note to improve.

3) Watch guides on how to do different roles. Requiem's Air Combat Tutorial library has already been referenced in this thread. Watch his episodes on how he approached a fight. Watch some of the experts like Sheriff and Scharfi and watch what they do and why they do it. Yeah they are talented but you can always learn by emulation - bit by bit.

4) Watch or read other content on the subject of WWII air combat. Some of the sequences are ridiculous but the History Channel Dogfight series actually helped me think about my approach to dogfighting learning things like rolling outside of a turn vector to position for a better shot later for example. There's tons of these on YouTube.

5) FLY WITH A GROUP - If you're not flying with a team, go and find one. There's dozens of places to do this these days. Team work is hard but it makes you much more survivable. If you're flying by yourself you are always going to be more vulnerable.

 

Finally... accept that some days are not going to be good days. I've been a distance runner for 10 years now running everything from 5k's to half marathon and 25k trail races. I find my flight sim and running training are often similar in that I have days where I'm good and other days where I'm not. Some days it's just not happening. I'm not thinking right or my reflexes aren't there. Other days are good days and I'm shooting enemies down with my first shot. You never really know.

 

Stick with it.

[Lusekofte]

Flying bombers or transport in finnish server is actually a rewarding thing. 
I chat my expected arrival at a point of interest and normally people will then clean the area before I arrive. Or at least be there trying. 
But best way not Getting fatigue is to take a break before frustration get a hold on you. 
coop is a good way to utilize this sim. Get friends here avoid public servers for a bit. 
try out some scripted campaigns. 
Acthung Spitfire, Havocs over Kuban, or many of the free ones are very authentic and fun. Perspective need to be straightened

[cardboard_killer]

I'm a relative newb myself and the most frustrating thing is aiming and deflection shooting. I've always felt competant in older flight sims but BoX has taken months of practice just to get to a C level. I still take unlimited ammo when flying solo because I invariably run out of ammo with more than one enemy about (well, except for some of the better armed planes).

 

But I don't stress it. I play solo for fun and practice so one day I might go multiplayer. My evening de-stress always includes a solo anti-bomber game against novices I get to kill wave after wave, and practice aiming and engine management without stress.

[blitze]

Take a holiday from Il2 and then return with a fresh mind.

 

I went through growing pains with this sim in the first couple of years and even then, online - it is much of a muchness.  What I do enjoy though are the offline careers.  You can get some great flight experiences especially if you ditch the crutches and fly with minimal aids.  It isn't easy but boy - is it rewarding and the AI isn't as retarded as many make them out to be. ?

 

Online has its challenges and you can always saddle up and do supply runs or para drops if fighter piloting is proving to be difficult.  Many non fighting aspects that are just as important on some servers. 

 

With a break - know that when you return, you will have processed your prior experience and in the mean time, the developers will have dropped more improvements to this great piece of software. ?

[busdriver]

On 5/16/2020 at 5:34 AM, ME-BFMasserME262 said:

Now Im kinda curious on knowing people's experience for first 2-3 years in the game. Did you improve, or you needed 30 years for that?

Are you still a noob? Are you still crashing after stalling a 190 against a AI-flown Yak? If so, you are not alone.

 

First couple of years...I died all the time. Had my ass handed to me...all the time. Now? I get my ass handed to me and bailout/die ALL.THE.TIME. I suck as a 1GCCFP. When I'm online, I'm the "designated mort," as I'm sure @ShamrockOneFive and @Requiem can verify. At heart I am a SP fan, enjoying a squadron's career fiction including editing my opinion of mission events offered by PWCG. But I really get a kick out of the beauty of the maps, flying low and dropping bombs, and flying at night. 

 

If dogfighting success or failure were the only measure of my enjoyment, then I would quit. Oh, did I mention I flew RF-4s and F-16s, and taught BFM in RL? I highly recommend reaching out to Requiem and try to set up some online instruction, join his Discord channel, come fly with us. 

[Tempus]

Let's see if a couple of veterans can give you a hand in your progress:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ShamrockOneFive]

3 hours ago, busdriver said:

 

First couple of years...I died all the time. Had my ass handed to me...all the time. Now? I get my ass handed to me and bailout/die ALL.THE.TIME. I suck as a 1GCCFP. When I'm online, I'm the "designated mort," as I'm sure @ShamrockOneFive and @Requiem can verify. At heart I am a SP fan, enjoying a squadron's career fiction including editing my opinion of mission events offered by PWCG. But I really get a kick out of the beauty of the maps, flying low and dropping bombs, and flying at night. 

 

If dogfighting success or failure were the only measure of my enjoyment, then I would quit. Oh, did I mention I flew RF-4s and F-16s, and taught BFM in RL? I highly recommend reaching out to Requiem and try to set up some online instruction, join his Discord channel, come fly with us. 

 

And we still love flying with you

 

I was thinking about my multiplayer experience today. I've been flying IL-2 multiplayer since IL-2: Forgotten Battles circa 2003. That's 17-years of IL-2 experience... and there are still days that I feel like a complete newbie. Sometimes I go on a roll but other times its a total disaster. Just how it is ?

[Avimimus]

Go easy on yourself

 

The U.S. 8th Airforce saw some of the heavier fighting: The probability of being killed was about 56 times the probability of claiming five kills... and that is including gunners... For every fighter pilot who scored five kills in the 8th there were about 100 aircrew lost (including bomber crews)... the truth is that the numbers were even higher once the inevitability of accidental over-claiming is considered (often more than five times higher).

 

So, if you fly multiple combats and don't score a kill ...well, you are probably pretty historically accurate.

 

Similarly, if your bombs are landing within 500 metres of a target... that isn't that unusual... in clear weather, if you are good, level bombing can get within 150 metres... maybe half that with an ideal approach - if we're being historically accurate.

 

As for me... I went a long time with target fixation at one point where - while trying to hit the enemy - I'd actually hit the enemy - but with my plane... if one relaxes one's expectations and explores a variety of approaches ...these problems usually sort themselves out over time.

  

On 5/16/2020 at 7:02 AM, Jaegermeister said:

I still clearly remember trying to take off in the P-39 Airacobra in the IL-2 demo I got out of a PC Pilot magazine on CD. I crashed over and over, and when I finally did take off, I stalled and crashed right away. But it was awesome and I have flown it ever since.

 

I remember that! People couldn't figure out how to avoid deep stalls... Everyone was confused - even those who had learned to survive the EAW stall mechanic.

 

I remember also that people used to dive fast enough to lose all of their landing gear except the nose-wheel... they would then land with just the nose wheel touching the ground and throttle back to watch the fuselage begin to dip down as lift increased... people were blown away.

[ZachariasX]

Reading though all these replies, you struck a nerve here. I guess most have been there.

 

I think most comes down to expectation. First of all, you are fooling yourself thinking that AI is „easy“. They are not. They are made to be „aces“ when you set them as such. You cannot take the gospel from people with sometimes decades of ecperience that AI is „easy“ in your context. That statement is meant as AI as opposed to another highly skilled player in MP. There, there‘s indeed a huge difference.

 

This is a wholly different game online vs. offline.

 

Second, this is a game. You can tune it such that it is most rewarding to you. If you are not really good at air combat, make it easy for you. Get unlimited ammo, use simple adversaries and enjoy the fireworks. You can up the difficulty as soon as your current setting is not challenging enough anymore to entertain you. Don‘t pride yourself in taking the most realistic/difficult setting if that keeps you from having a good time. Regardless of the settings, it‘s just play anyway. You will still learn a lot. Unlimited ammo gives practise and is not immoral.

 

Furthermore, this is also a sim. This means you can use it for „just flying“. Like this, you can learn to fly the individual aircraft. In air combat, you must be able to really ride the edge with them. Leran to fly tight circles continuously. Check yourself with the stopwatch to see how you are doing. Only when you are really close to theoretical best timings you will win fights against good oponents. Learn how to maneuver without bleeding too much speed. This is not something obvious,  but something that inevitably leads to your demise if you can‘t do it. All air combat tutorials can only work for you if you can control your aircraft. This is more than just making the nose point where you want it to.

 

Combat simming requires a whole lot of abilities to succeed. Taking on everything at once is more than one can chew. You mentioned learning the guitar. Was your first try a Hendrix tune? How long would you have to practise to make those sound right? On what tunes did you practise in oder to observe progress? Who said air combat is simpler? Never caring for your aircraft is like never tuning your guitar, throwing it away eventually as „you can‘t make progress because it never sounds right“.