Night flight

[AlexandreCosta 6]

Today I started the quick misson builder just to check how the sim looks like during the dark hours and I was surprised that I didn't see any light coming from cities, vehicles or even the airfields. Am I missing something here? I know that the cities would not be as illuminated as they are today, specially during the war, but is this complete darkness accurate?

[[DBS]Browning 1163]

Blackouts were taken very seriously in Europe.

A candle in the window was more than enough to have a blackout officer knock at your door.

[30speed 630]

try the dusk times, 17:30 on the eastern winter maps.  I haven't seen any lights from the cities, however the trains and cars definitely have their cute little lights turned on.

 

I haven't tried the deep nights though..

[40plus 1092]

I'm also told that the sim has searchlights but i have yet to see them in action....

[Q_Walker 91]

5 minutes ago, 40plus said:

I'm also told that the sim has searchlights but i have yet to see them in action....

I have seen them during night time missions in some bomber careers. 

[[CPT]Crunch 304]

If you set moving vehicles as targets at night they'll have tactical head lights on when its dark enough, very cool.  Most of the campaign style servers in multiplayer will have spotlights working, some even set them aimed down the runways.  AAA is tied into them for night ops, kill the lights and they stop shooting.

[Ram399 220]

22 minutes ago, 40plus said:

I'm also told that the sim has searchlights but i have yet to see them in action....

Try flying a night bomber career for either the He-111 or the U-2VS if you have it.
Some of the most immersive flying in the sim is at night.

Spoiler

 

Edited February 11 by Ram399

[30speed 630]

1 minute ago, Ram399 said:

Try flying a night bomber career for either the He-111 or the Po-2 if you have it.
Some of the most immersive flying in the sim is at night.

  Hide contents

 

 

 

in VR the scenes with the full moon and burning planes is a breathtaking experience, at least with the OLED based HMD's (VivePro, Odyssey+).  However, the HMD's with the LCD (Index, G1, G2) not so much.

[Ram399 220]

1 minute ago, 69th_Didney_World said:

VR

I fly exclusively in VR at this point to be honest.
I've had the chance to run both the VivePro and the Index on the same night bomber career and haven't noticed that much variation though.
Granted, I am nowhere near as versed as others when it comes to subtle rendering/display differences and the minutiae of VR hardware.

[Yogiflight 1169]

6 minutes ago, Ram399 said:

Try flying a night bomber career for either the He-111 or the U-2VS if you have it.
Some of the most immersive flying in the sim is at night.

Or the FW 190 of the KG51 (I hope I remember the number correctly) in BOBP. They are only flying single aircraft night missions. Those searchlights can be pretty inconvenient.

[Ram399 220]

Just now, Yogiflight said:

Those searchlights can be pretty inconvenient.

Tell me about it, getting caught by one at low altitude in a Heinkel is a death sentence, they look so damn good though.
I didn't know there was a night career for the FW-190, I'll definitely look into that.

[30speed 630]

1 minute ago, Ram399 said:

I fly exclusively in VR at this point to be honest.
I've had the chance to run both the VivePro and the Index on the same night bomber career and haven't noticed that much variation though.
Granted, I am nowhere near as versed as others when it comes to subtle rendering/display differences and the minutiae of VR hardware.

 

it's surprising you didn't notice much difference, I guess this proves that VR experience is even more subjective than we all think.

 

For me flying in VivePro the night looked like a normal night:  inky black.

 

In G2 I have now the night looks gray-ish, almost like you turn up the ISO to 36,000 in a DSLR camera, it looks very noisy and it takes away from the experience big time.

 

[Yogiflight 1169]

1 minute ago, Ram399 said:

I didn't know there was a night career for the FW-190, I'll definitely look into that.

Just look for the two KG squadrons. One is for the 262, the other one for the FW 190.

[AlexandreCosta 6]

Oh, thank you for the replies guys. Maybe I should try the actual missions, because in the QMB it was complete dark. I'll take a further look at this.

[Noisemaker 116]

I get A-20 night time missions in the Kuban campaign once in a while.  I always enjoy them.

 

[Gambit21 5611]

1 hour ago, [CPT]Crunch said:

If you set moving vehicles as targets at night they'll have tactical head lights on when its dark enough, very cool. .

 

They're not “tactical”, quite the opposite. From a tactical standpoint, headlights should be (and were IRL) off.

 

 

 

Edited February 11 by Gambit21

[Yogiflight 1169]

16 minutes ago, Gambit21 said:

From a tactical standpoint, headlights should be (and were IRL) off.

Yes, always funny to see in game attacking tanks, moving with headlights on, although it is not really dark. But even more, when really dark, you see fifty meters, when driving with headlights on, but the enemy can see you from several kilometers distance, because of your headlights. Clearly something, which should be changed.

[LukeFF 6448]

1 hour ago, Yogiflight said:

Just look for the two KG squadrons. One is for the 262, the other one for the FW 190.

 

Just to expand on this a bit:

 

III./KG 51 is an Fw 190 night attack unit which becomes NSGr. 20 at the end of October 1944. You'll probably also see them in the latter stages of the Normandy campaign.

[Shakey60 5]

Just did PWCG A20 night mission in rain on Bodenplatte. Zero visibility, stayed close to the flight lead all the way. The only way I knew I was near cities was when several faint lights lit up through the mist. They matched up with where I figured we were on the map. At first I thought they were small fires but ground vehicles make more sense. 

[Monksilver 244]

5 hours ago, AlexandreCosta said:

Today I started the quick misson builder just to check how the sim looks like during the dark hours and I was surprised that I didn't see any light coming from cities, vehicles or even the airfields. Am I missing something here? I know that the cities would not be as illuminated as they are today, specially during the war, but is this complete darkness accurate?

 

Below is from a 1941 air raid warden's diary which shows what was being done to block out light, even in villages.

 

 

[[CPT]Crunch 304]

7 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

 

They're not “tactical”, quite the opposite. From a tactical standpoint, headlights should be (and were IRL) off.

 

 

 

They are tactical in the design sense, iron cover over the lens with a slit, or the German style panzer cover forcing the light downward only.  You'll never see the headlights, but can see the slightly illuminated ground in front of the vehicle.  Not easy to spot on a summer map, but on a dark snow map can be spotted very well at distance.

[vonGraf 97]

8 hours ago, Yogiflight said:

Yes, always funny to see in game attacking tanks, moving with headlights on, although it is not really dark. But even more, when really dark, you see fifty meters, when driving with headlights on, but the enemy can see you from several kilometers distance, because of your headlights. Clearly something, which should be changed.

Didn't the German tanks/vehicles have this special front light for this reason?

Don't know the name at the moment, it's on one side only, small and pointed downwards/partly covered.

[AlexandreCosta 6]

10 hours ago, Monksilver said:

 

Below is from a 1941 air raid warden's diary which shows what was being done to block out light, even in villages.

 

 

Thank you very much for this info

[Yogiflight 1169]

4 hours ago, vonGraf said:

Didn't the German tanks/vehicles have this special front light for this reason?

Yes, you are right. So they were not to be seen from kilometers, but maybe a few hundred meters from the front. But the driver did see less, too. But anyhow, they were for use behind the frontline. They were not used by tanks attacking enemy positions or defending the own positions at night. At night you can see every kind of light, even the glowing of a cigarette.

[kestrel79 291]

On 2/11/2021 at 12:24 PM, 40plus said:

I'm also told that the sim has searchlights but i have yet to see them in action....

 

I saw them for the first time last month. There's a single mission for the IL2 at night, check it out. Just be prepared to get lit up by AAA as you're the only plane on your side.

[[CPT]Crunch 304]

I used to navigate low level night attacks based solely on the search lights, very best way points, visible from afar.  They light up as soon as you enter their grid square, about 10km, like clockwork.  Knowing were they are located for a map such as airfields, bridges, and depots only, it was a no brainer nav system.  Coconut kind of quit the night missions in the old campaigns, too easy once you figure out the system since players can't find or spot you in the dark, and the AI don't either once the spot lights click on.  If you took out the spot lights fast enough it didn't matter how many flak batteries were in the area, they go dormant.  Than you bring in the heavy hitters and roll to an easy campaign victory.

 

Hopefully some day they'll revisit the night flak/ spotlight AI routines so the lights only pop on when an aircraft is a valid and direct threat.  That's whats really not a valid tactical use of night lighting in the game.  Fly into a grid and have every spotlight pop on revealing all targets on a smorgasbord.

[danielprates 580]

On 11/02/2021 at 4:07 PM, AlexandreCosta said:

Maybe I should try the actual missions,

 

Are searchlights active in career mode? Tbh the only lights I have seen in the night missions are flares and airfield aids in JU52 campaigns.

[AlexandreCosta 6]

4 hours ago, danielprates said:

 

Are searchlights active in career mode? Tbh the only lights I have seen in the night missions are flares and airfield aids in JU52 campaigns.

I don't know really. I started this discussion because I did a QMB and couldn't find any light. I am still about to try the missions at night to find out how it works.

[Q_Walker 91]

8 hours ago, danielprates said:

 

Are searchlights active in career mode? Tbh the only lights I have seen in the night missions are flares and airfield aids in JU52 campaigns.

They are active in Career mode. I have seen them during night missions in my current bomber career.

Edited February 13 by =AW=Q_Walker

[Gambit21 5611]

3 hours ago, AlexandreCosta said:

I don't know really. I started this discussion because I did a QMB and couldn't find any light. I am still about to try the missions at night to find out how it works.

 

Searchlights are easy to set up in the mission editor. I have a 9th Air Force, A-20 Bulge mission (which I need to get to you guys) with searchlights in multiple locations. I can’t speak for the career, but it’s simply a mission design thing.

[Freycinet 862]

First thing my grandparents and all other Danes did when the Liberation came - on the evening of May 4th - was to make a big bonfire in the street with the much-hated black-out curtains. They were made from black-painted thick paper and burnt very well. Since that day it is the tradition to celebrate Liberation day with lit candles in the windows. The Liberation literally brought light back to a dark continent. 

[BlitzPig_EL 3032]

 

Night interdiction mission I made with SYN_Vander's Easy Mission Generator, and some additions of my own.

Edited February 13 by BlitzPig_EL

[GiftZahnsSteigern 488]

Here's an image from the last mission in Max Plankd's career with III./KG 51 (Bodenplatte). Soon after the search lights intersected he became (prophetically enough) past tense. Another benefit of this career is each pilot flies, and hence drops ordinance, individually. So the AI usually drop on target rather than the pastoral countryside 5 klicks from base.

 

By the way: you can call me n, or en, or even ennnnnn. But yu' doesn't have to call me GiftZahnsSteiger.

Edited February 13 by GiftZahnsSteigern
attempt at humor

[40plus 1092]

On 2/12/2021 at 11:10 AM, kestrel79 said:

 

I saw them for the first time last month. There's a single mission for the IL2 at night, check it out. Just be prepared to get lit up by AAA as you're the only plane on your side.

Just flew that mission this morning. Thanks for the tip. The search lights looking incredible in VR. Enjoyable mission too.

[migmadmarine 337]

There is also that excellent Bf-110 scripted campaign "night fighters over Kuban)", I forget who made that. 

[busdriver 1299]

That would be this excellent SP campaign.

 

 

[easterling77 84]

On 2/11/2021 at 7:44 PM, Ram399 said:

Try flying a night bomber career for either the He-111 or the U-2VS if you have it.
Some of the most immersive flying in the sim is at night.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Are there any dedicated night bomber units in some of the BOX careeres with most of/only night missions (except the U2's) or do night missions occur randomly?

 

I'm having a blast in the III/51KG (NSGR.20) Career on BOBP.

Sneaking through the night in my FW 190 and harassing the enemy supply chain is absolutely cool and I'm realy enjoying the night flights and I guess in the big boys it's also a great experience.

[migmadmarine 337]

In BoBP there is a Ju-87 squadron that also does night taxes, but for the twin engine bombers I think it is random, not any specialized night bombing units. 

[LukeFF 6448]

2 minutes ago, migmadmarine said:

In BoBP there is a Ju-87 squadron that also does night taxes, but for the twin engine bombers I think it is random, not any specialized night bombing units. 

 

Yes, all of that is right.

[migmadmarine 337]

Well, asside from my phone changing it to night taxes.