Return to base?

[Customizer171]

Hello!

New player here and I need some help.

When I practice dogfighting in singleplayer mode, I get a message "Objektive completed, return to base" after my enemy is down or I run out of ammo.

These missions start in the air and my problem is, how do I find my base so I can land??

Any help will be appreciated!

[Thad]

Salutations.

 

Welcome to our community.

 

I suspect that you will only have to exit the mission. There is no departure airfield to return to.

[Customizer171]

1 hour ago, Thad said:

Salutations.

 

Welcome to our community.

 

I suspect that you will only have to exit the mission. There is no departure airfield to return to.

 

Thank you very much!

That´s good to know, now I don´t need to spend time looking for an airfield that does not exist, hahaha

Last time I succeded in landing on a grassfield, but that was more luck than skill ?

[Knarley-Bob]

Some times it's fun to just bail out........Not like the C.O. is going to chew you out?

[Customizer171]

On 9/27/2021 at 5:07 AM, Knarley-Bob said:

Some times it's fun to just bail out........Not like the C.O. is going to chew you out?

 

I tried that a few times ?

[Knarley-Bob]

I just landed at some out of the way deserted air base, a good place to practice taxiing, landing and take offs. A German landed there too, so I chased him around on the air field for a while, then we played 'demolition derby'.  Was a hoot. ?

[Vig]

I think that the airbases with red hatch marks are enemy, and the one with just a straight red line is friendly.  Here, home base is Krasnodar-1.

Edited October 1, 2021 by Vig
Illustration

[ITAF_Airone1989]

2 hours ago, Vig said:

I think that the airbases with red hatch marks are enemy, and the one with just a straight red line is friendly.  Here, home base is Krasnodar-1.

Red stripes mean that is a grass field, a single line means that there is a runway

[Vig]

Thanks!  I just noticed that I had never been shot at while landing at the single line field in quick mission.

[Customizer171]

On 10/1/2021 at 7:21 AM, Vig said:

I think that the airbases with red hatch marks are enemy, and the one with just a straight red line is friendly.  Here, home base is Krasnodar-1.

 

That´s what I thought too, that the red marked airbases belonged to the enemies. But is it only possible to land at the homebase? Or is it possible to find another friendly airbase to land at?

 

 

On 10/1/2021 at 9:55 AM, ITAF_Airone1989 said:

Red stripes mean that is a grass field, a single line means that there is a runway

 

So how do I know what base is friend or foe?

Is it correct that there is no airbase to land at, after training dogfights in Quickmission?

[ITAF_Airone1989]

29 minutes ago, Customizer171 said:

 

So how do I know what base is friend or foe?

Is it correct that there is no airbase to land at, after training dogfights in Quickmission?

Absolutely correct, you can land whenever you want.

 

[Props]

Airfields with windsocks, which are usually near the "towers" but not always as sometimes they can be along the runway somewhere, indicate the active airfields usually just 2 of them, one enemy and one friendly in singleplayer. If you do a low flyover with your nav lights on and it has a windsock you will usually get a set of radio traffic confirming your call for permission to land when it's a friendly airfield and more importantly your origin AF. No radio traffic and you land anyway you'll see a "forced landing" message on the finish mission / stats screen. Also if you fly with some AI wingman, especially 4-6 of them, invariably at least one of them will chicken-out early at the very start and will request landing clearance, so you can try to note where they are when they turn on their lights, or follow them (if the furball allows you the opportunity;-).

 

The friendly origin airfield is often close to the start area indicated in the mission brief, sometimes right under the dogfight. Early on in my singleplayer experience it was a bit frustrating trying to find the home AF on some maps as there were a bunch of AFs nearby, like near Stalingrad where your home AF is only a few Klicks from the Enemy home AF at times, so I would land at each, one by one, mission after mission till the "forced Landing" message went away. Then I discovered the windsock trick. And the follow the wingman trick. 

 

Also just do one mission from a pure start on the runway and takeoff. A scramble is good for this, just be sure the enemy start is 10,000 M away so you have some time to get in the air;-). Home field doesn't change for these map areas in Quick Mission, though the enemy home AFs do occasionally move around. You can technically land at just about any air field and get away with it unless it has AAA of course, but it's more satisfying to land at the Home base.

Edited October 2, 2021 by Props
added note

[Customizer171]

On 10/2/2021 at 10:40 AM, ITAF_Airone1989 said:

Absolutely correct, you can land whenever you want.

 

 

I tried that now and found out it was working good. It was just that I was wrong before in assuming that the red marked airfields belonged to the enemy! 

On 10/2/2021 at 2:15 PM, Props said:

Also just do one mission from a pure start on the runway and takeoff. A scramble is good for this, just be sure the enemy start is 10,000 M away so you have some time to get in the air;-). Home field doesn't change for these map areas in Quick Mission, though the enemy home AFs do occasionally move around. You can technically land at just about any air field and get away with it unless it has AAA of course, but it's more satisfying to land at the Home base.

 

Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation, I really appreciate it!

How do I start an air to air mission from the ground in Quickmission? I cant find the runway as an option for a starting point, lowest altitude is 300m.

It is not easy being a new player in this game, with zero experience from gaming in general. Luckily I have always had a big interest in airplanes and flying and I really enjoy IL2 so far.

[Props]

Thanks Customizer171, like many folks here I want to help rather than hinder new flyers. I almost edited my post yesterday as I realized the runway start part was a little light on specifics that many old timers here probably take for granted, but may not be obvious to new IL2 pilots. Sorry about that.

 

In the dropdown menu on the Enemy side window, where you pick your opposing aircraft, number of aircraft, AI skill level, altitude and distance, etc., there is a selection dropdown for face to face, pursuit, aside, etc. Here is where you'll find the scramble selection. I know it seems weird that it would be over under the "Enemy" selections, but it is. Once you select that option you should check your options under the Friendly (your flight) dropdown and it should already have switched to Start / On Runway because you chose Scramble. You'll spawn in on the runway with your engine already running and warmed up, and this will be your Home Airfield regardless of which dogfight mode you pick for that portion of the map, but scramble makes it easy to ascertain this in one mission, so you can check the map real quick get your bearings and proceed to live or die at your leisure!

 

Scrambles can be tough and exciting as you are already at a disadvantage, that's why I set the Enemy AI at the farthest approach distance (10,000 M max) and a decent 2-4 K altitude (since they already have an altitude advantage this just gives you a bit more time to gain some yourself before they are upon you). If you're flying a Spit they will overheat pretty quickly from the scramble so watch you RPMs, temps and power utilization after takeoff. Other planes also will overheat as they were already warmed up on the runway and you'll be climbing like a bat out of hell to get some fighting room, so back-off just a bit on the power and rpm, and open radiators if needed after takeoff. I also tend to fly away from the bad guys, preferably into the sun, though I suspect the AIs can see me even with the sun behind me;) to give me a little extra breathing space before engaging.

 

I hope this is helpful. Enjoy! 

[Knarley-Bob]

One can also select the one plane option, find a base and practice 'touch & goes'.....or what ever your heart desires.

[Customizer171]

On 10/4/2021 at 2:22 PM, Props said:

Thanks Customizer171, like many folks here I want to help rather than hinder new flyers. I almost edited my post yesterday as I realized the runway start part was a little light on specifics that many old timers here probably take for granted, but may not be obvious to new IL2 pilots. Sorry about that.

 

In the dropdown menu on the Enemy side window, where you pick your opposing aircraft, number of aircraft, AI skill level, altitude and distance, etc., there is a selection dropdown for face to face, pursuit, aside, etc. Here is where you'll find the scramble selection. I know it seems weird that it would be over under the "Enemy" selections, but it is. Once you select that option you should check your options under the Friendly (your flight) dropdown and it should already have switched to Start / On Runway because you chose Scramble. You'll spawn in on the runway with your engine already running and warmed up, and this will be your Home Airfield regardless of which dogfight mode you pick for that portion of the map, but scramble makes it easy to ascertain this in one mission, so you can check the map real quick get your bearings and proceed to live or die at your leisure!

 

Scrambles can be tough and exciting as you are already at a disadvantage, that's why I set the Enemy AI at the farthest approach distance (10,000 M max) and a decent 2-4 K altitude (since they already have an altitude advantage this just gives you a bit more time to gain some yourself before they are upon you). If you're flying a Spit they will overheat pretty quickly from the scramble so watch you RPMs, temps and power utilization after takeoff. Other planes also will overheat as they were already warmed up on the runway and you'll be climbing like a bat out of hell to get some fighting room, so back-off just a bit on the power and rpm, and open radiators if needed after takeoff. I also tend to fly away from the bad guys, preferably into the sun, though I suspect the AIs can see me even with the sun behind me;) to give me a little extra breathing space before engaging.

 

I hope this is helpful. Enjoy! 

 

A big thanks to you. I took me some time to find it since I have only played air to air against a single enemy so far, and in that mode the scramble option was not available, but when I change to multiple enemy planes, I found it!

 

A very big help indeed and I will for sure enjoy it!