In praise of the IL2 FC QMB

[LufberyJAA]

I think the quick mission builder was added as part of FC Vol. IV, and I must say that I'm enjoying it a lot!

For years I've played the quick missions mostly as 4 v 4 dogfights, sometimes with more planes. I've also had a blast just flying solo missions to get better at takeoffs, flight characteristics, and landings. With the purchase (finally!) of a brand-new gaming PC to replace my seven-year-old previous PC, I've been branching into career mode more.

 

But, for the past couple of months, I've been really enjoying the quick mission builder. It has the same easy setup as the quick missions, but is goal oriented and has really neat random encounters like career missions. I have done photo recon missions in a DH-4; a bombing mission in a DH-4, bomber intercept missions in the SSW D.IV and SE5a and a number of others that have been challenging and exciting.

There was one mission that was a little quirky: in a DH-4 bombing mission, I ended up flying against some Pfalz fighters, but also some Fokker Eindeckers. I think the Eindeckers were withdrawn from service a few months before the DH-4 entered service. I'm happy to be wrong about that, though, if anyone has more information.

 

I've had some memorable experiences though with the random encounters. Near the end of a mission where I was flying an SSW to intercept what turned out to be RE.8s, I was slightly shot up and completely out of ammo when at 500 feet and only a few miles from my aerodrome, I and my one remaining squadron mate were set upon by three Spads. When I saw them I thought "I'm pretty low and going fast, maybe they won't attack." They attacked. All I could do was turn into each attacker, but I ensured that each circle I made brought me closer to my airfield. Eventually the Spads broke off. Somewhere in the melee, I lost my other squadron mate. I took off with three other SSW D.IVs, brought down three RE.8s (two of them after they dropped their bombs), and landed damaged and alone. Not a great day for the Luftstreitkräfte.

 

The other neat experience I had was flying an SE5a on a bomber interception. Once again, I was out of ammo having badly shot up three Gothas. One of them, however, was still limping along less than 100 feet above no-man's land. I was certain I had killed the gunners, and both engines were smoking, so I decided to try something a little crazy. I figured that if I could fly right in front of the Gotha's nose, the (AI) pilot would try to pull up, or turn to avoid a collision and consequently stall out. The SE5a was a joy to handle and I pulled off the maneuver perfectly. As I came around after my flyby, I visually reacquired the Gotha and saw it breaking up in the trenches. I had hoped the maneuver would work, but didn't actually expect it to!

 

So this post is to say thank you to the development team for the very cool quick mission builder.