Exploiting the game

June 28

How many of you have played this game and managed to fly 84 missions and never been killed, captured or wounded? During this 84 missions only 3 bailouts and still not wounded. Most points are being earned in dog fights during these 84 missions. Is it just skill or could some mischief be afoot? It makes me want to say, 'Tell me you're cheating without telling me you're cheating'. Something just does not seem right with stats like that. I know the game can be hacked, but it seems the people that run the servers have no control of this type of behavior.

Any thoughts?

June 28

There are people flying multiplayer that are just that good. Quite a few virtual pilots have 20 to 30+ years of experience, more than any real military pilot could ever have.

Remember, it's just a game, it's not real life.

June 28

1 hour ago, CIA_Matabo said:

How many of you have played this game and managed to fly 84 missions and never been killed, captured or wounded? During this 84 missions only 3 bailouts and still not wounded. Most points are being earned in dog fights during these 84 missions. Is it just skill or could some mischief be afoot? It makes me want to say, 'Tell me you're cheating without telling me you're cheating'. Something just does not seem right with stats like that. I know the game can be hacked, but it seems the people that run the servers have no control of this type of behavior.

Any thoughts?

Tell me you’re butthurt about getting shot down without telling me you’re butthurt about getting shot down.

June 28

2 hours ago, BraveSirRobin said:

Tell me you’re butthurt about getting shot down without telling me you’re butthurt about getting shot down.

I have no idea what you mean. But I always appreciate a founders opinion, thanks.

Edited June 28 by CIA_Matabo
not finished

June 28

3 hours ago, BlitzPig_EL said:

There are people flying multiplayer that are just that good. Quite a few virtual pilots have 20 to 30+ years of experience, more than any real military pilot could ever have.

Remember, it's just a game, it's not real life.

I guess I did not think about how long someone could have been playing this sim. I think I started playing IL2 1946 in 2005, so I'd be one of those 20 year guys. Wow I hadn't thought about how long I'd been doing this. Time flies when you're having fun.

June 28

There are individuals who can achieve 200 + streak in a multiplayer and this span seasons of flaying and dozen or even hundreds of missions. This is even documented of FC forums. Discipline, teamwork and skill.

Edited June 28 by 1PL-Husar-1Esk

June 28

12 hours ago, CIA_Matabo said:

I guess I did not think about how long someone could have been playing this sim. I think I started playing IL2 1946 in 2005, so I'd be one of those 20 year guys. Wow I hadn't thought about how long I'd been doing this. Time flies when you're having fun.

20 years? That's for kids... 😜

I have been playing flight sims since 1986... My first one on the day my father bought me the ZX Spectrum, the great Spitfire '40!

June 28

Omg! You've said ZX Spectrum! That really brings me back memories. I had a third/fourth hand one in the late '90, and that was awesome for an ex-communist country. That machine was actually a console. Plug a cassette player, load a game from that (beep-beep-beeeep), and connect to a TV, and the world was at your feet.

The true awesome thing was when I had a colour TV available. Before that all games were B&W.

Also could do some TurboPascal on it....

Here in Ro we had a somehow domestic version, called HC 90, build locally, but it was inferior to the Spectrum.

Also the great moment was when an electronist managed to build me a home made JOYSTICK. And then the Flight Simulator became even better.

Do you remember it had rubber buttons??

Anyway, thank you so much for making me remember those days!

June 28

I don't trust the stats or scoring system anymore, there are so many oddities and no consistency anymore, all kinds of weirdness since a few patches back. Just ignore it, it no longer matters when the scoring system is in that sort of state.

June 28

21 hours ago, CIA_Matabo said:

How many of you have played this game and managed to fly 84 missions and never been killed, captured or wounded? During this 84 missions only 3 bailouts and still not wounded. Most points are being earned in dog fights during these 84 missions. Is it just skill or could some mischief be afoot? It makes me want to say, 'Tell me you're cheating without telling me you're cheating'. Something just does not seem right with stats like that. I know the game can be hacked, but it seems the people that run the servers have no control of this type of behavior.

Any thoughts?

There are a few that raise my eyebrows with wonder 🤔 especially the one shot PK

June 29

I have seen some shady stuff but it's been few and far between for the most part. The shady people I've encountered weren't that good on average. They're the kind of guys that can make magical shots and stuff but are also easy to get a maneuver kill against.

I don't think that stats are really an indicator of much by itself. You could fly very conservatively, fly high, only engage lower targets, run from anybody higher or at the first sign of trouble and probably survive for a while.

That said there's not a lot of solutions short of running anti-cheat like War Thunder does and even then I'm not sure how effective it is.

Personally I just try to stay away from people that have questionable behavior.

June 29

21 hours ago, AndreiTomescu said:

Omg! You've said ZX Spectrum! That really brings me back memories. I had a third/fourth hand one in the late '90, and that was awesome for an ex-communist country. That machine was actually a console. Plug a cassette player, load a game from that (beep-beep-beeeep), and connect to a TV, and the world was at your feet.

The true awesome thing was when I had a colour TV available. Before that all games were B&W.

Also could do some TurboPascal on it....

Here in Ro we had a somehow domestic version, called HC 90, build locally, but it was inferior to the Spectrum.

Also the great moment was when an electronist managed to build me a home made JOYSTICK. And then the Flight Simulator became even better.

Do you remember it had rubber buttons??

Anyway, thank you so much for making me remember those days!

I had a Spectrum+ which means I didn't have the trademark "rubber keys". The deal (valued 99,99€ at today's price) also included a monitor that was coloured green, so most of the time I was playing in black & green (instead of black & white)!

In due time I also aquired a Kempston Joystick to fly better in the various simulators I owned (Delta Wing, Fighter Pilot, Spitfire '40 come to mind). There were also some more arcadish but quite immersive titles called Dambusters and Ace of Aces... Good memories, yes!

Edited June 29 by Cardolan

July 12

On 6/27/2025 at 8:23 PM, CIA_Matabo said:

How many of you have played this game and managed to fly 84 missions and never been killed, captured or wounded? During this 84 missions only 3 bailouts and still not wounded. Most points are being earned in dog fights during these 84 missions. Is it just skill or could some mischief be afoot? It makes me want to say, 'Tell me you're cheating without telling me you're cheating'. Something just does not seem right with stats like that. I know the game can be hacked, but it seems the people that run the servers have no control of this type of behavior.

Any thoughts?

I kinda know the feeling. Back in IL-2 1946 someone discovered that every time a person in a bomber (in this case ju88) moved in a different seat position the log event would show the grid location where you changed seats. Then TAB out of the game check the event log and see where the bomber was on the map from the grid location. This would drive me freaking crazy when we would get ambushed in 5 mins after the mission started. Then finally the secret leaked out. This was such a case back in VEFII and AOW. Those were multiplayer coop campaigns where the map changed after every mission was reported by the host.

Anyway jump to 2025 or the age Great Battles. You may have seen me as my bombing persona (JG7_City) in fact I think you shot me a many times. But I swear there has been a few times when I cannot figure out how enemy fighter found me when I'm no where close to the target area or close to a red or blue target area including bases. It’s just blows my mind. And I’m not talking deck level I mean from 5-7k. It makes me wonder sometimes.

.

Edited July 12 by JG7_RudeRaptor

July 12

I only 'cheat' by myself as only SP player LoL. All settings as easy as possib.

But never practice enough to get that good with one specific plane. Guess i enjoy skinning and the ME more.

July 14

Oh, I thought he was going to talk about the "A bridge too far map"

July 14

Definitively there are real excellent virtual pilots. The only secret is flying, flying and practicing, practicing, practicing. Putting an enormous number of hours with one specific plane until you know exactly how it behaves, its strengths and weaknesses.

I have never been a good virtual pilot due to lack of practice, due to a limited number of available hours. And I know that anyway I will never be as good as those who are born with a mouse, keyboard and joystick in their hand. Their brain is wired for this, and my old one has to be rewired, which is a daunting task.

I come from the dark ages (the fifties) where there was no computer and many appliances where expensive and showed success for those who could afford them.

July 14

Even if there are exploits I don't give two ****'s because of the over all quality of pilots on the servers we fly. It's so rare, and in the big scheme don't matter. It's not any where near any level to spoil the overall experience these guys are going to give you.

We really appreciate and enjoy flying among this crowd. It's the environment over all of the combat, the best its ever been at least from our perspective which mainly thrives on the fighter attack role. Which coincidentally is exactly what the design team set out as the focal point of the sim, I can say they succeeded. It's the guys who do the dedicated servers and those flying in it who are the gravy making it all click.

There are a lot of old hands and regulars, they wouldn't be there if they didn't see it the same, so you are going to have a rough time when ever they're on in numbers. They will correct your mistakes and learn you some valuable lessons, as a new player you should see that as a good thing, although it can to be hard to take.

When you think it's happening and you see some strange stuff going on just laugh and joke about it, try to gang up and kill it too, in most cases you still can with a back up plan.

It has to be emotionally crippling for a cheater to get his own arse handed back to him on a platter. Well worth the effort on those, and I'm positive it happens all to frequent with this quality of regulars, these guys eventually convert to legit players out of respect, or find another racquet to boost the ego.

July 14

Suppose this is the day I finally get dragged onto the forums. First of all I appreciate the mention, probably the best complement I've ever really gotten. ❤️ I have been very vocal about this for years within my own circles, but maybe this is enough of a platform for it to matter. People have known each other for decades at this point so whenever somebody raises suspicions about cheating, they get shunned as a conspiracy theorist. Most people are blissfully ignorant to it, some of them will cover for one another at any cost, and others just do not want to believe that there is a problem. Sometimes it's easy enough to turn a blind eye when you know things are going on, but it is nothing short of fucking infuriating to consistently train new people and work with them from the ground up just to watch them go onto this server and be prey to cheaters that they have no real defense against. I already have to tell people to be worse than the FAA about never going near clouds, otherwise the local cumulonimbus dwellers will pop out to get them. God forbid you attempt to go imc through the center of the layer either or someone will intercept you in there almost every other time. The radar cheats are rampant in the upper 10% of the community and they have been around for ages. Whether it's B-lining to the nearest person, hunting through clouds, bombing from above them somehow, or simply identifying people to be able to target and harass them. I can't begin to count the number of times i've been identified by name in the chat or watched people identify flights on the other end of the map while flying right next to me. Some of them seem to be highly skilled people that care far too much about their image, and others are clearly incapable of anything except seal clubbing someone who is unaware. I stay away from most of the community drama in favor of my own people, but everyone can form their own judgment about the personalities that exist here. Getting involved with the toxicity and drama is the last thing I feel like doing, but with how many new people are starting out here to learn I feel like they deserve the full picture instead of being gaslit with made up doctrine and terrible graphics settings every time they die.

With that said I won't deny there is an ungodly amount of learning curve to be mastered, all the way to the minutia of the aircraft or technical details in the game. Little things that make a huge difference like disabling headshake or binding the canopy and quickviews to the stick in order to check all around your 6 while still keeping the headtracking padlocked on a contact. At the end of the day no matter what you know or are capable of, risk is a linear curve between survivability and lethality. You can jump into the nearest furball and scrap as many planes as you can, or climb up and place a hundred restrictions on yourself to ensure you stay alive. The one beautiful part of flying that way, is they may know exactly where you are at all times but they still have to come get you. From the amount of messages I see from people lamenting about a 47 above them, I swear it bothers them to their core that they can't do anything about it. You may never even spot them or know that they're there, but they don't necessarily know that and every action they take is potentially at your mercy in their mind. So many of my kills were 109s zooming up at me to where they could be easily dragged away and murdered in peace. I've only ever tested my self preservation twice for scores, and flying that way is far more about self restraint and decision making than ever taxing your skills with the aircraft. More importantly, it's utterly fucking miserable and requires maintaining an absurd level of paranoia. At my absolute highest I reached close to 2 kills per hour, and that was recklessly going for every kill possible with an egregious amount of mistakes and situations that I had no business escaping from. You can always choose to fly during the right maps and the right weather along the right routes with the right settings and scan patterns, but whether the planes are there or not is simply up to chance. I felt like I got to experience the best I could possibly achieve paired with a huge amount of luck, both in hunting and surviving. I personally will never be capable of exceeding that level of efficiency without taking enormous risks. All of this to say that 6, 10, and even 15+ kills per hour without taking a round is beyond my imagination, and I would have never comprehended how absurd that feels now without having played as conservatively as I did.

As for what people are actually doing, and what I believe is possible-
Most people are aware of the concept of using tacview to ascertain information, and the possibility of either somehow cracking tacview itself to run alongside IL2, or running it on a secondary machine. From what I've seen people do, I believe it goes deeper than this. Tacview limits its exports to a sort of 9 - 10km visible radius, whereas the track files produced by IL2 actually store the position data of every aircraft lod currently being rendered. This is the same file with each user's skin name, that could theoretically be pulled and nameswapped with something like a bright red livery to make them more visible. If someone is capable of parsing these .trk files, I don't see why it wouldn't be possible for them to write some kind of program to plot out each of those coordinates on a map. Of course at this point they could probably just hack the damn game, and turn on labels and aim assist and whatever else they please. I doubt there's any form of real security stopping anything. Combat pilot cannot come soon enough. I pray they try to modernize and protect their game from this, and we will see just how many people are eager to transfer over from BoX if they do.

July 14

55 minutes ago, LucidIllusions said:

Combat pilot cannot come soon enough. I pray they try to modernize and protect their game from this, and we will see just how many people are eager to transfer over from BoX if they do.

I think that is a little naive. Even companies with immense resources like Activision (Call of Duty) and Epic (Fortnite) can't stop hackers, so a small company like 1CGS or the Combat Pilot team simply has no chance.

July 15

I always suspected you know.

Spoiler

Unrelated but interesting to note that Bob Kuban, interestingly the drummer AND bandleader of the beat combo funk group Bob Kuban and the In-Men, died early this year. Another great one gone.

Vale Bob.

July 15

Hey everyone, I am locking the thread. I would like to kindly remind everyone that such content doesn’t contribute positively to our community.

I understand that topics like this come from frustration, and I don’t want to silence genuine concerns. However, public accusations, whether direct or indirect, rarely lead to anything constructive. Cheaters should be punished, but making noise and complaining withouth proof does not help.

If anyone suspects unfair behavior, please reach out privately to the server admins or to us moderators. That’s the proper way to handle these matters and help keep the community healthy.

On another note, let’s try to avoid pointing fingers and creating unnecessary rivalries or "absurd competitions" within the forum. This space is meant to bring us together through our shared passion for IL-2, not to divide us.

If there is a problem with this, then proof should be provided and then we will take things into another category.

Thanks for understanding

July 16

I'll add a couple of observations:

1) If you suspect someone of cheating - then submit your evidence to whoever is responsible for managing the multiplayer server you are flying on. The server operator is always the person who is responsible for such decisions and they shouldn't be raised on the official forums.

2) If you know of a specific technique or code vulnerability which makes cheating possible - then submit your evidence to the developers via a private message.

The overall topic of this thread is alright (i.e. what skill/luck is possible), but it can't stray into accusations against specific individuals. Any such allegations should be directed to the server operator, not the public forums. Please see forum rule No.7:

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