IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad Discussion

[Toonces]

I've flown a ton of Aces High 2, so I'm not a total n00b to MP combat sims.  However, without some sort of labels, I'm finding it extremely hard to pick out aircraft.  I actually picked up a friendly last night in a 110, winged up on him, and still lost sight after he made a few turns to line up on target.  Those little dots are exceedingly hard to see.

Like any game, there is certainly a way to approach it.  I haven't quite figured out where to sit when solo'ing; what alt to ingress, where folks tend to congregate, etc.  I'm actually a fan of icons because I think those little single pixels are harder than real life.  Regardless, if that's how it is, then I'm either going to have to work on my sighting skills, or figure out the game mechanisms, or get a wingman, or all of the above.

I've yet to actually get a shot off on an enemy plane.  It'll happen, but the learning curve is challenging.

[Tuna]

I've flown a ton of Aces High 2, so I'm not a total n00b to MP combat sims.  However, without some sort of labels, I'm finding it extremely hard to pick out aircraft.  I actually picked up a friendly last night in a 110, winged up on him, and still lost sight after he made a few turns to line up on target.  Those little dots are exceedingly hard to see.

Like any game, there is certainly a way to approach it.  I haven't quite figured out where to sit when solo'ing; what alt to ingress, where folks tend to congregate, etc.  I'm actually a fan of icons because I think those little single pixels are harder than real life.  Regardless, if that's how it is, then I'm either going to have to work on my sighting skills, or figure out the game mechanisms, or get a wingman, or all of the above.

I've yet to actually get a shot off on an enemy plane.  It'll happen, but the learning curve is challenging.

Yeah.. that's why I'm usually just bombing... lol. I could be fighter bait for you sometime if you want. (not for you to shoot down, but to attract fighters for you to shoot down!).

[Skoop]

I've flown a ton of Aces High 2, so I'm not a total n00b to MP combat sims.  However, without some sort of labels, I'm finding it extremely hard to pick out aircraft.  I actually picked up a friendly last night in a 110, winged up on him, and still lost sight after he made a few turns to line up on target.  Those little dots are exceedingly hard to see.

Like any game, there is certainly a way to approach it.  I haven't quite figured out where to sit when solo'ing; what alt to ingress, where folks tend to congregate, etc.  I'm actually a fan of icons because I think those little single pixels are harder than real life.  Regardless, if that's how it is, then I'm either going to have to work on my sighting skills, or figure out the game mechanisms, or get a wingman, or all of the above.

I've yet to actually get a shot off on an enemy plane.  It'll happen, but the learning curve is challenging.

Spotting is tough, this is where 4k monitors help.  I have the zoom key mapped to my hotas and zoom in to max to spot the prey.  Falcon and DCS have an option to scale the objects bigger at distance to aid spotting, BOX's system does a good job of showing enough detail at distance to get a good ID. 

[JasonPratt]

After messing around tonight I confirmed two things:

1.) For whatever reason, my elevators WERE always starting at like -45% trim!  :o I will provisionally assume there are real-life reasons for this, some of which I can make guesses at but haven't confirmed yet.

2.) Zeroing the pitch trim out before takeoff helped nothing at all that I could tell. Maaaaybe a little. Maybe.

Even so, having a seriously nose-down airframe constantly -- and not even naturally but by default trim -- would be something I should expect tutorials to warn about?!

[Toonces]

I'm familiar with Falcon's smart scaling, and I think that's a fine compromise.

If it exists in BoX, I either don't have it set up right, or it's not as well implemented in BoX as Falcon...IMO of course.

I'm pretty sure the ATAG that shot me down was sitting in my blind spot for while screwing with me.  I thought I heard him, did a few break turns to check 6 and didn't see anything, but kept hearing something that didn't sound right.  I did a few more shallow turns, looked around, and since I only have a couple hours in the game, I figured maybe it was an engine sound I hadn't noticed before...until my wing was shattered in a split second of .50 cal fire.

There's always a learning curve.  Again, I just need to figure out where folks tend to congregate, spatially and in altitude.  Driving in at 4k straight and level is never a winning plan.

[Nefaro]

I gotta pair up with a wingman, this solo shit just isn't working.

QFT.

While I can get away with some sneaky solo flight kills in DCS servers regularly enough, my experience on IL-2 servers with realistic settings is usually getting gang banged by multiples. 

To be clear, it happens in both.  Just seems like there's always a veteran IL2 group on the enemy team just waiting to pounce.  :arr:

[Gusington]

During the week can be rough - I responded to your text after 9pm last night Tuna, apologies.

Weekends are typically better as Toonces says - except this one, I'll be away til Sunday.

But keep pinging, prime gaming time for me is between 9 and 10 pm EST weeknights.

[Tuna]

During the week can be rough - I responded to your text after 9pm last night Tuna, apologies.

Weekends are typically better as Toonces says - except this one, I'll be away til Sunday.

But keep pinging, prime gaming time for me is between 9 and 10 pm EST weeknights.

I'm usually up to bed by 9 on weeknights, oldman!

[Gusington]

'Olde'

[JasonPratt]

Insert Gary Oldman yelling at Final Fantasy 7 Cloud.

[Tuna]

Pics from last night's session

Me n IronX getting ready to takeoff



My first dump (failed 2 times before successful - weird, cause I was fine a few nights before)



Lucky me, Ironx was patient and waiting for me.. Getting close to the target. Notice my missing Elevator, I was hit by a spinning fighter prior to takeoff, but didn't realize I had the damage. Ironx, let me know once I was in the air!



Bombs away, heavy clouds in target area



Success!



Ironx got jumped on by two fighters (funny that one didn't go for me (tight wingmen). He dove to evade and decided to do a low run on the target while making his run.



He had some successful strikes, but was a hurting pup with the two NME on his tail.



Our second mission, we hit the Railway Station south of the last target, this time both diving, due to the cloud cover



Success



Ironx beginning his dive (he flew a 110 this mission). That ground explosion to the left is me, got shot down by AA :-(



SDR joined us for a mission after that. Later I did a couple solo missions in HE 111.

[Gusington]

Great looking screens. What's up with the swastika though? It's missing parts. Is that on purpose?

[IronX]

^ Yes, so that the game complies with the laws of some countries - although this no longer applies to Germany, I believe.

Great screens, as always, Tuna.

[Tuna]

^ Yes, so that the game complies with the laws of some countries - although this no longer applies to Germany, I believe.

Great screens, as always, Tuna.

I wish there was some place to find all the keys for 'replays'? Would like to move around more. I thought I found something in the past. but forgot to write it all done in a notepad file.

[Toonces]

Cool shots.  Hopefully I can get a new headset tomorrow and join you guys soon.