CLOD's big MOD wows Mengjiao

MengJiao · April 23, 2013, 02:26:55 PM

Here's a review of the big CLOD MOD. I just installed it last night.

What I've noticed so far is the reflective canopies and the improved (greener) landscape of SE England.

http://simhq.com/_air15/air_547a.html

jomni · April 23, 2013, 04:33:10 PM

Contails overdone? Dunno of its realistic or not as I'm no expert .

Father Ted · April 23, 2013, 05:51:21 PM

I've been a Clod-sceptic pretty much since I paid top dollar for it on release, and...well that tale's been rehearsed a thousand times. I have installed the patch a while back, but have not tried it out yet.

Interesting review MengJiao. I'm surprised there hasn't been more noise about the patch from the various forums - has the CloD community dwindled significantly?

MengJiao · April 24, 2013, 09:06:19 AM

Quote from: Father Ted on April 23, 2013, 05:51:21 PM
I've been a Clod-sceptic pretty much since I paid top dollar for it on release, and...well that tale's been rehearsed a thousand times. I have installed the patch a while back, but have not tried it out yet.

Interesting review MengJiao. I'm surprised there hasn't been more noise about the patch from the various forums - has the CloD community dwindled significantly?

I imagine not very many people are still trying to play CLOD. I avoided CLOD til last week, but several things convinced me to give it a try:

1) the final official version (Came out last fall)
2) the Battle of Stalingrad thing coming up (1c and ROF teams)...which will no doubt be a solid game and spell the end of CLOD (so I wanted to see CLOD before that)
3) Got a machine that should run it (only 1.5 gig of graphics, but I usually turn back a lot of effects and things anyway)
4) and the team fusion patch sounded promising
5) I tend to play any vaguely "realistic" WWII game sooner or later

So, again, except on the ATAG servers with the team fusion patch, not that much is going on. There are some new campaigns, but I really never ever play any campaigns.

My own experience with the game and the team fusion patch (TF3.0 apparently) has been much better than I expected -- the game looks pretty fantastic and is the most convincing flight simulator I've flown -- better than ROF, though I must say ROF is a good trainer for CLOD and even more oddly, I can actually shoot down planes in CLOD on full realism, but usually not in ROF.

Even more strangely, after years of bungled take-offs and landings in WWIIOnline, I've been able to take off and land with full realism in CLOD.
Maybe I've learned or maybe CLOD is a better simulator or maybe the Spitfire is pretty easy to fly.

So, certainly a game worth visiting or revisiting before Battle of Stalingrad.

Greybriar · April 24, 2013, 09:13:14 AM

So, CLOD = IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover and the big mod = Team Fusion Mod, correct?

MengJiao · April 24, 2013, 09:22:06 AM

Quote from: Greybriar on April 24, 2013, 09:13:14 AM
So, CLOD = IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover and the big mod = Team Fusion Mod, correct?

Yep. I haven't tried to do much yet except take off and land with full realism (engine management and engine heating -- stalls, spins red and black outs etc.).

So, with a constant speed prop and the merlin XII and the Spitfire II (probably the easiest plane to fly all-in-all) and 100 octane (you get that for free in every Spit II) I managed to take off from Tangmere, shoot down a German Floatplane (I picked that as a big slow target), return and land.

On the ATAG server as C Boot, I got off the ground, forgot to open the radiator and had the engine start melting down. Oil spewed on the windscreen, and things looked bad, but I got the plane back to Ramsgate and landed OKAy...though I ruined the engine of course.

steve58 · December 17, 2013, 08:54:07 PM

Has anyone tried out the Battle for Malta mod? Just kind of stumbled on it. Looks interesting enough to make me want to re-install CLOD. Think I found a project for the weekend...

http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/1153-battle-4-malta-cliffs-dover-demo-released/

Staggerwing · December 17, 2013, 09:42:41 PM

Quote from: steve58 on December 17, 2013, 08:54:07 PM
Has anyone tried out the Battle for Malta mod? Just kind of stumbled on it. Looks interesting enough to make me want to re-install CLOD. Think I found a project for the weekend...

http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/1153-battle-4-malta-cliffs-dover-demo-released/

Do you get to fly either Faith, Hope, or Charity?

steve58 · December 17, 2013, 09:54:40 PM

Quote from: Staggerwing on December 17, 2013, 09:42:41 PM
Quote from: steve58 on December 17, 2013, 08:54:07 PM
Has anyone tried out the Battle for Malta mod? Just kind of stumbled on it. Looks interesting enough to make me want to re-install CLOD. Think I found a project for the weekend...

http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/1153-battle-4-malta-cliffs-dover-demo-released/

Do you get to fly either Faith, Hope, or Charity?

...not sure as I've not tried the mod yet, but those three names won me a Making History II t-shirt a couple years back...

MengJiao · December 18, 2013, 09:56:17 AM

Quote from: steve58 on December 17, 2013, 08:54:07 PM
Has anyone tried out the Battle for Malta mod? Just kind of stumbled on it. Looks interesting enough to make me want to re-install CLOD. Think I found a project for the weekend...

http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/1153-battle-4-malta-cliffs-dover-demo-released/

I steered clear of it. Supposedly there will be a real Malta in the next Team Fusion issue (number 5 IIRC). Anyway, I'm playing RoF and, while noticing that CLOD is visually better in many ways, I'm hopeful that Battle of Stalingrad will be a kind of mix of the best things about CLOD (visually very convincing) and RoF (more adventurous in all dimensions -- scope, expansions etc.).

sandman2575 · December 18, 2013, 10:38:17 AM

Pretty sure Malta is not compatible with the latest TeamFusion mod (4.01) - ? Otherwise I would be tempted to give it a try.

CLoD has been sucking up all my gaming time lately. With the latest TF mod it really is a terrific game (for multiplayer -- single player still has some glitches).

Looking forward to BoS as well. Some of the alpha footage looks very promising. My question is though -- who is going to want to fly the LaGG 3 in combat? Seems like a death-wish versus the 109F.

MengJiao · December 18, 2013, 11:31:31 AM

Quote from: sandman2575 on December 18, 2013, 10:38:17 AM
Pretty sure Malta is not compatible with the latest TeamFusion mod (4.01) - ? Otherwise I would be tempted to give it a try.

CLoD has been sucking up all my gaming time lately. With the latest TF mod it really is a terrific game (for multiplayer -- single player still has some glitches).

Looking forward to BoS as well. Some of the alpha footage looks very promising. My question is though -- who is going to want to fly the LaGG 3 in combat? Seems like a death-wish versus the 109F.

I'll fly the LaGG3 in the editor. In RoF all I use is the Quick mission editor. I'll probably play BoS the same way. If the 109s are a problem, i'll find something the LaGG3 can do. Shoot down Ju-52s maybe?

Supposedly some of the other Russian planes can deal with the German fighters better than the LaGG3 can. I'm not sure what is flyable at the moment in BoS -- just the LaGG3?

sandman2575 · December 18, 2013, 11:54:48 AM

LOL -- of the many, many assignments I would not have wanted to get as a WW2 combatant, being a Tante Ju pilot would be near the top of that list. Lord knows what the life expectancy of Ju-52 pilots was once the war started to turn against the Germans...

But hey, someone (even if only the AI) has gotta fly supplies to 6th Army in the Kessel, so maybe you can have a LaGG-3 field day (...just hope they are unescorted).

I think the Yak and MiG are coming but not yet available in the alpha. Presumably this will level the playing field a bit against the 109.

MengJiao · December 18, 2013, 12:01:02 PM

Quote from: sandman2575 on December 18, 2013, 11:54:48 AM
LOL -- of the many, many assignments I would not have wanted to get as a WW2 combatant, being a Tante Ju pilot would be near the top of that list. Lord knows what the life expectancy of Ju-52 pilots was once the war started to turn against the Germans...

But hey, someone (even if only the AI) has gotta fly supplies to 6th Army in the Kessel, so maybe you can have a LaGG-3 field day (...just hope they are unescorted).

I think the Yak and MiG are coming but not yet available in the alpha. Presumably this will level the playing field a bit against the 109.

The LaGG3 as the first Russian plane in the Alpha is interesting -- or maybe just puzzling -- supposedly there were a lot of them in the theater in 1942 so it seems like a reasonable place to start. I guess also if you start your FM with non-optimal planes, it might be easier to get the optimal planes to look plausible without making them too extreme.

Silent Disapproval Robot · December 18, 2013, 01:43:38 PM

One of the guys with alpha access posted a video comparing the LaGG-3 and the 109 and says he's pleased that the devs are sticking to realism and that the LaGG is a dog but he's worried that this might make MP a bit of a ghost town.

I've been toying with signing up for the early access for BOS but the $100+ CDN price tag seems excessive. I'm also a bit leery after CLOD. I know some guys think it's decent with the TF 4 mod, but I just hate it. Anyway, here's the video I was talking about.