IL2: Forgotten Battles

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I've been wanting to buy a decent filght sim for some time, and I'd heard good things about IL2, so I went out and bought a good joystick and FB. I'm having a blast Does anyone else here play this? And if you do, do you have any...insider info? It's very...realistic...

[Shahed]

No insider info, but I just ordered the Aces Expansion.
Check out this site, it's GREAT:

www.il2skins.com

[hrvojej]

I got it also because I wanted to play a good historic sim for a long time, and I never had a system that could handle one before. I played it for a few weeks, but I simply got fed up with crashes. I didn't want to play on the arcade mode with realism options turned off, since that would kill the immersion, but it was just so hard that it started to be more frustrating than enjoyable. Especially when I crashed on landing after being through hell in the last hour of flight. Maybe I'll give it another try a bit later on however, since the good points in the game are really good. I'm just not too good with the joystick controls, and never have been.

As for the tip, fly Sturmovik for a start. It's robust, hard to stall, has awesome firepower, and is not too jerky on the controls since it's not too fast and generally maneuvers well. Also, adjust the joystick settings to dull them down a bit, the default ones are too erratic.

[Shahed]

I have a friend who played IL2 for precisely 2 hours and then uninstalled it forever. His reason was the same, he would have a hard time with the flight model and crash every 10 seconds.

I love that game and have been reasonably successful in it given the limited time I applied. I play much more LOMAC (check screenshot stick at the top of this forum) than anything else. However IL2, FB, are outstanding, landmark games that really deserve appreciation from me.

The Multiplayer in IL2 is absolutely flawless IMO, but you do need Aces Expansion because almost everyone who bought IL-2 bought Forgotten Battles and then the Aces Expansion Pack for FB. The stability in MP is absolutely fantastic.

Also check this site. This is a real BLAST

http://www.il2airracing.com

[Shahed]

How beautiful

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Oh, man, I'm really sold on this now...the most awesome thing just happened. I wanted to try playing as a gunner, so I picked a bombing mission in a TU-2. We got attacked by some ME109s, and we made for some clouds. When we were in the clouds, the feeling I got was just incredible-It was just me and my wingman. Then suddenly I hear gunfire, and the TU-2 next to me just peels off, flames pouring from one engine. It was absolutely incredible.

[Beirut]

I admit to being a full blown flightsim junkie, and IL2-FB withe ACE exapnsion pack is THE BOMB

Nothing else comes close. The grpahics are great, the flight models are nice, the planes and cockpits are gorgeous, and best of all, the mission editor allows for near eternal replay.

The quality of the mission builder is without equal. A hundred flyable planes, fighters, bombers, ground attack, exotic WWII fantasy jets. Dozens of ships, including torpedo boats (that actually launch torpedos), cruisers, battleships (with great big gun effetcs), cargo shipping and subs, all programable andable to scrap. Dozens of tank and ground vehicle units that are also programable and fight. V1 rocket launchers (that launch). Barrage balloons. Over 300 static ground objects to build scenarios with. A dozen maps, Normandy, Berlin, Kursk, a HUGE Leningrad map, anda few Pacific maps as well.

This sim is the grand enchilada of prop sims. You can fly to scrap or it's pretty enough just to fly and look around.

The only down side is that this sim can kill almost any gaming rig. While the graphics and size of the battles can be scaled down, to fly at 1024x768 in 32-bit colour in a big scenario you need serious hardware. Even a 3Ghz with a Gig of RAM and a serious video card can be put to death with some of the battles you can build.

But it's worth every penny. This is the dream sim we flight-heads have always wanted.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I was going to PM you actually Beirut, because I'd seen someone with your name on the IL2 forums, and was going to ask if it was you. I guess it was?

[Beirut]

My fellow Floydaphile,

Yep, I'm over there all the time. I got into IL2 when buddy sent it to me from down south when I was homebound with pneumonia and off work for four months. I had lots and lots and lots of time to play.

Hmmmm, I wonder if I could get pneumonia again...

Hope to see you these or online on UBI.com. I'll cover your 6.

[Shahed]

Hey guys I'll have the Aces x-pack this week. May I join you for some online flying ?. I'm not too much into combat though I do enjoy it. I'm much more into aerobactics, formation flying.

Btw were you talking about the UBI forum ?

[Beirut]

Yep, the UBI.com zone is pretty good. That's the online fly zone. IL2sturmovik.com is the forum. Lots of great help there.

When you fly, do you go under Sinan or another name?

Big King, what is your flightname? Just in case I ever see you there.

I'm Beirut wherever I go.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Quote[/b] (Beirut @ May 02 2004,14:49)]My fellow Floydaphile,

Yep, I'm over there all the time. I got into IL2 when buddy sent it to me from down south when I was homebound with pneumonia and off work for four months. I had lots and lots and lots of time to play.

Hmmmm, I wonder if I could get pneumonia again...

Hope to see you these or online on UBI.com. I'll cover your 6.

Cool, man.

[Nelson]

Trouble landing? Turn on the autopilot. That's what I do. I use realistic settings but only do the fun stuff, the combat. Who has time to practice landings? Not me If landings are fun have at them. But if they are frustrating, to hell with 'em.

There is no need to prove anything in a game. Just have fun.

[Shahed]

I use Hyperlobby. Go with the name... Legion_Shahed.
I'll get back to you guys once the xpack arrives this week.

If you want to fly LOMAC, we got a 12 man squad going which could be fun. Drop us a line if you are interested in a casual or not so casual flight.

http://forum.go-legion.com

[hrvojej]

Quote[/b] (Nelson @ May 02 2004,14:16)]Trouble landing? Turn on the autopilot.

Well, the trouble is that autopilot also crashed me twice on landing, probably because of the combat damage the plane sustained earlier. That's even more frustrating than when I do it myself, since at least then I can only blame my lack of skill. I'd like to go back to IL-2, but maybe I'll try some other game first to get some practice on using the joystick, so it doesn't seem that much like work instead of a game. Thanks for the tip though, I wish I had realised sooner that there in fact was an autopilot built into the game.

[Shahed]

Unfortunately yes there is an autopilot in the game which will even fight for you. Seems ridiculous to me but that's part of the scalability of the game, have it as arcade or as real as you like it. It adds to the breadth of users who can enjoy the game.

[Shahed]

Wait Autopilot has it's use for me too When I'm tired of flying formation (which is about 0.01% of the time) then I can use autopilot and sip a beer

[hrvojej]

The problem is that I want it as real as possible for immersion purposes, but my dexterity is not up to the task. So, it's a choice is between either less immersion or more frustration, which resulted in me going back to turn-based games for now.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I think I'm getting a bit better. My main problem now is that during long missions I get the overwhelming desire to blast my friends...

[Beirut]

That is what friends are for.

if it's a long flight, just hit the auto-pilot and time acceleration and watch the map. When you're close to the target, go manual.

And c'mon, landing is not that hard. Try it in an IL2. It's easy to land that thing. Try landing them all just for fun. The huge TB-3 bomber is a riot to land.

[hrvojej]

Yea, I can land the Strumovik 2 out of 3 times. The problem is that the third time usually happens after a long mission, and one where I got some very good kills for the record. As I said, the problem is not the game itself since someone who's flying all the time can probably do it with eyes closed, but rather that my piloting skills don't respond well to the challenges of gravity. The game is very realistic, and realistically speaking I'm most likely not cut out to be a pilot.

[Cazbol]

Isn't there a difficulty option that toggles whether you actually have to land or not to complete a mission? I don't use it myself but I seem to remember seeing it.

Have you analyzed the reasons for your crashes? There are probably more than one but some are no doubt more common than others. When I was learning to land properly I discovered that airspeed was one of my major errors. You need to come in as slow as possible without stalling. After a long flight from the battle one can get impatient and approach the runway at too high a speed and then try to cut it quickly after getting too close to the runway.

One important question: Are you using the flaps? Landing without them is crazy. The IL2 has a stall speed of around 160 without flaps but with flaps fully lowered to the landing position the stall speed falls to about 140. This gives you far smoother landings and reduces the risk of breaking the landing gear on impact.

The other major issue for me was lining up for the runway, and this is still my main challenge. Give yourself a lot of space for it, i.e. don't do a 90 degree turn towerd the runway 100 meters in front of it. Furthermore, if you see you're not going to line it up well enough, don't hesitate to throttle up and come around again. Even more importantly, remember that you can land off the runway with only slighty more difficulty if there aren't hills or trees in the immediate vicinity.

[Shahed]

Landing is much harder in LOMAC, specially carrier landings. In Sturmovik the cool thing is that you can land almost anywhere. Not the case in LOMAC where all the aircraft need paved to land.

About lining up: go paralel to the runway and do a hook turn (180 sustained turn) towards it. go steady and easy no hard maneuvers. Time it so that when you complete the turn you are lined up with glidepath. Use the hatswitch and keep your eyes on the runway at all times (when landing visually).

The same principle applies to lining up with ground targets for an attack.

[Cazbol]

Has anyone here received the Aces Expansion Pack? I got it today and I can't start the Polish Stormovik campaign. I get this pretty picture of flying aircraft but can't get anywhere from there. Has anyone else tried it?

[hrvojej]

Quote[/b] (Cazbol @ May 03 2004,05:39)]Have you analyzed the reasons for your crashes?

Well, my problem is mostly in the altitude. I either lose it too quickly and drop just short of runway, or go in too high, drop down and bounce, and if the gear doesn't break upon the first contact it'll definitely break after the bounce. I survive most of the crashes, so I'm not that far off, but the plane doesn't. I find it hard to judge the altitude right, especially with the plane's nose in the way, but in any case I don't have a trained eye to get the estimation right. It's not such a big deal after all.

Many thanks for the trouble of providing the tips though.

[FesterShinetop]

Hmmmm, well... landing the plane is one of the funnest things to do IMHO Sure it takes some skill but once you get it right it's a nice buzz.
Getting my first Carrier Landing in Lomac was really awesome... gave a real Kick to finally put that bird on the deck Better then any combat action you can experience
Gonna be fun when the successor of FB hits the shelves as that one has Carrier ops as well Now there is gonna be a landing challenge

You can actually pick up FB nowadays for 6 euro/dollar With that price I think everyone should get it

[Shahed]

Only problem is that noone actually plays FB anymore in MP, it's all Aces.

However you can still have a blast playing FB solo. Foir me FB is still a great game but after LOMAC nothing compares.

Hvorej, try the Me-109 landing tutorial, it may help you.
Cazbol, my copy of Aces was due today but has not arrived yet. Will let you know if I have the same problem, don;t think I will though.

[Cazbol]

I fixed my problem with AEP. It turns out that you can't install the AEP over an officially patched version of Forgotten Battles. Quite strange.

Works like a dream now and it's fabulous.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I saw AEP in town for a tenner, and I bought it. Multi is awesome I just manage my first human kill, which feels great. Plus, it's got the SPITFIRE My favourite aircraft of all time

I'm really pleased with it.

[Upxl]

I’ve just recently started playing this truly great game again.
And again I’m running into the same frustrations as the 1st time I played it.

Singleplayer:
When I’m taking off my plane seems to go allot slower then the other ones of my squadron.

So I’ve tried setting my flaps raised and my boost web on.
Still it takes me a lot of time to catch up.

Now, (in mid-air) when I enable my autopilot my plane suddenly gets a mayor power boost.
This is very strange since I fly with boost web on and my autopilot turns it off.

I’ve flown and reflow the training missions and can’t find anything on what could be the cause of this.

Any help here would be great!