Dec 10 AAR

[WWGeezer]

Things don't always turn out the way you expect it to.

I was ready to turn off my computer and go home after destroying five aircraft on the runway ( perhaps six if you include Brinson)....Clearly I was not going to contribute a thing during this mission.  Actually the opposite, I was really hurting our effort

I licked my wounds and dragged my sorry ass to the north base one more time and clearly realized I can't fly the Tempest well enough to take another

Zed has been sitting on the ground for an hour waiting for Gold Flight to take the airfield so he can drop parachutists.  Fry did his part on the hangers but still have to bomb the field.  

I spawn in as an A20 at the North Base right when all the Bad Guys are attacking.   Considered just sitting on the ground providing MG support from the rear gunner, since clearly I was of no value in the air.

I sit and watch until everything settles down and most of our guys and the bad guys have fought it out.   Then it got quiet and I realized we still were struggling to take the enemy airfield to the west and our airfield was now quiet.  There is about 40 minutes left on the game clock.  What the hell, might be enough time to do it, and I certainly should be able to get an A20 in the air.

With Zed' coaching got set up for carpet bombing the airfield.  Took off with Craven in the back seat ( and he complains about the rough ride).  Greywolf picks us up on the way over to provide escort.  We make it to the Enemy airfield and Grey spots some enemy just beyond the airstrip, he breaks off to keep them busy.  I can see Sandy's craters and can tell with two bombs dropped he could not take the landing strip ( one hit, one missed).  Grey gives me enough time to line up nice and straight for the other runway.  With Grey distracting the bad guys, am able to make a nice  drop the whole length of the runway.  Boom boom boom boom boom....

Zed is whooping it up in the background and as I make a turn I can see parachutes running down the same line, clean as a whistle  There is an enemy aircraft taking shots at our men.  I fly in parrallel to the chutes and my rear gunner engages the fighter, eventually shoots him down.  Grey is still out there duking it out as well.

Zed's drop is successful and we take the field.

At least  five  WingWalker's worked as a team to succeed at getting that done.  No single one of us could have succeeded without the other.

Like I said, things don't always turn out the way you expect it to.

[WWNavyGunner]

Took off twice, died twice...… Ebada, Ebada, Ebada, That's all folks...…. 

[WWSittingduck]

Funny thing about flight straight and level......it usually gets you killed.  

What Navy said....

Edited December 11, 2019 by WWSittingduck

[WWICYtheDEAD]

It was an interesting night filled with ups and downs, I took off in my P47 clipped a freaking tree right after lift off and blew up.

Second flight after a 20 min break then switched to agoy and ran a p38 and recon'd the South then hit there base and blew some stuff up, didn't run into anybody so headed home, turned South and headed for the coast then just as frylock yells he ran out of fuel... My engines go quite, I too just ran outta gas, tried to put her down but once again clipped a tree and blew up.

After another 20 min break took off from Nova and finished the night in air.

Wasn't my best night but our goals were met and that gentlemen is what it is all about.

Just found out my recon paid off with ships being spotted.

[WWZed]

0Left our northern base at mission start in Ju-52 and flew north-west to  Timashevskaya as rendezvous  point with Gold. Radio chatter was not great as aircraft seemed to be crashing into the ground, trees, various bumps in the runway etc (suspect enemy sabotage, they must be getting worried). After a few circuits of the city I decided to head south west to Popovicheskaya where an abandoned airfield was used to land, get out and stretch my legs and let the paratroops get out and have a pee.  Frylock flew into the area and after about 20 minutes of waiting on the other elements of gold decided to go after Ivan airfield alone.  I took off from the abandoned airfield and headed for Ivan  when Fry radioed me to tell me the hangers were down, the aa was suppressed but the runway was intact I flew to the abandoned airbase at Staro-Nizne and landed, doing a good impression of a rock while waiting....

Geezer then was headed in to Ivan in an A-20 with escort.  I cranked the engines up once more and headed for Ivan  Gotthere in time to see Geezer do a textbook bombing of the runway, looked like a sieve when he was done.  Flipped 180 and flew at 500 over the airfield while having Zeus kick the paratroops out the back..  watched as 12 perfect chutes wafted onto the airfield.  Turned the aircraft east and headed for home  2 hours for the one mission...

lost - nothing, not even one bullet

finished mission with paratroop successful drop.

 

 

[WWBrinson]

I was a late arrival due to an offspring's high school sporting event. 

I hopped into a Tempest and whist spooling up its mighty Sabre IIA engine was sideswiped by what I can only guess was a spitfire or tempest.  He did not stop to exchange insurance information.  Try as I did, the damage wouldn't buff out.  I replaned in a P-51 and flew cap over the same airfield while people were spawning back in.  I made a 4 bounce landing when ordered and hopped back into a Tempest.  

Shortly thereafter, the northern airfield came under attack by 4 109s and I scrambled.  I managed to shoot down a 109 (Vonrd) but was killed shortly thereafter. 

After the 20 min time out, I was resurrected and launched from the South field in a Yak 7B.  Plague and I flew Northwest and I spotted what turned out to be a 109 headed West.  I slid in behind it and gave Razwald a 20 min timeout.  The mission timed out shortly thereafter.

[WWFrylock]

It started out with me being the only one to get in the air for Gold, I think Icy did a prop strike and I'm not sure what happened to Geezer, but neither died in their mishaps so I figured I'd circle while jumped in new planes.  Icy hit a tree and I'm not sure what happened to Geezer, by this time Zed is all alone at Timashevskaya and I decide to go it alone, even though I can't destroy the whole airfield in one P-47 I thought someone would catch up and help. I was so far behind that Zed decided to land, find a bunch of branches, and try to make his Ju look like a tree. I arive at Timashevskaya and circle waiting for Geezer but that's when he hit Brinson, Geezer figured he'd destroyed enough aircraft and was considering calling it a night. I felt empathy and despair but continued to circle hoping somebody would take pity and help me.

Zed was so patient I couldn't return to base and just leave him there. I was down to 75 gallons of fuel, then Icy told me I was just going to have to do what I could to the airfield by myself.

I went in and blew up the to hangers and whatever the vehicle was between them, then proceeded to strafe the AAA. On one pass I actually saw the guy get out of the truck and run as I started firing, it's amazing what 8 .50's will do to trucks and stuff!

As I was egressing out I looked to see I had about 10 gallons left, that isn't going to get me home! So I took a page outta Zed's book and found an abandoned airfield to land and hitched a ride back to base.

A little while later Geezer and Zed finished capturing the airfield, I was so relieved that the mission was accomplished after it seemed like nothing was going to go right. With the help of Greywolf, Sandman, Craven, Brison, Plague and maybe more, we all pulled together as a team and got it done, Bravo gentlemen!!!

I am proud to be a WingWalker.

S! Frylock

[WWDriftwood]

Sortie 1, managed to cover Navy, was hoping to drop through the clouds as I followed his fight down then break but got nailed.. that was a hot zone, fun watching the tracks. I said Navy; your six is clear, I'm staying on your six, worked perfect...... LOL 

Sortie 2, was with Duck flying north as we tried to navigate are way to Ivan and cover Sandy, ended up just north, Duck got hit,

4 verses 1 

I split S and the fight was on... engage A3 and was getting angles, saw a second 109 and broke off to start switching off, then realized I'm screwed... as I saw #3, didn't know there were 4 until I watched the track.

Went on for about 5 mins..... got stupid and hit the eject button on accident as I was skidding along the ground, pilot hopped out and killed himself. 21 minutes in the mission, I was out.. Great engagement but no cigar

...........................................................................

Got excited, getting some angles... 

Oh crap, more.... 

 

F##Ck, I'm screwed, run forest runnnnnnnnnn... 

[WWSittingduck]

I'm going to have to remember to have a bunch of condoms handy for next Tuesday....

[WWCraven]

Welp, I can say that I managed to successfully take off 3 times, the rest of the story sucks.  Note to others: if you want to survive don't have me fly your wing because you're guaranteed a quick death.

I failed to protect to protect my lead's six, he got killed, small consolation to the dead I did managed to avenge him by killing his killer before I got killed myself (a lot of derivatives of kill in that sentence).  After my time out in the corner, our airbase was under attack with only Brin up to take on 3-4 EA. Spawned in and immediately got strafed resulting in a severely damaged plane.  Re-spawned and grabbed a 51 to help Brin defend the base.  Successfully took off and made it as far as he was and of course I watched him get hammered and die before I could get there.  Too little too late, he died, failed to protect another wingman, then it was my turn, I got hammered and died.

Half way through my second stint in the penalty box I got a brainstorm or brain fart whichever best applies, jumped in the top gunner position of Geezers A 20, got airsick from all the bouncing around he was doing.  Apparently I'm not cut out to be a rear gunner either.  After "flying" in the backseat for 10 minutes tracking Wolf with the 50 cal as he weaved back and forth over and behind us and wondering how much trouble I'd be in if I fired a test burst in his direction, I decided discretion was the best option, jumped out of the gunners position figuring my penalty was over.

Wandered over to the southern base to join Plague and Brin, jumped in a 7 bravo and raced off to the end of the active as they trundled down the runaway.  In my haste to catch up I inadvertently hit the fucking windsock pole rendering my 7B inoperable.  Shamefacedly re-spawned taxied out, giving said windsock pole a very wide berth, managed to successfully take off.

Now playing catch up, I raced off to find my flight mates.  I made it to their general vicinity but never did manage to link up with either, nor did I spot the bogeys that Brin was leading me by the nose towards.  I swear I could hear him all the way up here cursing at me to open my eyes as he wanted to reach in my pit and shake me by the scruff of the neck.  Prolly a good thing I never linked up with either as they probably would have died just by my being in close proximity.

End result, I was next to useless....

[WWICYtheDEAD]

Well all in all we lost 21 a/c . I think most were accidents, the enemy lost 5 in the air. I managed to spot 2 ships in my P38 , also a convoy and a Depot were spotted.

Ivan has also been takin by a crazy old man and his dog! 

Not our best night but the loss of there base and the aircraft on it had to HURT !

GOOD JOB EVERYONE!

P.s. there were 13 a/c on the base that we took. So over all they lost 18 a/c to our 21 lost.

[WWPlague]

That should limit the bases they can marshall at and take off from. Send blue to the base(s) Axis have left at some point the next mission, (after we see they had a few deaths  at all one time  frame, and arrive  just as those  same pilots 20 minutes are up), and  strafe them on the ground or just after takeoff. I  died from strafing  after touching down at my base.

[WWGeezer]

If I only I  had not crashed four frikken aircraft just trying to take off we would have frikken won.

(That being said I give myself points for sticking around until the end and bombing the frikken airfield. )

 

 

 

[WWZed]

1 hour ago, WWGeezer said:

If I only I  had not crashed four frikken aircraft just trying to take off we would have frikken won.

(That being said I give myself points for sticking around until the end and bombing the frikken airfield. )

 

 

 

But you didn’t.  The aircraft were damaged on the airfield and you lived...  mechanics are pretty good at the airfield, well you did lose two but....

[WWGreyWolfe]

Well that seems to cover that, I really cant believe that my last flight was the only real effort in the mission. Im glad I was able to keep Geezer tail clear of bad guys.

Wolfe

[WWSandMan]

Red flight did what it could, but lost a lot of planes it shouldn't have. Due mainly to visibility issues... But at least the bad guys have similar issues.

Sorty one: From north base, in P-51's, with Craven and Plague. Brin was busy, would arrive later. Flew to the south edge of the big lake to meet up with Blue flight. Climbed to 12,000-14,000 feet, circled. Noted that we were together in the same airspace as blue, but never actually saw them. Headed west, as per briefing. Saw messages that Blue flight members were getting killed. Plague reported getting shot down. Craven I made some coordinated turns, I still saw nothing. Craven spotted a low aircraft, went to investigate, found NavyGunner in a Spit. I dropped low to gain speed and join them, then saw a message that Navy was killed. Then saw tracers going overhead, jinked and juked, managed to drop into the lake while looking over my shoulder trying to see the bad guy. Apparently he hit me, as he credit for the kill, but I never noticed any indication I had been hit. 

Sorty two: Re-planed up north, in a Tempest. Just got airborne and was attacked. Dropped my bombs and made an immediate landing back at base. Aircraft repairable, but not flyable. Re-planed again and by now it was quiet over base. Just an A-20 trundling out ahead of me. Took off in a Tempest again, with two 1000 pounders. Two members of Blue flight joined me, reminded me to raise my landing gear, after which the Tempest flew much better. Headed generally west by south-west, slowly climbing. Eventually found my target airfield, but lost the Spitfire escort. Turns out they were engaged with four enemy they ran into. Again, I never saw the bad guys. Made my bombing run on the airfield, west to east, very fast. Both bombs hit and exploded, but only one left a crater. Weird. Moved north and a little west, never spotted any aircraft. Eventually was told about a convoy east of my position, flew a search pattern over the area but never did spot the convoy nor did I take any fire. Flew back towards north base, mission ends while I'm in the air.

I replayed recordings from my first and third sorties, and was astounded at how many aircraft were near me throughout my flying. That third sortie, as I made my bomb run on the airfield, there were THREE enemy aircraft over or near the airfield, two 109's and a 190D9. One of them was flying west over the airfield as I dropped my bombs. He turned north as I did, but when I turned west, he turned east. He obviously didn't see me, though he did see my bomb explosions. This inability to spot nearby airborne targets is a game killer. And it's obviously not just me experiencing this, otherwise those defending fighters would have had their way with me. At times as I lolly-gagged over the city near that airfield, the enemy planes and I were only 3km apart. 

[WWFrylock]

I agree with you Sandman whole heartedly, I'm having the same issues seeing enemy. last Thursday Brin was calling out E/A and I never could see them, occasionally I'd see a friendly shooting at "nothing". It seems the German planes are harder to spot than the Allied planes. So Brin told me to turn down the graphic settings so everything looks like crap! I haven't tried it yet to see if that fixes the problem, but that just seems like bull***t to me if that's how you have to have any kind of success.

[WWSandMan]

I tried lowering settings some (that was a fix for dot visibility in the original IL-2 1946 series, drop resolution to 800x600 instead of higher settings, make the dots larger. That doesn't work in this version... Lower resolutions just mean the game runs in a window. It can be forced to full screen, but looks terrible and is far more distracting in how bad it looks than helpful in having larger dots to see.

[WWChunk]

Was logging in to post this exact thought, Sandy. 

[WWDriftwood]

Planes disappearing when zoomed in is only when the plane is too far away.

So if your using the "alternate view in custom realism setting" you can see planes at a greater distance and are more likely to see a plane disappearing when zooming in all the way. When your in not using the alternate view, your more likely to never see those planes at a greater distance to zoom in too. 

• If you can zoom all the way in and never lose the plane as long as it's close enough.

TIP: Just zoom back out a bit after you zoom in all the way to catch those planes, otherwise just know if your zoomed in all the way and can't see it, it's probably too far to worry about until it gets closer. Scan at different zoom levels. 

TEST: Fly with a group of bombers, let them extend so you have to zoom in to test. 

• Keep zooming all the way in and all the way out as they keep extending away.
• At some point, you will see they disappear completely when you zoom all the way in and reappear when zooming back out, close your distance, they no longer disappear when zoomed in all the way. 

I don't like the "alternate" perspective but using it I can dogfight much much better.  Always catching bandits on my 6 as I roll and look over my shoulder.

• In regular view I have to check twice as much because the timing is much quicker, objects in the mirror are nearer than they appear. 
• In "regular view" I end up zooming as I get near target area or as needed, so it feels more like the "alternate view" with a little tunnel vision. 
• I almost wish there was a blend, I don't want planes showing at great distances, but I wouldn't mind having them appear a little closer at "near to moderate distances." Picky, I know. 

Setting your default zoom home/insert and your pilot view zoom might affect the zoom disappearing plane issue. 

I use trackIR. I always set my pilot view zoomed out all the way.

• Then use the default zoom / home key / to zoom in for a default zoom.
• Every inch of view i set my default zoom to using the "home key" is "how much I can zoom out using trackIR;"  "when I lean back in my chair."
• If I leave the default zoom "home/insert" zoomed all the way out - Leaning back in my chair with trackIR does nothing....
• What's the point? - if you set your default zoom so your zoomed in quite a bit already, as you zoom a plane will disappear quicker. 

Disappearing planes in multiplayer

 Pretty sure the disappearing planes in multiplayer - seeing guns firing with no plane, or they just blink out etc has nothing to do with the zoom levels or default alternate view and more with the MP network code. Never happens in single player. Talked about on the forum.

Graphic settings

I don't see that affecting default/alternate views as much as it's just the graphic settings affecting how things are drawn, at what distance, and detail.

I remember back in the day when half the squad played delta force.. low res sniper trick

Found out why some Snipers were so dog ass crazy good - Found out they were lowering there graphic settings so the screen was so pixelated they could see the black dots/players anywhere on the map, shoot the dot, kill the player..... nowhere to hide. 

Here's a post with a video showing the issue - Make sure you watch the video full screen 1080 or you may not see the plane in the video. 

Solutions - IL2 devs need to work on this a bit more  

 

[WWDriftwood]

On 12/14/2019 at 10:42 AM, WWSandMan said:

Flew to the south edge of the big lake to meet up with Blue flight. Climbed to 12,000-14,000 feet, circled. Noted that we were together in the same airspace as blue, but never actually saw them.

We were about 6k ft below you... after directed to fly west 262, we were seeing bogies above us as we fly west, catching a glimpse of a P51 here and there. The were called back to the lake midway. Wolfe was a bit ahead and got nailed by a A3 B&Z, moments later I spotted the bandit at our high 6, break left, then we had our little dogfight. 

On 12/13/2019 at 6:13 PM, WWGreyWolfe said:

Well that seems to cover that, I really cant believe that my last flight was the only real effort in the mission. Im glad I was able to keep Geezer tail clear of bad guys.

Wolfe

We tied up the bandits around the lake, so that was all good, allowed Gold to have more time achieving the objective. Could have worked out a little better, perfect mission for all the mishaps and mayhem... As Axis was marveling at the destruction... Gold quietly achieved the goals in the background.

Lets just pretend we did all of this on purpose; it was an enemy fog of war distraction strategy created by evil geniuses in some deep dark government basement while playing IL2; that's how I'm going to tell the story around the campfire, LOL.....