New here, WW2 Online refugee

[Mingus]

Greetings I've been looking for a new ww2 airgame to call home as of late,. I've been with WW2 Online since 2006 mainly Luftwaffe. The devs there seem to care less and less about the air game vs the ground game so I'm jumping ship in favor of AH 3. I set up an account here a couple years ago and tried it, don't remember why I stopped.
But at this point AH3 seems to be what Im looking for. ( At least stuff seems to actually die when you shoot it with a consistent burst at convergence here, plus you have wayy more planes to choose from here)

Have any of you flown in ww2 online? I am wondering what some of the major differences might be concerning some of the mechanics.
For example, over there we use discord, a seprate software for voice comms and each squad gets its own channel. VS here where it seems like everyone on a mission is all on comms together.  Which is awesome, just different. 

I'm trying to figure out what the voice channels mean and how they reach, for example "range". what is meant by range? is it a certain proximity to base only or something?

Had another question, how often do yall use flaps in combat here, if at all? Can the be set up to be deployed incrementally? 

I'm sure I will have more questions that will come as I learn this place, but thanks for the help.   

[Lusche]

Hello Mingus 

I'm trying to figure out what the voice channels mean and how they reach, for example "range". what is meant by range? is it a certain proximity to base only or something?

Range is indeed everyone close proximity, though I don't know the exact limits, probably close to half a sector? Since a relatively short time, this also includes people in tower/hangar/Oclub of bases. Range channel is always on for everyone.

The tunable radio channel (radio 5) can be set to
-squad (channel 4, which means only your squad mates can hear you),
-mission (only players that are joined the same 'pickup mission' can hear you), any number from 100 and up (these are mostly used as squad channels, but everyone on your side can tune to them. Channel # above 199 can be tuned to from every country)
-any individual player, including yourself. A way to have a private conversation or to test your radio

[horble]

Heya Mingus!  I've actually flown with you, I was 'gerble' in WW2OL for the 2 days every 6 months where I wanted to check the air game out.

You're gonna like it here, the 109's aren't complete crap and Spitfires break when you shoot them.

Hit me up in game, I go by horble here.

[wil3ur]

I tried WW2OL a while back and didn't care for it.  The things I can see right away are airplane views.  You can see out of your planes much better than over there.

Each plane is different when it comes to flaps.  Some you never want to deploy even though they're there, others like Ponies and Jugs can pull some great turns with them.  Flaps modeled for the most part based upon the historical modeling of the plane.  So some are all or nothing, others are X degrees per notch.  Some planes also get wing slats on the leading edge as well.

[Chilli]

Greetings Mingus,

WW2 Online is how I found this game also!  Although it was quite a bit earlier since I had left to come here. 

Anyhow, Voice or commonly referred to as VOX has 2 main modes:  Channel and Range.  To speak to those players on your country (cannot speak to enemy players within range) you can use the F12 key as the mic button.  To speak to players that you specified in the "V" chat box, you can use "T" as the mic button. 

Vox is limited to 4 seconds, if I recall correctly.  So, if you are long winded like myself, let go the mic button after each sentence and depress again for the next sentence / phrase.

FAQ:  Who do you wish to speak to?  How do you do that?   
I want to speak to a specific player (can even be enemy)  Use the "/" key to bring up the chat text window.  There you will see 5 divisions labeled 1, 2, 3, 4 and V.  1 thru 4 can be tuned for chat by right clicking the number and choosing from a drop down list: 

Country (color green = all country team members can read);
Range (color purple = only country team members within range and Whoopi Goldberg can read);
*All (color white = any online player can read *except for in the Main Arena where it has been muted); 
200 (color white 200 = manually tune to 200 by entering "200" into a chat box you can only then read and display chat to all online players);
Squad (color red = all members of a squad that you have joined can read);
Mission (color gold = you can read and display chat to players in the same "Pick-Up Mission" that you have joined);
V (vox channel also gold = This is where you can specify who you wish to speak to, your options are now limited to Personal Message = enter any gameID, including your own, into the chat box, Mission, Squad and any 3 digit number between 100 and 299 entered in the "V" chat box)  If you enter a 3 digit number between 100 and 199 only team / country players can hear.  If you enter a number between 200 and 299 anyone also tuned to that same channel will be able to hear even enemy.

[mbailey]

Greetings Mingus!!

If you would like someone to shoot at while your getting your "sea legs" here in game,  Feel free to hit me up if you see me online...Ill stay guns cold, and just try and get out of your way.....Think of me as a target that doesn't want to get hit.  Same name here as in game

Most importantly...welcome to the game, good bunch of guys here....

[The Fugitive]

Had another question, how often do yall use flaps in combat here, if at all? Can the be set up to be deployed incrementally? 

I'm sure I will have more questions that will come as I learn this place, but thanks for the help.   

Some planes benefit greatly with the use of flaps, others not so much. Flaps are deployed one notch at a time per button push.

Ask away, most will help willingly, and by the way....

Welcome!

[Mingus]

Thanks for the info gents.   My Next inquiry would be How does the ground game work?  I see you have some really cool Panzers and jeeps and Mobile AA, but where do you engage the enemy with those? Do you just drive them from your base to the enemy base?   
Also what is the main goal of a campaign or mission or what it might be yall call it here. From what I gather its destroy enemy bases and somehow make them your country's base and try to do that to as much of the map as possible.  How can the Air game assist in this best?

Lastly, I see that there is AI Anti Aircraft batteries at bases. Are there any other AI units in game to beware of or hunt down?

Thanks for the help. Digging this sim more and more each day.

[The Fugitive]

The main goal of the game is to have fun 

Most ago guns ar AI, tho at fields and vehicle bases there are guns that players can man including shore batteries.

Air fields can be captured once the town is white flagged due to 80 percent (I think) of the town buildings being destroyed, and all back guns at the town are killed. drop 10 troopers from either an M3,  or goon to capture.

Vehicles have spawn points from the base. You can view them by right clicking the map and select vehicle spawns. The launch buttons correspond to the spawn locations. Spawn in and hunt.

[Chilli]

The Fugitive is right, have fun with whatever pleases you.   

There are so many things to discover, and the flight model in the game is very much different from what I remember from WW2OL, you will have no problem discovering new areas on your own, but it would be wise to ask an online player to tag along and explain as you go (as I am certain that will produce a list of questions to bring to the table, if they aren't answered fully to your satisfaction in game).

Basically, on the job  training with periods of practice  and after action reports to discuss with trainers (available to schedule a meet in the Training Arena).

I have to amend my post on text channels: There is a help channel (color = orange, everyone on your country can read, if you type your in game questions using it).  They are more likely to pay attention to that channel, because other chat channels may be more congested and easily overlooked.

I go by gameID "DiLLi" and fly with Rooks, feel free to send me a PM (personal message) if you see me on the Roster.     I have probably asked every question you can come up with (as long as it is not too technical = who am I kidding/ not technical at all).

[Mingus]

Yes, Fun above all. Having a blast so far.   

One quick inquiry, when selecting an aircraft, what do the terms "ENY" and "OBJ" refer to at the top of the unit list there? I see there are numbers attached to each of these fields...

Thanks again.

[Karnak]

Yes, Fun above all. Having a blast so far.   

One quick inquiry, when selecting an aircraft, what do the terms "ENY" and "OBJ" refer to at the top of the unit list there? I see there are numbers attached to each of these fields...

Thanks again.

They relate to how perk points are earned, and also in the case of ENY how population imbalances are rewarded/penalized.

Basically, if you're in a 30 ENY fighter and shoot down a 5 ENY fighter you get 6 perk points (30/5)  If you're in a 5 ENY fighter and shoot down a 30 ENY fighter you get 0.1667 perk points (5/30).

For side imbalances, as one side's numbers become excessively greater than the other two sides ENY limitations start to kick in. At first blocking the use of 5 ENY units, but potentially blocking all units ENY 29 and lower in the case of severe side imbalance.

The higher the OBJ number the greater the perk points earned for destroying hangars, towns, factories, ships, AA guns and so on.

[wil3ur]

ENY is how they rank planes.  The lower the ENY normally is the newer the plane (IE: 40ENY is 1939-1941, 20-35 ENY is More 41-43, and 15-5 is normally 44-45).

Depending on the disparity in numbers between countries, a plane may not be available due to ENY restrictions.  This is done to try and keep balance in the Arena.

OBJ is the value/perk bonus a plane gets for blowing up an object.  Blowing up an object with an older plane gets you more points because it's generally harder to get to target, and in many instances the ord loadout isn't enough to blow many things up such as hangars.

Not the best explanation, but I hope it helps.

[Karnak]

ENY is how they rank planes.  The lower the ENY normally is the newer the plane (IE: 40ENY is 1939-1941, 20-35 ENY is More 41-43, and 15-5 is normally 44-45).

Depending on the disparity in numbers between countries, a plane may not be available due to ENY restrictions.  This is done to try and keep balance in the Arena.

OBJ is the value/perk bonus a plane gets for blowing up an object.  Blowing up an object with an older plane gets you more points because it's generally harder to get to target, and in many instances the ord loadout isn't enough to blow many things up such as hangars.

Not the best explanation, but I hope it helps.

Well, ENY is not year based.  It is capability based, for the most part.  There are some gems that are higher ENY than they likely ought to be such as the Bf109s, the Fw190s other than the Dora, the La-5FN, the P-38s and P-47s, the Mossie and the Ki-84.

[Mingus]

They relate to how perk points are earned, and also in the case of ENY how population imbalances are rewarded/penalized.

Basically, if you're in a 30 ENY fighter and shoot down a 5 ENY fighter you get 6 perk points (30/5)  If you're in a 5 ENY fighter and shoot down a 30 ENY fighter you get 0.1667 perk points (5/30).

For side imbalances, as one side's numbers become excessively greater than the other two sides ENY limitations start to kick in. At first blocking the use of 5 ENY units, but potentially blocking all units ENY 29 and lower in the case of severe side imbalance.

The higher the OBJ number the greater the perk points earned for destroying hangars, towns, factories, ships, AA guns and so on.

Awesome that answers my question perfectly.  Picking it up little by little. Great community so far. 
 P.S. I might be bringing half the Axis airforce from ww2ol over here in the next couple weeks. lol  I am, err (was until today when i unsubbed) the XO of the biggest axis air squad over there. JG51.             They just had a steam release and it went well for about a week. Then pop dropped back off. And the developers there seem to be going in a direction that is more ground play oriented. Many of the pilots are fed up.
I've been here for 3 days and think AH3 is the freaking bees knees man. All the load out options and fuel select options etc etc.. really great. And it seems like yall actually get updates more often than once a year.   Diggin it.

Thanks again for the help. <S>