I read some of the posts at this BBS. Hmm.. Some complaints, but generally the AH folks seem to have good impressions about this IL-2. Some posts were informative and tempted me to buy IL-2 very much, others made me hesitate.
Kept picking those poor innocent daisies and ripping them apart saying "I buy it.. I buy it not... I buy it.. I buy it not..". Guess what, the finall petal landed on "I buy it". So here it is, tried it extensively for a week.
....
After extensive research(yeah, right
), I find IL-2 has great potential. Some Hyperlobby games are extremely fun to play at, while some others are just plain ol' dumb. But this is due to the lot of people who furball around in La-5FNs with unlim. ammo settings... the bases barely even 10 miles apart just.. just dumb ol' gang bang vulchin'.. (strange as it seems, those guys at Hyperlobby don't have any concept of 'vulchin' at all.. hmm). The game itself was capable of so much more.
The connection was smooth. Strange as it seems, many posts point out lags and warps.. but I didn't have any problems. I connect to Hyperlobby at about 3000 kilometers away - the other side of the Earth - from most Westerners, and don't seem to notice any lag problems. haven't seen a single lag, only rare stutters in massive ground detail conditions.
Though there were geeks, there still were a handful a ppl who enjoyed this sim to its full potential, and in these rooms I had very much fun. No icons, no pad lock, all full realism... I knew no icons games were fun in AH, but the graphical advantage of IL-2 helps immersion intensely. Nobody can denounce that IL-2 boasts the best graphical/visual immersion up to date ever - I thought to myself
I haven't tried earlier versions, I started out with patch 1.02a and now onto 1.03a.. I see some posts complaining about problems I don't seem to notice. Maybe it was fixed during recent patches? I dunno, probably so.
.....
The flight modelling.. frankly, I am not very sensitive in these matters. I just read reference material, read other posts in BBS's like this and go "uh-huh, so Verm or funked says it's realistic, huh? Then it must be so.. hmm.. nice...." (hehe) The handling of the planes didn't feel very different from AH. My hand in AH was used to mostly 109Gs, and quite a lot of occasions on Yak-9Us. At least these planes felt very familiar. What I couldn't do in AH, I couldn't do in IL-2, what I could do in AH I could do in IL-2..
The problem was getting used to the engine management. The only serious affiliations I had with onlin flight sims were FA and AH. Both don't have engine/throttle control. I had tried EAW before, but didn't have too much problems in engine control. I had to search for reference materials all over again to learn about engine control, and had to figure out why my @*^## engine was overheating within 5 minutes of frickin' combat every time. How in the hell was i supposed to fight when I try to pull a move my engine overheats, and I have to throttle down and grovel at low speeds? Why aren't those salamanders in the uber Yak-9Us and La-5FNs getting any of these problems??? The general speed sucks.. if this is all KPH, geez, these planes are all moving around at 100mph~250 mph if it were in AH.. blah blah blah whine(to myself) whine(to myslef) whine(to myself)....
It wasn't until I got used to radiator+pitch+engine management+constant trimming that I was finally able to fight a bit like I would in AH(which, by the way, isn't saying much anyway. But at least in AH I could do a single loop, geez). I found out how the heck i was supposed to achieve the climb rates after take off... I learned the 100% throttle and fastest RPM was ITSELF a sort of a WEP, which cannot be used constantly in combat... and also learned constant combat settings which you can apply without overheat problems were 80~85% throttle with fastest RPM prop pitch, 80~90% in a notch or two slower RPM prop pitch.
But even after that still IL-2 planes were fighting at lot lower speeds than AH. I guess this is the difference between AH and IL-2.. not surprising, since AH planes all fight at 100% throttle, and IL-2 planes fight at generally 80% of the throttle most of the times.
...
The gunnery.. the gunnery is very good. No 500~600 yard pings here. That could be because there are no hit boxes, coupled with the feeling that the planes look a bit smaller in spacial relations than AH. Some say the guns are too weak, but I don't think this is true. It's a lot harder to hit on one concentrated area because there are no hit boxes and generally targeting is a bit more difficult. But you hit 'em right they go down. I remeber flying a 109G-2, shot a very short burst at a Yak in front of me at 47 meters. It was probably no more than 40 rounds MGs and 10 rounds 20mms.. , but when I pulled the trigger, I felt I targeted him right. Yeah, I guess I did, looked like all the bullets hit one place, took a chunk out of the rear end fuselage and the guy caught fire, he went down.
The shooting is more difficult than AH, but then again, the no-rear view also impacts effectivity of evasives, so evading is also more difficult than AH, so I guess this sums up the attacker - defender balance as stale mate. Thus, while simple horizontal scissors are often enough to throw the aim off and help evade the most critical shots, I have no idea if what I am doing is working or not.. some moves, like barrel rolls and rolling scissors are effectively a lot harder to do not because of the flight modelling, but just because i can't see where this guy is.
With the twitchy flying characteristics and lack of 6-view, evasives were hell, but I bet the guy behind me was also having a hard time targeting, so I didn't feel too bad.
The first time I actually succeeded in a Hammerhead was probably the most exhilirating moment I had in IL-2. Felt like "Yeah, take this and shove it down yer @^%##, Uber Yak salamander!"...
, it also happens because of the manual trimming and prop/pitch control issue + about the only move that gives you a good view on enemy position, I found that vertical climbing with rolls was a surprisingly effective evasive compared what it was in AH.. of course, the skilled pilots don't fall for this one, but the point-and-fire guys can't seem to aim at all while I'm going straight up, wobble around under me and stall first.
...
All in all, I think it's a great sim, and I have this wish that someday we might see AH in this level of graphics. The multiplayer games are fun if you successfully avoid the gaming rooms that butt-heads make, and pick out the rare, hidden rooms with full real options and good sticks.
...
Il-2 will remain a favorite for me for a long time... of course, second in place to AH, that is
