a few ?'s

[dwcace]

I've checked into the help file, but not help.  Hope you guys know some of this stuff.

1.  How do you start on a carrier?
2.  How can you tell the fleet what course to take, and at what speed?
3.  Is it possible to turn off the blackout/redout, and torque effects?  (Normally i'm not one to complain about realism, but some of this is riddiculous)
4.  Are there AI a/c in the offline play mode?
5.  Is it possible to get a better (larger zoom) map for the keyboard?

Hope you all can help.

[guttboy]

Ok for starting to fly off a CV "carrier"...just go and choose a plane and hit the H button in the lower left corner of the clipboard.

Max throttle, auto takeoff, use WEP (your P key), and let that baby ride!...you will dip down off the end usually but should recover unless you have some unGodly loadout of fuel and ordnance.

To change the courses of the CV just go to ships on the clipboard bottom and take command.  If you are too low in rank you will not be able to do this if someone is commanding it.  If not you can use the mouse to drag courses around and add points.  REMEMBER:  Please let guys know that you are going to move it.  Some people set it on courses for joint operations....it is always polite to ask before you move.

To get rid of blackouts and redouts......that I am pretty sure you are stuck with....part of flying full realism...if you could turn them off then there would be no point to the realism aspect really.

You cant change speed of CV as far as I know.

Hope that helps you out!!

Have fun flying:)

[guttboy]

Ok for the AI aircraft in offline mode....NO...just the ones that fly in circles...I think fellas have used terrain editor for things like that but I am uncertain.

Larger maps I dont think there are..but you can move them in and out by the insert and delete keys.  Also some guys have maps of the fields but they are standard large, med, and small maps and are oriented north up I am pretty sure.  Check out some of the Squad sites they may have downloads for it

[KroBaar]

Also for zooming in/out on the map, you can use your right mouse button on the +/- zoom buttons and that will zoom just the map, not the whole clipboard.

[Puck]

Another trick for CV takeoff is to start you engine at min throttle, hold the brakes, and throttle up.  When RPM catches up release the brakes.  You don't waste as much deck waiting for the engine to spin that way.

I know of no "arcade" mode for flight; the best suggestion there is to learn to be a little lighter on the stick.  "Hoser" Satrapa's quote to the contrary ("pull the pole 'till the rivets pop and the RIO pukes") you're far better off with lighter inputs.  Try increasing the dampening/deadband/responce curves for your controllers.

The offline AI is more impressive when you see those guys flying without any control surfaces at all.  Wish I were that good.  They're useful for deflection gunning practice and formation flying; that's about it.  Anything more than that and hop in the arena.

[Lephturn]

Originally posted by dwcace
I've checked into the help file, but not help.  Hope you guys know some of this stuff.

1.  How do you start on a carrier?
2.  How can you tell the fleet what course to take, and at what speed?
3.  Is it possible to turn off the blackout/redout, and torque effects?  (Normally i'm not one to complain about realism, but some of this is riddiculous)
4.  Are there AI a/c in the offline play mode?
5.  Is it possible to get a better (larger zoom) map for the keyboard?

Hope you all can help.

1.  Move to the carrier and press the H button on the left to appear on the deck.  You should choose a plane first.  If you hit the button to toggle names on the map and see a friendly CV is C19 for example, in the radio you could type ".move 19" to move there.  Then fly as others described.  Just be aware that only carrier capable aircraft will be available, and you don't want to take high fuel and ordinance loads or it will be very difficult to get off the CV deck successfully.  Make sure you use WEP (P key by default) to help get you up to speed quickly.

2.  On the clipboard there is a "Ships" button.  You can "take command" if no other player with a higher rank is commanding the ships and dictate a new course.  You cannot control the speed, mostly because if you went any slower planes would have difficulty taking off and landing.

3.  No, those are part of the flight model and cannot be disabled.  You'll get used to them soon enough with practice, and you'll be glad you did as it makes the game far more "realistic" in that sense.

4.  Not really "AI", but every field has a few P-51's circling it that you can shoot at and destroy for target practice.

5.  Not sure what you mean.  Do you want a better world map, or a map of the default keyboard layout?

[ergRTC]

The best thing to remember with the blackout/redouts, is that your opponent is suffering from them too.

[fuzeman]

Another minor thing on cv takeoffs. The default takeoff autopilot, ALTx or speed climb, will have a tendency to stall you on takeoff. I've found switching to level autopilot, x, will not make you stall as much and 'may' give better results. But you'll probably still take a bath if you take a full fuel load and major ordinance.

fuzeman

[dwcace]

For some reason i can't get to the carrier, and i'm always taking off from a cruiser or whatnot.  Am clicking on the wrong thing on the map?

[snafu]

Hi dwcace,
 If you find yourself on a cruiser or just floating above the sea I would assume the Carrier has been sunk. although some terrains do contain task force groups without carriers so perhaps that's it.

Also when taking off from a CV, Once you get onto the deck try this...

Slowly open the throttle until the brakes "Free off" then by juggling with the throttle you can "Reverse" down the deck until you are on the "Trap Wires". Hit the brakes and then follow the example given by others. By default you will start about a third of the way along the deck. Using this trick you can extend your take off run by up to 30% and get even Hogs with 100% fuel and a full bomb and rocket loadout off the deck with practice. (Or if you enable it offline a fully laden B26 (Ala the "Dolittle" raid) can be got airborne.

Hope this helps

TTFN
snafu

[fuzeman]

dwcace... try a few offline takeoffs from a cv, that way it definately won't be sunk. If you still want to do it online try the Training arena, again... they 'usually' aren't sunk there and if they are switch sides and you should find one afloat. You can also practice landing there. I'd start with low takeoff weight, no bombs and 25% fuel. Once you have your technique down, then bump up the weight and keep practicing. Flap usage may play a part too. Some hit a notch or two close to the end of the runway and I'm sure some start off with flaps down, like I do.
Let us know how you progress on your takeofffs... we're here to help.

snafu.. thats a nice trick on 'backing up' on the cv. I've seen guys do that and have their tail end hangin off the fantail [not sure if I'm using that terminology correctly or not]. I always thought the cv was pulling out from under them and not them 'hitting reverse' LoL

fuzeman