IL2 – Forgotten Battles

I had my copy delivered a few dys ago, but unfortunatly due to work commitments I haven’t had a great deal of time to form an in-depth opinion.

From first glances though, I think it is less accessible than the first incarnation. To a new IL2er the sheer choice of ac and career options in the dynamic campaign, could bewilder. The graphics have been tweaked in places, notably the scenery, and the extra ac are welcome, especially the 262 😀

I have always liked dynamic campigns in flight sims, and I think the best have been, Comache v Hokum, Apache v Havoc (Same series) and Harrier Falklands (I think?) These sims gave you a better view of the overall battle/war and allowed mission creation, desegnation via a well though out interface, abling the user to set navigation and target waypoints. FB it seems just generates the mission for you (correct me if I’m wrong, I’ve only played a few missions). This doesn’t really do it for me, and comes across as a static campaign really, although every outcome of every mission plays a role in the conflict.

Over the next few days I will try a get a few more hours on it and post some pics 😉

I had already ordered a GeForce 4 TI4800 but when it arrived it was faulty and I’m still waiting for its replacement.

Flew an (offline) mission last night for the Finnish airforce in a Brewster Buffalo. Now that really is a first. Seems to climb and turn quite well and, since it was an early war mission the opposition wasn’t too superior. Still died twice though.

I used to fly Warbirds Online. The last day of each 14 day cycle saw the arrival of the jets. I found if you kept your wits about you (Spitfire IX) they were never able to shoot you down, and if you fought your way over to their base you could make life very tricky for them. As modelled there the engines seemed quite easy to set afire.

Moggy

It should be your graphics card. I have a GF 2 MX, and after IL2, I had to change it to something better.

I got XP1700 (the new small chip), 512mb of DDR memory and a GF 4 MX440. Runs quite smooth with IL2 FB.

FB has the ME 262 flyable. In fact, just about every plane is flyable, right to the FW 190D9s, the Mustang, the P47s, the Hurricanes and P40s, the ME109K4s, G-10s and G-14s.

Heck even the Stukas and the Heinkel HE-111s are flyable.

If anything, FB may be the first game to show there is such a thing as too much flyables.

The ME 262 has a historically accurate flight model. However, don’t expect to play much of it online, since many servers have banned it and are prop only servers. This is because of players “vulching” other players; the ME-262 players often attack other planes while on the ground, and get away with it quickly. They also snipe using hit and run attacks at opportunity against dogfighting players.

Historically accurate tactics, but this kind of hellish play empties servers quickly.

“BTW, how senior are you Moggy? Senior enough to have seen WW2?”

Nope.

I am the result of my Father’s homecoming from doing battle with the Nazi horde.

Well actually he was an MT corporal at a pathfinder base in Cambridgeshire for the latter part of the war, but he did lose a toe from frostbite in Canada.

Or maybe it was an ingrowing toenail. Those RAF boots were deadly.

:rolleyes:

Moggy

Im really looking forward to seeing this game myself as the original Il-2 was very close to being a perfect flight sim. Yaks and La-5s vs Me-109s and Fw-190s, is this heaven? Very realistic handling characterics of the planes, graphics of the planes are almost perfect and the AI flying ability of the enemy pilots is great. I wish they had made all the planes flyable as I really wanted to fly a Me-262. You go against 8 yaks on ace setting with only your me-109 and you better have alot of altitude to shake them. I now understand that the statistic that in 3 out of for kills in aerial combat, the guy who went down never saw what hit him has to be true. Alot of time and distance is taken to set up and press an attack in aerial combat.

BTW, how senior are you Moggy? Senior enough to have seen WW2?