Rather dissapointed...

[Raven Morpheus]

...with some aspects of IL2 CoD.

I'm fairly new to the forums so please forgive me if I'm going over old ground here, and I should also state that I'm not much of a pilot, although I've played IL2 1946 a bit before getting CoD, I don't use full realism, in fact some might say I play the game in "arcade" mode, nor have I been using a HOTAS until I bought one 2 days ago (a Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS X, brilliant for the price), I previously used an Xbox 360 gamepad...

...But I'm rather disappointed with some aspects of the game.

Overall the game is a fantastic update on IL-2 1946, graphically it's superb, I doubt any other WWII flight game currently available comes close and I've played HAWX and FSX demos and I'd say CoD is probably better then them (probably just my opinion).

However the campaign and single missions do leave me rather wanting.

I just completed the British campaign and it seems a lot shorter than the campaigns in IL2 1946. Would I be right in saying the campaigns in 1946 are not linear, instead being dynamic campaigns? Either way the end of the British campaign was rather a let down (and rather a silly last mission imo) and was reached too quickly imo.

The single missions all seem to start in the air, even when I try to customise one (via the custom button in the menu system) I can't do a take off, despite having it on in the realism options.

And 99.9% of the missions have a complete lack of enemy aircraft. I mean 9 bombers, come on!?! At the time there would have been wave after wave after wave of bombers and fighter escorts not just a handful like there seems to be in CoD. Mind you IL2 1946 also had that problem so I guess I'm being picky there. :rolleyes:

As I'm not good enough to play online I feel that the single player mode has simply been done as an afterthought, and if I was good enough to be online I probably wouldn't even touch the campaigns.

I really hope expansions like the original IL2 had are forthcoming and they address the lack of a decent length single player campaign mode that has replay value.


I know, I know, I'm one of those who are too picky and want too much. :lol:

[Ataros]

The single missions all seem to start in the air, even when I try to customise one (via the custom button in the menu system) I can't do a take off, despite having it on in the realism options.

If you wish you may open them in FMB and move the starting waypoint at an airfield of your choice setting waypoint task to takeoff and 0 altitude or modify it in any other way. That's how I started to learn FMB 8 weeks ago :)

And get online on full real servers asap. This is the best way to learn and to have some fun (check out a gallery in my sig).

[addman]

Well Raven, you're not the only one who thinks SP is a let-down. Yes, the community can/will create good SP content but it's no excuse for the state the SP is in right now. I've almost flown offline exclusively in IL-2 and CloD for 10 years because there are so many games doing online so much better than IL-2/CloD out there. I don't think some IL-2 fans realize how unintuitive the whole series is with regards to online play, look at World of Tanks, no it doesn't simulate every facet of the universe but it's freaking built for online. Easy to access, easy to understand, no crashes, good infrastructure etc. Problem with CloD is that both SP and MP have been made half-hearted, yes the game simulates inertia but what do you prefer? A good online experience with a lot of people to experience it with or lying alone upside down in a plane on an airfield watching your landing wheels slowly coming to a stop? Phew, built up frustration release. CloD is a game that I hate to love right now. Oh sorry, not a game, it's a SIMULATION which excuses it from being anything close to enjoyable.:)

I just want to add that most of the disappointment about this game is my own fault, I expected too much from a too small of a development team. They probably did what they could with the time/resources given to them. At least that's what I'd like to believe.

[Vengeanze]

Yes, seems all focus has been on FM/DM and graphics to the extent that all other areas are soo far from complete.
Looking at SP I get a feeling this is supposed to be an online adventure. However, they managed to pork the MP so right now this game is just an beautiful intention good for nothing except practicing landings and takeoffs.


Raven, try the single mission "Cross-Country". U start on ground ready for TO.

Btw "I previously used an Xbox 360 gamepad...". Woooaaaw. :grin:

[Raven Morpheus]

Yeah I'm actually considering switching back to 1946 as I was in the process of doing the Malaysian theater RAF campaign and I'd been doing that for what seems to be longer than I have done the British campaign in CoD. :(

Still got the German campaign to do so I'll give that a go but after that I'll probably go back to 1946 as that seems to have more replay value in terms of campaigns and I want to get a lot more use out of the HOTAS I've just purchased.

But I do like the graphical beauty of CoD. It is amazingly detailed and good looking.

Shame someone can't mod the original campaigns from 1946 into CoD...

As for online servers, I'm never good enough in any game I play to go online (racing games being an exception but even then I'm usually average at best) and I don't like going online and getting pwnd by a bunch of guys who are far far better than I am, I don't seem to get better by that happening either.

[335th_GRAthos]

You are definitively right in your observations about the lack of "sexy" missions!

But the mission developmet model an the possibilities it offers is just awesome!
True, very few, if any, can use it today but it is a steep learningcurve and I am confident there will be a lot of great missions soon.

Download and try the Liberation mission somebody (apologise for my short memory on names) posted in the forums and have a look at the mission building examples (and the available objects and placing on the map) and you will get an idea.

True, it would hae been better to have everything ready, working 100%, 2 years ago already. But life is not perfect, this fligt sim definitively not, th important thing is what we make out of it!

Happy flying!

~S~

[jimbop]

If I were you I would switch back to 1946 for a while and learn complex engine management there. Much more forgiving than CoD and still very good.

[Osprey]

Yeah I'm actually considering switching back to 1946 as I was in the process of doing the Malaysian theater RAF campaign and I'd been doing that for what seems to be longer than I have done the British campaign in CoD. :(

Still got the German campaign to do so I'll give that a go but after that I'll probably go back to 1946 as that seems to have more replay value in terms of campaigns and I want to get a lot more use out of the HOTAS I've just purchased.

But I do like the graphical beauty of CoD. It is amazingly detailed and good looking.

Shame someone can't mod the original campaigns from 1946 into CoD...

As for online servers, I'm never good enough in any game I play to go online (racing games being an exception but even then I'm usually average at best) and I don't like going online and getting pwnd by a bunch of guys who are far far better than I am, I don't seem to get better by that happening either.


Well you need to join a squad mate and then you have a chance of (a) getting support in the air and (b) learning something about survival. Those campaigns would have taught you something on discipline/navigation etc so that's a very good start.

Our squad does private historical campaigns for fun and immersion, against AI because we like it that way, they are not for competition but we do plenty in MP too at present because it's COD and things are a bit open. PM me if you want to know more (we are RAF btw)

[Raven Morpheus]

If I were you I would switch back to 1946 for a while and learn complex engine management there. Much more forgiving than CoD and still very good.

Thanks but CEM isn't the problem. I can learn that, in fact I'm flying with it on, didn't find any problems in the Spit after I did turn it on, I just left the pitch on what appears to be maximum (at the top of the slider on the HUD).

It's the lack of replay value, i.e. a very short campaign and very little else in single player mode. In 1946 I couldn't see an end to the missions as they just kept on appearing, sortie after sortie, correct me if I'm wrong but there is no end to the campaigns in 1946, certainly seems that way.

But in CoD I could kind of tell that I was nearing the end of the RAF campaign, especially when I got to the last couple of missions, although the actual end after the mission with "Florence" did seem a bit abrupt.

I'll do the German campaign (although I've done a single mission in the BF 109 and failed miserably. :lol:) and see about some online stuff and see if I do any good but I do feel that I will probably go back to 1946 simply for the offline campaign mode.



Raven, try the single mission "Cross-Country". U start on ground ready for TO.

Btw "I previously used an Xbox 360 gamepad...". Woooaaaw. :grin:

Thanks. I tried the "Cross-Country" mission. That Blenheim isn't as easy to fly as it first appears. But I found myself falling asleep after a minute or so - it's so slowwwww! :lol:

Be nice if with all the missions you were "scrambled" from the airfield rather than beginning already in the air. The Single Missions are almost like "Instant Action" stuff.

Oh and yeah Xbox 360 gamepad + XBCD drivers = controller for all games going that aren't keyboard/mouse based. Wasn't all that difficult once I got used to it, and if I'm honest I'm probably better with it than with a HOTAS at the moment. ;)


Well you need to join a squad mate and then you have a chance of (a) getting support in the air and (b) learning something about survival. Those campaigns would have taught you something on discipline/navigation etc so that's a very good start.

Our squad does private historical campaigns for fun and immersion, against AI because we like it that way, they are not for competition but we do plenty in MP too at present because it's COD and things are a bit open. PM me if you want to know more (we are RAF btw)

Thanks I might do that once I've done the German campaign.

Oh and I must have missed the discipline and navigation lessons as I mainly use the map for navigation and I do pretty much my own thing in missions once I've located the enemy your provided with. To the point where I often end up chasing a group of planes half way across the map. :lol:

[Rattlehead]

As fun as online is I'm sure, it's also given developers (all developers) a reason to become lazy and of basically ignoring storytelling, more advanced AI, and creating entertaining gameplay.
Creating a good single player experience is an art form, and it's an art form that is becoming lost today.

[Vengeanze]

Thanks. I tried the "Cross-Country" mission. That Blenheim isn't as easy to fly as it first appears. But I found myself falling asleep after a minute or so - it's so slowwwww! :lol:
At the same screen where u choose the mission u can change the plane too. Just doubleclick on the Blenheim and choose whatever.
That's how I do it.
Note: When u get to the hit "FLY" screen you also have a button for Player PLane but changing plane there doesn't seem to do anything (for some reason).
So change plane at the same screen where u choose the mission.

[Vengeanze]

But the mission developmet model an the possibilities it offers is just awesome!
Like going to the beach and watching all the nice ladies. The possibilities are endless but you'll never experience them. ;-)

[JimmyBlonde]

I don't think you're too picky at all RM, I think you're right on the money and the devs should take note of this.

[Pluto]

Well you need to join a squad mate and then you have a chance of (a) getting support in the air and (b) learning something about survival. Those campaigns would have taught you something on discipline/navigation etc so that's a very good start.

Our squad does private historical campaigns for fun and immersion, against AI because we like it that way, they are not for competition but we do plenty in MP too at present because it's COD and things are a bit open. PM me if you want to know more (we are RAF btw)

...not only RAF, we are also Luftwaffe, ask Osprey if you want to know more.
;)