Any online war thoughts?
 

I feel like a slug for bringing this up because I'm totally inept about the hardship that goes on in creating an online war server and I don't think there's enough people who would be interested in one yet. So why bring it up..because I would love it LOL. But really I think if it caught on I think people would like it. It would be hard though. First can you ever do it second where to launch the thing. Hyperlobby? Third how to get the word out about it in a big way...here I guess. I started with D.I.D. Dead Is Dead in 2001 IL-2. What fun that was. It's easy to sit here a demand this to be done and not do anything about it but it does make me feel guilty lol.

How D.I.D. was organized back then? For how long flights were prohibited?

I think we will have several war running in a couple of months. And they will be organized around scripted servers which you can join with your squadmates, check which missions are available via TAB - 4 menu, select a mission and fly it against other squads. Similar system was (is?) used in WWII Online Battleground Europe (they have a ranking system and senior offices can post missions for others to complete).

Some basic functionality is available already now at III./JG27 Server

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpos...8&postcount=20

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpos...6&postcount=25

SNAFU is doing a great job in making this happen.

I think Richie is talking about a persistent online campaign such as VEF were missions are linear and damage is cumulative mission to mission.

JD
AKA_MattE

I think a large number of things that are absolutely indispensable for a halfway decent representation of the BoB just aren't there, yet.

1.) Warships - no real "Kanalkampf" without at least a british destroyer
2.) So far there is no way to designate static targets and check their state of damage.
3.) Radar is not yet implemented ... at least not in the way MG seems to see it. Just look at the not yet functional radio comms.
4.) Netcode. An online war without AI is just not possible but currently the AI is a serious limiting factor as it slows down the game drastically. Ask SNAFU.

Add some odd FM issues with most aircraft, bugs with some others (Ju 88 and the compass issue) and a general lack of documentation which leads to a lot of trial and error (Blenheim anyone?) don't make the issue any easier.

I fly an online war right now in FB/46 that does not have AI and have done so for years, You just need a dedicated group. The addition of AI allows for more flexibility but certainly does not preclude the ability to run a campaign.

JD
AKA_MattE

In my opinion it does. Looking at the numbers of planes involved you'll never get enough players to fly anything but the ubiquitous fighters and fighter-bombers. AI is needed for those classes of aircraft which rarely get flown - bombers, Stukas, recon planes ... Just trying to simulate the BoB by throwing two fighter teams in various "Last Man Standing" efforts against each other, which unfortunately many online wars I have participated in did, doesn't produce anything even remotely realistic.

I was flying a Zero against B-24 and B-25's flown by humans last night. This is a campaign that I have been flying in twice a week for years. There are squads in this campaign that fly bombers almost exclusively, as I said you need a dedicated group.

It is certainly easier if there are AI but it is not impossible without them (just a smaller scale). I do think that when the AI issues are sorted out what can be done in COD will eclipse what is possible now in IL2 FB/46

One of the other problems right now is that the bulk of the IL2 FB/46 campaigning community is still flying FB/46 campaigns.

JD
AKA_MattE

That's right like this


http://war.by-airforce.com/


http://www.il2war.com/

Back then everyone had to right up a log and send it into the admins after every mission. Scores would then be tallied up all manually and the front line moved this way or that. Old IL-2 have no front markers though so I think you had to look at the drawn in front marker on the website to know where the lines were. Everything was done manually. The other thing was everyone had to be trusted to tell the truth about his score.

Now it is all handled thru campaign generators which take the output of IL2 (in real time) and make adjustments to the ground situation (front line), available aircraft and other parameters such as death/captured. When the mission ends the eventlog is looked at as well and the campaign map is updated. Then a new mission is generated and started with the overall map situation/supply and available aircraft updated from what happened in the last mission.

JD
AKA_MattE