Flew CLOD online last night...

ElAurens · #1 10-22-2011, 04:01 PM

Was on the ATAG server for over an hour.

Started in a Rotol Hurri from Lympne, and was immediately jumped by multiple 109s on take off. Jerry always seems to like to hit Lympne for some reason. Fortunately for me there were some Spits in the area and they took the brunt of the Bosch attack. One 109 was on my six but I managed, through some on the verge of stall turns, to loose him. So I flew West to get away from that mess and began climbing out. The rest of the sortie was without incident. I tried to see how much altitude I could get out of the old bus. It seems the in game contrail height (approx 22,000ft.) is the absolute ceiling. Bogus. No combination of mix, prop pitch, or throttle could get the aircraft above that altitude. The engine simply coughs and dies.

Still, at 19,000ft the new build of the game looks pretty good. So I patrolled about for a while then landed at Manston, as I wanted to try a Spit Mk. 1a.

I acclimated to the new office of the Spit 1a with the now working constant speed prop. What I forgot was that the mix control works differently in the Spit. After some false starts because of this I remembered and warmed the Merlin up (takes less time in the Spit which is historical) and got airborne. At first I thought that it didn't seem all that much more peppy than the Hurri, then I looked at the altimeter. OK, it climbs a whole lot faster. It's also more demanding to fly, as it is less stable in the roll axis, and requires a lot of down trim on the elevator for level flight. I took the sexy Supermarine up to 16k~17k ft. and headed back towards Lympne as Jerry seemed to be keying on that area last night. When I was almost over RAF Tangmere I spotted 5 bogeys crossing the shoreline below me at my 11:00. So, Jerry wanted to bomb my home field eh? I gently pushed over and dove on the unescorted Do 17s.
I was cursing beneath my breath for being in a Spit and not a Hurri at that point as the Hurri really is a better gun platform. I keyed on the last Dornier in the line and let loose with my .303s and got the message that I killed the top gunner. As I zoomed up for another pass, one of the dirty Huns plinked me in the cockpit. My vision now decidedly very red in colour, I decided that landing was probably a good idea.

I made it back to Lympne and got the aircraft on the ground in one piece.

All in all the game is improving. If there were more people on the server, and more I was flying with on comms... (hint to my squad mates), it would be doable now.

One thing that I believe they have spot on is the staccato nature of aerial combat at this time in history. One minute you are flying along in a peaceful sky, and then instantly you are plunged into a "life or death" struggle, then just as suddenly, it's over. So many real pilot accounts from WW2 describe aerial combat in just that way. It's uncanny really, and much different from IL2.

Osprey · #2 10-22-2011, 04:33 PM

With a flight report like that you should join us. You'd fit right in

Hunden · #3 10-22-2011, 04:35 PM

Thank you found that a pleasure to read, wish there were more like it.

ATAG_Snapper · #4 10-22-2011, 04:44 PM

Great After Action Report. When you can, download Teamspeak 3 -- a free communication utility. You can assign one of your joystick or throttle buttons for "Push to Talk" (or any keyboard key -- but it's easier to scream for help with two 109's on your tail using a joystick button! LOL). Many of us on the ATAG server use TS3 and it's great to hook up and coordinate in flight. Plus we're a friendly bunch.

Good for you figuring out the mixture control is reversed in the Spit vs the Hurricanes. It's an error in the sim and hopefully the Spitfire's mixture control will be fixed in a future patch.

Trooper117 · #5 10-22-2011, 04:50 PM

Good stuff.. I'm enjoying the online experience as well, and yes, after years of online flying with IL2 it is different.. a lot more to think about with the more complex control system.

BadAim · #6 10-22-2011, 04:51 PM

Interesting to note your experience with the altitude test in the Hurrie. I tried the same thing in the last patch and found 27,000 to be the absolute ceiling, though I was in single player (I'm not sure what that would have to do with it). I'll have to give it a go again. I did not have any trouble with the engine though, it just would not go any higher without stalling. My sources show the service ceiling to be about 32,000, so the absolute ceiling should be somewhat higher, definitely some work to be done there.

ElAurens · #7 10-22-2011, 05:33 PM

I have had TS 3 for some time.

Just not bothered to log on yet to ATAG's server.

The BlitzPigs and our friends all are still on TS 2, not that it matters as I use both.

I'll log in next time I'm on and say hello.

jamesdietz · #8 10-22-2011, 05:38 PM

Is there a readme somewhere about flying on line?

Osprey · #9 10-23-2011, 01:39 PM

In game go into multi-player > client and get the server list, then connect. Different servers have different settings though.

You can join in on our comms if you need some help:

1. get a headset
2. get ventrilo 3.0.5 client
3. connect to server: xiiilegio.killervent.com PORT: 9918

ElAurens · #10 10-23-2011, 02:33 PM

What's funny is that most of my BlitzPig and other friends from the IL2 days call me a CLOD fanboy.

And I admit I am. I dearly want the game to succeed.