BoB:SoW - Important gameplay features

[swiss]

Originally Posted by T.}{.O.R.

If I meet someone online and I want to have a chat - he gives me his server TS adress, and I then have to exit or alt tab out of the game to connect. Not needed IMO.

EVERY server I know has it's own TS.
Some still used TS2, but as far I know all of them have upgraded by now.
No problem.

Plus, if a squad shows up, they don't want to be in the public channel(radio chaos).

Honestly I think it'd be very complicated to integrate that in the game - unless you want more confusion

TS comes as an advantage in dedicated missions, where you can set up different channels and whispers. For every day use, on online dogfight servers - integrated VOIP sets the bar way higher.

Chaos, my friend, pure chaos.

[swiss]

Originally Posted by BadAim

TS is (at least with my squadron) our meeting place

Keyword.

Same here, Sturmovik.de is the TS home for pretty much all German speaking freelancers as well as 3 squadrons.

when you go there, you can either go your own squads subchannel and fly with them, or find ppl in the lounge and build an ad hoc team.

[TheGrunch]

When it comes down to it I don't see the point of Maddox Games integrating voice chat into the game if other people have already done it better than they could already. There's so many free, high-quality voice-comm programs (Ventrilo, TS3, Mumble, etc., etc.) already that the kind of voice-chat system that MG would integrate would be fairly pointless unless it was significantly better in some way. Unless it was done in a cool way where it acts like an genuine aircraft's radio and it can get damaged and stop functioning and suchlike for those people like the real fun (Dwarf Fortress players will know what I mean). I agree on the spawn-counter, though.

[MikkOwl]

An enormous flaw with the way we see most voice communication these days is that people without radios, without an airplane (perhaps bailed out) or even without being alive can speak. I don't like that.

If a more realistic radio simulation appears, either through integration with Teamspeak 3 or a native radio, there's no way to enforce that no one is cheating by using any other voice method.

A native radio solution that is so well made, realistic and cool that people would openly rush to embrace it is the most effective solution for preventing people to be tempted to cheat.

[swiss]

It's not cheating, it's Parachute Reconnaissance.

[Blackdog_kt]

I wouldn't outright call it cheating. Having the means to hang out with your group is the social aspect of gaming and is very important regardless of genre.

Would i like it if SoW could simulate wartime radios and everyone used this when flying? Absolutely.
Would i mind if people used teasmpeak in parallel, or to meet up before the actual game session? Not at all

[T}{OR]

Originally Posted by swiss

EVERY server I know has it's own TS.
Some still used TS2, but as far I know all of them have upgraded by now.
No problem.

Plus, if a squad shows up, they don't want to be in the public channel(radio chaos).

Honestly I think it'd be very complicated to integrate that in the game - unless you want more confusion

How long have you played IL2? Did you as a novice player have a squadron?

I have been playing IL2 online exclusively for 4 years. Last 2 I am inactive (take a wild guess why...), and I can't count how many times it would have been more useful to tell someone what to do than type it. Not to mention what impact it would have on "instant ad-hoc teamwork".

I am fully aware what benefits lie behind squad based TS / Ventrilo communication. But - people that are a part of the squadrons make for less than 10% of online players. I would bet even less than that. And those people generally stick to their TS servers, even when not playing (flying in this case) on their own server. Integrated VOIP would also enable you to communicate on different areas - with people on your TS server and with someone you need to communicate with. "Clear my six" takes mere seconds to shout compared to typing.

I could go on with benefits of integrated VIOP if you'd like.

Originally Posted by swiss

Chaos, my friend, pure chaos.

Nothing that can't be avoided by server settings and good administrator interface. Or simply an option to turn the thing off.

[swiss]

Originally Posted by T.}{.O.R.

and I can't count how many times it would have been more useful to tell someone what to do than type it. Not to mention what impact it would have on "instant ad-hoc teamwork".

Again - every server I know has it's own TS - you have to join it though.

What is the difference to integrated voip?

More expensive to develop, royalties and stuff like that. I suggest they save that money and use it where it's more needed.

[Blackdog_kt]

I think Thor means that not everyone takes the time to join the same TS server, but if a second voice comms interface was integrated into the game and joined automatically when you join the server, you would still be able to talk to everyone regardless of whether they had joined different TS servers in the background.

Now that i think of it, a combination of both would also help a lot to filter unwanted information. So for example, i could be flying with my regular group/squad and talk to them via our TS server, but i wouldn't have to alt+tab, join a different one and alt+tab back in the game to request a "clear my six" to someone who was on a different TS server. If it was modelled like a real radio i wouldn't have to worry about adding to the confusion so much either, as the only people who would hear me would be the ones close to my part of the map

[T}{OR]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

I think Thor means that not everyone takes the time to join the same TS server, but if a second voice comms interface was integrated into the game and joined automatically when you join the server, you would still be able to talk to everyone regardless of whether they had joined different TS servers in the background.

Now that i think of it, a combination of both would also help a lot to filter unwanted information. So for example, i could be flying with my regular group/squad and talk to them via our TS server, but i wouldn't have to alt+tab, join a different one and alt+tab back in the game to request a "clear my six" to someone who was on a different TS server. If it was modelled like a real radio i wouldn't have to worry about adding to the confusion so much either, as the only people who would hear me would be the ones close to my part of the map

Precisely. It gives us much more options and brings teamwork to a totally different level.

Besides, the very idea IL2 had integrated VOIP all those years ago shows in which direction Oleg was thinking. Nowadays, I believe all you need is to pay for the TS3 license to have it included in the game. There are completely free options as well...