I can't be that good - can I?

[Extreme_One]

lol I know I'm not the best pilot. I remember when I started flying the original IL2 I really struggled, it took me a couple of months (and some desperate posts asking for help over on the UBI forums) to be able to land successfully and even then I often ended up crash-landing. (still, any landing you can walk away from... )

Of course my skills improved over time but I never ever felt like a master. And my cheap HW limited my ability.

In IL21946 I land successfully most of the time but I still come in too fast and heavy a lot of the time, and on grass fields I often nose-over on the runway!

In this new game I land flawlessly every time.
Literally every single time!
Just now I landed with all three wheels touching the grass at the same time and felt like an ace. But I also couldn't help feeling a little like I was cheating somehow.

I have one of the worlds crappiest joysticks, no rudder pedals. This should cause me problems, no?

I play with full-real CEM/FM apart from overheating and I'm mainly flying the Hurricane (Rotol)

I'm struggling to believe that I'm actually that good (perhaps I do suffer from an inferiority complex when it comes to my piloting skills) and am in fact wondering if the current engine is a teeny bit nerfed to bring in the n00b crowd.

I'm not being purposely controversial - I'm genuinely interested in hearing what more accomplished pilots feel about the FMs in the current engine, specifically low level flying and landing.

If the experts reckon the low-level and landing FM is good then that's great news; I am actually becoming a good pilot! but I have my doubts...

I think it's an obvious fact that we're all looking for a game that is more simulation than arcade game and so I'm asking how close we are to that atm.

[Sauf]

I think the ground damage modeling still needs a lot of work, yesterday I landed my 109 and taxied up to a low green fence around a house, out of shear curiousity I wondered "what would happed if my prop hits the fence" so inched forward, soon as it touched my 109 flew into the air twisted 180 degrees landing gear flew off and came to rest about 30 metres away.

They dont make fences like that anymore, just ask my missus, she hits enough of em.

[whoarmongar]

To be honest mate if you can pull of a perfect 3 pointer your to be congratulated. Im usually so afraid of stalling I hit the ground like a ton of bricks! Then im so surprised that i have in fact got down that i hit the brakes and bury the nose. I need a spitfire factory all of my own i ruin that many aircraft.

I am not sure if the FM needs to be fixed on ground and if the legs are too strong.

But I am not sooo much surprised that it is somehow easier to land now than in IL2.

First, we old IL2 flyers have a lot of experience. Even if we messed up with some landings still - overall we got considerably better.

Second, and that's where I think IL2 CoD is so much better than the old game: it is now easier to judge altitude when close to ground. I cannot say exactly why but it feels like this. During my old IL2 times I used some tricks like looking sideways during final approach and constantly comparing with surrounding objects to have an idea of current altitude. Now I just look and have a very good feel about how far off I am still from ground. I think this is what is doing the trick. Alongside with a better feel for speed over ground now.

[Extreme_One]

Originally Posted by 41Sqn_Stormcrow

...

First, we old IL2 flyers have a lot of experience. Even if we messed up with some landings still - overall we got considerably better.

Second, and that's where I think IL2 CoD is so much better than the old game: it is now easier to judge altitude when close to ground. I cannot say exactly why but it feels like this...

Perhaps this is true.

Judging altitude and closing distance certainly does feel more accurate than in the old engine.

I wonder if brand new players also find it easy to land. As a newcomer to flight sims it certainly wasn't as easy to land in IL2/Il21946.

[maxwellbest]

Agreed. It does seem easier to judge altitude when near the ground. In this, CLOD is to be commended. I still get a sense of dread that I am just maybe a little too high, a little to fast and the a/c will plop heavily, nose over etc. But. I am definately better at this now, thanks to '46 4.10. Practice. Lots of practice.

[baffa]

The shock absorbers seems to work here unlike in il2:1946, wont get those mad bounces here for a slight misstake.

[Space Communist]

Originally Posted by Extreme_One

In this new game I land flawlessly every time.
Literally every single time!

Heh well so do real pilots (well... most of the time!) Landing is the most difficult thing about normal flying, but it's still not meant to be a Herculean task.

I think, as others have said, the original IL-2 was somewhat more difficult because it was very hard to judge altitude and speed. I was never able to reliably land in IL-2 with the cockpit on, but I can do it flawlessly every time from the virtual cockpit. In CloD I can land fine every time even with the cockpit on.

I don't think that's it entirely though... I find that the planes in this game handle much better at lower speeds. I am not enough of an expert to say for sure whether or not this is more realistic, but I suspect that it is. in IL-2 if you fly the planes at the speeds that documents recommend for your approach they become very difficult to handle. I overcame this by simply practicing flying "mushy" with a very high angle of attack while still at altitude, so if I lost control I could easily recover.

[2033cyborg]

Originally Posted by Extreme_One

lol I know I'm not the best pilot. I remember when I started flying the original IL2 I really struggled, it took me a couple of months (and some desperate posts asking for help over on the UBI forums) to be able to land successfully and even then I often ended up crash-landing. (still, any landing you can walk away from... )

Of course my skills improved over time but I never ever felt like a master. And my cheap HW limited my ability.

In IL21946 I land successfully most of the time but I still come in too fast and heavy a lot of the time, and on grass fields I often nose-over on the runway!

In this new game I land flawlessly every time.
Literally every single time!
Just now I landed with all three wheels touching the grass at the same time and felt like an ace. But I also couldn't help feeling a little like I was cheating somehow.

I have one of the worlds crappiest joysticks, no rudder pedals. This should cause me problems, no?

I play with full-real CEM/FM apart from overheating and I'm mainly flying the Hurricane (Rotol)

I'm struggling to believe that I'm actually that good (perhaps I do suffer from an inferiority complex when it comes to my piloting skills) and am in fact wondering if the current engine is a teeny bit nerfed to bring in the n00b crowd.

I'm not being purposely controversial - I'm genuinely interested in hearing what more accomplished pilots feel about the FMs in the current engine, specifically low level flying and landing.

If the experts reckon the low-level and landing FM is good then that's great news; I am actually becoming a good pilot! but I have my doubts...

I think it's an obvious fact that we're all looking for a game that is more simulation than arcade game and so I'm asking how close we are to that atm.

I am flying with a Saitek ST290 pro yeah i know that was long before your time i bought it with my first sim it was simply called IL2 sturmovik yeap! before the forgotten battles and i am still using it of course those day i am using more and more 3D oil it seems, its not as smoooooth as it use to be you see, well anyway when it comes at crashing airplanes i don't think that anyone in the whole universe has crashed more planes and more kind of planes than me! it was the time when crash landing my plane in view of the airstrip would feel me with a real sens of achievement, crash landing meant that i was still alive to fight another day and near the airfield gave me the impression that i was getting there. ( no true).
then one day i really got kind of... you known absolutly mad about it and i decided that i would not got at shooting at another plane until i could land my plane ( and by god i love shooting at airplanes) so on that day i decided that i will start with the first plane on the list of the flyable airplanes you know in the quick menu and would land everyone of them once before the next one and only after landing all of them will i start flying and shooting again...
And it's what i did and crashes in all different ways you can believe or imagine: too long/tooshort, too hight/ too low, too fast/too slow, too much breaks and not enough,with or without landing gear or wathever, in the field in the building, in another plane or a car, the watch tower,the fuel tank and all and all.
(I am not even going to try explaning carrier landing, that's another book) it took liteally few months but at the end i made it...
And what i can tell you after all that sir, is:
if your landing your plane ( on real setting) it is because you did everything right ,so pat yourself on the back because you deserve it (and yes i am landing safely most of the time those days and its not because of the current engine...)

( I am seriously thinking of finding a new joysticks, yeap maybe one with paddles, what? no no seriouse....).

[Extreme_One]

Originally Posted by 2033cyborg

I am flying with a Saitek ST290 pro yeah i know that was long before your time i bought it with my first sim it was simply called IL2 sturmovik yeap! before the forgotten battles ...

Yeah I started in the original IL2 too.

Originally Posted by Extreme_One

... I remember when I started flying the original IL2 ....

I'm on my second stick now though as the trigger broke on my first stick.

Originally Posted by 2033cyborg

if your landing your plane ( on real setting) it is because you did everything right ,so pat yourself on the back because you deserve it (and yes i am landing safely most of the time those days and its not because of the current engine...)
...

Thank you.

I think a lot is down to experience but I do think it's easier to pull off that perfect landin in the current sim, perhaps because of better graphics giving enhanced awareness.