ATAG Dedicated Server is up!

[naz]

Hi guys

Well, I just had my first attempt at online play, what fun!

Had absolutely no idea what I was doing Tried joining the teamspeak server and got on it but had no idea how it all works so eventually just decided to start the game without it. I'll have to figure that out eventually.

Picked a Spit 1 and took off. Flew about my airfield for a while gaining altitude and then figured I may as well set off for France on my lonesome.

I couldn't see anyone for ages so was having a leisurely flight when at last I saw some dots back over the channel. When I reached them they turned out to be a group of dauntlesses (I think) but there was another dot flying above them. I went up to have a closer look wondering if it was another human escorting them or a human 109 having a go at them. I saw it was another Spitfire so I was going to try to form up with him but he zoomed off and I lost him.

I then flew around the dauntlesses for a bit but got bored so headed back towards France again. Eventually there was a message that a 109 had appeared somewhere in M12. I looked at the map and then at the landscape below me and realized i was quite near there, so I started frantically looking about to see If I could find him. I was flying above an airfield when some flak started going off, and i thought, "Nah, I'll be right, they wont hit me" ... then I heard a bang and a message appeared telling me I had some hydraulic failure. I saw another puff of smoke and looked to my right and behind and lo and behold there was a yellow nose closing on me from that direction! I dont know if it was flak that initially got me and warned me of his presence or whether he had actually been the one to get a hit on me.

My pulse rate increased dramatically and I had a massive smile on my face as i realized that after approximately 30 minutes of thinking nothing was happening, i was now in some serious trouble!

I tried to turn into him and he must have tried to turn too hard as his plane seemed to flip and then drop. I was able to turn onto him and then make a deflection shot streaming bullets ahead of him and he flew straight through the stream...smoke started to billow out of his machine...I whooped for joy... crikey, I might get my first online kill in my first online dogfight!!

Then another flak explosion and everything started to go red...i was obviously wounded and my left wing had lost its tip and there was a bloody great big hole in it. Somehow the 109 appeared in front of me again and so I had the choice, head for home or try to finish him off whilst injured and with a broken plane! ... Stuff it, If I can get him now, I'll probably get a VC .... fired off another steam of bullets at it, but I don't think I hit him this time.

My plane started making some awful noises and my windscreen became covered in oil, so I figured I had better try to get home. In single player I wouldn't have cared, but for some reason, flying against a human opponent, I wanted to try to survive the mission even if i missed the final kill.

I headed for home, hoping to at least make it back to the English side of the channel. Thankfully, the 109 pilot did not chase me. I got within sight of England with the engine getting worse all the time, and with the red hue of my vision getting darker by the minute.

I eventually successfully ditched in the channel.

Apologies for the long post which really is about nothing, but blimey, even though most of the session was simply looking about wondering where everyone else was, that wasn't half fun when it all kicked off! (That 30 seconds or so was awesome!) Just wanted to share it all with someone

If any of this rings a bell with a 109 pilot, I'd love to know if it was you that shot me initially or whether it was the flak!

Thanks for the server guys, it ran as smoothly for me as single payer does despite the ping of over 200 given I am in Australia. Great fun.

EDIT: Dauntlesses = Wellingtons