Lets hear your positive 4.11 comments!!!

[Kittle]

It really does feel like a new game, I agree with that statement 1000%!!! I would have paid money for this patch, and not like $5 for some of the crappy DLC you get out there, I would have put down what I paid for IL2'46 in the first place, $30 USD just for this patch.

I just flew a QB dogfight, 4 Veteran P-38Js vs 4 Average Ki-45 Hei. It was a brawl. I started with the advantage, on the 'perch' above and behind. What do the Ki's do, well they split into elements and break INTO my attack, bravo gents!!!! One single aircraft lagged behind however, seemed a little less capable then the others, this became my target. I hadn't let the flight off the leash yet so they were strung out behind me covering the rear. The other three Ki's swung around and pursued the whole flight. As I closed on the single Ki, the others closed on my #4 and started firing. I gave the order to engage and the dogfight started. I hit the Ki with my .50s and smoke began pouring from the right side engine. The pilot started doing defensive barrel rolls to give the gunner a shot, but the G's were too much and he missed.

Now, here I thought, "oh that same old AI behavior", right??? Wrong!!!! The action seemed to have purpose, control, reason. The rolls weren't in a straight ling, he kept changing his course throughout. I had givin him up for dead the closer to the water he got, and just as I broke away PLOW he levels up and goes into the vertical!!! Well, I was in no position to follow to I kept my turn. The guys fighter was too shot up to fight, and he crashed while RTB.

The next dogfight was even better, showing the AIs ability to adapt. It was in the same flight against the enemy flight lead. He actually managed to turn the tide after being bounced, made a couple head ons, and generally kept me below him and at bay. I got lucky and pegged him with a snap shot of 20mm right before we started a rolling scissors, then he in turn pegged me. Then zoom climbed to make a diving attack. That's when I had my very first, and so far only, CTD.

WoW TD, you have really done it this time. Kids, say good bye to Daddy for a little while..... lol

[Crosstalker]

I haven't downloaded or tried it out yet, but so far all of my friends' comments in HyperLobby have been VERY positive. Sounds like a very good release by TD!

[koivis]

As a guy who enjoys air racing & bombing & anything with big guns, the new patch is just pure awesomeness. The old 'overheat fot a certain time-cool until normal-overheat-repeat' thing was getting a bit boring in the racing, but now the engines really work (and sometimes don't work) like they should. The ambient temperature is a huge deal now, on Gulf of Finland winter map no-one was able to break the engine at high speed, but on the moderate Slovakia Summer map, it was a spectacular show of splashing oil, boiling water and jammed pistons!

And then the new planes... the Pe-8 is one of the most majestic, ugly, and brutal aircraft ever, and now it's perfectly modelled here. Same for the Il-4 & the Tse-Tse Mossie...

Haven't tried the AI yet, but from what i hear, it's great. Keep up the good work!

[Treetop64]

A milestone has been reached with v4.11.

In pursuing an AI enemy, firing at him, and scoring hits (just a few non-critical, rifle-caliber hits), this is the first time I've ever seen AI - in any flight sim or game I've ever played - react by actually panicking and turning too hard, stalling, spinning, and recovering. I actually cheered after seeing that, thinking "Wow! I can't count how many times I reacted like that when being shot at!".

I've seen lower skill level flights of AI scatter and run when being bounced.

Another thing worth mentioning is that I've noticed the AI is no longer content with doing aerobatics in front of you in an effort to be a difficult a target as possible. Now they consistently make honest efforts to get on your tail, at all skill levels, with the corresponding levels of flying proficiency per skill level.

It's not quite perfect, as I've still seen some goofy behavior, like one lone AI pilot not immediately involved in combat, flying inverted for nearly a minute before correcting himself. Neverthless, this AI is good. They actually perform like human pilots.

TD nailed it.

[JG26_EZ]

Originally Posted by Treetop64

I've seen ..... one lone AI pilot not immediately involved in combat, flying inverted...

I think the AI dropped his cigarette.

[Kittle]

The had something bout that in the guide, I haven't seen it yet, but AI pilots will roll over on their back to get a look below them! Got to keep that SA up. The comment about the AI trying to attack instead of not die is spot on. Dogfights don't seem to take as long either. Things are fast and violent after the first few turns more often then not. I think this is a better representation then what we had previous. Just about every book on this fighter ace or that, the biography of Erich Hartmann being the most recent to me, will tell you that 80% of the kills they earned never knew what hit them!

I can not imagine having to do this for real within the first 40 missions or so. When I was young and started MMO flight sims, I was killed so many times in a row it was sickening. WWII did not give that opportunity, many noobs had to die in flames for the other 20% of the airforce can claim the other 70% of kills scored throughout the war. Those numbers are the USAAF in the South Pacific. The way it was written out in the book, the fighter pilots who broke the back of the Japanese air fleets had 3 kill markings on the side of his aircraft. That's the top 30%, the other 70% had 2 or less, crazy to think of.

Sorry, I ramble. That book is "Fire in the Sky: Air War over the South Pacific". Awesome read, the author slips my mind, but he wrote another book in the same vein covering the ground war in the South Pacific. I love both, great stuff!!!

[Tuphlandng]

Great thread should have been started a long time ago. Team Diablo have always done an awesome job. There efforts keep this Old Game flying. After installing 4.11 in a clean 4.10 I have had no problems. Great work and Thank you for all that you guys and Gals have done for the IL 2 community

[maxwellbest]

Sorry, I ramble. That book is "Fire in the Sky: Air War over the South Pacific". Awesome read, the author slips my mind, but he wrote another book in the same vein covering the ground war in the South Pacific. I love both, great stuff!!!

Eric Bergerud. Excellent American Historian. Oddly enough, some of the best stuff written about the role of the RAAF and RNZAF as well as the Australian Army in the Pacific has been written by Americans.