Online Adventures Over Blighty - Mission 1

[Badgerton Smedly]

After I'd experienced the one and only 'launcher.exe has stopped working' error, I was able to air start over the Isle of Sheppey, which is probably a wise thing.

I was pootling on the ATAG server which has had good feedback from the strong and the true Clodites - balanced game play and basic maps.  There were ~80 players on plus some AI to be had, the weather was good with clouds at about angels 3, but there was still a nasty taste of boche in the air.....

Messaging from the server was good but unfortunately I spawned alone without the friendly faces of Biffer, Smudge and Mouse Tiddley to keep me company.  I brought up the map, which to be fair is useless at that scale.  I must look into blowing the damned thing up.  Anyway I headed SE to the coast of the mainland and towards Ramsgate.

Sitting in the office of the 100 octane Spitfire 1a was fine.  I brought down the RPM's to around 2800 with the pitch wibbly and climbed to angels 10 over Manston.  Anything over angels 12 and I had to throttle back regardless of what I did with the mixture, or the engine start to buck around. I'll have to look at that.  Also I think the fuel gauge doesn't work.  I'll have to get Wilkins to look at that one.

I headed towards towards Lympe, using one of Nurse Crabtree's tautest garters to keep the compass in check when Control broadcast a number of contacts around Charlie 8, so off I went!!  At around angels 11 I saw 3 bogeys hove into view at 10 o'clock level movinging fast from the channel in land!! I'd been aloft for ~20 minutes so I first thought "Huzzar - if only the girls at Madam Fi-Fi's oculd see met now!!" Then the 3 contacts changed course and circled at what must have been over a mile away - I then remembered that I was alone...

In a very brave way, with my head firmly down as far as it could go I inverted and dove towards the deck - yes I said "bravely"! Hitting about 420mph IAS I levelled out using the trim wheel into a whirling mass of what I could see as Spitfires.  'What's this' I thought 'Have I just wasted my height advantage to run from Sptifires', but then flak started going off and after a few turns I saw a couple of Spitfires chasing a 109.  Did I leave them to joust with their mortal foe unhindered?  Did I heck - I joined in and got a hit in before one of the other 'Red and Trues' clobbered it and the Blue kites engine stopped and the canopy was ejected.  A minor damaged on my part.  Not bad for a first flight.

"Is that it Badger you wet lettuce leaf!?" I hear you say!  No it wasn't!!  whilst at about angels 1 I saw more flak so headed over narrowly missing engaging a Hurricane when I saw a 109 chasing a Spitfire both in a climb.  Could I catch it? Could I heck, so spent the next 2-3 minutes following it climbing to around angels 3.  Pretty dull and always aware that I was low enough to be bounce and culled extremely easily when  - what is this..... a 109 basses over head - just - from 9oclock to 1 o'clockand about 180 metres away!!  I can't believe it!! Pitch to fine, rad open throttle to gate - I line up and let the leather shorts wearing cad have a burst!!  Hits, Hits, glycol, he then climbs but has no power.  He swings round and tries to yo-yo but I catch him again , then again in a turn. I pass overhead and see his engine stop.  I test my guns to see if it's worth a return, but I'm empty.  No you're right, he was done for so why would I resort to such beastliness....  

Off home I went followed by some tracer and a long 20mm burst which was stopped by a couple of Hurricanes who must have been watching. Not sure what went on there, but thanks and good luck to them. Landed back at Eastchurch after 40 to 45 minutes in the air. I'm claiming 1 damaged and 1 probable.

A good flight with no hitches.  Apart from the initial crash I had no issues and the game ran fine.  I think the ATAG servers switch a lot of the features off and to be honest that was fine.  I was on CAP so the ground clutter wan't important till I was in attacking-retreat-mode....

I'll post the next sorties in a separate thead when it happens...

Smedly - Out

[Badgerton Smedly]

Chaps

Several post sortie musings:

• Effective heat management in all crates now is paramount!  I was so twitchy at all times in the mission around the oil and radiator temperatures! "Oh no the rad is 98 degrees" - Radiator lever, trottle back, revs at optimum.  No wonder I wasn't seen zig-zagging across the sky.
• The more things to watch, the better the immersion.  I can fully appreciate why in RL the pilots got hit and never even knew they were in danger. I spent around 3 minutes fiddling with my gunsight settings and going in a reasonalbly straight line.  I felt rather exposed out there, more so than at Lord Binks last Summer Ball...
• The perfect bullet combo:  No I'm not talking about the new mexican eatery stand  outside the mess - I've got a pretty standard belt loadout for my 8 guns featuring DeWilde, ball, tracer, and AP combinations per belt, per gun.  Now the post landing report had me opening up some severe fuel leaks on that 109, but no fire.  I must mix some more and try and get a flamer (an untimely injection of over confidence here I fear!)
• The post mission damage report for your kite and any enemies you have tangled with (got hits on) are very detailed (superb DM, but how effective it is I don't know) but the format is quite poor.
• Ground Control is effective, but nothing more than that. I'll have a look to see how the ATAG chaps are using Radar etc.

TTFN

Badger

[Badgerton Smedly]

I can't find out why the Spit 1a engine goes a bit wibbly over 12k feet. I need the advice of real pilots!!!

Conky, Bluey, Woof, Bounder (Errr, hope I've not forgotten any one), any theories? Do I need to be a little gentler on changing the mixture?

I'll have a look in the release notes too.

Thanks

Badger

[John Cartwright]

Is it not a known fault/bug that the altitude performance of most a/c (particularly RAF) in this sim is incorrect?

Also there has been some disturbing reports of hacking or cheating online, though it may be chaps whining when their problem is there own flying ability. Be interesting to have your opinion on this.

[=CfC=Father Ted]

I saw that thread about "cheating".  What worried me was not the cheating, but that several people attested to how good these guys are - and I'm planning on going on that server...

To me it read a little like whining combined with internet issues.  I used to get similarly wound up by instant headshots on RoF until I read somewhere that a lag-type effect means that you often don't hear the bullets striking your plane, so the first you know about someone hitting you is the dreaded red fog.

The other thing I noticed from the vids posted was that a lot of the shots were made at full deflection.  Once you've mastered that, it really is more deadly as you're pouring lead into the engine, cockpit and wing roots where there is no armour.  Also, from the perspective of explaining away the "cheating", you wouldn't get the tracers coming past the cockpit to warn you, so it would seem like a bolt from the blue

[Badgerton Smedly]

BalDaddy, Ted - A Good day to you both!

I have read the same cheating threads and have surmised an opinion from the same angle that Ted is coming from.  There are a number of perspectives that could be considered:

1. There is a cheat/bug being exloited by beastly double agents
2. Are people loading up their ammo belts with adequate fare to get that headshot in a hail of bullets in what are poorly armoured kites (compared to latter years in the war)?
3. Are the dual winners luckily in both their tequnique and the ammount of lead that they are throwing accurately at the opposing pilot?
4. Are the dead pilots griping about a hurt ego?

From my account in this very thread I saw 2 109's get severely beaten about the sky by Spitfires and can say on the evidence of them trying to escape that there were no head shots to be had.  I read a similar thread on the experience of the first release candidate patch where a 109 driver couldn't set a sptifire alight.  It was blamed on a bug or remodelling of the spitfire DM until a chap came back with a 'er, no I did this on ATAG last night.... etc...').  As Ted has mentioned, deflection is thyne enemy!

Very interesting and worth testing I think.

Baldaddy, On the engine management bug and the the perspective regarding my ineptitude in getting the 100 octane Spit above angels 12, I'm going to blame my lack of command of the appropriate controls, but my prioirty is to qualify this.  I'll pop onto the 1C forum and also give the ATAG chaps a shout.  Lazy really as I should word search it in the forum.  It's an atmospheric thing, related to mixture I'm sure, but hey, bugs aren't unknown!

I will report back forthwith!

Badger

[Badgerton Smedly]

Tally Ho!

Well, gen from the ATAG forum had some interesting information as to how it all works.  There are RPM limitations with regards to certaim Merlin types at certain altitudes.  A Fellow by the name of IvanK has it all listed.  Accurate in RL?  I've asked, but the long and the short of it is don't be in a Spitfire Mk1a in a 1-on-1 fight with a 109 over angels 12 and expect to be on an equal footing....

Interesting times....

I'll ask permission to post the details here.  I can offer a link, but you have to join their forum to see it.

Badger

[Badgerton Smedly]

Baldaddy

How could I have doubted you - a cheeky bug it is. There appear to be work arounds, but to the detriment of 400 RPM till you get to angels 20. Spitfire IIa is not affected however.

I must test this however - Boscome Down here I come!!

Badger

[CFC_Conky]

Tally Ho Badger!

All this sounds very interesting, I'll have to try sneaking a new pc past the Admiral so I can try CoD out 

I'm glad you figured out the bug thing with the Spit MkI, for the life of me I can't think of why it would act up at 12,000', other than leaning out the mixture.

You deserve a medal for staying with the sim this long 

Pip, pip,
Conky

[Badgerton Smedly]

Tally Ho Conky!!

I have a medal sir and the 1000 yard stare that goes with it!!

Thanks for feeding back. Yes the bug is lessened by going easy on the throttle. I was up again on ATAG's server briefly last night on the Spitfire 1 and the altitude wasn't my issue, temperature was!  The wasn't a bug however, it was called 'Badger stop hanging around on the ground and get some air flow under your wing!

Even with its current habits, if you can get it to run its s lot of fun!

Sortie #3 debrief shortly to be added.

Hope the steel tube driving is going well!

Badger