Sand Sea and Steel to Run Again?

[Tonar]

I'm OK with the limited Icons, No color Just ID at the last few hundred meters.

Or we should all Fly Wonderwoman View !!!!!!! :wink:

[Arsenal]

~S~ Glenn, OK M8 , I'm free all evening Thursday now, so bring it on big boy !!! LOL

Cockpit always on !! suits me , I thought everyone flew that way 99% of the time anyway ??

Limited icons .... bloody good idea too , means a foe can be snuck up on from behind !!! (MY FAV LOL)

~S~ Painless

The only problem I have with cockpit only mode relates to the departing airport. In my opinion, the field of view is just too limited to safely take off especially during the initial spawn when the airport resembles a monkey humping a football. You can't maintain decent situational awareness with people unexpectedly spawning willy nilly on the airport. It's hard enough to keep from running people down even with outside views. And as most have witnessed, when your airfield is under attack, recently spawned players tend to put the throttle to the firewall from the ramp to takeoff regardless of the airstrips actual location.

But I do just as Pantless does when airborne, and I use my cockpit view only. I also like the limited id tags idear. With 5km tags, all of your tactical planning goes out the window when you know the enemy can see you from so far away.

[DoubleTap]

~S~ Glenn, OK M8 , I'm free all evening Thursday now, so bring it on big boy !!! LOL

Cockpit always on !! suits me , I thought everyone flew that way 99% of the time anyway ??

Limited icons .... bloody good idea too , means a foe can be snuck up on from behind !!! (MY FAV LOL)

~S~ Painless

The only problem I have with cockpit only mode relates to the departing airport. In my opinion, the field of view is just too limited to safely take off especially during the initial spawn when the airport resembles a monkey humping a football. You can't maintain decent situational awareness with people unexpectedly spawning willy nilly on the airport. It's hard enough to keep from running people down even with outside views. And as most have witnessed, when your airfield is under attack, recently spawned players tend to put the throttle to the firewall from the ramp to takeoff regardless of the airstrips actual location.

But I do just as Pantless does when airborne, and I use my cockpit view only. I also like the limited id tags idear. With 5km tags, all of your tactical planning goes out the window when you know the enemy can see you from so far away.

The airport chaos was my concern too, regarding externals. I MAY have a way of avoiding it in the offing, but it's not certain yet. WIthout externals, it would really be a pain to get planes off during a mission.

One other problem with external views came up recently. During the events, some people may have used the externals to look at enemy airfields and aircraft to determine their position. While I know this is common practice for Coops (where we are merely trying to find one another so as to facilitate some killin') it is not appropriate for DF events where surprise and stealth are part of the deal. I would ask everyone to refrain from using externals in this manner in competitive events.

As far as limited icons, I like them. While we can debate and adjust the parameters, I like the use of them in the DF events because it adds an element of tension and allows tactics that would ordinarily be useless.

As they are set now, it is very easy to spot friendly aircraft at a distance (simulating radio contact and ground control), but enemy icons do not become visible until around 2km. I will check but further info is revealed at 1km.

In any event, you can definitely spot enemies further out, but they will be black dots. You can tell they are enemy if you do not see the icons with the dots.

In regards to Frior's question regarding lower graphics, its a good one.

For one, we've tried a few things to improve the overall server performance, so try bumping up graphics as it may not affect the performance as badly.

Second, if anyone has serious problems spotting at a distance let me know. We can try to find an good compromise.

[DAZZA]

I think it would be ok to turn off externals for df events, i only use them really for taking off and landing and sometimes identifying enemy ground targets, although not on SSS since the briefing was so clear

and for looking at my pretty plane.

only thing that might disadvantage some players is their lack of familiarity with internal only

to be honest, i think track IR users have a definate advantage in closed cockpit, and its maybe not fair to penalise people using externals to give the same level of awareness.

as much as an advantage as f6ing is, it still doesnt compensate for decent gunnery and flying....

my two cents

[Klinger]

Pity you cant have one on each side, with externals on, to act as ATC and to vector players to target. Everyone else cockpit only. Padlock on. Limited icons. Don't suppose many would want to ATC though.

Just my opinion, I'll play it any way you guys want.

PS I'm sure no one round here uses F6 in combat do they?

[DAZZA]

Only when im flying against you mate!

:wink:

[Tonar]

DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!

I went home for lunch and noticed my connection is Down

I sure hope it is back up when I get home in time for the rematch.

Man am I going to be pissed if I miss round 2 :x

No good, lousy , bit ridden, hair pullin PCs!!!

just breath, just breath, it's only a game.

[Shadow]

Our settings have Padlock enabled?

I guess if we do, it evens up the non-TrackIRers and levels the playing field somewhat.

Till this evening,

[Tonar]

Thanks DoubleTap

I had fun, to bad I lost track of everyone after the DF. thought they were going to Shadows server(AKA Freelancer?) but no one showed. anyway thanks again and I can't wait for mission day 3.

[Painless]

~S~ Chaps , lots of interesting ideas and comments about game play for sure.

I loved Klingers idea of someone acting as ATC, (with full externals) . However , as he said ,probably not a first choice job to have for the evening LOL.

I too use externals for taxiing (collision avoidance) and maybe to check damage or bomb load, that sort of thing.

It is MORE REALISTIC to have Track IR.

To be able to "look" around the sky to find and fight enemy planes who want to shoot you in the privates. However some people actually prefer to flick around using HAT. I've seen tracks of guys doing an awsome job without Track IR.

That said , I personally would be lost without it now because its a new tool that I am totally used to . Thats the point I think , it's what you are used to, even down to the "feel" of your stick, (excuse the expression) :roll:

Using F6, which finds and tracks an enemy for you, or using "wonder woman"(see through plane) is in my humble opinion NOT CRICKET !!

As BG said, for COOPs it doesn't really matter too much because it's for fun and not for serious competition. BUT for Glenn's fantastic DF missions we all get a little competative to say the least so maybe it matters then

Anyhoo , this is all just "fine tuning" for that magnificent engine known as .................THE DANGER DOGZ !!!!!!!!!

~S~ Fellow flyers ........................... Pantless

[Shadow]

What they said! (Except for that whole 'feeling the stick' thing...wierd)

Was fun flyin' a Shtooka. Makes things blow up real good :twisted:

Thanks again for your hard work and dedication,

[DoubleTap]

What they said! (Except for that whole 'feeling the stick' thing...wierd)

Was fun flyin' a Shtooka. Makes things blow up real good :twisted:

Thanks again for your hard work and dedication,

Your welcome, Gents. It went well, although we needed probably 2-3 more players on a side for that map. Even though I lowered the target objectives a bit, and we knew the map a bit better, it was still very difficult to reach the objectives. More bombs and guns were needed. However, that means we have a pretty good idea that the mission overall runs well with a certain number of players. Despite the claims of English cowardice, I think the real problem was not enough planes to fill the sky (We maxed out at 11-12).

It was interesting to fly again. This time I took a little time off mid-mission from Pe-2 bombing runs, and hopped into a Gladiator for some convoy defense. I gotta say that with some energy behind her, the Gladiator is a decent match for the Stuka and even the G50 if the 50 tries to dogfight. I think I downed a Stuka and may have chased a G50 into the drink. Landing on the carrier turned out to be a little more difficult that I imagined (Splash!).

Quazi seemed to discover that some units, particularly the AAA were regenerating mid mission. I have not completely confirmed that independently, although I did see some AAA firing in the distance that I thought I had cleared. If true, I am surprised because I thought the default was longer than an hour. In any event, I will adjust it if needed.

Other lessons learned. Straffing artillery, even out in the open, is a pain in the ass compared to vehicles. However, a well placed bomb can take out several at a time if they are relatively close together.

I admit its a bit of an odd mission map, in that most of the planes, if not, do not have alot of air-to-air killing power, but I think it works based on the emphasis on ground-pounding. It also makes the plane additions in the subsequent missions that much more welcome when everyone starts getting some real punch to their guns.

Thanks to all who flew, and my apologies to my UK mates because we started a bit late.