DoubleTap

Since these photographic horrors are now becoming a fad, I thought I would drag this out of the cupboard for everyone to use:

Sweet, I found the submenus, and most reveal a plethora of options. Calendar, however, displays this:

Exactly. This isnt' some hardcore battle is it? To get the max enjoyment out, we should fly what we want, or give us a choice like on Glenn's dogfight days. Speaking of which is this going to be a dogfight only scenario, or are there going to be objectives? BG is the one who is doing direct negotiations, I think, so he would be the source. From what I know they are thinking some dogfights with objectives, as well as Coops. As far as hardcore battle, I don't know, but I'd like to be prepared... :wink:

Roger, How do I add an event to the calender for a date in the future? I tried to add a note regarding the Hell-Divers! event this friday, and now it is posted for today. Glenn

Dave, Quite right. I meant to mention that to BG. It's fine if they want to play with the same plane-set, but we should have some say in what that will be. Glenn

Easy with the graphics! Had those bottles been whiskey, BG would be suicidal right now!

When we get some ideas of the scenario and layout, we should discuss tactics and practice. Deacon was interested in flying identical plane sets for both sides, and they are apparently P-51 and P-47 jocks. I know for me that I probably could not pick 2 planes I feel less savvy in. Also, they suggested playing with Icon settings very low, particularly for enemies. Means you won't see someone unless you are paying VERY close attention or until they are practically on top of you.

There was one started; a guy asking what to tell a young daughter about 9/11. Within 3 posts someone was making obtuse remarks involving conspiracy stuff. Its a wrong format, I think. Too many jerkoffs...

Ah, HAH! Funny you should ask... I have uploaded an updated IJN Training mission to our vault. The training mission now has ancient Japanese secret for launching heavy planes with no wind from Large carrier. You must be in the air before you get to the sub or you are in trouble! Mission name is: midway_TrainingIJN_rev I also uploaded a track (B5N2_wBoost.ntrk) of me taking off using this procedure. Take note that A) this was with 75% fuel, I used the little release chocks/hold with brakes trick of Shadow's, and C) even though I was spastic leaving the deck, I was still able to salvage the take-off. If the track laods up funny (nothing but sky) trying hitting F2. Any questions let me know I will check back in....

Folks, Couple of updates/changes to note for the upcoming Hell-Divers! event. One, I decided to add a invisible runway in front of the "American" carrier on the Japanese side to assist in launching the B5N2. Looking at it, the ability to launch the thing is a little too close to the envelope compared to all of the other planes in the set. Taking off should not be, and was not historically, as difficult as the current set-up makes it. Also, because the B5N2 is such a large proportion of the Japanese plane-sets, losses of them on take-off are particularly damaging. I will release a track of how this works, but for now, here is the general idea: 1) Takeoff as per previous instructions EXCEPT do NOT RETRACT your wheels. 2) Keep the plane going as straight and level as possible. 3) The plane will drop, obviously, but you want to make the drop as slow as possible, making sure only the wheels touch the "ocean". 4) Before it actually touches water, it will hit the runway. The plane will immediately bounce up back into the air. 5) When it does, retract the wheels and level out. By this time, the speed you have accumulated and the "bounce" should be enough to keep you going and in the air. 6) Do NOT expect to run along the ocean like a runway, because it ain't that long. 7) Do not use the same runway for landing for the same reason as #6. Plus, you remember I said it was invisible, right? Two, last week, while working on the missions, I had a "DOH!" moment. Basically what I realized was that because we are using a DF set-up, it was impossible to hide where each other's carriers are as you see all spawn points on the starting map for each mission. I toyed with the idea of creating 'false' spawn points to create at least some confusion, but that won't really work because each side can see in what square the other pilots are loading up. Like I said, "DOH!" Anyway, it does not prevent the running of the campaign, and of it playing it out well, but the element of having to locate the enemy carriers is not available. It will, however, make the possibility of an early whacking of a carrier in the first mission more of possibility, so its a decent trade-off. Se le Guerre'! I may post more addenda during the week.

Woah! Had not seen the update yet. Very nice, Roger, Jeremy and Chris.

Who da man? Roger DA man!!

Shadow, I'll send you out a copy of the manual via email... Send me an email so I can make sure I have correct address...

Dave, I am sure it will when I am able to sit down and mess around with them again. Thanks.

YAW is the rudder, correct? I.E. the pedals if you have them.

Now we definitely need to build you a church! Tell me more about the Novices; Are they "experts" by the time they are let g-, er, venture back into the world?

Do not believe the Propaganda lies of Herr Colin. Drink deep of the American Woman and be wooed...

I will check this, because I believe the way my controls are set-up, I normally only switch between wide and gun-sight. Maybe normal view is a good compromise. Thanks, Dazza!

Jeezus, that vile picture has so traumatized Von Tonar that he's mixing up his threads. Damn you, Jensenpark and Frior-One!

I gave up trying to tweak them a while ago. Not because its pointless, but because its so time confusing. Because of the quirks of IL2, once I installed my speed pad (use it as my throttle) and my pedals, the joystick cannot be configured in game so I have to do it with the config file, which is a chore. I have tried all different settings for my stick (CH Flightstick USB) from all 100's (which I think its on now), to one Angus supplied me a while back. I kept adjusting because overtime I think I got a little better with my handling so I found I needed different things. I have not had time to go back and really compare settings. Dave, why the high settings for aileron and elevator? I mean, I get confused as to what the settings do. At 50, do small movements with the stick produce a greater or lesser response? This is what I think always confused me about these settings on the stick. As far as my pedals, they are cheapies that came with driving set by Saitek ($20). I had to really tweak them down by changing the settings to something similar to this: rudder=1 5 10 15 20 30 40 50 50 95 Before, even the slightest pressure on the pedals would cause the rudder to slam to one side of the other.

The gunsight issue is interesting, because I almost always switch to gunsight when I am getting close to a shot. The only exception is when I am setting up for a snap-shot (when I can tell he's gonna race across my nose). Its not the first time I have read to avoid it, but I keeping relying on it, maybe to my detriment. I am really surprised at your cannon settings, Dave. Why so long range? I understand they retain hitting power better because of the explosive, but doesn't that make it very hard to hit? Last night, when I was in the P-39Q with that damn nose howitzer, I was damn close to a 109 (<.30), took some time to lob shots, and I don't think I hit him once with it. It seems like ranges >500 would be downright pointless unless your pointing at something huge. Of course, maybe if I hit more I could talk more...

Dave, if I am reading this right, you put your MG at 250m, and your 30mm at 850m? I played around with these a while ago (going from as little as 200m to I think 600-700m), but I settled down to 300m for both MG and cannons eventually across the board. I really don't mess with them now. Not sure if that the best set-up, but was not convinced others were any better. I settled on 300m for a couple of reasons. One, it was close enough that I thought the hitting power of the MG's would remain significant. Two, it seemed a good compromise as far as range. If someone is keeping out of .30, then its still close enough to take a shot at .40 or at .50 (if they are showing alot of surface). As far as the cannon goes, left it the same because if I get to 300m for my MG shot, I might as well put the cannon in as well. Plus, I have a hard enough time dealing with the drop at that range. I don't think my problem is convergence, but stick control and targeting. I am getting better, but I am a little ham-fisted with the stick, and my leading is erratic. I also need to take less dead six shots.

This game appears to be made by the same guys who made the IL2 Server Commander program we are using for Hell-Divers. Based on the quality of that freeware, I would definitely say I will have to give this game a go...

Damn, Dave beat me to it...

Only you could take something so foul and make it more so... (BARF!)