Help with Il-2 1946

Originally Posted by Schroeder

Ok. here we go:
First off all, you don't have to stay with your flight leader. You might hear some angry (stupid) radio calls, but it doesn't have any consequences in the game, so feel free to engage the enemy.

It seems your flying a Hurricane MK I. They don't like negative G-forces as their carburettor can't supply fuel to the engine that way (that was remedied in later versions, the Spitfire was suffering from the same problem as well btw).
What you experience when you pull the stick too hard is called a stall which can subsequently lead to a spin. A stall means that your angle of attack is too great (the angle of attack is the angle in which your wing hits the surrounding air). If it becomes too great the airflow over the wing will rip off and the wing will stall and loose it's lift. If this happens only on one wing (which happens quite often in propeller driven aircraft) then one wing still produces lift while the other doesn't. That leads to the spin. You can recover from that by centring your stick and give full counter rudder. Once the aircraft responds again pull her out of the dive GENTLY.

Ahhh thank you. So basically Hurricanes do not like going into sharp dives all of a sudden?? Hmm. So if I should ever feel the need for a sharp dive should I pull a roll and drop into one instead causing positive Gs?? Or would it be the other way around? Im pretty sure Positive G's throw you in your seat and Negative pull you out if I remember right from physics class.

[CCIP]

Yes, roll over. Generally speaking, any time you need to bring your plane's nose around in a certain direction quickly (i.e. in combat), you do that by rolling to that direction, then pulling sharply on the stick. Every other method is slower and worse for the plane and pilot (planes like the hurri lose airflow to engine, pilots red out much more easily than they black out; other maneuvers can cost you time or speed). So every other method - be it banking turns, rudder, or pulling down, is mostly for safe and precise flying, not combat turns. That said, remember that hard turns also cost speed, so keep an eye on it.

Originally Posted by CCIP

Yes, roll over. Generally speaking, any time you need to bring your plane's nose around in a certain direction quickly (i.e. in combat), you do that by rolling to that direction, then pulling sharply on the stick. Every other method is slower and worse for the plane and pilot (planes like the hurri lose airflow to engine, pilots red out much more easily than they black out; other maneuvers can cost you time or speed). So every other method - be it banking turns, rudder, or pulling down, is mostly for safe and precise flying, not combat turns. That said, remember that hard turns also cost speed, so keep an eye on it.

Okay let me ask this, what is the hurricanes strengths?? (Im flying the first model) so I know how to properly use it in dogfights or furballs, I read a guide I downloaded on dog fighting and saw that the two main types are Burn and Turn and Burn and Zoom, and guessing by how this plane enjoys stalls at high speed turns Im guessing the hurricane is a burn and zoom type fighter?

[CCIP]

The hurricane is somewhere in the middle, and in actual usage it works more as a turning fighter - it's not an outstanding fighter against most opponents it faces, because planes like the Bf-109 or the Zero are much faster and generally lighter. However stick to your altitude and boom and zoom if you have the opportunity.

The hurricane's strength is that it's a tough-built, stable fighter that stands up to punishment and doesn't go down easily. That makes it a good bomber hunter and fighter-bomber. It's a relatively bulky, heavy plane compared to most of its fighter opponents.

With fighters, it depends more on who you're facing. With German fighters, don't try to outrun or outclimb them - you will lose hopelessly. However if you can drag them into slower a turning fight, you may stand a chance. With Japanese zeroes, well, as the saying goes - "never dogfight a zero". They are both faster and more agile than you are. Your best bet is to hit them from above if you get the chance to do it, and get out. Avoid trying to chase them down, or they will make you pay dearly. Your advantage over them is toughness - the zero takes damage poorly, while the hurricane can handle punishment well.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by USNSRCaseySmith

Okay let me ask this, what is the hurricanes strengths??

There are none.

No, it's as CCIP said. The Hurricane is an inferior aircraft to most of it's opponents. It's only strength is being able to take as well as give (in real life advantages were also that it could be produced quickly and was easy to maintain, but none of that matters in IL2). But the Zeros and Mes are armed with cannons, so don't rely on being able to take much of that.

[yubba]

I got a saitlek st 220 with a billion hours on it, troubles aye go in to control panel game devices you should be able to get your stick to work through there, I have long lost driver floppy for mine but have no troubles playing. Heard Dowly, doesn't use trim, I guess he just likes holding on to the stick. sorry about the timing on the advice, seems my mouse is acting up. Hurricane isn't a bad plane you should reset your gun convergence out to 750 meters and try a little head on chicken fightin, 12 forward 303s make a mess of things. I perfer the p47 with head on gun slingin. Doesn't hurt to be a good shot either.

[Arclight]

Originally Posted by yubba

..., I guess he just likes holding on to the stick.

Well...

No. I really shouldn't. Too easy.

Ahahahaha! Well I have a story to share now, so I was attacking bombers, engine went out from shells hitting it. So I glided it all the way into an airfield and landed the dang thing!! I was flying a P-40 by the way.

But now onto a question I have a joystick now, my controls mapped out, and the basic jist of things. Now what should I be focussing on? Combat Manuevers? Landing and Taking off? Attacking ? or other things.

I also have a mic and was wondering if any of the experienced members here would be up to flying in a server with me (Hoping my connection is good enough) to give me a little schoooling??

[yubba]

If you can't hit it, you can't kill it, and if you don't kill it, it will kill you. Try to take your opponent out from the head on, if your flying skills are weak, you will die in a turning fight. Go head on, get him lined up, he gets within a thousand meters hose his @$$. And for gods shakes tuck in those p js. I won't worry, about landings that's what the parachute is for. Oh by the way nice job on the dead stick landing.

[CCIP]

Head on only works if the enemy wants to go head on for one, and you're at least sure you can do some good with it. But usually it's a lottery. Frankly I'd advise against it because it's a sudden-death situation and you have as much chance of getting shot down as you are of shooting the other guy down. With the increased closure rates and bullets hitting largely unprotected parts at the front, you're looking at possibly instant fatal damage. Besides, the smart thing to do when you're closing head on is to slice - begin turning before you pass the enemy so that you have a head start on the turn after you pass and can get on his tail quickly.

[yubba]

Something is messed up in the AI, both pacific fighter and 1946, I have been dowling out a lot of damage to the enemy, head long and haven't been hit, I am running pretty high on the reality, in janes ww 2 fighers it was suicide to go head on, and the same in CFS 2, but not here and in the real world never leave your wingman. Doesn't hurt to tag along and follow the wingman, if you can follow the leader, in time you can tail the enemy, didn't get too do much of that in earlier sims. Time too hit the rack, just finished a Marine Corps Corsair mission, more holes in my tail than I care for, but made a nice carrier landing.

[Schroeder]

@Casey

The P40 is also among the planes that are pretty good for beginners. You can even turn with AI Zeros in it (don't try that with human piloted Zeros...). I wouldn't go head on in any aircraft that doesn't have cannons as armament and even in one it's still a pretty risky thing to do as CCIP has already pointed out (especially if the other guy has cannons).
I would recommend you to learn taking off and landing first (well, Oberon will probably disagree here but still...). That way you'll get to know the aircraft and it's characteristics. It doesn't hurt to have a little dogfight every now and then in between of course.

Any way I can set up the quick missions as just take off and landings?? I always seem to start in the air

[Schroeder]

If you are talking about the quick mission builder then you have to check "Scramble" as you target to take off from an airfield.

[yubba]

It seems that I'm in the right place, it seems to be a pretty active thread, I've been blessed to have a good freind {Castout} he was good enough to send me IL 2 1946 new in the box, but I'm havimg the darnness time loading it, to run correctly. What I have so far, it's loaded, I had to change the config file title from forgotten battles to 1946, I got it patched to 4.08m had a heck of a time getting that download without it being corrupted one way or another, and the only way I can start the game is from inside the game folder, if I load game dvd in player it wants to install, while the game has already been install, and if I try to start from desktop game locks up after intro, this is more messed up than a bag of hammers.