II/JG53 virtual squadron

[Dowly]

Ok, Wolves at War was the best time I ever had in SHIII. Now, completely abandoned the game and turned solely to IL2, I was thinking the day we started the Kuban campaign, how cool it would to have a WaW like online campaign for IL2. Here the II/JG53 comes in. They do pretty much that.

I'm sold.

http://www.freewebs.com/jagdgeschwader53/

[Kratos]

looks good, theres also the wolf pack..one i was looking at, its mainly the American pearl harbour type arena ... http://www.sim.lightning-bolt.net./

[Dowly]

Well, it's Luftwaffe for me anyday, so. Just waiting for them to give me the date for my practice/introduction flight and off I go!

[Dowly]

@Kratos

If you're, I can ask Valantine if it would be possible for you to join in as an observer to the server & TS tonight? We have a sortie scheduled for 20-20:30GMT.

EDIT: Of course, if anyone else is interested, let me know and I ask. Tho, I think it would be only 1 observer, so everyone playing would have enough planes.

[Kratos]

Sounds good matey ..what would be required of me?.aaaand does that mean i get to hear you on teamspeak

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Kratos

what would be required of me?

To be there, pick the last plane of the squadron, roll off from the runway (so we wont land on you when we are returning), keep your mouth shut during the mission so we hear the orders/warnings we get and sit back and enjoy the action via the external cams.

aaaand does that mean i get to hear you on teamspeak

Haha, nevaah!!! :rotfl:

[Valantine]

Been a while since I last visited so I thought Id drop by and let you all know what is going on over at II./JG53 -
Right now we are getting our butts handed to us on the Russian front, Stalingrad is being over run and we are facing increasingly desperate odds. As such we have about a month before we expect the Stalingrad operation to faulter and are currently planning our next theatre of operations. So now is a great time to join us and get in on a new operation - fresh off the ground! At the moment we have a vote going on so you can even join now and get your say!
V

[Dowly]

Oooooooo.... Mareth Line! Hope it wins! Just might to pop in for a sortie or two then.

[Valantine]

Well, if you haven't done already drop by and make sure your vote counts!

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Valantine

Well, if you haven't done already drop by and make sure your vote counts!

Yup, went in the moment I got the email, mate.

You guys are having a sortie tomorrow night at the usual time, right? Might just pop in to test the TrackIR in action. (Tho, work on Saturday, so no drinking & flying this time )

[Valantine]

Hello everyone!
This is a quick message to update you on everything that is happening over at II./JG53. www./freewebs.com/jagdgeschwader53
We have recently finished our Stalingrad campaign, and are about to progress on to bolster the numbers in North Africa. It is now early January 1943, with a successfull virtual year behind us we are looking forward to a bright future, even with the Russians and the Allies increasing their efforts we are still fighting strong. Many medals have been earned and many promotions have been granted as each pilot develops their skills and abilities both in official missions and in one of our many practice sessions.
Stalingrad has been lost but at a great cost for the Russian forces. We as a group have grown exponentially the past few months, with over 55 pilots in the group. Activity is at a massive level with us regularly having over 12 pilots per mission. Both Weisse (UK/Europe)and Gelbe (Aus/NZ) are regularly flying missions, with Rote (USA/CAN) members joining in when they can.
Recruitment and retention are very high priorities for us as a group, so if you have any suggestions on how to maintain activity/ gain new recruits or even ensure that everyone enjoys their time with the group even more, feel free to post in suggestions and let us know. Everyone in the group is more than welcome to make suggestions and they will be discussed fairly - as afterall, we are a group of people who choose to spend some of our free time flying together and sharing this interest.
Over this next operation we intend to get every section flying their own regular missions in order to give everyone a chance to fly. I know there are some of you who have not been seen in a little while, so I hope everything is good and we are all looking forward to your return. If you do not believe you will be returning please let me know so that I can move you to our Retired section of the roster and free up your number. For those of you who have joined but are yet to fly, please drop by the forums and keep us updated of your situation.
For those of you who are behind on your screenshots (I know I have 4+ missions to do) can you please try and get these done as soon as possible as they do form an integral part of our kill claims procedures.
To those of you who still need custom skins for the desert campaign, please let me know what you are after if you require me to skin them for you - I will be on holiday in 2 and a half weeks and will be available to skin around then. If you are doing the skin yourself or downloading one then it must be approved by a member of Gruppe stab BEFORE it is used in official missions.
Training Officers:
Since both Zieg and Hertz have been inactive for some time due to various real life events (hope to see you both soon though), we have opened up the training officer positions for each section. Nominations and applications have been recieved and the final decision will be announced very shortly.
North Africa:
Over NA we can expect to engage a vast variety of British and American fighters and bombers. Mostly Spitfires and hurricanes, each of these units has its own rudder markings creating a bit more depth to the campaign, allowing us to build rivalries against certain squadrons. The immersion factor for this campaign should remain very high as well as it being a much more difficult fight then we have previously experienced.
Any other news?
For all the latest information and to catch up with the group, the best bet would be to visit our website www.freewebs.com/jagdgeschwader53 and take a flick through the forums, found via a link on our website.

Once again, I hope this message finds you all well and I hope to hear from everyone soon!
Kindest Regards,
Major Valantine Zimmermann
(Paul)
II./JG53
www.freewebs.com/jagdgeschwader53

[Valantine]

Hello all,
As always, JG53 is looking for pilots the world over, so if yo uare itnerested in the CO-OP side of things feel free to check us out over at www.freewebs.com/jagdgeschwader53
However, the main reason for this post is to bring you all the fantastic news from JG53:
To start with I would like to extend my thanks to all of you who are currently active, in general most of our members have been active over this new theatre, however there are several of you who have not been seen for some time. If this applies to you, or you wish to leave the group, please drop by the forum and let me know. If you are simply away for an extended period or have issues that are preventing you from flying, it woudl also be appreciated if you dropped by the forums and let me know when to expect you abck.
With that done I shall move onto the second and important part of this newsletter:
After a long consultation and testing period involving all members of JG53, Stab have come to a final decision regarding these Mods.
We believe that JG53 should move to the Mods as it will:
1. Offer us increased realism in both graphical and sound terms
2. Offer us more realistic maps, especially for our current theatre of operations
3. Give us a much more updated game in the long wait for SOW
4. Offer us a slightly wider choice of aircraft to fight
5. Offer many, if not all, players a much steadier and reliable setup in terms of crash resistence and graphical errors.
As such we have thought long and hard about this, and have come up with the following rules:
1. Use only the "JG53" mod pack. the full complete uneddited pack.
2. Do not alter the mod package in any way
3. If caught cheating it is an immediate expuslion from the group
4. If caught using non "JG53" pack mods you get a warning, on the third warning you are removed from the group
5. The mod package will be re-evaluated every so often by gruppe stab (say every 3-6 months) to ensure we stay on top of developments that will enhance our immersion/realism whilst not forcing people to constantly fiddle with their installs.
These rules are here to ensure that EVERYONE is on an equal playing field. Whilst moving to mods does open up the possiblity of people using non approved mods or even hacks/cheats - the rules are inplace to discourage and punish those who do choose to do so. However I believe that by having a complete JG53 mod pack we should not encounter this as all our members are reliable and honest people.
From the consultation it apepars as though 99% of our membership approve of this move. Whilst Mod/Patch switchers do exist, during the course of testing many membres have reported issues with these jamming and requiring a complete reinstall. As such what I suggest, for all members, is to have two seperate installs. One that is the JG53 install which contains the official JG53 mod package and another that is the standard 4.08m patched version to allow for online play on public servers via hyperlobby. This is the most reliable way to ensure that you are still able to fly online via hyperlobby as well as having the complete JG53 package. Simply copy your install to another location, for example have the standard one at: C:/Program Files/IL21946 and then the Modded one at: C:/Program Files/IL21946JG53MOD
I think this package gives the most versatility to the group as it is a relatively small download when compared with the "complete" AAA package, is relatively easy to install and get working, Contains new and improved maps etc. whilst still being accessible for members with lower spec machines.
For missions we will no longer be able to use DCG to generate our missions, as such the missions will need to be created by hand. At the moment I am finalising a template that will be used for the first part of the new map from which we will create the first batch of missions. So expect to see missions flown by each Staffel that interlink and reinforce the notion that all pilots are flying the same campaign and the effects of Gelbe missions will be felt by Weisse and Rote and vice versa. This gives us a huge amount to work with in regards to getting a "living" campaign going that reflects our efforts across the board - hopefully meaning that for example, we all have a greater sense of achievement for taking out a flak battery in a Weisse missions meaning that Gelbe can get to their groudn pounding missions without being hit by that Flak battery.
Thanks go out to all JG53 members for having patience whilst this decision was made and the mods evaluated. An extra special thanks goes to the following for their contribution to the overall end result:
Anto
Otto
Wolf
Munz

I welcome all comments and suggestions as always!
V

[Fincuan]

That's it then, I signed up

Three weeks without our coops was enough, though I'll definitely keep flying them too should we decide to continue

[XabbaRus]

What's the difference between JG53 mod and the unified installer? I have the full up installer installed and wouldn't want to touch it by adding other stuff.

[Fincuan]

Apparently it contains these mods:

• Patch 4.09b1m MOD
• IL2War-Sound-Mod-Pack_1.2 (edit, removed SmokeFire mod, removed the horrid sounds)
• SFX 0.7+0.8+buttons (updates and adds new engine sounds to above)
• HitEffectMod_v1.2_Mvn
• BuffyFlaks_and_sound_v5
• Avala_Oil_Blotch_1
• Planeshine1_1 (and Zero fix)
• Th!rdeye_Weapon_Effects (Thick smoke)
• vp_newshock v2
• Crater mod
• HurricaneMkIID_v1_5_IL2_MOD
• SPITMK1_v2_7_IL2_MOD
• NTL_Darwin_Small Map
• Dive_Sounds_V2_2