[Captain Vlad]

Originally Posted by Dowly

Doesnt come as an surprise that I'm gonna aim to the role of an fighter pilot. I've seen tons of vids of the huge airbattles and bomber formations, how common it is to see a big airbattle in WWIIOL?

The air action was what I was originally interested in, but my computer at the time wouldn't handle aerial warfare on that game too well. Ironically, now that it will, I can't play due to net stuff.

There were plenty of 'squadrons' at the time, and on their squad nights, you could see some pretty impressive aerial action. For a long time, it was strictly tac air, as there were no strategic targets to hit, but that changed when they introduced R&D and the factories it requires. A group outing to bomb an enemy factory into pebbles and charcoal was a fairly common thing after that, and naturally the other side wouldn't just let that happen. Bridges are destrucible now, too.

One thing I don't know if they've changed: When I was playing, there was no 'loadout' screen...for anything. You couldn't trade a couple grenades for more ammo...and you couldn't not carry the bombs that 'come standard' with a particular aircraft. Kind of a hassle to have to jettison your ordnance every time you take, say, a P-39 up, and also irritating that you a Bleinheim couldn't lug around something besides the 25-lb eggs that made up a good chunk of their loadout.

This was why the Allied flyboys got so happy when the P-39 was introduced (USA isn't in the game, btw, but they introduced US equipment as 'lend-lease' stuff for France since they had no post-41 stuff). A lot of the Allied planes had very small bombs, but the Bell had a nice, fat 500 or 1000 lber.

And overall, how is the player situation? Am I to except hundreds of players? Like you said, it is a real virtual battlefield and that's what fascinates me.

Right now, I don't know. Been too long since I played. Prime time, back in the day, you'd see all sorts of people. 4am, not so much, though there's always someone on, naturally.

I want to fly low in my 109, make a pass over convoy of friendly forces going towards the front and wave my wings to let them know we flyboys are there to support them.

I've had wings waggled at me for just that reason. I've also told a flyboy that couldn't see his target where a good place to drop his bombload would be. I've had German fighters chased away from my gunboat by the 'just in the nick of time' arrival of two French Hawk 75's. Etc.

Oh and yes, warstories are always welcome.

Excpect a PM.