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Oberon · 12-27-11, 04:45 PM

So...Cliffs of Dover...

"Are you sitting comfortably? Then I will begin..."

So, the great triumph of Oleg...I think I'll steer clear of what has been said about Cliffs of Dover, because I think Hunter will throw me in the Brig. So, I'll focus on my first impressions...

"You can teach...Monkeys...to code better than that!"

My God this thing eats CPUs for breakfast...I dare not try it on its highest settings for fear of creating some kind of inferno in my computer case. Definitely not one for lower systems...particularly if you make the mistake of putting the models on 'Low' and then look outside...My God it looks like something from Red Baron 3D...actually...that's insulting R3D...it's awful!
So, take my advice...do not take it lower than Medium. Ever.
The cockpit is beautiful though...but wrong...on the Spitfire Mark One at least, there is no manual pumping involved on the undercarriage...which is a bit daft because the lever for doing it is there, but it just doesn't do anything, instead the undercarriage is treated like a standard powered pump system, which was on some Mk 1 Spits, but not many at the time of the Battle of Britain IIRC. For a Mark II onwards it's fine.
The trim wheels don't seem to move with the mouse...they affect the plane but there is no visual feedback so you don't know how much you've trimmed the plane by and getting it back to level trim is hard without that feedback.
Now, I've flown the Accusim Spitfire Mk 1, and she is probably the closest you'll get to flying the real thing...and she is a dream...hard to master, but lovely to fly.
The Spitfire from CloD is not to that level but it IS a massive improvement over the Spitfires from IL2 1946. In particular she is not a twitchy stall monster but turns nicely, and about as one would expect. The engine cuts out in negative Gs which is good, and you can't do stupid things without stalling her...but at the same time you can actually turn tightly without automatically spinning into the English Channel.

"Give me a squadron of Accusim Spitfires!"

So, what's missing? Well...as far as I can tell from my jaunts over the Channel and quick circuit around my airbase, there's no shaking to warn of an impending stall, not unless you are already stalling and just about to slip into a spin. According to just about every report I've read on the Spit, she was a forgiving aircraft ( ) and warned you before she entered a stall by shaking, letting you know that you needed to get your airspeed back up. I put her nose up and let the speed bleed off and there was nothing until my port wing dipped and down I went...however, recovering from a stall or spin is relatively easy, easier than in IL2 1946, however whether that's a step towards realism or playability I could not say.

Starting her up and taking off was a simple process, a bit more detailed than the simple 'I' from IL2, however not as involved as Accusim, it's a case of 'Check fuel on', 'Mixture Rich', 'Magnetos on' 'Throttle cracked' and 'Press I' She waddled around like a pregnant cow (I'm not sure the suspension is that soft!) and then finally up we went. Climbing was difficult until the airspeed went up, so no magic carpets there. Then it was a case of doing a quick circle and come back down again. Flaps went down fine, gear went down fine (Putting the gear down is realistic enough, it's just the lack of manual pump to raise it that's the problem) and bugger me if I didn't land her without breaking something. Bumped a bit, but that's to be expected.

"Bumps-a-daisy...it's enough to make you weep..."

So...why didn't she overheat? That's the big question...the Spitfire is a very temperamental lass, and her biggest problem is overheating that big Royals Royce Merlin, and there's barely one landing on Accusim that I've come in on and not cooked the radiator. That is debatable whether it is a fault for Accusim or Oleg, because blowing your radiator every time you flew the Spit would not exactly make for exciting gameplay, however accurate. So if that is something that was dropped by Oleg, I can understand why.

I've not tried dogfighting...nor do I think I shall attempt to until I have ironed out the performance issues...I suspect that it's probably got a lot to do with my Windows XP 32 bit edition, that seems to be the cause of just about every PC problem I have at the moment. Next year I shall rob a bank and see about getting Windows 7. Until then, well...IL2 1946 with the HSFX mod will be the place to be...and hopefully by then CloD will have been fixed, because don't get me wrong...this thing has potential, the graphics are quite lovely and the sounds are being improved by the team working on the updates...I find it worrying that there are reports of DLC 'Battle for Moscow' being worked on...I'd personally prefer it that more of the work was focused on fixing the existing planes first...but...one has to remember that 1C:Maddox is a Russian developer which means that they will always lean towards getting Russian stuff into the game asap (and probably make it overpowered when they do...but that's a rant for another day) so I guess that such things were inevitable...with any luck they'll work on improving the base sim alongside the DLC, certainly if current signs are anything to go by this is the plan of action they have, and now that the dev team seem to be more focused on what they are doing, hopefully they'll be able to knuckle down and get it all sorted.

So...my overall verdict...SO FAR...on CloD...it's good, but it still has a way to go...it's better than IL2 in many areas, unfortunately performance is not one of them, however its simulation is not up to the levels of Accusim, which is perhaps quite a bar to hold it up to...but I believe that the amount of time that went into developing CloD (longer than the actual Second World War) then it is justifiable in making that comparison, particularly with some of the claims that were made by Oleg and his marketing team early on in production.
I'm sure that I'll fire it up again at some point over the next couple of days and perhaps try the Hurricane out, but the initial Spitfire Mk I test was purely because of the wide range of sims I have flown that plane on and the reading I have done about her performance and handling, I have a rough idea of what she should do and what she shouldn't, and for the most part CloD delivers on that. It's a promising base for a sim...but it's got a long way to go before it reaches maturity, and hopefully...like IL2...the addons and patches will help with that.

Hunter: "That's it...no f-bombs? No flaming? No baiting?"

Hunter: "Oh well...back to GT you lot...you're not needed here after all!"

DISCLAIMER: I have since discovered that I neglected to turn on the Temperature feature in the GUI, have done that and will test the Spit out again tomorrow. In the Hurricane though I was still able to take-off, turn around and land again without brewing up.

12-27-11, 04:45 PM	#424
Oberon Lucky Jack Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 25,976 Downloads: 61 Uploads: 20	So...Cliffs of Dover... "Are you sitting comfortably? Then I will begin..." So, the great triumph of Oleg...I think I'll steer clear of what has been said about Cliffs of Dover, because I think Hunter will throw me in the Brig. So, I'll focus on my first impressions... "You can teach...Monkeys...to code better than that!" My God this thing eats CPUs for breakfast...I dare not try it on its highest settings for fear of creating some kind of inferno in my computer case. Definitely not one for lower systems...particularly if you make the mistake of putting the models on 'Low' and then look outside...My God it looks like something from Red Baron 3D...actually...that's insulting R3D...it's awful! So, take my advice...do not take it lower than Medium. Ever. The cockpit is beautiful though...but wrong...on the Spitfire Mark One at least, there is no manual pumping involved on the undercarriage...which is a bit daft because the lever for doing it is there, but it just doesn't do anything, instead the undercarriage is treated like a standard powered pump system, which was on some Mk 1 Spits, but not many at the time of the Battle of Britain IIRC. For a Mark II onwards it's fine. The trim wheels don't seem to move with the mouse...they affect the plane but there is no visual feedback so you don't know how much you've trimmed the plane by and getting it back to level trim is hard without that feedback. Now, I've flown the Accusim Spitfire Mk 1, and she is probably the closest you'll get to flying the real thing...and she is a dream...hard to master, but lovely to fly. The Spitfire from CloD is not to that level but it IS a massive improvement over the Spitfires from IL2 1946. In particular she is not a twitchy stall monster but turns nicely, and about as one would expect. The engine cuts out in negative Gs which is good, and you can't do stupid things without stalling her...but at the same time you can actually turn tightly without automatically spinning into the English Channel. "Give me a squadron of Accusim Spitfires!" So, what's missing? Well...as far as I can tell from my jaunts over the Channel and quick circuit around my airbase, there's no shaking to warn of an impending stall, not unless you are already stalling and just about to slip into a spin. According to just about every report I've read on the Spit, she was a forgiving aircraft ( ) and warned you before she entered a stall by shaking, letting you know that you needed to get your airspeed back up. I put her nose up and let the speed bleed off and there was nothing until my port wing dipped and down I went...however, recovering from a stall or spin is relatively easy, easier than in IL2 1946, however whether that's a step towards realism or playability I could not say. Starting her up and taking off was a simple process, a bit more detailed than the simple 'I' from IL2, however not as involved as Accusim, it's a case of 'Check fuel on', 'Mixture Rich', 'Magnetos on' 'Throttle cracked' and 'Press I' She waddled around like a pregnant cow (I'm not sure the suspension is that soft!) and then finally up we went. Climbing was difficult until the airspeed went up, so no magic carpets there. Then it was a case of doing a quick circle and come back down again. Flaps went down fine, gear went down fine (Putting the gear down is realistic enough, it's just the lack of manual pump to raise it that's the problem) and bugger me if I didn't land her without breaking something. Bumped a bit, but that's to be expected. "Bumps-a-daisy...it's enough to make you weep..." So...why didn't she overheat? That's the big question...the Spitfire is a very temperamental lass, and her biggest problem is overheating that big Royals Royce Merlin, and there's barely one landing on Accusim that I've come in on and not cooked the radiator. That is debatable whether it is a fault for Accusim or Oleg, because blowing your radiator every time you flew the Spit would not exactly make for exciting gameplay, however accurate. So if that is something that was dropped by Oleg, I can understand why. I've not tried dogfighting...nor do I think I shall attempt to until I have ironed out the performance issues...I suspect that it's probably got a lot to do with my Windows XP 32 bit edition, that seems to be the cause of just about every PC problem I have at the moment. Next year I shall rob a bank and see about getting Windows 7. Until then, well...IL2 1946 with the HSFX mod will be the place to be...and hopefully by then CloD will have been fixed, because don't get me wrong...this thing has potential, the graphics are quite lovely and the sounds are being improved by the team working on the updates...I find it worrying that there are reports of DLC 'Battle for Moscow' being worked on...I'd personally prefer it that more of the work was focused on fixing the existing planes first...but...one has to remember that 1C:Maddox is a Russian developer which means that they will always lean towards getting Russian stuff into the game asap (and probably make it overpowered when they do...but that's a rant for another day) so I guess that such things were inevitable...with any luck they'll work on improving the base sim alongside the DLC, certainly if current signs are anything to go by this is the plan of action they have, and now that the dev team seem to be more focused on what they are doing, hopefully they'll be able to knuckle down and get it all sorted. So...my overall verdict...SO FAR...on CloD...it's good, but it still has a way to go...it's better than IL2 in many areas, unfortunately performance is not one of them, however its simulation is not up to the levels of Accusim, which is perhaps quite a bar to hold it up to...but I believe that the amount of time that went into developing CloD (longer than the actual Second World War) then it is justifiable in making that comparison, particularly with some of the claims that were made by Oleg and his marketing team early on in production. I'm sure that I'll fire it up again at some point over the next couple of days and perhaps try the Hurricane out, but the initial Spitfire Mk I test was purely because of the wide range of sims I have flown that plane on and the reading I have done about her performance and handling, I have a rough idea of what she should do and what she shouldn't, and for the most part CloD delivers on that. It's a promising base for a sim...but it's got a long way to go before it reaches maturity, and hopefully...like IL2...the addons and patches will help with that. Hunter: "That's it...no f-bombs? No flaming? No baiting?" Hunter: "Oh well...back to GT you lot...you're not needed here after all!" DISCLAIMER: I have since discovered that I neglected to turn on the Temperature feature in the GUI, have done that and will test the Spit out again tomorrow. In the Hurricane though I was still able to take-off, turn around and land again without brewing up. Last edited by Oberon; 12-27-11 at 05:45 PM.