The Forgotten Battles

[MLF 0]

To my understanding it has everything IL2 had except the campaign, also are any of the maps edited or improved upon from the original, ie the Seach lights and the cities such as berlin.

[Tovarish 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (MLF @ Mar. 08 2003,23:49)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">To my understanding it has everything IL2 had except the campaign, also are any of the maps edited or improved upon from the original, ie the Seach lights and the cities such as berlin.<span id='postcolor'>

short answer to this is - you'll have a very hard time finding anything that wasn't modified and improved.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Secondly, machine guns are now much more effective than before due to penetration being modeled<span id='postcolor'>

Not the MGs in the 109E4- I literally put 300 rounds into an I-16, and the damn thing didn't seem to notice. The Emil's cannons are nice though, too bad they only have about 50 rounds.

[Tovarish 0]

Well, like I've said I've only played for just over an hour so I haven't tested this, but you have to remember that historically, unlike the I-153, the I-16 was a very tough little bugger. Some even survived ramming attacks on German bombers.

Over on the Il-2 forums there are plenty of people raving about how efficient MG's are.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Oh, don't get me wrong, their ShKAS machine guns do wonders on me and my poor wingmen (the casualty rate in my staffel is *ahem* high). I know the I-16 is tough, but that's how it is against LaGGs and Yaks also. Four or five cannon rounds and any early Russian fighter is toast, but as soon as my cannons run out of ammo, I am effectively out of the fight. And I really wasn't exaggerating about how much lead I've put into these I-16s- from the back it looks like a tickertape parade with all the debris flying off lol. I guess I'll be able to compare notes as soon as I hop into a Gustav.

[Tovarish 0]

incidentally, weren't the Mg's used on early war 109's considered obscolecent? I'll have to look that up.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tovarish @ Mar. 09 2003,01:41)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">incidentally, weren't the Mg's used on early war 109's considered obscolecent? I'll have to look that up.<span id='postcolor'>

I'll check- it wouldn't surprise me.

EDIT: The mgs are MG17's, which fire a 7.92mm round. No wonder it can't shoot anything down lol.

[Col. Kurtz 0]

Well heres my report on my new flying toy.

I can definetly see why people say 'use a joystick to fly in OFP' it really helps. Now I can do barrel rolls and all kinds of stuff I could never do. And OFP flying mode is simple enough that I can bind all the buttons I need to my stick so thats good. I think IL-2 is going to need a bit of getting used too. I am using Olegs joystick settings so thats all fine and dandy, and I'm flying quite a bit better. Now I just need to set up my buttons so I can fly confortably. I have so far found I like to fly with my joystick on my lap. That way my hand is also very close to the keyboard. I'll just fiddle around and find a good and confortabble. My only real gripe with my joystick is the hat switch. Its handy, but I think it should be where the 2 and 3 buttons are, and button 2 should be where the hat switch is now. I kept on accidently pressing the hat switch when firing upon planes in IL-2 and the result was pretty crazy. My two MG's were firing but my view was going all over the place so I couldnt see what I was hitting.

I'll get there

[Aaron Kane 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tex [uSMC] @ Mar. 09 2003,01:44)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tovarish @ Mar. 09 2003,01:41)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">incidentally, weren't the Mg's used on early war 109's considered obscolecent? I'll have to look that up.<span id='postcolor'>

I'll check- it wouldn't surprise me.

EDIT: The mgs are MG17's, which fire a 7.92mm round. No wonder it can't shoot anything down lol.<span id='postcolor'>

I saw a very similar event happen with a BF110 shooting at an I16. I was actually suprised that the big fat BF110 managed to stay on the tail of the I16, but he did.

He fired all of his machine gun ammo into the I16 with what appeared to be a high degree of accuracy, but the plane didnt even get the "light" damage textures anywhere on it.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Welcome to Tex's School of Gunnery:

Lesson 1- Wait until your target fills your entire gunsight

Lesson 2- Wait a little longer

Lesson 3- Pull trigger

[Tovarish 0]

Good site on Lufftwaffe guns:

http://www.inert-ord.net/luft02h/

a snippet:

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">

B" • 7.92mm Rheinmetall MG 17 - Developed in 1936, the MG 17 was suitable for synchronized cowl mounting to shoot through the aircraft's own propellor. Air-cooled, recoil-operated and belt fed it used the standard Mauser 7.92mm cartridge. Used in fighter aircraft such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109-E.

"C" • 13mm MG 131 - By 1942 the 7.9mm light machine gun was considered obsolete as an aircraft weapon and was replaced by the MG 131. The 13mm MG 131 bullet is about three times heavier than that of the 7.92mm, but can be fired at a similar muzzle velocity

<span id='postcolor'>

[Tex -USMC- 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tovarish @ Mar. 09 2003,01:58)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">By 1942 the 7.9mm light machine gun was considered obsolete as an aircraft weapon and was replaced by the MG 131<span id='postcolor'>

That's nice, but currently it's November 1941, and the only thing my MGs are good for are poking holes in parachutes (only the guys who really piss me off)

[Tovarish 0]

Well, you can wait a couple more months and see, or tell me which model 109 you're using and I'll check what armament those had

*edit* nevermind, I just noticed you edited your post on the last page to say it was the MG 17. So wait a few months

(and take into account that DayGlow and I were talking about the effectiveness of US .50 cals)

[dayglow 2]

Speaking of which it seems that people are reporting that the 8 .50s in the P-47 are amazing. The people that complained about them realized that they were only holding down 1 trigger and firing only 4 I think that's what I'm looking forward to the most with FB is flying the P-47 and hosing down targets.

From what I understand you have to be very light on the stick with it. It doesn't turn and if you yank it while trying to B&Z you will bleed all you speed. But if you are light on the stick it will climb like a dream. Maybe I shoot off to the mall tomorrow and see if they have it in yet.

COLINMAN

[Col. Kurtz 0]

I have found that I like the standard IL-2 Joystick settings over Olegs ones. I find that his are way too sensitive. Its like my mouse, I tend to use a low mouse sensitivity setting.

[Maraudeur 0]

About planes guns

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/8217/fgun/fgun-in.html

[Tex -USMC- 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (DayGlow @ Mar. 09 2003,10:48)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Speaking of which it seems that people are reporting that the 8 .50s in the P-47 are amazing. The people that complained about them realized that they were only holding down 1 trigger and firing only 4 I think that's what I'm looking forward to the most with FB is flying the P-47 and hosing down targets.

From what I understand you have to be very light on the stick with it. It doesn't turn and if you yank it while trying to B&Z you will bleed all you speed. But if you are light on the stick it will climb like a dream. Maybe I shoot off to the mall tomorrow and see if they have it in yet.

COLINMAN<span id='postcolor'>

The only thing that those .50s are better at than shooting down airplanes is strafing truck columns. Line up along the road, come in low, nose down, pull that trigger, and let the fun begin

There is a downside though- they seem to be awfully imprecise, even at fairly close ranges (think of it as a shotgun as opposed to a rifle). Some may like this, but I would prefer all my rounds hitting where they are supposed to.

[Tovarish 0]

Well, I'm glad to say I managed to get Forgotten Battles to be playable on lowly PIII, of course i had to scale most settings waaaaay back (by the way - anyone with performance troubles, try switching the graphics mode to DirectX from OpenGL ...it helped me a lot! ). Even without all the eye candy I am no doubt missing, I'm in awe of the gameplay.

The damage models and AI improvements are amazing! my most memorable kil so far was when I set a bf-109E on fire while it was low and slow. ( you see a lot more planes go down in flames/and/or engine failure, and/or dead pilots than before, as opposed to a lot of planes loosing wings or breaking in half as was the usual).It flew on like this for a while, then appeared to dive uncontrollably - I figured the pilot was toast. Because of the low speed it was flying at, the plane survived the impact, and then, when it stopped moving, to my great surprize, the canopy came off. But the pilot must have been too wounded to get out, because he just sat there and fried until the plane finally exploded.

It's also great to see that when an engine faliure occurs, the prop keeps spinning slowly unlike before, when it just stopped dead unnaturally. One thing I've noticed about the AI...they're amazingly deadly on heads-on engagements. This might need fixing in a future patch I think, it just seems unnatural that they can kill the pilot heads on what seems like 80% of the time.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Well, another update on my Crimean DC. Over a period of 13 days, I shot down 25 Russian aircraft (one SB-2 bomber, but the rest were I-16s, LaGGs, and Yaks). That came to an end on November 9, 1941, when I was wounded by friendly fire over the port of Saki (I got two I-16s that day-), I accidently flew through the tracer stream of an Me-110 when I was going after my second I-16. Anyhow, that put me out of the action until May, 1942. When I got back, we had upgraded to the BF109F4, which I have fallen in love with. Although it has less armament than an Emil (two MGs, one cannon), it is the most maneuverable of the 109s, has longer range than the Emil, and is much, much faster as well. My first sortie back in the staffel earned me 3 I-153s, and a really beautiful team effort with my wingman. I had just wasted my last I-153, and saw that I had picked up a LaGG during my pass. I radioed for help, and then went into a medium-angle climb. At just the right moment, I went into a loop, which stalled the LaGG just long enough to let my wingman turn it into a burning hunk of scrap. Great stuff.

Edit: my record so far-

14 sorties

28 air kills

4 ground kills

Iron Cross 2c

Iron Cross 1c

German Cross in Gold

And I've been promoted to Hauptmann(like I said, our casualty rate is high)

[Aaron Kane 0]

In other news, Oberst Aaron Kane made his 70th kill today. Most of them were made against the venerable I16 fighter, but many different models of aircraft adorn his kill list. From the P39N1 to the Yak9... or maybe it was the 7. All while using a FW190A4.

It is almost New Years Eve in my Stalingrad campaign, and the Russians launched a massive counteroffensive in November. We had all but two TINY cities captured, but then I was wounded in action. My engine burst into flames, and during my escape from the cockpit, I was burned. While being hospitalized, the Soviet forces literally retook half the map.

Now it is Germany who has only two airbases left, and we are gravely outnumbered, and the enemy pilot skill seems to have improved. We're facing Yaks, those damned Hurricanes, and the first of the P39's from America. I expect the campaign to end soon, and hopefully I can carry on with this character. I cant wait to see how I fare in the FW190A5

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Best flight sim ever.

[Badgerboy 0]

I have come to the conclusion, that you are all slags!

Bloody release dates.... I hope the next OFP gives you lot convulsions....

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Incidentally- 30 kills, Knight's Cross, and a promotion to Major. My staffel's first meeting with the Il-2 Sturmovik resulted in 9 Sturmoviks destroyed (2, including the leader, were mine). It seems like our missions have shifted to being defenseive in nature- intercepting bombing raids, mostly. This sucks hard, because there aren't many targets of opportunity to work with. Anyways, those I-16s are still giving me fits; even though I've shot down over 20 of the buggers, they are still as numerous and as frustrating as ever.

[Col. Kurtz 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tex [uSMC] @ Mar. 10 2003,11:11)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Incidentally- 30 kills, Knight's Cross, and a promotion to Major. My staffel's first meeting with the Il-2 Sturmovik resulted in 9 Sturmoviks destroyed (2, including the leader, were mine). It seems like our missions have shifted to being defenseive in nature- intercepting bombing raids, mostly. This sucks hard, because there aren't many targets of opportunity to work with. Anyways, those I-16s are still giving me fits; even though I've shot down over 20 of the buggers, they are still as numerous and as frustrating as ever.<span id='postcolor'>

Your a show off!

Oh well, it sounds like the Dynamic Campaign is good. I hope it is possible to win the war as the Germans if you are really good, or win the war as the Russians a lot quicker. Imagine stopping Operation Barbarossa in its tracks

[Aaron Kane 0]

Holy crap Tex, I know!  Those damned I16's are everywhere!  At least 1/2 of my kill list were those little stubby bastards!

And I just completed the Stalingrad campaign after 52 missions.  We were transferred somewhere else, I forgot the region.  It said its south of Stalingrad.  We didnt get an opportunity to change planes though, which really sucks.  I hope I'm not stuck with a FW190A4 for the remainder of the war