All Activity

After flying WW2 birds those WW1 kites are so blamed slow. Most of them are quite fragile too if you dive too fast. Plus my gunnery is bad enough in the WW2 birds but in those WW1 kites I can't even hit the ground consistently. Wheels

It's not a spam site, yet, but the AAS link takes you to an Indonesian gamer site now. Wheels

omg that is awsome.

Very nice cover.

Philip Sayce performs a cover of Ten Years After's "I'd Love To Change The World" in Toronto, March 16th, 2015.

The Campaign Scenario: The Europe in Flames (EIF) Online War is an air combat competition. It is a scenario-based campaign system that focuses on completing team objectives. It is a test of skill for the team and the individual pilot. Team objectives, by themselves, are not complex to complete. However, doing so while actively opposed by a determined opponent can make them very difficult. Thus, it’s important not to view EIF as merely a string of targets or assignments. Instead, those objectives create the authentic feeling of aerial combat that EIF is known for. Code of Conduct: EIF aims to encourage and develop a tight-knit community of mature, like-minded people who wish to enjoy a challenging, rewarding, and fun combat environment within IL-2: Great Battles. EIF adheres to a code of conduct with several important guiding principles to accomplish this. These include an atmosphere of sportsmanship, respect, and fair play. Individuals, squadrons, and teams should always strive for the following: Respect the EIF rules and tournament coordinators. Respect your opponents and teammates. A commitment towards participation, including welcoming and helping new players. Avoiding a poor attitude, such as “win-at-all-costs.” Suppose a tournament participant feels that someone has violated the EIF rules or acted in a manner that is contrary to the spirit of EIF. In that case, they should contact their team commander after the session ends. The team commander will then reach out to the EIF tournament coordinators. Open-chat accusations or counter-accusations are not tolerated, and offending parties will be asked to leave the server immediately. Minor rule infractions caused by a momentary error or accident will result in only a warning. More severe rule infractions will result in more severe penalties: The first infraction by a player will result in a ban from the next session. The second infraction by a player will result in a ban from the rest of the Campaign. The third infraction by a player will result in a permanent ban from EIF. Paint schemes that show incorrect national markings are known as “capture skins” within the tournament context. “Capture skins” violates sportsmanship, respect, and fair play. Their use within EIF is prohibited and will incur penalties unless placed explicitly for a mission (e.g., the Steal Prototype mission). Killing an enemy pilot within their parachute (i.e., “chute killing”) is legal. While many individuals and squadrons view chute killing as dishonorable, attempting to eliminate enemy pilots within a competition is valid. It is up to individuals and participating squadrons to determine how they will choose to deal with this reality of virtual war. Pilots who decide to bailout of a stricken aircraft may not end the mission until they reach the ground. Server Setup and Session Information: The EiF server will always have the most up-to-date version of the IL-2: Great Battles game applied. If server-side modifications are used, details will be posted to all players well before the session. Players should ensure they are “patched up” before the server launch. The in-game “cockpit clock” is the primary time reference during each session. When the server launches (approximately 15 minutes before the scheduled session starts), the in-game clock will be 15 minutes before the top of the hour. Please note that this means that the FiF server will always launch approximately 15 minutes before the posted session start time. After the first 3 minutes, players are encouraged to spawn into their aircraft. Players may taxi and move around their spawn area during this time. However, they must stay on their ground base. To take off or leave before the official start of a session violates FiF’s code of conduct rules, and this action will incur either a warning or a severe penalty. Players will be alerted to the impending start of a session approximately 5 minutes before the top of the hour. Support vehicles at the airfields and ground bases will fire a red flare. Confirmation that a session has started is a green flare. A message will also be displayed, announcing the session’s start. When 30 minutes remain in a session, a warning message will be displayed. A similar message will show when 10 minutes remain. Tournament Overview: EIF is a passworded event. All players must be registered and assigned to a team. The EIF tournament structure is as follows: Each session (or mission night) is approximately three hours in length. Objectives completed during these sessions are tallied on the in-game map for both teams, and mission scores will be posted before the next session is run. These easy-to-use aids allow all participants to track the tournament and their team’s progress. Playing and Winning EIF: At the start of a campaign, the Blue Team and the Red Team are assigned to an in-game side (either the Allied Powers or the Axis Powers). The teams will play two sessions (or mission nights) on that in-game side. Every even mission number, the two teams will flip sides. The team flying as the Central Powers will now fly as the Entente Powers. The team flying as the Entente Powers will now fly as the Central Powers. This switch ensures that both teams are treated fairly within the event and that all pilots can fly all aircraft. The winner of a session is determined by the team with the higher Victory Point total, as shown on the in-game map, at the end of the session. After four sessions, the Victory Point total is tallied to determine a winner for the Campaign. If both teams have the same number of Victory Points after four play sessions, the Campaign ends in a stalemate. General Aircraft Rules: EDIT for EiF We are using a specific group of aircraft for EIF. These aircraft are set for each phase of play and will not be changed. During each session, aircraft are limited in number. However, aircraft can be returned to service. To do this, De-spawning aircraft will replaced into an airbases inventory if that airfield contains that type of aircraft, and only if the "types" inventory has been depleted, including aircraft type currently in use. De-spawning, "not at Home Base" could result in lost aircraft. Mission specific aircraft De spawning mission specific aircraft will return the plane into an aircraft's type inventory, but will no longer be available as a "mission specific aircraft" if the types, inventory has been depleted. It is possible, however, to refuel, repair, and rearm your aircraft at any aerodrome without hitting the refly button. Including retaining mission aircraft specific status..If re-fuel and re-arm is intact. If a pilot enters the game at the wrong aerodrome, is in the wrong aircraft type, or has the wrong load-out, he may hit refly without fear of losing his aircraft. Except for mission specific aircraft under most circumstances. Basic Tournament Rules: Teamspeak / Discord Rules: There are no Teamspeak or Discord rules for EIF. Squadrons and Teams may use Teamspeak, Discord, and any other voice-over-internet software as they see fit. Dead-is-Dead: EIF operates as a single-elimination “dead-is-dead” tournament for all pilots. Because of this, each participating player is given one virtual life as a pilot per session (mission night). However, a player may have an unlimited number of gunner or tanker lives. Bailout Out: Pilots may bail out and use their parachutes A bailed-out pilot may only “Finish Flight” in a parachute after reaching the ground. . An accidental bailout while the aircraft is on the ground is considered a disconnect, and Disco rules should be followed. Refly Rules (after Pilot Death or Capture): If a player, acting as a pilot, dies or is captured during a mission night, that player will not be allowed to refly or re-enter the server as a pilot for the rest of the session. The aircraft the pilot died or was captured in will be considered lost and will be subtracted from their team’s available total. The pilot is marked as killed-in-action (KIA) or captured (prisoner-of-war - POW). Players who have had their pilot killed or captured must either leave the server or switch to the role of a gunner. There is no death kick on the EIF server to allow players to act as gunners in multi-seater aircraft or Tanking. Because there is no death kick on the EIF server, players are expected to respect their terminal events (death or capture), and not violate the tournament rules by reflying again illegally. If a player hits refly after their pilot has been killed or captured and then does not immediately correct their mistake and exit, the player will be violating the spirit of the game and will be subject to severe penalties. Refly Rules (Friendly Territory): Landing at an active airfield will typically return your plane to service at that base, provided that the aircraft type is available there and it was not severely damaged. If a pilot has landed at a friendly aerodrome and despawns, that player may refly at the discretion of the team commander (CO) after a 5-minute timeout. This timeout starts when a player hits “Finish Flight” and goes to the map room. If a pilot rearms and refuels their aircraft without despawning, they may take off again as soon as the ground crew has readied their aircraft. They do not need to take the 5-minute timeout. Suppose a pilot crashes in friendly territory and survives the event. In that case, that pilot may switch to a new aircraft and take off again, provided that another aircraft is available at the discretion of the CO and after a 5-minute timeout. Refly Rules (when under attack): Pilots on the ground and under attack from strafing or bombing enemies may “Finish Flight” anytime. The grounded pilot does not have to sit through the attack. This allowance is not valid for a pilot who chooses to bailout a stricken aircraft. A bailed-out pilot may only “Finish Flight” in a parachute after reaching the ground. Refly Rules (Spawn Camping): Spawn camping is not in the spirit of the Europe In Flames tournament. Pilots who safely land their shot-down or disabled aircraft on top of a spawn point must “Finish Flight” and despawn as soon as possible. Sitting on the ground at a spawn point to act as a forward controller for friendly aircraft or position your rear gunner to shoot at enemy aircraft is unacceptable. In any other situation, pilots may sit in their shot-down or disabled aircraft as long as they wish. Bombing and Specialized Aircraft Rules: EDIT for EIF 2025 Within the IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles game, every aircraft that can carry a bomb and has it available in the mod list may use it on any target on the server. In other words, if you can bring a bomb, you can use it. This rule is not just limited to attack aircraft; it includes fighter aircraft. This bombing rule departs from past events, where only designated bombers could attack specific targets. Additionally, load-outs for all aircraft within the server will be locked. Most aircraft will be stock front-line types with conventional weapons and equipment. Each team will have a small number of mission aircraft, however. Mission aircraft will carry unconventional or unique load outs that will allow them to carry out specific missions. These mission aircraft will be limited in number and thus very valuable to their respective teams. Teams must decide for themselves who gets the honor of piloting them. Mission aircraft returning to inventory, loose their specialized mission status. Sectors and Landmarks: EDIT for eif 2025 There will be two sectors on the EIF map: one controlled by the Axis and one controlled by the Allied Powers. Each sector may also contain the following: Supply Trains Supply Columns Factory Icon designated targets Prison Rescue Icon Encampment Icon designated targets This will be clarified before the Campaign begins. Server Crashes and Discos: If the EIF server crashes during a session, the affected session is scrubbed. It will not be counted and will then be reflown at a later date. This situation will be the only time a session is canceled. Scheduled sessions should always be run, regardless of team numbers or the number of unintentional pilot disconnections (discos). Unintentional pilot disconnections (discos) due to technical issues are almost always out of the player’s control. Thus, no participating pilot will be penalized for game crashes/failures (like the 10019 error) or internet connectivity crashes/failures. If a pilot discos due to a technical issue, they should immediately check in with their team commander (CO) and ask for clarification on the rules. If the CO clears the pilot, they may re-enter the server and refly as if nothing happened. This rule holds even if the pilot is in enemy territory. However, while the pilot is now “okay,” the aircraft they were flying is lost and is deducted from their team’s existing totals. Additionally, all pilots returning from a disco still need to take their 5-minute timeout (as if they landed). Discos caused by technical issues are monitored through the honor system. Any abuse of this rule, for either pilot or team gain, is a severe violation of the game’s spirit and EIF’s code of conduct. If a player intentionally discos to avoid death or capture and does not immediately correct their mistake by exiting the game, severe penalties will be leveled against them.

EIF 2025 Teams (subject to change)

EIF 2025 tournament and practice schedule

EIF 2025 Battle area

WIP Objectives: Factory 25% per Point Encampment 25% per Point Prison rescue 600 Points Convoy ? Point Train ? Points Tank Division Capture 1 point gained/1 point lost On-Map intel and scoreboard: EIF has real-time "percentage" destroyed intel for the factory and encampment, are on-map next to the encampment/factory target icons Also a real time scoreboard of Axis/Allied points gained and lost (tank captures) . Is visible, at above the battle area of the in-game map. Flak batteries: "Objectives" have defensive AAA batteries, each consisting of 3 guns (AAA and Flak) Defensive Batteries are located "outside" of the objective's perimeter, to a distance of 2 KM. Guns destroyed do not re-spawn, and are not part of an objectives value. Airfields: Plane-sets are limited. Refuel and Rearm. Airfields also have destroy-able, re-fuel, and rearm, for any type of aircraft. De-spawning aircraft will re-place into an airbases inventory if that airfield contains that type of aircraft, and only if the "types" inventory has been depleted, including type currently in use. De-spawning, "not at Home Base" could result in lost aircraft. Trains: Trains have random start times and routes, and are not indicated on the map. Convoy: A convoy is made up of 8 cargo trucks and 2 AAA vehicles. Destroy 5 of the 8 cargo trucks for the points.------ Active Supply columns are indicated on the map by an "as the crow flies" black line, designating its start and end points only. Supply columns are "on-road" , but choose their own roads to their destination. The convoy's start and destination points could change from week to week. The time it spawns is random and could be at any time within the mission. Factory: The Area target is organized randomly into 9 Sections of mission editor "object group's". Destroy 50% of a group, destroys that group. Destroy 50% of the "Group's" with-in a section, destroys that "Section". (indicated by a medium smoke) Each Section is 12% of the total. Counted at 25% intervals for points, and seen on the in-game map. ( Sections can contain, power bags and/or ammo crate's, explosive destruction power) A few "objects" may not be part of any Section. Section are the same for Red and Blue, but their arrangement are different. Encampment: The Area target is organized randomly into 9 Sections of mission editor "object group's". Destroy 50% of a group, destroys that group. Destroy 50% of the "Group's" with-in a section, destroys that "Section". (indicated by a medium smoke) Each Section is 12% of the total. Counted at 25% intervals for points, and seen on the in-game map. ( Sections can contain, power bags and/or ammo crate's, explosive destruction power) A few "objects" may not be part of any Section. Section are the same for Red and Blue, but their arrangement are different. Prison Rescue: Destroy the 2 "command buildings" and "gate house". The prisoner vehicle will spawn at the nearest airfield and begin Flaring. The "Rescue aircraft"... landed, stationary, (engine off not required) will receive a "prisoner on board" in-game message, to fly the prisoner to its rescue airfield. Land the prisoner with in the airfield perimeter. Wait while stationary, to receive the in-game message of "prisoner rescued" (engine off not required). Gained points after the mission complete are visible on the in-game/on map score board. TARGET Objectives TANKS: Tank: Re-arm/Re-fuel/Re-health. Tanks do not have the RRR options, as tankers have unlimited lives and can be multi-crewed. Defensive Assets: Battalions and Divisions have AI manned defensive assets (HE guns/static tanks/anti tank guns/artillery) Also there are "objects" with in the Battalions or Divisions that not considered as assets (fuel tanks, trucks, etc.) Defensive assets can be ether destroyed or their "crew" dislodged (Guns) in order to capture. An Asset with a dislodged crew at capture. Will remain active for its new coalition. Destroyed assets are permanently destroyed and do not re-spawn. Artillery Rules: Team commanders have access to artillery barrages, which consist of an artillery vehicle and two batteries of four BM13s. After the commander selects the artillery vehicle, an 8x8 grid is displayed on the in-game map. After choosing the artillery vehicle, the commander can bring up the firing grid by pressing LWIN 1. The commander selects the square to fire into by using the firing grid. This is indicated by a red “X” in the chosen square. The artillery guns will now begin firing into that square. Members of the firing team can also see the grid, so they can function as a forward observer, adjusting fire to where it is needed. After six barrages, the artillery guns will be out of ammunition. Note that each “X” is considered a barrage, even if it does not fire for five minutes. The artillery barrage will continue to fire into that location for five minutes. When the commander leaves the artillery vehicle, it will return to the spawn inventory, and there will be a five-minute delay before the artillery can be fired again. Five minutes before the mission starts, one side is chosen randomly to do a five-minute per-engagement artillery barrage. A commander can request to move his artillery fire locations to a different area between sessions. This request is placed with the tournament coordinator on Discord. Artillery Penalties: Each commander is allowed to spend up to 15 minutes in the artillery command vehicle. If a commander spends over 15 minutes in the artillery command vehicle, they’ll receive penalties. If the commander remains in the vehicle longer than 15 minutes, an ammo truck will appear and, after 15 seconds, will explode, destroying the vehicle. After this explosion, the artillery vehicle will be available again after a first-time penalty of 30 minutes. The second-time penalty is 60 minutes. A third penalty will result in losing the team’s artillery for the remainder of the session. Continued abuse of the artillery vehicle beyond the third penalty will result in a team losing artillery for the next session. Continued abuse beyond this will result in a team losing artillery privileges for the rest of the campaign. Battalions (spawn point) Ground battles are fought between Divisions. Each Division is broken down into Battalions. Each coalition Division has four Battalions: One HQ Battalion and three regular Battalions Each Battalion (spawn point) also has a capture flag and defensive assets. When an enemy vehicle enters the capture zone, the spawn location is turned neutral, and no vehicles can spawn. If the enemy vehicles are expelled before the Battalion is captured, the spawn will return to friendly hands and will be usable. However, if the Battalion is captured, it shuts down the spawn location for the rest of the game session, even if the Battalion is recaptured. ???? Destroying the Assets with in a battalion, also will automatically shut down the "Spawn" for 20mins pending a capture. City capture zones: There are 4 "City capture points". Each capture point contains 2 flags The city capture's, also have destroy-able or "oppress-able" Assets City capture points, can be "captured" and "recaptured" infinitely Once captured, a point is awarded to the victor, and a point is rescinded from the defenders. (If the point was under coalition control)

Had a great practice where Mouce, Vonrd, and Moxy broke in their new Mig-29A's in some dogfighting against myself, Dino and Driver. Later Dino and Driver did some early morning instrument formation flying. Got some great screenshots:

Here´s a depiction of the course of the wall, which separated West-Germany ( Federal Republic of Germany with Bonn as the capital) from East-Germany ( German Democratic Republic with East Berlin as the capital). Berlin itself was also divided into half with a wall separating east- from west-Berlin, which made west-Berlin like an isle in the territory of the GDR.

Made some first steps into the Missioneditor and setup a mission file. I´ve opened a thread for the mission file in the Fritz Schmenkel section of the forum to work on it together --> At least there are some aircrafts to jump in, but I did not yet figured out, how to connect the flyable aircrafts to the spawn-points on the ground, like in the hangar. Need some practice and maybe watching a tutorial on the missioneditor. Actually I got some concept in mind, like having the spawn-point hangars to the bottom right in the picture reserved for MiG-21s and MiG-29s. There´s also an apron for Helicopter, which would be nice to have the 6 spawn points there reserved for Mi-24.

If the DCS map has the wall depicted I’ll find and use it

Never touched the editor so far. Recently I had a look at the new quick action editor, then downloaded some missions from user download files of the DCS store webside. There should be a wall with watchtowers as a landmark already on the Germany Cold War, which separates East-Germany from West-Germany. Holzdorf Airbase is on the East Germany side in the middle of the triangle between Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig. I´ll try to have a look into the Missioneditor in the next days to see, how to put aircrafts on it, save the map and how to transfer it.

Do you know anything about the editor? What would really help me is if you could draw the boundary between east and west and put maybe one airplane at the airbase? From there I could put in all the rest including AI spawns etc.

ALLIED Airfield: Novoye Selo 6 - Mig-3 S24 3 - I-16 S24 3 - Yak-1 S23 1 - U-2VS Airfield: Gzhatsk 3 - Mig-3 S24 3 - I-16 S24 4 - IL-2-41 Airfield: Zenino (Reserve Base) 2 - Yak-1 S23 3 - Lagg-3 S4 4 - IL-2-41 3 - Pe-2 S35 Airfield: Dugino 2 - I-153 2 - Pe-2 S35 3 - Yak-1 S23 1 - U-2VS 2 - LI-2 (Prison) AXIS: Airfield: Dvoevka 8 - Bf-109 E7 2 - Bf-110 E2 Airfield: Znamenka 8 - Bf-109 E7 4 - Ju-87 D3 Airfield: Bol'Shoe Vergovo 5 - Bf-109 E7 4 - Ju-87 D3 3 - He-111 H6 2 - Ju-52 (Prison) Airfield: Yuhnov (Reserve Base) 3 - Bf-109 F2 2 - Bf-109 E7 2 - Bf-110 E2 2 - Ju-88 A4 2 - Ju-52 (Prison)

I've done it myself in a Citabria.

That is exactly how WW1 pilots did it. No kidding.

No, that link has both the FC and the Early Access (along with Russian language versions). The Early Access is second from the left. Doesn't matter since your link is also the correct one. I hope that Chuck's will be out soon.

That appears to be the FC3 Mig29 manual. After some searching I found this for the Mig-29A Fulcrum (Early Access): https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/upload/iblock/aa2/ulzl67k42kj99ushy9m29hlvmtk0y2tg/DCS MiG-29A Early Access Manual EN.pdf

+++ the Central Commitee of the SED forward with pleasure a thank you to comrade Flyboy +++ the Chairman of the State Council of the GDR, Erich Honecker has wet his pants out of joy for the new upcoming Aerodrome +++ with highest honor the commitee nominated comrade Flyboy for the Karl-Marx-Order accompanied with the honorable title "Hero of the GDR" +++

Thats a great idea and thanks for the info. I can start working on that maybe next week