posted 03-11- 02:04 PM               

I reviewed it for World At War, and even though I am enamored of it, I could not in all fairness rate it too highly in it's present state. Most owners have spent more time trying to get it to run acceptably than they have flying it - including me.

By all means, give it a try - but don't expect the RAM to allow it to run smoothly ' out of the box'; that has been a rare occurrence. Get it from somewhere you can return or exchange it...US versions seem to have a problem with including the key card, for one thing. But...the demo is a good showcase of what this sim could be potentially.

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nealg=FC=

posted 03-11- 11:14 PM               

Try turning all the realism settings up the training missions get really hard and it takes alot of .303 to down the planes.

TS

posted 03-11- 11:53 PM               

Just protect yourself in your purchase..it is a finicky sim.

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nealg=FC=

posted 03-12- 01:01 PM               

Which is a way of saying, I have no clue.

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nealg=FC=

posted 03-12- 11:42 PM               

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nealg=FC=

posted 03-13- 11:10 PM               

If you let the computer run the campaign, you might have to fly a lot to give your side a chance to win. I usually let the computer handle most of it, making only a few changes in patrols dependent upon the time of day - you generally want more patrols up in the afternoon than morning, although the AI opponent will gauge this and adjust accordingly also. ( speaking from the RAF side ).

But...no dang pilot campaign! One of the biggest things lacking in 'modern' sims. And one of the biggest things I miss about the old Dynamix sims, and EAW even. I did finally settle on flying strictly for 54 Squadron; they get involved a lot in the convoy phase.

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nealg=FC=

posted 03-16- 12:09 AM               

Neal.. the germans are kicking my butt any tips ?

posted 03-16- 02:15 AM               

Make a token effort to patrol the convoys, but don't overdo it. ( Don't do it at all, you get fired! Seriously! ). The LW will kick your butt...harboring of resources is tantamount. Give them the coast....once in a while, try to have extra patrols up and revector as many as possible against one raid. The opposing AI commander will seem to adjust to this, and soon you will see a change in tactics ( really kind of neat to have it do that ).

Flying directly gives you a bit more control on conserving resources - you can get your squads to 'bug out' quicker, thus hopefully saving some planes and pilots. AI will stay 'on station' sometimes a bit long; lose too many planes, and production will have trouble keeping up. LW in convoy phase near end of July seem to like to hit Manston and Tangmere a lot; be ready to rest - and even move - squads in/out of these fields.

I am still experimenting myself. I understand there may be some bugs in the RAF campaign, Convoy phase, after July 25th. Watch out for that; allegedly, squads don't scramble or become unavailable even at top morale, full strength, and rested. Hold the Group 13 squads until at least August. Just as in reality, don't depend on 10 and 12 Group to adequately protect Group 11 fields even when you assign them to patrol them. 10 and 12 were the 'Big Wing' advocates, and political differences between these groups seem to be reflected also.

As the battle moves toward August, you see more 109 sweeps preceding the bombers. Avoid scrambling until the bombers are within range. There IS a bug in the 109...they currently have more fuel than in reality, and can stay over England longer. ( This needs to be patched. ) Anyway, beware of that - they don't bug out quickly. But scrambling against 109 sweeps is fatal, unless you already have patrols up to begin the engagement until the scrambles are airborn with altitude....

Sheesh...you know all this!! Sorry...I tend to run on about this stupid sim!! Ok, I am holding my own right now in Convoy phase...losing more Hurris than I should, I don't fly them as much. But what I usually do is, in the Morning Directives, I will put up maybe 2 Convoy patrols, and 2 or 3 Coastal. Or none. Then scramble as needed. At mid-day, I will increase the convoy and coastal patrols to 3 each, and maybe 1 or 2 support patrols. Afternoon, I put up at least 4 convoy, 4 coastal patrols and 1 or 2 each 11 group airfield patrols, factory, and support industry. Most of the time so far, this gives me 1 or more patrols I can revector in addition to scrambles.

Frustrating when no patrols are available, but darn satisfying when I get the message " The raid has been turned away ". Interesting note that I have found: If you are constant with your directives, the AI enemy will adjust the raids for when you have fewest patrols. I selected zero patrols for the Morning for 3 straight days; on the 3rd day, they blasted me with over a half dozen back to back raids in the early morning! Took out Dover docks, Tangmere, and Westhampnett in a couple of hours. That hurt..

I'm sorry I ran on so long. Hope ya made it to something that helped.

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nealg=FC=

posted 03-16- 03:04 AM               

There is an option in the realism settings to give the 109s a realistic fuel load, but it doesn't affect the AI I guess?

I've seen that they are working on a patch (fingers crossed).

TS

posted 03-17- 01:41 AM               

Have you been strafed yet? Pretty cool..it has happened to me twice. First time, I stayed around to get some screens - luckily, the AI 109's were lousy shots! After about 10 minutes, I just left the game...they were still vulching! I have begun to wonder if they ever run out of ammo, either.

The 110's, on the other hand, do seem to bug out realistically, although the 109's are used more than the 110's.

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nealg=FC=

posted 03-17- 06:52 PM               

I was pleased to see the barrage baloons look just like the ones I did for sdoe !!

This is the first sim where the Germans keep using the negative gee dive and it actually seems to work. The british engines will sputter for quite awhile after doing any neg-G flight.

I find myself colliding with things alot. I found it helped to turn the target size down to small I think other settings may scale the collision boxes bigger than the planes. Still sometimes I enter a battle and boom collide with a wingman before I can do anything.

Still though a great game.

posted 03-17- 09:47 PM               

Hehehe..I thought maybe you had done those ballons, because yes, they are almost exactly the same. ( I hit one once - advice - don't do that!!!hehehe ). I have also found that other than the negative G's in the Spits, and some landing characteristics, the Spits in both SDOE and this sim can be flown most effectively by using what I have learned in SDOE. Basic FM's are very much alike....I'd say someone in the SDOE world did a pretty good job.

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nealg=FC=

posted 03-18- 01:34 PM               

And even though not all the keys do as the card alleges, there are enough that a card is essential! The Spit, for instance, does not use the right/left aileron trim, only the right/left rudder trim - and I haven't gotten that to work yet. Well..I think. I don't think to use it until I've been banged up, which is a tad late.

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nealg=FC=

posted 03-18- 04:52 PM               

D = dive breaks on ju87 according to card

Neal, I noticed you can actually use the mouse to click on the trim wheels and drag the mouse to turn the wheel and change elevator trim, seems to work but cant remember if it was a hurc or a spit i was in.

I had to restart my campaign (I was pretty much beaten). Doing better now.. I focus most of my planes on coastal patrols and finally turned off collisions

posted 03-18- 07:33 PM               

Another 'trick' - ( may be a bug, but I like it..) - if you switch quickly to padlock view, then return to front view by using the num pad 8 key, the irritating 'bobbing' up and down stops. On mine, it's like a constant 'updraft'.

I am on my 4th campaign ; as of July 26th, I am getting whupped bad.
One of these days, I will actually finish a campaign. hehehe.

Oh....for fun, if you haven't yet, fly in a recon intercept and follow the bomber back to German occupied territory. The flak is absolutely murderous! One time, I followed bombers back, and watched a flight of 109's take off and come after us. Needless to say, I ordered a immediate RTB!!

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nealg=FC=

posted 03-19- 11:15 AM            

I was kinda gaining on them when we reached the coast and they slowed down to land. So I figured I would buzz them and see if I can knock one down. But all the sudden my plane just split apart...The AA ripped me up. It was cool.

posted 03-19- 03:20 PM               

Well, my darling wife came home from a girl's day out and handed me Rowan's BOB!!!
She hates that I sit here at this computer as much as I do and she bought it anyway for me. I don't even have to pay her back-what'ya think of dat?! ( I know, I know--you probably think I'm being naive--that she's hiding something or paying for her indiscretions--actually--I hadn't thought about that till I reread this post. Naw- I trust her--she bought me BOB for goodness sake--gotta trust her!)

And you know what? The demo didn't do this game justice. Its great!--- so far--for only having it since Saturday night. But all the little touches that have been added make this one a keeper.

Not sure I'm up for the campaign mode yet as I'm not much into large scale strategy ( or small scale either for that matter). But the flying is a blast. Great sensation of speed near the ground and in and out of the clouds. I like the feel of the airplanes to--it seems believable to me in many ways.
Ran out of the box with not one problem too.
Had keycard too. Go figure. I even like the default terrain graphics--something a matter with me?

Oh well. Just had to bubble over somewhere about this-so-what better place to do it? (Maybe at the BOB forum at the still free simhq--would've been better--but they aren't fellow SDOEr's over there--besides -- Burkey started this thread anyway.

posted 03-19- 10:56 PM               

If thinking of trying it online, don't bother. No one has gotten it to work well yet. But SDOE gives me all the online I want, and then some..see? I get wordy ---

Oh, and AQ - nothing wrong at all with the stock scenery. It is fine. I do have LH's converted CFS and it is nice, but not much different....I figure if I can see the ground up close, I've already lost the fight anyway!

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nealg=FC=

posted 03-20- 07:02 PM               

You guys are right about the AI's meaness in this one. Not too much time to go site seeing if you're dogfighting.

Nealg--you gotta be kiddin me about being wordy. Certainly one of the best forum typers I know.

But--sheesh--3 hours a day in BOB? Would hurt my eyes. I'll be looking for tips about the campaign when I venture into it (Not gonna be this week as I gotta go across the pond--kinda nervous a little since all 3 of us flying are international novices-except one of us has done it a couple of times--but not much and it isn't me-wish me luck. I don't need to receive a letter of violation from some civil aviation authority from some european country six months from now with no warning--ugh).

Anyway--love what I've seen of BOB so far.
Got too wordy again myself.

posted 03-20- 11:16 PM               

I must admit - much of the time daily is spent going " Hmmm...that worked well...wonder what would happen if I set this to that and that to this?".

And replaying the Quick Shot missions until I can at least survive and land!! hehe

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nealg=FC=