All about IL-2 Sturmovik

so there's this thread talking about the deepest game, and it got me thinking about how i've always wanted to try IL-2 Sturmovik but never really got to know how things work. turns out the urge to hop into the cockpit and soar sky high is still here in my heart. so i start this thread and invite the savvies to talk about this relatively unknown, but apparently wonderful, game.

I've tried the demo about a year ago. i took off in a plane i know nothing about, and everything happened afterward was blazingly fast -- i simply couldn't catch up. duelling pairs cris-crossed the sky in death defying speed; enemy flashed across my view and next thing i knew it's already 1 click away. needless to say, i didn't land ANY shot that night. it was really a cultural shock of some sort, knowing that there really hasn't been a game i couldn't handle. but at the same time, i deeply respect the level of challenge the game has to offer.

i'm planning to get IL-2 Sturmovik 1946, but before that, there's a few questions i would like to ask --

1. what i described just now -- is it becoz i'm new and not doing something right, or the game really is that hardcore?

2. i don't have, and don't plan to buy, a fly stick. does it mean i would never be as good as others are?

3. how is the MP? it's great, i gather, but how great in terms of connection stability, community size, friendliness, etc.

i know just the person who would have answers to all these questions. :) but besides him, i would still like to hear what you have to share about the game. thanks guys~

At a minimum, you'll need a joystick with a twist handle rudder.

To really get the most out of the game, you'll want a stick, throttle and rudder pedal setup with a Track IR unit.

As far as learning how to fly goes, start out simple. You can turn off or turn down a lot of the realism features. Go ahead and shut off engine torque, overheating and complex engine management. Give yourself unlimited ammo and create a quick mission with just you against a flight of unarmed bombers or cargo planes. Quick missions will start you in mid-flight so you don't have to worry about take-offs and landings. Practice your gunnery. Learn how to lead a target, how to judge distance, and most importantly, how not to fly right up their rear-ends. Practice making slashing attacks from the sides and then diving and climbing attacks. You'll get a feel for how tight you can roll, bank, climb and whatnot before you stall out.

I'd recommend taking up something like the Hawker Hurricane. It's a good plane to train on. It's a stable gun platform and has very forgiving flight characteristics so you won't be constantly stalling or spinning out of control.

a joystick is a MUST have? oh my......that's too bad.....coz i really don't feel like getting one. :? those things would take up so much space in my already crowded rented room......

i came across this dogfight video on youtube, which i think is very cool. i don't know how good this guy actually is, but it really makes me yearn for this game -- especially the part where he turns around in the cockpit and watches the plane crash into the ocean in a spectacular splash....i was like "f*** yea!!!!" :D

Well if you want to be decent in MP a joystick is a MUST, but the past few weeks since I left my joystik at home I have been doing just fine against computer oppenets, it is MUCH harder shooting to the point it gets annoying sometimes but its liveable.

I'm not a hardcore IL-2 player so I would imagine hardcore players would say otherwise tho, just my personal opinion.

This game is like unplayable without a joystick.

I got it a long time ago and it was incredibly hard to control with the mouse and arrow keys. Almost unplayable with a mouse so I had to quit. Sold it on ebay in the next few days..

i came across this dogfight video on youtube, which i think is very cool. i don't know how good this guy actually is, but it really makes me yearn for this game -- especially the part where he turns around in the cockpit and watches the plane crash into the ocean in a spectacular splash....i was like "f*** yea!!!!" :D

Jinroh_basic

Well, his preferred crate is the Bf-109 so right off the bat you know he's weird! All the cool kids fly the Tempest Mk V!

Hard to tell how good he is from the video but he does seem to know how to use the rudder well and he did seem to do a good job in that rolling scissors engagement with the Hurricane over the desert (I did note that that little segment of the video ended without showing a kill, so I assume the Hurricane pilot was able to get behind him and down him eventually). Finally, they're playing with relaxed realism rules in the server so you can switch to exterior views and they also have labelled enabled so you can ID pilots and tell which side they're on long before they get into range.

That's the cool thing about IL-2 online. It's pretty easy to find a server to match your tastes. If you want to just get into a huge dogfight, there are dozens of relaxed realism servers out there to choose from. If you want to challenge yourself, there are full realism servers available with cockpit only views, no labels, no map assistant, no HUD, and complex engine management.

Whatever you do play, you'll need a joystick though. Keyboard and mouse just doesn't cut it. Nor do gamepads.

As most said, it's difficult without the joystick. For me, it's also about the experience. I'm usually not picky with hardware, but playing a flight combat sim like IL-2 it's a must. Since my joystick broke, I haven't been motivated to play IL-2. I could play MS Combat Simulator or Crimson Skies without problem on mouse and keyboard, but it's really dull with IL2. I wish I could recommend you a good joystick, but that's not a hardware that I follow. However, the game is a good one, and getting a joystick for it would definitely be worth it.

I only played a few single player missions and I never totally experienced the game to its max due to the fact that I bought it before I became overwhelmed with college. However, I do install it once in a while just to have a look at the beauty of the game and take random mission flights. The battles are relatively satisfying since different missions and different planes require different techniques whereas some other combat flight games feel too arcade-like and don't require any complicated strategies. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's what makes IL2 unique. One particular training that I recall was with a plane with a glass on its floor. Basically, the glass enables me to see the ground, but it also had a cross hair on it for battleships targeting. When I've located a target, I'd have to fly thousands of feet over it. Once target was on the crosshair of the floor glass, that indicated that I had to dive down and shoot the ship while practically free falling above it. It's a good way to damage the ship, and avoid return fire. In any other game, the strategy would have been to just head towards the ship and shoot at it kamikaze style.

Learning it is requires a lot of attention and the last time I was overwhelmed with such simulation I think was with Jane's USAF.

Anyways, it's a very good game, and if you do decide to spend a few bucks on a joystick, you won't be disappointed.