Fly a lot, mostly! I like attacking bombers for gunnery practice. This training film (featuring the voice of Mel Blanc) for bomber waist gunners is instructive for how to make a good approach as an attacking pilot. Making the right kind of attack run means you have to pull some lead, too, which helps you practice your deflection shooting.
I don’t think there’s much risk of learning bad habits, as long as you aren’t flying with active piloting assists (beyond engine management) on. (I don’t recall what IL-2 has.) Turn things off slowly, as you feel like adding challenge.
A little bit, but I barely notice anymore except when really turning my head a long way. Even for DCS, where I need a lot more stability in the center region than I do for other sims (so I can click switches), I only turn my head so it’s pointed beyond the bounds of the monitor when I’m looking behind me.
Much like Mr James, I am quite content with the realism of wings, tail and guns. I feel no need to fuss over the engine. So I fly at “normal” realism.
Landing these taildraggers can be a handful. Try a big, sturdy plane to learn on, IE the titular Il-2. That thing is built like a soviet tractor, and once you relieve it of its warload, has plenty of power to help you out of a bad place.
IMO trackir is utterly superceded by VR. Its in my drawer of glorious but obsolete hardware.
pm me if you want a pdf copy of shaw, the air combat bible
I just flew a bit of the MiG-15 / Sabre campaign called “Museum relic”. I paid about 7 bucks for it and even if I only fly it once due to its scripted nature, worth every penny. What a fun thing!
I could tell the story but I don’t want to spoil the ‘whoa’ moments it provides.
Oooh! Are those rudder pedal buttons behind the throttle? I’ve never given up my x-45 because I just couldn’t go back to a twisty stick that gives my wrist RSI. But the stick is getting really loose and messy in the middle after 15 years of use… this looks nice.
4 independent axes, including twist rudder (controlled by rotating the Stick)
oh well. I don’t get why sticks aren’t made with rudder rockers anymore. Twisting as I’m lining up the plane makes both messy, and like I mentioned, painful on the wrist. Or do they just assume anyone shelling out that much money would also buy pedals? (for me it’s a space+wire thing though sometimes I dig out my racing pedals, but with different amounts of resistance in the gas/brake, it’s not great).
TBH I have no idea, I dont have a t1600m myself. When I had the money to replace my logitech G940 set, I came across a second hand TM warthog HOTAS set. The reason I keep singing the T1600m’s praises is because that stick has the same sensors in the stick as the warthog and those are sweet.
Between these high-res hall sensors and VR, my aerial gunnery has gone from spray-and-pray kiddie level to deadly sniper high-angle snapshot murderer. I have been doing this (flying combat flight games) for well over thirty years now, and only recently (and with the aforementioned tools) have I become remotely deadly with A2A guns.
Of course the warthog has no rudder input on the HOTAS itself, so I spent another three days’ wages on a set of plastic saitek rudder pedals. The pedals are not as bread-and-butter as the stick tho. Often I dont touch them an entire flight. Things like the F/A-18 or other modern fast fighter jets just dont use the rudder input much. Helicopters and older planes on the other hand… In due time I intend to replace those with some sweet high-end metal jobbie.
But that’s after I get this stuff into its seprate room and off the desk. I want a lower seat, reclined a bit and the stick mounted in the center, with a 10 or 15 cm extension. Its weird to sit straight up at a desk and see your pilot body almost lying down in his cockpit.
Now what I really’d give my left nut for is a VR controller that’s worn like a ring on the index finger and actuates a mouse-click when the finger is curled and has very precise spacial sensors. That way I would not have to fumble for the mouse and immersion-breakingly hunt down the cockpit controls with a mouse cursor.
Did you know the new Il-2 is made by those dev’s? and that they are re-doing all of the RoF content into the il2 engine so we can do it all in glorious VR! I for one am stoked as fuck to get my red baron on and pwn bitches in a little red three-winged fokker :D
yeah… And when I can justify a grand and a half for a new desktop and goggles to my wife, when I should be playing with my kids and saving for their eduction, I’ll be all over it.
I’m 40 and looking forward to retirement. Man, 65 can’t come soon enough if it means I can tell the world to go away.
ed: wow that sounded bitter! I’m totally not! Just in new-game withdrawal, making me ornery.
Hey, I’m 41, I know exactly how you feel. Sometimes you need to get away from those wanting, whiny voices. I know I do. Not being able to as much as I want makes me an evil bastard too.
Spiffy, I have the T1600 and can confirm that those are indeed rudder rockers on the throttle. They are great, with large throw and ergonomic.
I also have a full CH setup. Although the CH gear is built like a tank, I actually like the performance and feel of the T1600 better. Don’t know if it will last or not, but it is the cheapest one you can buy without compromising amount of controls.
