Flying Circus AAR

Having a whale of a time, flying around on the new Arras sector map for IL-2 Flying circus.
It’s a great feeling seeing the successor to Rise of Flight take shape.

Anyway, I have somewhat of an AAR to tell.

I set up a dogfight over Duai, Camel vs. Fokker Dr.I at 1500m. Head to head.

We chased eachother around for a bit, exchanging bullets. Mostly tearing canvas.

Then I got a good burst in, and the Oberursel of the Fokker started to smoke. The pilot climbed out to ride the umbrella elevator. This is always a satisfying end to any dogfight.
The Fokker started to spiral slowly downwards, flying around the pilot under the parachute.
As I was looking on from above I wondered what the odds would be of it hitting the chute… And then, that’s just what happened…!
The chute collapsed and the pilot fell towards a certain death while the Fokker went into a spin.

Details like this always amaze me.

Looking forward to the career mode…

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I have never seen it happen in any of the sims I flew but I definitely saw several close calls of that nature.

Wheels

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I am so very close to finally pulling the trigger on purchasing this…I miss flying those old birds.

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Try blowing up a train pulling passenger cars. Survivors run for cover then dive. Only happens in Single Player though. Before I downloaded Arras I snidely asked a friend if he was duly overwhelmed by the experience compared to RoF. He replied that he was simply “whelmed”. That’s my take. It’s nice. It’s an improvement over RoF for sure. But it didn’t rock my world relative to the previous map the way Kuban did. I am week into trying to create some mini-coop missions and discovering again after a 6 year break that the RoF/IL2 editor is beautiful, powerful and very, VERY cranky.

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I’m actually waiting for the “Career Mode” to be implemented. Once that is done, I will then most probably take the plunge. I’ve got enough flight sims now to keep me busy.

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VR support is what makes FC great, IMO. RoF had everything I needed, besides VR.
The Arras map is nice. I like the WWI look of the airfields and frontline. I kind of prefer the look of the RoF maps… Don’t know. My memories of RoF may be clouded by nostalgia. I sure had a lot of fun in that sim.
But FC has enormous potential! I hope it receives the same user and developer support as RoF did.

That’s unfortunately not planned for FC Vol. 1.
I meant to say campaign generator, above.
But, there won’t be a Vol. 2 unless 1 is successful.
Such is the nature of these things.
Here’s hoping! :crossed_fingers:

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I guess some time after Vol. 1 is finished.
If I understand @777Studios_Jason correct they gambled financially on FC and any future development rides on its success.
Understandable, of course. Can’t feed your family if your products don’t sell… I’m buying what they put on the market. Partly because I’m a collector, but also to finance the future development of my hobby. There aren’t that many developers out there, who caters to my peculiar interests, so I do what I can to secure their future…

I don’t think so.
The career mode of IL-2 seems quite powerful.
We should have quite in-depth campaigns with squadron movements, transfers and timeline dependent developments. Provided, of course, Vol. 2 sees the light of day.
I don’t think we can expect all the DLC aircraft of RoF, but if the sales are satisfactory, maybe we will see many of them. A lot of the ground work has been done and Yugra (Ugra?) Media needs a couple of months per aircraft, to bring them up to IL-2 level.

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:flushed:

Eh… Come to think of it, neither have I.
Thanks for the reminder!
Bought it now.
Tanks can be fun! :wink:

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I have everything else but I bought Tank Crew on a lark, and to support 777 Studios, and quite frankly I am having more fun with the tanks than any of the planes.

Wheels

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RoF was my one great love. I made lifelong friends through that game. And it WAS a “game” to me, in the sense that every experience was filled with joy, purpose, reward and loss. What makes WWI so perfect from a sim perspective, and totally opposite to the real thing, is how compatible it is to social interaction and close coordination. You and your wingies are just yards from one another coordinating some attacks and fending off others. Unless you are in a D7F or SE5, you can’t run. You must turn and fight. And if you loose, as I more often did, it’s probably against another close friend.

This is why I think that the cycle will work in FC’s favor. Or, if not, another WWI sim will rise in its stead. So up close and personal, there is no flying experience like it. I am trying to create what I hope will be a library of co-op missions that can be played in 15 minutes or less. I want to go back to those early days of RoF before it had a dogfight MP mode. In co-op, players join, the mission begins, you die and you spectate while taunting the pilots still living. In the time it takes an F-18 to get off the ground, a good co-op match is launched and done. You can grab a beer while the server rotates up the next mission.

One more thing: nothing looks as good in- or functions as well as- VR in flying circus. You never need to type. The controls are simple. Visibility limitations are not so limiting. And the artwork is stunning in 3D.

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Excellent points!
When I first heard someone (Oculus) would make a new VR headset, RoF immediately sprung to mind as the flightsim that would benefit the most…

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Hi Toll:

I see that you flew the Camel in FC (possibly not in years though). I got my Sim Pit built and mostly functional - with the exception that I can’t make the air mixture lever move. Neither with the MMJOY mapped lever OR the default key assignments rALT+minus / rALT+equals. It just smugly ignores my robust yanking on the lever or boldly whacking on the key combinations listed above. ANy troubleshooting tips? thanks GMcK

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Hey there!
Could it be the engine realism setting set to easy, or something like that? Does it work in other aircraft?

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good thought; i will check that. then its on to setting up VoiceAttack and the Oculus Q2!

thanks.

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Nailed it! It was set to ‘auto’, deselected that and working perfectly now.

THanks again, Toll.

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My pleasure!
Glad is was an easy fix… :wink: