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I actually remember a mission in IL-2 where you take on Strategic bombers with rockets. Just not so effective vs Fighter Bombers
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Oct 11, 2013 18:09
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Galaga Galaxian posted:Heck, some anti-bomber interceptors carried only rockets. That is, if you ignore AIM-4D. I swear, that piece of poo poo never guides, and it's the only reason I have the F-4D in the campaign list. I also remember unguided rocket fun in Aces over Europe, I think.
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Oct 11, 2013 18:21
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Man, I love the Mustang's camo pattern in this game.
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Oct 11, 2013 21:12
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brozozo posted:Man, I love the Mustang's camo pattern in this game. Let's keep looking at it lovingly!
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Oct 12, 2013 00:32
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brozozo posted:Man, I love the Mustang's camo pattern in this game. It is delightful, isn't it?  As for the actual missions themselves, I've also noted an alarming tendency for the machine guns to jam - hopefully that isn't going to be a running theme, is it? On that note, does the engine differentiate between the machine guns "jamming" due to running out of ammunition or not? I remember SelenicMartian saying they had run out of ammo in one of the videos, but the status bar said "[whatever] MG has jammed!". And finally, though I don't know the peculiarities of Strike Fighters' modelling of rockets, I think the reason you keep missing ground targets with the rockets is that you have a slight tendency to aim a little too "high" on the crosshairs when firing. I might be completely wrong in this respect, however, since my closest relevant experience is IL-2 and it seems that flight sim does things a bit differently to Strike Fighters 2.
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Oct 12, 2013 12:43
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There's no message for running out of ammo, the gun just stops. Something you learn very well on certain Nam era upgrades of of A-4, where to fit the electronics they cut cannon ammo from 100 rounds per gun to 20. The Mustang is the last plane with the MGs, so their jams won't be a problem. Then there will be cannons that jam, until US switches to M61 Vulcan, which is completely jam-proof in this game. As for the rockets, these are HVAR. They have a very flat trajectory, until the booster burns out, and then they drop. Most other player-flyables in the game use smaller rockets with folding fins and massive dispersion, which start dropping sooner. And you carry them in bigger packages. I'm used to those, and the weapon that actually hits where I aim is just baffling.
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Oct 12, 2013 13:18
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Ah, gotcha. I suspected that it might just be the quirks of the HVAR, but I thought it couldn't hurt to offer some advice (for a given value thereof). It's pretty neat that Strike Fighter models the different characteristics of those projectiles, though. Thanks for answering my questions!
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Oct 12, 2013 13:54
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S01E08: 1956.10.31 Got a short one again. Forgot to mention, but at the end of Episode 6 Emir got promoted to Lieutenant. It affects... absolutely nothing, so no wonder it slipped my mind.  Our ground forces keep pushing ahead. The mission video  In which everything goes well  It never dawned on me, but we burn through 80 rockets per mission. We're another 2 updates away from the end of this war. It's, probably, going to be the only campaign I bother to win. You'll see, why. SelenicMartian fucked around with this message at 17:13 on Aug 22, 2014 |
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Oct 12, 2013 19:27
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I wonder if there's any good tutorials of this game around. I picked it up after seeing the first few videos and while I managed to hit a poor bastard in a mig with the meteor's cannons once (he disintegrated) I have no idea how to do anything but fly and shoot the cannons and land. That and I can't tell what 90% of the controls are because the config menu cuts off all of the multi-key settings.
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Oct 12, 2013 19:34
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bobthethurd posted:That and I can't tell what 90% of the controls are because the config menu cuts off all of the multi-key settings. https://store.thirdwire.com/man/sf2/Strike_Fighters_2.htm Controls getting cut off.. that might be the deveopler again assuming that everyone has a widescreen monitor.
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Oct 12, 2013 19:51
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That's the thing. I have a widescreen 16:9 It seems like bad formatting of the table and no way to expand or shrink the fields.
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Oct 12, 2013 21:19
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bobthethurd posted:That's the thing. I have a widescreen 16:9 It seems like bad formatting of the table and no way to expand or shrink the fields.
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Oct 12, 2013 21:34
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I cannot help but wonder why the enemy has plasma cannons in the video image.
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Oct 12, 2013 22:45
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Soviet ammo usually uses green tracers, while American/Western ones were red. Vietnam tracer fire was actually the inspiration for the red and green lasers in Star Wars.
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Oct 12, 2013 22:50
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Galaga Galaxian posted:Vietnam tracer fire was actually the inspiration for the red and green lasers in Star Wars. *checks wiki* quote:In addition, he also based the Ewoks' defeat of the Galactic Empire on the actions of the Viet Cong guerrillas who menaced American soldiers during the Vietnam War.
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Oct 13, 2013 07:45
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I am enjoying your frequent updates, but I wish the videos were longer. Oh well, always a tradeoff. I did chuckle at "Oh bugger the video's ending already!"
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Oct 13, 2013 08:08
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Suspect Bucket posted:I am enjoying your frequent updates, but I wish the videos were longer. Oh well, always a tradeoff. I did chuckle at "Oh bugger the video's ending already!" That's why don't really want to stay on any later campaigns for too long - the planes, the enemies and the situations become familiar. Time compress in, bang, bang, kaboom, time compress out.
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Oct 13, 2013 08:40
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S01E09: 1956.11.01 (A six-pack) I skip five missions of mostly nothing. A - 1956.10.31  8-plane Armed Recon near Suez again. I decided to be a smartarse and rearrange the waypoints to take a trip over both enemy tank groups. Only, when I arrived at the target area, there were no tanks at all, and we got jumped by MiGs and Meteors, while my squadron buggered off to the north like the last time. Not much to show, except for that warm welcome. Bonus clip (no commentary)  The right wheel was shot off, so I bailed out - another day at the hospital. Two other pilots ended up as POW and MIA. B - 1956.11.01  The remains of the Egyptian troops attempt a morning counter-attack. 4 of us fly defensive CAS, i.e. the enemy tanks are the ones moving now. Nothing of interest happens, except I get so low, I graze the belly of the plane against the sand and survive. No visible damage, but the plane acted like it lost a third of the right wing. This engine doesn't do belly landings - without the gear all planes take damage from the ground and then explode. C - 1956.11.01  Exactly the same deal as the previous mission, only in a different area, and with less sand in my face. Oh, and as you see the two MiG squadrons finally redeployed deeper. Now everyone hangs out near Cairo. D - 1956.11.01  Friendly tanks go on another offensive. 4 of us help out, even though there is a small problem with supplies.  We're so out of rockets, I can't fully equip everyone. I end up giving myself and 1-3 the usual 10 rockets, while 1-2 and 1-4 get 2 500-lb bombs each. You can only hang bundles of 6 or 4 rockets on the P-51D hardpoints, and there is no way to equip less than 4. Emir got promoted to Catpain. E - 1956.11.01  Aka the "gently caress it" mission. There are no enemy tanks left, nothing is going on, and the game tries to send us on pointless strikes or patrols. I boot the sim and immediately quit. Mission failed, but no harm done, and the world time moves forward. Our tanks capture Suez. Which brings us to today's episode.  Fine, game, I'll do a Combat Air Patrol, I don't need rockets for that. The briefing tells you to go and shoot down whatever, but in fact one of the enemy flights is marked as the primary target. Nobody will tell you, which one, and the mission can be completed even if you kill some planes from other squadrons. The mission video  In which the MiGs seem to suffer from major brain and manufacturing defects  So, 2 air kills makes it 6 total, and Emir is now an ace. The only ace on the entire map - that's something I can easily check, because all friendly and enemy squadron aces are reported when you hover your mouse over the map icons. There are no benefits for the player. However, an AI pilot, who survives to become an ace, turns into a god of war. SelenicMartian fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Aug 22, 2014 |
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Oct 13, 2013 17:38
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I'm fine with the videos being their current length - it's nice having bite-size updates to blast through in an afternoon, if that. As for AIs and ace status, just how potent do they become? Are we talking pilots who can even give the player a run for their money, or ones who are just a bit smarter than the norm (and are thus only a killing machine compared to their bretheren)? And finally, your mention that this will be our last air to air mission in the P-51 makes me want to provide some illumination on the finer points of gun based dogfighting. I don't want to step on your toes, though, so would that be cool with you, SelenicMartian?
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Oct 14, 2013 20:02
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Ace MiG-17 is something you never want to see, because it can follow you through every maneuver, unless you hit the afterburners and run away. Ace AI also gets a boost to gun and missile accuracy. Ace F-15A wingman can score kills faster or as fast as the player. The best/worst part about "acing" is, that it applies to any pilot with 5 or more kills, regardless of their original skill and experience.Soup Inspector posted:I don't want to step on your toes, though, so would that be cool with you, SelenicMartian?
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Oct 14, 2013 20:31
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Ah, that sounds... wonderful. At least it makes things more interesting, I guess (except for when it makes it aggravating).SelenicMartian posted:Gun based dogfighting will happen in Meteor, any of the planes of the first vote, not to mention, that for a very long time our AA missiles will be extremely crappy, and I'll be firing them off mostly to get rid of the extra weight, before switching to the gun, if I have one. Okay, I'll keep my mouth tightly zipped for now.
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Oct 14, 2013 21:24
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I suppose if opposing MIGs do not exist, the universe itself must contrive to create them.
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Oct 15, 2013 05:57
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Glazius posted:I suppose if opposing MIGs do not exist, the universe itself must contrive to create them. Does this make MiGs a universal constant?
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Oct 15, 2013 10:12
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S01E10: 1956.11.02 (The End) Before I show the "grand" finale of this campaign, here's a bonus (commented) video. Non canon clip, didn't happen!  I wish, every minute and a half went like that... well, not exactly like that... in fact, I'd rather see the exact opposite. Things you can do to improve survival rates, short of dropping the sim difficulty. - Refly option on the debrief screen. Let's you replay the exact same mission, again, with the benefit of hindsight. I'm not using this because it takes away the sense of wonder and whattheChristaMiGisdivin... - "Reroll" a mission. If you return to the main menu before the game saves the progress (it saves only if you hit Continue in the debrief screen), and then reload the save, the game will generate a different mission. It will have a different type or area of operation or weather, the ground forces may attack different targets. The same happens if you restart a campaign. Although, sometimes the game is quite insistent on sending you into specific areas. I'm using this a lot, otherwise many missions would be us bombing a latrine in the middle of enemy fighter training grounds. That is a job for F-105D. - Skip mission by quitting. See Episode 9. - One other option, which I don't use, but explain in the main mission video. And now...  CAS in Suez? But there weren't any enemy tanks left! Well, just for this one time, the campaign spawned a massive T-34 unit in Cairo. And it's already rolling into Suez, where 11 Shermans are holding ground. We are still short on rockets, but a donkey cart delivered another 10 overnight, so we have 13 total. This is almost epic. The mission video  In which we try to say goodbyes, while the game goes a bit odd  We succeeded, even though the enemy tanks wiped out every single defender. Here's the final squadron roster.  If the game actually modelled the difficulties of leaving a plane with no wing or tail, the KIA count would be way higher. And now, what we've all been waiting for, for 17 missions.  ... Some historically relevant text over a shot of an F-4 above a city having an orgasm. Due to budget, the games often use the one-size-fits-all approach: one victory and one defeat artwork for all campaigns on a specific map; one loading screen per game. I just love loading into a P-51D mission staring at an F-14. Also, what the hell, according to the text there's a major air offensive incoming, and the player is not invited?! While I'm at it, let's look at the credits. The screen is available at any moment, but now's a good time to bring it up.  Of course, in the decade of the series' existence there were more people involved in the production. There were even beta testers at some point. But lately that's really the entire crew. They say, that free-to-play tablet SF games are bringing most of the money now.  Next up - Egyptian Meteor F.8. SelenicMartian fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Aug 22, 2014 |
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Oct 16, 2013 06:10
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Does the game model anything in particular with prop planes and high mach numbers? I think you hit over 800 kph in that one dive a while back -- does it affect how the plane handles as you go faster?
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Oct 16, 2013 22:52
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Kangra posted:Does the game model anything in particular with prop planes and high mach numbers? I think you hit over 800 kph in that one dive a while back -- does it affect how the plane handles as you go faster?
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Oct 17, 2013 07:07
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SelenicMartian posted:I don't think, there's anything specifically about prop plane controls. However, 1st gen jets without hydraulic boosters can get major control issues approaching Mach 1. I'm showing it, when we get to Germany, because the Meteor isn't exactly a greyhound. I was kind of wondering at that point if stress can ever damage the plane. Can you go so fast a wing gets torn off or something? I noticed at one point in a video you had a red-out for about half a second.
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Oct 17, 2013 07:11
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Gothsheep posted:I was kind of wondering at that point if stress can ever damage the plane. Can you go so fast a wing gets torn off or something? I noticed at one point in a video you had a red-out for about half a second.
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Oct 17, 2013 07:36
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If I wanted to drop thirty bucks and just smoke Migs or whatever, which is the best game to get? The base game? Vietnam?
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Oct 17, 2013 10:22
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LordPants posted:If I wanted to drop thirty bucks and just smoke Migs or whatever, which is the best game to get? The base game? Vietnam?
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Oct 17, 2013 10:42
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I apologize for the delay, the Meteor's first mission footage was recorded days ago, the commentary is written, but my throat is still undergoing maintenance, and I can't really comment on a 13 minute clip without any semblance of voice. What I can tell about that mission is, that we finally kick rear end, and our generated squadron is a combination of people, who saw a plane for the first time yesterday, and people who are a few kills away from getting an ace badge. It's magnificent.
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Oct 20, 2013 10:35
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It's cool. Don't force yourself to speak before you're ready. As for the Meteor, I have something of a soft spot for it since a nearby museum has a Frankenstein's Monster of a former RAF Meteor (As in I think it has the fuselage and tail of a trainer and the wings of a night fighter) which I've helped work on with a guy who used to be an engine fitter on those things - though sadly it's just a static display with no plans for making it flyable. It may not be very handsome or capable, but I like it all the same.
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Oct 20, 2013 20:28
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That is a ridiculously tight formation. Wow.
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Oct 21, 2013 03:11
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Requesting a couple of pilots: Avi "The Anvil" Lieberman, Israeli F-16 pilot and amateur competitive wrestler. Callsign "Anvil" obviously. Ilan "The Italian" Sharon, callsign "Senator", Israeli F-4 pilot. And finally, but most importantly, Bruce "Big Daddy" Goosby, Vietnam era F-4 Phantom pilot with a huge pornstache. Callsign "Footlong".
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Oct 21, 2013 04:27
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Season 2. Operation Kadesh - Go down, Moses (Meteor F.8) No need for the campaign intro screen - it's exactly the same as before. S02E01: 1956.10.29 (It's THAT day again) The world of Strike Fighters 2 is split into two major sides, FRIEND and ENEMY. The unmodded game is designed for the player flying the FRIEND side. This is the only campaign I'll be flying as the ENEMY, for two reasons: a) This is one of the few campaigns, in which flyable planes are normally present on the ENEMY side. b) This is one of the early campaigns, so surface-to-air missiles are not yet a part of standard air defences. The FRIEND side doesn't have a single model of SAM, except for those used by the ships in 1979. The entire West Germany or Israel? Not a single Western SAM unit, ever.  Now, to fly Egyptian you'll need to either unpack and edit some of the game's data files, or do it in the Campaign Customizer DLC. It's the kind of DLC, that lets you fly mercenaries on F-16s in 1965 Vietnam in a couple of clicks.  Like a P-51D, a Meteor F.8 won't offer you many loadout options. These rockets are new, though. They're fat, ugly, and drop like a stone.  Our generated roster is vastly different from the one in the Israeli campaign. We have 3 pilots with 3 kills already (something I hadn't noticed, until I finished the mission), but the squadron stats are utter crap. This happens, because in the game data there is a file, which defines training quality for every nation in the game. Most FRIEND countries are ranked really good. ENEMY nations are ranked at Star Wars storm troopers level, except for maybe the USSR pilots.  The starting squadron strength of six is not funny. I'll stick to flights of four, then. The mission video  In which we celebrate the gains, lament the losses, rip and tear  Ah, much better! 4 personal kills in one mission. Two wingmen kills. One of those guys has 4 total now. I think, I'll be taking the leading three pilots for the next hunt. We lost 2 planes, but we're defending and flying over home turf, so POW outcome is less likely. One pilot just shrugged it off, one pilot is wounded: we'll have to make do without Wafai for a while. P.S. How am I actually supposed to pronounce Mystère? Speaking of, on my system the game skips "è" and any other symbol, that is not a part of a basic Latin alphabet. The German map loses umlauts in location names. SelenicMartian fucked around with this message at 17:16 on Aug 22, 2014 |
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Oct 23, 2013 21:49
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Must be nice finally flying something that can actually go fast and is equipped with weapons that don't jam every time you pull the trigger.  Now you just need to find those crafty pilots that bombed your airbase and give them a stern talking to. 
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Oct 24, 2013 20:45
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The Meteor looks quite nice compared to the Mustang, at least for AtA combat. I also totally forgot both sides used them in that conflict, and yeah those wing stripes are a quick and easy way to tell sides apart, I'm sure. The Israelis would do the same sort of things later with their Mirage, Kfir and Nesher fighters. "Dear friendlies, check out my awesome high-visibility black and orange triangle markings. I am TOTALLY not an enemy Mirage, please don't shoot me down, tia!"
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Oct 25, 2013 01:10
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Galaga Galaxian posted:The Meteor looks quite nice compared to the Mustang, at least for AtA combat. I also totally forgot both sides used them in that conflict, and yeah those wing stripes are a quick and easy way to tell sides apart, I'm sure. The Israelis would do the same sort of things later with their Mirage, Kfir and Nesher fighters. To be fair, that is the kind of thing I would like friendlies to know!
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Oct 25, 2013 07:35
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Admittedly it's rather quiet and probably somewhat hard to pick out in the heat of the moment, but when you select airbrakes open or closed you can hear the motors working away. So it's not perfect, but it's better than nothing! Aside from this campaign, are there any other ones where we'll run into opponents using the same aircraft? Finally, it looks like the AI always try to send off one aircraft to deal with another. Do they ever try to actively gang up on their opponents? Or are they too dumb to have that occur to them?
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Oct 25, 2013 19:55
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Soup Inspector posted:but when you select airbrakes open or closed you can hear the motors working away. Soup Inspector posted:Aside from this campaign, are there any other ones where we'll run into opponents using the same aircraft? If you generate a single mission in 1948 Israel, during the first war, you'll see slightly different Israeli and Egyptian Spitfires fighting each other. There's actually one Egyptian Spitfire squadron on the map in the current campaign, but they seem to stay at home. Which was good for the previous season, because, well... People on a fan forum once did a test: 15 Ace P-51Ds + the player vs. 16 Ace Spitfires. The average score was Spitfires winning 16:01. They have cannons. The only thing that saves you from them normally is low Arab pilot quality. Soup Inspector posted:Do they ever try to actively gang up on their opponents? Usually, the AIs try to operate in pairs. One guy is attacking, one is flying cover.
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Oct 25, 2013 20:41
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