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    War Thunder Beta (1.35) Review
    Centurion-1
    By Centurion-1,
    War Thunder Beta Impressions by Mats "Centurion" Liljeroos   http://warthunder.com/   War Thunder by Gaijin Entertainment is an air combat game set in World War 2 and the Korean War time period, and features an impressive almost 300 aircraft to date! And it does not cost a single cent to buy, which would have seemed too good to be true a couple of years ago. The free-to-play concept certainly has proved successful these last few years, and it seems that almost all multiplayer titles these days adopt the free-to-play or f2p concept at some point, with massive boosts in revenue as a result. For the consumer, the f2p concept has some very obvious strengths, the biggest being that no money is required up front, allowing the consumer to sample the offerings for however long he or she wishes. The largest criticism of the f2p model is that is actually free to play, but pay to win, and that the player has to pay to have any chance at succeeding in the game. War Thunder is a free-to-play title, but is it pay-to-win too? And is it a serious air combat game?   Installation and introduction   War Thunder is currently in open beta, the last major update was version 1.35. The release date for the full version is not disclosed, but there is already at this stage a large amount of content implemented, and the developers have stated that they will not perform a reset of player stats once the full version goes live. The game is available for Steam or stand-alone, but you will have to register an account for the game that will track your achievements. As stated previously, the game is indeed free so the threshold to install the game and give it a whirl should be quite low. The download is about 5Gb in size, nothing exceptional in this day and age.            Once downloaded and installed (I went for the stand-alone route) clicking on the game icon will take you to the launcher that ensures that you have the latest version and also offer the latest news regarding the game. Once actually in game and logged on, you are treated to a somewhat bewildering array of menus and a view of you first aircraft for the nation you chose to play for. The choices of nations are USSR, USA, Britain for the Allies, and Germany (which also has Italian planes in it's roster) and Japan for the axis. There is no requirement to actually stick to that said nation, however. The first launch also prompts the player to set up controls and complete a basic training mission.[/size]       Main screen     Economy   After a little while, the menus will start to feel rather familiar, and the UI design is actually rather well executed. The main elements are your player profile, with a separate level rating for each playable nation. A higher level will give access to better planes through the research panel. The planes will, however, cost you which brings us to the in-game currencies. Yes, you read right, there are two in-game currencies: Silver Lions and Golden Eagles. Silver Lions are earned for more or less everything and are not really in short supply while Golden Eagles are the premium currency, and these are generally bought with real money even though they can be earned in-game in certain special cases. The good news is that the majority of the planes in-game can be bought with Silver Lions, the bad news is that certain planes actually need to be bought with Golden Eagles. For the most part, these planes are special cases like captured enemy planes, and I am fine with those being charged extra for. If you want to fly for the USA but still do that in a Bf109 you should be forced to pay in my opinion. My gripe is that USSR players are forced to pay Golden Eagles for lend-lease planes like the P-40 Kittyhawk or P-39 Aircobra, even though these were employed en-masse by the VVS. Be that as it may, there are a lot of planes available for Silver Lions and the planes are divided into logical technology-trees, forcing you to think about what you want to fly not only now but also later on.[/size]     Research panel. The planes to the far right are premium planes, avaliable either as gifts or for purchase by premium currency.   Once you buy a plane the basic idea is that you receive a second-hand, slightly ragged example that needs repairs and upgrades to operate at maximum efficiency. These are unlocked by flying the plane and symbolic sums of Silver Lions, and do make a difference for the total performance of your plane. Upgrades range from an engine supercharger to new machineguns, and are overall rather reasonable and realistic, and makes the time between level-ups seem meaningful. And they are a great excuse to fly just another mission! Planes are assigned to different slots which each have their own air and ground crew that can also be leveled up, allowing you for example to decrease the re-arming speed or increase your pilots g-tolerance.     An almost fully upgraded plane   Gameplay   There are three main modes of gameplay that will earn you experience points and Silver Lions: Arcade, Historical Battle and Full Real Battle. These differ rather much from each other.  Arcade is an all-out furball over fictional, but oh-so-pretty, landscapes. There are no limits on plane nationality and the players can respawn for as many times as they have crew slots with planes. In arcade you also start out in the air and all planes have an WEP (Wartime Emergency Power) boost that can be used for a short while. Machineguns and cannons are reloaded in the air as well, making for some pretty hectic gameplay. If you just want to get in there and have a fast round or two of flying, arcade can be your pick. Because you are allowed to respawn, it can also be a lot less frustrating for beginners. The arcade scenarious are divided into various mission types, ranging from ground strike where the elimination of enemy vehicles is number one priority, to airfield domination where the team wins by holding a number of airfields that are captured by landing on them. Both are good fun and can be surprisingly tactical.     The historical battlefields are a bit more low-key, but well made nonetheless.   Historical battles are more realistic in the sense that you start on the runway and can not change plane after dying. If you run out of ammo you need to land to reload. The flight dynamics are also more apparent and stalling as well as spinning is a more distinct possiblity, as is ripping your wings off if you try to manouver too hard while having a high airspeed. The maps are based on historical locations and have various objectives. More often than not the game ends with one side loosing all of their aircraft. Historical battles are good fun and better to fly with a joystick since the lead marker that shows you where to shoot in arcade battles is absent, and thus the mouse aim players advantage in accuracy is a lot smaller.   Full Real Battles (FRB) are just that: Full realism simulation, with all engine and flight dynamic settings enabled. Mouse-aim is not permitted meaning you need to have a controller like a joystick, since the "mouse joystick" is very counter-intuitive, and you can only view from within your cockpit. In this mode, some kind of head tracking is probably very helpful to keep situational awareness. On an interesting side note, War Thunder is ready out of the box to support the Oculus Rift VR headset, and as you might know the production Oculus Rift is set to be released sometime next year.   The latest version, Beta 1.35, has added a new setting, called “Events mode”, which are customized battles with varying settings, for example a specific day of combat during the Battle of Britain where only the historically correct aircraft get to participate.         An event.   Flying in War Thunder really brings me back to the days of Il-2 Sturmovik, which was the last WW2 sim I played. I'd personally say the feel of the flight dynamics are rather excellent, and coupled with the quite granular hit and damage modeling makes for some very satisfying dogfights. In Arcade mode the flight model is definitively more forgiving and entering a flat spin is damn near impossible, meaning that you can yank your controls around with abandon. In HB and FRB you need to pay more attention to energy management and your planes characteristics. Limping back to base in a shot-up plane to re-arm and repair can be exhilarating in its own right, which is a good testament to both the flight model and damage modeling.         I made it!   There is also a lot of extra events and special commemorative days that gives players discounts for certain aircraft, and during some events you can even earn free aircraft that are otherwise premium for kills or other tasks. So if you just got a month long slot opened in your calendar, there certainly is a lot to do in War Thunder if you really want to have at it!   For those who are not too keen on multiplayer gaming there are some single player missions avaliable, but the AI of your opponents and especially your wingmans leaves a lot to be desired. If you are prepared to overlook that you can fly custom battles, single missions and even a dynamic campaign versus the AI. You can also play these mission with friends allowing for traditional co-op play. Overall though, the game places a lot of emphasis on the multiplayer component.         A single mission   Controls   As I mentioned earlier you can either control the game by just a simple mouse and keyboard combo or then a joystick. There are many different types of ways to set up the controls, so if you have a joystick, rudders, throttle and even one of those trim switch controllers with a lot of programmable levers and aim to fly FRB you can map things like propeller pitch or fuel mixture to these in addition to all the basic controls. I think this is a great approach, as there is something for everyone and even new players that may not own a joystick have a good possibility to just get into the game. One should not scoff at the mouse aim either, because it more than makes up for its lack in turning proficiency for its deadly aim: putting well aimed shots is a lot easier with the simplified mouse control than with a joystick and making small corrections is quite easy. If you want to fly with a joystick you can opt to use a simplified control scheme that has a “instructor” that prevents you from stalling and spinning your aircraft. After going into a few flat spins and crashing because of poor energy management in a P-39 Aircobra you might want to consider this. The author certainly did. In FRB mode this is not available, however.   It should be said that the control issue is a pretty big one, since the super accurate shooting that the mouse enables makes joystick flying in the arcade mode a bit impractical if you want to really rack up a good score. Flying with the mouse is still amazingly fluid and you can really feel like a good pilot zooming low over the threetops. Only in the FRB mode does the joystick actually become a necessity.   Planes, planes and more planes   The plane set is satisfyingly large, and no matter what nation you chose there is a lot of choice. Want to fly a nimble biplane fighter or a lumbering four engine bomber? There is a choice for you. The planes are ranked approximately by year, so you start out with mostly bi-plane designs of the 1930s and move up from there. Korean war jets like the F-86 Sabre and MiG-15 represents the top-of-the-line. And don’t worry, the matches are set by plane rank so you won’t have to take on Me-262s in your I-153 Chaika. There is also a lot of stuff to upgrade for each plane making the time between levels more meaningful. You can also customize the look of your plane by adding decals and changing paint schemes, however the selection of different paint jobs is pretty small and a lot of these are premium meaning they cost golden eagles.         Here you can see my P-39Q with two custom decals. If you have a premium account, you can apply up to four decals!   The planes are modeled to satisfying detail and feel "right" in the handling. Things like roll and turning rate and armament really does make a difference in the battles and you find yourself researching your next purchase pretty tediously.           The level of detail is quite high       If you for whatever reason feel limited by the choice of aircraft, you can check the official homepages release roadmap and note that there seems to be plans for damn near every combat aircraft that flew for the various nations. One can only wonder how long it will take before this huge plane set is a reality.   Graphics and sounds   I have been playing computer games and sims for over 15 years, and I can remember the time the first graphics accelerators came out on the market. By that I wish to say that I’m not very easily impressed by graphical gimmicks anymore, but I’ve got to admit that War Thunder is stunning to look at. The planes are modeled and textured beautifully both on the inside and out, the terrain is rendered wonderfully in full detail and the light and atmospheric effects are like icing on the cake. Flying from inside the cockpit towards a setting sun with light-shafts and shadows dancing around while you look at a misty valley below is almost poetically beautiful, only to be torn apart seconds later by the chattering of gunfire and bursting flak shells. I can only imagine what it will look like while wearing the Oculus Rift.   The sounds are also excellent, heavy machineguns have a satistfying "oomph" to them and the sound of cannons like the Yak-9K's NS-45 45mm cannon is downright terrifying. The engines sound convincing and they sputter and whimp when damaged in a convincing manner. And it is all comped by a suitable orchestral sound track that never gets annoying.                                   Ultra low graphics         The graphics are excellently scalable and there is even an Ultra Low mode for those with older machines that eliminates most of the graphical fireworks in exchange for a lot more frames per second. I initially run the game on my laptop in ultra low but after some trickery I managed to update the graphics drivers to the latest Catalyst version, and after that I consistently get 30+ fps even on my laptop on higher graphics settings. All in all, the graphics engine deserves the highest of praise!       The future   Obviously, War Thunders imminent future involves getting out of the beta phase and adding more planes and scenarios. In addition to that, the developers aim to introduce player controlled ground and naval forces. There are some early screenshots of the ground module available, but no concrete details yet. Only time will tell how well these additions will work. The official homepage has a roadmap page which lists planned new features of War Thunder to be introduced during open global beta:   The earliest changes: personal statistics; squadrons (clans); enhanced game balancer; new missions, locations and game modes; major update, new menu and interface; further FM corrections; new aircrafts (check the Release Tree section); economic model update; Other updates:   localization for more languages; control over ground vehicles and battleships; tournaments; player authored missions, and full mission editor; «World War» game mode; bomber cockpits; voice chat.   So there certainly does not seem to be a lack of effort on the part of Gajin Entertainment. In a recent new update they have stated that playable ground vehicles will be added to the open beta during 2013! War Thunder is also scheduled to be a launch title for the PS4.   Conclusion   War Thunder offers a lot of content for potentially no money at all, so there really is not much negative to say about that. The business model chosen means that progression is a bit on the slow side if you decide to not buy any premium currency to speed things up or invest in a premium account which gives you even more experience points. On the other hand, the slow progression means you get to spend a good deal of time with each plane you get.   Ultimately, your enjoyment in this game will not be down to the actual game but to whom you play it with and what your preferences are. Competitive multiplayer gaming is not for everyone, and the game is a whole lot more fun if you have a friend or two in your squad to cover your six. There are frustrations in this game, but so far I have encountered a lot less of them than in other multiplayer titles. Voice communications and a bit of planning can go a long way in this game, and helps you avoid frustrating deaths.   Perhaps the best of all is that in the end, it all comes down to player skill. A good pilot can thrive in this game even if they don’t put a single dime into it.     Score:   Gameplay 4 / 5   Excellent flight dynamics and damage modeling coupled with a wide array of supported devices means anyone can hop into the fray and not be at an disadvantage. The game really captures the excitement potential of the air combat genre and it is all too easy to say to yourself  "just one more mission". The only downside is the somewhat lacklustre single player portion, but on the other hand it is great that the developers added it in the first place.   Graphics and sounds 5/5   Simply stunning visuals that run smooth as silk, comped by excellent sound effects and music.   Overall: 4,5/5   It is really difficult to find serious faults in this game, because it offers so much for basically nothing. And it seems that War Thunder has found that balance that makes playing without paying quite viable while rewarding those that do sink a few bucks into it. I bought a premium plane just as much for the better stats it offered as to support these developers, and the future certianly seems bright for the title!  

    CombatACE Spotlight: Interview with Typhoid
    Skyviper
    By Skyviper,
    Interview With Typhoid “I think CombatACE is a community of people from across the world that have come together on a collection of flight simulations … This is a fun place to come hang out for a bit.”    In this week’s CombatACE spotlight we shine the light on Typhoid. He’s a retired Naval Flight Officer, a modder, an elected official, and has been a member here at CombatACE since 2006. He has also released a number of files, over the years that have collectively accumulated over thirty thousand downloads. He’s even made a very special campaign that has been downloaded over two thousand times. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview with us, Typhoid. To start off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?  I am a retired Naval Flight Officer and then did another 18 years as a defense contractor and task lead supporting NORAD, US Space, AF Space, NORTHCOM, STRATCOM, and AFC2ISR Center.  Counting my active duty and contractor time, I spent 15 years in NORAD J3 including 9/11 and a lot of work after 9/11 on upgrading NORAD command and control systems.  I also earned a commercial, single and multi-engine with an Instrument rating as well as single and multi-engine instructor rating.  I didn’t do very much flying with that but the experience helped me a lot in my Navy flying since I also flew co-pilot on a number of occasions when land based.   I ran for office starting in January of this year and was elected to a four year term on the Colorado Springs City Council, which includes service on the board of directors of CS Utilities.  This keeps me busy in my retirement!     Busy indeed. How long have you served in the Navy and what was your role while serving? I retired after 21 years of active duty as a Naval Flight officer as a Commander (O-5) in the E-2 as an Air Intercept Controller and Mission Commander and, on a joint tour, the E-4B initially as a Strategic Operations Officer and then as Chief, Command Control and Communications which included Emergency Actions.      What aircraft did you fly while in the Navy and which one did your prefer flying? Mostly I flew the E-2 and E-4B.  Of course I flew the standard training aircraft; T-34B, T-39, T-2B and also a few others at various times for various reasons including the TA-4J, S-2, P-3C, E-3A, and the KA-6D, for one, right seat day trap!.  I logged 345 traps in the E-2 so including the KA-6D; I logged a total of 346 traps as an NFO.     I guess you can land on a carrier in Strike Fighters North Atlantic with your eyes closed and a hand tied behind your back. What is an aircraft you would like to fly? Any aircraft!  I really liked the Bonanza and Beech Baron in civilian flying and the TA-4J was a real fun couple of hops flying with the aggressors in VF-126.  I can say that I flew both kinds of Skyhawk, the Cessna 172 and the Scooter.     What interest you about aviation?  It is a fantastic, demanding and always changing field.      What is your favorite aircraft and why?  I don’t really have a favorite.  Every aircraft that I had the opportunity to fly, front seat or back, had its own special attraction, its own mission niche, and own challenges.  I ended up in the E-2 through the selection process and I happened to fit in there very well.  Having the Big Picture and control of a variety of aircraft on a variety of missions was an awesome challenge and responsibility.  I was involved in a lot of very challenging operations flying the E-2 from the North Atlantic to the KAL-007 SAR ops.  The E-4B was a very challenging experience in a field that most never get exposure to, and the three years that I can talk the least about!    What got you interested in flight simulation? Sitting in an office all day and remembering what it used to be like.  Being able to fire up the flight simulator at home and go flying again once in awhile is a lot of fun and breaks the tension after a day pushing paperwork.     I can understand that. It’s sort of like being a caged bird and the flight sim, in a way, sets you free. Speaking of flight simulators, do you remember the first flight sim you ever played? Not now.  I think I always had some kind of flight sim on my computer going back to the early days of Windows.  As the operating systems evolved the early flight sims would crash and I’d be looking for another.  I just happened to come across Wings Over Vietnam in the store one day and have been very happy with the series and the community ever since.     What motivated you to arrive here at CombatACE and stay over the years?  After picking up WOV, I went to the Thirdwire site to figure something out and stumbled onto the various community sites with all of the various mods.  That opened up a lot of interesting variations and I’ve enjoyed trying them all out, and filling up my hard drives.  CombatACE was the one I settled on the most with a very large community of people who have become friends and a lot of different ways to modify the games.    When did you start modding?  Pretty soon after I first got started on the series and after I came onto CA.  When I saw how the mods worked it became another part of the game that I found very interesting.  Just making a mod was a challenge from both a technical aspect as well as leveraging my past experience.     Over the years you’ve released a lot of files mostly updates to the game. How long does it take you to make those updates? It takes several hours to think just one through and then try it out, debug it, and try it again until I get it right.  I have not made any real complicated mods at all, nothing like some of the other gents have.  I have mostly done just minor ini mods to make different models of aircraft that others have previously made or some mission packages.  I joined some of the teams for awhile helping teams develop some of the mods and testing them out, and providing some ini mods to those.  I have not done any actual model development or terrains as some of the other guys have.   Another file of yours, the Gulf of Sidra Incident, has gained a lot of attention as well, with some 2,718 downloads. What motivated you to create that campaign and share it with us? I was there.  That was several minutes of a winter Mediterranean morning that was burned into my memory.  I was the 6th Fleet Battle Watch Captain on duty in the Fleet Command Center aboard the flagship, USS Belknap, when that went down.  Without going into specifics, we had the first contact and I called the first threat inbound. We were on the nets through the engagement.  You all know pretty much what happened after that.  I made the missions from my recollection of what happened and set up some variations so people could fly from either side.  One of the missions that I set up had the Floggers coming out on a routine recon and one on an active, hostile intercept as it happened; so that by trying both of them out, one can fly the intercept without knowing if this is going hot or not, pretty much what a real section would face.    To say that was a tense situation would be an understatement. What does modding do for you? Is it something that is relaxing and neat hobby etc? Yes, very much a fun exercise to put the day behind and do some fun stuff.  Since I’ve been in elected office now, my calendar exploded and I don’t have time anymore to do any modding.  I just occasionally have a little time to fly a few missions in an evening once in awhile.  I go weeks at a time now between logging in simply because of the time constraints I am now under.    What modding tools do you use and why?  I’ve just done ini modding rather than any of the real mods such as creating the full aircraft model or I do mission building.  I used to use some of the mission tools but since one has now been added on SF2, I just use that one.     What is your favorite mod that you have created?  The F-14D in the series one.  That was how I really learned how to do those mods and I updated the model as I learned how to make the changes and make them more and more realistic.      What is your favorite mod that you did not create? That is a tough one.  The planes that many modders have released are awesome. As a Navy guy, I get a kick out of all the ship mods coming out, those are quite interesting and I have fun just looking into the files to see how they’re built. I think the ones I like the most are the full, all inclusive mods such as the Falklands, Desert Storm, etc., where the terrains have been built and the various planes and objects have all been put together and then linked with campaigns and missions. Those are the real modders and my hat is off to all of them.      Who is a Modder, or group of Modders, you admire or inspired you to start modding?   That is a very long list!  I think the Mirage Factory is where I first caught on and Ollie was someone who brought me into that community where I learned a lot very fast from quite a few people.  And there are lots of people since.  I hesitate to start listing them all because there really are a lot of really great people working on these mods and new ones are coming in all the time.  Special mention, though, to Erik and Dave and the others who built this site and keep it running.    Do you have any favorite quotes or thoughts about being here at CombatACE you’d like to share? I think CombatACE is a community of people from across the world that have come together on a collection of flight simulations and share insight, experience, and models.  In many cases, we have become friends in sharing a hobby and talking about aviation in general.  This is a fun place to come hang out for a bit.    Thank you Typhoid for taking the time to do an interview and for sharing your story with us. If you'd like to play the campaign based on Typhoid's own recollection, of information he's allowed to share with us, click here to check it out. Please read all download instructions and associated readme files to get the full enjoyment from the mod. Typhoid was also kind enough to share with us a couple of photos. One is of him in the Navy and the other is a photo of him as a councilman. Thank you for dropping by to check out today's CombatACE Spotlight. Until next time I'm Skyviper wishing everyone happy landings!  

    Defence of the Reich, IL-2 style - the next mission
    33LIMA
    By 33LIMA,
    Mission #2 in FlatSpinMan's campaign - the 'heavies' show up!   Having flown the first mission in FlatSpinMan's campaign 'Luftwaffe pilot - Defence of the Reich' and to my surprise, found myself intercepting an RAF shipping strike while on a transit flight, I was keen to fly the second mission and see what was next in store. I had certainly enjoyed swatting some of those pesky Mosquitos - and earning an Iron Cross in the process, tho perhaps not the universal admiration of the Kreigsmarine, over the small matter of certain shipping losses which, despite my best efforts and three kills, I had not been able entirely to prevent. But my main aim in signing up for this campaign had been to defend the Fatherland itself from flocks of marauding Ami heavy bombers - to the Jagdflieger, known variously as 'dicke autos' (fat cars) or 'mobelwagen' (furniture vans) - did somebody in the nachricthen/signals section have a road traffic fixation??? And I also wanted to confirm - as Boelcke's Reichsverteidigung campaign had already indicated - that IL-2 '46 plus Dark Blue World plus a suitable campaign or two equals a satisfactory-or-better fix for my craving for the sort of action I used to get in spades from good old European Air War.   I wasn't disappointed!   The mission   Notwithstanding my transfer flight south having been rudely interrupted by the impertinent Englishmen in their little wooden planes, I found from the mission briefing that I was evidently now well settled into my new unit, I Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 1 (I/JG1). And as I'd hoped, our tasking for today's mission was intercepting incoming Ami bombers. The date wasn't given, but would have been consistent with spring 1943, likely prior to JG1 giving up the eastern part of its North Sea/Baltic Sea area of operations to JG11, which was created at that time, with units of JG1 being transferred in to form the nucleus of the new unit. Here's the briefing:     The briefing itself is nicely written, with some succinct but excellent advice. The 'int' (or 'intel' as the Amis call it) on what we were intercepting is a bit scant and/or scattered and a tad vague but good enough, taken together. The short verbal briefings in EAW were quite good in that respect though uncannily, they were always able to tell you the raid's target, not just an estimate thereof! As you can see, though the placenames show that this is Latvia/Lithuania on the eastern side of the Baltic Sea, FlatSpinMan has made the best of IL-2's available maps by telling us it's the Heligoland area, on the western side of Denmark, for which the map is quite a good proxy, placenames apart.   I chose the briefing's recommended 'skin' for my aircraft, which came with the campaign's recommended skinpack: 'White 3', still an early 'Gustav' with rifle-calibre machine-guns atop the engine and no bulges there to spoil my machine's clean lines. Knowing we were up against unescorted heavy bombers, I naturally chose the R6 'loadout': a pair of 2cm MG151 cannon in underwing gondolas (or 'bathtubs'). Here's my 'kanonenvogel', in which I was leader of a 4-plane schwarm for this operation. Fortunately, we were not the only defending flight on this mission, as it turned out!     It's a nice skin, looking like the JG5 aircraft I flew in mission #1 has had the yellow wingtips removed, the aircraft ID number overpainted, and the JG1 'Winged 1' unit emblem substituted for JG5's. I don't think that JG1 adopted that emblem until rather later in the war but that's a small quibble. As you may have gathered, this was another air start, not my ideal perhaps but certainly a real time-saver plus it gets you to the correct height as well as on the correct course, in this case for the head-on attack recommended in the briefing, well out over the sea.   And there they were - the Ami bombers. Still just a cluster of specks in the clear blue sky well above the scattering of cotton-like clouds, but heading right at us on a steady course. I could feel the corners of my mouth curling almost imperceptibly in satisfied anticipation as I sat slightly forward in my seat, tightening my grip on the joystick and placing my left hand on the throttle. Not long, now!     ...to be continued!

    CombatACE Spotlight: Interview with the Virtual Thunderbirds
    Skyviper
    By Skyviper,
    Interview With The Virtual Thunderbirds   Founded in 2004 they are the first squad to reenact the precision and professionalism of the U.S Air Force Thunderbids. Their mission, as their website sates, "is to be the most comprehensive group of knowledgeable and talented pilots on the internet "wearing" the Thunderbird patch, virtually." They are the Virtual Thunderbirds and they've been widely recognized on the net as the virtual equivalent to the U.S Air Force Thunderbirds. They are a fan based group that work hard to perform formation flying, breathtaking and precise aerobatic maneuvers using Eagle Dynamics Digital Combat Simulator. They use flight controls made by Thurstmaster who is also their sponsor to perform their precise aerobatic routines. The Virtual Thunderbirds spend many hours perfecting their routine and work hard to keep their  "technique and callouts as closely as possible with those used by the USAF Thunderbird pilots" as stated on their website. Randy "Tailhook" Thom, VTB2 Left Wing, Rick "Ray" Charles, VTB3 Right Wing, and Tom "Teej" Kopp, VTB6 Opposing Solo have kindly agreed to do this interview and for that, gentlemen, we thank you.     What events inspired the creation of the Virtual Thunderbirds in 2004?
    I’d say the inspiring events simply were the sight and sound of watching the USAF Thunderbirds perform at local air shows.

      How long did it take for the first team to form?
    Probably not long, given that they were friends who shared the same interest at the time.

    How much time do the Virtual Thunderbirds spend training so the team can perform with the same amount of precision as the USAF Thunderbirds?
    If we were to start out with no practice for months to show-ready, I would say 2 to 3 months, depending on how many practices all 6 of us could attend during that period. The flying is a stressful challenge but really it is just second nature to all of us. Like anyone, we have our good days and our bad days. If someone messes up a maneuver there is little chance that person will mess up that same maneuver the following practice. Aside from the flying, the real challenge for the whole team is just nailing down the tight choreography of the demonstration both on the ground and in the air.

    Have the Virtual Thunderbirds ever met the USAF Thunderbirds? If so please explain the events of the meeting.
    Yes and no. On a few occasions some of us have met with an active Thunderbird here and there over the years but we have never actually met them as a group. Instead we have come in contact of some amazing people, alumni and friends, colleagues, pilots and aviation enthusiasts alike whom share our passion.

    What recommendations do you have for people that would like to practice being a Virtual Thunderbird?
    Practice hard, stretch your comfort zone, and break any habits you find yourself fighting with!

    If you want to learn a lot while taking your flying skills to the complete next level, feel free to send in an application. It takes more than just superb flying ability to accomplish the Virtual Thunderbird mission. It takes outstanding support, unparalleled training, attention to detail, and professionalism. We are always looking for dedicated and motivated team players. We hope you'll give us the opportunity to meet you and answer any questions you may have.

    How has the Virtual Festival of Aerobatic Teams impacted the Virtual Thunderbirds? Has helped spread your popularity? Solidify your position among the many virtual aerobatic teams around the world?
    I think VFAT has impacted the team in some ways. It has given the VTB the motivation to strive for realism and professionalism, as well as push itself to be better the next time around. VFAT has no doubt helped spread the team’s popularity both within the community of ED’s simulators and abroad to other game communities. The same can also be said for every other team that performs. But I wouldn’t go so far as to say VFAT has solidified our position among the rest. At the end of the day we are all just equal enthusiasts like everyone else having fun in what we do and putting on a show for the rest of the world.

    Do you perform at virtual air shows other than VFAT?
    Currently we do not but we are interested in performing in more shows than just VFAT in the future.

    What is the future for the virtual aerobatic teams and where do you see the Virtual Thunderbirds  in that future?
    The virtual aerobatic community is growing and will continue to grow for years to come thanks to an evolving simulator by Eagle Dynamics. We expect to stick around for as long as our passion for aviation and the enjoyment of representing the USAF Thunderbirds in a virtual world stick with us.

    What inspired you to become a Virtual Thunderbird?
    The thing that did it for me was back in early 2006 when I was looking through fighter jet videos on Google Videos and stumbled onto their first official video from 2004. I immediately was amazed at what they were accomplishing and it looked like so much fun. From then on I tried out for the team twice, once in 2006 and again in 2009, but my age was the limiting factor both times. I eventually tried out again in late 2011 and made the team in 2012. -Tailhook

    I'd have to say the 'Smoke On' movie in 2006 is what did it for me. I thought, "They are awesome! I'd like to fly with a team like that someday”. I've been flying flight simulators since about '95 and have always enjoyed formation flying with AI or other players. I thought it would be a lot of fun and a challenge to try flying the various maneuvers of the Thunderbirds in an online simulator. Then a few years went by and real life kept me busy enough that I wouldn't have been able to dedicate the time required to fly with the team. When I had more free time I was excited to see them recruiting in 2009 so I began attending tryout flights a few times a week while getting to know the team. That lasted for a few months and then I was selected in September. I’ve really enjoyed the flying, teamwork and camaraderie. -Ray   In my case, trying out was almost a spur of the moment decision. The last online flying I had done was between 2005 and 2007, with Falcon 4 Allied Force and Open Falcon with several groups and squadrons. As F4AF popularity faded, I dropped out of flying for a while. With a job layoff early in 2009 and the stress of looking for work, I felt like flying again, and came across Lawndart's recruitment post on Frugals World. Knowing one of my old Falcon friends (Panther) was with the group, I gave it a shot and the group and I very quickly felt like it was a great fit. -Teej   What do you like about being a Virtual Thunderbird?
    I like the teamwork and professionalism we all put forth. It’s nice to deal with smart people who know what they are doing and do it well. From the flying to the public interactions, it all just feels good to be among some of the best. -Tailhook

    I really enjoy the teamwork and the flying. The concentration and raw skill required to perform this type of flying is incredible, without a doubt the most challenging thing I've ever done. I'm an ATP rated airline pilot in real life and excelling at this type of flying is much more difficult than any real world flying will ever be. I enjoy the challenge and being able to observe via track replay the aerial art we create. To see it all come together in a near perfect performance is extremely rewarding. There are so many things that each of us have to do just right during the show for it all to work out. I believe it's that constant pursuit of flying that perfect show that really fuels the fire. Also, each of us have our own difficulties with various maneuvers. To see the improvement in ourselves and our team mates as we progress in the season is a great feeling as well. It's just a very enjoyable hobby, there's nothing else like it. -Ray   The teamwork and dedication to make things look right, long past the point where some would say "Eh, good enough." Sure, it's "just a video game", but when everyone gets things right and not just "good enough", that's fun. There's a sense of pride in being professional enough to deal with problems when they come up, such as when one of our pilots had a joystick issue during VFAT 2011. After confirming the issue was resolved, we all checked that we had enough fuel to finish the show and pressed on. Later we had a laugh over it and released a joke video using the "satellite" view of the show. -Teej   What is your most memorable moment of being a Virtual Thunderbird?
    So far I think the most memorable has just been having the chance to personally meet and have fun with the people I have looked up to over the years. -Tailhook

    I'd have to say flying my first live show during our VFAT 2009 performance. It was a mix of nerves and excitement. Once Boss called for brakes release and we began rolling I thought, "There's no turning back now! Just relax and fly like I've trained". When I heard the excitement in our radio calls I knew we had a good one going. A few minutes went by and the nerves subsided. I felt very relaxed on the wing, staying locked in, just working through each maneuver one at a time. Before long we were setting up for the Delta Blue Out Pitch and then on the ground taxiing in. It was a very rewarding feeling, all the hard work and practice had paid off! -Ray   I don't think I could narrow it down to one. The easiest answer would be brakes release to start my first show. Another was reading a rather colorful "critique" of our 2012 show by a fighter pilot friend of the team. And then I think anyone who has done this knows the feeling of having elements you've struggled with in practice but nailed during the show. -Teej   Has being a Virtual Thunderbird impacted your life any? If so please explain.
    I think it has impacted me very much personally. For years I have wanted to become a pilot in real life and being around a number of actual pilots both on the team and in the aerobatic community gave me the motivation to finally pursue a career in aviation. It has taught me many different things and has made me a better person overall. Also, the skills you obtain from doing what we do carry over very well in reality both with knowledge and flying. -Tailhook

    I think it has helped with my precision flying in real life in terms of instrument flying, the scan, constant attention required, and the smooth control inputs. When I went for airline initial training in the ERJ-145, after my first session in the simulator the instructor said "I'd sign you off for an ATP right now if I could, that was incredible! I've never seen anyone fly so precisely their first time in the sim". I believe without a doubt that PC simulator flying has helped my real life flying. It has also opened some networking opportunity for me in the real world. My teammate Todd "Whack" MacLeod, our former #5, put me in touch with a buddy of his that was looking for an FO to fly an Embraer Legacy 600 with him for an oil and gas company here in the Houston area. I decided to decline the offer and stay with the airlines but thought to myself, "Wow, how awesome is that?" If I hadn't been a member of the VTB that opportunity would have never presented itself. -Ray   Impact? That's tough to say. My involvement with the VTB has led to making friends with a group of people I probably would not have met otherwise. It's meant taking a couple of trips I otherwise would not have, such as assisting Thrustmaster with the media release event for the HOTAS Warthog controller. Beyond that, I'm still interested in pursuing a pilot's license at some point. While flying a simulated fighter jet has little in common with a small piston-engined aircraft, there is a core mindset in flying that I think does carry over to an extent. You never want your aircraft going somewhere your mind wasn't already at 10 seconds ago. -Teej   Do you have any comments for your fans out there?
    Thank you for all the continued support and positive feedback, we appreciate it! -Tailhook

    Thank you for your support over the years, we enjoy performing for our fans. Also practice, practice, and more practice if you're struggling at learning to fly formation. It takes quite a lot of time to perfect those skills and build the muscle memory required to fly tight formation. -Ray   Thanks for your interest! We'd probably do this even without VFAT, but it's fun having a virtual gathering to share each others' work. -Teej   Once again thank you for taking the time to an interview with Tailhook, Ray, and Teej.   For those wondering, the other Virtual Thunderbird members are,Kris "Lawndart" Langdell VTB1 Commander/Leader, Tab "Redeye" Harris VTB4 Slot, Stephanie "Panther" Lessentine VTB5 Lead Solo, Steve "Gunner" Watts VTB7 Operations Officer, Allen"Thumper" Hartford VTB8 Advance Pilot/Narrator, and Todd "Whack" MacLeod VTB9, Flight Surgeon. Kudos to all of you for your hard work.   Until next time, I'm Skyviper wishing everyone out there happy landings.   Click here to check out the Virtual Thunderbirds website.                                                                                           Clck here to see a video of them in action             Do you think you have what it takes to be a Virtual Thunderbird? Click the link below to find out. Best wishes!

    "You can't kill a squadron..."
    33LIMA
    By 33LIMA,
    Defending the Reich...with a difference!   This mission report is designed to showcase another IL-2 Reich Defence campaign: this time FlatSpinMan's 'Luftwaffe Pilot - Defence of the Reich 1943', available over at Mission4Today, here:   http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=Downloads&file=details&id=3856   As the campaign description says, "Fly as Willi Jedermann as he attempts to save the Fatherland from the murderous waves of Allied bombers. Over 20 missions flying for JG1 and JG 11 in their titanic struggle against the Allied behemoths. Get a taste of the spectacle, excitement and terror of the most massive aerial combats in history."   I was so pleased with the experience afforded by Boelcke's similarly-themed campaign that I thought I'd try a second one. This report is the result. As to the significance of the title - and no prizes for spotting that it was the closing line from that memorable 1960s air war movie, '633 Squadron' - well, the connection will become apparent, very shortly!   The first mission in the campaign came as a bit of a surprise. As you can see from the 'blurb' above, the campaign was billed as flying with Jagdgeschwader 1 and Jagdgeschwader 11 (the latter being spun off from JG1 to bolster defences in northern Germany and the Baltic coast area) so I was rather surprised to find my first mission involved flying for JG5 'Eismeer'. That unit's traditional stomping ground, as its name suggests, was Scandinavia. I neglected to take a screenshot of the briefing but the mission seemed to involve a transit flight, with myself and my wingman flying off to join my new unit. The map in question looked to be of Finland's Baltic coast [edit - I checked and it's actually Norway's west coast, which is fine].   My mount was a Bf109G2 and following the instructions in the briefing, I had selected a JG5 skin, which came with the skin pack which the campaign's download page recommends you install as well as the campaign.     That's me, in Yellow 4. Evidently my pilot had previously served with the Kondor Legion in the Spanish Civil War; at least, I assume that's the reason for the small Spanish Nationalist air force insignia, on my fuselage to the rear of the cross. The badge on the cowling is, of course, JG5's.  It's a nice skin, with 74+75 upper surfaces and 76 below, and the fuselage sides mottled in 02 and 70 - textbook stuff, and the wing camouflage pattern is also a common factory standard for the time. Nice job.     ...and yes, the mission was an air start. Most of this campaign's missions are, apparently. Personally, I prefer to start 'on the deck' but with IL2 not having a magic 'warp' or 'go to next encounter' facility, I can understand why the designer decided to spare us the long climb to altitude with which your average Reichs Defence sortie would otherwise have started.   In my previous, somewhat sporadic flying with IL-2, I never got out of the habit of flying with the map screen set to display my course and icons for other planes, including enemies. I generally prefer to minimise my reliance on such things. But given the IL-2 on-screen 'kneeboard' map is quite small and covers a limited field (even zoomed well out) I'm inclined not to baulk at using it both for navigation and to identify foes. I don't use the equivalent facility in First Eagles or Rise of Flight, for example, but in WW2, with fighters commonly flying with the assistance of ground-based controllers using radar and other aids, I consider the IL-2 map with icons on is a reasonable supplement to the sim's ground controller, who when asked, seems only able to give you an enemy force's bearing, not its course, composition or most importantly, height - European Air War was much better in that regard. Anyway, I was understandably curious to find out whether or not my transit flight was going to be uneventful.   So I turned on the map...and there they were!     But what were they? And what were they up to? One way to find out...I slammed the throttle forward, turned onto an intercept course, and started gaining some height.     ...to be continued!

    CombatACE Spotlight: Interview With Spectre8750
    Skyviper
    By Skyviper,
    Interview with Spectre8750 "I've had a lot of help and support by the community here at CombatACE, and have always felt welcome and enjoyed my time spent here, with such a great community of people…" -Spectre8750   In this week’s CombatACE Spotlight segment we interview a member that has been here since 2009. Spectre8750 has been a part of amazing projects such as the TMF F-14 and Fairchild A-10C projects that has 10,821 between the two of them I’ve you haven’t checked them out yet, you owe it to yourself to do so.   Thank you for taking the time to do this interview, Spectre8750. So, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I was a Structural Design Engineer. My interests have led me to Graphic Design and Audio Engineering, Mastering, Restoration. What interests you about aviation? Well I've always been fascinated since a very early age with World War II era Fighters.  Their design revolved around speed and maneuverability and I was taken aback by their shape and beauty.  They were the thoroughbreds of their time in a very interesting period of history. What is your favorite aircraft and why? I would have to say the F-4U Corsair always fascinated me with its shape and power. It's ability as a Fighter and Ground Attack platform.   What got you interested in flight simulation? Probably WWII movies and Documentaries; all the aircraft involved during that period.   Do you remember the first flight sim you ever played? It was the F-15 Strike Eagle by Microprose back in 1985.  I would take the stick while a family member would take the keyboard as Weapons Officer and we would switch off.  I was hooked for life.   I remember playing the version that was on SNES and still love that game to this day. So, what motivated you to arrive at CombatACE and stay over the years? I was at a Gaming Store when someone told me about European Air War and how popular it was, which led me to do some skinning and modding and the community online that offered so much in that area. This led me to some of the Mod sites and eventually learning about Strike Fighters Project One.    When did you start modding? With Strike Fighters I found the CombatACE Community through searching for updates and through the Strike Fighters Forum at TK's Third Wire Productions.  I was a late comer with the Series and signed up here in 2007.  I downloaded a lot of mods at first, messed with them a little and was out of touch with the site till 2009 when I started a new account.  Then I started out skinning at first and gradually learned some of the ins and outs of Strike Fighters modding through a lot of reading.    What does modding do for you? Is it something that is relaxing and neat hobby etc? It's one of those things that helps keep your mind busy and what better than Strike Fighters, at least for me, though I have to split my time up more these days with other projects, it's still my favorite.    What modding tools do you use and why? Just the usual 3DSMax '09 in my case, DXTBmp, SF Terrain Editor, Adobe PhotoShop CS5 and Paint Shop Pro 7. Those are I think probably the most used Tools in this Sim Community and the simplest to use and the ones i happen to have on hand.    I see you were part of the TMF F-14 Tomcat Superpack project. What motivated you to join that project? Well it started with me wanting to update the F-14 that the Mirage Factory had on hand by Flying Toaster/Olivier to Strike Fighters 2 standards back in 2011 with what I could dig up on the aircraft and deciding to do all the skins for all the active Squadrons that flew the F-14.  Of course I wasn't going to do every scheme ever, but to at least have all Squadrons represented plus a few schemes when they changed down through the course of the Tomcats life. I had some skins already to use as a base to start from by some that had worked on them previously like Dave, Column5 and EricJ.  Then Caesar who is a huge part in the whole project jumped in and made a big difference in keeping the F-14 and the variants real and up to date, along with SupGen and Brain32's work on the Cockpits.    What was your role in that project what did you do to help develop it? Mainly the skinning, but tweaking the flight model and cockpit modding in the beginning and adjusting some effects. But it is become what is today because of Caesar, SupGen and Brain32.  We have them to thank along with Olivier and Dave for what it is today.    How long did it take to work on the project until everyone was satisfied for it to could be released? In the beginning it was just my work on the project for a short while till Caesar and Dave joined to make it even better.  There have been several updates since it was started in 2011. It's been about three years since the Project began, so it gradually grew into what it is today.    Now, about the Fairchild A-10C Thunderbolt II project, I love using that mod by the way. What prompted you to join that project? It was another aircraft I thought needed updated, but mainly these projects were started so they could be included in the newer Strike Fighters 2 campaigns and other mod projects in the Community.     Was it easier to work on the A-10 than the F-14? I would say both were equally challenging with their own quirks or difficulties, being different types of aircraft with their own strengths and characteristics.   Would you ever work on a group project again and if so what plane would you like to make? I would work on other projects in this community because of the great input and team work available here.  There's some great modders here at Combat Ace. I haven't mentioned that my favorite modern aircraft is the F-16.  It's really designed to be a Dog Fighter and takes the modern role that the P-51D had back in its day.  But the guys here at CombatACE have already done it and continue to make the mods of the F-16 better and fun.  If I was to start a project from scratch or an updated existing model? It would be the F4U Corsair, but Wrench has that one covered, it's in good hands.    What is your favorite mod that you have created? I guess that really the only mods I can take full credit for are the campaign maps, terrains that I did for Modern Warfare Korea and Operation Hydra, which the latter is going to be all new in the future if and when I can get the time. A lot of the projects here usually have more than one modder's work in it in some form.   What is your favorite mod that you did not create? Well there's so many great mods and it's hard to pick, but I would have to say Olivier ANGUILLE (BPAo) and Kesselbrut's F-18 Hornet is one of the best mods I've seen offered here at CombatACE.    Who is a modder, or group of modders, you admire or inspired you to start modding? That would have to be Olivier (BPAo).  One of the first projects I took on at CombatACE was a simple Strike Fighters 2 conversion of Oli's and Kesselbrut's F-18 Hornet back in 2009, and he was very kind to let me take it.  Also I have to say that EricJ took me under his wing for a bit in the beginning and i owe him a lot for his help.   Do you have any favorite quotes or thoughts about being here at Combat Ace you’d like to share? I've had a lot of help and support by the community here at CombatACE, and have always felt welcome and enjoyed my time spent here, with such a great community of people, with such a range of expertise, interest and great camaraderie.  I hope to be around to enjoy it and share what I can with the community here.   A BIG thanks to everyone here at CombatACE, especially the Staff who put so much work into the Site here, and to those at Third Wire Productions for creating such fun moddable Combat Sim that makes this area of modding possible and great fun.   And thank you Skyviper   On behalf the community and me, you’re welcome and thank you, Spectre8750, for being here with us. Thank you for taking the time to tell us your story and for sharing your hard work with us. To those reading this segment today, thank you for being here because, like Spectre8750 and so many others have said, its people like you that make this an awesome place to be.   If you wish to check out the TMF F-14 Project you can click here and download it or if you wish to check out the Fairchild A-10c Project you can click here to download it. Please read all download instructions and warnings including the associated readme files to get the best enjoyment out of these files. Until next time I'm Skyviper wishing you all good hunting and happy landings.

Portal by DevFuse · Based on IP.Board Portal by IPS


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