Cliffs of Dover/IL-2 Series Screenshot Thread

[+Dave 2,318]

Post your screenshots and AARs here. Have fun.

[Intruder7011 3]

DBW water is awesome. Midway mission under way, might be a bit too much... I can't survive it as seen here.

[AceWardie1993 0]

what did you use to take that picture?

[33LIMA 972]

[+Dave 2,318]

IL-2:COD wide screen is amazing.

 

 

[JediMaster 451]

That's not widescreen, that's Ben-Hur screen!

[33LIMA 972]

IL-2 '46+Dark Blue World - some pics from a recent mission in the Willi Jederman series of campaigns from FlatSpinMan, this one set in North Africa.

Desert Air Force Kittyhawks are providing air cover for a convoy:

The Regia Aeronautica on its way, though - they did fly some Stukas but the twin-engined bombers above and behind are repainted IL-4s:

Jedermann and his schwarm of Bf 109Es sweep the skes ahead of the Italian formation, which he can see as dark specks against the clouds below and behind:

The Kittyhawks are soon on the scene, trying to hit the attackers before they can unload on the convoy:

Two of them go for Jedermann and the fight is on:

Our hero knocks down one of the Kittyhawks after a protracted dogfight:

Turning around, Jedermann is just in time to see the splashes settling from bombs directed at the convoy, whose flak seems to have succeeded in spoiling the aim of the Italian airmen.

But he's soon engaged with a second pair of Kittyhawks, one of which he sends curving away, trailing what looks like leaking glycol:

After another burst, an aileron comes adrift from the stricken Curtiss and down he goes, engine seized and prop dead:

Climbing gently in a wide arc around the rear of the convoy, Jedermann recalls the schwarm, although his own wingman hasn't gone far.:

One of the other 109s isn't answering, but his number three is soon behind and to his left, with the North African coast and safety looming in the distance:

The raid seems to be over but there are still some Hurricanes about:

Jedermann is out of cannon rounds - the 60 rounds per gun he has doesn't last long - but he chases a vic of retreating Hurricanes and leaves one smoking but still flying, before heading back south for base.

For some reason, I/JG27's current desert airstrip is always illuminated, day and night, by these fires along the single improvised runway. Maybe  keep the flies at bay?

Anyway, it's been a worthwhile trip, with two victories and a third damaged, in return for a 109 missing. And Jederman returns to find he's been awarded a medal, the EK1. The convoy attack didn't go particularly well, but from the air-to-air perspective, Jermann's not complaining...until he find that the boss, determined not to let the enemy convoy go unscathed, wants him to pay it another visit, this time, with the 109s taking the bombs...

 

[33LIMA 972]

Reluctantly, Jederman set out after the east-bound convoy, at the head of four bomb-laden 109s. The boss had expressed some confidence that a rapid repeat attack by jagdbomber coming in at low level would likely arrive before the enemy air cover culd be replenished, but as he climbed away, our Willi had his doubts...

It wasn't long before Jedermann had the convoy in sight. At first he thought the shell spalshes indicated that somebody else on the same side had similar plans for the convoy, but he soon realised that they were 'shorts' from heavy-calibre AA fire from the convoy escort.

The first sign of trouble came when his number four came on the air in a panic, reporting he was going down. Looking behind he saw the 109 slanting down to the left, but no sign of any enemy aircraft. Had he been hit by the flak? It seemed unlikely at this range, but all of a sudden those shell spashes looked a lot more dangerous.

Jedermann decided to attack a merchantman at the rear of the convoy and to bomb from level flight on a track diagonally across the enemy. He began to swing around in an arc towards his intended target.

At this point, the other two 109s were still  with him...

...so he ordered them to attack independently, if only to draw the enemy's fire. He wasn't feeling confident that any hits would be scored, and just wanted to get this done and get out of it. Loseing one of his comrades to an unknown cause short of the target had thoroughly dampened any ehthusiasm he'd felt for this show. Which wasn't very much, at all.

Quite keen not to be caught by the blast of his own bomb, crash into the masts of his target or get show down, Jederman pulled up short of his target, levelled off, tried to ingnore the flak, and then let fly as target started to disappear under his nose. Bomb gone, he rolled hard to the right and began a steeply banked turn to get out and away. In the pic below you can see the bomb, just beneath Red 5's spinner.

Boom! Nobody was more surprised than Willi when the bomb hit just ahead of the merchantman's bridge.

As if that wasn't sufficient good fortune, Red 7 got a hit too, on a 4-stack destroyer, towards the head of the convoy. Bravo!

Both ships obstinately refused to sink, but that wasn't to be expected from a single 250 kilo bomb. But it was all rather satisfying, nevertheless. Perhaps this jabo business isn't so bad after all, Jedermann told himself.

Jedermann set course south, for home, and throttled back, checking the skies around and calling for the schwarm to re-form. Red 7 was soon in position, but of Red 6, there was no sign as yet.

The reason for that, it soon became clear, was that he was having a bit of bother with a couple of Hurricanes. Back north went our hero, but by the time he got there the two RAF fighters were beating a retreat, having evidently snapped up Red 6.

Jedermann slowly overhauled the culprits...

...but (as usual with un-modded AI) they saw him coming, and it was only after an extended dogfight that Jederman managed to get hits on one of the Hurris.

The Hurricane had only been lightly hit, though, its strong structure displaying its customary resistance to enemy fire. Especially as Jedermann had been using mainly his twin synchronised MGs, saving his cannon rounds for the kill.

With the range wound down, now was that time. Another burst with all weapons sent the Hurricane down, minus several feet off the tip if his left wing.

Meanwhile, up behind, Red 7 was rolling inverted onto the tail of the second RAF fighter, clearing Jedermann's tail and getting a kill of his own, into the bargain.

Time to go home! Two 109s lost was too high a price to pay in Jedermann's eyes, whether or not the air sea rescue people managed to bring one or both pilots home. Two Hurricanes shot down evened the score, and better still, Jedermann's merchantman was seen to go down, so he's now joined the rather exclusive club of single-seater ship-killers. He just hopes the boss believes him when he puts it down to pure luck, and won't make a habit of giving him such missions. There's plenty to do in the skies over Africa, without going to sea to look for trouble.

[33LIMA 972]

Some pics from Cliffs of Dover Blitz Edition. Taken during the stock mission that involves about six Spitfires intercepting a staffel of nine unescorted Heinkels as the latter approach London.

Our Spits are from 79 Squadron. I have on a shelf in front of me the Corgi 1/72 diecast spit with the same code, ZP-A, of ace 'Sailor' Malan, with the earlier black and white undersides. The Heinkels might have done better to bomb the airfield over which they're flying - Biggin Hill, I think - rather than stooge on to London. Flak is bursting around the formation but my squadron-mates are already attacking.

This was my sole victory of the mission, a bomber I finished off after he broke away from the formation, losing altitude and being attacked in turns by my and another fellow.

The rest are all pics I took after the fight. I have bumped up the texture quality to 'Original' and without any obvious performance penalty, planes and terrain seem to look better, though perhaps I'm imagining it. Unbelievably CloD seems not to like antialiasing; the in-game option has some effect but radio antennae and planes further away look ragged. I still think the landscape looks a bit dark when sunlit especially, though it's an order of magnitude more authentic than it was with the original cartoon-y colours. But where oh where are the hedgerows?

Still, it's hard not to enjoy flying and fighting in CloD, despite its pretty serious limitations as a Battle of Britain sim. Between 1C and Team Fusion, lot of effort has been put into it. Even if the results sometimes still fall a bit short in some important places, it's an outstanding simulator of flying detailed and rather beautifully-rendered Battle of Britain aircraft in a Battle of Britain setting, and that's ok by me.

[33LIMA 972]

Red McColpin's Hurricane, 607 Squadron, in the RAF Redux campaign.

[33LIMA 972]

74 Squadron knocks down a Heinkel in the London intercept mission. I'm not sure if the February 2019 TF update changed this mission, but the small formation of bombers seems to break up more readily than the last time I played it, with the Heinkels throwing themselves all over the sky when attacked, in rather unrealistic fashion. I lost interest in this performance after knocking down a bomber and went sightseeing instead.

Fields and trees instead of warehousing around much of the Royal, East India and Millwall Docks looks very silly, and the only cargo ships I've seen anywhere in CloD so far are tankers.

The main landmarks are reasonably well done, though, and the CloD Blitz engine and flak sounds are really good.

[33LIMA 972]

Meanwhile, back over the Channel, apart from the escorting destroyer, the convoy is composed of...yes, you guessed, tankers.

[33LIMA 972]

A mission later, and the convoys are still all tankers. Only one of them, in this case, with five destroyers for escort. Which it will need badly if it holds its present course, which is straight for occupied France.

'Red' McColpin is now a section leader but still getting mostly improbable missions, this one being to rescue 111 Squadron who are in trouble with some 109s, further south over the Channel. Why they're in trouble I soon found out, since in CloD the 109s seem to be able to climb like F-16s from level flight, and fly on forever while streaming fuel or glycol. I shouldn't be surprised, really, as the 110s can roll like FW190s. And of course all aircraft employ a Klingon Cloak of Invisibility when more than about a mile or so away, and are hard to identify when you can see them due to the terrible anti-aliasing. It's a wonder I ever hit anything. This time out, the only thing I managed to shoot was screenshots of my aircraft. For lil 'ol single player me, CloD Blitz Edition is a really nice plane simulator, with some promising but half-built or poorly implemented air combat features. Perhaps the TF 5.0 patch, or more interim updates,  will make a significant difference, whenever it arrives.

Apart from seemingly-drunken airmen careering wildly around the airfield in any available vehicle, and that the aircraft operate from the hangars not 'dispersal' with blast pens, the airfield ambience is pretty good, complete with realistic fly-by sounds. Speaking of sounds, as it seems impossible to eliminate the stutter every flipping time somebody opens his mouth on the R/T (believe it or not, the recommended solution is to delete, move or rename the radio traffic sound files!) I will have to see if I can identify and eliminate at least the worst of them, including the awful and repetitive 'I'll fly your wing!' and 'I've got your six!'; phrases that might fit Top Gun nicely, but I doubt that any self-respecting WW2 RAF pilot would have used.

[33LIMA 972]

The visuals in CloD can be nice, although object draw-in range is inadequate even on high settings (Dover's prominent jetties are invisible in the pic below and pop into view - in sections! - as you come close)...

...apart from that and the poop antialiasing, which seems immune to tweaking...

...and the AI is mostly notable for being awful, illustrated by these Heinkels breaking formation when attacked and then throwing their planes about like they were fighters, not laden bombers - note the two He111s, top centre, in a sustained c.45 degree climb. This is with the Feb 2019 TF update, too, so is bang up-to-date. 'A' for effort, but whatever the opposite end of the scale is for achievement, from a single player perspective anyway.  A long, long way from the classic status I reckon Rowan's Battle of Britain and A2A's BoB II have earned.

 

[33LIMA 972]

Some more pics. First from a stock 110 mission to Manston. Nice, but they do tend to show up CloD's trademark AAA (Awful Anti-Aliasing).

This Hurricane seemed harder to hit again, after I shot off his fin and rudder.

Next, another couple of pics from another stock mission - intercepting the non-dive-bombing dive bombers which level-bomb Tangmere.

The next few are from the most recent missions I've flown in the RAF redux campaign.

This one is basically a re-worked version of the stock mission involving an intercept of a Heinkel 115 floatplane, complete with new briefing based on a different backstory. It still has some rather unlikely elements, like the scramble being prompted by a Sunderland flying boat spotting its Luftwaffe opposite number off Calais - in daylight. In the second pic, there's a 109 slipping past on my right, which I happily ignored, because (i) I was out of rounds (ii) I had no way that worked of ordering my wingmen to go get him and (iii) I bet, successfully, on him ignoring us too, knowing that he was probably programmed to do something else and interrupting that 'did not compute'.

Or maybe the Sunderland was in the next mission, which involves a squadron scramble against a raid implausibly identified as Bf109 fighter bombers, the most implausible bit perhaps being that the briefing identifies their sub-type, their German 'jabo' designation, and their unit (Erprobungsgruppe 210). Evidently, Fighter Command has some kind of God Mode we knew nothing about at the time, something much more potent than mere RDF/radar. Like most missions involving fighter combat - I never saw a bomb-laden 109, just regular ones - this tended to highlight CloD's indifferent air-to-air AI. And the awful and repetitive calls of 'I've got your six', 'I'll fly your wing', and 'Pass the sick bag' (ok I made up the last one but it would not have been out of place).

Oh, what a pity it is, that this one doesn't play anything like as well as it looks - which is pretty good despite having tree-rows not hedgerows, lunatics driving motor transport on airfields and that 'AAA'.

Lack of any visible ability to control wingmen when flying as a section leader is another big issue. These two dutifully followed me around until I made it too hard for them during the dogfight, rejoined when I returned to base, and then seemed at a bit of a loose end when I got bored with several refusals and landed. On a subsequent hop, my surviving wingman did get down when I landed, but in the form of the proverbial smokin' hole in the ground.

  

 

[33LIMA 972]

I dunno...I might have to soften my dislike of the AI in CloD. Just a bit, since it shows occasional signs of being able to fight as well as fly, though sometimes, in the same mission, it seems to be able to do neither.

Next mission in the RAF redux campaign is a transit flight from Hawkinge to Manston to join my new squadron and swap my Hurricane for a Spitfire. The chap who is supposed to come with me appears reluctant to take off. While an incoming section from my old squadron loses a machine which crashes near Hawkinge, for no apparent reason. Perhaps my companion was wise to stay on the ground.

I carry on alone after a few circuits, and my companion eventually shows up. We run into some scripted bandits - just a couple of 109s, apparently - and in the ensuing tussle I get one, but another crashes. Not to be outdone, my companion, whom he was chasing, crashes too. Who made up the other losses, I have no idea.

I actually manage to shoot down a 109. They have an odd way of flying when chased, constantly adjusting their bank angle with what seems excessive ease, which if nothing else makes them a more difficult target. Perhaps the reason you do not see anything like that in real gun camera footage is because the ones that didn't do that are the ones that didn't get shot down. Though the laws of aerodynamics may have more to do with the apparent absence of the odd banking behaviour.

Soon afterwards,  I run into a couple of Messerschmitt 110s. I nail one of these, too. Their evasive moves seem more realistic, with little or none of the continual changes of bank angle that 109s exhibit. Here's my victim just as he bites the dust.

I then have a go at this 110's wingman...

...but predictably, I run out of ammo. I find it takes a while to 'get your eye in' with the gunnery any new sim you play, and it doesn't help much if you're jumping between at least two (CloD and BoB2, in my case). I confess that my shooting in CloD is pretty dire at the moment, for which this fellow was doubtless grateful.

I then decide to resume my transit flight and head for the deck while throwing in a few changes of course. This is where I learn the hard way not to write off the CloD air-to-air AI. The next thing I know, there's this 'whomp-whomp-whomp' sound - apart from some of the R/T calls, sound is one of CloD's strengths - and tracers and their smoke trails are whizzing overhead past my canopy. My effort to get out of the way fails miserably. The only results are a missing wingtip...

...and a dead pilot.

Here's the beggar who got me and avenged his comrade. The thin trail of fuel or Glycol shows that I did him some damage before I ran out of rounds.

There were several other 110s in the air...

...as well as these Wimpeys, which although apparently over friendly territory, were taking a bit of a chance beettling about over southern England in daylight at this point in the war. As in the Battle of Heligoland Bight in '39, the 109s and 110s would have probably had them for breakfast.

Happily, I see that you can re-fly failed missions such as this, and that's what I'll be doing. I'm still very disappointed that the obvious effort that has been put into CloD by the original developers and later helping hands has left so very many rough edges. Had all the included features worked well, or even adequately, Cliffs of Dover could have been the contender for sim greatness that some of its adherents rather blithely claim. But in anything like its current form, it lags very far behind Battle of Britain II as an effective and convincing simulation of flying air combat in the Battle of Britain. Still, CloD has enough redeeming qualities to keep its place on my hard drive. 

[33LIMA 972]

Meanwhile - or rather, somewhat later - on the Ostfront...

 

[33LIMA 972]

Scenes from the 'Battle of France':

[jeanba 1,915]

8 hours ago, 33LIMA said:

Scenes from the 'Battle of France':

 

 

 

Wrong skin ?

[33LIMA 972]

Possibly. Not sure where that one came from - might have been a QMB job. Looks like a Finnish Moko Morane or whatever they called them, with Armée  de l'Aire roundels, but they look part of the skin, not decals.

[33LIMA 972]

Do heat-seeking missiles work in Il-2 CUP?

Looks like they do...

[33LIMA 972]

This creature would look quite at home in Crimson Skies...

[33LIMA 972]

Whoops-a-daisy...go on, admit it, we've all been there...

[33LIMA 972]

Don't mess with Tempests...

[33LIMA 972]

'Do not dogfight with the Zeke 52' (from a US comparative assessment, c.1944).