WarBirds Short Mac FAQ rev 2.2

WarBirds Short Mac FAQ rev 2.2

Short Mac FAQ compiled by front

Original format: Dave "French" Chaloux - http://www.cris.com/~French
October 1999, current to Macintosh Warbirds version 2.74

(CPU UNDER 233mhz? READ Section 3.0 FIRST )

I cannot update this FAQ anymore. It will remain on this site in it's current form until someone else picks it up. Thanks to all those on warbirds.support.mac over the years.

Most of the answers to any questions you may have are contained in this FAQ. To save yourself the hassle of having to read every section try searching for Keywords from your browser (eg. "FCS" or "view" etc).

Versions

rev 2.2 (23-10-99)
Current to Version 2.74
Welcome to the new Mac programmer (his debut post in 18.2)
New Network Traceroute addition (8.3)
New info on sliders (Point 9 in section 8.6)
New Thrustmaster/InputSprockets settings (16.0)
Mouse pointer visible while in flight? (16.0)
"Mouse" radio calls (8.22)
What are the Pilot rankings? (11.9)

rev 2.1 (28-08-99)
Current to WarBirds 2.72r1
Links checked and updated
What is the iKernel? (11.8)

rev 2.0
Current to WarBirds 2.7
New offline "missions" (17.0)
Bomb sight "creep" fix (16.0)
More info on controller sliders (8.6)
Some more Gunsight Info (6.2)
Astronomy? (11.7)

rev 1.9
Current to WarBirds 2.6
New FPS benchmark protocol (8.19)
Low-end CPU information (3.0)
16bit VOXX sounds for the Mac (6.4)
New brake/ground model (9.5)
New Gunnery model (9.6)
New planes (Ki-61/Ju-87G) (7.51)
Ability to record the radio text to a log file (8.21)
Bombs/Ordnance now cause damage offline (section 10.5 deleted)
New "outside cockpit view" (8.20)

rev 1.8
Updated to WarBirds 2.5r3
"This isn't a big update. This update is here to fix the few things that 2.5r2 for the PC fixed"

rev 1.7
More arena survival tips for new users (18.1)

rev 1.6
New section... the Mac guys give out arena survival tips (18.1)
Info on the WB Combat Arena (7.8)

rev 1.5.1
Solution for a keyboard/rudder view switching problem found (4.3)

rev 1.5
Some factual errors corrected. Thanks to HOSS for the help
Explanation of DrawSprocket by HOSS (4.5)
Updated to reflect changes in 2.5r2
References specific to 2.5r1 (stutter bug etc) removed
New H2H section (8.16)
Info on the Offline missions (17.0)
Info on VOXX sounds for the Mac (6.4)
More info on "gunning" the multi-crew planes (7.2)
New section on "local iEN servers" (11.6)
New framerate section (8.19)

rev 1.4
"Easing" the 2.5r1 radio buffer/screen stutter bug (4.3)
Extra info on the Training arenas/Trainers (8.15)
Scoring update (15.0)
Update to the Historical Arena section (7.5)

rev 1.3
New solution to 2.5r1 Login problems (4.2)
More notes on the Tour Of Duty (11.4)
Another note on flight controllers (8.6)

rev 1.2
Updated to reflect changes in 2.5r1

rev 1.1
Included the iEN descriptions of the modeled planes (7.5.1)
Extra notes on configuring your controllers (16.0)
Locations of the Cities/Ports added (7.7)
Added a link to HOSS's page (19.0)

rev 1.0
First release of the Short Mac FAQ current to WB 2.5



1.0 What is Warbirds?

2.0 Hey! What about Mac 3D Accelerated WarBirds?
3.0 What kind of system do I need to run WarBirds on the Mac?
4.0 Where do I get the FE software?

4.1 Where do I get individual plane art? 4.2 How do I connect to the WarBirds arenas?
4.3 Problems with Version 2.5 setup?
4.4 Is Easy flight or Full Realism on?
4.5 What is DrawSprocket and why do I need it?
5.0 So how do I join and how much does it cost to play? 6.0 What are all these files in the Warbirds folder?

6.1 Terrain Files
6.2 Custom Gun sights
6.3 What are these sound files?
6.4 Custom sounds?
7.0 Does WB have...
7.1 An "easy" arena? 7.2 multiple-player/crew member planes? 7.3 Modeling of collisions? 7.4 Icons to identify the planes and countries? 7.5 A historical arena?
7.5.1 The Spitfire (and other planes)?
7.7 Ground targets and strategy?
7.8 Competitions and free arenas?
7.9 Newsgroups?

8.00 How do I...
8.1 EXIT the plane?! 8.2 Access the easier flight model? 8.3 Check how good my internet connection is? 8.4 Recover from losing updates to all players? 8.5 Shoot my fellow countrymen? 8.6 Stop the rapid jittering in the planes position? 8.7 Recover from a Spin? 8.8 Tell what country I am from? 8.9 Use the radio?
8.9.1 What are all those abbreviations I see people using on the radio?

8.10 What about Voice Communication?
8.11 Capture airfields and CVs? 8.12 Set my fuel level? 8.13 Load Bombs and Rockets? 8.14 Turn faster? 8.15 Kill bad guys like the Veterans do?
8.16 Use Head To Head (H2H)? 8.17 Use the Bombers? 8.18 Select all the different bombs and rockets when flying? 8.19 Improve my framerate?
8.20 Look "outside" the cockpit?
8.21 Record the radio messages?
8.22 "Mouse" radio calls

9.0 Do ...
9.1 Bombs and other ordnance affect the flight model? 9.2 Flaps and gear down have any affect? 9.3 Planes burn any fuel? 9.4 More about fuel consumption and loading
9.5 How do the brakes work?
9.6 What is the "2.6 Gunnery model"?
10. Why ...
10.1 Do the distant planes warp? 10.2 Do I need to trim my plane?
10.2.1 What's that line moving around above my gunsight?
10.3 Do some planes seem to warp and others don't? 10.4 Can I shoot down the offline drones?

11.0 What...

11.1 What are those two arrows? 11.2 What are Scenarios?
11.3 What is the best country? 11.4 What is a Tour Of Duty and the RPS? 11.5 What about wind and other online effects?
11.6 What are the local servers?
11.7 Astronomy?
11.8 What is the iKernel?
11.9 What are the Pilot Rankings?
12.0 Where is the action?
13.0 What is good etiquette?
14.0 What are all the various . commands?
14.1 What Are All the In-Flight Commands?
15.0 Scoring.
16.0 How do I configure my Joystick/Throttle/Rudders?
17.0 When is the boxed version coming out?

18.0 It is time to fly! How do I take off?
18.1 Arena Survival Tips

19.0 I need more information... where do I go? 20.0 I'm sorted on the whole deal... now what?

1.0 What is Warbirds?

Warbirds is flight simulation based on WWII aircraft that can be played online against hundreds of other players at the same time. The people who wrote this game cut their teeth playing Kesmai's Air Warrior (AW), and wanted to take that concept to the next level. Some of the more notable features of this game are its force-based flight model, ballistics, location-specific damage model, and full-screen, multiple-resolution graphics system. The graphics of other planes in flight are quite detailed. The force based flight model means that the way aircraft behave is based more closely on the various forces that act on the airplane instead of being derived from a bunch of tables. Tables are still used but the nature of them is somewhat different. For example, instead of a table of speeds at various altitude, you might have a table of propeller efficiency at various altitudes. If you suddenly change your throttle, you better be prepared to deal with the change in torque. Flat spins, tail slides, torque and rudder/roll coupling are all part of the game. Accelerated stalls can throw you upside down or into a spin if you are not careful. Because some people may find that the flight model is too realistic to be fun, a somewhat less realistic flight model will be available (for a separate arena). The ballistics and damage model are also quite realistic and detailed. Instead of shooting at a "hit bubble" that surrounds a plane, you actually have to hit a particular part of the plane and the damage you do is based on the part you hit. Hit the fuel tank and the plane explodes. Hit the right wing enough and it falls off. Chew up the rear end and the horizontal stabilizer will come apart. Partial damage is also possible. Individual guns are modeled for rate of fire, ammunition capacity, muzzle velocity, and even "convergence," an adjustable range where the bullet streams from the guns meet in front of the aircraft. Machine guns can be fired independently of cannons so they can be used to zero in on the prey and the cannons can be used to finish them off. Other weapons such as rockets, torpedoes, and different types of bombs can also be employed. The full screen view is another nice feature. 90 degrees of view is mapped to the full screen. What this means in practice is that the planes are large enough to show the nice, detailed shapes in combat without artificially making the planes bigger than they should be. When you take that right wing off the other guy, you can see it! All this attention to detail on the part of the designers would be wasted if the game was not fun. The attention to detail helps immerse the player into the game. What really makes or breaks the game is its players. The satisfaction that can be had when you enter a furball out-numbered against real people and you survive is a rush that is hard to equal. The sight of your arch-rival spinning out of control with his left wing missing is its own reward.

2.0 Hey! What about Mac 3D Accelerated WarBirds?

front writes:

It is not available yet.

iEN say that they intend to eventually release a version with 3D accelerated graphics version for the Macintosh.

We don't know what cards will be supported nor what type of 3D accelerated graphics will be used.

OpenGL is now a likely contender (as of August 1999)
3.0 What kind of system do I need to run it?

1. iEN state:

The System Requirements FOR VERSION 2.7 are: A Power Macintosh computer
32 MB of RAM
A color monitor capable of displaying thousands of colors in 640x480 mode

Recommended:
Lots of RAM (more is better!)
A color monitor capable of displaying thousands of colors in 1024x768 mode
A flight control system

Software requirements:
OpenTransport 1.1 or better
DrawSprocket
InputSprocket
Appearance Manager 1.0.1 or better (included with MacOS 8.1 and later)

DrawSprocket and InputSprocket are included with the version 2.5 of
WarBirds. Appearance Manager is included for persons using versions
of MacOS prior to 8.0, and is found in the folder "For System 7 Users Only".

2. Players noticed with WarBirds 2.6:

av8tr wrote:

Here is an interesting lil test...

go offline WB, and taxi your favorite plane up to the tower...you can use the outside view to position yourself right in front of the tower wall. Get CLOSE, 1 or 2 feet away.

Now blast the wall with your guns. Use up all your ammo.

Now check your score.
jman wrote:

Make sure you have "surface attack" or whatever selected. I just got 93% with a Hurr2, but I scored 0% when I had the default setting.

Killer (ex-iMOL staff) wrote:

guys post your CPU/video card anf framerate while testing, I have a theory forming on this. Not a lot I can do about it, but there may be some kind of bug where graphics or flight model loop is cutting off the gunnery/damage code on slow machines. Hard to say without more info.

Anyway seems lots of fast machines are just fine. Need results on more slow ones here to see if its consistant.

Yoyo wrote:

P166/48Meg/Diamond Stealth2D. Me vs tower:

Plane Hires Lores
P38 77% 81%
P47 52% 60%

In all cases my FR dropped to around 7FPS while firing.

3. Observation:

front writes:

Other posts contributed... and a general consensus was formed that:

a 200-233mhz CPU is the MINIMUM requirement for WarBirds at present (Aug 1999)

If you fly with a lower end Machine (eg 160mhz 603e) then be warned that bullets disappear as your low end CPU cannot cope with all the processes. Flight-model calculations, graphic model, position updates for other players etc, eat up cycles and your bullets get lost within the FPS "slideshow".

This is a very important observation.

4. WarBirds 2.72r1

With the appearance of 2.72r1 the problem with FPS interfering with lost hits was somewhat alleviated. 200-233mhz are still considered the minimum numbers to fly online with.

If you wish to fly on a lower-end machine then you need to avoid furballs (large dogfights) as much as you can, reduce screen detail to setting one (cycle though detail with Option-R) and turn off ground clutter.

4.0 Where do I get the FE software?

The new Mac page on the iEN servers is the place to go at the moment. As well as finding links to the software you can check your account and score from the html links in the left margin. Take the time to visit each section too... there is a wealth of information contained in the pages.

The URL is:

http://www.imagiconline.com/imol/warbirds/wb_mac_download.html
4.1 Where do I get the individual plane art?

1: Warbirds currently runs in two graphics modes: 640x480, and 1024x768 on the Macintosh. Each mode requires two completely different sets of cockpit art. To run Warbirds in 640x480 mode, you'll need to download the Cockpit art files with the number "1" in their name. You need a monitor (and Macintosh graphics card) capable of thousands of colours in 1024x768 resolution if you wish to use the Hi-Res art.

2: If you have a 3D Graphics Card (such as a TechWorks card) and cannot enable 1024x768 resolution (the game may crash or hang on startup) then switch off DrawSprockets in the VIDEO Setup window.

3: "You have not yet downloaded... F6F-5 art will be used instead"... You will find only one Cockpit art file in the default download. This is the F6F-5 Hellcat art. You do need the other Cockpit art files to take advantage of Metric measurements and views. There are "packages" of art files on the FTP site including a full art download and a new planes art package. You can download these files from the FTP site:

ftp://lists.imagiconline.com/pub/WarBirds/art/macintosh/

To play Warbirds in the 1024x768 mode, you'll need to download the Cockpit art files with the number "3" in their name (from the "art1024" directory at the above link).

You place the files in the "Cockpits" folder and choose the screen resolution in the Setup window.

As newer planes are added the Cockpit art releases sometimes lag behind the WarBirds versions. There is no art available for:

P-47C (F6F-5 art used)
TBF-1C (F6F-5 art used)
P-51B (P-40 art used)

4.2 How do I connect to the WarBirds arenas?

1: Get a WarBirds account (Section 5.0).

2: Open the iKernel. Enter your name and password in the windows. You can save your password. Select the auto-login option. Click connect.

3: After a few seconds the WarBirds application splashscreen showing a P-38 will appear. Click anywhere on that screen. A new small connect dialog will appear showing the number of bytes sent and received. You should see the numbers "31", "and "73" appearing... they mean that the correct number of bytes are being sent and the host is happy with you, your account, and your connection.

Connect may fail at this point with a "no ticket to present" message. If so try again and again until you connect. If you cannot connect then you may need to contact iEN to see what is wrong with your account.

4: After that a window will open showing you a choice of WarBirds or the WarBirds Air Combat Arenas. Choose the one you want.

5: Next a window with a list of the current or open arenas in that choice and the number of players in each arena will appear. Sometimes you may see a "locked" or "test" arena. Don't bother to join them as you won't get in. Other times you may see a Special Events arena. Unless you intended to join that arena or were invited to it don't join it. You may interrupt a scenario in progress and might be ejected by the CM (campaign manager). The Main Arena or the Relaxed Realism Arena are the arenas you want when first starting...

6: Select the arena you want by clicking on it. A dialog with the cost of an hours playing in that arena will appear. If you agree and choose to continue the screen will clear and the WarBirds front end will open and drop you into a tower at a field or headquarters. You should see a HOST message then telling you the current ARENA time. You can now change COUNTRIES, select fields, and look at the roster and scores.

4.3 Problems with the setup?
1: Below is some info on the setup screens.

2: Saving your settings:

"Apply" will save changes for the current pane only.
"OK" will save changes on ALL panes then close the window
"Cancel" will not save any changes

HOSS writes:

This way you could concievably change sounds, go to stick setup,
make some changes, then "back out" your changes from sounds
by clicking "apply" then "cancel".

I've never covered this before, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to
explain the word "apply" as used on the setup screens. What it means is:

"Save the settings I just modified on *this page* only. The next time you
load settings from disk, use these."

It does not mean "Use these settings now".

It is pointless to click "apply" then "ok", since "ok" saves the settings
from all pages. The only reason to use "apply" is if you're going to be
canceling out of changes made on other pages.


3: Webs writes:

> Yeah...problem is I never even get to the Setup screen (apart from stick
> scaling)...now with 2.5r1 WB doesn't even start. Dialog box sez I have to
> update my Appearance Manager files...they ARE there in the latest version.
> Totally stumped.

Do this:
1) Boot up from a CD
2) Go into your normal System Folder and trash the Appearance Extension
1.0.1 and the Appearance control panel.
3) Put the versions of the above that are supplied with WarBirds into your System Folder
4) Reboot.

I gotta believe something's screwy with your system folder in this case.

4: Flapz writes:

A: If you set your resolution properly b4 starting WB, ya don't need
drawsprockets.

B: Hoss describes the packets from the server as: Beautiful, but
delicate flowers.... therefor turning off header, and in-modem
correction IS preferred so as not to crush them in any way. Now I know
this will probably set off a bit of a debate, but it's straight from the
Hoss's mouth!

C: WB is probably the most intensive processor/video app your mocheen
runs. It gives things a REAL workout. That's another incentive,
especially on lower end machines to make sure your disk, system,
extensions are all in good order and repair. I found a boot tree error
on my internal drive that was causing problems, and it did NOT show up
using HD first aid running on the boot system....even though you're
supposed to be able to detect such things.

5: View problems

HOSS writes:

>How do you get the TM FCS to keep from activating the
>onscreen buttons when firing in a right turn? Dying because
>I'm trying to close the Keyhelp screen is getting old.

1) turn off the radio bar buttons (on the video setup screen)
2) turn off mouse mode for the FCS
3) use F4 to close the Keyhelp

6: Some people who use the Keyboard to control the rudders find that their views will not work correctly if they use the rudder keys when switching views... solution below:

mg writes:

The file attached is the .asc file (keymap settings file) that cured my woes. The rudder and view switches no longer conflict, Thank you Hoss. This MUST go into your SETTINGS folder.

[copy all the text below from "HOLDDOWNS" to "KF_PAUSE,F15". Open the "keymap.asc. file in your WarBirds 'settings' folder and replace the text in it with the text below.]

HOLDDOWNS
HD_LEFTVIEW,PAD_4
HD_RIGHTVIEW,PAD_6
HD_FWDVIEW,PAD_8
HD_BACKVIEW,PAD_2
HD_UPVIEW,PAD_5
HD_BREAKS,SPACE
HD_FIREGUNS,KEY_F
HD_FIRESPECIAL,KEY_B
HD_WEAPONCYCLE,BACKSPACE
HD_STICK_SET_1,F5
HD_STICK_SET_2,F6
HD_STICK_SET_3,F7
HD_STICK_SET_4,F8
HD_MIC_SWITCH,INSERT
HD_LEFTFWDVIEW,PAD_7
HD_RIGHTFWDVIEW,PAD_9
HD_LEFTBACKVIEW,PAD_1
HD_RIGHTBACKVIEW,PAD_3
HD_LEFTUPVIEW,BACKSLASH
HD_RIGHTUPVIEW,BACKSLASH
HD_FWDUPVIEW,BACKSLASH
HD_BACKUPVIE,BACKSLASH
HD_LEFTFWDUPVIEW,BACKSLASH
HD_RIGHTFWDUPVIEW,BACKSLASH
HD_LEFTBACKUPVIEW,BACKSLASH
HD_RIGHTBACKUPVIEW,BACKSLASH
KEYFUNCTIONS
KF_GEAR,KEY_G
KF_LEFTRUDDER,KEY_A
KF_RIGHTRUDDER,KEY_D
KF_CENTERRUDDER,KEY_S
KF_MAPTOGGLE,F1
KF_AUTOLEVEL,KEY_X
KF_AUTOSPEED,KEY_X,SHIFT
KF_AUTOANGLE,KEY_X,CTRL
KF_TRACKVIEW,KEY_V,ALT
KF_FIXEDVIEW,
KF_THROTTLEUP,EQUALS
KF_THROTTLEDOWN,MINUS
KF_THROTTLEFULL,KEY_0
KF_THROTTLEZERO,KEY_1
KF_WEP,F10
KF_ENGTOGGLE,KEY_E
KF_SELECTENG1,KEY_1,SHIFT
KF_SELECTENG2,KEY_2,SHIFT
KF_SELECTENG3,KEY_3,SHIFT
KF_SELECTENG4,KEY_4,SHIFT
KF_SELECTALLENG,KEY_E,SHIFT
KF_RAISEFLAPS,KEY_W
KF_LOWERFLAPS,KEY_Q
KF_FLAPSUP,KEY_W,SHIFT
KF_FLAPSDOWN,KEY_Q,SHIFT
KF_TALKR1,SLASH
KF_TALKR2,SLASH,SHIFT
KF_TALKR3,SLASH,CTRL
KF_TALKR4,SLASH,ALT
KF_TOGGLEMSGWND,TAB
KF_ICONTOGGLE,F2
KF_TEXT_BACKGND,
KF_EJECT,ENTER
KF_TOGLEPICKLE,F9
KF_SAVESCREEN,KEY_S,ALT
KF_ZOOM_IN,LEFTSQUAREPAD_PLUS
KF_ZOOM_OUT,RIGHTSQUAREPAD_MINUS
KF_MOVEMSGWND,F3
KF_STICK_SET_1,F5
KF_STICK_SET_2,F6
KF_STICK_SET_3,F7
KF_STICK_SET_4,F8
KF_BOMB_SIGHT,KEY_Y
KF_BAY_DOORS,KEY_O
KF_CENTER_STICK,F12
KF_TOGGLE_CLUTTER,F11
KF_TOGGLE_DIVE,KEY_V
KF_VIEW_RANGE,KEY_R,ALT
KF_ELEVTRIMUP,KEY_K
KF_ELEVTRIMDOWN,KEY_I
KF_RUDTRIMRIGHT,KEY_L
KF_RUDTRIMLEFT,KEY_J
KF_GUNNERTOGGLE,KEY_T
KF_FPSTOGGLE,KEY_P,ALT
KF_SMOKETOGGLE,
KF_TOGGLEENG1,KEY_1,ALT
KF_TOGGLEENG2,KEY_2,ALT
KF_TOGGLEENG3,KEY_3,ALT
KF_TOGGLEENG4,KEY_4,ALT
KF_TOGGLEMOUSE,KEY_M,ALT
KF_JUMP_1,SPACE
KF_JUMP_5,KEY_5
KF_JUMP_6,KEY_6
KF_JUMP_7,KEY_7
KF_JUMP_2,KEY_2
KF_JUMP_3,KEY_3
KF_JUMP_4,KEY_4
KF_KEYHELP,F4
KF_AILERONTRIMRIGHT,COMMA
KF_AILERONTRIMLEFT,KEY_M
KF_TOGGLECLOUDS,KEY_K,ALT
KF_TOGGLEHORIZON,KEY_H,ALT
KF_PAUSE,F15

4.4 Is Easy flight or Full Realism on?

front writes:

To see if Easy Flight is still enabled set the STARTING ALTITUDE in the flight setup window to 10,000 feet and switch G-EFFECTS off. Start the game and click on the Practise Offline button. Hit FLY.

You will start in the F6F-5 Hellcat and will be flying at 10,000 feet. Let the Speed get to 200mph. Now roll inverted (upside down) and pull back HARD on the stick until you complete a Split-S.

If Easy Flight is on the Hellcat will smoothly perform a Split-S and you will end up flying in the opposite direction.

If FULL REALISM is on and you try this move the Hellcat will stall about one third of the way into the move and begin rolling out of the move. The STALLHORN will blare and you may lose control of the aircraft.

1. To switch EASY Flight OFF you click on the button from the FLIGHT setup window then click OKAY. Easy flight will be off the next time you start WarBirds.

2. This will set the full realism flight-model on for offline play. You also need to switch on STRUCTURAL LIMITS and G-EFFECTS for FULL REALISM offline practise. These effects are ON in the Main, Historical, and Scenario Arenas.

3. You can fly in EASYMODE in the Main Arena or the WB Air Combat Arena. When you go online and enter the either arena you need to type ".easy 1". This will give you control of an "easier" flightmodel. Be warned: Easier flight-model does not mean easier kills.

4.5 What is DrawSprocket and why do I need it?

Hoss wrote:

Q: What is DrawSprocket? Why would I want it enabled? Why would I
need it disabled?

A: DrawSprocket is a technology provided by Apple which performs
resolution-switching for monitors and gives programmers direct access to
video memory (as opposed to using QuickDraw to access the screen). Game
programmers are turning to DrawSprocket to ease development of games,
especially the hiding of the Control Strip and other "floating Windows".

In general, most players will want DrawSprocket enabled, as it provides the
most failsafe method for WarBirds to take control of your monitor setup.

However, several players have had problems using WarBirds in certain
circumstances, such as Hi-Res art with a 3D accelerator built-in, or a
fixed-resolution monitor like those in PowerBooks. For these people,
disabling DrawSprocket is the best choice until Apple provides fixes for
these problems (Yes, they are Apple's problems, yes Apple knows about them,
yes most of them will be fixed soon). However, if DrawSprocket is disabled
and WarBirds either crashes or is force-quit (using Alt-F4), you should
restart your system immediately, as the MenuBar is left in an unstable
state.

HOSS

5.0 So how do I join and how much does it cost to play?

Basically, it costs $2 an hour. There is also a monthly fee of $10.
The $10 a month fee is a minimum charge for keeping your account active. It comes with the number of hours of connect time that $10 would normally get you .

After you sign up you can take advantage of special pricing plans.
Go to:

http://www.imagiconline.com/signups/new_ien_signup.html


6.0 What are all these files in the Warbirds folder?

6.1 Terrain Files

Files with ".trn" in their name are TERRAIN files. Your default download contains all the terrain files you need as of WarBirds 2.7. "wbeto1.trn" is not included in the default download so you need to get it from the FTP site if you wish to fly in the European Theatre of Operations (some Sceanrio Lites and the HA use this terrain).

As more terrains become available you need to download them from:

ftp://lists.imagiconline.com/pub/WarBirds/terrain/macintosh/

Then you Expand them and place in your WarBirds folder.

6.2 Custom Gun sights

front writes:

Your default download contains one default gunsight which consists of a simple cross. This is named "defgst1.gst" (or "defgst3.gst" for 1024x768 resolution). WarBirds gives us the ability to make custom gun sights for the planes in the game (except some of the heavier bombers). You can edit the gunsight in SimpleText, then NAME it the same as the PLANE you wish to use it with eg "p511.gst" for the P-51D or P-51B. You use the same name as the Cockpit art but change the ".vew" to ".gst".

Below is a sample gunsight for the P-40E in 640x480 resolution. Select all the text (from "11" to "markers"), copy it and paste into a new SimpleText window. Save as "p401.gst" into your WarBirds folder NOT the Cockpits folder but the MAIN WarBirds folder. You can read some notes on the gunsight at the end of the list. Test the process with this gunsight first by opening the game and flying the P-40E.

Go to this link to find out more information on how to create your own:

Cuda's Custom Gun sights: http://www.99th.org/cuda/gunsights/

PC users have a utility written by a third party to make the process easier. It has not been ported to the Mac. Custom gun sights help most players to judge the amount of lead they need when shooting BUT they are not laser-guided. You need to practise with them on the offline drones to see if they can help you.

11

0,0,2,0
-1,0,0,0
0,-1,0,0

14,1,14,0
-14,1,-14,0

11,-6,8,-9
-10,-6,-7,-9

15,-9,12,-12
-14,-9,-11,-12

0,-10,1,-10
0,-14,1,-14

!Custom gunsight for 640x480
!first 3 lines are the center "T"
!next 2 are the horizontal dots to the left and right of the "T"
!next 4 are the deflection d3 and d5 markers
!next 2 are the lower d2 and d4 markers

Cuda's Ultimate MkII

Zim writes:

Okay, maybe this should be in another NG, but everyones so much nicer and more informed in here....

Can anyone explain to me exactly what all the markings in Cuda's Ultimate MkII gunsight are for. For example, do some of them represent specific distances?

Many thanks

Zim

Cuda replies:

Well... I guess I should try. Afterall I made it (or at least put it together from other sources).

The deflection and bombmarks are not for specific distances since lead (wheather bombing or shooting) depends on your speed differental (yours-tgts), angle and distance. Each mark is set at a fixed angle but will still be valid for a number of speed/distance combinations. In the end you'll have to experiement with this to get a feel for it. However by using the deflection mark rather than the bull's eye for aiming bombs and deflection shots you do get less sensitivity to errors in speed/distance judgement.

For most deflection shooting I end up firing at d2 with the bogie just outside of the outer ring. Once again it will depend on the situation. The tick marks at 9, 3 o'clock are there to help you align your wings with the bogie (you almost always want to be manuevering in the same plane (no, not airplane, dimentional plane :-) as him). The tick mark at 12o shows you your lift vector and gives you a reference for the slip indicator.

Cuda

6.3 What are these sound files?

There are dozens of files known as Dynamic Linked Libraries (.dll) in the Sounds folder. These are the sound files for the Macintosh. You cannot edit these files on the Mac platform but you can create your own custom sounds... onto Section 6.4.

6.4 Custom sounds?
1: The Read Me file in the Sounds folder contains all the information you may need.

From the Read Me file:
To create your own custom sounds for a specific plane, create a
subdirectory in your sounds directory with the same name as the
plane's .DLL file you want it to replace. In that subdirectory,
place your .WAV files with the following names:

ENGINE.WAV Engine sound
GUN.WAV Primary guns
CANNON.WAV Secondary guns
ORD.WAV Heavy cannon(P39 and B25H)

Example: I want to replace the engine sound of the Fw 190A-8. I
create a subdirectory in my sounds directory called FW1908(you can
find the appropriate subdirectory name by looking at the .DLL names
in your sounds directory) and copy my replacement sound into that
directory. I then rename my replacement sound to ENGINE.WAV and
I'm done.

Final note - using large sound files may cause a decrease in your
computer's performance when running WB.

2: You can use SoundApp to convert your sounds to WAV format. SoundApp is free and available at:

http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~franke/SoundApp/

3: VOXX kindly made up a Mac version of his sounds which you can get at this link:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/krazydog/VoxxSounds

Be careful though... the 8bit file is a 12 megabyte download.

The 16bit sounds now work as of WB 2.6. These sound files are bigger and will have more of an impact on your FPS.

All you do then is unstuff the archive and put the sound files (.DLLs) into your Sounds folder.

4. You can also use brro's sounds:

http://www.users.nwark.com/~rrosborn/warbirds/wbsound/index.html

7.0 Does WB have...

7.1 An "easy" arena?

front writes:

There is a Relaxed Realism arena which uses the EASY flight model and a different (smaller) terrain.

Although this arena is currently available, you will find that the vast majority of people play in the Full Realism arenas so you may have a hard time finding a fight.

The type of player who frequents the WarBirds arenas is the person who pays up to $2 an hour for the pleasure of flying a realistic flight-model against other humans. They do not choose Relaxed Realism as a matter of course usually. Indeed the general call on the message boards is not only for more realism but a harder game too.

Note: There is nothing wrong with flying in the Relaxed Realism arena. Some people like the way the aircraft handle in RR... other don't.

7.2 Multiple-player/crew member planes such as the B-17?

1: Yes. They join you by requesting a gunner position.

You can join any plane as an OBSERVER by typing ".join XXXXXX obs" where XXXXXX is the handle of the player you wish to join. When they accept you you will fly in their plane and can choose you own views. You cannot control the plane however. Players use this to show each other moves and sights in the arenas.

2: A pilot can "jump" to any gun position on planes which carry gunners while he is flying either offline or online. You do this by typing "2" on your keyboard to jump quickly to the tail gunner position... typing "3", "4", or "5" and so on jumps you around the positions. Type "1" to get back to the pilot's seat. If you jump to a position to fight an attacker and he kills that gunner position you will jump back to the pilot position. You can then jump to another position (but of course not to the one you were "killed" in).

3: Using Option-V offline will allow you to see an outside view of any plane. Online this is disabled on the fighters but enabled on the bombers. When another player "guns" for you this feature is disabled.

4: There seems to be a gunner "bug" in that an attacking player will not see the tracers from the gunner positions firing at them if they are occupied by a human gunner.

7.3 Modeling of collisions?

Yes. If you "run" into an Enemy you may collide and die. The front end you use to play WarBirds calculates the collisions in a seemingly arcane manner. This causes some problems online within the community.

What problems? Well sometimes only one person dies in a collision. People get upset by this especially if they were trying to actively avoid another player who was coming right at them.

So why does only one person sometimes die in a collision?
The simple rule to remember with collisions is if your FE sees a collision, you die. If someone flies away from a collision and you don't, it is because their FE did not see the collision.

To understand why this can happen, you need to realize that it takes time for the others persons position reports to reach your FE. You are not actually fighting against what your opponent is doing at this instant but some amount of time in the past. Say you fly straight at someone. Say that they dodge at the last instant and it takes 1 second for their position to go from their computer through the host and to your FE. From their FE's point of view they just missed. From your FE's point of view their turn came 1 second to late for you to miss.

Therefore if you want to avoid that collision, you can't depend on your opponent making that last second turn. You had better try to avoid the collision.

7.4 Icons to identify the planes and countries?

Yes. Big neon signs (Purple, Red, Green, and Gold (Yellow)) shine above the planes in all arenas. The Icons settings change for Scenarios and some of the arenas. In some arenas the Icon distances change ie the Icons switch on only as you get closer to an enemy or allied plane. You see the NAMES of the players in your own country and the distance they are from you measured in hundreds of yards. This is know as the Distance range or Dxx where xx is the number of yards from you. You only see the TYPE of plane and distance from you in the Icons of enemy planes.

You can toggle the Icons settings by using the Function Key F2 (default).

If you highlight an ally with the ".hl XXXXXX" command online their Icon will show WHITE. This makes them easier to track in a furball.

Sometimes you may see a ghostly grey or pale white Icon above a friendly or enemy plane. This is caused by net lag. Usually they have bailed out but your FE still sees the plane flying along. It will clear up into a CHUTE soon after.

7.5 A historical arena?

1: Yes. For many Veteran Players the Historical Arena (HA for short) provides more of a challenge. Icon ranges are reduced and limited plane sets are available only. The HA is an opportunity to combat the enemy using more realistic tactics (surprise them without big neon signs (the Icons) warning them from afar) and with historical "sides" (eg Allies vs. the Luftwaffe/Imperial Japanese Navy).

2: Ex-MO wrote:

Historical Arena Overview

The WarBirds Historical Arena is a special arena dedicated to reduced icons and historical plane match-ups. It has a long history itself, having run for the first time way back in 1996. The full WarBirds planeset has grown quite a bit since then, and now the HA can cover much more diverse match-ups. This page will serve as the HA newspage and show the past/current and future matches run in the arena.

The HA provides a different slant to air combat flown in a WarBirds arena. The shorter icon ranges provide less feedback and therefore increased SA loads on pilots and keep tensions high. Many players feel that this combat format is more "white knuckle" and prefer it to the action in the Main Arena. With the limits imposed by the HA format, air combat becomes a closer simulation to what it might have been like in the battles that took place in the skies of the 1940s; Classic nemesis match ups, the ability to sneak up on a flight or an aircraft without that big neon sign announcing your presence, and an increased reliance on teamwork to stay alive, can all make fights in the HA more satisfying and keep heart rates up high.

3: Some new users may find this arena a bit daunting at first.

Fly with a wingman... fly as a team. Keep checking the views all the time... set convergence to 200yards or lower and shoot only from d2 if your gunnery is less than 10% in the MA....keep your speed up.

Remember this:

"Where there is one there are two"

You have been warned.

7.5.1 The Spitfire (and other planes)?

Yes. The Spitfire is modeled in 4 different variants. Most of the other planes are also modeled in different variants too.

The Plane Select dialogue on the PC contains a button for more information on the Planes. This is not implemented on the Macintosh version 2.72r1. The "missing" information is reprinted below for Mac users.

Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat
Chance Vought F4U-1D Corsair
Mitsubishi A6M "Zero"
Nakajima Ki-43
Ki-84 Hayate
Bf-109
Messerschmit Bf-110
Fw-190
Hawker Hurricane
Supermarine Spitfire
P-38
Bell P-39 Airacobra
P-40
P-47 Thunderbolt
P-51 Mustang
Aichi D3A
Nakajima B5N2
Douglas SBD Dauntless
Junkers Ju-88
B-25 Mitchell
Boeing B-17 Bomber
TBF/TBM Avenger
F4F/FM2 Wildcat
Me-262 "Sturmvogel"
Yakelov Yak-3
Yak-9
Ju-87 "Stuka"
de Havilland Mosquito
Junker Ju-52
G4M1 "Betty"
Ki-61 "Tony"

Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat

The Grumman F6F was developed as a backup to the Vought F4U should that design encounter any setbacks. It was a precau- tion that paid dividends as the F6F was to become the Navy's workhorse fighter in WWII. With over 12,200 F6Fs produced, more than 5000 Japanese aircraft destroyed, and an astounding 19:1 kill to loss ratio, the F6F proved to be one of the most redoubtable fighters of WWII.

The F6F was built in two major variants, the F6F-3 and the F6F-5. The F6F-3 entered service at the beginning of 1943. 4,423 F6F-3s were built before that variant was replaced by the F6F-5 in mid 1944. The F6F-5 would become the major variant with 7870 produced. It incorporated a number of minor improve- ments, but overall, little was changed in the design. The can- opy was redesigned, rocket rails were added, more armor was added, the tail was structurally reinforced, and water inject- ion was added.

The U.S. Navy's highest scoring ace and the third leading Amer- ican ace, Commander David McCampbell, scored all 34 of his vic- tories while flying the Hellcat. This was the most victories by any American pilot in a single tour of duty. He was also the only American to down 5 or more planes in a single day on two separate occasions, including 9 victories in a single sortie, a figure unmatched by any other Allied pilot.

The F6F was a good design, although not exceedingly superior in any one area. However, it was a plane of few vices and its re- liability and durability were not insignificant factors in its success.
In WarBirds, the plane's biggest handicap is probably its poor rearward visibility. Aside from that, the Hellcat has few vices. Its generally good in all categories but not superior in any single trait.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x .50 cal MG's 400 rpg
Secondary: 4 x .50 cal MG's 400 rpg

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.

Chance Vought F4U-1D Corsair

A marriage of the biggest, most powerful engine available with the smallest airframe that could hold it, the "Hawg" was a fearsome weapon. The Chance Vaught F4U-1D Corsair was one of the last variants of this capable fighter to see action in WW2.

A total of 9440 F4U-1's were produced. The first F4U-1A saw action in early 1943, and the F4U-1D entered service in mid 1944.

Designed as a carrier borne air-superiority fighter, the F4U-1 series early on was not an easy match for a carrier's deck. Nicknamed by some the "Ensign Eliminator", the torque effects of the powerful R-2800-8W engine, the difficult ground hand- ling, and the limited visibility over the nose made carrier landings the province of experienced naval aviators only, and the F6F Hellcat was deemed a better choice for flight deck operations.

However, when operating from land bases, the Corsair soon pro- ved itself. Flown by land based US Marine and US Navy squad- rons, the Corsair was a vast improvement over the earlier F4F and P-40, both slow, outdated fighters outclassed by the Japan- ese Zero. The Corsair was much faster, climbed far better, and was able to withstand tremendous damage. With its somewhat poor low speed handling this was not a plane for tight knife fights with Zeros. Its pilots flew it accordingly, attacking with speed, using its superior roll rate to evade attacks, and cli- mbing out of reach while setting up the next pass.

The top scoring F4U ace was Marine Lt. Robert Hanson of VMF- 215 with 25 victories in the plane, scoring 20 of these kills in a 13 day period. A Medal of Honor recipient, Lt. Hanson was killed by AAA during a strafing attack. The most famous Corsair pilot is probably Maj. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, of the US Marine's VMF-214 Black Sheep squadron. He was credited with 22 of his 28 kills in the Corsair. The US Navy's VF-17 Jolly Rogers destroyed 154 Japanese aircraft and produced 12 aces in 79 days of combat in the "Hawg". Altogether, F4U's compiled an 11-1 kill to loss ratio.

Late in the war, Corsairs found thier way onto carrier decks in numbers and proved one of the best defenses against Kamikaze attacks, using thier great speed to chase down and destroy the suicidal Japanese planes before they could press home thier attacks on US warships.

The F4U-1D introduced the Corsair in a ground attack role, with four rocket rails under each wing, a centerline dropable fuel tank, and pylons fitted to the stub wings capable of carrying additional drop tanks, two napalm bombs, or two 1000 pound high explosive bombs.

In WarBirds the Corsair, like its real counterpart, is a plane for experienced pilots. It is best suited for the type of high speed energy fighting tactics that most beginners have not yet learned. Low and slow, this plane spends most of its time merely staying alive.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x .50 cal MG's 375 rpg
Secondary: 4 x .50 cal MG's 400 rpg
All are wing mounted guns.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.

Mitsubishi A6M "Zero"

Designed in 1937, the Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" or "Zeke" fighter was revolutionary and unbeatable to its Chinese opponets when it was introduced in the summer of 1940. 15 pre-production test models all but ended all Chinese attempts to intercept Japanese bombers over mainland China. Designed as a carrier borne fight- er from the start, the A6M was the best in the world during the first years of WW2.

Had the Japanese won the early victory in the Pacific as they planned, the Zero may have been enough, but the war dragged on, and the Zero was soon outclassed by better and still better generations of enemy fighters which Japan could not match.

Production of the A6M series totalled approximately 10,449. The A6M2 was the model that first saw action in China, the A6M3 was introduced in July 1941, and the A6M5a saw service starting in Autumn, 1943.

Japanese pilots saw the plane as the modern successor to the Samurai's sword, and offensive capability was the main consid- eration. The Zero's turning ability was unmatched by any modern fighter, and its range was no less than astounding. US planners frequently mistook far-ranging land based Zekes for signs of the presence of a Japanese carrier close by. Two 20mm cannon and two 7.7mm MG's gave it respectable firepower. But the Zero had its shortcomings. The only front line naval fighter Japan used during most of the war, its speed and climbing ability were no match for more modern fighters. Its light construction left it vulnerable to damage that would hardly affect the heav- ier opponents it faced, and even against the F4F, a plane it outperformed, this difference allowed superior team tactics by US fliers to defeat it. By the end of the war, Zero's were be- ing used by Kamikaze pilots in the final defense of the home islands.

The top scoring Zero ace was Hiroyoshi Nishizawa. Nicknamed "The Devil" by his squadmates, he was credited with 113 vict- ories although nobody knows an exact count for certain. Some figures place it lower, and some higher. His life came to an end when the transport plane he was flying in as a passenger was intercepted and shot down by American fighters.

In WarBirds, the Zeke is the furballer supreme. Only a Ki-43 can beat it turn for turn. However, it still suffers from the inability to sustain damage, and many Zeros die to quick snap- shots. Veteran opponents will generally use vertical manuever- ing and speed to defeat the Zero, and in scenarios especially, its shortcomings come into play. Still, there's no quicker, easier way to have fun in the game than driving a few zekes in- to a furball and wreaking havoc on low and slow enemy planes. The A6M5 in particular is a tough opponent, as it can climb with many of the US birds for a short time, making a "zoom" a bit dangerous.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x 7.7mm MG's 680 rpg
Secondary: 2 x 20mm cannon 60 rpg
The MG's are fuselage mounted. The cannon are wing mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.

Nakajima Ki-43

In January 1939 the first of three Nakajima Ki-43 prototypes made its initial flight. A replacement for the Ki-27, the pro- duction model Ki-43-I Hayabusa, outfitted with an 1100 hp Ha-105 engine, began to arrive in units in 1941.

Weakly armed with but two 12.7mm machine guns (rather than the original armament of two 7.7mm MG's) the Ki-43-I was soon rep- laced in November 1942 by the Ki-43-II which had a bigger eng- ine (the Ha-115), stonger wings with attachment points for two 551 lb bombs or drop tanks, cockpit armor, and rubber encased fuel tanks. Unfortunately, it carried the same pair of 12.7mm MG's.

Code named "Oscar" by the allies, The Ki-43 served with the Japanese Army air forces and was one of the most maneuverable fighters of the war. Unfortunately, the emphasis of the day was on speed and effective tactics by its opponents made it inade- quate for the most part. Still, Ki-43's remained in front-line service until the end of the war, with 5,919 plances produced.

The WarBirds Ki-43 is certainly the tightest turning plane in the game. If an opponent allows himself to get low and slow, the Ki-43 can ride in the saddle forever. The weak guns remain its worst drawback, however. Ki-43's have sent their entire ammo load into F4U's, only to have the Corsair fly off with maybe a leaky fuel tank or engine oil for its trouble.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x 12.7mm MG's 270 rpg
Secondary: None
MG's are fuselage mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.

Ki-84 Hayate

In 1942, Nakajima began working on a successor to the Ki-43. A prototype for the new fighter flew in April of 1943 and the Ki-84 Hayate (Gale) was born.

Code named "Frank" by the allies, the Ki-84 began production by the end of the year, but trouble with the engines delayed any substantial delivery until the middle of 1944. The first Sentai (Squadron) was formed in April 1944 for service in China and by December a full 16 Sentai had been formed. The total production of Ki-84's was 3,382 aircraft including the initiaL model Ki-84-Ia, the Ki-84-Ib with two 20mm cannon replacing the mach- ine guns in the nose, the Ki-84-Ic with 30mm cannon replacing the wing MG's, and a few Ki-84-II which used wood for some parts.

Only slightly slower than the P-51 and P-47, the Ki-84 outcli- mbed and outturned them both below 20,000 feet. It was a match for any allied aircraft it fought, and remained in service till the end of the war, though increased bombing of Japanese indus- try greatly affected production quantity and quality.

In Warbirds, the quality problems that plagued the Ki-84 van- ish, and it is finding a place as one of the better dogfighters in the game. But its also an extremely effective energy fighter, and is probably better used as such.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x 12.7mm MG's 250 rpg
Secondary: 2 x 20mm cannon 150 rpg
MG's are fuselage mounted. Cannon are wing mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


Bf-109

The Bf-109 in all its variants was produced in larger numbers than any other fighter in history, with over 30,000 built. By itself, that number speaks of the success of this aircraft. Also known as the Me-109 after its creator, Dr. Willy Messers- chmitt, the first Bf-109 prototype took flight in 1935 and the final service variant was phased out by the Spanish Air Force in 1967...a career of over 30 years.

Of the types modeled in WarBirds, the 109E began appearing in 1939 and participated in the Battle of Britain. The Bf-109F4 entered service early in 1942 and introduced more drag reduct- ion to the design as well as moving the wing MG's to the nose. The G6 model appeared in December 1943 with the G6/R6 a more heavily armed subvariant of that model, and the Bf-109K4, a high speed high altitude interceptor version, began arriving in October 1944.

The Bf-109 incorporated several new advances in structural de- sign and aerodynamics when it was built. 5 years after its first introduction, it remained superior to any opposing fight- er, and its many variations kept it abreast of the likes of the Spitfire MkIX and other allied planes throughout the war. How- ever, the 109's success was bolstered in part by the large corps of extremely experienced pilots flying the plane.

The leading fighter ace of all time, Oberst Erich Hartmann, flew the Bf-109 for all of his 352 aerial victories, and there were literally dozens of others with well over 100 kills in 109 variants.
In WarBirds, the 109's superior climb rate serves it well if used for vertical maneuvering. Don't turn this bird flat. It carries respectable armament but not as much ammo as other planes, and as the leading German aces found...shooting in close is the best way to get the most out of its guns. This plane will be an average performer in most hands...and is not a bad choice generally, but as in the war itself, it takes an expert to really make the 109 the great weapon it was.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x 7.9mm MG's 1000
Secondary: 2 x 20mm cannon 60
MG's are fuselage mounted. Cannon are wing mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.

Messerschmit Bf-110

The Messerschmit Bf-110 was an attempt at compromise. Conceived in 1934 and first flown as a prototype in 1936, the Bf-110 was intended as a strategic long range heavy fighter, or "Zerstor- er".
The first production model, the Bf-110B, entered service in 1938. The Bf-110C joined the Luftwaffe in time for the invasion of Poland in 1939 and served as both a fighter and fighter bomber with great success as Germany drove across Europe. But in the Battle of Britian, when acting as bombers escorts, the pilots of the Bf-110 found they could not compete with the sin- gle engined Spitfires and Hurricanes of the RAF. Too heavy and too slow, it could not outrun the British fighters, nor could it outturn them. Relegated to ground attack and night fighter roles, it served admirably, and was the main German night figh- ter, equipped with radar to intercept nighttime bomber raids.

The Bf-110's reputation never recovered from the mauling it received over England, but it remained a versatile and effec- tive weapon. The most successful Bf-110 pilot was Major Heinz- Wolfgang Schnaufer, who received the Diamonds to the Knight's Cross while claiming 121 kills as a night fighter.

In WarBirds, the Bf-110 is still new. It should be a welcome addition for scenarios depicting the Battle of Britain and other German campaigns. The G-2 is a heavily gunned night fighter version, while the C-4 is an example of the type that fought over England.

Armament (bf110C-4):
Primary : 4 x 7.9mm MG's 1000
Secondary: 2 x 20mm cannon 180
Gunner: 1 x 7.9mm MG
Pilot guns are fuselage mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.

Fw-190

After a short association with the Fw-190, many new players imagine this aircraft as a large monstrous brute of a plane. In reality, the Wuerger (Butcherbird) is a compact, elegant, and beautiful fighter.

Conceived by Focke Wulf designer Kurt Tank in 1937, the Fw-190 only saw production because it used a BMW air cooled radial engine rather than the inline liquid cooled engines earmarked for the Bf-109. When it was introduced, it was more than a match for the RAF fighters it faced, and it maintained a fear- some reputation throughtout the war. The Focke Wulf fighter saw many variants, and served with fighter/interceptor, dive- bombing, recon, and even torpedo groups everywhere the Luft- waffe fought.

The first Fw-190 prototype flew in June 1939 and production versions started rolling off the assembly line in November 1940. Of the versions modeled in the game, The Fw-190A-4 enter- ed service in the Summer of 1942 and gave allied pilots a pow- erful opponent. The heavily gunned A-8 variant first saw action in Mid 1944 and was produced in the largest numbers of any ver- sion, and the Fw-190D-9, a high altitude fast interceptor with the Jumo inline liquid cooled engine, was made only in small numbers late in the war though it is considered the finest prop driven fighter the Germans produced in WW2.

Erich Rudorffer scored a record 13 kills in one sortie while flying the Fw-190, a testament to the lethality of the plane.

The thing that most gives the Butcherbird its awesome reputa- tion is its armament. Most versions featured 4 20mm cannon along with two 7.9mm machine guns. The Fw-190A-8 is the heav- iest armed fighter in the game with two of its four 20mm cannon being high velocity MG-151's, and two 13mm MG's in the cowling.

WarBirds Fw pilots soon learn the art of energy fighting or move on to other aircraft. Not quite the fastest plane in the game, running is often not an option, and not among the best turning planes in the game, tight furballing leads to death. What this plane excels at is diving on opponets, blowing them to fragments in one brutal firing pass, climbing back to its high perch, and seeking out its next victim. An expert can take this plane into a furball and survive using vertical maneuvers and its outstanding roll rate, racking up kills with the lethal guns, but one mistake leaves the Fw-190 defensive and soon defeated.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x 7.9mm MG's 900 rpg
Secondary: 2 x 20mm MGFF cannon 60 rpg
2 x 20mm MG151 cannon 200 rpg
MG's are fuselage mounted. The cannon are wing and wing-root mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.

Hawker Hurricane

Design of the Hawker Hurricane began in 1933 as Britain looked for its first monoplane fighter. A prototype was flown in Nov- ember of 1935 and production of the Hurricane began in July 1936 with the first squadrons forming by the end of 1937. All Hurricanes had fabric covered wings until the Autumn of 1939 when the installation of the 1260 hp Merlin XX engine and heav- ier armament marked the Hurricane II series of variants. The IIa kept the old wings with the newer engine while the IIb had 12 browning machine guns mounted in the new all metal stressed skin wings. The IIc used four 20mm Hispano-Suiza drum fed cannon and the IId was outfitted with a pair of 40mm anti-tank cannon. The last three were also capable of carrying a 125 or 500lb bomb under each wing.

The memorable Spitfire gets most of the credit for winning the Battle of Britain, but the Hawker Hurricane was the real work- horse of the conflict. The 1715 Hurricanes that served in the battle accounted for four fifths of the enemy aircraft dest- royed.

The Hurricane expanded it's role into the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Middle East during 1940, and into the Far East in 1941. It saw air-to-ground action for the most part as later generations of fighters took up the air battle. A total of 14,223 Hurricanes were produced.
The top scoring Hurricane ace in WW2 was Squadron Leader Marma- duke Thomas St. John Pattle, a South African who served in North Africa and later in Greece. He had 35 victories while flying the Hurricane. Some estimates give him 50 kills altoge- ther which would also make him the highest scoring RAF ace of the war.

The Hurricane is a recent addition to the WarBirds stable, and its performance in the arenas will probably suffer against so many more modern types of aircraft.
It will be a welcome addition to scenario play, making it poss- ible to create accurate Battle of Britain events among others.

Armament:
Primary : 4 x .303 MG's 350 rpg
Secondary: 4 x .303 MG's 350 rpg
All guns are wing mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


Supermarine Spitfire

In addition to being one of the most beautiful fighters ever built, the Supermarine Spitfire was one of the most robust de- signs. With the same airframe that first flew as a prototype in 1936, the Spitfire remained in production throughout WW2, the only Allied fighter to do so. Improvements were mainly to the engine, with the basic shape remarkably able to accomodate the increased size and power of the ever larger Merlins. Combining speed, firepower, and agility into one potent package, the Spit with its distinctive eliptical wings is always remembered as the plane that won the Battle of Britain...though the Hawker Hurricane carried most of the load.

The Spitfire Mk1a was in service at the outbreak of WW2. The Spit V became available in March 1941, and the Spit IX, the most produced variant at 5,665 planes, was introduced in mid 1942.
James "Johnny" Johnson was the highest scoring British Spitfire pilot with 38 victories.

In WarBirds, the Spitfire MkIX does almost everything well. Fast and nimble, it also packs a strong punch thanks to its twin 20mm cannon and machine guns. An excellent energy fighter, it can also get in close and mix it up when the situation re- quires it. Its only real disadvantage is its ammo capacity. You don't get alot to waste. The Spit Ia holds up well against early war opponents, though it had yet to be fitted with can- non, having instead eight .30 cal MGs. The Spit Vb (Seafire II) is the carrier based Spit variant. With a bit less speed and climbing ability than the MkIX, it is an even better turn fighter.

Armament:
Primary : 4 x .303 MG 350 rpg
Secondary: 4 x .303 MG 350 rpg
All MG's wing mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


P-38

Developed by Kelly Johnson as a high altitude interceptor and escort fighter and built by Lockheed, the "Fork-Tailed Devil", or P-38, was an abrupt departure in design when its first pro- totype flew in 1939, and it continued to be an innovative air- craft through its illustrious career. With its twin engines, booms, and tails around a center fuselage, it was the first plane to enter squadron service with tricycle gear, all-metal flush riveted skin, turbo-supercharged engines, and power boosted controls. At the time it entered service it was the fastest and longest ranged fighter in the world.
Although it was hindered by technical and logistics problems and was gradually phased out in favor of the P-51 in Europe, the P-38 was an early mainstay in the Mediterrainian and con- sidered by many the premier fighter of the Pacific war.

America's two leading aces of WW2, Maj. Richard Bong (40 kills) and Maj. Tommy McGuire (38 kills) flew the P-38. Another P-38 claimed the life of Japan's Admiral Yamamoto when it shot down the transport carrying the Japanese commander. P-38's scored the final US air victories of the war when they downed six Ki-84 "Franks" on the day before the final ceasefire.

A total of 10,038 P-38's of all types were produced.

In WarBirds, the P-38 variants are always included in the list when speaking of "best fighters in the game". For beginners, its counter rotating props negate torque effects and its array of nose mounted armament removes convergence issues making it much easier to learn both the basics of ACM and gunnery. In the hands of an expert, the P-38L in particular is an awesome plat- form both in scenarios and in arena play with its combination of speed, maneuverability, guns, and toughness. The only draw- back to this plane is its great size and distinctive shape. It's a big target, and is easy to see from a long way out. The 38F is an early version and the best turner of the three while the 38J is faster but enters compressability easily in a dive. The 38L is the most modern, with power assisted controls that allow it to use its speed more effectively.

Armament:
Primary : 4 x .50 cal MG's 500 rpg
Secondary: 1 x 20mm cannon 150 rpg
All guns are nose mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.

Bell P-39 Airacobra

The Bell P-39 Airacobra was not very popular with American and British pilots, who quickly dubbed it the "Iron Dog" due to its poor power to weight ratio. The P-39 and P-40 were all that was available to USAAC pilots early in the war however, and they served well in limited roles.

The XP-39 was introduced to the military in January 1940. The first production model, the P-39C, saw only limited numbers and was quickly superceded by the P-39D, which was the first to enter squadron service in Febuary 1941. Early prototypes used a turbo-supercharged engine, but this was deemed unsuitable and removed, resulting in poor high altitude performance.

What the P-39 lacked in engine power, it made up in the sheer firepower of its armament. A spinner mounted 37mm cannon along with four .30 cal and two .50 cal machine guns meant that what the P-39 could hit, it killed. Sent under the Lend Lease act to Russia, pilots there found its cannon very effective against ground targets.

The leading P-39 ace was Aleksander Pokryshkin of the Red Air Force. His 59 victories, most of which came while flying the P-39, made him the second leading Allied ace of WW2.

In Warbirds, the Airacobra is simply outclassed by every other fighter. However, it is a mistake to ignore a P-39 since all it usually needs is one hit with that massive 37mm gun to ruin an opponent's day. P-39's can be flown effectively if you start with an energy advantage and carefully hoard that energy as long as possible. Try to fly as a pair with another P-39, where you can cover each other's tail. If someone "fixates" on your partner...he'll soon find out just how big 37mm is.

Armament:
Primary : 4 x .30 cal MG's 1000 rpg
Secondary: 2 x 50 cal MG's 200 rpg
1 x 37mm cannon 30 rpg
.30 MG's are wing mounted.
.50 MG's are fuselage mounted.
37mm cannon is spinner mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


P-40

When it entered production in 1940, the P-40 was already out- classed by such fighters as the British Spitfire and German Bf-109. Still, P-40's served in every allied air force and in every theatre during WW2. As it was, the P-40 never caught up with the state-of-the-art, but its toughness and frontline serviceability proved of great value and it served with great success as a tactical fighter-bomber.

The prototype first flew in October 1939 and 13,738 P-40's of all types were built.
Probably the most famous unit flying P-40's was Gen. Claire Chennault's American Volunteer Group fighting the Japanese in China in 1941 and 42. The P-40D saw the introduction of a new series of Allison engines, resulting in a shorter nose and deeper radiator. With the P-40E, the fuselage guns were dis- carded and standard armament became six .50 cal MG's.
The top scoring P-40 pilot was Flt. Lt. Clive "Killer" Caldwell of 250 Squadron Raf. An Australian, he flew Tomahawks and Kittyhawks in North Africa and finished the war with 27 kills.

In WarBirds, the P-40 performs a bit better than most people assume. Matched against other early war fighters, it holds its own very well. Think of it as a poor man's Spit.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x .50 cal MG's 265 rpg
Secondary: 4 x .50 cal MG's 290 rpg
All guns are wing mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


P-47 Thunderbolt

Big, heavy, fast....and ugly. The P-47D Thunderbolt, or "Jug", was undoubtedly the finest ground attack fighter of WW2 and a tremendous air to air weapon as well.
There is nothing elegant or pretty about this aircraft, but it was well loved by the men who flew it for one simple fact: It could absorb brutal punishment and bring its pilot home.

In 1941, Alexander Kartveli and the Servesky Aircraft Corpor- ation, later Republic, delivered the first XP-47 prototypes for testing to the USAAC. After initial trials, several changes were made to the original airframe, including the use of the big Pratt/Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engine, resulting in the biggest and heaviest fighter aircraft in the world. At over 6 tons, the design drew critisicm from some circles, but the speed, range, and armament of 8 .50 cal MGs were enough to offset doubts. Designed as a high altitude interceptor, the P-47 was extremely fast above 20,000 feet and gained in other performance areas as well over fighters not as well suited to the near stratospheric heights.

So fast was the Thunderbolt in a dive that the new phenomenon of compressibility became an issue, controls surfaces locking in the vice-like grip of the air at the 500 mph speeds commonly reached in a dive from altitude. Several pilots were lost be- fore this was solved by adding dive flaps to maintain proper airflow at high speeds.

"Jug" pilots used their superior speed and diving capabilities to fight enemy planes that turned and accelerated better, and the P-47 with drop tanks was the best long range bomber escort the US had until the introduction of the P-51 Mustang. With its eight .50's, speed, payload, and ability to withstand damage, the P-47 was also the premier ground attack fighter of its day. As the allies won air-superiority in Europe, Thunderbolts ranged all along the western front attacking German ground forces and speeding their collapse.

The two top P-47 aces were Robert Johnson and Francis Gabreski of the 56th FG. They tied each other as the leading US aces in the ETO with 28 victories each. Gabreski added another 6.5 vic- tories to his total while flying the F-86 in Korea.

The P-47D, modeled in WarBirds, was at 12,603 the most produced sub-type of any fighter in the war, first reaching squadrons in April of 1943 with the bubble top version modeled in WarBirds seeing service from mid '44. Total P-47 production was 15,660 planes.

In WarBirds, the Jug's ability to absorb damage serves it well. At high altitudes, it is the fastest fighter in the game and very dangerous. It can dive away from most planes easily, and of course it's hard to bring down. Like the rest of the high speed interceptors, turn fighting is a no-no. Boom and Zoom works just fine.

Armament:
Primary : 4 x .50 cal MG's 425 rpg
Secondary: 4 x .50 cal MG's 425 rpg
All guns are wing mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.

P-51 Mustang

The North American P-51 Mustang is considered by many to be the finest single seat fighter of WW2. The P-51 was originally de- signed for the RAF. The prototype, designated NA-73X, first flew in October 1940 with the first production models flying in May 1941. Although the early Allison engined models exhibited many fine characteristics and served as low altitude fighters, reconnaissance and dive bombers, the design came up short in its primary intended role as a high altitude interceptor until the RAF tested the Rolls Royce Merlin 61 and 65 engines in its Mustang I's. The improvements in performance were enough to impress the USAAF into ordering large numbers of the aircraft. The P-51 in all variants totaled over 15,000 produced, with the P-51D entering service in early 1944 and accounting for 7,956 of that number.

With its outstanding range, the P-51 was able to accompany deep bomber strikes into Germany, a welcome change for the bomber crews who previously left thier escorts behind long before ent- ering the German heartland. Its speed and handling made it a match for anything the enemy put against it, and Mustangs were even credited with kills of the German Me-262 jet fighter late in the war.

In the Pacific, the P-51 performed equally as well, though dust and humidity made maintenance a problem. As in Europe, its great range made the Mustang stand out, allowing Mustangs to escort B-29 strikes against the Japanese home islands.

The leading P-51 ace of the war was Major George Preddy Jr. with 26.83 victories. On Christmas day 1944, Preddy shot down two Bf-109's and was chasing an Fw-190 at tree-top level when he was shot down and killed by American anti-aircraft fire meant for the plane he was pursuing.

In WarBirds, the P-51 remains an outstanding fighter, though some of its best points are only realized in large organized scenarios. One of the favorites of the "Boom and Zoom" school of fighting, the P-51 is the fastest plane in the game at most altitudes, and its speed allows it to strike so quickly that many of it's victims never see it coming. Escaping trouble is as simple as pointing the nose down and running away from pur- suers, a habit that has given the P-51 the derisive nickname "Runstang" among its sometimes frustrated opponents.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x .50 cal MG's 400 rpg
Secondary: 4 x .50 cal MG's 270 rpg
All guns are wing mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


Aichi D3A

Like its US "Dauntless" counterpart, the Aichi D3A (Code name: "Val") was an outmoded aircraft that surpassed its deficiencies in action. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the first bombs dropped were by D3A's and the plane went on to consider- able success in the first stages of conflict. It sank more All- ied fighting ships than any other Axis aircraft.

The first prototype was completed and flown in late 1937 and won a production contract in December 1939 under the designa- tion "Navy Type 99 Carrier Bomber Model 11". Production model D3A1's used a 1000 hp or 1070 hp engine and were outfitted with 2 forward and one rearward firing 7.7mm MG's. Normal payload was one 551 lb bomb under the fuselage with provision for 2 132 lb bombs on the wings. The D3A2 had a larger 1300 hp engine and increased fuel capacity along with other improvements and rea- ched front line units by Autumn 1942. A total of 1,495 D3A's were produced.

In WarBirds, the Val is a scenario plane for the most part, and is comparable to the SBD in action.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x 7.7mm MG's 791 rpg
Secondary: Tail gunner 1 x 7.7mm MG 679 rpg
Pilot MG's are fuselage mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


Nakajima B5N2

When the Pacific War began the Japanese Navy had in the Naka- jima B5N2 (code name: "Kate") the most advanced carrier borne torpedo bomber in the world.

144 Kates participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor and in the next 12 months B5N2's delivered fatal blows to three US Navy Carriers. Powered by a nine cylinder air cooled radial engine, the B5N1 prototype was flown in January 1937 and the plane went into production in November of that year. In 1939, after facing the Chinese in the Sino-Japanese War, the B5N was improved and the B5N2 with its 1400 hp 14 cylinder double row engine, though not appreciably faster despite the increased power, was consid- erably more reliable.

Although successful in the early stages of the war, the Kate was obsolete by 1944 and relegated to second line units. There they found use as recon aircraft and provided some cover to Japanese shipping against submarine attack. Some models were outfitted with early Air-to-Surface Radar for this role. A total of 1,149 B5N's were produced.

In WarBirds, the Kate is pressed into service in scenarios dep- icting the carrier battles of the Pacific, and sees use in the arena when that enemy CV just needs to be taken out NOW. Hitt- ing a moving ship with its payload requires one of two things: An very practiced long range shooter of a pilot, or a suicidal close range release. The ack on the carrier fleets is murderous when a close range Kate goes into the required low and level flight required for torpedo release.

Armament:
Primary : Tail Gunner 1 x 7.7mm MG 679 rpg
Secondary: None
No forward firing guns.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


Douglas SBD Dauntless

The Douglas SBD Dauntless was already obsolete when it was in- troduced in 1940, its design outpaced by the rapid acceleration of technology leading up to the Second World War. Underpowered, slow, short on range, and vulnerable to fighters, it did not seem to carry any of the attributes needed to succeed. However, it was the only US aircraft to participate in all 5 major carrier battles of the Pacific and was the main weapon used to destroy the short-lived supremacy of the Japanese fleet.

The XBT-1 was an early prototype that first flew in August 1935. It was succeeded by the XBT-2, which after being outfit- ted with a somewhat more powerul engine was accepted for pro- duction and became the SBD-1. Another increase in power along with modifications resulted in the SBD-2. At the outbreak of war in the Pacific, three Navy squadrons were flying SBD-2's and the SBD-3 was already in production. With greatly increased range, the SBD-3 was the mainstay during the early battles against the Japanese. It was replaced by the SBD-5 in Febuary 1943 and that plane served until the end of the war. 5,321 SBD's of all types were produced.

Armed with 2 forward firing .50's and 2 rear firing .30's, the SBD could carry either a 500 lb or 1000 lb or 1600 lb bomb un- der the fuselage, and an additional 100 lb bomb under each wing.
The name Dauntless probably owes more to the men who flew this plane than to any qualities of the plane itself. However, it certainly was an extremely accurate dive bomber, and like many other US planes in the war, was able to survive horrendous damage and get back home. At a time when no alternative was available, the SBD got the job done.

In WarBirds, the SBD mainly sees action in scenarios. As part of a carrier strike, the SBD maintains the same qualities. It's slow, but it can go a long way and is awfully hard to bring down. If it gets to the enemy carriers, it's going to put its payload on target.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x .50 cal MG's 350 rpg
Secondary: Tail Gunner 1 x .30 cal MG 1000 rpg
Pilot MG's are fuselage mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


Junkers Ju-88

The Junkers Ju-88 was probably the most versatile aircraft of WW2 and certainly the best bomber the Germans possessed. The number of variants is staggering and a partial catalogue inc- ludes the original "Schnellbomber" or fast bombers, high alt- itude bombers, The "Zerstorer" or heavy fighters, radar equip- ped night fighters, torpedo bombers, recon aircraft, tank busters, and dive bombers as well as being the lower half of the late-war "Mistel" combination where a Bf-109 or Fw-190 was attached above a bomb laden unmanned Ju-88 and steered it to- wards a gliding release at the target.

A prototype that flew in June 1938 led to the first production models in Mid 1939. The first combat mission was in September 1939 against several British warships, an unspectacular sortie whose highlight was the bouncing of a 500 lb bomb off the HMS Hood. The Ju-88 was nonetheless a spectacularly successful air- craft. It was the main offensive punch of the Luftwaffe until strategic concerns pressed Germany's air arm into defensive roles.

By the Spring of 1941, the Ju-88-A4 was the main airframe type and served as the basis for subsequent versions. Payloads var- ied substantially depending on what role was being performed. At least 14,980 Ju-88's were produced during the course of the war.

In WarBirds, the Ju-88 remains an excellent bomber and one of only three planes that carry torpedos, with the Ju-88 carrying two. It can carry up to four 1000 lb bombs and is capable of level or dive bombing. As the only German bomber represented, it should see extensive scenario use.

Armament:
Primary : 1 x 7.9mm MG 750 rpg
Secondary: None
Gunners: 3 x 7.9mm MG
1 x 13mm MG (top)
Gunner positions are: Top, Nose, Bottom.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


B-25 Mitchell

The B-25 Mitchell was probably the best medium bomber of WW2. For a bomber it was fast, climbed hard, and could maneuver easily. The A model entered service in August 1940 and had a bombload of 3000 lb. The H model was introduced in late '43 and carried an awesome armament of 14 .50 cal MG's, eight of which were in the nose, and a 75mm cannon in the nose as well. The J model had 13 .50 cal MG's and was the most produced with 4,318 planes. Total B-25 production was 9,816 aircraft.

Sixteen B-25B's led by Lt. Col Jimmy Doolittle launched from the carrier USS Hornet in April 1942 for a raid on Tokyo, 800 miles distant, in one of the war's most daring raids.

In WarBirds, the B-25H sees alot of use in field captures. Its big nose cannon able to take out most structures with one or two well placed shots. The B-25J, without the 75mm gun, is still able to either dive or level bomb with the best of 'em. Both are often found on scenario rosters as well, and B-25's have been known to simply outrun Japanese Zeros during Pacific events.

Armament:
Primary : 4 x .50 cal MG's 400 rpg
Secondary: 4 x .50 cal MG's 400 rpg
1 x 75mm cannon 21 rpg
Gunners: 6 x .50 cal MG's. Positions are: Top, Tail, Right (waist), Left (waist).
Eight .50's plus the 75mm cannon in the nose for the pilot. Ouch.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


Boeing B-17 Bomber

In July 1935, the prototype of the Boeing B-17 Bomber was rolled out and flown for the first time. When a newspaper writer at the event wrote of a "flying fortress", Boeing took note and the name stuck.

While it may not have been the best example of a heavy bomber in the war with its relatively small bombload, the B-17 certa- inly had the most impact. Sophisticated bombsights and daylight raids meant that the bombs they dropped hit target more often. The B-17 also had the ability to absorb tremendous amounts of enemy fire and return to base in England. Accounts of Forts re- turning minus half the tail or with 2 engines and a main fuel tank burned out or similarly horrific damage were common. Early unescorted B-17 raids into Germany were effective enough to cause the Luftwaffe to pull fighters from the Eastern front to put a stop to the daylight bombing. German pilots soon found the defensive fire put up by the close formations was brutal. But the B-17's lacked in frontal fire, and the Luftwaffe began making head-on attacks the rule. Changes in the Forts followed, adding cheek gun and later chin turrets. By the later years of the war, allied escort fighters made interceptions of the bomb- ers less and less frequent, and the late war Forts had more to worry about from AAA than enemy fighters.

The B-17G was the most common model produced, with 8,680 planes built. With a crew of 10 men, thirteen .50 cal machine guns, and a 6000 pound bombload, it had a range of 2000 miles. The G added the Bendix chin turret while otherwise remaining essenti- ally a late model B-17F.

In WarBirds, the B-17 remains the supreme bomber. Given time to line up, the bombsight is extremely accurate from altitudes up to and above 30 thousand feet. Scenarios have seen B-17 forma- tions numbering upwards of 30 planes. With all the gunners fir- ing from such a mass, interceptors could live but a few seconds in the midst of the boxes. With autogunners, the B-17 is hard to attack, but veterans have learned to pull constant g's as they dive in, giving "Otto" a hard time at aiming. Players can also man the guns, and it can be a wild, fun ride taking player -manned buff boxes into battle.

Armament:
Primary : 10 x .50 cal MG's Varied
Secondary: None
All guns are gunner operated. Gun positions are: Top, Bottom, Nose, Tail, Right (waist), and Left (waist).
The gunner positions are a bit different from the actual posit- ions on a B-17G, where there were also chin and radio compart- ment mounts.


TBF/TBM Avenger

The TBF/TBM Avenger was the successor to the slow and short ranged TBD-1 Devastator. In November of 1941, the prototype XTBF-1 reached a top speed of 271 mph with a range of 1,215 miles without extra fuel, a significant improvement over the TBD.

The first production TBF-1 rolled off Grumman's assembly line in January 1942 and a second line at Eastern Aircraft began production of the TBM-1 in March 1943. The two aircraft types were virtually identical and could only be distinguished by comparing Bureau Numbers. A total of 2,293 TBF's were built by Grumman, and a total of 7,546 TBM's were built by Eastern.

The Avenger carried a pilot, radioman, and gunner, and was armed with two .50 MG in the wings for the pilot, one .50 MG in a rear dorsal turret for the gunner, and one .30 MG rear ventral "stinger" for the radioman. It had an internal bomb bay capable of carrying one 22 in. torpedo or 2000 lb of bombs. Some versions also carried wing rocket racks.

The Avenger is another addition to the WarBirds Pacific war scenario stable...and of course will also see use in the arenas when a CV group needs attention.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x .50 cal MG's 600 rpg
Secondary: None
Gunners: Upper ball: 1 x .50 cal MG
Lower tail: 1 x .30 cal MG

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


F4F/FM2 Wildcat

"A beer barrel on a roller skate, run through with an ironing board". - This is how one flier described the F4F/FM Wildcat. Outclassed in speed, maneuverability, and range by its primary adversary, the Japanese A6M2 Zero-Sen, the Wildcat nonetheless played an important role in the Pacific war.

Built by Grumman, the F4F was an excellent example of the comp- romises required of carrier-borne fighters. Small and rugged, but underpowered and heavy for its size, this plane was origi- nally beaten out by the Brewster F2A Buffalo in competition for a new monoplane fighter for the US Navy, but Grumman continued to improve the design and built 54 for the Navy in August 1939.

With its ability to withstand damage, Navy pilots were able to use tactics such as the "Thach Weave", developed by US Navy LCDR. Jimmy Thach, to keep this pugnacious warplane fighting. In the Thach Weave, a pair of Wildcats would fly abreast each other and weave back and forth. When an Zero saddled on one Wildcat's tail, his wingman would be in position to fire on the enemy as they crossed in front of him in the weave. When it needed to, the other advantage of the F4F over the Zero was its ability to dive faster, providing its pilots a ready escape should the situation turn bad.

Joseph Foss was the highest scoring Wildcat ace with 26 vict- ories while flying from Guadalcanal in 1942. The top scoring FM-2 Ace was Lt. Ralph Elliot with 9 kills.
A total of 7316 F4F/FM Wildcats of all types were built for the US Navy and the British Royal Navy, entering service in 1940 and remaining the mainstay of the fleet fighter arm until the introduction of the F6F in 1943. Later, F4F/FM-2's were to serve on almost all of the US Navy's 114 escort carriers.

Wildcats had a kill to loss ratio of 6.9 to 1, though many of these kills were bombers and transports.

WarBirds models the F4F-4 and the FM-2. The FM-2 is blessed with a more powerful engine and unlike the F4F is actually faster than an A6M3 Zero. Both have seen extensive scenario use. Both are notoriously short-legged for the big terrains.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x .50 cal MG's 430 rpg
Secondary: 2 x .50 cal MG's 430 rpg

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


Me-262 "Sturmvogel"

In the late 1930's, development of the jet engine sparked the design of the Me-262 "Sturmvogel" (Stormbird). Created by a group of Messerschmitt engineers led by Woldemar Voigt, the 262 was born of a marraige of pioneering concepts and lucky guesses.

To look at the ME-262 is to be immediately reminded of a shark. The triangle shape of the fuselage, the menacing nose with its four 30mm cannon, the mottled grey camoflage...the plane has the look and feel of nature's swift, powerful predator.

When it made it's debut as the world's first operational combat jet in 1944, the 262 was still, in the opinion of many of it's pilots and designers, not yet suitable for combat. The Jumo 004 jet engines were underpowered and unreliable. The jet required a long runway for takeoff and landing, and was a long time in accelerating to speed. To maintain its edge over allied fighters, the 262 had to remain fast, so slowing down for an accurate guns pass was not advisable. Also, the 30mm cannon, though powerful, had a slow muzzle velocity, making gunnery even more difficult. This was very much an "expert's plane". Unfortunately, by the period in which it operated, Luftwaffe experten were in short supply.

Still, there was simply nothing that could touch the ME-262 once the pilot had reached altitude and speed. The jet performed well at high altitudes where other fighters struggled, was at least 150 knots faster than anything it faced, and its cannon were more than enough to bring down the bombers it hunted. All in all, the ME-262 was very much a successful design.

An experimental jet unit, Ekdo 262, recieved its first 262's in April 1944. Kommando Nowotny, the first combat squadron to be equipped with the ME-262, was declared operational in October of that year. Such units as JG7 and Galland's JV-44 "Squadron of Experts" operated with the ME-262 until the end of the war, with a total of 1,433 aircraft produced. Variants included nightfighter, divebomber, and recon versions.

The top Me-262 ace was Oberstleutnant Heinz Baer, with 16 kills.

In WarBirds, the 262 will see limited action. It will remain very much an expert's plane, because while hard to kill, it is extremely hard to get kills in it. Its best use will likely be in scenario play intercepting B-17's. In scenarios, where the qualities of speed and big guns are at a premium, the fight to get a ride in the jet will be the worst fight you'll face.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x 30mm cannon 100 rpg
Secondary: 2 x 30mm cannon 80 rpg
All cannon are fuselage mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.


Yakelov Yak-3

The Yakelov Yak-3 was a development of the Yak-1, a fighter which had seen service since 1940. Where the Yak-1 was out- classed by the Luftwaffe fighters it faced, the Yak-3, flying at low altitudes (where most combat took place over the large tank and infantry battles raging on the Eastern front), was clearly the superior of its German rivals.

It was the lightest, most maneueverable fighter to see action in the European theatre, born of the Soviet's need for an easily and cheaply produced fighter which did not require the hard-to-get materials used in other designs. The reliable VK-105PF2 engine gave it good speed and climb. Its armament, consisting of two cowl mounted 12.7mm MG's and a single 20mm cannon mounted through the engine, was light by the standards of the day but still adequate.

While many sources state that the Yak-3 made its debut on the frontlines over the battle of Kursk in July 1943, this was probably a cut-down version of the Yak-1. The first Yak-3 series plane flew in March 1944 and entered service in the 2nd quarter of that year. In any case, Soviet pilots were enthusiastic with the new fighter, as it finally put them in an equal or better mount than their opponents.

Yakelov factories produced 4,797 Yak-3's of all variants through the end of the war.

Soviet Maj. S D Lugansky scored 43 kills in the Yak-3, making him probably the leading ace of the type.

In WarBirds, where most of the arena action takes place at low level and any Eastern front scenario will likely feature the same, the Yak fighters are probably going to do very well indeed.

Armament:
Primary : 2 x 12.7mm MG 250 rpg
Secondary: 1 x 20mm cannon 120 rpg
MG's are cowl mounted.
Cannon is engine mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.

Yak-9

The Yak-9 was produced in larger numbers than any other Soviet fighter. Where the Yak-1 and Yak-3 were light point defense interceptors, the Yak-9, developed from the Yak-7, was a heavy multi-role aircraft. It filled fighter-bomber, anti-tank, reconnaissance, and interceptor roles.

With an increasing amount of materials being supplied by the United States, the Yak-7/Yak-9 line of fighters were able to make use of steel alloys and other materials unavailable to the designers of the Yak-1/Yak-3 line.

Production began in October 1942, with 16,769 Yak-9's of all variants produced, including 3,058 Yak-9d's.

The standard Yak-9 was powered by an M-105PF engine rated at 1,180 hp. It mounted one 20mm cannon through the nose and one 12.7mm machine gun in the cowl.

As the battles of 1943 continued on the Eastern front, Soviet ground forces more and more often advanced beyond the range of their air cover. The Yak-9d, with a longer range (about 870 miles) was produced to counter this problem.

The Yak-9d was outstanding at low to medium altitudes, very much a match for the German fighters of the time. The only complaint is its very light armament.

In WarBirds, the Yak-9d, like the Yak-3, should excel at the standard altitudes found in the main arenas and Eastern front scenarios.

Armament:
Primary : 1 x 12.7mm MG 250 rpg
Secondary: 1 x 20mm cannon 120 rpg
MG's are cowl mounted.
Cannon is engine mounted.

The "Ammo Load" is based on the historic normal operational ammo load for the plane/weapon(s) in question.

Ju-87 "Stuka"

During the German invasions of Poland and France, the Ju-87 "Stuka" dive bomber struck terror into its foes with its supreme ability to lay heavy ordnance on target with pinpoint accuracy and with the piercing wail of the sirens attached to its landing gear struts.

A pilot would deploy the dive brakes to initiate his dive, line up his dive angle, and aim with the ailerons. An automatic system pulled the plane out of the dive at a set altitude. The plane was said to be more stable in the 90 degree dive from which it salvoed its bombs than it was in level flight.
However, as able as the Stuka was in dive bombing, it was vulnerable to enemy fighter opposition, and in the Battle of Britain, large numbers were lost before it was withdrawn from the battle. Having established its reputation for effectiveness in the early campaigns, it now suffered from the reputation of not being able to survive long enough to bring that effectiveness into play. There was no replacement for it, though, so it continued to be manufactured...always being in the process of being "phased out", but always being produced as the need for it grew.

n the Eastern front, with less fighter opposition to face, it remained effective at destroying tanks and supporting the ground attack.

A varient, the Ju-87G-1, was fitted with a pair of 37mm Flak 18 cannon and one pilot, Hans Ulrich Rudel, flew some 2500 sorties while destroying over 500 pieces of enemy armor with both this variant and the Ju-87D.

In WarBirds, the Ju-87D will see action in scenarios, but may be too good a target in the arena to succeed in that free flowing fight.


de Havilland Mosquito

The "Wooden Wonder" was rejected as a concept by Britain's Air Marshals, and had to be designed and built in an English manor house and test flown off an adjoining farm field. It became possibly the most successful and certainly most versatile Britsh aircraft of WW2.
It served as Photo-recon, day fighter, night fighter, bomber, mine layer, torpedo bomber, tank buster, pathfinder, and submarine hunter. What's left?

Sir Geoffrey de Havilland proposed his wooden speed bomber in in 1938. When he was turned down, he said "We'll do it anyway". With the encouragement of Air Chief Marshal Sir Wilfred Freeman, de Havilland set up shop in Salisbury Hall and set to work. The prototype flew in Novermber 1940 and went into production.

Wood was not a scarce commodity like the metals used in other planes, and much of the skilled workforce came from otherwise underemployed furniture craftsmen...making the Mosquito doubly valued, as much for its manufacturing efficiency as its performance.

7,781 Mosquitos of all types were eventually built. At near 400 mph level speed, it had the ability to penetrate deep into enemy territory while avoiding interception. In 1943, an 11am address in Berlin by Goering in which it was boasted that no enemy bomber would ever reach Berlin unscathed was interrupted by three Mosquitos from 105 squadron who dropped their bombs on the city and returned safely to English soil. At 4pm that same day, a similar address by Goebbels was interrupted in the same manner. It was an outstanding success, almost stage-managed by Goering himself, that gave the Mosquito a moral advantage it never relinquished.

Just how the Mossie performs in WarBirds is yet to be seen, but for fast, deep raids into enemy territory, it ought to be superior to anything else. And, with its four 20mm cannon and four .303 machine guns all mounted in the nose, it will be a formidable opponent in a dogfight. Two versions are present, the Mosquito VIfb6 fighter variant, and the Mosquito IVb4 bomber.


Junker Ju-52

Originally designed as a single engined transport and flown in 1930, the Ju-52 was redesigned with 3 engines as the Ju-52/3m to serve as a bomber in 1932. It was unsuccessful in the bombing role, however, and was relegated mostly to transport duties. In that role, it became one of the classic aircraft of the war, forming the backbone of Luftwaffe air transport operations.
Rugged, reliable, and easy to fly, the Ju-52/3m stayed in service through the war, even when later, better designs were available.

Heavy Ju-52/3m losses through the air assault campaigns in the Netherlands and Crete left the Luftwaffe transport arm woefully undermanned, and this shortage made itself felt during the invasion of Russia, where air transport was often the sole means of resupply.

Total output of the design was 4,845 aircraft. In addition to the transport role, Ju-52/3m's served in minesweeper, recon, glider tug, and the aforementioned bomber roles.

In WarBirds, the primary role of the Ju-52/3m will be transporting paratroops for airfield capture. It carries light defensive armament in the form of three 7.9mm MG's for waist and dorsal gunners.


G4M1 "Betty"

At the start of the Pacific war, the Japanese had perhaps the world's most advanced bomber in the G4M1 "Betty". It boasted extraordinary range and speed for a bomber, and gave the Japanese Navy the ability to strike at targets across the long expanse of the Pacific ocean.

Also known as the Navy Attack Bomber type 1, development began in 1937 with Mitsubishi. A prototype was flown in October 1939, and was able to obtain a top level speed of 276 mph and a range in excess of 3000 nautical miles.

Production began in 1940, with 2,446 planes of both the G4M1 and later G4M2 being built.
The Betty had some drawbacks, chief among them the lack of armor or self-sealing fuel tanks, these having been left out to obtain the speed and range called for. When the tide of the war in the Pacific changed, throwing the Japanese on the defensive, the great range became less important than its vulnerability to enemy air power. With its tendancy to burst into flames after a few hits, it earned the nickname "One shot lighter" by US aircrews.

In WarBirds, the Betty's speed will no doubt be a factor while its great range will not, given the nature of the game. It does fill a gap in the planeset, and will likely see alot of use in scenarios

Ki-61 Hien, or "Tony"

Of all the fighters we've added to WarBirds, none have quite
the same star-crossed history of the Ki-61 Hien, or "Tony".
The Japanese Army Air Force's first single-seat fighter to
enter service after the start of the war, the Ki-61 was
intended to replace the now-venerable Ki-43. Designed as an
improvement on the Messerschmitt Bf-109e, the Hien used an
in-line engine developed in Germany, and in many ways, it
resembled the famed German fighter.

The first prototype rolled out of the plant mere days after
the attack on Pearl Harbor. However, Kawasaki suffered from
production problems from the very start, losing several
prototypes and pilots to unexplained accidents in early
testing. Materials were scarce, and the Ha-40 engine, the
Kawasaki re-design of the Daimler-Benz DB601a, was found to
be a fickle powerplant at best.

The fighter was also plagued by extraordinary maintenance
problems through its service. Parts were always in short
supply, and maintenance crews were poorly trained and
short on manpower.

Still, the JAAF had a very formidable fighter when the Ki-61
was operating. Very manueverable, as nearly all Japanese
fighters were, it was also faster (367mph @16k) and much
better armored than the other JAAF fighters. Its pilots
could afford to be much more agressive, and against rivals
such as the P-39, P-40b and e, and P-38f, it more than held
its own.

The Ki-61's very first combat was against a B-25 over Japan
during Doolittle's famous raid on Tokyo in April 1942. The
Ki-61, which broke off without scoring a kill due to low
fuel, was misreported by the B25 crew as a Bf-109, setting
off a rash of such reports during the early stages of the
Pacific war.

The Ki-61 was next thrown into battle in New Guinea, and
the battles over the harsh jungles were a test from which
the Hien never recovered. The Ki-61 was not ready for the
conditions it faced. It had trouble merely getting to New
Guinea, as its pilots were ill-prepared for the long over
water flights involved, and getting parts to the remote
locations was, it seemed, nearly impossible. Many Ki-61's
were simply destroyed on the ground by marauding US 5th
Air Force planes, and when the Hien did get in the air, it
was frequently outnumbered.

From the debacle of New Guinea, to the losing campaign
for the Phillipines and back across the Pacific, the Ki-61
always seemed to be fighting a hopeless battle. Veteran
pilots were fewer and fewer, and new pilots often had no
more than 30 hours total flight time before being commited
to combat, due to country-wide fuel shortages.

In the final defense of the home islands, the Ki-61 was one
of the few fighters able to climb up to attack USAF B-29's
at altitude, and then its pilots were forced to save weight
by leaving behind equipment including most of their guns...
this to attack what was the most heavily armed bomber of the
war. Pilots turned to suicidal ramming attacks as the most
effective means of stopping the heavy bombers in the last
desperate days of the war.

In case I'm not getting my point wholly across...researching
this plane is pretty much some of the most depressing reading
I've done in a long time.

On the other hand, in Warbirds, where poor maintenance, pilot
shortages, overwhelming opposition, and suicide attacks have
little meaning, the Ki-61 should be one of the best of the
early to mid-war fighters. Think of it as a great turning,
if slightly undergunned (4 x 12.7mm) Bf-109, with near the
speed, climb, range, and vertical performance of that plane,
It's a standout among the Japanese stable, and no doubt will
make more than a few "converts".

We model the Ki-61-1b variant.

Armament:
Ammo Load
Primary : 2 x 12.7mm MG's (cowl) 250 rpg
Secondary: 2 x 12.7mm MG's (wings) 200 rpg

7.7 Ground targets and strategy?

There are many different types of ground targets. Airfields contain towers, radars, fuel storage areas, and hangars with heavy calibre anti-aircraft emplacements protecting them. Ports and cities dot the arenas. Destroying them adds to a rebuild time at enemy airfields.

Revvin writes:

Water Arena (wbawt3.trn): Ports
-2,2,3
3,2,1
2,-2,5
-3,-3,6

Mediterran Arena (wbmed3.trn): Cities
1,4,4
3,4,6
3,1,3
0,0,7

Pacific Arena (wbpac2.trn): No ports or cities
European Arena (wbeto1.trn): Too many to list, also fuel tanks, radars, and bridges

Hope this helps, see you in the arena, BTW try using MaxØverlays maps, its
what my squad uses:

http://www.fscwv.edu/webteam/bob/overlays/wbmap.html

Also try Glars excellent maps that can be viewed online by substituting the
keyhelps.PCX's in your WB folder:

http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~glars/glarsmaps.htm

Revvin
CO: Euro Falcons

Aircraft carriers and escorts also roam some of the arenas.

Strategy? The total aim in WarBirds is to capture enemy airfields. When one country loses all of it's fields the arena resets and the country with the highest number of fields wins the war.

More strategy is on the way with rumors that ground vehicles will make an appearance in upcoming versions.

7.8 Competitions and free arenas?

1: "Warnights" and/or "Fight Nights" are run each week. The players with the highest scores (fighter and/or bomber) at the end of the night win gift certificates for free hours online.

Sometimes a single plane with the name "KILLME" will fly across the arena and the first person to shoot it down wins a prize. You will not see the NAME above the plane so it's is all down to luck if you kill it.

2: Free arenas occur when companies sponsor a weekend or night in the Relaxed Realism arena.

3: The WB Air Combat arena is now open as of December 1998 and Mac users can participate. There is no hourly charge for using this arena but you still need to have a iEN account (at $10.00 a month). This new FREE arena has only 2 fighters allowed, no field capture, uses the small PAC terrain, blackouts/redouts are switched off, and relaxed realism mode is used.

This arena is a DEMO arena and is primarily designed to attract new players into the other arenas.

7.9 Newsgroups?

Yes. A good messageboard is run by Argo and is accessed by your browser.

Go to Alt.Games.WarBirds at this link:

http://www.cyberus.ca/~argo/agw/

iEN also have their own newsgroups. Point your Newsreader to this IP: 206.173.139.29

The iEN newsgroups are not available on UseNet. The main Macintosh group is warbirds.support.mac. The iEN news server groups are closing as they go to web-based boards... we hope that warbirds.support.mac remains open.

8.0 How do I...
8.1 EXIT the plane?!

Call up the RADIO by hitting the "/" key. Then type ".e" and hit Return. You will then exit the plane and go back to the tower.

This will work at anytime offline.

Online you must be stopped on the ground before you can exit a plane. Exit planes only on the RUNWAYS or CARRIER DECKS if you wish to record a successful SORTIE on your score sheet. Otherwise the HOST will think that you have ditched.

We mean on the RUNWAYS. Not off to the side or even in a hangar... don't risk a ditch if you concentrate on your scores. Exit on the runways only.
8.2 Access the easier flight model?

This is the DEFAULT flight-model setting when you first run WarBirds. You can access it through the FLIGHT Setup Screen.

If you wish to fly in the Relaxed Realism arenas then you should leave this setting ON for offline practise.

For the FULL REALISM arenas switch this OFF.

8.3 Check how good my connection is?

1. Version 2.73r2 has brought the Network setup screen back to WarBirds for the Mac with a new feature... the "Traceroute". This is a addition which allows you to check the best route from within your WarBirds front-end/Service Provider to the iEN servers in North Carolina USA.

There are now three routes into the WarBirds arenas. In the summer of 1999 iEN moved the servers from Texas to North Carolina in the USA... connect times from Europe improved (for me I get 205ms average), others suffered.

The Network setup is self explanatory. Read the information in the window carefully and follow the instructions. Setting the Auto-select best route option is the best way to start. If you are still getting Yellow beacons on what the Auro-select tells you is the best route then ping the servers yourself using "WhatRoute" or another 3rd party utility. Manually select the best route you find yourself.

Information below on how to do this:

Mr.Brent wrote:

You can figure out the IP address of each route by DNSing the current arena's host machine with the route's 3 letter prefix appended to the beginning with a hyphen. For instance, let's assume you're running on wb02.imagiconline.com (this would be true for both the main and Mac beta arenas). You would DNS the host "spr-wb02.imagiconline.com" to get the IP of Sprint's route to the main/Mac beta arenas. Easy enough, eh? If you aren't sure of a prefix, you can look at the net.cfg file after choosing a route through the Network dialog. It should just be the first three letters of the route name, though. Pretty simple.

2. Check your own connection! Find out which route is best for you.

The next section was written by French some time ago yet the information is still current. He uses the old icigames.com server address as an example.

Numbers below 200 are optimum and will yield a good connection. The higher the numbers, the worse the connection and if they go high enough, the game becomes unplayable and the host will ground you.

You should be aware that normally low numbers can be ruined if you get occasionally very high ones. I was flying one night where I could go for minutes with a ping time of around 50. However, every once in a while the system would basically just stop and I would get numbers like 1800. When actually flying, I could fly for a couple of minutes and then I would get grounded.

Another BAD thing that can ruin an otherwise fine connection is packet losses.
"Would switching providers help?". In order to answer that question, we need to know a bit more about how your messages are getting sent to icigames.com [pre-iEN company name/server address]. We can use the traceroute command for this. traceroute icigames.com I get the following: traceroute to icigames.com (199.3.119.162), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 1 wfbcn1-fddi.cris.com (199.3.12.188) 2 ms 2 ms 2 ms 2 199.3.113.206 (199.3.113.206) 59 ms 61 ms 62 ms 3 199.3.119.162 (199.3.119.162) 59 ms * 65 ms
By the way, those numbers are individual times and do not represent a minimum, average, and maximum like with ping.

This gives me all the steps in the route needed to get internet traffic from my provider to ICI's [iEN] machine. The times show will give you some idea about how much time it took to get to each step along the way. By the way, those numbers are individual times and do not represent a minimum, average, and maximum like with ping. However, to get a better idea, use ping again.

CRCINET 8> ping -s 199.3.113.206

ping -s 199.3.113.206
PING 199.3.113.206: 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 199.3.113.206: icmp_seq=0. time=57. ms
64 bytes from 199.3.113.206: icmp_seq=1. time=57. ms
64 bytes from 199.3.113.206: icmp_seq=2. time=60. ms
64 bytes from 199.3.113.206: icmp_seq=3. time=67. ms
64 bytes from 199.3.113.206: icmp_seq=4. time=59. ms
64 bytes from 199.3.113.206: icmp_seq=5. time=73. ms
64 bytes from 199.3.113.206: icmp_seq=6. time=57. ms
64 bytes from 199.3.113.206: icmp_seq=7. time=57. ms
64 bytes from 199.3.113.206: icmp_seq=8. time=77. ms
64 bytes from 199.3.113.206: icmp_seq=9. time=58. ms
64 bytes from 199.3.113.206: icmp_seq=10. time=58. ms
^C
----199.3.113.206 PING Statistics----
11 packets transmitted, 11 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip (ms) min/avg/max = 57/61/77

You can do this every step along the way and you should be able to isolate exactly where a problem is occurring if you are having one. Remember, the problem may not be your provider (and then again it might). If it is, you now have the ammo to shoot at their tech support people.

If you don't mind a somewhat messy display, you can also use the traceroute -q nqueries form of the command. However, ping is better for doing large numbers of queries (the reason will be obvious if you try with traceroute).

Note that there are now four addresses you can use to get to warbirds [three as of Summer 1999]. If you are having trouble with your connection on the one, you should certainly check if your connection is improved by using the other.

***IMPORTANT***

Ping statistics do NOT tell the entire story. Big ping delays or large numbers of dropped packets are of course BAD news. However, you can have relatively good numbers and still have problems with warping and such. By all means use ping and traceroute, but what really matters is what you, and the people fighting against you, see.

8.4 Recover from losing updates to all players?

This happens from time to time when the internet gets bogged down. The best thing to do is simply keep flying. After a while, the connection will usually come back.

Each Cockpit contains a small "light" with the word BEACON underneath or above it. Offline it is off... online is is either GREEN, YELLOW, or RED. If you start getting a steady RED BEACON on your FE it means that you may be about to be kicked back to your provider. Sometimes RED BEACONS can last up to 15 seconds and then clear. This should be taken as a warning usually and it is best to Return To Base as soon as possible and reconnect.

You need to always see a GREEN BEACON. This means that the HOST is happy with the packets your FE is sending. It does not guarantee a hassle-free connect though.

A YELLOW beacon means that the HOST is losing some of the packets of information it needs to update your position in the WarBirds arena. This may make you "warp". Other players will see you jump about the sky as the HOST updates you between lost packets in spurts.

Say you are flying for the Purple Country in a Spitfire near Field Number 10 and you see this message:

"Purple Spit near F10? Relog... you are warpy"

This message is meant for you! It means that you are warping about the arena and people find it hard to track you. The word "Relog" is an appeal to you to reconnect. It is polite to reconnect even if you find that the warps are not really affecting you. If you don't reconnect and brazen it out you may be the victim of a DWEEBHUNT (which are rare but happen). You never ever want to be the victim of a dweebhunt.

The solution is to immediately land and reconnect.

8.5 Shoot my fellow countrymen?

front writes:

Some people try this out. It will get you killed and you will be the one killing yourself. The WarBirds arenas use a system known as KILLSHOOTER.

Every bullet you shoot at an ALLY will cause damage to your plane and your plane only if your bullets hit him. He will not be affected.

Remember this too as you shoot "over his shoulder" at an enemy he is attacking in the hope of grabbing a quick kill. If you hit him by mistake you will get damaged.

8.6 Stop rapid jittering in my controls?

Read all 9 points:

1: The rapid jittering is caused by the fact your joystick does not usually put out one consistent value for a particular position of the stick. What you should do is adjust the deadbands for your stick and rudder pedals (if you have them). 2: You should be aware that the oscillations back and forth that occur on a somewhat slower and smoother basis are normal and are part of the flight model. Real planes behave the same way. 3: For some people, there are two other causes: a) You may be calibrating incorrectly.

Recalibrate your joystick using the custom software which comes with the product (eg Thrustware or the CH Control Panels)

b) You need to set the SLIDERS from the Setup window correctly.

You use the sliders to fine tune the settings on your stick and rudders. Players find that the sliders help to give them a steady aim when flying.

4: Wiggus writes:

I figured that was what it was for, but how exactly does it work? Its
just a bunch of unlabeled sliders that go from 0% to 100%. I assume
they should be set in some descending order and that it limits the range
of your stick. Then i figure you can assign those values to your pitch,
roll, or rudder controls, but not all three. One side of the sliders
must correspond to the center of the stick, but which one? Rather
confusing. My stick IS rather jumpy.

Doug Hansen replies:

The center of the stick travel is the center of the slider set. You'll
notice that there is an odd number of sliders. The center slider is the
stick center. I've found that it works best to set the sliders to about
the same value (try about 40 to start) until you get to the outside 1 or 2,
and then ramp quickly to 100 so you can still have full control authority
if you really need it. I also recommend that you leave roll pretty much
alone, and just play with the pitch and rudder damping. I've never found
the roll damping to be necessary.

Also, you will want to use your trim tabs. One of the keys to good gunnery
and killing the enemy quickly is to use tabs to keep your stick out of the
extremes as you set up the shot. In other words, if you are coming in fast
and pulling a turn to get your sights on the enemy and your stick is pulled
way back, push some up trim to get the stick closer to the center. It will
help you keep a steady aim.

5: Avin writes:

Ohoh wrote:

> However, I'm quite confused at how the damn things work. Tried setting
> them up and just got frustrated. Like everyone else (I think), I want less
> rudder and pitch movement at the initial stages of control movement.
>
> Somebody got a fairly good setup than I can modify, and can you post an
> ascii representation of it?

If this works anything like the PC, the numbers you want for pitch and yaw should be much lower at the low end of the scale.

For yaw, try something like:

3 7 12 18 25 40 70 100

For pitch, similar, but it can go up faster initially.

For roll, I use 50 80 100 100 etc.

Of course, if it's set up differently from the PC, all bets are off.

avin

6: Don't forget that there are 9 sliders. The "10th" is there in the FE already... so number 9 does not have to set to 100. Set it to 96 or something. "wulfie" posted his Pitch and Yaw settings lately... they look good. You can find them at:

http://indigo.ie/~frontacs/WBStored/ArenaBasicsI.html

...about halfway down the page. Try his and see how they work for you. They can give you a general guide. It does depend on the controllers you use.

7: MG writes:

I asked about the sliders in Warbirds.general ng and here's a reply I got:

Easy, just click and drag them to the setting that feels right to you. The sliders are marked 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 all the way to 100, which represent the actual percentage movement of the particular axis (roll, pitch, yaw) on your joystick. So lets us assume you move the 10 slider to 50%, well at 10% actual joystick movement, the game will read only 50% of the movement (5%).

If you move the 20 slider to 60%, then the game will register only 60% of the actual movement (say 20% full right rudder). In conclusion say you move the 50 slider to100%, then when you move the joystick right half way as far as it would go, the game would register a full 100% of that movement (50%).

Sound confusing? Its really not. Try these for speed:

roll: 75, 85, 95, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100 ,100
pitch: 75, 85, 95, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100
yaw 65, 75, 85, 95, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100
This gives a little less stick movement for the center area, whilegivingfull response once you move the joystick 30% in any direction.

hope this helps, and doesn't serve to further confuse you!

Check six

baja--
8: Wade writes:

Guys,

Don't waste your time futzing around with the slider settings, wondering what that "magic" setting all the good pilots have is.

It doesn't exist.

I've flown with my pitch sliders scaled, and I've flown with them at 100% across the board. From that, I've come to one conclusion:

The only thing that matters is that you get comfortable with your settings.

Set them to reasonable values and leave them alone. Then instead of spending the next hour messing with them, spend the next hour in the training arena working on your tactics. Tactics is what separates the good from the bad and the great from the good, not joystick settings.

Wade

(P.S. You must have reasonable settings for your sliders - don't set them at 1 all the way across for example, or you'll never get enough stick deflection).

9: Version 2.73 flight model and sliders (10.01.99)

The new flight-model introduced in versions 2.73 and onwards has affected slider settings for some people. They have found that it is now best to set all sliders at 100 across the board (pitch, roll, and yaw) and leave it at that. They get the maximum and quickest response from their controllers in this way.

8.7 Recover from a Spin?

Pyro wrote:

I've been playing around offline with the really nasty spins. I did a lot them in all the planes and I definitely believe that there is no such thing as an unrecoverable spin provided you have enough alt and have not had flight controls shot off. At least, I recovered from all my test spins(probably about 50 of the nasty sort). Most of those were done using the F4U.

I'll try to explain the technique. It may be hard to visualize but if you watched it once, it would be very clear.

First off, if you get into a flat spin at high alt that is particularly bad, recovery can be impossible until you get down around 7K. It seems that for those spins, you just can't get enough bite into the air until you get down in the denser stuff. You still have plenty of time to recover though. I've spun 15k and couldn't do a thing until I hit the lower alt where recovery was made without much problem.

Throttle is very important. I found that spins can be unrecoverable if you throttle all the way back. Realistic or not, stay throttled up.

The whole trick of spin recovery in Warbirds is get your nose pointed straight down. You want to get your nose aimed at the point on the ground that everything appears to be spinning around. The first thing to do is get the nose down a little. Use opposite rudder, forward stick, and some opposite aileron. Monitor your airspeed and watch for gains in it. The object at this point is to get from a flat spin to at least a slightly nose down attitude.

Hold down opposite rudder and adjust stick input to aim your nose down at the center of the spin. If you use too much stick input, your nose will shoot past that point. As your nose gets closer to center, ease up on your\ stick input. Sometimes rudder input needs to be adjusted a little, but for the most part, it is held down all the way. Stick input will differ according to the attitude you are in. Just using forward stick alone will not do it in most cases. Use your stick input as if you were flying your plane towards the center of the spin. And go into the direction of the spin, not with it.

Sometimes, you get in an attitude that is very flat and hard to get any input into it. If you give a quick kick of rudder going into the spin followed by max opposite again, it can sometimes put you in a more favorable spin attitude that you can get out of quicker.

Use the airspeed indicator as a feedback to what you are doing also. Speed increases as long as you are doing something good. Once you do get nose down and stabilized, watch your speed and allow it to build some. If you try to pull out before doing this, it is very easy to reenter a spin.

Once you do it a few times, it will click and you will be able to get out of any spin as long as you haven't lost any flight controls and have a few k of alt between you and the ground. It's pretty hard to explain in words, but it really isn't that difficult although they do take some work. It ain't textbook spin recovery but it works here.

"The easiest way out of a spin is not to get in one. Use smooth control inputs, and try to keep the aircraft in trim as much as possible. If you try to yank a foul-tempered Corsair around like you may be used to with table-based flight models, you fall down, go 'boom.' Finesse is the key."

8.8 Tell what country I am from?

Your color of country depends on the country that you selected (the default is country Red). The countries are: Red Green Gold Purple
Look at the Coloured Buttons on the Select Airfield interface. The one which is brighter than the others is the country you are flying for.

Another way is to look at the color of your gun sight cross hairs when you are flying (unless you have adjusted this colour yourself in the Settings).

8.9 Use the radio?
Katana [with minor updates by french needed because of changes over time] writes:

"Since it seems to be the most asked question online at the moment, I've decided to post some instructions on how to use the radio commands/channels on Warbirds. Grab a copy and pass it on.

There are 4 radio channels. You can send and receive on all 4 channels simultaneously. You transmit on the various channels like so:

Channel 1 - /
Channel 2 - Shft /
Channel 3 - Ctrl /
Channel 4 - Option /

Makes sense when you look at it on the keyboard.

Each country has it's own private channel, corresponding to it's country number:

100 = universal
101 = red country
102 = green land
103 = gold empire
104 = purplelandia
110 = squad members
111 = crew members There is a special common channel which is channel 100. Channel 1 is best left tuned to your countries channel, which is its default. You can tune the radio by using the format: .radio # ### As an example, I might tune the common channel as channel 3 by typing: .radio 3 100 (which is activated by Ctrl /) Now, whenever I transmit by typing Ctrl / everybody can hear me. Easy, eh? If you want to use Alt / to talk to your country rather than / and your red you'd type: .radio 4 101 Tuning to enemy country channels allows you to transmit on their private channel, but you cannot hear their transmissions on that channel. Better to just use the common channel to talk to enemas. You can also tune any of your radio channels to individual pilots for private plane-plane conversations. This is very useful for wingman tactics. The format is the same, but instead of a numbered channel you use the 4 digit plane id of your wingman: .radio 4 kat- This would tune your channel 4 to my plane only, and nobody else would hear your transmissions to me. Note that your message won't echo when you use this method, but rest assured it was sent. On my first flight, I generally tune my channel 2 to whatever country channel I'm flying for (.radio 2 101 for Reds). Then I tune my two extra channels (3 and 4) to whichever squad mates are up (.radio 3 cash and .radio 4 feet). That would mean: Shft / - talks to Reds only Ctrl / - talks to Crash only Alt / - talks to Fletch only Well, that's longer than I meant it to be, but it should cover all of the possible problems you may face concerning the radio system. Hopefully this will reduce the "how does the radio work" questions on the air so I can fly instead of type. ;)"
With the advent of WarBirds 1.01, a squad channel has also been implemented. Simply tune one of your channels to frequency 110. For example .radio 4 110 will let me transmit to other members of my squad using the [ALT]/ keys. In order for this to work you must be a member of a squadron (see the .invite and .jsquad commands). Starting with WarBirds 1.02 your 1st channel defaults to your country's radio frequency upon taking off. Another big change to radios with the advent of Warbirds 1.09 is the ability to tune your 1st channel to a frequency between 1 and 99. All other people which are tuned to that frequency will be able to hear what you broadcast on that channel. This is easier to use than a squad channel in that the invite process does not need to be followed. However, it is not secure. Other countries can hear what is said if they are tuned. That may seem a bit odd but it can be very useful on some occasions. One final word on radios that confuses a lot of people. If you are in your HQ, inside the tower at a field, or in a briefing room channel 100 does NOT transmit to everyone. Instead, it transmits only to those people who are in the same room as you. One way to think of channel 100 is that it is always a transmit to all the people in a room channel. It is just that when you are flying, the room includes the whole world.
8.9.1 What are all those abbreviations I see people using on the radio?

Since typing long drawn out words and sentences doesn't work real well in the heat of battle, the following abbreviations are often used in the arena: afk: Away From Keyboard BG: Big Grin bingo: I'm out of fuel/ammo. brb: Be Right Back btw: By the way bz: I'm busy fighting someone, can't talk now. b&z: Use high-speed passes on the enemy, instead of getting into Turning fights. cap: defend an airfield or other aircraft. cc: Short for Click Click. I understand/I copy/Roger gdr or g,d,r: grin duck and run lol: Laughing out loud! otr: On the runway otw: I'm on the way rgr: Roger rofl: Rolling on the floor, laughing. rtb: Return To Base. 6: Check your six.
Long 6: Enemy at your six, faraway but tracking/following you. 666666: Check your six NOW!!!!
draggin: an Ally is dragging one or more enemies to some allies vulch: (Vulture) To attack a plane taking off, or fly over an enemy airfield and attack planes trying to use it. in: Entering a fight l8r: Later nite: Logging but some radio traffic might be possible. out: Exitting a fight poof: Logging out immediately - no further radio traffic will be possible. thnx: Thanks
salute: Good fighting (given to enemies as well as allies)

8.10 What about Voice Communication?

1. Megavoice was/is the inbuilt voice comms ability in WarBirds. Megavoice is not implemented in WarBirds version 2.73r2 for the Macintosh.

[That is MEGAVOICE (tm) which allows you to talk to up to three other players using your voice online. You "talk" to them by requesting that they allow you to first. Type ".talk XXXXXX" where "XXXXXX" is the handle of the person you wish to talk to.

a. To talk to them after your request has been accepted you Press and HOLD the "\" key while you talk. You need to test this a few times to judge how loud your voice needs to be and how close your mouth should be from the microphone. You will need an Apple PLAINTALK microphone to do this. Speech and other Apple Speech Extensions do not need to be enabled in your System.

b. When you talk all other game sounds will be muted. MEGAVOICE(tm) is a little shaky for some people in the arenas. YMMV.

c. MEGAVOICE (tm) works in H2H too. You do not need to request a ".talk" session with your opponent. Simply Press and HOLD the "\" key when you wish to talk.]

2. Most PC users use a 3rd party voice comm application such as Roger Wilco or Battlefield Communicator on the PC in place of Megavoice.

RW for the Mac will be out soon. When it's finished.

8.11 Capture airfields and CVs?

front wrote:

This changes all the time with each version and in different arenas. Currently (WB 2.7 Main Arena) you need to:

a) Close the airfield.

b) Drop 4 Paratroopers (minimum) near the TOWER of the enemy field. They will then "run" to the tower, climb up the steps, and "detonate" small charges to destroy the tower. If they are successful they (and your country) capture the field. They can be shot in the air or on the ground. They do not shoot back. You should drop them low as they expire within 5 minutes after being dropped

To capture the Carriers in certain arenas you need to sink the Escort ships BEFORE you sink the Carrier.

8.12 Set my fuel level?

1. This is the small window under the Fuel Gauge. Click in the window and delete the default 50% fuel level. Type in the amount which you want. You do not need to hit Enter to save that amount.

2. You can also type ".fuel xx" where xx is the amount you want. You need to do this in the tower before you fly and after you select the plane you want.

8.13 Load Bombs and Rockets?

Select the plane you want. To the left of the plane you will see a window with a Pull Down menu over it.

Scroll down the lists to choose the load outs you want. Some planes (eg Yaks) cannot carry any bombs or rockets. Others (P-47s) carry Max Ammo Loads (extra bullets).

8.14 Turn faster?

Some people have a reputation in the arena of being able to turn their planes almost unbelievably fast. Here are a few pointers: a) A plane will turn fastest at "corner velocity." Note that "corner velocity" differs drastically between different altitudes and aircraft. b) In order to get a plane at corner velocity, you may want to either put your nose up or down. People often turn nose down in a fight because they are trying to maintain speed. c) Flaps may help in a turn. Flaps will not go down if you are above certain speeds in certain aircraft. d) There are various maneuvers that are designed to make use of the fact that planes can usually roll 360 degrees faster than they can turn 360 degrees in a flat turn.
e) Judicious use of high and low Yo-yos can give you an edge. f) Remember that turn rate does not always when a stall fight. Turn radius can also be very important. g) The ability to ride the edge of a stall can be important to winning turn fights.


8.15 Kill bad guys like the Veterans do?

front wrote:

1: When you go online first you will die often and alone. Veterans have flown many more hours in the arenas, and offline, to get to the levels of skill which they show to you by killing you. You need to practise offline first and get to know the specific traits of one particular plane.

2: Then you may like to READ about tactics and hints (links to those pages in Section 19 below).

After that you need to practise these tactics and WORK on your gunnery. You have to learn how to fly and FIGHT.

3: Next arrange a training session with one of the TRAINERS in the training arenas. These guys are identified by the use of "=" before and after their names (eg "=hard=").

They are officially sanctioned by iEN to help new users. Take advantage of the help they can give you from the start.

=para= writes:

The Warbirds Training Arena uses the same high fidelity
flight modeling as the Main Arena. Basically, what we do is
help players get more out of WarBirds, and to progress
faster than they might on their own through working with
an experienced trainer online. WarBirds flight models allow
incredible depth in the maneuvering tactics you can use -
virtual air combat can become a sport you can compete
in for years.

The WarBirds Training Staff is made up of experienced players
(thousands of hours in WarBirds and other online flight sims
isn't unusual) who are there to pass on their knowledge of
basic WarBirds skills, basic fighter maneuvers, and more
advanced ACM. If you can think of a topic that interests you,
chances are most of us have worked with trainees to improve
those skills. One thing all the trainers (and most WB pilots)
will agree on I'm sure is that no matter how much experience
you have, you can always find someone in the WarBirds arena
who can show you a good hard fight. (I'm not going to start
bragging until I pass 10,000 hours in online sims, hehe. But then
those who had 10,000 hours when I started will have 20,000.... ! :)

We are experienced in watching pilots fly WarBirds
and analyzing their tactics and maneuvers and have a store of ideas
for things to work on to improve the various skills. A lot
of techniques that are important in real life fighting that
aren't used much or at all in most off-line games turn out to be
very important in WarBirds. Some examples include
how to chose fights, how to engage from a position of advantage,
multiple plane tactics, how to use the opponents restricted
vision from the cockpit against him, the psychology of enemy human pilots
(what are the several reasons people turn left more often than right? ;),
etc., etc.

The Training Staff can give you a faster start into
online combat, or help "jump start" you into new ways
of thinking about it if you feel you have reached
a "plateau" in your development as an online fighter
pilot.

All we ask is that you have played around offline a little bit -
just enough to have learned most of the basic commands
and plane controls, and have read about and practiced
with the radio controls a little bit so we can converse with you.
I've worked with students from their first hour on flight sims
to a former US Navy F-18 pilot also new to WarBirds.
Come on in... ;)

The training arena is staffed by several trainers 6 nights a week.
Stop into the training arena anytime and read the first info
screen that comes up to find the times the arena is manned
by the trainers.

See you online,

- Matt
WB: =para=
WarBirds Training Staff WB Questions? trainers@imagiconline.com

4: Also you are better off flying WITH someone as much as you can in the early days. USE the radio to talk to the ally nearest you, join up with him, and watch what he does and how he does it.

5: Gryf posted 12-08-98:

Since someone brought up training here I figured I would post the header from the training arena for you to know the times.

I am unsure of all the other nights, but on Sunday you have =gryf=, =tbrd=, ==au==, ==df== on staff.

Sunday - 10:00 pm EST to 12:30 EST
Monday - 9:00 pm EST to 11:30 EST
Tuesday - 9:00 pm EST to 11:30 EST
Wednesday - 8:00 pm EST to 10:30 EST
Thursday - 11:00 pm EST to 01:30 EST

During these times, training is available on a walk-in basis. If you want instruction at a different time or on a one-on-one basis, an appointment can be made by writing to the training staff. Please include your WarBirds game ID, the time and date you would like to meet with someone, and what it is that you would like training on. You can write to the training staff by sending E-mail to trainers@imagiconline.com; The training staff can also answer any questions you have about playing the game. WarBirds is a difficult game with a steep learning curve. It is the mission of the training staff to make this process as easy as possible for the new user. Please take advantage of this excellent opportunity to learn from the experts.

Michael Weber
=Gryf=
CO Rogue Gryffons

Ram1 posted 12-08-98

Wednesday Night Team is:
Flet, AC, Snak and Ram1

hardcase posted 12-08-98

Mondays are
Kjb1, Scop(who is Gog),Eadg and hard

8.16 Use Head To Head (H2H)?

1: Head To Head allows you to fly against one opponent (and one only) without joining the WarBirds arenas.

You HOST a mission by sending your IP to your opponent. He JOINS you and you can fly against each other. You can change starting altitudes, the lethality of your weapons, and some other settings for your H2H session. Ack at fields WILL now damage you in H2H.

2: This is now implemented from WarBirds version 2.01 on the Mac. If you use DrawSprockets then you need to have DrawSprockets 1.1.4 in your extensions folder to get it to work. You can get this extension (about 300k) from:

ftp://ftp.apple.com

3: How to set up a H2H session:

Find a player either by meeting one on IRC or by using ICQ. Deft has generously set up an excellent list of players who regularly meet for H2H sessions. You can also join his "Dueling Ladder". You need to get ICQ, install it, register with the ICQ server (keep your PASSWORD in a handy location), and then register with Defts dueling ladder. You can find a huge list of other players ICQ numbers which you can enter in your Contact list. When those players are online they will show up as so in your contact list. You simply message them and ask for a duel. You can find out all the info you need at:

http://www.gamewatch.com/simladder/warbirds/

Be aware that this page uses Java and may take sometime to load. After finding a player you decide who will host and who will join. If you wish to host a session you need to send the other player your IP number. You can find out your IP number by looking at the main screen in the Remote Access window.

Tell the other player to wait for about 60 seconds before joining you. Then you open WarBirds and host the session. Click on the H2H button at the login screen. A small dialogue will open. Click on HOST. You will see a dialogue box saying "Head to Head socket opened" . Click OKAY. The session should open.

After a short time you should see a message "Client machine is ready" and another message that the other player has joined the game. You can now choose opposing fields, countries, and planes.

If the other player does not join within two minutes you have a problem. Quit WarBirds and go back to ICQ or IRC to find out what happened to the other player. He may freeze if he types in the wrong IP number etc.

4: How to join a H2H session:

Make sure that you know the exact IP number you are connecting too. Allow the other player time to set the session up then open WarBirds and click on the H2H button at the login screen. Click on JOIN and enter the HOST IP number in the appropiate field. Then click on CONNECT.

5: Bugs:
You cannot fly until another player has joined your session. Starting altitude is buggy... set max starting alt always.

8.17 Use the Bombers?
Boomer wrote the following some time ago (which translates well to those BOMBERS which use a Norden bombsight for level bombing):

WarBirds B-17 Pilots Briefing

The following information can (and likely will) change. However, this information is current until otherwise noted.

The Warbirds B-17G is currently a 'single-seater'. That means the pilot acts as Pilot/co-pilot, Navigator, gunner(s), and Bombardier.

Pilot/Co-pilot

The B-17G has 4 engines. Just like the P-38, you can use the Option-1,2,3,4 to select each engine (shift E selects all).

The best climb rate for the B-17G is 135 mph (ias) at 1070 fpm (unloaded). Loaded, CR is (approx) 650 fpm with 50% fuel.

Navigator

The Navigation of the B-17G is very important for the Bombardiers accuracy. More about this will be discussed in the bombardiers section.

Gunners

Currently the B-17G is comprised of 6 autogunners (Otto): chin, Top, Ball, waist (2) and tail.

Each gunner is completely able to select their appropriate target (decided by range and cones of fire), You can toggle them on and off by using Option-t. Note not all gunners may fire. If there is NOT a target within range (1400 yds) and cone of fire, they will not fire. However, accuracy diminishes at extreme ranges. Note you are NOT notified if a particular gunner runs out of ammunition. Also note individual gunners can be killed (and are thus out of action).

You can JUMP to gunner positions to take over the gunner duties yourself if you wish by typing ".jump x" where x is a number between 1 and 7. You cannot jump to a gunner position if the Otto has already been disabled. Bombardier The whole purpose of the B-17 is to provide a hi-altitude precision bombing platform. Thus, the bombardier has the most important position (and the most complex). There are a number of 'systems' the bombardier can manage (or not) to fulfill the B-17s mission. The bombardier can set the delay between bombs, the number of bombs dropped in a stick (or salvo) and has the most advanced bombsight available during WWII, the Sperry Norden bombsight. Of course, he must also open/close the bomb doors. Most of the information relevant to the bombardier is found in the left view on the bombardiers control panel. There are indicators for ordinance loaded, readouts for SALVO and DELAY settings, indicator light for bomb bay door open/close and an altimeter and airspeed indicator. Opening/closing Bomb doors - use the 'O' key. Don't forget to close them after your run as they create drag. SALVO - Salvo is the number of bombs dropped when you press the bomb release button on your joystick (or secondary fire key, e.g. 'B'). This command is set in the comm window and is like the following: .salvo N Where 'N' is the number of bombs you want to drop at one time. Note the 'pickle' button works (F9) so there is no need to set .salvo to 12 (but you could). DELAY - Bomb delay is the time between each bomb release. This number can is in milliseconds (ms) and ranges from 50 to 999 milliseconds (almost 1 sec). This system is useful to time hits between bombs. A good bombardier (knowing his airspeed and altitude) could .salvo 2 bombs and take out 2 acks, given the right delay. The command to set delay is .delay NNN (where NNN is a value between 50 and 999 NORDEN - The Norden is the most sophisticated bombsight available during WWII. The following is Top Secret information not to be discussed freely. Upon moving to the bombardiers position using the 'Y' key, the first thing you see is a 45 degree DOWN view of the Norden Bombsight. Straight ahead view is the up arrow, or 8 key (Up and Forward is the 8 plus 5 key). Pressing the 2 key provides the actual bombsight view. Other views from the bombardier position is also available.. look and see. The Norden was a 'computing' bombsight. The bombardier selected an arbitrary target on the ground and, using the various knobs on the sight, tracked the target, keeping the target in the X-hairs. The Norden then computed the bombing solution incorporating drift, altitude, etc. the bombardier provided. Once the solution was generated, any deviation from course, altitude, etc. negated the accuracy of the solution. This is why the final bomb runs were straight and level over the target irrespective of flak, enemy fighters, etc. The WarBird Norden simulates this by incorporating automatic data input.. no bombardier actions are necessary. However, during course changes, etc. the Norden begins re-computing its solution. It can take up to a maximum of 2 minutes for the WB Norden to stabilize. The Norden stabilizes at 3 sec per degree. Thus, if you make a 10 degree turn to target, it will take 30 seconds for the X-hairs in the Bombsight to be accurate again. Making course corrections at the bombardiers position is made somewhat easier in that all turns are coordinated. However, any course corrections, turns, etc WILL negate the Norden solution. Within the bombsight are two indicators: A magnification indicator that tells you what magnification your sight is currently set. The second indicator is a Bombsight Deviation indicator. This device Centers (and a green lamp is lit) when the bombsight has stabilized. Good navigation and setup to the target run is absolutely necessary for accurate bombing. The final run should commence probably no less than 12-15 miles from the target (1/2 sector). Don't forget, during this run you will also need to give any commands necessary to the gunners if you're being attacked. OK.. that's all for now... Go have fun and blow stuff up! [Minor editing was done to correct some small mistakes.] Here is some additional information that may help. Currently, you cannot count on bombs being reloaded after each mission. Make sure you load them again with the .bomb command. For the really paranoid, you can use the y and then 2 key to make sure they are there. External views are enabled for the BOMBERS. Use Option-v. This is useful for determining when to use the gunners if you have them switched off. (Why would you switch them off? If you are trying to sneak into enemy territory under radar and do not want Otto to give away your position too early). You use the "-" and "+" keys on the Keypad (default setting which you can change) to zoom in and out with the Norden bombsight.

8.18 Select all the different bombs and rockets when flying?
Press the DELETE key on the keyboard to cycle through the loadout. You will see the current loadout appear on the secondary (or Cannon) indicator in the cockpit.
8.19 Improve my framerate?

1: A good framerate can make the difference between a good game and a bad experience. USE Option-P to see what your frame rate is.

2: Visit Avins benchmark page and test your Mac-System-WarBirds setup according to Avins benchmarks.

3: There are three MAIN ways to improve FPS. The first is to make a minimal extensions set to use when you run WarBirds. Throw out everything you do not need for WarBirds alone. This is very important for those who use low-end Macs... and a minimal Extension set helps those with high-end Macs too. Do not fly with your standard extension set... use a minimal set.

Avin writes:

How many of you mac guys are still flying around with fat, bloated extension
sets?

Don't. You won't necessarily pick up the difference on the batmark test, but
adds stutters and hiccups. Not to mention the added instability, and the added
workload for HOSS[ex-MacWarBirds coder] when you make a bug-report.

Here's the short description on the main benchmarking page at:

http://home.earthlink.net/~avin9/wb_bch.html

Any benchmark needs to be reproducible. Bat therefore wrote the following
protocol, which I've modified slightly.

The current protocol involves
choosing the "Landing on a Dime" mission offline in the wbawt3.trn terrain,
followed by placing an invulnerable red F6 on the deck of the red CV (F5).

Ground clutter is on, and the engine is turned on with minimum throttle.

This is therefore a relatively stressful test - there's a lot going on.

Webs writes:

My current set (OS 8.1, version numbers in parentheses):

Display Enabler (Apple DisplayS Software 1.6)
Appearance Extension (1.0.3)
AppleScriptLib (1.2.2)
AppleScript (1.1.2)
ATI Graphic Drivers (1.0)
ATI Graphics Accelerator (3.4.3)
DrawSprocketLib (1.1.4)
InputSprockets and InputSprocketLib
OpenTransport 1.3 stuff
Serial (Built-in) (1.3.3)
Shared Library Manager (2.0.1)
Shared Library Manager PPC (2.0.1)
SMC Etherpower 10/100 (9332BDT) <- my ethernet card driver
SpeedDoubler 8 Extension (8.1.2)
SystemAV (1.4.1)
Text Encoding Converter (1.4.2)
ThrustWare Driver (2.0)
Apple Menu Options (1.1.3)
Date & Time (8.0.1)
Memory (7.5.9)
Monitors & Sound (1.4.1)
SpeedDoubler 8 (cdev, 8.1.2)

That's all. Your set up might be different with different connection
methods or different monitors/video chips.

Webs, CO 101 "Red" Squadron, Israel WarBirds trainer

4: More Extension notes:

Toydr sent me the list of his extensions via e-mail. Here we go, no
sleeping in class.

I'll take the list and comment items as necessary, and whether to disable
or not. When I list multiple items in a row, the advice that follows
applies to all items in the list. I assume you are not on a Network -
i.e. that your machine connects directly to the Net through a modem, ISDN,
etc.

>Apple CD-ROM 49,747 bytes 5.1.1 INIT psap
>Apple CD/DVD Driver 103,149 bytes 1.0.1 INIT psap

Disable the above.

>Apple Enet 379,066 bytes 2.0 ndrv cfrg

Provides support for an Ethernet card. Disable unless you need it to connect.

>Apple Guide 678,942 bytes 2.3 INIT reno

Disable .

>Apple IX3D Graphics Accelerator 203,563 bytes 1.0.4 ndrv iX3A
>Apple IX3D RAVE Engine 41,213 bytes 1.04 shlb tnsl
>Apple IX3D Video Memory Manager 8,163 bytes 1.04 shlb iX3I

Disable the above three unless you have an IX3D video card installed.

>Apple Modem Tool 168,294 bytes 1.5.3 cbnd amdt

Disable.

>Apple QD3D HW Driver 12,322 bytes 1.6 ndrv QD3D
>Apple QD3D HW Plug-In 42,598 bytes 1.6 shlb tnsl

Disable.

>AppleScript 1,018,508 bytes 1.3.4 INIT ascr
>AppleScriptLib 28,489 bytes 1.2.2 shlb cfmg

Keep these if you want to continue using AppleScripts, otherwise disable.

>AppleShare 456,101 bytes 3.8.1 RDEV afpt

Disable.

>Application Switcher 87,023 bytes 1.0 appe apsw

Disable.

>ATI 3D Accelerator 400,627 bytes 4.3.6 shlb tnsl
>ATI Driver Update 533,781 bytes 1.4.6 ndrv ATI©
>ATI Graphics Accelerator 184,343 bytes 3.4 INIT ATI
>ATI Video Memory Manager 30,861 bytes 7.5 shlb ATI

Unless you have an ATI card or onboard, disable these.

>Color Picker 498,479 bytes 2.1.1 INIT cpmg
>Color SW 1500 827,950 bytes 2.2.1 PRER chle
>Color SW 2500 828,210 bytes 2.2.1 PRER auro
>ColorSync Extension 1,029,496 bytes 2.5.1 appe Sync
>Contextual Menu Extension 74,773 bytes 1.0.2 INIT cmnu

Disable the above.

>Control Strip Extension 70,244 bytes 2.0 appe sdev

This gives a BIG frame rate hit. Disable.

>Default Calibrator 300,929 bytes 1.0.2 shlb CSca
>Desktop PrintMonitor 78,281 bytes 2.2.1 APPL prmt

Disable.

>DNSPlugin 89,790 bytes 1.0.1 shlb nslp

Don't know what this is, but it's a shared library, so it does no harm.

>DrawSprocketLib 195,303 bytes 1.1.4 shlb cfrg

Keep this...

>DrawSprocketLib copy 207,884 bytes 1.1.3 shlb cfrg

...and trash this.

>EPSON Launcher 20,260 bytes 1.02E appe J5LR
>EPSON Monitor3 867,622 bytes 1.20E APPL J5MT
>FAXcilitateToolbox 312,391 bytes - TLBX FM03
>FaxMonitor 256,158 bytes 2.1 INIT FI03
>FaxPrint 185,868 bytes 2.1 PRER FP03
>FaxPrint GX 48,198 bytes 2.1 pdvr FPGX
>FAXQueue Monitor 59,147 bytes 2.1 APPL FQMO
>FAXQueue Watcher 14,189 bytes 2.1 appe FQWA

Disable all the above. I never trust Fax software....

>FBC Indexing Scheduler 14,433 bytes 2.0 appe fbcb

Sherlock stuff. Disable.

>File Sharing Extension 194,076 bytes 7.6.2 INIT hhgg
>File Sharing Library 94,404 bytes 8.0.1 shlb cfrg

Disable.

>Find By Content 380,802 bytes 2.0 shlb fbcl

More Sherlock. Disable.

>Folder Actions 22,208 bytes 1.3 appe ssrv

Dunno what this is. Disable for the heck of it.

>Foreign File Access 34,696 bytes 5.1 INIT ufox
>GXGraphics 2,359,649 bytes 1.1.6 INIT grfx

Disable.

>HEK3000 1,415 bytes 1.0 ttvf mtk3

What's this? I don't know. Disable.

>InputSprocket CH 90,055 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insp
>InputSprocket CH Trackball 104,635 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insp
>InputSprocket Contour 104,635 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insp
>InputSprocket Gravis 110,484 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insp
>InputSprocket Kensington 104,491 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insp
>InputSprocket Keyboard 68,177 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insi
>InputSprocket MacALLY 48,129 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insp
>InputSprocket Microspeed 104,643 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insp
>InputSprocket Mouse 102,299 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insi
>InputSprocket NoHandsMouse 104,635 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insp
>InputSprocket SideWinder 3D Pro 63,685 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insp
>InputSprocket Speech 24,697 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insp
>InputSprocket Thrustmaster 86,828 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insp
>InputSprocket USB 118,896 bytes 1.4.1 shlb insi
>InputSprocketLib 207,787 bytes 1.4.1 shlb cfrg

Keep these.

>Internet Access 349,587 bytes 1.0.3 shlb INTA

Trash. You have one disabled already.

>Iomega Driver 66,824 bytes 6.0.1 INIT gZip
>Jetsoft Art-Scan Pro 4.0 1,399,455 bytes Silent 4 8BAM 8BIM
>Kaleidoscope Extension 11,870 bytes 1.0.3 APPL Acid

Disable.

>Location Manager Extension 75,110 bytes 2.0 AINI fall

Disable.

>MacIPX AppleTalk 33,387 bytes 1.3.1 nDev NIPX
>MacIPX Ethernet 25,031 bytes 1.3.1 nDev NIPX
>MacIPX Token Ring 29,969 bytes 1.3.1 nDev NIPX

Trash the above unless you are on a Novell network.

>Microsoft OLE Extension 949,086 bytes 2.05 INIT Ole2
>MSL C.PPC.DLL 92,369 bytes - shlb cfmg
>MSL RuntimePPC++.DLL 22,644 bytes - shlb cfmg
>MSL RuntimePPC.DLL 22,644 bytes - shlb cfmg

Disable.

>Network Setup Extension 435,492 bytes 1.0 shlb ntex

Disable.

>npacrx_ppc.Lib 198,535 bytes - shlb ????

Trash this. You have one disabled, which it should be for WB.

>Open Tpt AppleTalk Library 502,824 bytes 2.0.2 libr OMGR
>Open Tpt Internet Library 461,062 bytes 2.0.2 libr OMGR
>Open Transport Library 524,807 bytes 2.0.2 libr OMGR
>OpenTpt Modem 91,506 bytes 3.1 libr OMGR
>OpenTpt Remote Access 1,083,183 bytes 3.1.2 libr OMGR
>OpenTpt Serial Arbitrator 7,974 bytes 3.1 libr OMGR
>OpenTptAppleTalkLib 53,535 bytes 2.0.2 otsl otan
>OpenTptInternetLib 263,593 bytes 2.0.2 otsl otan
>OpenTransportLib 524,490 bytes 2.0.2 otsl otan

If you use a modem, this is fine. A cable modem is different, slightly.

>PowerMgrLib 5,322 bytes 1.0 stub MPS

Part of the Macintosh Program. Workshop. If you're not a programmer doing
development and debugging, you probably don't need this file. Disable for
WB in any case.

>PP SharedLib 550,055 bytes 1.1.4 shlb cfmg

I don't know what this does. But again, a shared library and likely harmless.

>PrintMonitor 64,001 bytes 7.1.2 APPL prmt

Disable.

>QD3DCustomElements 14,812 bytes 1.6 shlb Q3XT
>QuickDraw 3D 1,270,964 bytes 1.6 INIT QD3D
>QuickDraw 3D IR 214,305 bytes 1.6 shlb Q3XT
>QuickDraw 3D RAVE 287,531 bytes 1.6 shlb QD3D
>QuickDraw 3D Viewer 125,820 bytes 1.6 shlb QD3D
>QuickTime FireWire DV Enabler 47,838 bytes 2.0 ndrv dvfw
>QuickTime FireWire DV Support 115,205 bytes 2.0 gdfx dvfw
>QuickTime 1,006,767 bytes 4.0 INIT ånd6
>QuickTime MPEG Extension 275,954 bytes 1.1.2 INIT mjh*
>QuickTime Musical Instruments 2,129,203 bytes 4.0 INIT dvb
>QuickTime PowerPlug 1,661,259 bytes 4.0 INIT ånd8
>QuickTime VR 360,330 bytes 2.2 INIT qtvr

Disable. QT is a known troublemaker in WB land.

>Remote Only 3,886 bytes 3.1 adev ntk2

Part of Apple Remote Access. Disable.

>SC 740 43,578 bytes 5.50E PRER JSOe

Dunno this. Disable.

>Serial (Built-in) 68,488 bytes 1.3.3 libr OMGR
>Serial Tool 32,911 bytes 1.0.2 cbnd ctbc

Disable.

>Shared Library Manager 168,325 bytes 2.0.1 INIT OMGR
>Shared Library Manager PPC 211,694 bytes 2.0.1 INIT OMgr

Need these.

>SideWinder 3D Pro Extension 19,498 bytes 1.0 INIT MacD

If you use a Sidewinder 3D you need this.

>SLPPlugin 147,613 bytes 1.0 shlb nslp

Allows your computer to receive listings of network objects using the SLP
discovery method. May be used in a variety of network applications via the
NSL Manager. Whatever that means. Disable.

>SOMobjects for Mac OS 134,932 bytes 2.0.8 shlb cfmg
>Sound Manager 226,783 bytes 3.4 INIT sad
>SpeakableItems 33,382 bytes 1.5.3 INIT siap
>Speech Manager 30,710 bytes 1.5.3 INIT ttsc
>Speech Recognition 1,458,152 bytes 1.5.3 INIT srtb
>StuffIt Engine 1,176,029 bytes 5.1.2 SITL SITe
>StuffIt Engine PowerPlug 977,249 bytes 5.1.2 shlb SITe

Disable.

>sx8300.Lib 30,646 bytes - shlb ????

Supports speech encoding and decoding in conferencing over the Internet.
Disable.

>Time Synchronizer 43,488 bytes 8.1 appe tims

Lets you automatically update your computer's clock for daylight-saving
time and synchronize your clock with a network time server. Unnecessary if
you are not on a network. Disable.

>TTY Tool 65,478 bytes 1.0.1 tbnd ctbt
>UDF Volume Access 256,886 bytes 1.1 INIT 55DF
>Video Startup 69,743 bytes 1.7.1 INIT mtv2
>VT102 Tool 162,872 bytes 1.0.2 tbnd ctbt
>XMODEM Tool 69,575 bytes 1.1 fbnd ctbf

Disable.

>XTND Power Enabler 6,370 bytes 1.0 shlb cfmg

Keeps Claris apps from crashing. Disable.

>°AppleVision 611,428 bytes 1.6.2 INIT avav

Disable unless you have an Applevision monitor. Known MacOS troublemaker.


There. Further comments:

I have NetSprocketLib active. You don't have it. Hmmm. Some other stuff
too, but I guess they've been incorporated in OS 8.5 (I use OS 8.1).

You can also disable control panels. The only ones I keep active are:

> CTRL Apple Menu Options
> CTRL Date & Time
> CTRL Memory
> CTRL Monitors & Sound
> CTRL Speed Doubler 8
> CTRL TCP/IP
Webs, CO 101 "Red" Squadron, Israel WarBirds trainer

5: Second is to select lower graphic settings (with Option-R). Be careful of this. Most players with the low-end CPUs use Setting 3 when flying around and go down to Setting 1 when they start to fight. Using Setting 1 can cause problems as "cliffs" and mountain faces may loom up suddenly before you can avoid them.

6: The third way is to use 640x480 resolution.


8.20 Look "outside" cockpit?

front wrote:

1. The ability to stick your "head" out of the left side of the cockpit and peer down the nose was introduced in version 2.6. This is very handy for take offs and landings. You access it by hitting the "U" key on the keyboard.

2. If you wish to remap this view to a key (other than "U") then open your Keymap.asc files in the Settings folder in SimpleText and add this line at the bottom:

KF_LANDING_VIEW,

Look back up the Keymap.asc file for a key that is unused (or which you wish to use) and add the key information after "VIEW,". Below is the way the default version would be set:

KF_LANDING_VIEW,KEY_U

Enure that the key you choose is not already used for another function.

3. Note: The plane must be flying/moving at low speed (about 150-175mph max), the landing gear must be down, and it only works in aircraft designed with the sliding canopies or side windows. It will not work in the FW190s (works in the Mosquitos, A6M Zeros, P-40s etc).

8.21 Record radio messages?

front wrote:

Hit "ESCAPE" while in the tower at a field. Select START LOGGING. Select RESUME GAME.

That's it. All radio messages will be recorded to a log file in your WarBirds folder. you can open this file with any text editor. SimpleText will not open it if the log file grows to over 32K in size, which can happen after a long session in the arenas. The log file in not appended to with each session... so take it out of the WarBirds folder if you wish to save it.

This is a handy feature in lieu of a fully functionable "gun camera" or "film" feature which we still do not have in WarBirds. You can use the log file to check back on a session to see who got who and who said what.

8.22 "Mouse" Radio Calls

front wrote:

Verion 2.73r2 brought with it the ability to use the Mouse to quickly tune the radio to an ally or send an ally a "Check Your Six!" message without having to call up the radio text buffer and type into it.

The setting is optimised for a two-button mouse but works with a single button mouse too.

a) Tune to an ally by control-clicking on his Icon (name or aicraft). This will tune radio 4 to his name.

b) Send an ally a quick check 6 call by shift-clicking on his Icon. This will send a "Check your Six!" message in white text directly to him. You will aslo see a confirmation that you are sending a check 6 call to him.

9.0 Do ...

9.1 Bombs and other ordnance affect the flight model?

Yes. Weapons weight is modeled.

9.2 Flaps and gear down have any affect?

Both of these now DO have an effect. If you leave your gear down then you will create drag on your plane so you won't go as fast. If you do manage to go fast and dive your gear will "stick" in the down position.

Different aircraft have differing flaps sizes, lift factors, and drag factors, as well. Using one notch of flaps in the P-51, P-38s, and the Zekes can help in a tight turn.

9.3 Planes burn any fuel?

Yes, in proper relation to their actual consumption in reality.
9.4 More about fuel consumption and loading

Note that when setting your fuel level with the .fuel xx command, it's in percentages of maximum internal capacity. A P-51 with fuel set to 60% can fly for over an hour, where a P-38 set at the same level can barely last 40 minutes. Also note that full throttle consumes a great deal of fuel for a moderate increase in speed over cruise throttle settings.

9.5 How do the brakes work?

front wrote:

You can set the amount of "pressure" which you apply to the brakes in WarBirds. You set this with the slider in the option screen. You can also choose, while braking, to apply brake pressure to one wheel over the other. If you use the SPACE key as your brake key and set STICK as the option then holding down the SPACE key and pushing the stick to the left locks the left wheel... similarly if you push the stick to the right you lock the right wheel. Most players set this option to stick and use RUDDERS to steer on the ground.

Light tapping of your brake key (or button) is best. If you slam on the brakes as you touch down you may nose over and explode.

9.6 What is the 2.6/2.7 Gunnery Model?

front wrote:

WarBirds 2.6 brought with it a new improved and revised gunnery model. Bullet weight, and drag, is modeled, kinetic energy is also modeled. Dispersion is modeled. What does this mean to the new player?

WarBirds gunnery is hard. You have to get in close. If you shoot at a target from beyond 400yards (d4) you will not do much damage at all with bullets... in fact all you will do is waste ammo. Get in close... 200 yards (d2) and closer. Set your convergence low. Practise offline... a lot.

In earlier versions of WarBirds it was possible to shoot from 800yards and gain great results if you saw any pings or hits. This no longer happens. .50 Calibre rounds (the bullets on most of the Allied planes) need to be fired at close range. 20mm, and upwards, cannon rounds (on the LW/IJN/IJAAF) aircraft have an explosive charge in them. They explode on contact and do more damage but they still need the "kinetic energy punch" to show the results they were famous for in real life.

Dispersion means pattern. Your bullets spread out over distance like a shotgun pattern. Get in close and dispersion is minimal (relatively)... shoot from afar and you will not gain a good result.

Strikes, hits, pings, and flashes happen when your bullets hit a target. Debris will fly off any plane which you hit. The small yellow flashes are called "SPRITES". These flashes are much smaller than they were in previous releases. Some players have set their tracer colour to WHITE and BLUE so they can see these sprites. Leaving yellow and red tracers on may obscure the small sprites.

WarBirds 2.6 gunnery model is generally thought to be a step forward a) if you have a high end CPU that can take advantage of the FPS "hit" caused by debris etc and b) if the DAMAGE model is also brought up to date.

front wrote:

Some general thoughts on gunnery:

Gunnery is very, very important. It is the most important aspect of the game. This game is all about shooting other aircraft to bits. It is no use being able to "fly" better than everybody else if you can't hit your targets.

Some planes (like the Spitfire MkI) have weak guns relatively. The Spit MkI carries 8 x .303 Machine Guns and you need to get a good long solid burst at convergence in on the aircraft you are aiming at. If your gunnery is below par you are just not going to get enough rounds in on target... you may see a few hits but the enemy will continue flying without a scratch. "Spraying and Praying" (shooting haphazardly beyond convergence) in the hope of hitting an enemy aircraft just does not work with .303 MGs. You may get a few hits but you won't do much (if any) damage.

The P-51D carries 6 x .50 Calibre Machine Guns, the P-51B has only 4 while the P-47s (D and C) carry 8. The .50 Cal is a very good weapon in the right hands. You can zoom around (those aircraft are very fast) and get a lot of shooting opportunities in a sortie but to make them count you have to get a good burst right in at convergence again. Lethality of the .50s (indeed all the weapons) are tweaked up and down through different updates and versions. There is usually no doubt though that if you do get a good burst in with a bank of .50s then you will see a vital piece of an enemy airrcraft fly off and flutter away. The MGs are wing-mounted on those aircraft so you need to get into convergence range to cause Maximum damage. The 6 guns on the P-51D are arranged in one bank of two and one bank of four. Squeezing the trigger will fire the bank of two and pressing the thumb button will fire the bank of four. You can map the trigger to fire all 6 guns at once using Inputsprockes and it's a good idea to do this if you are going to fly the aircraft with .50 Cals exclusively. It avoids the extra pressure a thumb press puts on the stick (which might make you miss).

Other aircraft (like the Me262/Zekes/FW190s etc) carry Cannons. They fire explosive rounds... they cause a lot of damage. A half second burst from a Me262 at convergence(4 x 30mm cannon) can completely destroy an enemy aircraft. A couple of pings and it's all over. Gunnery is still very important with the cannon armed aircraft though. The Cannons have lower rates of fire than the Machine guns so they don''t put as many rounds out at the target. You don't have very many rounds onboard either to waste so there is a tradeoff. Heavy hitting power but short clip of the Cannons against lower hitting power but large clips of the MGs. Cannon rounds are heavier too with lower velocities than MG rounds. That means...

Cannon rounds drop below Machine gun rounds beyond convergence settings. If you fire MGs and Cannon at the same time (like in the later Spitfires or the FW190s) and you see hits on an enemy aircraft you may in fact be only hitting it with MGs and not Cannon. If you have Cannon installed on your aircraft then you need to hit the bogeys with that Cannon (we know that). Thus, when firing at a bogey, try using only the Cannon at first. Then if you see a hit you know that he's been hit with a Cannon round and not a Machine Gun round. You can adjust your aim accordingly.

As the bogey gets down into convergence range then hit it with everything. Squeeze both triggers for MGs and Cannon... UNLOAD your aircraft (meaning stop pulling Gs for even a split second) and lay it all in on him. You need to see a tremendous amount of debris, flashes, smoke, sprites and everything else lighting him up (and nearly blinding you) with bits and pieces of his plane flying off... all followed by a big boom as you zoom on past. Get in close and that's what will happen.

Cannon or MGs which are "nose-mounted" (as in the P-38s (not in the wings )) are not limited by convergence but you should still get in close. WarBirds models kinetic energy in the gunnery. You will get better results if you get in close as the rounds will carry an extra punch. Cannon in the bf109s are nose-mounted from the F model up to the K. The bf109G6/R6 has wing mounted cannon pods. The bf109E has low velocity (with only 60 rounds per gun) MGFF cannon in the wings. You really need a high percentage shot when using the MGFF cannon. It's not good to fire it when pulling Gs in a turn or with high deflection. It does a great job if you can sneak up on a bogey unseen and get in close.

Spot a common thread flowing through this section? No matter what aircraft or weapons you fly or use... get in close. In earlier versions of WarBirds players could shoot at a bogey out to d8 and even d10 and get good results with even one hit. This happened as WarBirds used to model the damage caused by "packages" of bullets in each tracer. In the Fw190, say, a tracer round from the Cannons carried with it the damage caused by 8 x 20mm rounds (or so) if it hit a bogey up to d10. So you could follow a bogey in a flat and level chase and snipe off a few bursts from long range (d8 and further) and if you hit him just a couple of times you could chip him apart piece by piece. It was easier to hit someone at that range too as the tracers "expanded" the further out they went. They swelled up to about the size of "3 foot beachballs" (to take someone else's term). This is BULLETRADIUS and it was set at 1.0 in those days. Now it is set at 0.1. It is much harder to even hit someone at those far ranges now.

Some of the veteran players,with many hours of gunnery practise under their belts, could take high deflection shots as they blew past a bogey and if they hit him with only a couple of tracers from long range they would get good results back then. People got used to shooting at d4 and further. This caused arguments so the new gunnery system came into being. Tracers no longer cause massive damage when they hit out past d4 as they don't contain such a large "package" of rounds anymore. Bullets are modelled "in between" the tracers too. You have to get near a bogey now to see good results... you have to.

Tip: When practising your gunnery offline DO NOT constantly "saddle up" on the six o'clock of an offline drone and blast away until it explodes. You will not get this sort of shot online very often... and even if you do you will not see the same "stability" in his aircraft as you do with the offline drones. Instead make a run at a drone, shoot one short burst and then pull off (even if you miss) and head for another drone. This will force you to make that one burst count.

Tip: Try starting well above the drones (say 12,000feet) and then diving straight at the nearest one. Open fire at twice your convergence (for practise at the start until you learn the way the tracers fall) and then break away before d1.5. Don't attempt to "curve" your way down and around onto it's six o'clock all the time... just aim right at it and dive straight onto it. This is the sort of "fleeting" shot that you will experience online. Later on dive on a drone and wait and wait until you start to see the d1.9 and lower figures appear. Set convergence to 200yards and as soon as d1.9 breaks into view open fire... even if you are upside down or about to spin out. Practise shooting with your wings perpindicular to the ground in a slight turn.

After you start scoring hits in this pass then by all means attempt to curve onto the drones six o'clock or underneath them or whatever. Learn to follow it's track as it circles so you can "lead" the drone. When you do come off a firing pass and the drone is still flying try to keep it in view at all times as you set up for another pass.

Tip: If you ever arrive slightly underneath a bogey, and catch up to him fast, put the pipper of your gunsight above him first as you start to adjust your aim. Then bring the pipper down onto him. This will help you to steady your aircraft a bit. If you are going really fast and he does not see you you will be tempted to open fire some distance back. Don't open fire until you get in real close (d2 and lower). That sort of "bounce" is rare enough online so make the most of it. By the time he starts hearing pings and seeing tracers it should be all over on your FE... he needs to be in bits before the net-lag updates his FE. Then he'll never know what hit him (and you'll have frightened the life out of him too). This is especially important with the Yak 3 or Yak 9 aricraft. They carry just two (or one) Machine guns and one 20mm Cannon. It's a good Cannon with a high rate of fire but it has only 120 rounds. You can't afford to shoot with it in a turn and hope to get good results. The Yak needs a steady hand (and bogey) to make every round count.

Tip: Try out the Bomber Ambush mission at Ace setting with 3 Wingmen (max number). Switch the icons off (cycle though F2 until they disappear) when you are in the air. Then try out the mission a few times with icons off. This will force you to aim for the aircraft rather than aiming for the icons. You have to wait until the details of the aircraft emerge, and you know you can't miss, with the icons off. If you fly the mission and encounter the Ju87G drones with icons off you can find yourself in a good fight. The Ju87Gs will break formation and become aggressive... shooting off the BK37 (Flak 18) at all enemies. If you and your wingmen are in dark painted aircraft you'll really have to get right up to each plane to ID them in the fight. It's a good way to practise for the Historical Arena fights were enemy icons are usually set to appear only at d16.

Take a look at the information posted by a player who scored a 53% gunnery score online in early 1999:

On Gunnery : http://indigo.ie/~frontacs/WBStored/OnGunnery.html

Read wulf's post in this thread about how he shoots, adjusts, and shoots again instead of spraying out a long burst. This score of 53% was scored when bullets were "bigger" (older gunnery model) but it's still a great score. It was nearly twice as good as the next person to him and the average gunnery % at the time was about 10-15% in the MA.

Read Fletchmans gunnery article at this link:

http://members.home.com/mefletcher/gunnery.htm
10. Why ...

10.1 Do the distant planes occasionally move like inch-worms, warping a bit?

Warbirds uses special code that prioritizes closer planes with more frequent updates. This focuses more bandwidth on the planes within range of you. Planes farther off aren't updated as often, causing them to slide around sometimes.
10.2 Do I need to trim my plane?

Mike "Boomer" McCoy writes:

"An aeronautical engineer is probably gonna have a heart attack, but here goes ;)

If you were flying a real airplane that was designed to cruise at, say, 250 mph, flying it at 150 (fuel economy , whatever..) you would quickly tire from holding the stick back to maintain the angle of attack (ALA), etc.

Trim tabs allow you to 'fine tune' the Horiz Stab airfoil via little 'elevator' tabs set into rear of stab. For older planes, these tabs were mechanically set via a wheel in the cockpit (in this case WWII). Later, they became electrical with a small up/down switch.

Turn the wheel one way, the tabs went down, pushing the nose down a bit, Turn it the other way raised the nose. In the example above, you could set the trim so the stick was neutral, i.e. needing no force to keep the plane in the right attitude to fly a high speed plane at low speeds.

It's important to note that trimming the plane is only good for the speed it's trimmed at. If you trim your plane level at 200, it will be OUT of trim at 250. Of course the design of the plane would determine just how much."

10.2.1 Is there a line moving around above my gunsight?

This "sideslip indicator" is represented by a vertical line above your aircraft's gunsight. This line will move in the direction that the tail of your plane is "skidding" to. If the line moves to the RIGHT, apply RIGHT rudder to bring the tail "into trim" with the nose. Keeping the "sideslip indicator" centered will result in a noticeable increase in airspeed and turning performance.

Note that in some airplanes, certain airspeed/attitude/altitude combinations will make it impossible for the plane to be "in trim," even with full rudder application. This is particularly true with high-powered single-engine planes like the F4U Corsair.

10.3 Do some planes seem to warp and others don't?

If you see one plane warping, or jumping around the screen, while others in view are staying steady, this is almost always the result of an excessive latency from that player's provider. If you see ALL the planes warping, it's either YOUR provider causing delays, or the WarBirds host. (The WarBirds host is under little strain, and rarely causes warping as long as there are less than 120 players up.)

10.4 Can I shoot down the offline drones?

front wrote:

Yes you can. The computer-controlled Gunners (called Otto) onboard the BOMBER drones will shoot back. Select the "Start Behind Drones" option in the Setup to start in the air close behind the drones.
11.0 What...

11.1 What are those two arrows?

front wrote:

1. When you are flying online in the arena and you access the internal MAP (press F1) you will see two arrows pointing away from your position. The WHITE arrow points to the nearest group of FRIENDLY planes. The RED arrow points to the nearest group of ENEMY planes. This is deemed necessary as you cannot see the radar "dots" while in flight.

2. There may be a lone enemy raider nearer you though. The RED arrow only points to the nearest grouping, not lone raiders.

3. The arrows are sometimes switched off in some scenarios.
11.2 What are Scenarios?

front wrote:

Scenarios are run in the arenas from time to time. These involve up to 150 players flying different frames or sorties across a period of a few weeks. You register on a team or country for the duration of the Scenario. Scenarios are based on Historical events and battles which took place in WWII.

Scenario Lites are run every week with up to 50 or more players joining in. They run for one or two frames on the night. You do not need to register beforehand. When you turn up on the night you will be assigned a team and a squadron.
11.3 What is the best country?

front wrote:

Each country goes through a period where it can dominate the arena. No country is better than any other in terms of the players it attracts. Allegiances are based on squad choices, friends, a simple liking for a particular colour, or even area of the map in which the country is located. As a Tour Of Duty advances to the next tour the country's main base rotates around the arenas. GREEN may be located in the top right for one Tour Of Duty in the Main Arena using the PAC terrain. When the next Tour Of Duty uses the PAC terrain they may have moved to the bottom left. Some players stick with the terrain choices they are most comfortable with and change countries to reflect this.

Some Veterans will join the country with the lowest numbers online on the night they fly. Others join the country with the most numbers.

You can join any country you like at anytime but you cannot go back to an original choice for twenty four hours. This is to stop people from jumping to one country to spy on it and then returning immediately to their original team.

A number of players are convinced that people of one country have certain common character traits. This is a source of endless speculation. One example was that in the past the default country which new users joined the arenas under was RED. It was a simple setting on the players front end which new users did not bother to change the first time they went online. Other countries were convinced that most REDs were not that experienced therefore. This is no longer the case... most of the time.

You can see the numbers of players in the arena by using the ".roster" (or simply ".ros") command when flying. A single line of text will be sent to your FE showing you the number of players each country has at that moment.

11.4 What is a Tour Of Duty and the RPS?

front wrote:

A Tour Of Duty is the number of weeks the Rolling Plane Set needs to complete one cycle.

In order to stop the advantages which the later war planes had over early war planes the Rolling Plane Set was introduced. At the start of a Tour Of Duty only a small number of planes are available reflecting the state of the combatant air forces at the start of WWII. F4F Wildcats and early model Zeros can then fight in peace without a late war FW190D9 attacking them. As the Rolling Plane Set moves on more and more planes are added until the last day or days of the Tour Of Duty when the Me262 jet is enabled.

Many players prefer the tactics and traits peculiar to the early war planes. The RPS allows semi-historical Main Arena matchups.

Posted by: =ram1=

A tour of duty last 3 weeks. At the end of a tour all scored are reset and we start again. The tour consists of a rolling plane set that covers the time period from 1939 - 1945 with new more advanced planes introduced into the arena almost every day. Unfortunately I no longer have the RPS schedule but maybe someone else will post it.
There used to be a reference page up on Pyro's news group, but I'm not sure its there. Spof's pages may also contain this information as he archives some of this stuff.

Posted by: Topcat (RAF, Duxford Wing)

: can someone explain to me in simple terms how the Tour of Duty operates and when does the current one end?

There is a three week tour of duty. We're in the second week at the moment. The last day of this tour is Sunday 8th Nov / Mon 9th Nov (it tends to change some time in the morning Eastern US time). At the end of that time your score is cleared, but you still keep medals, rank etc.

11.5 What about wind and other online effects?

front wrote:

1: Wind can be turned on in the arenas. It can be set at a gentle breeze or a 100mph gale. Updrafts and Downdrafts can also be enabled. You cannot set Wind offline on your own FE.

2: The amount of SUN glare can be raised or lowered by the host. (seems to only affect PC 3D-accelerated versions)

3: A large number of settings can be changed by the arena "gods" online. They can set the durability of your plane, the lethality of you guns, the "hardness" of ground targets, the altitude of the FLAK around ships and cities, the TIME in the arena, the Icons settings and so on. Usually the settings are the default offline settings you see on your sorties offline.

4: You can access the online arena settings with a ".show" command while in the TOWER.

5: Offline you can set the TIME of the action with the ".time XXXX" command where XXXX is a time in the 24 hour clock. Try ".time 0725" and set each minute from 0725hrs to 0730hrs to see a WarBirds sunrise.

6. You can enable airshow smoke offline with the ".smoke n" command where n is a number eg ".smoke 10". Raising or lowering the number affects the smoke duration.
11.6 What are the local servers?

1: German players have access to a local German server accessible from a German ISP. Contact iEN for more info on using it if you are a German Mac WarBirds player.

Dancer writes:

>Hmm, is there even a german server?
>If yes, how do i get there?

Take a look at www.netplayer.de but you have
to have a german bank account to be able to
fly there.

The WWW BBS of the german server is accesable
from www.netplayer.de/intern

Dancer out.

2: There is a server in the United Kingdom aimed at European players though all WarBirds players can access it.

UK Server Online

A new arena is now available on the main WarBirds menu that is run from our new server based in the U.K. You do not need a separate account to access this arena, it can be entered with your regular iEN account just like any other arena. The settings in the U.K. arena will mimic those of the main arena. However, all IDs, scores, and medals will be completely separate from the U.S. based arenas. The first time you log into the U.K. arena, it will prompt you for a six letter ID that will be independent from the other arenas.
3: iEN have expressed a wish in the past to provide more local access to other users eg Brazil.

11.7 Astronomy?

> Actually I'd always wondered if measuring the microfrequencies in the spectrum over a period of time might give a better >eye into the interior. It would at least give some indication of oscillations in temperature near the surface. (Taking a chance >here at being out of date)

What is actually measured is the oscillations of the surface due to waves that travel through the entire sun. So, we're measuring velocity variations and not temperature variations. How it's done is to find a feature in the solar spectrum that has a very high gradient (sharp edged), and then measure the radial velocity shifts due to the motion of the surface. (think of how the pitch of a train horn changes as it passes...that is a change due to the velocity of the train. astronomers use this effect, known as doppler shift, to measure variations in the motions of objects due to the shift of light waves caused by the motion).

We image the entire surface of the sun, measure the velocity shifts and then do it again a minute later. Do enough of these, and it's possible to get enough signal to start fitting spherical harmonics to the patterns (spherical harmonics describe waves that constructively interfere as they travel through the sun; flick a pot of water, watch the waves travel across it...same idea). After that, it's just a matter of some fitting and Fourier transforms to get the signals out.

It's now to the point that the measurements of the solar interior through helioseismology have improved the models so that, except for a couple of regions, we are within .1% of the measurements. It's the only way that we can measure the interior of a star. There is a lot more information on this; good places to go look are http://www.gong.noao.edu/index.html, or http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/ if you want more information (more complete information anyways :) ).

> I'd be interested in finding out more if you don't mind. You might want to write me though. These guys will probably want >our heads if we start discussing this in ernest.

Actually, I received a couple of emails asking what this was about, so I figured I'd better post it. Anyone who wants to talk astronomy more should feel free to email me.....it gives me a chance to show off. ;)

Reed
Reed Riddle
Homepage: http://www.chara.gsu.edu/~riddle
Ph.D. Candidate, Astronomy, Georgia State University
WB callsign: -ridl- WB squad: Mac the Rippers

11.8 What is the iKernel?

front wrote:

The iKernel "talks" to the host for you replacing the login procedure which the WarBirds front-end used.

The iKernel is a "launcher" application inside your WarBirds folder. You need to open this application first, then enter your username and password in the fields provided, and allow it to open your WarBirds application in order to enter the WarBirds arenas.

You will be given an initial choice of two areas... the WarBirds Arenas and the Air Combat Arenas. The Air Combat Arena is the free "relaxed realsim" arena. The WarBirds Arenas will bring you to another screen with a list of all the current WarBirds arenas. The Main Arena, Historical Arena, and the Scenario Arenas are all listed. Double-click on the one you want and you will be taken there.

You do not need to open the iKernel to practise offline, just open the WarBirds application.


11.9 What are the Pilot Rankings?

1. Pilots are awarded Ranks and Medals based on their performance in a Tour of Duty and across a Career.

2. Everyone starts as a Flight Sargeant.

If during the TOD you rank in the:
Top 2500 -- You become a Warrant Officer
Top 500 -- You become a 2nd Lieutenant
Top 100 -- You become a Lieutenant
Top 50 -- You become a Captain
Top 20 -- You become a Major
Top 5 -- You become a Lieutenant Colonel
Top 1 -- You become a Colonel

Regardless of where you stand in the rankings, you can only progress one
rank up during each TOD. So in essence even if you are the absolutley best
pilot in WB and rank #1 in every TOD from the day you first hit "fly", it
should take you 7 TODs to make Colonel.
--
Kent East - ICEMAN
iEN Community Events Manager

3. Thanks to =bbgn= for the following info:

front,

I attached the text file. It shows the accomplishments for which the medals are awarded, and the standards for rank advancement.

                     Kill   Kills Per  Career  Kills Per
    Medal Names     Streak    Tour      Kills   Sortie
    -----------     ------  ---------  ------  ---------
Grand Star           150      1000      10000    N/A
Grand Cross           90       750       7500     12
Order of the Falcon   50       500       5000     10
Silver Star           20       250       2500      7
Air Combat Cross      10       100       1000      5
Air Combat Medal       5         5        100      3



                             Fighter Pilot   Bomber Pilot
       Rank Names              Position        Position  
       ----------            -------------   ------------
Colonel                            1                1
Lieutenant Colonel                 5                5
Major                             20               20
Captain                           50               50
Lieutenant                       100              100
2nd Lieutenant                   500              500
Warrant Officer                 2500             2500
Flight Sergeant               Entry level     Entry level

Promotions are awarded at the end of a tour of duty based on the top pilot scores. A pilot can only be promoted one rank per tour of duty.

In that particular list, it only shows the text. For the actual awards, there is a "medals" tab that shows you graphically which medals you have recieved. When you click on the medal, it tells you which milestones which you accomplished in order to recieve the medal.

=bbgn=


12.0 Where is the action?

First, you should get and print a copy of the map for the arena you are flying in (see Section 7.7). The action is always very easy to find in the Main Arena (MA for short). You can look at the onlineWarBirds MAP by pressing the Function Key F1 from the HQ to get a quick rundown of what the status of the entire arena. This will show you who owns which fields, and what their operational status is. A quick radio call of the pilots already flying will help steer you to the action, as well. Best of all you get to see the radar signatures (above 300feet Above Ground Level) of planes near your field when using the MAP before you fly.

Just select an airfield near the center of the map and fly to the nearest opponents airfield (or one with the most number of enemy and allied dots around it), preferably with another fellow country man and gaining some altitude on the way.

13.0 What is good etiquette? Want to play well with others!

There are no set rules for player etiquette in Warbirds. The virtual battlefield can accommodate a number of different tactics, personalities, and activities. However, there are some good guidelines to follow to make sure everyone has as much fun as possible. Don't shoot down your own countrymen. Warbirds runs anti-fratricide code that inflicts the same damage to you that you would have inflicted on a player of the same country. (It's the virtual battlefield equivalent of a court martial.) If you've been waved off of a fight by someone in your country, stay away. (You should not have to ask before joining a 1 on 1). In other words, if two players are having a pitched duel in an isolated position, it might be considered rude to immediately jump in and steal a kill that a fellow "countryman" had been working hard to achieve. Do not constantly wave off countrymen from a fight. Reserve this for when you are actually dueling someone. Don't boss people around in the arena. Instead of, "All greens follow me to F3." try "I'm headed to F3. Anyone else want to come?". Don't make excuses on the radio for every time someone shoots you down. An occasional, "Man, you were warping" is ok but if this become a litany, people are going to notice (and the problem is probably your connection anyway). Don't expect other people to bail you out of your dumb decisions. They are not obligated to help you out (see don't boss). Do NOT bail on someone in a fight just to avoid giving them the kill. They will get a MANEUVER KILL on you anyway. (Bailing after you are hit is OK). This will earn you a reputation in a hurry if you bail all the time. Don't monopolize the radio channels. Keep your messages brief and concise as possible Don't just stay at home waiting for others to come to you. The best defense is a good offense. Don't use profanity online if you can absolutely help it. Don't take this game too seriously. If you find yourself getting exceptionally angry about a lost dogfight or bad break, take some time off from playing and reset your priorities. Play because it's FUN, not because you've got a chip on your shoulder. Of course there's the flip side: Compliment your opponents for a good fight. A little sportsmanship goes a long way. To help your countrymen out when they are trying to accomplish something or are outnumbered. Teamwork is the key. Do try to help the new players out, and please be patient with them. A new player treated with respect becomes a good wingman in a hurry. Do feel free to attack enemy aircraft on the ground if you have flown a significant distance to get there (In my view significant is any other countries airfield). Do give iEN constructive feedback, itemized if possible.

14.0 What are all the various . commands?

You type them into the radio to use them. Make sure you type the "." first (without the quotes).

Wait a minute! We are on a Macintosh... why do WE need all this DOS stuff? The HOST uses the dot commands, your Macintosh buttons on the FE simply provide an interface. As newer versions are released the buttons sometimes are disabled. You need to have this list available just in case.

.conv ### - Sets your convergence setting for your guns at ### many yards.

.delay ### - Sets the delay between bomb releases in a salvo from the B-17 in milliseconds. The valid range is between 50 and 999.

.disband - Disbands a squadron (squad leaders only).

.easymode 0 - Sets the standard, high fidelity, flight model.

.e - Typed on the radio when you want to exit the plane when you have landed. [Make sure you are on the Runway and Stopped to have a successful Sortie entered in your score]

.exit - exits the arena
.fields - Gives a list of all fields, their ownership, whether they are open, etc. [HQ] .fly - Is equivalent to hitting the fly button. This takes off in the default direction for an airfield. It is equivalent to the ".fly a" command. .fly a - take off from an airfield in the default direction. .fly b - take off from an airfield 180 degrees from the default direction. .fuel ### - percent of the maximum fuel load. You probably do NOT want to load maximum fuel since the way effects the flight characteristics (such as turn rate) of the aircraft. .hl XXXXXX - "Highlights" a fellow countryman so his Icon shows WHITE. Handy for flying in formation and keeping track of him in the furballs. .invite XXXXXX - Invites XXXXXX to join your squadron. .jsquad - Accepts an outstanding offer to join a squad. .plane # - Can be used instead of the buttons to select the plane you are flying (out of date) .radio - Will list what channels are tuned to what frequencies. .radio #a #b - Sets radio channel #a to be frequency #b. #b can also be the 4 letter call sign shown with F2 in flight. .remove XXXXXX - Removes a member from a squadron (squad leaders only). .roster - Will give you a partial listing of the players who are up, the country they are flying for, and where they are (in flight or HQ, or some field). .salvo ## - Sets the number of bombs that you want to drop at one time in the B-17.
.score shows your current score.
.score XXXXXX - This gives the current scoring breakdown for player XXXXXX. .show - This gives a listing of some of the current settings on the host. For example, this command can be used to check the frag and lethality settings. .speed ### - This sets the speed that the plane will seek when you hit speed trim. One use is that best rate of climb is sometimes specified as a speed that you should hold at full throttle. .squad XXXXXX - Gets the list of players in squadron XXXXXX. .withdraw - Withdraw from a squadron.

.ignore XXXXXX - squelches a player... you cannot read their messages

.listen XXXXXX - "unsquelches" a player... you can now read their messages again
14.1 What Are All the In-Flight Commands?

E: Start/Stop Engine SHFT-E: Start/Stop All Engines 1/0: Throttle +/- Incremental Throttle S: Trim Rudder. (Use often) A/D: Left/Right Rudder G: Raise/Lower Landing Gear. V: Dive Brakes on divebombers (SBD/Ju88/Val/Stuka) F: Fire guns B: Fire/Drop secondary weapon Delete: Toggle Secondary Weapon F1: View "Radar" map view. F2 to toggle identification levels of other players from Range Only, to Player Call signs, and Aircraft Type.
F4 Calls up the Keyhelp F9 to toggle pickle mode (Drop multiple bombs at once). F10 to toggle WEP (war emergency power) on and off. F11 to toggle ground clutter on and off. F12 to center your joystick. Option R: Cycles through 5 levels of view range and object detail.
Option P: Shows you your Frames Per Second rate (FPS) in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Keypad/Cursor Keys: View controls. I: Trim in more elevator back pressure
K: Trim in less elevator back pressure
Q: Lower Flaps W: Raise Flaps Y: Use Norden Bombsight. O: Open Bomb bay doors. -: Zoom in the Bombsight (or map) on the Keypad. +: Zoom out the Bombsight (or map) on the Keypad. ENTER: Hit 3 times quickly to eject.

15.0 Scoring.

1: Worried about your scores already?

A very simple explanation follows:

You get points for hitting an enemy plane with your guns (bombs or rockets too but unlikely) or hitting a ground target with any ordnance.

You get more points for successfully landing a plane and exiting on a friendly runway.

You get points if you shoot an enemy plane and he dies but the kill is awarded to another player. You get an ASSIST in this case.

You get fewer points for a sortie if you die or ditch.

You can check your score after each sortie with the ".score" command.

2: Kamel writes:

It awards kills per current sortie. That is the more kills you get in one sortie, the more each kill is worth. It DOES NOT award for streaks WHATSOEVER. It reduces your score for ditches and bails, kills your streak if you get captured (which by the way is totally meaningless) and it seems to give you points for hits on the enemy.

3: Yak writes:

How Does Scoring Work in 2.5 onwards?

1. Is there still a plane multiplier?
2. How do ditching/bailing/getting captured affect your score/streak?
3. How do ranks work?
4. Are there really medals, and how do you receive them/view them?

... and =ram1= answers:
Below is what Pyro originally wrote up. I don't think the streak multiplier is working, or so everyone tell me ;)
You can see what it takes to get ranks and medals when you are online and look under the scoring tab.

Pyro's Producer Notes:

Scoring Changes- Again, we're taking improvements we made to DoA and bringing them back to WB. We're also making other improvements specific to WB. First, the rank and medals system of DoA will be in WB with some modification. The ranks and medals in WB will be generic and not loosely based on a specific country as they are in DoA. As stated above, the interface change allows us more display room for the scoresheet, so we'll be able to bring back more of the statistics that we used to display, such as guns destroyed, ships sunk, fields captured, etc. Squadron scoring will also be imported from DoA, but will cover both bomber and fighter scoring. Bails and ditches occurring in enemy territory will now result in a capture.

Fighter scoring will be changed in a number of ways. The score multiplier for plane type will no longer be used. Points will be awarded based on kills awarded, assists awarded, and damage done to enemy planes. Those points will be modified according to how your sortie ends, much the same as it works now. The only difference is that now you can be captured for bailing or ditching in enemy territory and that has changed how each of those are weighed in the scoring system. If you land your sortie, you will receive full credit. A successful ditch will result in 2/3 credit. A successful bail will result in 1/2 credit. Getting captured will result in 1/3 credit and getting killed will only net you 1/4 of the points you would have received had you landed. Your point total for a sortie will finally be modified by your kill streak. The larger your kill streak gets, the more points you get. Streaks will end when you are killed or captured. Successful bails and ditches will not end a streak.

Bomber scoring will change even more. Currently, bomber scoring is primarily based on the amount of damage you inflict on enemy structures. This will still be a factor in the bomber scoring system, but the big change will be that each object will have its own point value for being destroyed. This will make attacking worthless targets pretty much worthless. Other factors in bomber score will be kills, assists, and base captures. The sortie-end multipliers are identical to the fighter system, and bomber pilots will also get bonuses for a high streak of successful bombing missions.

The last thing about the scoring is how fighter and bomber missions are determined. In the current system, whenever you take off with bombs strapped to your plane, it counts as a bomber sortie regardless of what kind of plane you are flying. Under the new system, whenever you fly a plane that is listed as a bomber, it counts as a bomber sortie. Flying a fighter will always count as a fighter sortie, regardless of your weapons loadout. Any damage done to ground targets will go towards your bomber score regardless of whether you are flying a fighter or bomber. If you take a heavy
fighter and drop bombs on an enemy installation and then shoot down several planes, the bombs will count towards your bomber scores but the planes will count towards your fighter score. The
sortie itself will be recorded as a fighter sortie.

4: The scoring tab doesn't work yet on the Mac so you cannot see the ranks and medals you have.


16.0 How do I configure my Joystick/Throttle/Rudders

There are many different types of controllers for the Mac as you probably know. If you don't find the answers to your problem here in this Short Mac FAQ then post to the warbirds.support.mac newsgroup. Someone else is bound to have your combination and/or problem sorted out.

Mouse Pointer visible in flight? Note for Thrustmaster Users (15/09/99) from Mac Progammer "ELGATO":

When using InputSprockets alone with my Thrustmaster setup I end up with a visible mouse pointer while in flight, it is affected by the TM stick and follows the stick movements. I get rid of this by setting the Sprocket options to "none" and using the Thrustware Strokes instead. How can I use InputSprockets and get rid of the pointer though?

To make the mouse movement stop, delete your WarBirds stroke set in Thrustware so it will quit communicating with Warbirds. Of course, if you're not getting any crashes with TM, you could always just keep it.

Experience has shown us that this probably isn't the best idea, though.

Brent

Basic Controller Setup:

1. You must have the InputSprockets for your particular controller in your Extensions Folder.

2. Ensure that your controllers are calibrated correctly (vis their own manufacturer's software)

3. Open the Setup window in the WarBirds FE.

4. The first window is the STICK window.

5. You have settings for AXIS (SLIDERS), DAMPER, and CONTROL TYPE.

6. AXIS:

Roll is the motion you get when you move your stick from left to right and right to left. The wingtips go up and down.

Pitch is the motion you get when you push forward and pull backward on the stick. the nose goes up and down.

Yaw is the motion you get when you use your rudders and the nose moves from left to right and back again.

Click on the button for the AXIS you wish to fine tune eg ROLL. ROLL is nearly always left at 100% across all sliders. You NEED to be able to roll as quick as you can in WarBirds. Set the PITCH and YAW to suit your own needs. Play around with some different settings and see how your planes perform.

7. DAMPER:

If you find that your stick has some "play" in it (ie it "wobbles" on it's base) you can set the DEADBAND to compensate for this wobble.

mach-1 asked:

I need a few pointer in the direction of stick adjustments. How does this dampener work? and all those deadband adjustments? I have always had them set at 0. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I need the finer details on how they work.

Snail answered:

The dead band slider sets the "dead" space around joystick center. That is, if you set the deadband high, fly, and move the stick a bit, nothing happens until you move it past that "dead" area. Now slide that deadband slider more to the right...it'll take less movement of the jotstick from center to see movement in flight. Push the deadband slider all the way to the right, for the least "dead" space, now any little twitch of the joystick in flight will result in movement in flight.

Many older or simply well-used joysticks will never quite center themselves...which means that even if you take your hands off the stick, it sends movement signals. A larger deadband lets it sit in its not-quite-stable center position without telling the program it's moving all over the place.

If you find that you have problems with "centering" your joystick, slide that deadband up.

The dampener, on the other hand, basically averages joystick signals over time to produce less "spikes". If you find that, from time to time a smooth right movement of the joystick results in the plane suddenly jerking to the right or left a bit, it's because the stick is "spiking". The dampener lets you smooth that signal curve out, giving more consistant control movement. The higher you set the dampener, the smoother that curve gets as the program averages stick signals for a longer period of time.This can also help with some joystick/modem issues, where the interrupts between the stick and modem are conflicting (applies to network cards also, of course).

There is a setting in your windows joystick setup for "poll with interrupts". Checking this on provides a more stable joystick (less spiking), checking it off provides a more stable connection.

hardcase answered:

Deadbands increase if you move the slider to the right. Takes more input for the stick to respond.

The problem with deadbands is the scaling you have enabled. If you have say 5% deadbands and your 10% scaling is set to 70%..then your input will be zero till you hit 5% then at 5.1%..your input will be 3.5% which is 70% of your stick input when under 10% deflection. This can produce a bunch of nose bounce simply from the beating of your heart:-) Most trainers recommend that you start with zero deadbnads, minimum dampers for all axis.

100% scaling across the board for Yaw and Roll. That scaling for pitch begin at 70 or 75% for the first slider on the left(the 10% slider) and increase each slider by 5% so that your scalings for pitch look like 75 80 85 90 95 100 100 100 100.

You can always adjust to a less responsive setting if your stick is too twichy.


8. CONTROL TYPE:

If you use a stick other than a Thrustmaster product you click on the Configure InputSprocket button. From that window you can choose the settings you want each button to use and save them as a Custom set.

If you use a Mouse then your options are limited. You can center on click and use the keyboard to fire guns or use a click to fire guns.

Thrustmaster has been known to cause some issues in the software. I personally use the InputSprockets WITH the Thrustware software installed. I use the TM FCS and WCS with CH Pedals. This combination can give rise to problems on some systems. If you use TM controllers then experiment with your own TM Strokes set first. If you get crashes or freezes or "dumps to the desktop" then go with InputSprockets after disabling the Thrustmaster Strokes set for WarBirds in it's Prefs folder.

Others find that they need the HardCoded Hat on to get all the views they need. Click the Ignore Mouse button unless you wish to Trim or use it to control your rudder.

9. Click on the OKAY button to save the settings.

10. Center Joystick when flying by pressing the function key F12.


CH F16 stick settings:

Ever since I installed Mac WB 2.5 my CH F-16 Fighterstick feels really mushy in WBs. I have all the dampers set to 0. Not sure what is causing this. If you select imput sprockets are you supposed to have the CH F16 control panel open?

Turn off your CH Control Panel setting for Warbirds. If you leave it on and try to use sprockets, they will compete and cause nose bounce. At least that's been my experience.

Spitboy

I have the F16 stick and wound up turning the dampening on. Stick response seemed to improve.
Eiger

VMF-158, The Green Mountain Boys

: Can you please tell me exactly what your f16 stick setting are?

I use the input sprockets only, and turn the CH control panel off. I only use the CP to calibrate my stick.

Roll: 100% across the board, about 10% deadband, 0 dampening
Pitch: 60% across the board, about 10% deadband, 100% dampening
Rudder: I leave all those settings "off".

Your results may vary, and might require some experimentation to get the right "feel".

Good luck,
Eiger

Norden Bomb sight "creep"

Possum wrote:

Hey all,

It's me again. I have noticed a problem when flying bombers in the ACA
and MA. When I switch to bombedier position (y-key, followed by
keypad-2), my once level and straight plane begins to roll right, as if
auto-on-level was disengaged. Has anyone else experienced this with
WB2.7b4 ?? This can be very frustrating as it can really throw of a well
executed bomb run setup. Thanks for any info.

Possum out ...

Keller answers:

Some of this is due to the drift in your stick. I've been able to
minimize the problem by setting the 10% slider to a very low number
(like 3 or 5). (I do this since I don't like setting the deadzone
slider - it causes other problems) Another possible dealing mechanism
(note I didn't say solution), is too slightly bump your stick to the
opposite direction of the drift (but not enough to disengage autopilot)
until the drift stops. Usually this means that you get in the bombadier
position rather early, just as much to check for drift as green the
scope. This does seem to be slightly worse in 2.7 than 2.6, but it's
only my impression. I also reworked my stick settings between the 2
versions. Experimentation continues.

Hope This Helps,

keller
Wade adds:

Set a bit of deadband.

Wade

11. The Programmable Inputsprockets Interface (aka Macintosh WarBirds Custom Stroke Set)

First read the "Stroke Set Manual" which is contained in the WarBirds folder. Don't ask questions on the newsgroups until you have read the manual. It is quite comprehensive. There are however some issues concerning the new Stroke Sets.

a) Thrustmaster. If you use TM controllers then set them up for WarBirds using the Thrustware software and Stroke Sets. Try out WarBirds and if it all works fine then continue to use Thrustware If you get crashes, hangs, and freezes then you will have to use the Strokes Set to get TM to work.. The Thrustware driver is getting old and Mac flight-sims are moving on... future versions of Mac WarBirds may conflict with TM controllers/Thrustware so you may have to evenutally use the new Stroke Sets as WarBirds is updated.

b) dadman and webs wrote:

A (slightly edited) Dadman post:

------------
GENERAL SET UP: Keep your Thrustmaster Driver and your ThrustWare 2.0
(TW). However, dump or move any Thrustmaster Strokes sets from your
Thrustmaster Strokes file in your Preferences file that have any reference
to WarBirds, or rename them so WarBirds will not access them.

Check to see that your "Strokes Default" set is not doing anything, i.e.
that it is not set for any stroke activation, including any WCS Rocker
strokes.

It's probably best to set any dead zone here rather than in Sprockets (I
use a zone of 3 - Webs). You can check your buttons by accessing the
"Strokes Default" set in TW. Hit all the buttons on all your TM units in
all positions to see if they are activating anything. If they are, disable
them.

MOUSE PROBLEM: See the Output box at the top middle of TW? Try setting
that to Direct.

If that doesn't cure it, try setting to the other settings for the mouse
and see which "de-activates" the mouse-FCS movement problem in WarBirds.
This is tedious as you have to keep accessing and quitting WarBirds. But
once you solve it the "mousie move when FCS is moved" is gone.

NOSE BOUNCE: When I first reset from TM direct to InputSprockets I had
appalling stick movement issues. The system was unflyable, including the
nose bounce and popping out of Auto Pilot. MAKE SURE you recalibrate all
your TM units using the TM calibrations setting in the "Default Strokes"
set. Click on the calibrations button in the TW window and do all your
units IN ORDER, FCS, WCS and RCS (if you have them all, if not do in order
what you have).

INPUTSPROCKETS SETTINGS: I have all my dead zones and nulls, etc. set to
0. My damping is set to about 15%. My roll and yaw are set at 100% across
the board. Mt tilt is set at a sliding diagonal scale from 20% to 100%
left to right.

Webs: I have all dead zones, dampers, etc. set to 0. Yaw and Roll are
100s across; pitch is set as: 11 22 33 44 55 66 77 88 100

CREATING & GANGING STROKES: You can gang strokes and create as many
combinations with the InputSprockets as you had with TM direct. What you
have to do is create a stroke set for each button - it's different than TW
where you create an action for each button at each rocker position.

For example: The top button on the FCS. You use the InputSprockets and
create a stroke set called "Stick Top." Then activate the "when Rocker is
up" box. Then name the stroke set Stick Top. Then you enter the button you
want on the FCS when the rocker is up. Save the set. Then click the "when
the rocker is middle" box and repeat the process. Save the set. Then
repeat for the "when rocker is down." Again save the set. You now have a
"Stick Top" set that has the three way FCS settings built into it. Repeat
this process for each button. Then map the stroke sets onto the buttons
using the InputSprockets editor. Be sure to have a total stroke set for
each unit. I named mine "Custom 1" I now have a "Custom 1" set for the FCS
the WCS and the RCS.

If you do not have a WCS, you can use a keyboard command as a rocker switch.

NOTE: If you have an RCS the controls may be reversed. Simply click the
reversed box in the InputSprockets editor by the RCS setting.

ALSO: Keep the hat views on your FCS direct. They do not need a custom
set-up. If you try to create one custom setting, say a "View Up" using the
forward hat position it disables the others. You have an 8-way Hat with
the direct settings. You only get a 4 way hat if you try to create a
custom hat set. If you use the "Look straight up" (keypad 5) setting you
will need to map that to a button, which is what I did. Then you can have
a "look straight up" or a "look up" from any angle combo that works well.

Some of this can be confusing.

Other things to do would be to post your OS and active extensions and
control panels, so we could sort through that.

Webs, CO 101 "Red" Squadron, Israel WarBirds trainer

17.0 When is the boxed version coming out?

front wrote:

1: You can order a CD-ROM from iEN which contains all the files you need. This can save on lengthy downloads of the art files for example.

2: There are now 5 offline "missions" in the Macintosh version. A brief description of each follows:

Air Attack

Take out as many planes as you can as they swarm aound you in the skies

You start at alt in this mission and it simulates an arena furball. Try to keep enemy drones from getting within d15 of you (especially behind you) as you attack another drone. Online a bogey within d15 is very dangerous and will almost certainly mean they are tracking, if not attacking, you etc.

Your 2 default "wingmen" are HITECH and PYRO. Stick with them as much as possible at the start and clear their sixes. The enemy drones will come after you mostly so listen to HITECH when he calls on you to check your six. As you and your team begin to scythe through the drones, new enemy aircraft will "pop" into existence... at your current altitude or even above you so check six everytime you hear an explosion. New friendly drones will also appear as others are destroyed.

You can set the "skill level" of the drones and the number of wingmen to fly with you. Veteran drones jink as you get in range for a killing shot behind their 3-9 line. They are not that accurate when they shoot. "Ace" drones nearly always hit what they aim at ie the center of your plane. Expect to die a lot from these guys as they blowpast you... they don't miss if they get even a brief snapshot.

When the action goes low the drones will go into "terrain avoidance" mode. They will flatten out of a dive some 20-50 feet above the ground and so avoid auguring. If you are diving hard after one watch out for this. When they do flatten out they seemingly accelerate "up" hills too leaving you far behind.

Sometimes you may ping a drone, kocking off an elevator and you will see it take off for outer space... up and up it goes and it won't come back down. This is a small bug.

Otto (auto-gunners) do not work on your planes but they do on the drone aircraft.

Some drones will appear to perform outside of their envelopes. The Hurricanes are very fast. If you have 2-3 drones on your six in a trail you can try a climbing spiral to get above them. They will keep going straight ahead, generally, allowing you to get onto their sixes again. This won't happen in the arenas when a human is flying against you. Avoid head ons with the drones if you can.

AAA at friendly fields will not fire on enemy drones. Enemy AAA will fire on you though.

There is no doubt that this mission is an excellent addition It will help your gunnery to improve so fly like you would in the arenas, get some alt and save your ammo. Look for high-percentage d2-or-less "killing shots". Keep your speed up and your views current. Listen to "Check your six!" calls from wingmen. Aim for at least 5 kills each time you run the mission regardless of aircraft.

Bomber Ambush

A tight formation of bombers is headed for your airfield, Try to survuve and take them out!

The 4 offline bomber drones maintain a very tight formation... much tighter AND much longer than any formation you will see online (due to lag and bomber pilot experience etc). With the 4 B-17s in this mission you need to kill them dead through total destruction of the airframe. That is a hard thing to do offline and online... and you have to do this with 48 Otto gunner Machine Guns (combined fire from the 4 B17s) accurately firing at you from d7 on out (in Ace setting at least).

In earlier versions Otto was able to hit you from nearly d10 on out. Otto is not as tough in version 2.7 as earlier versions (though this may change as it is always being tweaked). You will also meet the Betty, B-25, and Ju-87 in this mission. The Ju-87s tend to break formation (in the higher skill settings) as your first rounds start hitting them so get in real close. The bombers climb very fast in this mission so stay right on top of them. In earlier versions the bombers would ignore an elevator hit (or other control surface hit) but now they drop out of formation. If that happens let your wingmen deal with them.

Older tips on how to use this mission for practise to help you online can be found at this link:

Destroy Those 3 Buffs : http://indigo.ie/~frontacs/WBStored/DestroyThose3Buffs.html

Veteran players have said that if you can destroy these 4 buffs in this mission, without taking any damage, then you should be more than able for the "lone raider" you meet in the MA. Just do NOT climb up to them from below NOR attack from dead 6 (that is certain death to you online in the arenas)

Open Arena

Explore the world, looking for anything you can find in the air, on the ground, or on the sea.

This is the standard "drones circling around the fields" mission we have had in WarBirds before. Practise high-speed slashing attacks on the drones aiming for Maximum Damage on each pass. Do not just "saddle up" and blast away... you rarely get that sort of shot online.

Surface Assault

Using guns, rockets, and bombs, destroy everything you can on the ground and in the water.

Again this is the same mission which we have always had. You can use the ordnance on the various planes to attack the targets at the cities, ports, or airfields.

Landing-On-A-Dime

Try to land your plane at the optimal touchdown speed and perfect vertical descent rate.

The WarBirds application will record the number of landings you can make without augering, telling you of your descent rate and speed as you touchdown. This is a very useful mission when you practise carrier landings. There will come a time online where you must make a carrier landing... either to end a successful mission in a scenario or escape from a bogey. You need practise... try landing the "faster" carrier planes like the Seafire or the F4U as well as the F4F and TBF. Finally... for a real challenge... try landing the B25s on the carrier.

3: You can set a "timer" to to fly-against-the-clock.

4: [disabled as of version 2.7 After each mission you can look at the scores you achieved on the panel which appears. Offline targets cannot be destroyed by the bombs but you will see points and scores for "hits".

The most useful score is your Gunnery score... Try to work on your Gunnery score offline as much as possible. The best players in the online arenas achieve well into the late teens and early twenties with some peaking at or in the thirties (percentage of bullets fired). It is of no use to be able to fly like Chuck Yeager if you cannot shoot like him too.

One way to judge how well your offline practise is helping you is to divide your OFFLINE gunnery percentage by 5. A 50% offline gunnery percentage will give you about a 10% score online. Remember that the humans online will maneuver to avoid your shots. The drones offline do not maneuver as hard as a human will online...]

18.0 It is time to fly! How do I take off?

front wrote:

You have to learn how to take off if you want to fly in the arenas... the WarBirds way. So first things first. Do not select Easy Flight for your first few hours offline. Give the Full Realism option a chance. You've bothered to download, install, and configure the game so why not try out everything it has to offer in the way of flight-model? If you don't like it you can always switch to Relaxed Realism.

Do you have a throttle controller? Or rudder pedals? No need to worry at the start if you don't. You really do need a Joystick though. How well can you fly with just a Joystick? Quite well. Fly and fight is another matter. Eventually you will reach a plateau where you just can't throttle back and rudder to the left or right and look back at a bogey at the same time using the keyboard and a Joystick alone. If you get that far and want to continue then you'll need to look for some more controllers. They are worth it, and your enjoyment will increase.

You can set various starting altitudes in the game with the Flight Option in the Setup. This allows you to "jump" into an aircraft already in flight. So do it... right now.

Set 10,000feet above Field Number 1. Choose the F6F-5 Hellcat and fly. Zoom around for a bit and shoot things up. Auger and start again. Attack the Target Drones. Shoot them to bits. Stall the aircraft by cutting the engines and pulling back on the Joystick. Watch the plane spin to earth. Hit Option-V and look at the Hellcat from the outside view. Hit it again and get back in the cockpit. Look behind you... check your six! Bail out.

Stop. That's enough messing around. We are going to get serious very quickly. Use every minute of offline time to improve your ability to control the aircraft. Time is money online... online you want to fight and win. Offline you need to learn the basics first and practise the advanced stuff later.

Choose Field Number 2 for this first lesson. Why? The 88mm Flak at Field Number 1 (F1) will continue to fire at the Drones constantly and the sound will annoy you. Go to Field Number 2 (F2). Set your COUNTRY to the same colour as Field 2 or the ack will kill you quick when you appear On The Runway (OTR).

·1 In the Plane Loadout screen select the P-40E.

Do not select any other plane yet. Leave the P-51s and FW190s alone for the moment, In World War II Cadet pilots learned how to fly on Trainers. The P-40E is a combat aircraft yet it has very good handling and lends itself as a plane to learn on. What good handling does it have? It is fast, good firepower in it's guns, does not spin or stall too easily, climbs well enough, rolls very well (a roll happens when you move your stick from left to right), and can take a good kicking before falling apart.

·2 Now select 20% fuel.

We don't need anymore than that for this first takeoff. Low fuel means a light maneuverable aircraft.

·3 Set your convergence to 200 yards.

What is convergence? Your P-40E has six .50 Caliber (a bullet diameter of half an inch) Machine Guns as its armament. They are mounted on the plane inside the wings, three to each wing. The three on the left wing are some distance from the three on the right wing. If you positioned the Machine Guns so they all pointed straight out and you fired them you would get six "streams" of bullets heading straight out and away from the plane. Good enough... but if you shoot at another plane with the guns set this way you would not do too much damage. Why? The chances are only one or two "streams" would hit the enemy at any one time. Ground crews, in WWII, would "lean" the guns inwards towards each other to solve this problem. Guns on the right wing leaned in to the left and the left wing guns leaned in to the right. By varying the amount the guns leaned in towards each other a pattern or Bullet Density would occur a certain distance from the plane. This is known as Convergence. The bullets converge at a point in front of the aircraft. If you aim at an enemy who is 200 yards from you with convergence set at 200 yards and you hit him then all your bullets from the six Machine Guns will hit his plane in the same area. This is a good thing to do as it causes Maximum Damage.

·4 Set starting altitude at O feet.

We are going to start on the runway and learn how to take off. It is very rare that you will start in the air online. Sometimes an "air start" happens in a Historical Scenario but it's rare. It never happens in the General Arenas so you have to learn how to take off.

·5 Select Fly...

... and we are on the runway. You are offline but have a look around. Check all your views. Look to the left and right, back and up, then left and up and right and up. Check all around quickly. It's good practise as there might be a low "bogey" hanging around online in the Arena. See if you can spot the target drone.

Try starting in the NG terrain (New Guinea) terrain later on. You will appear off to the side of the runways at the airfields in this terrain. If you wish to fly in a Pacific scenario (they use this terrain sometimes) it's best to practise your takeoffs at these fields before going online. You will need to taxi a little until you reach the runway and a P-40/Zeke can be quite a handful if it gets away on you with the wings scraping off the ground as you see-saw about the field. An understanding CM (scenario organiser) may let you replane if you bury the nose trying to take off but it's best to avoid this kind of trouble with a little foresight and practise.

·6 Set your throttle in the rearward position if you have one.

You are about to start engines. Starting them with the throttle forward would make your plane jump forward too and begin to careen around the runway.

·7 Start the engine.

Hit the letter "E" on your keyboard... ROOARR! There goes the engine. It's humming away at the lowest setting. Now raise the amount of power by easing the throttle forward or hitting the "+" on the keyboard. Ease it up to 25%... look at the gauge on the cockpit in front of you. Can you find the Altimeter? Do you see the Engine Temperature gauge? See the way the Needle on that gauge is rising as your engine warms up?

We are now at 25% throttle but we're not moving. The P-40E will not begin to move until 80% throttle is applied... but not just yet.

·8 Rudders. You need to use them like never before.

If you have pedals (and they are calibrated correctly) then put your feet on them now. If you are using the keyboard then place your fingers over the "A", S", and "D" keys. "A" moves the rudders to the left, "D" moves them to the right, and "S" centers them quickly.

·9 Engine Torque. What is Engine Torque?

Simple explanation follows:

Look out of the cockpit at the Propeller spinning around. That Propeller is attached to a shaft which connects to the engine. The engine is connected to the plane. The propeller is rotating at about 2,600 revolutions per minute. It is exerting a tremendous force on the air in front of your plane and on the engine connected to your plane via the shaft. The propeller is spinning clockwise on the P-40E as you look out of the cockpit. It's a heavy piece of equipment and as it spins cutting through the air a force known as Torque occurs.

Torque tends to rotate the complete aeroplane in the opposite direction to that in which the propeller is revolving.

This causes your P-40E to "lean" to the left as you look out of the cockpit. The left wing dips down and the right wing rises. Your right wheel also rises and the left wheel digs in as the force moves down through the wheel struts and tyres (collectively known as "Gear") into the ground. You may never have experienced this force in a Simulator game before. It is a very important aspect of Warbirds as Torque is a always present in a single engine Propeller plane. It increases and decreases with throttle settings (engine power) and affects the way your plane flies at low speeds and high altitudes.

When you apply more power to the engine on the runway via the throttle your P-40E will begin to move forward but it will also begin to lean to the left even more. You have to Compensate for this Torque by using the Rudder. You apply Right Rudder to counteract the Torque which is pulling you to the left. You do not have to push hard with your right foot or press down too hard on the "D" key but you need to be firm. Firm pressure. You are trying to keep the plane centered as it rolls down the runway.

Look at the Green vertical bar near your Gunsight. That Bar needs to be centered as you move off. It will swing to the left so rudder right and get it back in the center.

Other factors such as Slipstream (air striking the fin and rudder on the lefthand side) and Gyroscopic effect (when the tail wheel rises) come into play in real life. Torque is the culprit in WarBirds though.

·10 Increase to 100% throttle and let's go!

Be careful of that torque! It will pull you to the left so Compensate! Quickly now as your speed is increasing. Look at the Speed gauge. It is rising quickly... 50mph, 75mph... Now push forward on the Stick gently to raise the Tailwheel off of the ground. You do this so you can see better out of the forward view. "Taildraggers" were notorious for restriected views out of the cockpit in the direction of travel when on the ground. At 120mph pull back Gently on the stick.

You need to "fly the aircraft off of the ground". If you pull too hard you will stall out and spin and Auger. Pull too gently and you will run out of runway. Pull back until the nose rises.

Mind that torque! It is now acting on your planes wings alone and not through the Gear into the ground anymore. The left wing will dip a little as you rise up so apply a little more Right rudder. Do this Smoothly. You do not have to jerk any of the controls... either stick, throttle or rudder.

·11 We made it. We are in the air and climbing slowly. Look at the rate of climb gauge and spot the needle. Raise the nose until the needle reaches 1,000 feet a minute and hold the stick firmly until the needle rests there.

Now hit "G" on the Keyboard to raise the Gear. Shink! It happens in a second. Good.

We did it all in one smooth move... you have just finished the First Lesson: Takeoff and Climb. It's easy. Landings and ACM/BFM is generally out of the scope of this Short Mac FAQ so use the links further below to find out more information.

Also... if you have not flown in the WarBirds arenas before then take the time to read through the next section (18.1). The section is made up of posts made by Mac users on what to watch out for in the arenas... there are some very good tips below.

18.1 Arena Survival Tips

Puck writes

> trust the advise here, even though I'm sure puck will be glad to have > someone new to make the center of his sarcasm. . . ;)

Me? Sarcasm? Perish the thought!

> Anyway, I just got an account and I'm gettin' smoked like crazy. I know > I should expect this, but I was doing pretty well against friends in > hth. Any tips on a good beginner-type plane, and (I know this is stupid) > are the trainers worth working with?

There are a few differences between the arena and H2H with a couple friends. For one, nothing says your friends are a gold standard. For another when there are only two people in the world and one of them is you the task of keeping track of everyone else is greatly simplified.

So, ask yourself: How many times have you been outnumbered 6 to 1? How many times have you been smoked by someone you never saw comming? How many times have you gone 1 v 1 and suddenly realized the other guy had a camping spot on your butt? How many times have you been a 2 ping corpse?

I *HIGHLY* recommend using the trainers. Take every opportunity you can to let these guys embarrass you, publicly, privatly, where ever and when ever you can. You'll learn more in 10 minutes with them than you will in 10 hours in the main, mostly because they'll tell you HOW you screwed up, and how to avoid pooching it again. In the main you have to think about it yourself while you float home.

It doesn't matter if you learned to fly at Pensacola or Colorado Springs or on the Battlestar Galactica, WarBirds is a Brave New World. Don't let it get you down, just try to figure out where you're making mistakes and how to overcome them. Learn to fly smart. Read everything you can; Cuda and Krod have excellent pages with links to all kinds of information that will help.

As for beginning planes everyone has their favorite. I'm a DweebFire person myself. Started on the Spit V and fly the Spit IX whenever possible. My push right now is gunnery, and I fly the IX exclusivly offline because I want a consistant ride to practice with. I recommend picking one you like and sticking with it, whatever that might be.

I also STRONGLY advise against "easy" mode. That was my mistake. I flew easy mode for several months before I got rudder peddals, and I still have problems with torque induced spins because of it. Easy mode taught me all kinds of bad habits.

Practice gunnery off line. Practice energy control off line. If I had the time I'd do 10 hours in the simulator (off line) for every on-line hour. Right now I'm trying to do 2 hours in the training arena for every hour in the main.

Don't think I'm an ace. I can suck start a TF-30 in the arenas. My poor gunnery is exceeded only by my poorer energy management. If I fly smart (which I rarely do) and stay out of no-win situations (who, me?) I can maintain a 1:1 kill/death ratio. I know all about dying, it's flying I'm working on...

-puck- wonders what kind of evil stories Front is posting to give him such a reputation... :)

Webs writes:

> There are a few differences between the arena and H2H with a couple > friends. For one, nothing says your friends are a gold standard. For > another when there are only two people in the world and one of them is you > the task of keeping track of everyone else is greatly simplified. >

> So, ask yourself: How many times have you been outnumbered 6 to 1? How > many times have you been smoked by someone you never saw comming? How > many times have you gone 1 v 1 and suddenly realized the other guy had a > camping spot on your butt? How many times have you been a 2 ping corpse?

Yes, SA and energy management are THE keys to a good k/d ratio. Like the song says, you gotta know when to fold 'em - and get your fragile ass outta Dodge right quick.

> I *HIGHLY* recommend using the trainers. Take every opportunity you can > to let these guys embarrass you, publicly, privatly, where ever and when > ever you can. You'll learn more in 10 minutes with them than you will in > 10 hours in the main, mostly because they'll tell you HOW you screwed up, > and how to avoid pooching it again. In the main you have to think about > it yourself while you float home.

Yup.

> It doesn't matter if you learned to fly at Pensacola or Colorado Springs > or on the Battlestar Galactica, WarBirds is a Brave New World. Don't let > it get you down, just try to figure out where you're making mistakes and > how to overcome them. Learn to fly smart. Read everything you can; Cuda > and Krod have excellent pages with links to all kinds of information that > will help.

Robert Shaw's book will help, but only once you already understand what he's talking about. I don't think a newbie dweeb will do any better with Shaw than without, but a few months under one's belt will reveal the secrets of that book.

> As for beginning planes everyone has their favorite. I'm a DweebFire > person myself. Started on the Spit V and fly the Spit IX whenever > possible. My push right now is gunnery, and I fly the IX exclusivly > offline because I want a consistant ride to practice with. I recommend > picking one you like and sticking with it, whatever that might be.

Yes and no. Once you've learned not to fall out of the sky on your own accord, you must fly the other planes in order to learn them. You need to know what a FW190A4 can and cannot do. You need to know how much time you can continue in a climb with a 109 on your tail...

> I also STRONGLY advise against "easy" mode. That was my mistake. I flew > easy mode for several months before I got rudder peddals, and I still have > problems with torque induced spins because of it. Easy mode taught me all > kinds of bad habits.

Don't touch easy. I can't keep up a 1:1 k/d in the free, easy-flight arenas, but that's a good sign. That arena is for speedmongers and yankers, ot deft pilots.

> Practice gunnery off line. Practice energy control off line. If I had > the time I'd do 10 hours in the simulator (off line) for every on-line > hour. Right now I'm trying to do 2 hours in the training arena for every > hour in the main.

Energy is a bit hard to try offline, since it's so often a relative situation. One thing I recommend on gunnery is trying to aim at specific parts of planes. It may seem impossible, but you can do it. Get the feel for what it looks like when you're hosing down the target's cockpit. > Don't think I'm an ace. I can suck start a TF-30 in the arenas. My poor > gunnery is exceeded only by my poorer energy management. If I fly smart > (which I rarely do) and stay out of no-win situations (who, me?) I can > maintain a 1:1 kill/death ratio. I know all about dying, it's flying I'm > working on...

Sometimes I wonder why they gave Puck a F14 once upon a time. Maybe he needed two engines and a babysitter....

Webs, CO 101 "Red" Squadron, IDF

STICK writes:

This may sound overly simple, but make sure you're using your cannons/2nd weapon in the MA. Make both mg/cannon fire off your primary trigger.

STICK-

Webs writes:

> This may sound overly simple, but make sure you're using your > cannons/2nd weapon in the MA. Make both mg/cannon fire off your primary > trigger.

I'd disagree with this to some degree. In the great majority of planes, the MGs and cannon have different arcs for the same convergence. Usually, the cannons will be considerably slower than the MGs, and will have more drop.

So, if you're flying a 109, for example, unless you're firing at a target pretty close to your preset convergence, most likely you'll be hitting the target with either the MB stream or the cannon stream, but not both. Because the tracers get a little busy, you can't tell whether you're doing damage with the cannon or just annoying the target with MGs.

For a long time I kept my two triggers as is. I shot the MGs at poor percentage shots and saved the cannon for those tracking shots and high percentage deflection shots.

Now that I have a TM WCS, I've mapped a two-gun trigger to that. I fly Spits mostly, and the Spits' cannons fire at pretty much the same velocity as the .50s, so I don't worry about that much anymore.

So, in essence I do do what Stick suggests, but only because it works for my plane, and obviously for the US planes. When I fly a FW or a two-cannon 109, I don't. Planes with weak hitting power like the Zekes and Yaks, you may just have to if you want any kills.

Anyway, don't do it unti lyou have a feel for the weapons. Then do it when you understand what's happening - it's sorta like mastering realism before your abstract art is worth a damn.

Webs, CO 101 "Red" Squadron, IDF

STICK wrote:

Okay, Webs, those are good points that I hadn't thought of. I mostly fly spits, too, so it works well for me. I should also have mentioned that I make a secondary button be just MG, for shots I'm not sure of, or when I'm back at d4-5 and just want to see if I can make someone break and slow so I can close in for a closer shot. I try to say that I will only make that closer shot be inside of d3, with convergence set to 250, but sometimes it's hard to have that much self-control. :)

Laters,

STICK-

Flapz argues:

I'm not so sure Webs.... Didn't I hear that the cannon is modeled to arc and meet in conv with the Machine guns? I think it's that way, so if you're at conv...then it's a big whollup....but if you're like me.... you're rarely firin' at conv! (color me dweebish)

Flapz

TomTom writes:

this sounds familiar to me :)

consider, with so many people in the arena, every bit of smart maneuvering that was actually pretty cool against your direct opponent is putting you in a bad place relative to the bogey who shows up just a little later. it´s all about energy.

start by getting a lot of alt, diving on people and then, get your energy back. i´d advise for a fast plane with a lot of hitting power, but then, i´m a fw dweeb ;-)

..and another thing..i forgot..

dunno if you use a joystick ..or even rudders.. if not, make sure you can reach to those important keys without looking. i aint got rudders, so i map the rudders, throttle, wep, guns, flaps all to the number pad where the views are..(got my cannons on mouse button). makes such a difference..you absolutely have to be able to use rudders while aiming at someone.

out,

tomtom

-ohoh- writes:

Brian \"STICK-\" Duelm wrote:

> This may sound overly simple, but make sure you're using your > cannons/2nd weapon in the MA. Make both mg/cannon fire off your primary > trigger.

I'd also disagree with this. On my CH fighterstick I have the trigger for MG's and the thumb button for cannon. Especially in things like the spit oft times you're chasing a faster plane or one that has a little more E and he's d6 or so and you want to get him to start turning. With the spit's low ammo load you don't want to be spraying your valuable cannon at him, but a mg ping sounds the same. Many's the time I sprayed my MG at d6-9 and got the bogey to turn or even better zoom climb. I envy a PC buddie of mine with a two position trigger, ease it then squeeze it.

In surviving, the key is SA. 100%. You can be the best turn and burn fighter pilot in the universe and you'll still die in the main arena without good SA. With SA comes altitude, hard flying a good fight when you're always looking up over your shoulder at higher bogies.

The trainers are invaluble. I spent many an hour in the training arena and when I want to work on something special, still go there (after 2.5 ywars flying). Let them know specifically what you want to work on.

Here's a couple general tips:

-Alt alt alt. When you come into a situation, try to be the highest plane. Not always possible but always keep it in mind.

-Work from the top down in a fight. The highest bogie is the most dangerous.

-When taking off, do a circle of your field before heading off into the fray. It gives you a bit more alt and let's you spot any hi vulchers ready to pounce. Most planes circle better left.

-Don't fly directly to the nme field. Head off at an angle to it and try to come in behind or beside it. You too can become a high vulcher!

-If you're in trouble, type on your country channel that you're dragging. Don't wait till they're d4 on you tho. If you have time, try for something like, "drgging 2 f11-f16 3k". People love to help people, especially when they can kill some low fixated guy.

-In a 1 on 1 situation, strive for altitude.

-In a furball situation, try for the singles out at the edges.

-Swoop, fire, climb/extend.

-Every once in a while I get very frustrated with my flying. Relax. Take up a buff. Help your country out. Lots a fun cruising in your buff at 20k sitting in the rear gun position otw to a target taking potshots at the guys struggling to get to your alt from your ded 6.

Ohoh

-puck- wrote

> I'd also disagree with this. On my CH fighterstick I have the trigger > for MG's and the thumb button for cannon. Especially in things like the > spit oft times you're chasing a faster plane or one that has a little

Well, on my Thrustmaster I have the trigger set to both, thumb high to cannon, and thumb low to MG. Best of all worlds. Hail Mary bursts on a maneuvering target are all yellow...sometimes they ease up thinking I'm out of real bullets... I'm debating putting a timer on the trigger so it FORCES short bursts. I pretty much do that anyway, but then that'd be one less thing to think about.

> for something like, "drgging 2 f11-f16 3k". People love to help people, > especially when they can kill some low fixated guy.

My easiest kill to date was a purp F6F. Took off from the carrier I was about 20k above and headed off to one or our fields. I dumped alt and came in on his low 6 to about d2 (my convergence) then opened up. Poor guy never had a chance. Never so much as twitched...looked like he was auto angle the whole way reading Playboy or som'n.

Check 6. Check low 6. Check high 6. Check 6:30. Check 5:30. Check 6. Look underneath you. Get good at rolling while you're looking out the back. Check low 6. Check low 6 again. See a pattern developing here?

-puck- landed a B-17 on his first try ever while under fire in the main. Is he a lucky SOB or what? By the way, you CAN barrel roll a B-17...

tigr writes

Regarding having fun in the arena- alt, yes, picking a plane you enjoy yes (I love Spits and fell in love with the XIV (sp?) when I tried to take off and it decided it wanted to scratch its back on the runway first ;) what a beast. Spits hold E like mad and that relates to my furball behavior- I get lots of alt, come in either high or co-alt/low but absurdly fast (I love trying to fake out NME in this way) and then after my pass I swoop up to the stratosphere again, there to set up for another pass. Sometimes I go vertical and roll, to go off in a different direction. It's fun to watch out the side while doing this, helpful for setting steep ascents.

Most importantly, a trick I sometimes use to have fun in the arena is to fly out and hit some base swarming with NME, all by myself. I start out with alt and speed, and simply go with all-out attack. Defense is absurd as we're talking being outnumbered 20 to 1, so it becomes an absolute, nihilistic blast to just writhe all over the sky trying to hit enemy planes before they blow me up, which always happens. It's a useful attitude lesson, because in that situation there is just no way you're going to escape the situation- all you can do is manaically take snapshots at whatever is handy, keep aware of who is around you because there will be whole squadrons on your 6, 8 and any other numbers you might have, and fly totally nuts to prolong the insanity. Sometimes when surrounded by dweebs I've only died when I caught a wingtip against the ground while totally sideways... the point is, not to fixate on fun == winning, but instead to make the fun on your own terms, by making some NMEs' jaws drop, and possibly actually scaring some of them who would never attack 20 planes singlehandedly. Then you get blown up, and sit back and laugh before flying again from some sensibly distant field, perhaps trying a saner mission. Occasional lapses into absurdity can help you from taking yourself too seriously :)

Well, except for guys like Columbo- that kind just kills the 20 planes and RTB for ammo resupply ;) what fun is that? Hee.

Jinx_tigr -SW-

Peril writes:

Think you better learn a few tips from the Aussies ;)

Only take as much fuel as you think you'll need, a lighter load means fast more maneuverable plane ;) I use 20/25% in Combat arena, you don't need any more to kill 3 planes and land.

Both the 190 and Mozzie ARE mack trucks, try the spit 5 when you get the chance, it is better for new pilots to WB. ;)

On H2H closure this works most times. Gain lots of speed, pull full up at D13 and half roll at the top (immelman). The enemy will fly straight through most times, placing you on the enemies tail. Good luck, other than this trick get good at gunnery and fire from D10 till D3 then swerve.

Sorry to chew your but in the Free arena the other day, the RAAF guys have been around awhile hehe. Please look us up some time and welcome to the WarBirds Community!

WC Peril

Tima writes:

Hi,

My advicre is try flying in a spit V to start with. The spit V will allow you to Turn & burn and zoom & boom. The FW are more for Z&B.

Good luck

Tima

DocDoom writes:

I fully understand your angst, being both new to WB *and* having chosen the Butcherbird (Fw190) to learn to survive in. Clearly, some steps are needed poste haste ;]

I am an ex-CFI (AirWarrior, 3 years) and have been involved with training pilots in WB since it first aired back in the beta test 3 years ago. I am not an official WB trainer however.

I came across literally hundreds of players in my travels, who had trouble with the Fw190 even after they had gained some valuable experience in easier planes. I have flown the Fw190 in online sims like AW and WB for a decade at least, and far far more than any other plane, although I can hold my own in any of them. But the Fw190 is my pet "project" ... and it is easily one of the hardest for any new player to come to grips with, since the USS Enterprise can turn faster ;]

And bricks stay airborne longer than many players in Fw190s ;]

If you master the plane though, and this will take a long time, it WILL reward you like no other can. However, I strongly suggest you cut your teeth in the Spitfire V and IX, the P-38J and perhaps even the P-51 Mustang (for BnZ training) for the first 6 months or so.

If you still yearn for butcherbird madness, and I can hardly blame you for that, I was inflicted in this manner from day 1 of my online sim life back in AW, [and I too learned the HARD way ;] then ... after some time getting to be a proficient flyer in easier birds, and learning the valuable techniques we must ALL know, no matter what we fly ... when you are ready for the Fw190 ... drop me a line.

As I said earlier, after a lot of spectacular [well, most of it, some of it was a little less glorious ;] success in this plane, and much work getting to be good in it, and about a million training requests for it ... I wrote a book on using the Fw190 online in WB and AW (mostly WB).

"The Butcherbirds Guide to a Free Lunch" has sold almost 500 copies and is in its second edition. It might be just what you're looking for.

Go to:

http://www.ozemail.com.au/~dooms

and pop into the "Warbirds ACM & Tactics Manuals" link. Also listed is "Air to Air Gunfighter" ... a basic ACM guide to ALL aircraft that is proving more popular than the Butcherbirds Guide, probably because it caters to everyone, the TnB crowd in particular ;]

Good luck and happy howitzer flying ;]

Doc.

Kingar writes:

Oh boy does that bring back memories! When I first started in WB about 10 months ago the enemy didn't even have to shoot me, all they had to do was make me turn the aircraft suddenly and I would go straight into an (for me at that time) unrecoverable spin! Don't know how many manouver kills I gave very surprised pilots! Never happens now except occasionally in Dawn of Aces when I get a little crazy.

You will learn the aircraft and will know when its about to fall off into a stall and you'll ease it back into line. You will resist the temptation to push it beyond its limit in a effort to drag the nose that two degrees further to get the shot before the guy on your six takes off your wing! It takes time but not a real lot, and you will find it actually comes naturally due to just lots of flying and trial and error.

The important thing is to keep replaning and never get discouraged. I have flown with a guy in Dawn of Aces who had not got a kill yet and he had been flying for weeks on line! He was happy that his presence was helping his buddies get kills and stay alive even by just offering a juicy target to the enemy!

So never give up, you sound like you like to learn and are good at taking advice, two things that I have trouble doing 'cos I just want to fly and be successful without any effort! Even so, I have gradually got better and better, I think you will pass me quickly in skill and kills! I will soon have to learn to avoid you or wait till you're chasing someone else!

See you in the skies (flying my colour I hope!)

Kingar

Para writes:

There are a lot of basic skills to learn. Including learning to maneuver your views around.

BTW there are 17 different views. When you set up your controllers, use a lot of buttons for views. ;)

Note that the views are 90 degree field-of-view, and they overlap at 45 deg increments side-to-side and vertically. Notice when you change views to an adjacent one the enemy is in the same place relative to any cockpit structure, etc. in the new view. This is something WB does very well that some game designers don't get the point of ;)

When you press a key/button to command a view, and hold that button down, you know by feel which way you are looking. Realizing this intellectually might be one key to better situational awareness in the game. Or at least help you set up your controllers in an optimal pattern for the keys/switches you assign to views. I personally like using more than one finger and more than one hand for views. For example, I push one of several 4 position switches left and add an "up-ness" (programmed for keypad 5) that I generally use the opposite thumb for in order to get the "left & 45 deg up" view. I also can just push another 4-way left to get this combined view. Hehe, I use about 17 of my controller's 33 switch positions just for various viewing functions. As you can imagine, in the multi-mean-human ;) fights common in WarBirds, learning situation awareness is very important. The "AI" ;) in WB isn't trying to "show you a good time" lilke a boxed game AI, rather it's actively trying to kill you.;)

Another suggestion I would make is concentrate on building up those basic skills rather than starting right with what I would call tactics. That is, dive into fights and die while practicing basic plane handling, gunnery, viewing etc. rather than fly around at altitude waiting for the perfect setup that an ace in a real war would use. The idea here is to make your practice time more efficient early on. You might make 5 times as many attacks in the same time, getting more useful experience faster. Also, until you have good basic skills those attacks you've picked so carefuly will be hard to follow through on ;)

> All the guys

> that killed me flew my pants off. I'd get on their 6 and they'd out turn me! > Didn't matter whether I was in an FW or a "Mosq." I also "lost sight" in every > fight I lost.

> I NEED TO IMPROVE MY PLANE'S PERFORMANCE AND MY TACTICS!

The trainers can give you hints on what basic skills to work on,and also ideas for drills you can do offline, etc. By watching your flight online in realtime, we can tell just by looking sometimes that people are having trouble with trimming, or inducing oscillations, or not using optimum gunnery techniques, etc. We can move you up the learning curve quite a bit...

> I realize that this area is almost bottomless. But you've got to start > somewhere! When flying in the Combat Arena I spent much of my time observing. > Noting the winners and losers. I always climbed for altitude and waited for an > "odds on" opportunity. However when I dove on a target, if I missed him, even > if I power climbed, conserving my energy, I still at times got outclimbed by > opponent pilots!

Middle level stuff I like to work on with people includesenergy fighting concepts like "lag pursuit" tactics where you

turn below your maximum rate at some points in a pursuit, to gain an advantage you can later expend to get a shot. You might be surprised to see how easy it is to get a snap shot in a looping fight just by pulling up above the horizon gently while the other guy is reefing it up hard ahead of you.

> I also would get on a guy's 6 and be ready to fire and he'd > out turn me!

Learning the relative strengths and weaknesses of all the planesis an important basic skill that takes awhile to learn. It will help you decide what to try, and also help in some seemingly unrelated areas like situation awareness. (Because once you get an idea of what a plane _could_ do, you have a much better idea of where to look for him again after losing sight. This of course takes practice, including flying the other plane in actual "combat" conditions for a first hand look at it's strengths and weaknesses. A very useful way of training that few real life WWII pilots had!)

> I tried to follow (with the stall alarm blaring) but on a number > of occasions the FW would go into a spin. When I "boomed and zoomed" the > aircraft seemed to achive such velocity (700 mph) that it was vibrating and > hard to control (the controls didn't respond). I had the similar troubles > controlling the aircraft in defensive manuvers...with a guy on my 6 I'd be > looping and rolling, pushing the plane to it's limits (again with the stall > alarm blaring)

I'd call this the basic skill of "plane handling". How fast to let it get,how to keep the speed down (when I was starting, I had a real problem just remembering to throttle down, hehe. It turns out that this helps a lot! :) Because WB models pilot strength limits, when you get fast you can lose control - there are ways to recover using a planes trim tabs and of course throttling back and pulling G's etc. to control speed that we can show you.

> I obviously need better merge and engage tactics. Such as Immelman Turns, etc. > My techiques in the "head to head" flyby and then "turn and fight" scenario > suck the big wennie! I feel limited by my plane's performece to flat, single > level right and left turns. By the time I pull what feels like a Mac Truck > (pun intended) around in a 180 my opponent is above me and diving and "bye bye." >

One reason a flat turn "seems" to feel like it's working better for you at times atthis stage might be because it helps your SA a bit - it's easier to guess where to look. Unfortunately, when you guess wrong.... ouch ;) One thing I teach newer pilots is to try going up and over as a merge tactic, both to improve basic slow speed plane handling over time, but also because going up makes it harder for a newbie to find them. In other words, doing a move in the vertical plane requires the flat turning opponent to be able to properly use those 45 deg up views (keypad 5 + keypad 6 for example) to find someone out of plane with them. This is something that takes forethought to do. The times you get killed easily without even seeing the enemy that shot you after using a flat turn, he's probably just gone up at the merge, seen you doing a flat turn, looped over you, you lose sight, he finds you easily below him through greater experience then he drops down onto your tail from above and shoots you while you are doing a predictable curve while trying to find him. I do this drill a lot, letting the students be both the flat turner and the looper to see how easy it can be even for another newbie to shoot up someone in a predictable flat turn after a merge.

> I could write another several paragraphs on improving communications > techniques, etc. but this seems to be plenty for now.

This is a favorite of mine also. There are a few basic communicationthings one can do when trying to help out a friendly plane that if not done, degrade any chance of useful coordination between the helper and the helpee - and as WB is a MegaPlayer (TM) ;) game, strangely enough multiplane tactics are very very important!

Sometimes just working with a trainer will get someone starting to work their memory in a fight. (This is something it took starting to train others for me to actually learn.) Until you start to remember what happened, what worked, and what didn't, you will improve much more slowly than once you get into the habit of trying to analyze what is going on.

Welcome to WB!

I wrote a lot here, basically just to encourage folks to try a training session or two. A lot of the trainers have thousands of hours of time in multiplayer flight sims and we enjoy working with enthusiastic students!

- Matt

WB: =para=

WarBirds Training Staff WB Questions, etc: trainers@imagiconline.com

--cas- provides some tips on carrier landings:

Recheck pitch sliders. I am running 55, 70, 86, 91, 95, 100---. Some pilots are 100 across the board. Set what feels good for you. Wb 2.73 did change the stick responsiveness and could cause you to float in the wires. Solution- TRIM NOSE HEAVY.

Time to fly: F6f-5, landing on a dime, 0 wingman, rookie or ace makes no diff. field f5, fuel 20 max.

Fly, "E", "F 12", "S", "Q" ( full flaps).

Take off, climb at 100 kts, 250 ft reduce throttle to 50%, level 300 ft -100 kts, trim nose heavy ( back pressure required to hold a/c level), 30 sec level, left turn :) 28 deg angle of bank, hit "A", 180 deg turn to downwind, roll level and reduce throttle to 45%, level 300 ft -100 kts, You should be just out-board of port destroyer, as Tip of wing hits bow, 30 deg left turn, hit "A", throttle 35%, HOLD 30 deg angle of bank, at the 90 you should be at 200 ft- 95 to 100 kts, center of visible wake in gun sight, carrier will look to close, HOLD 30 deg angle of bank, at the 45 you will be at 150 ft ( if you look) ,adjust turn as required, maintain 95 to 100 kts, roll wings level ( water, water, steel, wood) , 3 sec grove ok ( 2 sec desired) and 1 sec pro, throttle idle, relax stick ( think it and nose will drop), pull stick back and SET HOOK.

Goal: 95 kts max, 11 fps ,2 wire.

Do it again. TRY IT , You might like it.

The A6M-3 is a little smoother ride. ( note altimeter on deck is "0", US and Brit a/c are 80 ft) 95 kt climb, level 200ft--95 kts, downwind turn 28 deg angle of bank, down wind 200 ft level -95 kts and 45% power, the 180 is when leading edge of wing hits bow, 30 deg angle of bank, 25% power, HOLD 30 deg angle of bank till the 45 then adjust. A/C responds well, don't over power in close. The key is don't chicken out of the 30 deg angle of bank and always fly nose heavy to set Hook.

Goal: 85 to 90 kts--9 to 11 fps.

The variant in boarding rate looks like a FPS problem. A G3 / L2 300 should give you 29 to 32 fps and will require a G3 compatible modem.

GOOD LUCK, On your wing --cas-

MG writes on various versions of WB (openbeta and release)

Don't delete your old warbirds, this version, or any other version.

I keep a backup copy of everything. Especially cockpits and sounds.

You should at minimum have 2 warbirds folders: Previous Version and New Version, so only update files will be in that folder from your install. Copy (option-drag) files from the Previous Version folder to the New Version folder, except the Cockpits and Sounds (because they are very large folder sizes,) just transfer those back and forth depending which version you are going to use.

Don't ever throw away an older version till the next 2 versions comes along is my mode operandi. Actually, I back-up to CD all versions. So I have em all.

You'll do this too after you accidentally throw away your cockpits folder. I still hear my echo from my scream when I did that.

Dadman adds:

Gents,

You CAN download the new files into a folder, then pull the old files and replace them with the new ones. This is usually the WarBirds app., the title file, the ikernal file and the mics. file. HOWEVER you must make sure these files are all from the same version and/or the same download. For example, you cannot use an old ikernal file with the new WarBirds app file.

I've also noticed that if you try to download to a folder on the desktop there may be a file created that says "iEN" and your folder and/or download files have disappeared. I got around this by creating a new folder on a Zip Disk and performing the download to the folder on the Zip Disk. After performing the download I note the names of the new files and create a "WarBirds Old Files" folder on the desktop. I then drag the old files that match the new ones into this folder then drag the new files into the WarBirds folder.

I have done this for the last two upgardes without a hitch. If you have a problem with the new app. simple reverse the process. Create another folder on the desktop and drag out the "new" files to this folder, then redrag the "old" files back into the WarBirds folder.

Dadman


18.2 A quick word from your friendly neighborhood Mac programmer...

Date: 15.09.99

From: reply@to.newsgroup (Mr. Brent)

Subject: A quick word from your friendly neighborhood Mac programmer...

Now that I've finally released the closed beta [ver 2.72r2] for the new InputSprocket keystroke sets, I guess I can take some time off to give the introduction for which so many have been asking: The name's Brent. I fly as "ELGATO". I haven't been able to keep up with the more general boards while I've been here but, as I'm sure the beta testers will tell you, I am trying my best to keep in close contact with the Mac WarBirds community. That, in fact, is my number one priority. I'm a GAMER, then a programmer. As this is the case, I want to share all of the joys (and, unfortunately, the sorrows) of the Mac gaming community. I am constantly reading AGW and the newsgroups, so, if you want to get in touch with me, feel free to post on one of these. I promise to read =) First, I think I'll give a little history...

The first game I remember playing is the original arcade "Punch-out" (remember the one with the wireframe body?) When we would go to Mazzio's (a pizza chain in Texas), it was always the highlight of the trip. My Dad would pretty much do everything important and just let me press the "KO" button when it lit up, but I sure enjoyed it! I got a Nintendo for my 8th birthday and soon fell in love with Dragon Warrior (yes, I lived during the pre-Final Fantasy RPG days). I would rent a game practically every weekend, and, when I got in high school, I took some computer science classes and the two just clicked. I wrote my first computer program when I was six. It was on an Apple IIc (in AppleSoft basic, for anyone who cares). It drew a circumflex (^) and looped through a bunch of vertical lines (|). When you watched, though, it looked like a rocket ship blasting off!!! Anyway, I like to think that I'm a bit more of a competent programmer than I was then, but I still haven't lost my childish love and awe of games and computers. My first computer after the Apple IIc was a Mac. When I was forced to use Windoze at school, I just about shoved my head through the thing after the first day. Illegal operation errors, scrolling speeds that only someone a few more steps up the evolutionary chain could possibly process, and a generally god-awful interface just weren't for me. Thus, when I took programming courses, I had to, of course, work on a PC, but I would always go home first thing after school and apply what I had recently learned to the Mac side. iEN was my first major full time company to work for. Before then, I had just worked on a few contract projects and done some coding on my own, for my own benefit. When they flew me up here, I brought some of this stuff with me. I guess they liked what they saw, and the rest is history waiting to be made.

I have been working here for a month now, and, so far, my main focus has been to get rid of these horrible crashes the Mac users are seeing. At first, both TM and non-TM users were crashing. The use of InputSprockets seemed to help, but it certainly didn't fix the problem. I began by fixing a memory leak that was undoubtedly the root of many crashes for all types of users. When I put this in closed beta, the TM users didn't notice any changes, but the crashes seemed to practically stop for the InputSprocket users. 1 down, 1 to go. After playing around with ThrustWare, I discovered that "extended" keys were causing crashes from within the ThrustWare driver. Simple solution, right? Just make everyone use InputSprockets. The TM users, however, weren't too happy with that solution. They wanted their custom ganged and extended keys. Furthermore, the non-TM users wanted these possibilities but couldn't get them. For the past week, I've been working on my solution: Custom keystroke sets for InputSprockets. This would keep the Thrustware driver from crashing Warbirds and would still give all the functionality of customized buttons through a new interface. Now, not only could the Thrustmaster users get all of these special keys, but ANYONE (so long as they were InputSprocket-supported, which doesn't leave out many) could take advantage of these features. I just released the beta yesterday, and I haven't had any compliants. Finally, the 2.73-specific features, such as shaking when hit and the new physics model, have been rolled over into the Mac version.

Other changes I have made have been fixing the engine sounds problems and updating the iKernel (It now features cancellable logins, gives more user feedback, and shows the number of players in each arena). The release version should come soon, and I hope that all of you enjoy what I have done. Now that I have managed to make it through this first month of mayhem, I should definitely become more of a presence on the message boards. Thanks to all of the WarBirds users for sticking with us, and a VERY special thanks to all of the Mac gamers who, even though they have been disregarded in the past, are finally getting what they deserve. I just got through running the newest version of Connectix' Playstation emulator on my brand new G4, and, let me promise you, Apple is doing anything but disregarding its loyal gamers.

Enjoy!

- Brent ("ELGATO")

19.0 I need more information... where do I go?

There are three main way stations for the masses of Warbirds web pages out there:

Krods WarBirds pages contain ALL the links you will need.

Krods pages: http://www.nitro.co.za/warbirds/index.html

WarBirds.org exists to support the community growing around iMagic Online's award winning online flight simulator, WarBirds. WarBirds.org services are provided by WarBird's players to make it easier for players and squadrons to communicate with each other, and to make WarBirds based web-sites easier to reach.

warbirds.org: http://warbirds.org/

The WarBirds Webring.

WarBirds Webring: http://www-mac.kth.se/user/westlund/wb/ring/

Use those three sites to begin your searches.

20.0 I'm sorted on the whole deal... now what?

front wrote:

Go to warbirds.support.mac. on the iEN news server to ask any further questions if you have not found the answers here.

Read some ACM texts from the links above.

Practise offline.

Join a squad and fly with them on squadnights.

If you kill anyone in the arena with CAPITALS in their name (eg DIVINE) give yourself a big pat on the back.

Don't get too mad when you are shot down a lot... get even.

Fly AGAINST the Veterans and Experten as often as you fly WITH them. You need to fight these guys as you'll learn more from fighting them than you would from clubbing seals on the head.

Don't start insulting people on Channel 100. They will laugh at you, you'll only make a fool of yourself, and others will chime in to laugh at you too. It's hard to swear at someone through a text buffer.

END Oct 99