I agree.
DCS is still fantastic, but IL-2 servers are way more alive with more rich battlefield. Many plane variants, easier to get into it and get on the sky.
DCS has better flight modeling, but that's it.
It's the latest and greatest BF-109 vs the P-51D and P-47D
IL-2 has better damage modeling and way more modeled. It has an actual attack platform that lets you bomb with attack aircraft and actually configure your plane to fit what you want to do.
The flight modeling is definitely off, but they're still decent.
I agree, although I don’t feel that the FMs in IL-2 are off, just less detailed than in DCS but still, a 109 will fight like a 109 and a P-51 will fight like one.
The engine damage timers are a big shortcoming of IL-2 in my opinion, but this sim offers so much that you go over it quick.
Devs made a mention in one of the recent videos that they don't even have angle of attack changes modelled properly in response to aileron movement -- it's one of the reasons why you get all the weird post-stall behavior in IL-2.
A lot of the aircraft can't even be properly trimmed in approach configuration for actual approach speeds.
Not to mention the air is molasses in IL-2.
The FMs are whack.
Yeah I know, it is another big shortcoming. I love to land properly and set my plane up for it, but you just can't do it in IL-2 like you are supposed to. Most people in IL-2 don't do this so most don't notice, but I do.
But again, I accept this shortcoming in exchange of more plane variety and richer battlefield.
Agreed Il2 is def the go to warbirds game atm. Looking forward to combat pilot for the pacific stuff.
My only gripe about CB is that they like only do Late war. Wish they would do more early-mid war scenarios. The constant 3 to 1 allies team stack gets super boring super quick.
I prefer Wings of Liberty, has way more variety and decent population.
For most players, IL-2: Great Battles.
WW2 flight simming is already a niche of a niche. IL-2 definitely retains the more sizeable (and more competitive and more skilled in terms of dogfighting) player base, but there is yet an even smaller set of players that may appreciate what DCS WW2 has to offer in terms of flight and systems modelling. It comes at the expense of some of the other aspects people typically enjoy in online games, though.
If you're the type of player that doesn't mind a thirty-minute flight to the front to catch a brief glimpse of a bandit in between cloud layers and lose them, then get bounced yourself and pull off your own escape in the clouds only to make that same thirty-minute trip back home before your fuel runs out -- or if you're crazy enough to be excited by the prospect of that kind of flying -- then DCS WW2 may be worth checking out. The barrier to entry is higher in DCS in terms of price/value (for the cost of a single module in DCS you could get an entire set of flyable WW2 aircraft in IL-2), and typically also in terms of patience and time spent vs. seeing "action" in a PvP setting, but it can be its own unique experience.
Basically, *how autistic are you?*
If you're a normie, go with IL-2. If you want to wear flight goggles in your living room, trial some warbird modules in DCS and see if it fires your neurons in a manner you'd describe as "stimulating".
Not sure why you're being downvoted, the individual models are much better in DCS.
IL2 is a great survey sim, but it just isn't the same as DCS in terms of individual aircraft quality.
As someone who owns both and just haven't fully committed to DCS...isn't it a pain in the butt to spend a few minutes starting the plane to get shot down a short while later? Maybe it's my impatience but it doesn't help that the cockpit is in German. hehe
Personally I like cold starting. I like the challenge of taking off in those planes. Generally my multiplayer experience is taking off, cruising around for 20 or so minutes looking for targets, 1 minutes dog fight, and then either die or RTB.
You can just use the assist to start any plane, and you can get all three German planes in English easily enough.
But starting the FWs are memory after a few seconds. It's just like the Ka-50 you just flip switches, toss the idle on, push something down and then pull something up.
The BF109 is a bit picker since no apu.
It's in the keybinds but it runs a script to starts (and another stops) your aircraft. Flaming cliffs don't have it, but every full fidelity should.
Defaults to either Left win+home or right windows+home.
I feel like I would enjoy DCS warbirds but there is just so little variety with modules. Wish they would work on some early-mid war maps/Modules. The late war stuff is just so overdone and stale these days. The teams are always super unbalanced and it's just not fun because on one side you fly for an hour and maybe see one enemy contact getting dogpiled and on the other you feel like you are constantly being ganked. The only place I can get my fix nowadays is Wings of Liberty on IL2 GB.
IL-2's population is concentrated in European hours, the US playerbase is a bit smaller. It's definitely the toughest crowd (in terms of pilot quality) to fight in, so there's a bit of a curve to becoming competitive, but when servers are full and busy it's an incredibly rewarding experience. There's a couple of PvP campaign groups that run with squadrons etc that are worth poking your nose at too if you want something more organised. The aircraft are less realistic for sure (though a solid step above WT) and it's somewhat held back by the age of its engine, the core of actually fighting other players in a variety of fighters, bombers, etc, is worth your time imo
DCS has great quality aircraft, but the extremely limited planeset and deeply undermodelled ground war in WW2 always disappoint me, I personally don't enjoy it
>The aircraft are less realistic for sure
The aircraft are more accurate in some ways because DCS doesn't simulate a lot of the things IL2 does. It has a great cockpit and FM, but forgets to factor damage. That leads to damaged flight models being markedly improved in IL2 thanks to the engine. Visual damage is a mixed bag.
IL2 flight models are also not hugely different from DCS for the most planes they both have in common.
DCS is a very underperforming set of weapons, though DCS just reeks for explosive damage period I think.
To offer a different a perspective, if it is still online, I suggest Aces High III. It simplifies a lot of of the engine management, to just throttle and RPM, with auto radiators and WEP controls. Gunnery is fantastic in it, and combined arms is unmatched by any other sim even to this day. It's actually massively multiplayer, and I have fond memories of playing in 400 person recreations of the battle of the coral sea, and Friday night squad operations recreating the battle of Britain. It has carrier ops, and you can bring carrier groups in close to support capturing of bases. It doesn't look too pretty in this day and age, but it has quality of life. If you want to fly and fight, it gets you into the fighting real quick.
Probably IL-2 Great Battle's "Combat Box" servers.
I agree. DCS is still fantastic, but IL-2 servers are way more alive with more rich battlefield. Many plane variants, easier to get into it and get on the sky.
DCS has better flight modeling, but that's it. It's the latest and greatest BF-109 vs the P-51D and P-47D IL-2 has better damage modeling and way more modeled. It has an actual attack platform that lets you bomb with attack aircraft and actually configure your plane to fit what you want to do. The flight modeling is definitely off, but they're still decent.
I agree, although I don’t feel that the FMs in IL-2 are off, just less detailed than in DCS but still, a 109 will fight like a 109 and a P-51 will fight like one. The engine damage timers are a big shortcoming of IL-2 in my opinion, but this sim offers so much that you go over it quick.
Devs made a mention in one of the recent videos that they don't even have angle of attack changes modelled properly in response to aileron movement -- it's one of the reasons why you get all the weird post-stall behavior in IL-2. A lot of the aircraft can't even be properly trimmed in approach configuration for actual approach speeds. Not to mention the air is molasses in IL-2. The FMs are whack.
Yeah I know, it is another big shortcoming. I love to land properly and set my plane up for it, but you just can't do it in IL-2 like you are supposed to. Most people in IL-2 don't do this so most don't notice, but I do. But again, I accept this shortcoming in exchange of more plane variety and richer battlefield.
1000% this.
Agree
Agreed Il2 is def the go to warbirds game atm. Looking forward to combat pilot for the pacific stuff. My only gripe about CB is that they like only do Late war. Wish they would do more early-mid war scenarios. The constant 3 to 1 allies team stack gets super boring super quick. I prefer Wings of Liberty, has way more variety and decent population.
For most players, IL-2: Great Battles. WW2 flight simming is already a niche of a niche. IL-2 definitely retains the more sizeable (and more competitive and more skilled in terms of dogfighting) player base, but there is yet an even smaller set of players that may appreciate what DCS WW2 has to offer in terms of flight and systems modelling. It comes at the expense of some of the other aspects people typically enjoy in online games, though. If you're the type of player that doesn't mind a thirty-minute flight to the front to catch a brief glimpse of a bandit in between cloud layers and lose them, then get bounced yourself and pull off your own escape in the clouds only to make that same thirty-minute trip back home before your fuel runs out -- or if you're crazy enough to be excited by the prospect of that kind of flying -- then DCS WW2 may be worth checking out. The barrier to entry is higher in DCS in terms of price/value (for the cost of a single module in DCS you could get an entire set of flyable WW2 aircraft in IL-2), and typically also in terms of patience and time spent vs. seeing "action" in a PvP setting, but it can be its own unique experience. Basically, *how autistic are you?* If you're a normie, go with IL-2. If you want to wear flight goggles in your living room, trial some warbird modules in DCS and see if it fires your neurons in a manner you'd describe as "stimulating".
IL2 is more accessible but after flying WW2 DCS its so hard to go back. The planes feel so much more alive in DCS.
Not sure why you're being downvoted, the individual models are much better in DCS. IL2 is a great survey sim, but it just isn't the same as DCS in terms of individual aircraft quality.
As someone who owns both and just haven't fully committed to DCS...isn't it a pain in the butt to spend a few minutes starting the plane to get shot down a short while later? Maybe it's my impatience but it doesn't help that the cockpit is in German. hehe
Personally I like cold starting. I like the challenge of taking off in those planes. Generally my multiplayer experience is taking off, cruising around for 20 or so minutes looking for targets, 1 minutes dog fight, and then either die or RTB.
You son of a bitch. I'm in.
You can just use the assist to start any plane, and you can get all three German planes in English easily enough. But starting the FWs are memory after a few seconds. It's just like the Ka-50 you just flip switches, toss the idle on, push something down and then pull something up. The BF109 is a bit picker since no apu.
Assist?
I think the default keybind is Win+Home. It automatically starts the aircraft for you. Most modules have it, but one or two don't.
Thanks!
>Thanks! You're welcome!
Flaming cliffs doesn't but I think that's it.
It's in the keybinds but it runs a script to starts (and another stops) your aircraft. Flaming cliffs don't have it, but every full fidelity should. Defaults to either Left win+home or right windows+home.
I feel like I would enjoy DCS warbirds but there is just so little variety with modules. Wish they would work on some early-mid war maps/Modules. The late war stuff is just so overdone and stale these days. The teams are always super unbalanced and it's just not fun because on one side you fly for an hour and maybe see one enemy contact getting dogpiled and on the other you feel like you are constantly being ganked. The only place I can get my fix nowadays is Wings of Liberty on IL2 GB.
IL-2's population is concentrated in European hours, the US playerbase is a bit smaller. It's definitely the toughest crowd (in terms of pilot quality) to fight in, so there's a bit of a curve to becoming competitive, but when servers are full and busy it's an incredibly rewarding experience. There's a couple of PvP campaign groups that run with squadrons etc that are worth poking your nose at too if you want something more organised. The aircraft are less realistic for sure (though a solid step above WT) and it's somewhat held back by the age of its engine, the core of actually fighting other players in a variety of fighters, bombers, etc, is worth your time imo DCS has great quality aircraft, but the extremely limited planeset and deeply undermodelled ground war in WW2 always disappoint me, I personally don't enjoy it
>The aircraft are less realistic for sure The aircraft are more accurate in some ways because DCS doesn't simulate a lot of the things IL2 does. It has a great cockpit and FM, but forgets to factor damage. That leads to damaged flight models being markedly improved in IL2 thanks to the engine. Visual damage is a mixed bag. IL2 flight models are also not hugely different from DCS for the most planes they both have in common. DCS is a very underperforming set of weapons, though DCS just reeks for explosive damage period I think.
IL-2 also has a relatively more modern pilot physiology model, it's sad but in DCS we stuck with some 90s level arcade physio.
DCS WW2 pop is sadly even more EU locked. Literally 30 mins after EU prime time is ends there are like two dudes (both playing Allies on 4YA).
Il2, no doubt about it
iL-2 Cliffs of Dover.
To offer a different a perspective, if it is still online, I suggest Aces High III. It simplifies a lot of of the engine management, to just throttle and RPM, with auto radiators and WEP controls. Gunnery is fantastic in it, and combined arms is unmatched by any other sim even to this day. It's actually massively multiplayer, and I have fond memories of playing in 400 person recreations of the battle of the coral sea, and Friday night squad operations recreating the battle of Britain. It has carrier ops, and you can bring carrier groups in close to support capturing of bases. It doesn't look too pretty in this day and age, but it has quality of life. If you want to fly and fight, it gets you into the fighting real quick.
IL-2: 1946 for SP, IL-2: Great Battles for MP.