Beginner questions

[Jumoschwanz]

IL2 is at it's best when flown as a flight-sim using the hardest most realistic settings it is capable of and using no "mods".

Those who fly it on easy settings tend to be either just "gamers" who are not interested in the history of WWII or aviation IL2 can offer, or they fall into a rut and never advance to flying realistic settings and get bored with it because on those settings it is basically just another crappy video-game.

It becomes art though when you learn to fly it on realistic settings on a good online server.

You will love your aircraft and that you are experiencing at least a slight glimpse into what a WWII pilot may have experienced. You will fly an hour-long mission for just a chance at taking one shot at an enemy aircraft or dropping one bomb onto a target and then making it back to land, and that will make it a success for you.

You will sit up high in the sky on a flight-plan you thought of after looking at the map you will be flying over, the location of enemy air-bases and ground targets. On the realistic settings you will have to keep looking all around for enemy aircraft that might be up in the sun or sneaking up on your low-six, the same things a real pilot in WWII had to do and worry about. If you are lucky you will spot an enemy fighter before or at the same time they see you, or maybe you will see an enemy bomber on it's way to a target. You will get nervous, your heart will pound but hopefully you will keep your head and remember what you practiced and tactics that will work. If you score hits on an enemy aircraft you will watch it trail smoke as it either crashes to earth or runs home crippled. You will be lucky because you were not bounced or shot down, but you can also feel good because being able to fly IL2 on hard settings well is something that not much of the population is capable of. It takes a rare combination of skills and talent that not many have.

If you are going to go for it then the first thing you have to do is realize that getting shot down over and over again is nothing to feel bad about. It is a good thing because it is a great teacher. Save tracks of your flights online to watch why you got shot down and also to watch what the aces do, you can follow their flights from the outside as well.