Servers for new players?

[rolypoly]

Are there any populated servers where new players can play? I tried last night and found a server with like 50 people, but I couldn't select any planes except the HE 111 because they were all locked and someone in chat said that you need to buy the DLC planes because this is "late" server (don't know what that means).

I paid something like $70 bucks when this game first came out? (I couldn't play much due to controller issues) and now I need to pay even more to be able to even play?

[unknown]

So unfortunately the answer to that is not really. The group of people who play online tend to be the more hardcore flight sim gamers among you. They also switch the battle era in regular intervals so if you come back a different day they may be playing the content you own.

The way Il2 works is that there are different eras that you can buy into. Battle of Stalingrad is the Stalingrad era. And that includes the plane set from 1942. Do note that this game is a module based system. So battle of stalingrad is 1 modules. Each module comes with 8 planes (10 for delux), a career mode, and the map. Some also include scripted campaigns. So for you to fly on a multiplayer server you must run the plances that server owner has elected to run. For example if battle of moscow is running, you are limited to the planes from 1941. If you are running battle of bodenplatte, you are running 1944 and 1945 aircraft. Of course there is also WWI as well.

You really are not forced to buy content. The content should reflect the era you are interested in. Multiplayer servers are run by private individuals. You could run a server of your own on either a server on your network or via a paid one. But of course the maps and planes being run are dictated by the community that is flying regularly. The good news is they are decently friendly people. You could simply ask in their discord server if anyone is interested in going back to the era you own and likely it will get put in the que at some point. Usually they try to keep 1 battle of Stalingrad plane that makes sense so that you can still play being the HE-111, but obviously if you are flying in the late war, it would not work out well for you to be flying a bf-109 f4 as they will fly circles around you and shoot you down without you having any ability to defend yourself because you are flying a plane that is 3 years older than what is being flown in the mission. Do also note you can always play as a gunner for any plane in the game with a gunnery position regardless of if you have the DLC or not. So that is also a way you can play. This is especially true for those running tanks.

Most players who play this game run exclusively single-player. The statistics from a survey of the players from a while back showed that 95% of the people who own this game only play single player. I am one of those and I dabble in online from time to time. For multiplayer, usually the newest content is what is being flown as its the content people want to fly. But there is usually a rotation back to popular eras.

[rolypoly]

Thanks, that explains it very well.
What do you do in single player? Is the career mode good? (I don't think they had that when the game first came out?)

[peterk]

Try Wings Of Liberty in the Dogfight section.
I was told it was a good server for newer players to practice on before graduating to the more serious ones.

[Shawn]

Yes!! There are absolutely servers for new players!

Look here:

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/84655-community-servers-list/

Conveniently named; beginners server!
I spent a lot of time there doing touch and goes and flying through rings to learn how to handle aircraft

Here is the forum that lists mp servers:
https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/forum/83-multiplayer-servers-and-hosting/

[unknown]

Originally posted by rolypoly:

Thanks, that explains it very well.
What do you do in single player? Is the career mode good? (I don't think they had that when the game first came out?)

career mode is decent. There are other 3rd party career modes for the game such as PWCG which can be used to generate coop missions as well to fly with friends. And I personally am a big fan of the scripted campaigns (which are paid for the stalingrad ones) but you also can just ask if anyone is up for a battle in one of the more beginner friendly servers if no one is on. there are multiple communities out there. But I have found it sometimes difficult to get into the multiplayer due to the fact that the servers with people tend to be the full realism ones while the more casual ones tend to have less people.

I used to play on a server ran by coconut, but he shut it down. I very much enjoyed the PVE elements of it and it was fantastic as a beginner server. Not sure what is currently popular right now other than combat box and finish virtual war. I would suggest referring to shawn's post.

Also don't forget that there are many communities out there around this game that do more private events but are usually welcoming to people looking to fly. It just prevents the issues associated with the general public. If you have been in gaming for any length of time then you know what I mean.

[rolypoly]

I tried playing career the other night. Did three flights of escort ground attack craft, and there weren't even any enemy planes.

[peterk]

Bomber escort and Attacker escort often don't have any enemies show up.
Depends on how big your group is and the state/date of the war.
You never know in advance if you'll get bounced or not.
A good career will have 70++ missions and you may grow to appreciate those quiet ones where all you have to do is fly around a little.

[rolypoly]

I like the flying it's just the AI is pretty bad lol. I wouldn't mind if it was a quiet escort mission with other players...

[peterk]

What's the AI doing badly on a quiet bombing/escort mission that's bugging you?
You don't even have to interact with them very much on an escort because you're in a loose formation.