DOGS OF WAR - Server thread

I flew on the ACG WWII server today, primarily to check out their LoD mod. The mod itself is pretty simple, in that they use two of the generic LoD models out to a much greater distance for all the warbirds.

I thought it was a very positive change. I didn't have to be zooming in and out anywhere near as much. Is it something that could be evaluated for the DoW servers?

Quick NOTE to DoW Server Operators & Mission Editors

Although I sent it today, I meant for my Donation to go towards February's Bombs for Bonds IF that is still ongoing ?

Either way, I will continue to support the cause.

Snow, no problem at all and of course we can count it for Feb. Your contributions have gone above and beyond & appreciated by all. How's your MP situation? Any progress? Anything we can help with?

I flew on the ACG WWII server today, primarily to check out their LoD mod. The mod itself is pretty simple, in that they use two of the generic LoD models out to a much greater distance for all the warbirds.

 

I thought it was a very positive change. I didn't have to be zooming in and out anywhere near as much. Is it something that could be evaluated for the DoW servers?

HG,

As a squad, DoW does recognize that aircraft visibility within DCS is not yet what most would call "ideal" and many many discussions have taken place in regards to this followed by possible ways to treat the situation on the DoW WWII combat servers.

After many iterations of our efforts to find a suitably agreeable environment for most guests, we ultimately settled on the more challenging or hands-off approach to this. As you will see, within many threads it is not always the popular view but it is in fact one that has been heavily evaluated. Many things have been factored into this decision including the following:

- Minimal work or modding by clients to ensure they can join the server.

- A level playing field for every client.

- As close to an identical environment for every participant as possible.

- Stability concerns.

- Exploitation concerns.

- The plain fact that easier isn't always better.

- Expectations that 2.0 will portray a more accurate spotting experience.

- Inherent complications when updating or creating new missions.

- The pursuit of a realistic environment not entirely focused on 1v1 dueling.

- Daily experience derived by DoW members who fly on the server and do not feel the absolute need for major visibility mods.

These items, along with others, brought us to our current setup. It is, as are most things in DCS, subject to change but at this current point in time it seems to work for those who call it home.

We welcome everyone to fly on the DoW servers and we hope that in the long run, you take two things away from sessions there...

Experience and knowledge that will help you in future flights

&

Highly enjoyable sorties with friends, new and old, that will burn strong in your memory for a long time to come.

:beer:

- [DoW] Chief

Owner/Operator of [Dogs of War] WWII Combat Servers #1 & #2

EDIT: I forgot to post a disclaimer which would read... These are the views and approach currently adopted by DoW. This was not to pass judgements on any methods taken by other individuals, squads or servers. It is nearly impossible to cater to all tastes and preferences so we are fortunate to have choices within the growing DCS:WWII community.

Will we be seeing any Campaign style missions daily? I can remember there was one where we as REDFOR were defending a base at the tallest mountain in the current caucases map. I understand most people want to get on and fight but wouldn't a widely spaced combat zone be a good option as well? Place the airfields out farther and let the fighters have a chance to climb to altitude. I'm just putting my two sense in about it because i think it would give pilots more to think if they'd want to fly all the way to an opponents airbase and have to fly back possibly damaged?

Which also brings up another concern is the "carelessness" so to say of most simmers where if their plane is damaged then they're not as worried about making it back to base. What if a system was in place that would kick you for say 15 minutes after you were killed by yourself or crashed. I think that would change the tactics back to a more realistic type scenario where you'd be more inclined to RTB than follow an opponent towards their own airfield and possibly get shot down or continue fighting if you're running low on fuel or are damaged. Who else is in on something like this?

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Who else is in on something like this?

+1 for me

personally prefer "task" maps instead of fast dogfights...

and one question, is there any news about planned online campaign on DoW, mentioned before, somewhere?

+1 for me

personally prefer "task" maps instead of fast dogfights...

 

and one question, is there any news about planned online campaign on DoW, mentioned before, somewhere?

There's some simple stuff in the servers already but nothing that's more than a 5 minute flight to the bullseye which makes me sad face.:(

Which also brings up another concern is the "carelessness" so to say of most simmers where if their plane is damaged then they're not as worried about making it back to base. What if a system was in place that would kick you for say 15 minutes after you were killed by yourself or crashed. I think that would change the tactics back to a more realistic type scenario where you'd be more inclined to RTB than follow an opponent towards their own airfield and possibly get shot down or continue fighting if you're running low on fuel or are damaged. Who else is in on something like this?

It also bugs me when people don't try to preserve their aircraft and pilot. The last time I saw it tried out there was a 1 minute cool-off period if a pilot died (different game/sim). A server that normally had 20-30 pilots went to zero in a couple days.

Also, think of the difficulty of DCS and how this would play out. I've mucked up more than one landing because of wife ack. "...and remember to replace that lightbulb. Did you die?":doh:

It also bugs me when people don't try to preserve their aircraft and pilot. The last time I saw it tried out there was a 1 minute cool-off period if a pilot died (different game/sim). A server that normally had 20-30 pilots went to zero in a couple days.

 

Also, think of the difficulty of DCS and how this would play out. I've mucked up more than one landing because of wife ack. "...and remember to replace that lightbulb. Did you die?":doh:

LOL i understand the wife part. I just don't want to see DCS turn into another one of those arcady type shoot em ups, there's gotta be something difficult out there that challenges an individual out there. You aren't going to just hop into a plane and begin knocking them out of the sky, you have to know how the airplane works, then learn to fly it properly, then learn how to fly it in combat, then learn how to engage targets. I'm just speaking in my experience cause I'm just one of those hardcore elitists that wants a sim not another arcadic ww2 deathmatch.

Or at least set it so if you kill yourself then theres a mandatory cool down but if you've been shot down then there isnt. Like a delay say mustang shoots dora, dora doesn't immediately die but follows mustang who is out of ammo back to his base, dora kills mustang but crashes due to the fact his engine was dead and he didnt head straight home and instead went tunnel vision not caring that he was going to waste team points and was focused on the kill. This is the one issue that exists for us WW2 guys, if there was something in place in agreement with all WW2 servers where pilots HAD to worry, youd see alot of tactics and decisions change drastically et voila realism.

I agree with you @Oberfeldwebel Elmo about longer, higher altitude missions. Much more realistic AND gives P-51 more of opportunity to work in "it's" environment. It requires more skill on everyone's part.

And especially for those Bombing-Objective-Based missions, if there isn't a cool-down period for bailing or crashing intentionally, a Point-Deficit system might work. That is, for those that go up only to get behind and kill people who are focusing on a Bombing Mission (which requires ZERO SKILL !!) and then crash to get a new plane, make it so they end up with far fewer points than what they otherwise obtain from shooting down the enemy. Sooner or later they'll recognize that it pays to stay in your plane and try to make it home AND maybe they'd also focus on Their Objectives which is more often Bombing/Attacking than it is Air-to-Air combat-related missions. Furthermore, the Dogfights would be on more equal terms where there is time to get the P-51 to altitude unlike the current scenario where the Mustang seems to be (IMO) always "sucking the hind one" when it compared to the performance of both the FW 190 or BF 109.

I like the buzz about some additional in-depth missions & campaigns! I don't think you guys are alone and it does work into our plan for the DoW servers. When I built the second server my intention was to eventually have one of each flavor (A quick action type and a campaign style experience) so we could take advantage of both. The 2nd DoW combat server has been running River Raiders and Battle in the Bay almost non-stop for a while and seems to be pretty solid so we can begin to adapt to this format.

This is where YOU come in! Yes, you. I posted THIS not long ago and I am still waiting to see some of these many ideas I receive daily, come to life. Those mission you participate in don't make themselves :) Our resident mission-maker, d0o0m, toils for days, weeks even months over some of them and has produced an incredible list thus far. I implore you to help us realize these ideas you have and help build on the experience. We ALL love to fly, that's why we are here, but it has taken blood sweat & tears (Don't deny it, we have all cried at some point using the ME) to help transition ourselves to the WWII time frame within the existing DCS World.

So...

Mission Monday! Show us your skills.

I like the buzz about some additional in-depth missions & campaigns! I don't think you guys are alone and it does work into our plan for the DoW servers. When I built the second server my intention was to eventually have one of each flavor (A quick action type and a campaign style experience) so we could take advantage of both. The 2nd DoW combat server has been running River Raiders and Battle in the Bay almost non-stop for a while and seems to be pretty solid so we can begin to adapt to this format.

 

This is where YOU come in! Yes, you. I posted THIS not long ago and I am still waiting to see some of these many ideas I receive daily, come to life. Those mission you participate in don't make themselves :) Our resident mission-maker, d0o0m, toils for days, weeks even months over some of them and has produced an incredible list thus far. I implore you to help us realize these ideas you have and help build on the experience. We ALL love to fly, that's why we are here, but it has taken blood sweat & tears (Don't deny it, we have all cried at some point using the ME) to help transition ourselves to the WWII time frame within the existing DCS World.

 

So...

 

Mission Monday! Show us your skills.

Yeah for us that play in their spare time in between work, i dont have the time on usual player hours, thats why i was hoping more of the missions would be regularly running on a schedule.

I agree with you @Oberfeldwebel Elmo about longer, higher altitude missions. Much more realistic AND gives P-51 more of opportunity to work in "it's" environment. It requires more skill on everyone's part.

 

And especially for those Bombing-Objective-Based missions, if there isn't a cool-down period for bailing or crashing intentionally, a Point-Deficit system might work. That is, for those that go up only to get behind and kill people who are focusing on a Bombing Mission (which requires ZERO SKILL !!) and then crash to get a new plane, make it so they end up with far fewer points than what they otherwise obtain from shooting down the enemy. Sooner or later they'll recognize that it pays to stay in your plane and try to make it home AND maybe they'd also focus on Their Objectives which is more often Bombing/Attacking than it is Air-to-Air combat-related missions. Furthermore, the Dogfights would be on more equal terms where there is time to get the P-51 to altitude unlike the current scenario where the Mustang seems to be (IMO) always "sucking the hind one" when it compared to the performance of both the FW 190 or BF 109.

Well bombing does take a certain level of skill its not just ZERO SKILL and to climb with a bomb load, locate the targets and then egress without being spotted is a hell of a lot harder than you make it seem.

+1 for me

personally prefer "task" maps instead of fast dogfights...

 

and one question, is there any news about planned online campaign on DoW, mentioned before, somewhere?

Operation POWDERKEG is almost ready. It has some pretty long flight times + AI + GCI + CAP + simulated "radar"

Operation POWDERKEG is almost ready. It has some pretty long flight times + AI + GCI + CAP + simulated "radar"

So bomber intercept/ escort missions? Ground attack straffing and CAS? If so it should be a more regularly scheduled mission.

+1 for me

personally prefer "task" maps instead of fast dogfights...

 

and one question, is there any news about planned online campaign on DoW, mentioned before, somewhere?

I agree Saburo ... the fast dogfights is ok every now and then but I preferred hunting for targets. My favorite mission on the DoW server was the winter map but I liked the Three Lakes and capture the airfield mission also. I've kinda burned out on DCS after some of the "air quake" maps and have only flown maybe a half dozen times this year. I'm going to try to get back into a groove again with the Dora because if you got any altitude advantage with the beta 109 it was a slaughter fest in the fast dogfight missions. Hopefully with some new maps and Edge we'll get some great missions going. I've already got one planned for Kasserine Pass when ever the Nevada maps hits and we get some WWII units.

So bomber intercept/ escort missions? Ground attack straffing and CAS? If so it should be a more regularly scheduled mission.

Yes to all... iF it works...:D

Operation POWDERKEG is almost ready. It has some pretty long flight times + AI + GCI + CAP + simulated "radar"

great news, i am looking forward to it

Yeah for us that play in their spare time in between work, i dont have the time on usual player hours, thats why i was hoping more of the missions would be regularly running on a schedule.

I hear ya, the people running this operation all work full-time as well...thus the request for some collaboration.

If we receive some quality missions, we will host them. There is a rotation regularly running on server #1 of great missions with a tremendous amount of work put into content, briefings and gameplay. Due to the occasional DCS crash, the timing of each mission throughout the day is a bit tough to predict.

As of 12:00 UTC 2-12-15:

ISP Local Outage

Estimated time of resolution ~3 hours.

DOGS OF WAR - Server thread

Update: Service Restored

New address for teamspeak:

IP: 96.242.30.236

Password: DoW

Keep this in mind on Friday. Change log for 1.2.15 states...

* The net protocol was changed and becomes not compatible with older versions. The 1.2.14 servers will not visible in the 1.2.15.

We will attempt to get things on the DoW servers updated promptly.

Thanks, Merlin

Servers updated to 1.2.15. Let us know if you see any problems associated with the revision.

Have you guys been hosting any special events lately?

If so, when is the next one! :joystick:

I'm not aware of any "special events" or out of the ordinary (Note > I am NOT a spokes person for Dow so I don't know Anything !!). However, it's fair to say that there are special events 7 days per week on each of DoW's 2 Dedicated Servers that run their well-made Custom Missions.

The price is right ... ie FREE and the service is good (they keep their servers well maintained and running with very few and usually short delays or issues).

PS> Again, I'm only guessing ... but it is possible that DoW might consider Special Events providing more people would consider Donating towards their cause, enabling them to create, set up and run events. Currently it's all volunteer and most of the Admins work for a living at their respective places of employment.

So I encourage all those that enjoy frequenting DoW's servers to consider a donations as often as possible. In fact, I encourage ppl to donate to any servers/server admins they participate on.

Of course, all of the above is purely My Opinions ONLY.