Matt (callsign =para=) started a good thread about the "little known facts" of the simulation. Facts which are not documented or not too obvious and liable to be forgotten. Chip Faulkner mentioned that they should be stored on a WWW page ("These are great, so I hope someone will collect them all and put them somewhere where we can access them. I'd hate to loose all of these off the bottom of the board here.") This is my attempt to catalogue the thread.

Thanks to all those who contributed with their gems and "secrets".

Posted by: =para=

Message: Hehe, I played for well over 1000 hours before someone pointed out that we had 17 views. ;) I hadn't known about the "forward-left-up" type views.....

The 17 cockpit views are: 8 around level, 8 around tilted 45 degrees upwards, and straight up. They are all 90 deg fields of view, and overlap at 45 deg increments

========

You can transmit on another country's color channel, but you can't receive on it.

============

There are a bunch of "briefing rooms" available online for each color. You can .mov b2 to go to briefing room 2 b2 to b7 are available People can all go there to meet. Your channel 100 conversations don't leave the "room" and you can use the .room command to see who's there. (And messages pop up when others enter the room.) These features can make briefing rooms handy for organizing larger groups of pilots... Note that there doesn't seem to be a briefing room 1. (Presumably, only the Generals have the key ;) Finally, the briefing rooms aren't as nice to sit around in since they stopped having roaring fires in the fireplaces ;)

- Matt

WB: =para=

Posted by: Bino (II./JG54)

Message: The "corner-up" views really help in planes like the Hellcat, Corsair, and Jug. These views were not available to me before WB 2.01, as my keyboard could not handle a three-key "chord" (i.e. the left+back+up combination of keypad 4+2+5). When WB 2.01 made it possible to use the single "1" and "3" numeric keypad keys to access those corner views, I found that with the rear corner-up views (keypad 1+5 and 3+5) and a bit of roll, I could peer back over the tail and clear my own six! Eureka!

bino--

Posted by: Dekker *401 Rams*

Message: Hold brakes down on touchdown to stick to runway. (nt)

Dekker

Posted by: ik

Message: norden, u dont have to be flying level, u can be in auto-climb too. (nt)

ik

Posted by: Kyle *Hans-* Wiegers

Message:

1. Frans, my twin brother made this interesting discovery. Norden sight, autopilot set to level flight. When you are just about to drop a bomb chop the throttle to idle. The norden sight pratically stops on a dime and inches forward slowly as the bomber decelerates. Pin point accuracy galore.

You do loose some altitude in the manuever as the autopilot compesates for no thrust while trying to keep the airplane level. However, if you keep the throttle chops short you should be fine. I also recomend extending in autoclimb to return to the altitude you previously had. Should be less than a 1000ft loss.

2. Also, TBFs and Kates have no glass nose to look through. You get the norden crosshairs sight no matter what. Makes lining up on target a pain. You can get around this by hammering a forward or rear view key. The screen flickers for a split second to the direct forward view and returns to the crosshairs. By rapidly hammering the key or hat switch you can cheat to see forward without having to leave the norden sight. That is if you don't have an epeleptic seizeure from looking at a pulsating screen. Oh well.

3. Ju88s have WEP. Very useful to catch up to the formations or to outrun interceptors. They also have dive brakes and the thing can dive straight down from 8k to 3k with no problem in the pure vertical (no throttle). Dive brakes also work great to slow down for a landing.

4. Throttle set to idle slows you down MORE than if you shut off the engine. Warbirds models prop drag. An rotating prop set to idle creates a big, platter airbrake for you. I have seen too many new guys land with their engine off. Engines off feather the prop and create almost no drag. I beleave this is documented in one of those old, crusty README.TXT files.

5. You can turn individual engines on and off by hitting ALT 1, 2, ect. Usefull if one of the bomber's engines gets an oil leak. Shut off that engine by itself and save it in case you need it latter, like when you land. Oil will eventually leak out completely, but it takes time to overheat a cold engine.You have a minute or two after you turn it back on agian to play with the engine before you half to shut her down again to keep it from blowing its top. You also still retain throttle control of all engines still running.

6. You can 'photo recon' a target by overflying the target area with autopilot on and zoom in the Map. Works great to watch the bombs from a level bomber hit the targets. The little black bombs go zooming right through the field of view.

7. Quickly calibrateing your bombsight. This one is long. You can force a norden sight to do a 180 in just ten seconds to preform a second pass quickly or if you totaly pork your first attempt to line up a target. While in the bombadier postion (the norden locks down and will not swing when flying from the pilots seat) you can turn with the autopilot off and the sight will end up hitting the edge of its 'stop' (B-17s & B-25s have a direct forward view by hitting the 5 keypad key to aid you). The thing then starts turning as fast as the plane itself. Just line it up on the target and turn the plane back 45 degrees to center the deviation bar and get the green light.

For example. I take off, climb up to combat alt and head off to the target. I rev up the norden sight enroute by sitting in the bombadier position and the sight eventually centers (you still must do this because up and down altitude deviation is also present, but you can control the left/right deviation this way). I make my first pass over the target. Bombs away. I leave the bombadier postion and go to the map with autopilot still engaged. I zoom it in and see the bombs whiz past the screen and go boom. I keep flying straight and level till the target is nearing the edge of the 'fog'. Back into the bombadier postion and I disengage the autopilot. I manually turn the bomber in a 225 degree turn. The sight should have it's vertical crosshair over the target area. I reverse my turn and fly directly at the target itself, then engage the autopilot. I look down into the sight and viola, a green light. Repeat and Kablooie.

Takes some pratice. I learned offline and often went inverted by acident when I was checking up on the bombsight's progress. I had my head stuck down in the sight. I would look up and out the plexiglass nosecone and the ground was 'above' me.

8. During a field capture you want to land as fast as possible and exit the stopped plane even faster. Do this. On final approach with gear down hold down the brake key (spacebar is default). While still holding the spacebar open up a radio. Let go of the space bar. The brakes magicaly stay on. Enter in the .exit command, but don't hit enter yet. Leave the text buffer open and the command waiting to go. Make your landing. When you come to a stop just hit enter to send off the pre-written exit command.

9. Norden sights can center themselves while you fly from an external view. Just hit eh Y key after you go external. You do lose most of your abitlity to slew your viewpoint around. B17s can only rotate left and down and up. You also have to turn off the norden if you want to switch back into the internal viewpoint.

I usually do this while formation flying. I go external and a little bit up to see over the top of my bomber. I then engage the autopilot and follow my leader to the target. When we get there I KNOW my sight is centered. Has been since nearly the beginning of the mission.

10. You can manually enter in a new frequecy into the radio bar by using the mouse to set the cursor there and deleting the present freq with ye' 'ole backspace key. Type in your new freq you want. Tons faster that typing in that cryptic dot command, .radio 2 XXXXXX and lots easier for new guys to learn.

Hans.

Posted by: Comstr, RAAF

Message: After a lot of exxcelt tips, a silly one.

If you're at the norden, looking down. Youre about to hit the target. But oh no, you just lost a wing!

But wait! The Norden WILL STAY ON TARGET. Sure you might not be going forward any more, but it will stay green and level even as your buff losses 10000 feet twisting as it does so.

Comstr

Posted by: frans-, Red Raiders

Message: : 10. You can manually enter in a new frequecy into the radio bar by using the mouse to set the cursor there and deleting the present freq with ye' 'ole backspace key. Type in your new freq you want. Tons faster that typing in that cryptic dot command, .radio 2 XXXXXX and lots easier for new guys to learn.

: Hans.

Additionally you can switch radios without having to use the "/" "{shift}+/" etc. by using the mouse and clicking on the red light next to each radio. I usually leave the mouse cursor hoviring over the spot where the radio 2 light is, so when i accidenly open radio 1 I can switch to radio 2 with a single button push.

frans-, Red Raiders

Posted by: Slyone (3/JG27)

Message: Found this in a gaming magazine. .smoke 50 adds smoke trails in offline mode (haven't tried it online, I attract enough enemy attention as it is). The number (50 in the above example) is the smoke interval. The interval doesn't seem to affect the smoke in the 3D version, but it makes a big difference in the 2D version (use a smaller number in 2D mode). Smoke does work in the 2D version, but it doesn't look near as nice.

Slyone (3/JG27)

Posted by: Black Shriner (-blk--)

Message: Offline (since it's not enabled online) smoke intervals make a HUGE difference for me. I run out of smoke quickly if I just type .smoke. If I type, say .smoke 400, I get plenty, and it looks the same. Go figure.

-----Black Shriner-----

Posted by: Dekker *401 Rams*

Message: To do smoke in the Practice and Duelign arena, you have to have a key mapped to it in the Warbirds SETUP KEYMAP thingie, and it will work online .smoke does not work. I map the C key myself. By default it is not mapped. (It used to be mapped to the M key).

Now the Mouse controls are Alt-M, (some may not know you can use the mouse for flying and for gunning) and the M key is for manual trim now.

ALso when offline.. type into the radio: .time 1900 or .time 22:00 to fly at night in Warbirds offline.

Dekker

Posted by: Pjmy --No. 401 Squadron RCAF--

Message: Of all the offline aerobatic feats, the toughest to repeat successfully (for me at least) is to fly through the open below-deck hangar bay on the moving carrier.

It's "fairly" easy with a Ki-43, Zero or Spit I, but it becomes progressively more difficult with faster, bigger and less maneuverable planes. Try it witha B25!! (I think I heard that Pyro did it once to impress someone. The cad!) In the end, its an EXCELLENT way to practice pinpoint speed, altitude and rudder control.

Pjmy 401 Squadron RCAF

Posted by: Black Shriner (-blk--)

Message: : Of all the offline aerobatic feats, the toughest to repeat successfully (for me at least) is to fly through the open below-deck hangar bay on the moving carrier.

I like to turn my smoke on, take off, snap inverted right after lifting off. THen fly around inverted through all of the hangars. It's REALLY hard, because sometimes you miss a hangar, then it "doesn't count". Also, you have to stay real low (less than 20 feet), or else you'll do something stupid if you climb and pull negative Gs to pull up.

: It's "fairly" easy with a Ki-43, Zero or Spit I, but it becomes progressively more difficult with faster, bigger and less maneuverable planes. Try it with a B25!! (I think I heard that Pyro did it once to impress someone. The cad!)

I once saw a pic of someone doing it in a 17.

Online though, the coolest feat such as that was the night raid SL on Paris (read: Berlin). Just to show our supremacy over the LW, we flew a bunch of B-25's under the eiffel a few times before we bombed it and took pics. I wonder what happened to those... It was a good idea, and a bunch of planes did it, though many of us ended up having to forgo such a stunt because we were smoking/pursued or both.

-----Black Shriner-----

Posted by: Walt (lt-buhd-lite) Barrow

Message: This one I found out by accident one day:

Go online. Select an arena. Quit. Go Offline.

You should have the online arena settings in the offline mode. This worked for me back in 1.11 when I would go into the Solomon arena so I could get wind settings for me to practice with. Haven't tried it yet for 2.01, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Have fun!

ltlite, out

Posted by: grgyle

Message: i was able to ditch a P38 on a carrier once. i was heavily shot up with no engines and thought 'what the hell, at least i'll make a cool crash landing on the deck'. i had botched my approach and hit water just behind the carrier. my plane skidded on the water a short way, spun, then 'blinked' uponto the carrier deck as i skidded into the back of the carrier. i was flaming, wrecked, but very much alive on deck. now that ditching is easier, this may not be terribly useful, but could be quite amusing to others in the air (i called out for someone to get me a screenshot but no others were around)

grgyle