Matrix Games Forums

Is there a new player's guide to be had anywhere?

The manual that comes with the game is aimed at advanced players and covers topics such as advanced engine management and advanced aircraft performance, but strangely doesn't cover the basics at all, apart from an excellent section on taking off.

I'm going through the training scenarios at the moment and it is a frustrating and unrewarding experience since there is no guidance anywhere. For example, I'm unable to do the formation flying exercise at all. I've no idea what I'm meant to do. I end up on a parallel course to the rest of the formation at a different height and a long distance away from them. How you keep to a tight formation is beyond me.

Same goes for the "check the Uday Buoys" mission. I've no idea what I'm meant to be doing for this. My guess is that Uday Buoys are balloons of some sort, but I've never been able to find them.

Then comes the dogfighting missions. I can't hit anything at all. Even on the "turkey shoot" mission I run out of ammo before I destroy the target, even when I conserve ammo by firing in short bursts. There's nothing that explains HOW to dogfight.

It seems that this game is aimed at seasoned A2A sim players, which is an unfortunate marketing decision by the developers. I had high hopes for this game, but the lack of guidance for new players means that I won't ever be buying from this developer again. This is a shame, because it's clear that this is a very good game. It's just not very accessible at all.

Hi rubisco, welcome to BOBII, and sorry for the disappointment and frustration. I have been there myself. I hope you will stick with it as the rewards are significant for History folks interested in WWII, A/C , flying, and BOB. The game simulates each and every day of the BOB in the camapign and you can play on either the RAF or LUF side but you must learn to fly, shoot, and control the game first.

The game has a learning curve for even experienced players (100's of features and options with over 200 key commands) so controlling the game takes some time and effort. The features are explained in the Users Manual for the GUI (Graphic User's Interface), options in appendix A, and Keys in Appendix H.

Take you time as BOBII is more of a hobby (if interested) than a simple game. We think of BOBII as a "BOB Time Machine" where you can get the closes feeling to a real BOB pilot that a simulation can provide.

Yes, a Newbie Guide would be outstanding. This game is being maintanied and update by an all unpaid volunteer group called BDG. We do not have the people to do a another document. It is almost all in the Users Manual but it is not directed at the new player. Actually, Flight Sim are mostly that way.

I will give you a few tips but the best thing is for you to come to the A2A forum and meet the community and ask questions. Our community is a G rated and very mature group of BOBII fans who will gladly help you with your questions.

The A2A general forum is here (I recommend reading all the sticky threads on both the technical forum and the General forum):

http://www.a2asimulations.com/forum/

Now for my Newbie Tips (or BoBII for beginners). This is how I started my grandson out on BOBII.

First, try to set you game up for Novice.

Options->Sim , set flight model = Novice

Second, Go to your BOBII folder (where the game is installed) and find a file called the BDG.txt (Appendix A in the Users Manual). Double click on the Bdg.txt file to open, or open it with NotePad so you can edit it. Find and set the following Bdg.txt parameters:

Novice_AI=ON    #Only valid in Instant Action missions
Novice_Target_Size=ON          #Note: Larger target for easy kills (practice or testing)
Novice_Stronger_Bullets=ON      #NOTE Only the player has the stronger bullets (not the AI)
Novice_Gunnery_Predictor=ON    # NOTE Must padlock target to see predictor, switch to view F8 to practice

The Novice_Gunnery_Predictor will require you to padlock a target (the enter key is a toggle for ON/OFF padlock) but it will help you learn to shoot by showing the "lead" (a big red X to shoot at).

Stick to the Instant action Missions (Turkey Shoot, 1-on-1, and single fighter against single bomber) until you get confortable with flying and shooting.

Then you can slowly back off the Novice setting one at a time.

If you are really not interested or have the time for BOBII just trash all this and look at other games.

Thanks for that!