CoD will be "only" a FS or something more?

[palvas]

S! All,this is my first topic and i'm italian,so i hope my english will be satisfactory enough ;)

One of the things i've always foun "weak" in il-2 was not the "flying" part,but the rest of the content: one of the things i love about aviation and aviation movies are the stories of the pilots,their friends,their love, their brave,what they were fighting for ecc.To be more specific,i'd love a simulator with a storyline,like a "battle of britain" (1969 movie) or "Dark Blue World" (Ok,maybe not so much lovestory) videogame. I think that few cutscenes would be a good and not too expensive way to reach this level,and maybe a less "static" radio comm like "This is three (drinks a cup of tea) ... HELP I'M BURNING AAAAARGHHHHH".
What is your opinion ? :) Do you think oleg will do something about ?

[TeeJay82]

Hmm a static prescripted campaign or a dynamic without?

ill take dynamic anytime

[palvas]

Hmm a static prescripted campaign or a dynamic without?

ill take dynamic anytime

Not just talking about prescripted or dynamic: i'm talking about a story,like in an FPS or an Adventure where you are a pilot with maybe a good friend in your squadron that you want to defend at all cost (or maybe a younger brother lol),or a young girlfriend/wife waiting for you at home.

[Doogerie]

hmm i do't like that idear but maby a cut scean of pilots running to there aircraft in first peron would be cool

[Bastor1981]

I don't think Il-2 is the right game for this kind of stuff. Cutscenes describing links between charakters, lovestories etc. actually remind me of Blazing Angels 2 and the likes and are, imho, quite typical of novels, movies, comics etc. rather than a realistic aerial combat sim. I think what the people who are waiting for Il-2 want is, in fact, a FS, and nothing more.

PS: But let's wait and see what immersion options the new FMB will offer - maybe it will be possible to create such campaigns (to some extent, at least)

[Royraiden]

Ilya has said countless time that there is a new angle to the game and I still cant understand something about the girl he is been mentioning.He also said something along the lines of the BoB movie in terms of the story if Im not mistaken.So given that Im not misinterpreting him, there's gonna be a female character in the game.

[brando]

Women played a large part in the RAF, as ferry pilots, plotters, radar operators and so on. Whether their voices were ever heard over the pilots' R/T is doubtful as the ground controllers were all men. Maybe she's going to be the barmaid in one of the pubs that the pilots frequented when the day's action was over? Or perhaps a nurse in Sir Archibald McIndoe's burns clinic? Or just the tea-lady in the canteen?
As far as ongoing romances are concerned, one thing is certain - she'd better be good at shedding virtual tears. ;)

[BigPickle]

I definately like the dynamic campaigns but yeah cutscenes would be great, like when you pass your training you see your pilot walk out from the mess to see HIS spit or Hurri waiting for him in the early morning sun rise, i think thats sort of short cut scene stuff would be awesome.

But an absolute must is changing the dialog acting, I totally know what you mean by "This is three (drinks a cup of tea) ... HELP I'M BURNING AAAAARGHHHHH", like an emergency message with the same calm call sign given, its just not clever when you have bad cut and paste voice acting

[The Kraken]

S! All,this is my first topic and i'm italian,so i hope my english will be satisfactory enough ;)

One of the things i've always foun "weak" in il-2 was not the "flying" part,but the rest of the content: one of the things i love about aviation and aviation movies are the stories of the pilots,their friends,their love, their brave,what they were fighting for ecc.To be more specific,i'd love a simulator with a storyline,like a "battle of britain" (1969 movie) or "Dark Blue World" (Ok,maybe not so much lovestory) videogame. I think that few cutscenes would be a good and not too expensive way to reach this level,and maybe a less "static" radio comm like "This is three (drinks a cup of tea) ... HELP I'M BURNING AAAAARGHHHHH".
What is your opinion ? :) Do you think oleg will do something about ?

I guess your opinion will not be too popular around here ;) Now personally I can also do without the "love story" / "buddy gets shot down behind enemy lines" / "super-arrogant squad member turns traitor, steals the new Spitfire prototype and has to be stopped" stuff. Then again I've had lots of fun in the old days with sims that had some kind of storyline (Strike Commander, US Navy Fighters). Maybe it's difficult to merge this with a realistic sim, but it's not impossible.

Anyway, none here really knows how the campaign will turn out. There are some indications that it will in fact feature some story, but we'll have to see to what extent and how the whole presentation level (voiceovers, cutscenes) would work out. Beyond that there should be many 3rd party campaigns eventually, with various levels of historical accuracy or cheesiness ;)

[palvas]

Well,i didn't say i want an incredible hollywood story such "squad leader that steals the new spitfire and conquer the world". That would be too much and i agree it would be a negative feature for realism :)
As someone else said,some cutscenes of you running at your plane while Luftwaffe is bombing the airfield,watching your best "virtual" friend hit by a bomb (and not just "Number three (cup of tea )" ) or by a 109 while landing , would be a very interesting feature without touching the simulation level of the sim.Or having an arrogant squad leader that mission after mission becomes like a second father for you and got killed during his last mission with a terrible hit over the spirit of your squad.

Not talking about incredible dramas ace combat style,just talking about true and possible backgrounds of your pilot during the BoB :)

[mazex]

Well,i didn't say i want an incredible hollywood story such "squad leader that steals the new spitfire and conquer the world". That would be too much and i agree it would be a negative feature for realism :)
As someone else said,some cutscenes of you running at your plane while Luftwaffe is bombing the airfield,watching your best "virtual" friend hit by a bomb (and not just "Number three (cup of tea )" ) or by a 109 while landing , would be a very interesting feature without touching the simulation level of the sim.Or having an arrogant squad leader that mission after mission becomes like a second father for you and got killed during his last mission with a terrible hit over the spirit of your squad.

Not talking about incredible dramas ace combat style,just talking about true and possible backgrounds of your pilot during the BoB :)

+1 for that, as flying the same IL2 style "fly a fighter sweep to waypint x,y,z" gets a bit boring even though it's probably close to reality... If it gets too cheesy though I'm afraid there will be too much whining here. Something fun would be "Read Robert Wellums book included in the collectors edition or pdf in the normal edition and stop at page 21. Thats where the campaign start when you stand in the Hangar talking to Peter Sears and instructor Hayne comes up to you with the briefing for the first ride in a Tiger Moth"... :) They would need the Harvard too for that story though...

And Kraken, I also enjoyed the "cheesy" bond-style story of Strike Commander to have a break from my Falcon 3 campaigns and Aces over Europe "fly to x and back missions" in the early 90:ies ;)

EDIT: having the Harvard to match the 108 is not a bad thought anyway - and can be used for further expansions too as it was used in almost every airforce in the "non axis" world at some point - and in Korea for active combat recon duty ;) Imagine sitting in a T-6 when a Mig comes BnZ:ing :)

[JVM]

The Harvard is absolutely not the 108 counterpart: the Harvard is an primarily advanced 2-seater trainer, whereas the 108 was a 4-seater liaison/courier aircraft, far too delicate to be used for training purposes.
I do not believe there are allied A/C which could be considered as the 108 counterpart, the role of the 108 was filled with a variety of A/C, single and multi-engine, drafted from the civilian fleet (like the Percival Proctor, or the DH-89)...
We "miss" AFAIK BoB time advanced trainers both sides: Miles Master (probably more widespread in RAF than Harvard I) and Arado 96.
The counterpart of the present RAF Tiger Moth would be the Fw 44, the He 72 or the Kl 35 (the latter often used as JG hack during BoB), possibly the Bü 133...

JV

[mazex]

The Harvard is absolutely not the 108 counterpart: the Harvard is an primarily advanced 2-seater trainer, whereas the 108 was a 4-seater liaison/courier aircraft, far too delicate to be used for training purposes.
I do not believe there are allied A/C which could be considered as the 108 counterpart, the role of the 108 was filled with a variety of A/C, single and multi-engine, drafted from the civilian fleet (like the Percival Proctor, or the DH-89)...
We "miss" AFAIK BoB time advanced trainers both sides: Miles Master (probably more widespread in RAF than Harvard I) and Arado 96.
The counterpart of the present RAF Tiger Moth would be the Fw 44, the He 72 or the Kl 35 (the latter often used as JG hack during BoB), possibly the Bü 133...

JV

Yep, you are correct - thought it was used for training but nope...

Anyway the Harvard would be good as it can be used as a trainer both for the RAF and the US air force (if they ever get in after the affair that can not be named ;))

Well, the days of getting non-critical planes for free are probably over so I'd better roll up my sleeves and do a Harvard myself when the game is released as modding will be allowed, and then do a "First Light" campaign myself...

[JVM]

I agree with you...I am also considering the idea for my pet aircraft...but it would mean a lot of learning, and I need time for that! we shall see...

[Krt_Bong]

Having some cut scenes of pilots running to the planes after getting the call to scramble would be great but the animation of these is sometimes of lower quality in a game that has high detail of machines and no FPS elements, realistic people are much harder than realistic tanks and planes IMO. Mission Briefs and Debriefs can be used for this and maybe the possibility to include still photos could be used for this as a splash screen while the mission loads.
Ex. Campaign start -splash screen shows pilots relaxing in lawn chairs with squadron puppy etc..15 second track of hundreds of bombers
Briefing; ..Scramble Chain Home reports Heinkels 100 plus..
Mission start splash shows a shot of pilots running to their planes.
After mission, debrief and map showing flight path, description of pilot accomplishments, commendations etc... Possibly inclusion of a 15 second track of the action from Gods Eye view of the battle.

I think that would be a more realistic expectation of the game engine not requiring making 3D people and a lot of animation.

[mazex]

Having some cut scenes of pilots running to the planes after getting the call to scramble would be great but the animation of these is sometimes of lower quality in a game that has high detail of machines and no FPS elements, realistic people are much harder than realistic tanks and planes IMO. Mission Briefs and Debriefs can be used for this and maybe the possibility to include still photos could be used for this as a splash screen while the mission loads.
Ex. Campaign start -splash screen shows pilots relaxing in lawn chairs with squadron puppy etc..15 second track of hundreds of bombers
Briefing; ..Scramble Chain Home reports Heinkels 100 plus..
Mission start splash shows a shot of pilots running to their planes.
After mission, debrief and map showing flight path, description of pilot accomplishments, commendations etc... Possibly inclusion of a 15 second track of the action from Gods Eye view of the battle.

I think that would be a more realistic expectation of the game engine not requiring making 3D people and a lot of animation.

I'm pretty sure that is what they have been cooking ;) One thing I hope for is a campaign builder that allows users to create something like this themselves. Lets say you can add a chain of images with texts and maybe your own movies for the briefings that gets displayed in sequence with a simple "next" button? This way we could write a simple manuscript of the "beween missions fillers" in a "black and white movie / comic style". That would work for me and only requires someone with drawing skills doing some simple images to add a lot of story between the mission, or add in game screenshots for the story etc... The coding to add that would be really easy to do. You should then be able to add you own recon photos etc to the actual briefing to add some depth.

[The Kraken]

I remember HTML being mentioned as an option for mission briefings, so basically they would be completely customizable, including images and videos. Not sure if that's still part of the release though.

Personally I don't really care much for videos or animations as a transition to the mission; I usually skip those after seeing them a few times.

[mazex]

I remember HTML being mentioned as an option for mission briefings, so basically they would be completely customizable, including images and videos. Not sure if that's still part of the release though.

Personally I don't really care much for videos or animations as a transition to the mission; I usually skip those after seeing them a few times.

I remember that too, I wrote some sample code to do that as a simple xml/xslt transformation instead so the mission builders don't write Html themselves as that would be to beg for problems. I sent it to Oleg in 2008 but no answer yet :)

For me a "fill outs" with some "slides" showing real images with historic background like "On the 15:th of September Luftwaffe put up another... ", or the casual style with cartoon strips with an image of two pilots having a pint and the text: "That night we realized that there was no use thinking they would find Paddy alive, Dan had talked to some of the pilots at 602 and... ".