An umbrella.

You know, it's funny, I've been watching all the development shots with interest but when I saw the map it just floored me. The map in the Il-2 series always seemed a little cartoon-ish, but this one is quite realistic.

You can't see the detail in the real map due to the crappy camera but it has the Thames has the same water texture drawn on it that the game map does.

It's these little details that are going to make this sim something to treasure.

Color tracer markings are just markings. The tracer is inside the bullet anyway and this bullet may do a damage... At least for 1940. Or you say that the "self flying body-traccer" with small weigt has the same trajectory like a bullet without burning tracer inside? Just think about. Or I didn't understand....

The tracer bullet is analogy of the rocket engine, with a tiny small if any thrust.

The engine sound is pretty good I think, I also liked the sound of wind. It has a very good WW2 feeling. Thank you Oleg for this great artwork. :)

You say il2 is 9 years old, but I'm sure you are comparing the WIP SOW BOB to il2 1946 4.09m on perfect mode with modded maps, and that's not 9 years old. ;)

Just to get back to the topic, you say those special tracer rounds did carry a smoke trail compared to modern tracers due to their different design?

I did a quick check, but couldn't find anything about those projectiles.

From the ballistic point of view, the tracers have to be as close as possible to the other rounds - that means same aerodynamics, same mass. Otherwise their flightpath is too different which would make them useless.
Mass is a problem as they burn much it during flight(lose energy), so, the longer the distance fly, they less mass they have, the bigger the difference where the tracers hit compared to other kinds of ammo.

I would think they are made of lead and copper/brass/steel too.

And you're right, they inflict less damage than conventional rounds as they have less energy, the further the target, the worse the energy loss.

If you look at gunnery film from the period you will see what smoke he means.
I am not sure if it is an artifact of slow motion..but they do seem to smoke.
But your correct, I have fired 1000s of rounds(7.62) from the same browning used in the Hurricane, and the tracers leave no smoke that you could see in operation.

Oleg, fantastic, thanks.

The RAF did use tracer rounds but they were bullets.

Left to Right:

Tracer, Armour piercing and incendiary.

http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...one/img083.jpg

all of these are .303 rounds used by the RAF

That's what i though as well.

SoW does look 9 years better than IL2, the original IL2.
IL2:1946 is not 9 years older than SoW and carries a load of improvements.

I'm sure that after the 4th-5h SoW add-on and as improvements are implemented, it will look 9 years better than IL2:1946 ;)

What i'm trying to say is, i doubt the engine is running full tilt because there's no PC that can do it yet, just like it was with IL2. So, comparing 1946 to WiP SoW is comparing an engine that runs at the top of its capabilities with an engine that runs in testing mode...hardly an accurate way to measure things.

Wing detail
 

Just curious...in the vid (thanks again:-P) the detail is photo-realistic but when the view turns to the right showing the wing, the detail is not so great. Just wondering why?