The later.
You will have the Sopworth pup fully installed on your PC, and even be able to built mission with it as AI plane.
"Purchasing" a plane means only purchasing the right to fly it (and it means no specific download, just an authorisation in the server database... so next time you launch the game, you will be able to fly it). Every patches/upgrades are downloaded automatically as soon they're available and you lauch the game, whatever you bought planes or not... so everybody has the same code and data on his PC.

I really don't want to compare business models of both games. I had tremendous fun with IL2, and all money expended on it was worth it. I'm 100% sure it will be the same with SoW:BoB.... and so far, I have the same feeling with RoF (just hoping neoqb will get enough income to be able to continue its continuous development plan)

If you don't purchase an aircraft, you will not be able to fly it, but you will be able shoot at it and down it. :)

Keep it simple. To purchase a plane simply means to purchase a cockpit. All externals are in the game already.

Couldn't put it any better than Foo'bar just did.

You buy the cockpit, the rest comes with free patches. That means you can join any server using these planes, but you may not fly it. In other terms, you will only run into problems if you join a server that only uses planes you don't have payed for, because then you can only join to watch the show.

:cool:

Rgr that, thanks. :grin:

Just got my copy. Takes some time to customise things to ones liking, but first impressions are very good indeed. After seven years of Il-2, it does take you out of your comfort zone somewhat. However perseverance is rewarded.

I'm very pleased with my purchase and I'm glad I was not swayed by the more hysterical members of the community.

It's definitely fun and it's something new. It just get's old a bit quickly, but that's when we start playing online ;)

Support means different things for each one. To some it is unconditional, to others it means "i'll buy if i like what i see". Both groups are needed for the survival of the flight sim genre, the first to fund the beta testing and bug hunting process, the second to press for improvements :cool:

Personally, I'm waiting for something like a "gold" version a few months down the line. One that possibly has proper multiplayer capabilities, more aircraft (both flyable and AI) and a well done single player campaign for a normal game price. A $40 admission fee to take part in an open beta doesn't cut it for me, no matter how good the FM/DM is, but that's just my personal opinion.

Also, a version that lets me choose if and when i want to install the latest patch and/or revert to a previous version, because sometimes patches break more than they fix. And most of all, a version that isn't dependant on a bunch of different ISP's working in unison for me to use a product i paid for. If i buy something i expect it to work regardless of what technical hiccups the server on the 5th hop from my local ISP to Amsterdam might be experiencing. It shouldn't be my problem, simple as that.

Maybe not all of this will be fixed according to my liking, but i expect some of it to be fixed before i get a copy. For example, maybe the new version has more aircraft and a well done dynamic campaign but the stupid DRM implementation remains, or vice versa. If half of my wishlist was being addressed i would probably pick it up.

At the state it is right now i feel i don't really want to get my hands on it. I fear i'll like so much the few things it does well, that i'll be even more frustrated at the total glaring omission of other important stuff and/or the not so user friendly customization process and DRM scheme :grin:

Your mileage may vary of course, but being primarily a WWII jockey i can certainly keep flying IL2 for a couple of years more, especially thanks to the unofficial add-ons made by the community. I wanted to get RoF initially before i found out about all the things i dislike, but even then i was just looking for something to keep me occupied until BoB:SoW. To me that means a more or less complete game that will work right out of the box in the sense a traditional combat flight sim is expected to. I'm looking for something to keep my mind off BoB:SoW for a while, not trade one anticipation with another waiting for new flyable biplanes, a proper campaign and bug fixes :grin:

The RoF manual has some interesting notes about it's FMB.
As well as event triggers and much other stuff, you can also arrange objects (say an AAA or observation balloon position) and save the layout of those objects as a kind of template that you can paste into other missions or areas of the map. It sounds like a great feature, that will allow a much more lively frontline to be created for a lot less effort than in Il-2.