The real money for this SOW project will probably come from CGI movies. It may be the reason there has been very little info on SOW to this point. Their competition isn't from any combat flight sims project I've seen, but from other CGI developers.

Now that's the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Maybe I should have read this to mean the AI 'performance' doesn't slow down the computer - that would make sense as it's not doing anything. WoV: BoB II AI is a finite state machine, about the cream de-la cream back when Galaga hit the market.

Well let's hope not. CGI movies can have FPS of 1 frame per 5 minutes when being produced. When they are done no one can tell. Look up scanline flowline and some of the water graphics they do. 1 Frame per 4 minutes. Looks awesome when done, but I'd drink way too much beer if it where in a flight sim.

I doubt very much if they would enable the same options and features for both, but nothing says they couldn't use the same basic engine.

I'm pretty sure that the CGI movies will be rendered against a real terrain as a backdrop and have more detailed models substituted and edited effects. The SoW:BoB engine only provides flight dynamics, physics and AI. At least thats what I gleaned from Oleg's single comment about it.

LOL!

I really doubt that Oleg would miss the mark by THAT much! Oleg pretty much re-defined the whole "flight-combat" genre with "IL2" and I have complete confidence in his ability to deliver the goods with "BoB SoW"...

Salute

I am happy to say that IL-2 is the best flight sim ever made, but it has its share of flaws.

AI behaviour is one of those. It has improved since the first days, but in many aspects it still lags behind such dinosaurs as BATTLE OF BRITAIN II.

The offensive behavior of AI has improved, in the attack routines, now we are seeing proper boom and zoom tactics from less maneuverable aircraft, but the defensive behaviour of AI is really pathetic. That standard AI routine of 'do nothing till the human pilots gunsight comes into shooting position, then defensive barrel roll out of the gunsight' gets old pretty fast. How about some real defensive maneuvering which does not depend on psychic mind reading?

Plus the suicidal behaviour of some damaged AI lacks any reality. Why would a pilot whose aircraft is on fire continue to attack? Or one who has taken engine damage, or whose fuel tanks have been hit... would they not try to exit the fight and return to base, rather than loitering over the combat area and eventually crashing?

BATTLE OF BRITAIN II is way behind IL-2 in most aspects, but at least its fighter AI performs realistically. (not the case for Bombers in that sim... especially Stukas)

The other major issue in IL-2 is the ability of AI gunners to fire despite being under tremendous G forces.

How many times have you seen an Human flown bomber, with its tail cut off by cannon fire, in its death spiral, with all AI gunners doggedly sticking to their guns and firing away despite G forces which would have them bouncing off the ceiling? Watch out or you'll get Pk'd... ;)

Or an human flown Bomber whose pilot executes a pullout at maximum G's, with the gunners flailing away with all their guns, when of course, they would in reality be crushed into the floor if not blacked out. In reality, it was difficult enough for a bomber gunner to shoot accurately with a bomber flying straight and level, any maneuvers made it pretty much impossible to hit anything, let alone being able to avoid getting thrown into a fuselage bulwark and knocked out.

IL-2 is now a finished product, we won't see any more revisions, but lets hope that AI behaviour is more realistic in BoB.

On the AI. The worse thing is theyfly into hill sides with no attempt to miss them. Lovely maps with trees and hills and valleys are of no use offline. Flying without hitting the ground should not be considered advanced AI. Pretty basic if you ask me.

I heard on one of the forums it was going to be Feb 2010.

EDIT: Oh sorry that was on the 2010 Olympic forum. And they were talking about the Winter Olympics.