Pretty sure Oleg mentioned that they had grass in IL2 Alpha/Beta at one point, could just be my mind playing tricks on me though :)

to avoid serverchrashes after gamerelease - put the Fokker D.VII and the Spad XIII in the original game and make therefore the game a little bit more expensive !!

i doubt anyone who is buying this game want "only" the crap planes N.28 and Albatros D.V ( its not early 1917 for the Albatross, its mid or better late 1917 for this version !!).....................................

Wouldn't it be nice to have Zeppelins in this sim?

I think they are, but do you mean as flyable?

The only thing that's bugging me is that if the initial release ships with mid to late war planes we'll miss a lot of the famous WWI actions that made it what it is collectively remembered for...the initial shock when faced with trench warfare, the early pioneering days for the airmen and so on...

I'm not saying to start with Fokker Eindeckers and morane bullets, but a neuport 17, a De Havilland pusher and an albatross D.II would be fine to get the pace going. Why start it off with the late war planes and campaigns and miss out on all the early war legendary actions?

Probably to hook as many non-hardcore simmers as possible. Most of us will probably buy it anyway, but a Spad on the cover will sell it to a much wider audience. That's my guess anyway.

I do think its smart they went this direction on having the game be MP compatible. At least everyone will be flying the same version and will be able to interact with each other.

I don't know allot about the WWI planes but are they keeping the good ones for the paid downloads?

Also I, perhaps quite unlike yourself, fly just about everything that is flyable in IL-2. Mission to mission I swap all around never content to fly just one plane. If I have a limited set to draw from...and I have to pay the $8 CAD...that will infuriate me. I understand what the developers are after and what they need to do...but I have to think about me as well. Pocketbook and all :(

With flight sims having such a smaller target audience than most PC games, Im still amazed at the quality we often get. But with piracy and a limited draw, there is a big reason why we dont have a lot of good flight sims. There is not that much money in it.
Oleg was able to make more by releasing larger packs here and there to keep the cash rolling in.

WIth Rise of Flight, they don't have the aircraft pool or theaters around to generate that kind of addon. THe only thing I could really see as an addon would be the "early years" and perhaps some zeppelin stuff.

So in order to make the project worth while money wise, they have to charge for some extra planes.

I really dont care about that and have NO problem paying a little more for a quality flight sim.
You could say.. well why dont they charge us more for the whole thing then.
that might price out many wood-be buyers. SO the initial game is priced relatively normal, then you just pay for the extra aircraft you want.
Dont want the sopwith pup, dont buy it. Its not like they have 200 aircraft they could add.
Its a good idea.
and I would rather pay a little more for quality sim stuff, than lose developers to the consoles. Already many are making the switch and leaving the PC behind because of rampant pirating.

I have a $3500 computer. (well thats what it cost 5 yrs ago to build.. getting ready to build a new $4000 I7 machine here at the end of the year)
$40 bucks on some extra planes is chump change

It isn't? do you know for sure exactly how many types flew in WW1? I certainly don't, but including prototypes and planes that were only produced in small numbers, I wouldn't be surprised if the number is over 100, and I would be very surprised if it's short of 50 types, counting bombers, reconnaissance planes etc.

Ansaldo and Macchi M series fighters please.

;)