IL-2 Sturmovik 1946...will anyone keep playing
 

Opinions?

Plenty, too many aircraft for Cliffs to compete and increased system specs will probably also play a large part in keeping people playing it.

Yes of course


http://i53.tinypic.com/20zw5rq.jpg

http://i53.tinypic.com/35hoc9t.jpg

http://i55.tinypic.com/1zx72fd.jpg

Plenty of people ;)

Yep, I can't run SoW anyways. Honestly it will be great, and it'll probably look fantastic, but all the theaters and features of IL2 interest me more, I feel Il2 still has lots of potential growth. When I upgrade my ..puter in the future Ill get SoW, but there is no rush for me, I'm sure it will be around for the next 10 years...

Staying on my PC for a long while to come me thinks. Il2 is a bit like a owning a custom kit car.....hours of fun just tweaking and downloading goodies let alone all the other aspects. I have invested far too much time to just abandon it! That's something I do to girlfriends.........:grin:

S!

Sure will. Has more content than just BoB. When SoW matures and gets more meat around it's bones, so to say, then gradually IL-2 will fade I think.

Until Cliffs Of Dover progresses threw the wars years, I'll still fly IL-2 off and on.

I think people will play IL2 for a long time to come.
Not least because the scenarios are everywhere but Battle of Britain territory, and people have got to know many other people through the online servers..

I do think that as SoW, CoD or whatever expands over the years, IL2 will gradually diminish at a similar rate.

Many people will still fly IL-2 just like there are people still flying EAW. Most will move on when they experience a new level of immersion in the feeling of flight and air combat.

IL2 with TD is the absolute best air combat simulator available in the genre.

There is nothing to compare at this time or I can forsee.

The new release(SOW?COD?)will take several years to catch up on war theatres.

Since there will be allowances in the code for map builders, and some other 3rd party work it will be faster to have new war theatres than IL2 for sure.

It will probably be quite awhile before carrier ops are included. That will of course be a requirement for any PTO or Korea.

The 8 vs 16 poly is a factor in graphics, but alot can still be done with IL2.

IL2 will be on my HDD for several more years I perceive.

.



No !



.

Well until a better PTO version comes along I will still run IL2, as I doubt the PTO is anywhere near to being made with in the next three to four years.

I will instantly delete it. Together with Hyperlobby it's two more programs less on the HDD and the registry.

I'm with you, all ten versions of Il-2 on my system will be deleted. I'll fly alittle off-line at first to get a feel for the aircraft then its on-line for the real immersive experience with like mind individuals on teamspeak. That will keep me very busy atleast until
The MED-IL-2, or Battle for Moscow IL-2 comes out.

IL2 with TD is the absolute best air combat simulator available in the genre.

What's TD?

The simpler version of UP :-P

After 28 years of gaming, IL2 1946 is the only game/sim I continue to play. I've played anything, the list is enormous (still there are a lot of titles I don't know, already in the early eighties there were too many titles).

I've loved Fort Apocalypse, Save New York, River Raid, Gunship & Gunship 2000, Flight Simulator II, Infiltrator, Solo Flight, Cylons 64, Blue Max, Xenon II, Impossible Mission, Galaga, Dig Dug, Pacman, Burnin' Rubber, Pit Stop I&II, Pole Position I&II, Stunt Car Racer, Test Drive, Grand Prix Circuit, Formula 1 Grand Prix, Defender of the Crown, Shuffle Puck Cafe, Civilization, (Sid Meier's) Alpha Centauri, The Settlers, Frontier Elite II, Frontier First Encounters, Descent, Descent II, Descent Freespace, Descent Freespace II, Doom I & II, Halflife, System Shock II, Morrowind, Oblivion, Carmageddon II, Unreal Tournament, Battlefield 1942 and Desertcombat, Orbiter, Crysis and Crysis Warhead ...

Cut. Too many titles, I could go on forever, and I forget a LOT of jewels here. Anyway, most titles were on the C64 and Amiga - best gaming platforms of the eighties and early nineties!

But ...

... even when SOW emerges, and I will play it, I will continue to play the IL2 series for years. No doubt about it. Best series to date. Period.

IL2 has been the absolute best air combat simulator period .. for quite some time.. with and without TD.. modded or un modded.. it is the 1C factor in the sim that males it great in all of it's incarnations...

I'll be flying it for some time.. at least until the new series has P-51s in it..


Why on Earth would you have 10 versions of IL2 on your HD? At the most I could see two.. maybe 4 if you fly modded..

I have the original, plus 4.09, HSFX, UP, 4.10, 4.10 modded each on windows xp and windows 7 partition.

This is a stupid thread. How's that for an opinion?

I'll keep it on my drive for a while, but I have a feeling that the new sim is going to make '46 look and feel pretty dated. If this is so I can't see myself spending much time at all with the old sim.

il2 was the best combat flight sim ever... though I haven't run it since I reaslied something was not right, this was ten months before the revelation the sim had been hacked.

I'll run SoW/ CoD without hesitation and hope a PTO add on is created in the future.

Unless they force us to use publisher servers, how do think that's gonna work without a server like HL?
(HL is a server(!) not just a progi)

An inbuilt game search function which has to ping all the CoD servers on the planet?
Ppl with low-end systems, slow internet(or both) would love such a feature...

Short on harddisk space? :-P We're in the Terabyte age ;-)

I give IL2 another 10 years at least ....

as i mostly fly bombers nowadays in on IL2 servers (COOP online war flying seems almost dead it looks like :( ) i will most propably switch to CoD totaly very fast.
Depends on the online offers :D i dont fly offline at all.
but i guess some very nice, high qualitiy online servers with some good missions will appear very fast :)

and i realy hope, and i actually expect it (!), that the bomberflying in CoD will be more demanding (engine management, bombsetting settable in flight, better damagemodell of "targets" ) than in IL2 :)
Ju88, He111, Ju87, Br.20, Blenheim IV , there is something to choose from ;)
and i hope the number of flyable bombers will grow ! Flyable Wellington and Do17 are demanding.

No it's not, it's just a server browser. If the game has one built in like just about every other game since about 1997, it won't be necessary any more. It's supposed to be on Steam, so that right away eliminates the need for HL.

I suspect I'll keep IL2 around for some time for the greater variety of scenarios, but like a few others, I suspect also that BOB will be so superior in immersion, that it'll be tough to go back.

Have to agree, when IL-2 was released I just couldn't go back to Jane's WWII Fighters and EAW, the feel of flight and the general high fidelity of IL-2 was just too great to refrain from.

Try to speak with Jiri to be banned, but if you are unbanned you should think in the reasons, also you should think about many people(which I include me) have you in their ignore list

Whatever the MP method I just hope it isn't the can of worms that WOP uses and killed on-line MP. Dreadful and frustrating! I quite like HL and cannnot fault it.

^this

So, just a server browser - and the master server is?

Bingo, HL.

And?? HL has worked fine the last years, and is a great tool to see which servers are available. Those nut jobs that have been removed from there must have deserved it, as no one is removed from there without a reason.
Those so against HL do you really think any servers would be found with out a tool like this? If you enjoy empty servers because the servers can not be found, then you are right HL is a bummer as it helps you find servers.
The discusion is just as silly as talking about using windows or not.....:rolleyes:

Yes indeed, a server which solely provides a list of other servers, I'm sure Steam doesn't have one of those...

It's not a discussion about wanting or not wanting HL as such, it's just that some seem to think that without it the sim's multiplayer function will die, which is just rubbish. I use HL and it's great, and I'm glad it exists, but the only reason it's necessary is because the original sim was lacking in a decent lobby function.

Most likely not, already now I am mainly playing newer sims. I will keep Il-2:46 for the Pacific theater on my HD, at least until the Korea sim comes out, just like I kept CFS2 installed after the original Il-2 was released. However back then I couldn't go back since Il-2 was superior on almost every aspect, despite the huge amount of planes and theaters in CFS2. I expect the same effect after CoD.

I don't care at all for the pacific theatre,but will still fly il2 for a while,at least until an online war turns up for the new title.
If we can get a flyable Do17 for the BoB I think I will spend all my time there.
And,I would be quite happy if il2:CoD was on HL!

Il2 with the latest updates, still looks pretty good. It will probably be another 5 years before CoD covers all the content Il2 has right now. Rise of Flight allready looks quite a bit nicer and more detailed than Il2 but Il2 is still enjoyable. I just ordered a new system for RoF,CoD and DCS A10. Il2 will be on there for the foreseeable future.

i like much the IVAO and IVAT online sistem for flight simulator
VATSIM online monitoring of virtual world ATC.
but in this case is WW2 simulator and not exist ATC traffic and controll.
HYPERLOBBY example:USER ID MR.KIAVIK nationality??????
:Server name: BANANA2 nationality?????????
XFIRE this is the flag for server identification
http://www.xfire.com/countries/

another good server for play online is
HAMACCHI.the italian server
https://secure.logmein.com/US/products/hamachi2/


-----REMEMBER XILON_X YOUR COMUNITY FRIEND ELIMINATED TO HYPERLOBBY------ i remember this.

I remember when starting out with Il2. I exploited every FMB feature possible. Worked on campaigns and missions for hours on end. I spent three years just enjoying the things I could do with IL2 on the Kuban map.

Lock ON devs have worn out the Crimea map and still keep adding.
Someone mentioned the map has expanded into the Kuban. Since I don't do the Lock On I wouldn't know for sure.

What I'm saying is... there is plenty that can be done for a long time everyone will enjoy. One quality map, a good FMB and improved AI will make the BOB a greater starter package, and the improved programming tools in the FMB and AI will be awesome.

I know the plane screamers will start immediately, along with the mappers.
They have a cup that will never be filled. Look at all the constant barrage of whines on the TD threads for aircraft. Always people wanting new aircraft. I doubt most of the whiners give a rat's behind. The just think they want something, until the get it. They spend a couple days with it and move on to other wants.

I think aircraft should be $old in packets by war theatre with the opposing forces aircraft from the same time period. Then people can put their money where their mouth is... and actually do something with the added aircraft. Maybe the inclusion of a couple maps and some ground objects could round out the package.

Actually, this might be a good revenue producer and Oleg could still sell addon editions. LOL

Ha ha, well then certain UFO would never have reached anyones game! Just need to think of that silly Lerche one of the most unnecessary aircraft in the whole sim. After first trails who uses that thing? If paying for aircraft would force developers to stick to aircraft needed for mission building, and leaving ridiculous aircraft, next to no one needs, a side only then, that would be a good idea. But is that really new? We had the "ace expansion pack", "Forgotten Battles", "Pacific Fighters", "PE2" etc. for which we payed.....so nothing really new.....and still we got the nut case aircraft in 1946 that just take up space but no one really uses.
A poll held at certain times left to run say four to five weeks, which area should be developed next would be a neat thing, and yes it can be a payed expansion....I would prefer that to getting aircraft for free that I will never use and just take up space.
But then will the developers even listen to customer wishes? Or will they just make what ever they fancy?

You would prefer paying for every single flyable instead of having a bunch of them for free, because they "take up space"? LOL

Now that's something really important to take notice of. A few megs of harddrive space in a game that takes 4+ gigs....

Well LOL to you too, of what use are free bees when no one needs and uses them? Mind explaining? Yes I would pay if that would garantie that needed aircraft make it into the sim yes! As what missions is anyone going to make with those UFOs we got stuffed in on the 1946 dvd? Have you seen them on any servers after the first year 1946 came out? I doubt it! So LoL to you, if you can not see the point.

As I recall

Some of those weird aircraft were things 3rd party devs built. Oleg checked them out and threw them into the mix (no harm done). Mostly, I think to throw the plane whiners a bone. LOL

Improved FMB and AI will move the sim up a bunch for Offline players, which I am for the most part.

The Online game is important, so Oleg will definitely have to maintain control of everything aircraft in the game. I'm OK with that.

I remember the CFS2 when you could get all the 3rd party aircraft. Heck... I had a F4U that could knock down an enemy aircraft at 3,000 meters. I mean all you had to do is point and he was dead. You could change the flight model and top speed was anything you wanted. Nope...we don't want that.

Well I certainly was not talking about "space invader" aircraft, but as a PTO fan, you must admit possibilties to make missions as detailed as the ETO are very limited....maybe just take that into consideration than just thinking those that wish for more aircraft are just brainless idiots....

in online game i loock the crazy pilots go up go down go right go left i loock strange pilot take off from the base whit need radio permission i loock crazy pilots not mantein the formation and not have a correct mode of fly.
not exist the rules real pilot if take off from base whit need permission risk court martial if pilot fire your team squadron friend risk court martial if pilot fire to civiles peoples and civils construction hause risk court martial.

REMEMBER the pilots are the military graduated and all military in the world have the precise rules if the military not respect the rules risk COURT MARTIAL.
in the simulation game PILOTS not are military but are CRAZY CHILDREN whit not have a Patent flight and not respect the
the basic rules of flight EXAMPLE FLY TO 3m to the CARRIER tower control
or take off from the TAXY and not FROM the runway.

Will delete it instantly.
Its a fact that the immersion, fm etc will be so superior that i couldnt go back after playing SoW/Cod. It might lack in content , but that will gradually grow within the years if the sim is a success, also remember that as games gets more complicated and advanced it takes way longer to develop. Spending 6+ months on modeling a plane isnt very uncommon these days, i hear the Tripwire(ro2) guys said it takes them about 10x times longer to model/program one of their new tanks vs their old once and i'd assume its about the same for Maddox games if not even more.

LMAO

You speak too much from your own point of view. I know plenty of guys that enjoys the odd aircrafts in the 1946 expansion on occasion, myself included, so stating that "noone uses them" is plain wrong. If you want a real challenge, try landing a Lerche.

Of course I speak from my point of view, as I can only guess others point of views. And no I have never and never will fly that stupid thing Lerche. I much rather would have flown a G3M1 or a Do24 instead of that silly plane, that is useless, except for giving some kids a few minutes of fun.http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...pillepalle.gif

Going by that logic one could then add something like this into RO2
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...kampfwagen.png

IL2 will stay in my hard drive for many years for sure.
Sometimes I need to fly my beloved IAR81!! Or the mighty Tupolev.

Speaking for myself and the couple of dozen people that I fly regularly with I can't imagine any of us instantly deleting IL-2. You can be sure that we'll be giving the new sim a good go, but I don't see it being a case of never flying an I-16 in the Khalkin Gol again; or any of the other favourites that we enjoy on a regular basis every week. Perhaps if the new sim is so far ahead that it makes all the other stuff seem tired we might give it an honourable retirement - but with so many things still happening in IL-2 I can't see it falling out of the zone for a few years yet.

B

I will only fly CoD exclusively, that's if it's half as good as advertised. I just can't imagine IL-2 competing for my limited time. Time marches on, no sense wasteing it with a great, but old school tired sim, with a crazy on-line mix.:grin:

Stating things about others gaming habits on a guess.....
I think you're forgetting that it is a game. If anyone that plays it for fun is a kid, then so be it!! :grin:

Nice toilet.

i like lerche because not is fantasy but is real project not terminated and not developed i like if also insert in il-2 another luft46 airplane in the different category "alternative war" a like if also insert secret german armament super tank or HANAEBU or the CARRIER ZEPPELIN or CARRIER AQUILA in the different category.
il-2 game have different tipe of category realistic storic fantasy or acrobatic or race i like look the game to all 360° degreeds point of view.

Il-2 will be an amazing game still for several years. About Cliffs, i will buy it for sure as soon as there's a downloadable version available (i'm from Uruguay). Since Il-2 covers so many different theatres, i don't think they will be in direct competition in many of them, not until the new generation of sims is a lot more developed.

I don't think there are any silly aircraft in this sim.. I think the diversity of the sim is it's strong point... and even though I have only flown the lerche a few times.. I think just having thre option to fly it is a blast in itself... With the amoung of AC in the stock sim alone there is more than enough to keep one occupied.. if you add in some of the mod aircraft it is just insane the freediome we have in this sim as far as theaters and aircraft... and all of them ae decent... decent enough.. and they all were free.. Cant beat t with a stick.

i think must peoples complain because want the operative airplane of ww2 and not want fantasy luft46. yes all peoples priority is first operative airplane of ww2 and after optional luft46 fantasy airplane.

As to new aircraft for Cliffs of Dover, I will gladly pay for expansions that have several new aircraft and proper maps for them to fly on.

What I won't do is buy aircraft one at a time, like Rise of Flight's dubious, and costly, business model.

A Med expansion, for example, with all the proper planes, map or maps, and ground vehicles/ships/etc, that are appropriate for that area, at a reasonable price is just fine.

$7.95 US each for the dozen or so new aircraft needed will be the end of my involvement with IL2, and everyone else that I know that plays the sim, and that is a lot of folks.

Yeah, and I'm no fan of any of of the fantasy planes either (Lerche, or that russian bi-? rocket thingy that noses itself into the ground after you hit terminal velocity, lol), but this is a small portion of the sim, we also have gems like the Hs 129, SM.79 and others that are included for free, that and the developer connection is something unmatched by any other sim. So if the devs went a little crazy and put a couple flying saucers in, that's fine with me, as long as the focus goes back to historical accuracy.

Settings and theaters

CoD (at the moment) :
1 ) Westfront 1940

IL-2 1946 (v4.09m with mods):
1 ) Westfront 1940 - 45
2 ) Eastfront 1941 - 45
3 ) NorthAfrican Front 1940 - 43
4 ) Italian Front 1940 - 45
5 ) SWPacific Front 1941 -45
6 ) China 1939 - 45
7 ) Spanish Civil War 1936 - 39
8 ) Korean War 1950 - 53
9 ) What if 1945 - 49

So IL-1946 will be without rival for the time being, and when the constant release delays (for the following add-ons of CoD) continue will be there for a long, long time!

for a german bomberpilot there could be no better scenario than the the CoD release one......... no canons for the enemy fighters :D


anyway, i doubt , at least from official releases, there will be ever again such a huge scenariobase as with IL2 MODs.
the fronts will be there, most propably, but only the planes for a short time scenario or even specific battle i expect to be released as further AdOns.
the needed work to make planes and maps for the new standard is so huge.........

time will tell :D

Looks like a plan to me!

Now if it would just work out that way.

Nope, can't do that... too easy.

http://www.acriticaldecision.org/lin...aking-head.gif

my "dream" plan would be:
after the CoD release a smaller pay-adon for the same map (to have this work already done ;) ), or with only small modifications with a Dieppe 1942 scenario.
planes like
Hurricane Mk.IIc
Spitfire Mk.Vb
Spitfire F.Mk.IXc
Typhoon Mk.Ib
Whirlwind Mk.I
Mustang Mk.I
Boston Mk.III
B-17E

Bf109G-1
Fw190A-3
Do217E

would be possible :)

than a huge one with a new map, a Cyreneika map, scenario Tobruk 42 (i would like 41, butthan there would be no Spit :D ).
planes,
Bf109F-4/Trop
Bf109F-4/B/Trop
Ju88A-4
Ju87D-1
Mc202_VII
SM79

Hurricane Mk.IIc Vokes
Hurricane Mk.IId Vokes
Spitfire Mk.Vc Abukir
Kittyhawk Mk.III
P-40F
Boston Mk.III
Baltimore Mk.III
as examples.
even RN carrieroperations could be added here.
i prefer a Cyreinka over a Malta scenario because Malto lacks the close support air-to-ground action....


than Easternfront, my personal favorite would be the Battle of Kursk 1943.
almost all planes that make fun in air-to-air (109G,190A,Yak9,La5,P-39) and air-to-ground (bombers, IL2, Hs129, Bf110,Fw190F)could be moddeld :D
This "possible" Battel of Moskau (operation Taifun) winter 41/42 would be just earlier planes, but also not few to choose from.............. ;)

THAN in the far east, but what scenario.........not easy.
perhaps a Solomons 42 map. shore based and carrier action........ (hence the Grumman "proplem" ?!)
August 1942 and later
A6M2-N
A6M2 Model 21
A6M3 Model 32
Ki-43-Ic 18. December 42 Rabaul, 11th Sentai
D3A1
B5N2
G4M1

F4F-4
P-400 (from 22. august,67th FS)
SBD-3
TBF-1
P-40F 12.November 42, 68th FS/ 347th FG
P-38F November 42, 339th FS
B-17F

Carriers:
Shokaku
light carrier Ryujo
Saratoga
Enterprise

Carrier Battles:
East Solomons 24. august 42
Santa Cruz 26.Oktober 42




all just personal 'dreams' .... and i am speaking of some years of developmtnet here :D

I'll go with the BOB SOW / COD, because Il-2 only runs on my dual and single core XP 32 bit machines.

The single's motherboard is acting wonky, as the sound, video, and one PCI slot died in sequence. The battery for the timer clock is gone too. The PSU is showing its age. The 32 bit dual core machine is loaner and since my friend goes through PC like a fish in the water, I can't rely on using it for IL-2.

I have tried to get it to run on Win 7 64 bit duals and quads at work (and my 64 quad at home), but no dice. With lots of time, I know I can probably jury rig something and get it working but I don't have that.






sounds like a plane, er plan!



But with a few changes . . . after BOB/ COD release. Then have a late war campaign. Then a mid war for Pacific.

Reasoning is on HL, there are more people liking late war stuff . . . most servers are late war.

Ha those people should be then punished with a Spanish Civil war or Sino-Japanese conflict add on.
If you went by that you could skip prop planes all together and then go for 1950´s Jets and play Korean war and say CoD is a waste of time....

I am hoping that the early war fans do not have just those choices and RoF.

as mostly flying bombers on dogfightservers, i hate late war. Only über canon and speed fightermonsters. actually few chances for bombers to get through your target. Escort is seldom. Propably the most fighters "fear" the slow and long approach of the bomber and that they get no chance for 'their' kills........................

my favorite time the last years online were the early MTO campaigns in the VOW (COOP war).
No canons (or very few), nice a long fighterduels and as a bomber you had a chance - in a SM79 actually a very good one :D

because of that , as mentioned, my favorite MTO would have been Tobruk 41 (109E, Mc200,Hurricane,Tomahawk). With these fighters the bombers have a chance :) . But the most players 'want' THEIR Spitfire or 109F i guess :( because of that a 42 scenario would be the better choice for MAddox........

exactly for that reason I am hoping for some early war add ons! A invasion of Poland, a battle of France or a nicely made pre WWII Pacific add on would be wonderfull!
As with the late war maps it is a waste of time taking a bomber....you might as well paint a target on your forehead.
Planes I am hoping they might become flyable one day:
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...euge/G3M-3.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...Bomber_Nel.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...ier-DO24-c.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...rtin/he115.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...0467654675.jpg
http://hugojunkers.pytalhost.com/_aircraft_/ju86_a3.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...zeuge/Gf1m.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...mber_N6101.jpg
http://users.skynet.be/Emmanuel.Gust...amiot143-b.jpg
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/906/he111edi7.jpg
http://www.wwiivehicles.com/germany/...-bomber-02.png
http://www.warbirdphotographs.com/NavyJB&W3/H6K-23s.jpg

Oh well guess hope dies last.......

but this early MTO thing had the 'charme' that not much totaly new planes would have to be modelled. a lot of the "CoD" planes could be used with modifications :)

SoW:MTO for 1940/41

Libya/Cyreneika and Sicily/Malta maps

Bf109E-7/Trop
Bf110D
Ju87B/R
Ju88A-5
He111H with Torpedoarmament available

G.50
Cr.42
MC.200
SM.79-II
Br.20M
Ba.65 <- doutbfull, any sources of cockpits ?

Gladiator II
Hurricane Ia Vokes
Hurricane IIb Vokes
Tomahawk IIb
Blenheim IV
Wellington Ic
SeaGladiator
Fulmar I
SeaHurricane Ib
Swordfish

For FAA operations:
Carriers
HMS Illustrious
HMS Eagle
HMS Audacity :D


Totaly new would be:
MC.200
Tomahawk
Fulmar
Swordfish
SM.79
Ba.65

The rest would be modifications from the SoW:BoB planes, if AI or flyable.
Ju88A-5 would actually be very differ from Ju88A-1 , espacially in cockpit.



it looks like im bored, but i did these researches a long time ago actually :D

+1000000000000000000 for more early war content.

And more flying boats!!!!!!!!!

:cool:

I thought RoF was $3 a plane.... and besides.. I thikj there were a lot more AC in WWII .... I wouldn't mind paying $3 a plane... or $30 and add on... map & planes... I guess we will see how this process is going to work soon enough..

Even if it's the same amount of money, i still prefer a full expansion for $50 over 10 individual planes for $5 each.

The reason is that while i end up paying for aircraft that i might rarely use, i won't be left twiddling my thumbs because a mission that features a flyable i didn't want to buy comes up on a server. In the case of a complete add-on, i'll just hop in and fly it and maybe gain a bit of appreciation for an aircraft i didn't know much about. In fact, this thing happened to me countless times with IL2 and i'm not that much of an online flyer, it was great fun and a way to discover stuff that i didn't pay attention to over the years.

If we had an individual pay-per-plane business model for IL2, i would probably know nothing about the more obscure aircraft in the sim. I wouldn't know enough to buy them in the first place and i wouldn't be able to fly them when an appropriate mission would come up on the servers i flew on.

Also, pay-per-plane tends to focus the developer's attention on modeling only flyable aircraft and potentially the most well known of them, because their revenue stream depends on selling these individual flyables. This would result in the game lacking in sufficient non-flyable aircraft for the AI (and even non-aircraft units), with which to "flesh out" the rest of the environment.
Some aircraft might be difficult to model as flyables or references might be scarce, but it would be a shame not to have, for example, an AI Catalina in the sim just because it's hard to fly with only one virtual pilot and slower than a modern car. Developers would think "almost nobody would fly this, it won't sell" and not spend time on it.

However, if the developers sell complete expansions instead of individual add-on aircraft they can be sure that a guy who wants the 109F and the Spitfire Mk.V will buy the entire add-on, so their revenue stream is not dependent on individually modeling the popular planes only. The popular planes sell the expansion along with everything it contains, instead of having to market each content item separately. In a sense, it's like buying the 109F and the Spit Mk.V for $25, but getting a lot of other stuff that might or might not interest you as a bonus. There's loads of planes in IL2 i've still never flown or flown years ago. Yet, i'm still glad they were included in the package and i paid for them, because a lot of times i was left thinking "wow, that is so much different and cool in its own way than what i usually fly!".

This gives the developers the freedom to work on that Catalina i used as an example, because even if nobody will fly one lots will use it as an AI unit to add some atmosphere to their missions. For example, you could be flying a mission in a user made campaign and as you are crossing the channel you could see one attacking a U-boat with depth charges.

And to tell you the truth, if the rumors about a new online mode that lets you run mini campaigns are true, i would fly that Catalina too if it was flyable. Sure, it might be boring with a single guy in the plane (depending also on how "smart" an AI the virtual crewmen will have), but with multicrew and other human players? Totally different story.

Imagine doing a mere 190km/h in cruise through the fog and hail of the north sea in an aircraft with pitiful de-icing systems courtesy of Oleg's new dynamic weather, when you get an automated message from an AI controller vectoring you to a convoy under attack (U-boats loved to attack in bad weather, maybe an AI behavior trigger for the AI subs that the mission/campaign builder set up in the new FMB). You still can't see the ships, but as you approach you can see the oil fires from the ones that got torpedoed lighting up the dusk sky like beacons.
Your buddies flying with you as your crewmen, the gunners frantically searching the sky for prowling Ju88 fighter-bombers (U-boats frequently transmitted the position of convoys so they would be attacked by air assets), the radio-man monitoring the radar scope looking for a periscope return, the bombardier turning the searchlight left and right trying to catch a wake or a trail of bubbles from a torpedo, the copilot managing the aircraft subsystems for you while you focus on flying the plane and spotting the target and on top of that, you would know that you are well within the range of human opponent players that could be notified by any U-boats you attack to come and swat you out of the sky in their Ju88Cs, a long trip back to home base making you even more afraid of battle damage.
Nothing's even happened yet and you're biting your nails off...hell yes! I'd fly such a setting for hours, maybe a single 3 hour sortie every other day or two (instead of the usual 10 smaller sorties flown in today's DF servers during a 3 hour mission duration), but i definitely would. Action would be sparse but brutal and the constant tension would be tremendous thanks to its clandestine nature (in fact it reminds me a lot of playing Silent Hunter 3 in this regard).

In fact, this would be a perfect way to bring more people to multiplayer by combining a less frantic style of warfare than the classic furball, but in a way that still has an effect on the outcome of the online campaign. I would love to fly such missions, as well as photo reconnaissance and pathfinding in mosquitos, night intruder missions in Do217s and Ju188s, ant-shipping patrols, etc...the less known, obscure but fascinating in a clandestine way operations that took place.


It's the small details like these that when added together provide that much more immersion and longevity for games of all kinds, yet they are sadly missed by a lot of developers today.
However, team Maddox has a strong focus on the small details, so i'm positive they will try to adopt a business model that allows them to spend time on modeling things like that as time goes by, instead of focusing on selling us individual production blocks of P-51s and Fw-190s (and i say that while being primarily a 190 driver myself :cool:)

Single seaters in ROF are $7.62 each, while the soon to be available Handley Page 0/400 will be $14.99 and the Gotha G.V will sell for $11.99.

FYI.

Imagine paying those prices for every plane needed for a new Russian Front expansion. Does not sound like such a good idea now does it?

Yes but looks like we are a small minority. :cry:

+1


None of these late 30's uber planes like Spitfires and 109's for me :D

http://users.skynet.be/Emmanuel.Gust...erstrand-b.jpg

you guys beat me to it . . .


I liked the sea plane Zero, that was fun using the water ways . . .

A catalina and more sea planes would nice to cruise around in.

A Sino And Spanish Civil war would be interesting as add ons. I do also love Korea (MiG Alley infected me with a love for flight sims, it was something memorable, I was one of the few kids in highschool that played it). Flying Tigers would be a cool part too (toss it in the Sino for extras)