[zapatista]

Originally Posted by Splitter

Great points!

..... to move your "head position" in 3D....... the down arrow makes you "slouch" and the up arrow lets you sit up tall to see more landscape and less instrument panel. It is VERY helpful when flying on instruments such as in bad weather....................

It's just me, but I am much more interested in such functional feature than I am in leaf sizes and whether tree trunks are visible from the air. Most people will have to tone down the really neat visual effects anyway to maintain 30fps or more.

the point about including the potential for very high detailed scenery (and drivable ground vehicles, controllable ships, etc..) is that if this is built in from the start of SoW-BoB then it makes the sim engine scalable for the future as hardware increases, and then you end up with BOTH aspects (the best of both worlds so to speak). if you dont include those improved scenery and expandable aspects of the sim while you build it, like oleg is currently doing, then in 2 years it is looking very out of date again and you have to start all over again

Originally Posted by Splitter

Ideally, I would like a sim that fulfills the dual roles of combat flight and flight sim.

i have repeatedly asked questions to Oleg and Co allong those lines over the years, but i dont think the idea has received much traction, and i am not sure oleg entirely got my point either.
1) for your idea of having a "pure" civilian flightsim using the SoW-BoB engine i think is probably already possible at release time. "all you need" is for 3e party to build some civilian aircraft for you to fly, turn off all hostile aircraft and AA etc.., and you can VFR fly around peacefully at your hearts content. and as long as the 3e party civilian planes dont use instruments more complex then ww2 era (or the single russian modern day test plane we get included with BoB), then any civilian plane can be built for BoB imo.
2) what i am hoping/wanting more of however is to have many non-combat elements and other war related features possible in BoB, and have included many more other aviation elements that were part of ww2 aviation in a "wartime environment". eg:
- be able to fly supply missions (and ask for fighter escorts if required), do parachutists drops, fly photo reconnaissance missions, fly VIP's to certain locations (mission being to get them safely to their destination with hostile elements posibly being encountered),
- fly in supplies and replacement aircraft parts to airbases and troops under siege to keep that airbase or troop formation functional,
- be able to use real life tactics to reduce fighting ability of the enemy by damaging their supply convoys and bridges and fuel storage etc.
- have non combat missions like lying new replacement aircraft from the factories to specific airfields using VFR, maybe even fly some civilian liners or transport mission (inside the same active combat zone that is taking place on the dynamic server), fly red cross evac missions in and out of combat area's, rescue downed pilots from behind enemy lines (having to land for ex in a specific field at a partic rendezvous time, rescue pilots from the sea, etc..

none of those aspects would require much time or programing to add, all work with the already existing elements and just need a few different minor elements added. it would open up the sim to a whole additional series of potential customers, and adds a new area of interest for current il2 users.

Originally Posted by Splitter

I know that is wanting too much but all I have to do is fly a vintage WWII aircraft in X-Plane and then in IL-2 to feel the difference in flight model and functionality. I'd rather have better functionality than visuals IF I had to choose.

a better and more future proof BoB-SoW sim does not exclude having improved functionality and features like you listed. you just need to make a strong argument to oleg about what exactly to be included, because imho he might not have thought of it or even seen it as something that might be needed to make his new sim more complete