[Pursuivant]

I think that RRR would be a great option. For single player, it's a nice change from hitting the refly mission button or going with unlimited ammo.

In multiplayer it would be a huge improvement to the game. With the right settings it could be used with any sort of mission from realistic coops to endless dogfight servers.

As with any setting, there should be the option to turn some or all of the features off.

Refueling would be the easiest - just set a rate at which fuel can be transferred. For extra realism, possibly put restrictions on type of fuel available (i.e., no rocket fuel, no 100 octane fuel, no diesel). Perhaps set limits on amount of various fuel types available or the number of planes which can be refueled at once. It should be possible to take off without fully refueling.

Rearming would be next easiest - set which types of weapons can be rearmed and the time required for each rearming option. If a particular option isn't available, it can be struck off the list. Perhaps set limits on number of planes which can be rearmed with a particular loadout or the number of planes which can be simultaneously remarmed. For some loadouts, it should be possible to take off without fully rearming.

Repair is the most problematic, since I'm not sure how IL2 handles damage to the aircraft. Also, realistically, repairs to an aircraft could take days or even months. Very simply, repair could be treated like rearming - set a list of repairs which are possible and the time to needed perform them. This could include First Aid for crewmen, as well as the ability to repair critical hits.

RRR functionality could be "attached" to a particular ground object in the FMB. If that object is damaged or destroyed, you lose some degree of RRR capability. That gives you even more incentive to protect your airfields.

To activate RRR, players would need to taxi to within X meters of the RRR site, shut down their engines, and then request RRR.

Different objects could offer different types of RRR. For example, you might need to taxi within 10 meters of a fuel tank to initiate refueling. Then, you might need to taxi to within 20 m of a bomb dump to get rearmed, or taxi into a hangar in order to get repaired.


As a related option, there should also be the possibility of switching aircraft. The only trick is that the game would have to keep track of aircrew quality and injuries separately from the aircraft. For this option to work, you'd need to land, turn off your engine, request a new aircraft, and then hit "bail out."
After some period of delay, your crew will "respawn" in the new aircraft.

The FMB or server could set limits to what sort of new aircraft are available. For example, if you trash your spiffy new fighter plane, your only respawn options might be older aircraft.

On a dogfight server, you could instantly get a new airplane of the same or different type every time you landed without having to log out, or without losing points for getting shot down. That would give players an incentive to get back to base and land successfully rather than fighting to the death.