Thank God you asked. Just a few that I would suggest:
* AI that don't just have skill levels, but also levels of aggression. Aces that fight defensively/rookies that throw themselves in. Bloody minded types that will shoot you after you bail. AI on a slider. Or rather, AI on
several sliders.
* Anti-aircraft box barrages as an object that can be positioned in FMB. Currently the Il-2 series has every single gun calculating the shot and eating up cpu cycles. Really dense flak is not practical. Better to have an extra option for a placeable barrage you can put down yourself. When hostile aircraft enter the area, it sparks and bangs and hurts you if you get too close.
* AI crewmen that give intelligent information and can see and report on the world around them.
* First-person bail outs. No more arcade jumps to third person view at the moment of greastest immersion.
* Oxygen on, gunsight and reflector on. Or off for that matter. Thrill your mates with stories of the perfect bounce - that would have succeeded if only you'd taken the guns off saftey...
* Bailing out. Ctrl-E key does everything for you? Meh. How about an difficulty option for complex bailouts. Different inputs required to disconnect radio, oxygen, straps, jettison the hood, get over the side and then pull the rip-chord. Try doing that when you are on fire.
* Hypoxia
* More than one effing radio frequency!
* After Mission Reports. Lately I've modified my install of Il-2 so that the enemy-destroyed messages are removed. It is surprising what you can and can't remember after an engagement. What if your campaign victory claims are granted or rejected based on how much information you can provide in a the debriefing screen? If you know the time and location of a kill, plus other particulars, you'd stand a much better chance of being awarded a destroyed, rather than a probable.
The lazy or disinterested player could have an option to bypass such a feature.
A few other choice rants from the darker days of the SoW news blackout:
"The Il-2 series is pretty. I have no doubt that SoW will be very pretty too. The weather will change. The AI will occaisionally sh*t their pants and the FM's will be great.
And we'll all go around, doing the same things as we are doing now. Just in a more detailed environment.
But really, don't you think there should be more to the future of air combat simulations than just cookie cutter dogfights and dropping a stick of bombs? Do you really just want to play the exact same pair of missions all over again for another five to ten years ?
What if other mission perameters were coded in? What other options could we get?
Maybe instead you'd like to pilot a Lysander for SOE. Fly over to France at zero altitude in the dead of night. Alone in the dark, you would struggle to find 'that little field' marked on your map and glide into it, engine off so as not to alert the Jerries.
Perhaps you'd rather fly a Storch, evacuating wounded from the combat area. Or maybe spotting for the artillery? What if you could give directions and targeting information to ground units?
What about unarmed photo recon? Take your Blenheim across to France to take photographs of the invasion barges. Photographs that the campaign generator can judge and pass you on.
Coastal Command perhaps? Why not have a crew that can actually call out the sightings of distant ships and other objects and give an intelligent description of their range, type and heading?
Or nightfighters with AI radar operators that can actually guide you to the kill?
Wouldn't you like to try to fly a danerously overloaded Ju-52 into the icy landing strips of Stalingrad one day? Or a C-47 over the Himalayas?
There has to be more to this genre than, fly to waypoint and shoot stuff down. Or fly to waypoint and drop some bombs. There has to be.
"
Some more:
"It is heartening to see so many people feeling the same way about this. I just hope that Oleg and the team do too.
Taking the SOE Lysander mission type as an example, certain parameters would need to be coded in to make it work convincingly. Most particularly target waypointing and ground unit AI behaviour.
Imagine this:
Having crossed the Channel in the dead of night, you bank and circle "that little field" that you were directed to in the briefing. The target has a rendezvous time (get there too early and the enemy ground units will arrive before your friends do). At the appointed time you get a flashlight signal from the from the ground. (Hidden Target Complete). You cut the motor and sideslip in. The game engine is designed in such a way that it can recognise just how close the player is to the rendezvous point when their aircraft rolls to a stop. When you are on the ground, the clock is ticking. Land close to the friendlies and there is not long to wait. The further you are from the landing point the longer you have to sweat it out. If the friendly units make it to your aircraft, you get the Mission Complete and you can get the hell out of there.
While this is going on, you have AI enemy ground units that are smart enough to detect your presence and converge on your location. Maybe they will get there first....
Similar mission building parameters can be used for air-ambulance missions or supply drops, providing the builder can vary the duration of the stay on the ground. It is a simple enough idea, but versatile and effective. It just needs devs who care enough about it to put it into practice."
Between missions:
"Another aspect that would greatly benefit offline play is a kind of Renown System. Something like what is available in Silent Hunter 3, which btw gracefully managed to avoid the corny CFS3 roleplaying element.
At the moment in the Il-2 series, you fly missions and get kills and rise up the ranks. But it is meaningless in any broader sense, other than whether you get to fly at the back of a formation, or whether you fly at the front. Your success or failure has no other significance.
What if as a neophyte pilot in SoW your aircraft is the war-weary crate that no one else wants?
What if as you gain experience and become an asset to the unit you get entrusted with a better aircraft? How would that be?
What about if you rise to the rank of Flight, or even Squadron Leader? Higher rank means higher responsibility. Perhaps the amount of work you would be expected to do in between missions will become even greater. You would need to manage your pilots and personnel. Allocate your flights, request replacements, and give commendations. Instead of just gawping at the briefing screen before a mission, what if you could actually issue orders to your pilots before the mission begins? You could assign your pilots objectives, waypoints, altitude and strategies. How would that suit you?
And what if you became an ace? A real experten? You would have your pick of the ground personnel. Your aircraft would be top of the line. Your renown would ensure that new aircraft and equipment would flow in. Requests for reassignment or replacements would be looked on favourably by Command. Experienced pilots would request transfers to your unit....
Honestly, am I reaching for the effing stars here??? "
Still more:
"I guess being a Kanone of greater rank would have bestowed some perks that would translate nicely into a flight sim. Getting priority on equipment, aircraft and the like for the unit. A well serviced personal aircraft with less chance of mechanical failure than the latest sprog's. The chance to request a transfer (and maybe even have it granted). Or the chance to poach experienced pilots from other units. Your input on a tactical level would be respected and considered before a mission...
It's details like that that I support, certainly not cliched roleplaying"
"What happens if you rise in rank? Will you just get a warm fuzzy feeling and just fly at the front of the group? Would a rise in rank from Staffel Kaptain up to Kommodore be completely meaningless in your SoW? How should such a promotion effect your game? How would it effect, 'the role of a pilot in WW2'? "
Finally:
"
Working Radar Control in Online Play:
You log on to an SoW server and join the game. A mission is already in progress. On the briefing map, you can see that there are plots all over the board.
You select RAF and choose a Spitfire flying out of Hornchurch. The server auto-generates you the callsign Baker, Blue Three.
Entering the game, you taxi out of your revetment and scramble immediately. Climbing hard, en-route for Dover you ask control for an intercept vector. You key in the commands for this (promising yourself you will get around to sorting out the voice activation system one day soon. Everybody says it's amazing).
You key in: Tab> 1> 3> 2. "Hello Control> This is Baker Blue three> Requesting vector."
Using voice samples similar to those in the old Il-2, the AI controller replies, "Hello Baker Blue three. Steer 160. Bandits inbound at angels zero. Range 40 miles. Over" The AI controller has appointed you a "channel" based on your location on the map. Not everybody hears the same control messages, thus avoiding clutter. A pair of Hurricanes nearby have heard this however, and change course to intercept.
"Hello Baker Blue Three. This is control. Are you recieving me? Over."
Ah whoops! Unlike the Il-2 series, this controller actually requires a response to communications. If you do not respond to calls he will keep calling you, before finally giving you up as lost.
You key in: Tab> 1> 3> 6. "This is Baker Blue Three. Received and understood."
Minutes later, speeding across the feilds of Kent, you key in a request for an update from control.
"Hello Baker Blue three. Steer 160. Contact faint. Bandits at angels zero. Range 20 miles. Over"
They are holding course then. Twenty miles would put them just north of New Romney...
Suddenly the AI control breaks in:
"Hello Baker Blue three. Bandits now heading two zero. Steer oh seven oh. Buster!"
You acknowledge and open the throttle wide, swinging onto the new heading. Your heart skips a beat as two Hurricanes flash across your nose.
"Hello Baker Blue three. This is control. You are right on top of them."
You dip your wing. Can't see a bloody thing. No, wait...there they are! Three fast moving shapes. Darting across the town of Ashford. Rooftop height. Me110's from Erpro-210, making a run for Biggin Hill. You key in the last call - a tallyho to Control. Saftey catches off. Gunsight on. As you half roll into the dive, the gunner of the rearmost 110 is already firing...... "
Well, you did ask.
