Got to thinking

[nearmiss]

After waiting severeral years for the BOB SOW I got to thinking.

The benchmarks for air combat flight sims is being steadily raised. By that I mean there are plenty of CFS like the BOB II WOV, the Falcon, the LockOn, the CFS3 with MAW, etc.

The BOB II WOV has made huge improvements in AI performance that can't be ignored by Oleg in the BOB SOW. The AI performance in the Bob II WOV has definitely made it more challenging for anyone to release an air combat flight sim.

SO.. I'm speculating here, but I expect Oleg realizes that a single 3 month battle theatre in WW2 is just not going to cut it. The BOB II WOV forums are very quiet. There is still plenty of work being done on the BOB II WOV, which if great. The BOB II WOV is an Offline game, which lessens need to much chit chat on forums. I mention the BOB II WOV forums, because I do believe that traffic on forums is a very good indicator of interest.

When the new BOB II WOV patch release is available there will be a great deal of interest on those forums for several weeks where people work through issues. Then the forums will become quiet again until the next patch release.

I conclude Oleg is probably going to release a very improved BOB SOW with more than just the Battle of Britain. When I read how secretive the game developers are about their products it is easy to believe Oleg has a few secrets as well.

I remember how anxious everyone waited for the release of MSFT CFS3. The CFS2 was the benchmark sim at that time for most of us. The letdown from MSFT was like a giant roar throughout our combat flight sim communities. It was a complete debaucle and died like... duh!

Oleg doesn't want to repeat a MSFT CFS3 scenario.

Again, I suspect we'll receive a lot more than we are anticipating from Oleg.

Patience....

[Feuerfalke]

I agree with you, that Oleg is going to surprise us.

I disagree that the Battle of Britain was a bad choice, but I admit that it's not everybodies most favorite area of the war.


You totally lost me on the WoV:BoB II thing, though.

1. The eastern front was even more boring on first glance. Look at how successful this sim has become with such an area of operation.

2. WoV:BoB II forums are dead for various reasons:
a) The game is old
b) IL2 has become more popular
c) No Multiplayer
I see no reason to think that people got bored by the Battle itself, though.

3. WoV:BoB was a single game released. IL2 was a series that was not only updated but largely improved over the years, with dozens of free patches and addons.

SoW will be the start of another series and the BoB will just be the first step on a long journey.

Actually that is the reason why I'd rather like to wait a few month longer for Oleg to put some extra-cookies in the BoB-bag, so we all stay happy in the 10 years after the release.

[nearmiss]

Originally Posted by Feuerfalke

I agree with you, that Oleg is going to surprise us.

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I disagree that the Battle of Britain was a bad choice, but I admit that it's not everybodies most favorite area of the war.

I don't think the Battle of Britain is a a bad choice. I do think if the Pacific Theatre was seriously improved it would have been a better choice.

By doing a half-ass Pacific theatre in IL2 he never really touched on the interest that users have for that theatre of war.

I do think adding aircraft carriers was a great add to the sim.

Maps was the biggest problem with his Pacific Theatre.

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You totally lost me on the WoV:BoB II thing, though.

I know it is kinda scatter brained I should have had my morning cup of coffee before posting. LOL

I was just trying to give an example of a CFS that included more than one reason Oleg would probably enlarge and further improve the Battle of Britain war theatre at first release.

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1. The eastern front was even more boring on first glance. Look at how successful this sim has become with such an area of operation.

2. WoV:BoB II forums are dead for various reasons:
a) The game is old
b) IL2 has become more popular
c) No Multiplayer

I see no reason to think that people got bored by the Battle itself, though.

I've never been bored, I just don't fire it up as often as I used to. I have really enjoyed the new AI performance, which I think is worth the effort for Oleg to make similiar improvements to his BOB SOW.
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3. WoV:BoB was a single game released. IL2 was a series that was not only updated but largely improved over the years, with dozens of free patches and addons.

SoW will be the start of another series and the BoB will just be the first step on a long journey.

Let us all hope so...

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Actually that is the reason why I'd rather like to wait a few month longer for Oleg to put some extra-cookies in the BoB-bag, so we all stay happy in the 10years after the release.

1+
I'm with you on this if BOB SOW is a repeat of IL2 we'll probably get all we are ever going to get in the core programmng and graphic embellishments thereafter. SO... I'm for a late release to get as full featured a BOB SOW as possible.

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[6S.Maraz]

Originally Posted by nearmiss

I conclude Oleg is probably going to release a very improved BOB SOW with more than just the Battle of Britain.

Oleg is going to release a new game engine that must last for ten years, plus some aircraft and one map. The core of SoW:BoB will be the new engine, that's why it's taking so long IMHO. Further expansions will come soon once the engine is done and OK (and sells well of course).

Maraz

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by 6S.Maraz

Oleg is going to release a new game engine that must last for ten years, plus some aircraft and one map. The core of SoW:BoB will be the new engine, that's why it's taking so long IMHO. Further expansions will come soon once the engine is done and OK (and sells well of course).

Maraz

I agree.. to a point.. I think that considering this sim has lasted for 7 years (IL2) and it is basically 3 fronts... if Oleg was smart.. which of course I think he is... he will have a plan already set... BoB, France, Med, Pacific (maybe in 2 parts), the push east into Germany... and of course the Eastern front.. who knowes.. we will see thats for sure..

[proton45]

I believe that once the "core" is done that add-ons will be coming fast and furious (we may even see some add-ons that we don't like...LOL)... we may see some decent user add-on/mods too (once the tools are released).

Don't forget that Korea is coming down the pipe... and who knows, their might be some company out their that will feel inspired to build a decent WW1 sim off of the new engine.

[Xiola]

The more detail in the game, the longer everything takes.

Dont expect planes to come as fast as they did in IL2.

The Battle of Britian is an excellent choice for the first in the series. It was the biggest air battle in the world up to that date, and one that had a massive impact on WW2.

You wouldnt make a whole game around the air battles above Poland or Czechoslovakia because they were smaller, and the planes not very well balanced. Hopefully some of these will be added later. The BOB is the sensible place to start a new series, also the planes are so well balanced as to create a great game/sim.

I dont really like PAcific flying compared to other theatres, but I will be glad to have them in the sim.

[csThor]

Posted by nearmiss:
I don't think the Battle of Britain is a a bad choice. I do think if the Pacific Theatre was seriously improved it would have been a better choice.

That's entirely up to each and every single simmer to decide. I somehow doubt Oleg's "home market" as well as the european one would have been enthusiastic about it ... not to mention the large number of objects Maddox Games would have to produce. My 0,02 € ...

[IceFire]

The easy solution is to update Battle of Britain after release with variants used in 1941 or even 1942. That'd mean Spitfire V, Hurricane II, Mustang I, Typhoon, Bf109E-7, Bf109F, FW190A-1 2 or 3, Boston...anything else that you can think of that was used in the channel war. The map would be the same or largely the same and we'd get allot more variation. Of the list only about half I mentioned would be totally new (and most would be useful later in the series anyways). Between a Spit II/V or a Hurricane II and the earlier variations is not very much if you have a dedicated art team working on them.

I'm happy no matter what really...BoB is a wonderful and logical place to start so long as people keep an open mind and don't discount it because they don't have a Mustang to fly right away.