Time to pull trigger on IL2 COD?

[d.burnette]

Hey gang,

It has been a long time, have been away for a while. I figure this is probably the most appropriate section, as my biggest concern would be performance, after COD was released, I kept up somewhat with the early reports, and decided to hold off for a while. I have IL2 1946, and used to fly it very regularly for a few years. I certainly have had, many many hours of great enjoyment out of that sim. My favorite flight sim genre would have to be WWII combat, any theatre.

I have been mostly flying civilian flight sims the last year or so, namely FSX and most recently Flight by MS. But my desire and want for a good WWII combat system, is getting stronger again and I need to do something.

So anyway, to the present. Back when I was checking this forum, was before even the USA release. After quick perusal, it would appear much of the early performance issues have been resolved, and sounds like there is a big update coming here very soon, that will resolve even more? Can one get decent offline air to air combat now, without becoming a slideshow with fairly decent graphics? Is the gameplay at least as good, if not better hopefully, than IL2 1946?
Also, I presume the sim still has to come through Steam as it was early on? I have a Steam account, have not used in a while, never was a big fan of it - but I can live with it. I am really only interested, in offline play if that makes any difference.

My computer specs are listed in my sig, also note that I am probably going to be upgrading my GTX 460 to a GTX 560 TI here in the next couple of weeks.

So anyway, I really want to get back into WWII combat simming, and being how much I loved IL2 I am thinking COD is probably the only way to go.

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,