Hey TD!!

[Bearcat]

You know guys.... I think 4.12 is the first stock version of the sim that I have been able to really get into since the pre mod era and I think it is also the first stock version, for me at least, to really be able to hold it's own against a modded version of the sim. I hope I am not insulting you guys with this and it is not seen as a backhanded complement because it is not meant that way at all .. but up until 4.12 there were always things with the modded versions of the sim that I just preferred and would rather not do without.. but in 4.12 you guys have crossed a line. I can't speak for anyone else but myself on this but while I do miss some of the extra "stuff" in my modded HSFX 6.0.17 version when I fly 4.12 stock.. this is the absolutely positively best official version of this sim to date bar none and I cannot say that enough. It is a living testament to everything that IL2 has been and can be and the fact that you guys are doing this on your own time and for free makes it even more precious. I have been flying 4.12 now almost exclusively since it came out.. even online with the squad when we do our Friday night thing.. and while I am looking forward to HSFX X.x whenever it arrives.. in previous years, even as recently as a year ago when 4.11 was released I would have been flying my modded install more than the stock install by now .. I know this old girl is long in the tooth .. but you guys have kept her still a hottie and frankly I can't tell if she is a cougar or just middle aged. I know there are new sims on the horizon and that eventually IL2 will go the way old software does... but you guys deserve a toast and a beer from every virtual pilot who ever took to the skies in IL2 because you have kept it alive with our efforts. Everytime that you guys come out with a patch we take another step toward a more unified IL2 community .. I just wanted to say thanks again.... I mean really thanks.. because I am still blown away by the fact that I am even still doing this after all these years .. but the fact that it is actually getting better.. that this 12+ year old engine is actually getting better and more fun... why that is just an amazing thing to me.

No matter what comes down the pike over the next few years.. IL2 will go down as the greatest WWII combat flight sim ever for a long long time because regardless to what is coming .. it will have a ways to go before it can do what this sim has done as far as being a total WWII experience on that next generation flight sim level .. and that longevity is in no small part due to the work that you guys have done over the past few years to keep a standard alive..

I salute you. ~!S!~