Friday 2011-02-04 Dev. update and Discussion

[kendo65]

Originally Posted by luthier

...
Yes. Moreover, it reacts to damage and especially losses to other planes, and may decide to run for home even if his plane is intact. Whole formations of newbies may scatter and run if you shoot down their leader etc.

Not staying to fight till death was one of the most important requirements for me for the AI. They do use real-world tactics more than in Il-2. You'll see them working in group a lot more for instance.

Absolutely awesome!

As others have commented - getting all this information is worth more than the screenshots. Can almost hear the collective sigh of relief after some of the recent disappointing news.

One further question on AI - one of my big annoyances in il2 was AI wingmen suddenly breaking formation in a headlong charge at the enemy as soon as they come into sight. Is it possible in COD to have them wait orders before breaking formation?

Originally Posted by luthier

Our engine model is insanely compelx. I dare say it's the most complex engine model in any game of any genre by far. There's multiple points of interest for every piston, every cylinder, every hose, every exhaust, etc. The guy who wrote it can build an internal combustion engine from scratch in his garage. Working on engines is a huge hobby of his.
So rest assured that cooling, overheating, combat damage, or normal operation of our engines is as precise and as detailed as you'll ever see in any game in the next several years.

[klem]

Originally Posted by luthier

...........
Our engine model is insanely compelx. I dare say it's the most complex engine model in any game of any genre by far. There's multiple points of interest for every piston, every cylinder, every hose, every exhaust, etc. The guy who wrote it can build an internal combustion engine from scratch in his garage. Working on engines is a huge hobby of his.
So rest assured that cooling, overheating, combat damage, or normal operation of our engines is as precise and as detailed as you'll ever see in any game in the next several years.

Luthier, have you seen the new A2A Simulations Spitfire? It's for FSX so I don't think you'll mind me mentioning it here?

It has the full start up procedure including mixture, prop, loading start cartridges, Air tank, oxygen management, etc and a real need to manage rpm, boost and radiator to avoid engine overheat/coolant loss and wear.

Does the CoD Spitfire go to anywhere near that level? (and if so it can presumably be dumbed down if not wanted).

If the engine management is that critical it is going to make air combat a whole new ball-game (and presumably for all the other aircraft).

Originally Posted by klem

Luthier, have you seen the new A2A Simulations Spitfire? It's for FSX so I don't think you'll mind me mentioning it here?

It has the full start up procedure including mixture, prop, loading start cartridges, Air tank, oxygen management, etc and a real need to manage rpm, boost and radiator to avoid engine overheat/coolant loss and wear.

Does the CoD Spitfire go to anywhere near that level? (and if so it can presumably be dumbed down if not wanted).

If the engine management is that critical it is going to make air combat a whole new ball-game (and presumably for all the other aircraft).

Cool...Can you fire different kind of ammo with it ?

Thanks !

[House M.D.]

Bets update so far!
Keep it coming Ilya!

[luthier]

Originally Posted by klem

Luthier, have you seen the new A2A Simulations Spitfire? It's for FSX so I don't think you'll mind me mentioning it here?

It has the full start up procedure including mixture, prop, loading start cartridges, Air tank, oxygen management, etc and a real need to manage rpm, boost and radiator to avoid engine overheat/coolant loss and wear.

Does the CoD Spitfire go to anywhere near that level? (and if so it can presumably be dumbed down if not wanted).

We always held the opinion that complex start-up procedures are a waste of our time.

Everyone else does them as gimmicks. What you see is just a simple sequence of "press button A to press button B to press button C to press button D to enable pressing Start Engine." They don't model the individual systems involved. Neither do we, and we don't want to pretend that we do. We don't do gimmicks.

All the hotspots in our cockpit work. All the controls are animated. You can set fuel cock levers and work the priming pump and flick the magnetos and all. Do that if you like, or don't. We feel that most people will only try that once, if at all.

The systems we do model are crucial however. Watching the gauges and controlling mixture, prop pitch and radiator is essential. Our office is obviously filled with Il-2 online veterans, and for a while we could only play online with Complex Engine Management disabled completely. We could barely fly the Spitfire, and the 109 not at all. We fly with CEM on now, but we still to this day fly with Overheating disabled because damn it is hard!

[luthier]

Also, will you please stop asking about weathering on the 109? It's always been there. I just like them new and shiny.

[|ZUTI|]

Mr. luthier, Oleg.

I have a question regarding third party stuff. Maps in particular. In the past, when these Friday updates started to be a regular thing Oleg mentioned that you guys will allow smaller 3rd party maps to be loaded in the game. But that this will be available after the initial release (not that long after that) and it is still undecided about the size of these maps.

Anything new about this? Still on your road map? Because, looking at the terrain, well, I can only imagine what beautiful maps one could create.

Thanks and good luck.

[PilotError]

Thanks for the update.

And a huge thanks for all these answers you are giving us, Oleg and Luthier.

It has been a very interesting weekend.

Of course, you are just making it all the harder for us to wait untill release day.

the wind won't change the direction? hm

So the windsocks will only go up and down and we won't have to wait until the wind is in the right direction on start ups. Was actually looking forward to that.

I'm hoping to see that feature some time after release.

P.S This is definately the perfect dev update. Thank you for your effort.

[major_setback]

Originally Posted by luthier

All the hotspots in our cockpit work. All the controls are animated. You can set fuel cock levers and work the priming pump and flick the magnetos and all. Do that if you like, or don't. We feel that most people will only try that once, if at all.

...

I will certainly use it. Not all the time, just the same way as I didn't like to fly in MSFS all the time. But sometimes you don't want to fight, you just want to fly. If that can becomes as realistic as possible then it is a totally different game, and a different type of immersion. I like both these games. I think quite a few of us feel the same.

This will draw MSFS users to the game, and possibly save me from using MSFS again.

Question: Are the AI now 'blind' when they are in/behind a cloud? (I know it was planned, but I would be interested to know if it will make the initial release).