Tree, it's not really rocket science if you look a bit deeper. The reason IL2 and SoW are not really competing products for someone who has the hardware to run both is simply, but a lot of people miss it: SoW will by all indications be much better in visuals, FM and DM, but its initial scope as far as aircraft, time periods and theaters of operation go will be vastly inferior to what IL2 has. Just like IL2 started almost 10 years ago with a handful of aircraft and only the Russian front, i used to alternate between flying IL2 and European Air War to get my ETO fix. SoW and IL2 will end up being competing products no doubt at some point, but for that to happen SoW has to be released and updated to include 3-4 major theaters with the corresponding planesets. At that point we'll probably be far enough into the SoW life-cycle that not a lot of people will care either way, as SoW will be making sales for full price while IL2 will sell for less than $10 if at all. So i don't see Oleg's team losing any money as a result.

My personal assumptions as to why IL2 continues to receive new toys is as follows:

1) SoW will be a very flexible engine, but too complicated for people to get to grips right away, even if it features support for modding and tools for administering the use of said mods.

2) SoW has higher standards for aircraft modelling, both in FM/DM and grapchics.

3) As a result, it will take quite some time before we get a representative planeset for each of the major theaters, even more so for covering the entire length of the war in each one.

So, what will the guys who like flying PTO or late war rides do in the mean time?

The answer is simple, they will fly SoW but they'll still keep flying IL2 as well to get their fix of a particular time in a particular theater. I can't wait for SoW but i can't wait for night bombing missions with radar in an IL2 DF server either.

So, what does Oleg gain by supporting TD? He keeps his customer base happy, or at the very least busy, by providing them an incentive to fly IL2 a little longer, at least until their favorite era and theaters make it to SoW. He also gets to "train" a team of external associates and build a foundation for cooperation that could be extended to SoW later on. He also manages to do all this completely free.

It's smart marketing, it shows appreciation to the community for sticking with this sim for so long and keeping this game alive and if someone could be perceived as receiving the short end of the stick, that would be TD.
Oleg gets all the above for free, we get a bunch of add ons for free, but TD is the one who does all the hard work and has to put up with our speculation, requests and whining on top of that :roll:

On a more positive note, we saw what Oleg gains from the deal, let's see what TD gains. Their work will not go to waste once SoW is released. Even if SoW was complete and on our hard-drives tomorrow, a lot of people would keep flying IL2 as well, for the reasons i described above. And by working with closely with Oleg, they might gain enough experience to keep on contributing during SoW's life cycle.
If they are good enough and SoW is as flexible and customizable as we've been led to believe, they might even be able to get an endorsement by Oleg for developing other theaters or even other wars, selling them as their own product and making some money from it. Who knows, maybe they'll be able to do a WWI sim based on the SoW engine, or a Spanish civil war sim. Definitely not a waste.

I really wish them luck and want to thank them for doing what they do. I'm sure a large part of the community is waiting with anticipation to see first-hand the results of their work.

BOB SOW is step up into warp drive above IL2.

The IL2 code leak is the best thing for all, because Oleg is so dedicated with all efforts concentrated on SOW.

So, don't think he is worried about the 10+ year old IL2 taking his SOW thunder.

Nearmiss, having just seen the DT logo, I must apologize to have always spelled it wrongly, being it Daidalos with an O and not Daidalus with an U:(. Is it possible to correct at least the thread title? Thank you.

Then, I’m glad and grateful that TD people took the time to read this thread. I hope that they found something useful in our posts, amid some wild speculation, and that they can feel our appreciation for their work.
As I’ve already said, I don’t think there will be any competition between Il2 and SOW. SOW will be a quantum leap over IL2 and, I think, over any other sim. But this is future. Here and now, we have Il2 alive and well, and I look forward to see all the improvements that TD will deliver. I’ve already said “thank you” to all of them? Well I say it again: thank you! I wish they could be rewarded for all their work and that, when SOW will come, they will have a role alongside 1C.

Thats just a weak guess. Il-2 was/is a milestone in flightsim history. And it was Olegs very first flightsim and a huge success. I doubt, he would just abandon it in his mind. No, I think he likes, that we care for it - its like knowing his first child in good hands, while he is busy with the new one.

EDIT: sorry, I just recognised, that I misunderstood your last sentence. No, I don't think, he worries about this issue. Still there are the restrictions (i.e. no BoB content), but you will agree, these are slightly understandable.


As for myself - I'm not a modder. There isn't just modders and Oleg in this world. If you want so, every guy in Olegs team is a modder, as they as well model, program, invent. No, I call myself a 3rd party modeler, since I was doing this for Oleg, Ilya and others years before the game was hacked, paid and not paid.
So I (and some others as well) already had a good relationship with Oleg, that has nothing to do with the issue 'modding'.

About restrictions, that we might get from Oleg - these are the same as always before - bringing new content in the quality status, that is required by Oleg, no FM or DM changings on given content (yet), not touching the Grumman issue and leaving the work amount for Oleg as low as possible.

Sidenote about existing FM, DM, weapon changings: We are thinking about such issues as well. But we will discuss such with Oleg and if he doesn't agree, partially or generally - it will not happen.
For 4.09 there will be no such changings on existing 4.08 content.

Just a question. Do Daidalus plan to unlock ai for dogfight-servers and dedi just like zuti does with his MDF ( Moving Dog Fight ) Mod?

Great to hear

Ok so v4.10m is on the horizon I hope Oleg agrees to correcting the existing problems, oh dont forget to fix the He111 ground handling too :)

Cheers

I think that triggers represent the biggest improvement brought by TD 4.09:grin:.
Would they be implemented also in dynamic campaign generators? Could they be used to improve AI behavior? For example, orders like “Return to base immediately” are always ignored...

I would like to have a realistic numbering system.
Not only the present system, with orderly tactical numbers (1-2-3-4-5-6, etc.) is unrealistic but it’s confusing with radio calls. Sometimes, radio calls “red 1” and there are three or four of them around...

Daidalus Team...just a big thanks to all of you!!!

There is a problem with the interviews, that were published few weeks ago.
While it was indeed stated correctly there, I must admit, that it wasn't very clearly, so that many people mismatched the content of 4.09 and the things we are working on for probable future packages. Triggers, as well as the radar are NOT part of 4.09 AND they were only a few of some relly nice new ideas, we are currently developing!

I have no idea about DCG, some other member can give you a proper answer maybe. Sorry.

As for AI - we also adress some of its weak points. Thats a separat project, I'm as well not personally involved in, so do not know any details.

If anyone is asking himself, what the hell I am doing then - I'm modeling, mostly cockpits. ;)