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Old 06-21-2010, 05:06 AM
csThor csThor is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Burdokva View Post
If you don't mind, I would like to give an opinion on your comment. Just to note, I've shortened the quote just to be more precise and focus on the thing's I'll elaborate on. To be honest, it's entirely valid.
Of course I don't mind. Message Boards are there to have a conversation or discussion, after all.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Burdokva View Post
There has been no Balkans map and, as far as I know, there currently aren't plans for any. Which is a shame. It's a theater of war that's been heavily overlooked. While Bulgaria did not take part in the invasion of the USSR (pleasantly surprised you're aware of that fact, as most Westerns don't seem to be) the home defense campaign against the 15th USAAF was a large enough affair that involved thousands of planes over the course of an entire year. Plus, the VnVV (Bulgarian His Majesty's Air Forces) were involved in other operations too - anti-partisan, escorting Axis convoys and protecting the Bulgarian coast against Soviet submarines and surface ships and reccon flights over the White/Aegean Sea and Medditerrenean.

Lastly, while I don't know if it'll be a great incentive, but Il-2 does have a strong fanbase here (I'm a Bulgarian national) and many people are still hoping that there would be at least some sort of representation of the theater and our air force - I'm still keeping fingers crossed for a TD Balkans map....
If there were such a map in the making then it might make sense, but ATM we do have one aircraft type used by the Bulgarian Air Force (the Bf 109) for home defense plus the Ar-196 as AI. Not much WRT the aircraft pool, although it might be sufficient ... if there were a map.
I am a strict believer in historical accuracy and relevance ... and in a cohesive depiction of the operations. Which means to me there has to be a balance between the pure aircraft pool, the map, sea and ground objects and other "negligible details" such as the right units, awards and the right speech pack. Then, and only then, any kind of player can utilize the things available in every way he wishes - they can be connected in a historical campaign, in a single mission, in a simple DF map, in a Coop ... Simply adding individual and unconnected aspects simply pleases the loud minority of DF players, most of which prefer the "sportive" DF with little regard to historical accuracy, but do not provide a solid playground for historically-minded offline players (like myself).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Burdokva View Post
One that would also be very welcomed by Romanians, I'm sure - after all, the main target of the 15th AF in the Balkans wasn't Sofia, or even Bucharest, but the Ploesti oil refineries.
A sensible map for such ops would have to include a most of Romania, a good deal of Yugoslavia and parts of Greece, too. If we were to limit the potential to campaigns of the ARR, that is. If you want to include the USAAF then the map has to have bases available in North Africa and I am quite sure that such dimensions would overwhelm the Il-2 engine. Not to mention that there's a ban on any realistic maps of the MTO in place.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Burdokva View Post
The above is valid about Croatia; but not only there's enough historic potential for campaigns, but I believe there's a fantastic modded map at an advanced stage of completion.
A croatian campaign featuring 15.(kroat)/JG 52 would be a lot more sensible since they did take part in the ops in the Caucasus in 1942/43. Flying CAS for partizan hunters in Yugoslavia isn't exactly the most thrilling of mission concepts, not to mention that Il-2 doesn't really have the means to depict them (no infantry as targets, no ability to count buildings etc as targets ...).