[Furio]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

That's where the tension of IL2 as a "sandbox sim" - useable in many different ways - begins to show.

Some people want non-historical missions where the Axis and the Allies are evenly matched until 1945 and beyond, complete with "what if" designs which never made it beyond the prototype stage.

Some people want historical missions where after 1943 it becomes a curb-stomp for the Allies.

Both groups are correct, but who are you going to develop content for?

The problem of balancing – or unbalancing – is around from day one, I believe, and is hard to control. A couple of examples: in the early days of Barbarossa, VVS suffered enormous losses, being numerically superior and inferior in quality of planes. Main factors were bad organization, wrong decisions by leaders, and inexperience of pilots and unit commanders. It’s not easy – to understate it – to recreate this situation with simple mission building tools and AI planes.
In the last days of war, Luftwaffe suffered from lack of experienced pilots and fuel. Again: how can you recreate this situation with simple mission building tools and AI planes? You should include missions with player’s plane sitting on the ground with empty tanks…
As I see it, at the moment the most efficient solution is to concentrate on theatres and scenarios historically balanced: North Africa 1942, Pacific 1942-43, Russia 1943, etc. My opinion, of course.
What-ifs are a viable and attractive way out, with many enjoyable possibilities. It’s a matter of measure, I think. Fantasy planes, many of which populate 1946, should be avoided, I believe.

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

There are a few campaigns that end that way. And, if you don't like that outcome you just take off, fly around a bit, land again and say that you've completed the mission to finish the campaign. (Realistically, that could happen - sometimes kamikazes couldn't find their targets and had to return to base.)

So, I stand corrected: there are actually players ready for a special attack, or to cheat the Emperor.

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

The problem here is that IL2 doesn't allow you to switch sides in the middle of a campaign. You'd need two different campaigns.

That’s a limitation deserving a solution, I think. The same side switching happened in Finland, France (twice, in theory), Romania and other places (such as Slovak insurgency) and countries (such as Croatia). And I didn’t mention what if side switching, such as an anti-Soviet alliance, actually considered by Winston Churchill…