Mini-update from devs

[jibo]

777 may very well do a less hardcore sim, EAW type game, we have room for that and it would be great, but jason is more interested into jet sim for now

[Strike]

It just recently slipped into my head now. What would it be like, piloting the B-17, in IL-2 CloD expansion in the future? Think about it. 10 crew positions, full switch cockpit, norden bombsight, .50 cal turrets, damage model!!!, fire extinguishers, perhaps manual opening of bomb-bays and lowering of wheels in a different crew-position than the pilot's view. You could basically release a SINGLE third party expansion and call it B-17. Fly huge online Co-ops over germany/france against 190's, 109's and such.


Or imagine skimming the wavetops in a F4U firing those six .50's at japanese merchants etc with advanced ship damage models, perhaps set off internal cargo such as munitions etc.


Or fly an IL-2 over the russian farmland hunting for armor divisions and roll in on the attacks strafing, firing rockets all over the place.

I just cannot wait until the day the first expansion is released, say you get to climb into a 109 F-4 trop version or something and fly over the med, hunting gladiators, hurricanes, spits and such.

The future could/will be AWESOME!!

[Rattlehead]

Originally Posted by Strike

It just recently slipped into my head now. What would it be like, piloting the B-17, in IL-2 CloD expansion in the future? Think about it. 10 crew positions, full switch cockpit, norden bombsight, .50 cal turrets, damage model!!!, fire extinguishers, perhaps manual opening of bomb-bays and lowering of wheels in a different crew-position than the pilot's view.

Piloting one of those huge bombers like the B-17 and B-24 is something I have been aching to do for a very long time.
If we get the chance in the new Il-2 I will be one seriously happy camper.

[David Hayward]

Flyable B-17 would be VERY cool. Does anyone know why they never included it in IL-2?

[IceFire]

Originally Posted by David Hayward

Flyable B-17 would be VERY cool. Does anyone know why they never included it in IL-2?

It's a huge amount of work to make one? Several gunner positions plus the cockpit, bombsight and if they were to do it right the navigators position possibly too. A big job... several people in the third party arena have started B-17 projects but I've never seen or heard about one being finished.

So that would be why.

Plus as far as being useful in multiple theaters around World War II (Africa, Pacific, Europe, China/Burma, etc.) the B-24 is the real workhorse.

[David Hayward]

Originally Posted by IceFire

It's a huge amount of work to make one? Several gunner positions plus the cockpit, bombsight and if they were to do it right the navigators position possibly too. A big job... several people in the third party arena have started B-17 projects but I've never seen or heard about one being finished.

So that would be why.

Plus as far as being useful in multiple theaters around World War II (Africa, Pacific, Europe, China/Burma, etc.) the B-24 is the real workhorse.

I understand the time issues. It just seems like a flyable B-17 would have been worth the time. Same goes for the B-24.

[Ctrl E]

Any chance we could get a proper update on the timeframe for the next patch and what it will likely include?

[dali]

It is becoming more and more apparent, that COD has no future. The ammount of things which are not working as they should is just growing each day as people play it longer and longer. I like some parts of it, but generaly, is it realy big step from IL-2? I don't think so. Its not just the stuttering, low fps and other "technical" problems, this sim is missing a complete roadmap, to me it looks like a trip without a plan. And this insight from ex programmer (is it a coincidence that another key person announced his new plans at aproximately same time?) just shows that at certain point in development certain features were disabled (clouds for instance) because the thing was unplayable... I've done a lot of beta testing in my life for several projects, some games, some serious stuff, and COD at the time of release was just not ready, could be called advanced alpha at the best....and I more and more belive, that it never will be ready, because its not only the "broken" stuff which could be improved, but it is the general feeling which is, I'm sorry to say, pretty negative.

What keeps me wondering is emphesise on wrong features. Who the hell needs rolling grass, tank gun recoil, trains modeled in extreme detail, whole map of SE England..but at the same time blunt sounds, problematic AI and FM, tracers, envronemt (weather), game content are named placeholders?

Recent development is certainly not reasuring.

Before fanboys launch their attacks...I have quite a lot of flying time under my belt, from gliders to jet aircraft and considerable experience in project managment and execution...and I played Il-2 series from day one...

[Strike]

Yeah like I said. We already have 4 engined planes in CloD, we could certainly do with a B-17, lancaster or something alike to be able to carry out some industrial bombing. It would be awe-inspiring to see the world of IL-2 through a pilot/gunners point of view, especially with the nice new flak effects and ground explosions. Makes for a much more realistic setting too with the new damage model. You could sit inside the B-17 and look out of the gaping holes from your gunners position :p would be awesome!

[Lixma]

I've been really pleased to see the bombers so well represented in CoD. There really wasn't any need for the Br-20 in the scheme of things and yet there it is. Hopefully the trend will continue. If the series moves to mid/late-war Europe then maybe a 'Heavies' expansion pack might be in order.