15th winter flying IL2 Sturmovik.

[Marabekm]

Well I think a few things happened.

The first is most players on hyperlobby now, all want to jump in the cockpit of something with cannons, jam throttle forward and take-off in whatever direction they are pointing. If its more than a 3 minute flight before their guns are firing its to long. Even the bomber pilots are the same way, and there better not be any AAA at enemy targets. Its all about points, and how quickly and easily to get them.

But because these are the majority of players, the servers cater to their wants and needs. And I don't blame the servers. You need fliers, so do what will attract the most players.

Speaking of servers, the so called historical ones are a joke. Did the map builders do their research for missions on these servers? The answer is an apparent NO. But again it comes down to players. There is a common misconception that for aircraft to "balanced" that each side has to use aircraft from same year. And that on say January 1st of 1943, all aircraft referred to as being from 1942 ceased to exist. I really wished there was a way to remove year entirely from aircraft name.

Also a lot of the servers are not updating game to latest version. Choose to be mod friendly instead.

See there a almost no options remaining for the players that 1.) Enjoy flying just as much as combat. and 2.) Like hard settings. 3.) Don't use mods.
So these players have either moved on to something else, or fly offline.

Not trying to tell anyone how to play. Its a game, play however you want.