New planes requests (from other threads/please pin it)

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by sniperton

Agree. Eastern ETO is basically complete, there's little to be done there, except updating some very old models (which would be a huge work BTW).

There are a few rare birds which could be added to the Eastern Front, and of course, more planes made flyable. Filling in the gaps for the Soviets: Yer-2, Ar-2, Be-4, Yak-6, UT-2, and more Pe-2, and I-16. For the Germans: He-112, He-50, He-46, DFS 230, a variety of medium bomber types, and filling in the gaps for the Hungarian and Romanian AF.

Originally Posted by sniperton

PTO, on the contrary, and sadly, will never be complete and well-balanced due to the NG issue.

It depends. For late war US naval ops, we're screwed by NG. For US Army, Australian, Chinese, Dutch, Indian, New Zealand, and Royal Navy ops in the SW Pacific, CBI, Aleutians, and Japanese home islands, from 1941-45, and Sino-Japanese ops from 1937-41, there are entire theaters of war literally uncharted (as in, no maps for them) and dozens of planes which still aren't in the game.

Historically, the Japanese were dominant during the early war, and the allies dominated in the late war, but the individual planes used were more or less competitive. (e.g., Hurricane Mk. II vs. Ki-43, P-40N vs. Ki-44, P-51H vs. Ki-84)

Originally Posted by sniperton

What remains as a prospective field for improvement is MTO (perhaps with BoF and BoB added and proper attention paid to naval warfare). The Med was won by the Allied by gaining naval and aerial superiority almost hand in hand.

Currently, this seems like the easiest area for IL2 to expand into, since many of the necessary maps already exist, and most of the planes required are already in the game. The only real weakness in the MTO order of battle is the lack of early- to mid-war UK aircraft, although there would be some French, German, Italian, and US aircraft which would be very nice to have.

Another promising area for the game would be Western Front Ops over the North Sea, English Channel, and Bay of Biscay from 1941-44. Many of the necessary maps, ships, and planes already exist. The only gaps are for the UK, and a very few necessary planes for the Germans.