Would you rather have a new Battle of X that follows BOM and BOS(plane capabilities) or would you like something new?

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Now that BoM is actually released I'm curious how far are we from the announcement of the next expansion 

[Blooddawn1942]

C'mon guys. Just announce the battle of Kuban already and spare us the endless steppe of Kursk.

I just want mountains and the shores of the Black Sea and naval action together with one or two lend and lease aircrafts.

Edited May 19, 2016 by Blooddawn1942

[LLv24_Zami]

Blacksix stated in the patch thread that they have not decided yet.

 

I have my favourite and it's Kuban. Clearly they have hard decision to make. What ever it is I hope it's the best for this awesome sims future.

 

I'm in anyway, have had so much fun with BoS&BoM already

[Voidhunger]

After the two WW2 games it will be good to make ROF2

[NooneYouKnow]

 Finish out the Eastern Front. Right through to Berlin. The Western Front has been done to death over the years. The Pacific would be nice. After the Russians get their due recognition of course.

[Gambit21]

I'll just quot myself from another thread on the whole "Done to Death" fallacy

 

 

First....with respect, this whole "done to death" narrative always makes me laugh. No offense, on one hand I know what you mean, but I don't think people really think

this through when they type that. I've read this typed by many others over the years, so nothing here is directed at you personally.

 

That said - as if we've had ANY THEATER represented flawlessly, with full immersion, heavy levels of ground action, realistic levels of air activity, realistic bomber boxes, realistic base activity, etc with a current gen

game engine. Hmm...not so much as it turns out.

There's always room to come along and do it better than last time. No simulation has ever offered the whole package, including this current one.

 

Second...

To carry the logic to it's conclusion - we had the Western Front with Chuck Yeager's old flight sim right?, so I guess there was no reason for Oleg to come along and give it to us with the drastically updated engine.

We already have IL2 1946, so no reason for this team to be re-creating I guess? Turns out we're always hungry for improvement, be that graphics, physics, maps, or anything else

mentioned above. 

 

So let's let the whole disengenous, erroneous and utterly silly "Done to death" narrative die already. It doesn't apply

to combat flight sims unless you think a particular theater having been represented at some point with an older game engine somehow satisfies current needs.

 

"I had a version of this years ago, so I don't need a vastly improved and expanded version of it now or any time in the future"

Nobody with any sense thinks or says this - and I don't think you feel this way either Rabitsky, just to be clear.

 

 

Lastly, the Pacific.

No place in the war did you have what occurred almost daily over Guadalcanal.

Not in the ferocity of the daily fighting in the air, not with the uniqueness of aircraft involved, and certainly not with regard to the parity in forces that occurred.

The parity in forces is huge.

 

Long distances - Pfff! Flying from Bodney to Berlin isn't long?

A map doesn't have to be full scale, the player wouldn't know any better if it was scaled down - flight times can be long, but not LOOOONG.

Long distance flights are part of flying, and part of the immersion factor, just so long as there's a way to mitigate them. Time compression, scale.

 

That said I'm not sure this engine would handle even a half size slot map. It's a hurdle for sure.

Pacific is the money shot though IMHO. There's just nothing else like Zeke vs Wildcat - I get mad just thinking about it and realizing I might

never get to fly my beloved Zeke again. 'sniff'

 

The last time I was able to fly escort for, or attack a reasonably sized bomber box (still not approaching real life proportions) was European Air War.

Done to death? Not so much.

[6./ZG26_McKvack]

Yes north Africa is good we have me109, mc202, P-40E, ju87 and so on instead we need Gloster gladiator, Spitfire V, Hurricane mkI/II

Savoia Marchetti 79, Cr42, and G50, and my prefert Tomawak...this is a dream...

...aaaand the 52 :D

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

The devs need to make a McKvack DLC. It only has the Ju-52, plus some unlocks like light bombs and a couple of extra skins

 

Gambit, in terms of ferocity of battles and parity of forces Kuban gives you all that. The Soviet Air Force and the Axis forces were throwing their best fighter and bomber groups into the fight. Many of the most famous fighter aces made their mark there, Pokryshkin and Hartmann being only two examples. The distances there were very short though, which makes for extremely fiery combat that really only stops when you clean the area of enemies.

[7.GShAP/Silas]

Gambit, in terms of ferocity of battles and parity of forces Kuban gives you all that. The Soviet Air Force and the Axis forces were throwing their best fighter and bomber groups into the fight. Many of the most famous fighter aces made their mark there, Pokryshkin and Hartmann being only two examples. The distances there were very short though, which makes for extremely fiery combat that really only stops when you clean the area of enemies.

 

 

This.  Not to mention operational variety and beautiful Black Sea scenery!

[Elem]

This.  Not to mention operational variety and beautiful Black Sea scenery!

This has my vote too! Loved it in IL-2 Classic. That map in the DN engine would be gorgeous!

Edited May 27, 2016 by Elem

[Gambit21]

The devs need to make a McKvack DLC. It only has the Ju-52, plus some unlocks like light bombs and a couple of extra skins

 

Gambit, in terms of ferocity of battles and parity of forces Kuban gives you all that. The Soviet Air Force and the Axis forces were throwing their best fighter and bomber groups into the fight. Many of the most famous fighter aces made their mark there, Pokryshkin and Hartmann being only two examples. The distances there were very short though, which makes for extremely fiery combat that really only stops when you clean the area of enemies.

I see what you're saying

Still not quite the same as the Zeke/Wildcat dynamic...and no Betty's and float planes...and it's more Eastern Front.

But yeah, Kuban would be my choice if we had to stay in the EF.

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

I think the dynamics bit enters taste - I find it incredible to see the American and British designs employed within Soviet doctrine in a strictly tactical environment.

 

There were actually multiple floatplanes in the theatre, mainly MBR-2s doing recon, hunting down Axis shipping and striking landing barges, with CANT and Dornier designs for the Axis side doing SAR, ferrying troops back and forth with other roles. Not sure if the Ju-52 with floats was there, but it's possible.

 

I just feel like it would be the perfect follow up to the Stalingrad campaign since it was a theatre directly affected by it. Perhaps the ideal way to do it would be to get Kuban to colour the 1941-1943 GPW timeline then introduce the USAAF/Commonwealth, probably in a Pacific format with the addition of a Med map. The Luftwaffe would be fully fleshed out in 1941-1943, the VVS would have most major types as well, and adding the Pacific aircraft plus aircraft in Soviet service so far you would get a pretty detailed 'WW2 1941-1943' set.

[Cpt_Cool]

My opinion is that the goal should be to diversify the product.  Cover all the bases first, and then fill in the gaps.  Kuban Kursk, or even Med or N Africa might seem like the "logical next step" because of the aircraft already developed, and the similarities between the theaters.  Perhaps counter intuitive, I believe that the best choice would be the theater with the fewest similarities to what we have now.  Any new aircraft for Kuban, Kursk, Med, Africa would be very cool but I have 109 fatigue.  Does anyone think more versions of the same aircraft is the best way to increase the player base?  26 people online last evening on all servers combined is not what this title deserves.  Obviously it takes more resources to do what I am suggesting, but I would much rather wait the increased development time (and smack down more $$$ on the table) for something completely new (PTO).

[-NW-ChiefRedCloud]

I think the Kuban, Kursk or Murmansk would all be a good place to go but what I would like to see starting with close to the time of the pre order of the next series what ever it is would be a free to play version of BoS with the Lagg, F-4, Ju-87 and IL2 from BoS as free aircraft on the small Lapino map. Eliminate the Premium Edition for BoS altogether and add the two peremium planes and the extra maps to the Standard Edition of BoS. If you had the F2P version then the 4 planes in the F2P version would already be in your hangar. If you did not DL the F2P version and bought the standard version, when it updated it would put the F2P content in. Pricing on BoM would remain as it is now. I believe that this would be a very good thinbg for the marketing of the sim... 

 

I like this idea ....

 

Chief

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

You know what I miss from the older days of gaming? Demos. Stuff like a downloadable version that had only two single missions per side, featuring the aircraft you mentioned, over the Stalingrad map.

 

That way a person can get a feel of the game and buy it if they like it.

[ShamrockOneFive]

Sounds like there is a very similar discussion going on at the Russian version of the forum.

 

BlackSix said this:

 

 

It is likely that before the end of May we will determine and report it as "everything is OK, we have decided."

Because for the full announcement is necessary to prepare a bunch of materials and it is desirable to open a pre-order immediately, but this time.

 

That's Google translating the page so it may not be quite 100%. I'm going to guess that the devs will have locked down the next phase of the project either by now or in the next few weeks, will start promotional materials and then announce the next chapter sometime after that along with the usual pre-order. So we may know what the next phase will look like in the next couple of months perhaps.

[LLv44_Damixu]

You know what I miss from the older days of gaming? Demos. Stuff like a downloadable version that had only two single missions per side, featuring the aircraft you mentioned, over the Stalingrad map.

 

That way a person can get a feel of the game and buy it if they like it.

 

A big challenge for random demo tryout gamer is how to map controls even semi-satisfactory state in order to get true feeling and appreciation of this simulation. 

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

Nice find ShamrockOneFive. By the looks of it they are going to do it in the next few days, which is great news

 

EDIT: Damixu, that's a problem common of most modern flight simulators. I took a month to get Flaming Cliffs 2 to an acceptable level once it came out, and it was only after two years that I finally found peace with the joystick curves and assignments. If they shipped a small guide with it that walked the player through, it would solve the problem. Though I have to say my controls (Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS) were more than decent enough from the get-go. After a few flights I went and fiddled with it but the results were more than acceptable and I still had a lot of fun.

Edited May 27, 2016 by 55IAP_Lucas_From_Hell

[Jade_Monkey]

You know what I miss from the older days of gaming? Demos. Stuff like a downloadable version that had only two single missions per side, featuring the aircraft you mentioned, over the Stalingrad map.

 

That way a person can get a feel of the game and buy it if they like it.

I guess now that translated to the Free 2Play model (not exactly).

 

You get a taste but to really enjoy the full game you have to pay (or grind for hundreds of hours).

 

Since we already have most of the planes on the axis side for the mediterranean, why not use them and balance the allied side.

 

For example 8 allied planes and 2 new axis planes. That would really add more variety while keeping it historically accurate.

 

I do not want more 109 variants tbh. Maybe one more if its very significant but that's it.

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

You could do a F2P small N. Africa simple map with the Stuka and Bf-109F-4 from Stalingrad, and the P-40 from Moscow plus a P-39 (from Kuban, Kuban ) for the Allied side.

 

It wouldn't let people go too far without purchasing but it would be enough to lure new people in. The Eastern European market benefits from low prices and they have a budget version where you start off with two aircraft only so it makes sense to turn a possible F2P version Westwards.

 

I think the Luftwaffe side needs the 1943 versions of the Bf-109 and Fw-190 to get things going. The Bf-109G-6 in particular soldiered up until the end of the war so it is much like the P-39 and Yak-1 for the Soviet side. These aircraft came about in 1942-1943 and ended up in Berlin.

[Jade_Monkey]

I guess they tried the F2P model with ROF and decided it wasnt the best for them.

[ShamrockOneFive]

Nice find ShamrockOneFive. By the looks of it they are going to do it in the next few days, which is great news

 

 

 

Thanks! It could be that soon... but I'm not sure. That's why I'm guessing we'll definitely know in a month or two and maybe sooner but I'm guessing from what BlackSix was saying is that the team needs to create some art and at least get started on new materials before they can really talk about it. BoM announcement and pre-order launched with a decent level of information on the aircraft and what the map would be like. That definitely takes some time to get done.

 

Either way. Good news indeed... lots of speculation will be put to rest and we'll either like it or hate it or very likely both :D

[Tyberan]

I'm all for NA as well, most the aircraft we already have except the Hurricane, gladiator and the CR32, CR42 etc. I loved making desert missions in the original.

 

However I would prefer to see the Eastern front fleshed out, it was most active of all the fronts. I'm pretty much a luftwaffel fan but I want to see Yak3's, 7 and 9, aircobra's, hurricanes, etc. This is not holy selfless because eventually I want to see later versions of BF109, FW190, and my dream planes of the long nose doras and the Me262.

 

 But a Kurk would be pretty interesting too, mainly with their side project of tanks there is this possibility as well. Perhaps some realistic  Panthers, tigers, KV's etc ( I dont want WT stuff, i want fully simmed tanks). 

[CF-105]

I'm all for NA as well, most the aircraft we already have except the Hurricane, gladiator and the CR32, CR42 etc. I loved making desert missions in the original.

 

However I would prefer to see the Eastern front fleshed out, it was most active of all the fronts. I'm pretty much a luftwaffel fan but I want to see Yak3's, 7 and 9, aircobra's, hurricanes, etc. This is not holy selfless because eventually I want to see later versions of BF109, FW190, and my dream planes of the long nose doras and the Me262.

 

 But a Kurk would be pretty interesting too, mainly with their side project of tanks there is this possibility as well. Perhaps some realistic  Panthers, tigers, KV's etc ( I dont want WT stuff, i want fully simmed tanks). 

 

People say that the western-involved theaters are overdone, if we take this sim all the way from Moscow to Berlin, it will be Bf-109s IL-2s, Yaks, Pe-2s, Fw-190s and more that will be done to death.  Sure, I'd like to see jets simmed one day, but a lot of people aren't going to enjoy them if we go the direct route, because a fair amount of people probably want a break from the GPW.

I'd love to have a Dora, some Mk.108s, an IL-10, etc, soon, but I'm not sure that would happen without a western-sourced cash injection. An Italian theater would provide some excellent lend-lease models for later eastern battles.

Edited June 16, 2016 by CF-105

[MiloMorai]

Someone, Lucas??, mentioned in a post Kuban Spitfires.

 

http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/spit/

[RAY-EU]

Battle of Kursk

or Battle of Britain II

[ShamrockOneFive]

Someone, Lucas??, mentioned in a post Kuban Spitfires.

 

http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/spit/

 

This is why a number of us have suggested Kuban might be a good place to go. We can quite realistically have Spitfires and P-39s.

 

Battle of Kursk

or Battle of Britain II

 

BlackSix already said that the team isn't interested in doing the Battle of Britain. IMHO its a limited theatre anyways spanning from July 1940 to September 1940 (or perhaps November on the outside).

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

The Mk. Vb was there, briefly, and it didn't go too well which led to all Spitfires being relegated to air defence and training units. It would make for a nice premium aircraft for sure.

 

 

[KoN_]

Africa without the shimmer . 

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

Much nicer-looking scenery, and hotter fights.

[Mac_Messer]

Since we already have most of the planes on the axis side for the mediterranean, why not use them and balance the allied side.

 

For example 8 allied planes and 2 new axis planes. That would really add more variety while keeping it historically accurate.

 

I do not want more 109 variants tbh. Maybe one more if its very significant but that's it.

I disagree. There are still a lot ppl who fly one side only and such a package would not be a good deal for the LW crowd. I`d have a serious problem with paying $50 for two flyables and a map, except for maybe the version 55IAP_Lucas_From_Hell mentioned at $25-30.

 

For me the only incentive to buy more BoX titles is bringing in new LW hardware, preferably the 109G6 and Hs129 and maybe IAR and more Macchis. I do not think that the devs should abandon the flyables numerical parity between the sides, because it is a model that works imo. I have no problem with paying for a Beaufighter if someone else doesn`t have a problem with paying for IAR.

 

Not to mention this game still lacks some fieldmods.

[ACG_Invictus]

Honestly don't care what theater they go with as long as they do another one. That said, glad to hear they are not interested in a Battle of Brit II (we already have a fine BoB sim...but admit I'm a bit biased on that one *grin*).

[A-E-Hartmann]

Battle of Africa .   :P    

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

(we already have a fine BoB sim...but admit I'm a bit biased on that one *grin*).

 

I wonder why...

 

ATAG and co. have done a nice job keeping Cliffs of Dover afloat, the way it's going that thing will stay relevant for a good few years and 1C:GS will be able to spit out different material without having to worry about revisiting Dover.

 

Anyway, photo time.

 

 

A group of Soviet pilots who excelled during Spring over Kuban. First row (left to right): N. E. Lavitskiy (45 IAP), A. I. Pokryshkin (16 GIAP), I. M. Dzusov (45 IAP), D. B. Glinka (45 IAP). Second row (L to R): G. A. Rechkalov (16 GIAP), B. B. Glinka (45 IAP), I. I. Babak (45 IAP), K. G. Vishnevetskiy (298 IAP).

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

A cool paint scheme by V. Emilianenko:

 

 

Caption available in English:

 

 

A local lights her liberator a cigarette: the Red Army enters Krasnodar, February 1943.

 

 

"By a P-39K, left to right: N. Lobanov, P. Ednik, M. S. Komel'kov, K. G. Vishnevetskiy, M. S. Likhovid, A. S. Zakalyuk, A. A. Vil'yamson. Korenovskaya Airfield, April 1943."

[Mac_Messer]

My god. Looking at the faces of some of those soldiers I`m sure they drank waaaaaay too much vodka (not that I`m surprised).