Royal_Flight

Then substitute one for the other.

I’d rather have a Meteor. Fulfils a similar role but broadens the set to include the Commonwealth. There’s only going to be space for a singe Sabre as well to fit the 5+5 format, and it and the MiG-15 are probably better off not being collector aircraft to avoid ‘pay-to-win’ accusations. *** The Korea problem is that we can realistically only expect a single release, and all the diversity is on the Allied side. I’ve tried as best I can to balance the opposing aircraft below and get an Allied set that’s broadly reflective of the UN air forces while giving the Communists something interesting to fly and competitive enough that it’s not totally one-sided. This is an early-war/1950 snapshot more than a whole war experience. - MiG-15 / F-86 (iconic jet fighters and apex predators) - Il-10 / Meteor F.8 (ground attackers; the ultimate Sturmovik and can be used in late WWII, and F.8 representing the RAAF) - La-7 / Sea Fury (big heavy radial props; La-7 can be used in late-WWII, iconic Sea Fury introduces carrier ops at last) - Tu-2 / B-26 (twin-prop bomber/attackers; both can be used in late WWII) - Collector: Yak-9P / F-82 (the best of the Yak line, and the general strangeness of the Twin Mustang lends itself to a collector aircraft) - Existing aircraft: U-2 / P(F)-51 (a few new skins, ‘bedcheck Charlie’ and F-51 represents RoKAF as well as USAF) [non-flyable Hail Mary longshot: B-29 - never to be flyable; simplified FM and sort out the AI bottleneck] In reality this will probably never happen, but this is the most even-handed way I can think of doing Korea.

All of this could be defeated by changing the curve on TrackIR (or other headtracker of choice), which I would be doing straight away if this were introduced. And I can’t be bothered messing around with my TIR profile because it’s set the way I like it already. Its an interesting idea for sure and I understand where you’re coming from, but in practice in the game environment it likely won’t work, and will probably just annoy people.

I’m sure it’s been explained elsewhere already, but what is the benefit of having independent AI for gunners, or using full flight models for AI aircraft for that matter? Genuine question. Would it not ease the processor burden to give each non-player aircraft a single AI that controls everything? And is there not an argument that giving AI a full-fidelity flight model is cancelled out by their inherent poor piloting skill? Surely the AI doesn’t need a full FM to turn in a lazy right-hand circle, or fly into the ground after trying to bomb a target. Not a critique, I don’t expect this is likely to change. But as it’s a limiting factor in future development, I’m just wondering what the benefits are in designing the sim this way.

Even if the Pacific is no longer on the cards, it’s a shame that the naval side of things has never been given much attention, especially as that was part of the logic behind a Kuban release. Abd as Bodenplatte is predominately land-based, I doubt it’ll be added in retrospectively.

Choose aircraft that can fit multiple theatres and then we’re expanding WWII at the same time. Loads of people want more late-WWII Eastern Front aircraft, and some have said they aren’t interested in Korea. We already have a P-51 and U-2 that could be used in WWII and Korea, so following that idea we could have: Il-10 Yak-9P La-7 Tu-2 (all can fit a ‘Battle of Berlin’ or ‘Sturmoviks over Manchuria’ set). Allied aircraft are a bit more difficult, but could still get: A/B-26 Invader (also fits Bodenplatte and any late-war Pacific release) Gloster Meteor F.3/F.8 (fits Bodenplatte and used by RAAF in Korea) Fairey Firefly mk I/FR.4 (any late Pacific release, FAA and RAN in Korea) F4U-1/-4 Corsair (any late Pacific release, USN and USMC in Korea) Then F-86 and MiG-15 as collector planes, so anyone who just wants those two can get them. The others should have a broad enough appeal to the existing theatres that anyone who isn’t interested in Korea but who does want more late-WWII aircraft will have enough reasons to buy in to this release as well.

That looks unbelievably cool. The FAA scheme looks great too. 1/24 might be a bit much though. I’m just getting back in to model kits, incidentally I have an A6M2 underway at the moment... getting in the mood for the Pacific. Or possibly, acknowledging that it won’t come to BoX so I’m doing it for myself, in plastic.

You can’t really extrapolate anything from this. This doesn’t account for the current Ostfront focus and lack of US/Western European aircraft; whenever Bodenplatte is released you’ll likely see an increase in the US and Western European audience. You also talk about Europe ‘going to bed’ - time zones are another factor as European players occupy the middle ground. On the average day the same European players can catch Russian pilots before they go to bed and US pilots after they wake up. If I log on at 1900 GMT, it’s 2000 in Berlin, 2300 in Moscow and 1300 in New York. So everyone can be online at once. If you assume Europe goes to bed by 2300 on a school night, it’s 1800 in New York, so prime evening playing time. But very few in Russia will be awake and on a server at 0400, so of course there will be an appreciable drop off in numbers.

Interesting. Makes it sound almost like the A-20G (maybe with moddable glazed nose) would have been a better choice for Kuban in the first place.

The A-20G fits in Bodenplatte and any future Pacific (assuming it ever happens) or Mediterranean theatre. If it fits in Kuban as well, then it’s definitely versatile enough to be worth considering. Adding torpedos would be good as well, even just to the current A-20B. I think the ship has definitely sailed on the ‘Kuban as a testbed for the Pacific’ idea, but the naval side could still be fleshed out for its own sake. And if the Pacific does ever end up happening after all then it’ll be useful for that too.

Wildcat and Zeke is a solid start and an early Pacific set doesn’t need much more than that to have a balanced set. Fighters: Zero vs Wildcat Torpedo bomber: B5N vs Devastator Dive bomber: D3A vs Dauntless Those six plus a carrier each would be enough initially, to get the ball rolling. And can cover a few different engagements. Enough of the Kuban map is water and we have a couple of ships already, so there’s somewhere to fly over and against while we’re waiting for a map and proper assets.

DCS did Korea like it did WWII. I don’t know if anything else they’re planning to add to it, and I’d heard rumours that the new DCS map would be another European one too, from the DCS forum. Even if ED do decide to pull out all the stops and go for a Korean theatre, BoX will probably get more done in less time, again; and be more coherent, so it doesn’t necessarily rule out ‘Battle of Korea’ as a BoX release.

Here’s an idea for a dual-use Battle of Finland/France set: Hawk 75 MS.406 Fokker D.XXI Hurricane mk I Blenheim mk I All aircraft can be used by the Axis in Finland, and various Allied nations (France, UK, Netherlands/Denmark) over Western Europe in 1940, maybe over the Bodenplatte map. Add the above to an early-war VVS/Luftwaffe set, maybe: VVS: I-153 I-16 Su-2 SB-2 Li-2 Luftwaffe: Bf-109E-3 Bf-110C Hs-123 Do-17 Ju-87B and we get three-in-one: Barbarossa, Battle of France/Low Countries, Winter War. Incidentally, adding the Brewster Buffalo (maybe via a further collector plane) and minus the MS.406 gives a set that can also be used by Commonwealth and Dutch forces against Japan in the early part of the war in the Far East.

Got airborne in the U-2 for the first time yesterday, albeit briefly. The forward-firing machine gun is tricky to aim and I was nearly outrun by the train I was trying to bomb, but it’s such a fun flying experience. The lack of wheel brakes nearly derailed my landing as well... A well worthy addition, if the bombsight and a system for using the radio to spot for artillery is added then it’ll punch way above its weight, but as it is the U-2VS already adds depth to BoX and I’m glad to have it.

I would love a copy of Bodenplatte, if that would be possible. Very generous, thanks and happy new year.