Developer Diary, Part 82

[Zak]

Update is available.

 

Change log, October 11th.

• Turret gun ammo counter added to GUI;

• "Choose a mission" screen got its design improved;

• Info about the mission task is now shown prior to its start;

• In Chapter 2 of the campaign the target area marker is now shown correctly;

• Incorrect counting of landings fixed in campaign;

• Friendly fire is now punished with x0 EXP penalty in campaign;

• Skins will be shown correctly both to the player and the AI wingmen (for player - according to their choice; for the bots - standard or winter pattern);

• AI planes will know how to distribute ground targets between each other;

• Ammo counter and recoil fixed for the WB81B pods;

• “Floating” icons on the search lights fixed;

• Trimmers and stabilizers are now set for cruise flight;

• Frequent stall situation for AI bots on Fw 190 and Bf 109 fixed;

• Techno chat will also be showing overheating, damaging and ammo depleting for the fixed armament;

• Mission won’t generate spawn points too close to the maps end any more in campaign;

• The AAA will be getting more and more aggressive as you level up through campaign;
• Speed of trimmer movements is 2 times lower now.

 

Full change log last week:

- fixed the bug with skins unavailability;
- impossibility to finish tutorial and start the campaign was fixed;
- video cutscenes were converted to Bink to avoid stutters;
- autopilot feature was turned off for campaign mode;
- it's now possible to speed up time for x2 only;
- some corrections were made to the He 111 physical model;
- aim helper added in Normal difficulty;
- incorrectly low resolution at first start of the game via Steam was fixed
- Landings are now rewarded correctly
- Aim helper for fixed armament was removed on Normal difficulty
- Escort added to the Bombing the bridge mission
- The player and the wingmen should now be loading simultaneously
- The bug with the survived vehicle in the Attacking the convoy mission was fixed
- The bomb raid mission is now only possible at no or low clouds and little wind
- In the Interceptor mission player now has to take down or damage two bombers as required
- In the Convoy (short) mission a player is now correctly spawned behind the bombers and sees them properly
- In Campaign the short version of mission is now offered as default
- AA search lights are no longer active in day time
- GUI won't minimize randomly anymore
- Incorrect markers for bombs and rockets fixed
- Aim helper mark for rockets is only shown on the ground and disappears if the ground is too far away
- Too frequent night missions fixed
- Bomb raids, Interceptor missions, Convoy missions are now starting on various altitudes
- Similar machine guns and cannons are now gathered into one block on the GUI speed bar
- A mission would now end automatically if a player goes for an emergency landing or successfully bails out
- In interceptor missions enemy is now more aggressive
- Autopilot is back in Normal mode
- In campaign and in QMB a warning will be shown if you shoot friendlies (later we'll add XP penalty)
- Bf 109 G-2 max speed is now tuned properly according to the reference with tail wheel retracted (speed increased for 10-12km/h)
- Hitting enemy plane's bomb hatches and gears can now break them off.
- Horizon Autopilot tuned correctly: excessive wobbling removed, turning around on high altitudes improved
- Some IL-2 and La-5 skins descriptions fixed
- Order to pass command to a wingman removed
- A player can now pass checkpoints on a heavily damaged plane
- Player's wingmen cannot switch checkpoints
- Fancy phrases about sky were removed from campaign briefing
- Kotelnikovo airfield location fixed
- Intercept Bombers mission now has alied AAA shoting at the enemy
- Turret gun ammo counter added to GUI;
- "Choose a mission" screen got its design improved;
- Info about the mission task is now shown prior to its start;
- In Chapter 2 of the campaign the target area marker is now shown correctly;
- Incorrect counting of landings fixed in campaign;
- Friendly fire is now punished with x0 EXP penalty in campaign;
- Skins will be shown correctly both to the player and the AI wingmen (for player - according to their choice; for the bots - standard or winter pattern);
- AI planes will know how to distribute ground targets between each other;
- Ammo counter and recoil fixed for the WB81B pods;
- “Floating” icons on the search lights fixed;
- Trimmers and stabilizers are now set for cruise flight;
- Frequent stall situation for AI bots on Fw 190 and Bf 109 fixed;
- Techno chat will also be showing overheating, damaging and ammo depleting for the fixed armament;
- Mission won’t generate spawn points too close to the maps end any more in campaign;
- The AAA will be getting more and more aggressive as you level up through campaign;

- Speed of trimmer movements is 2 times lower now.

[Trooper117]

[-TBC-AeroAce]

The gui for campaign has changed. WOOP WOOP

[LLv24_Zami]

AI Sturmoviks have taken off, saw few in intercept mission

[mbv]

Oh crap...more aggressive AAA. I'm already getting hammered by the AAA, particularly on the train and airfield missions and despite a lot of evasive manoeuvres. Guess I'll have to get used to a lot more 0 XP !

[IIN8II]

Failing to update :/

Oh crap...more aggressive AAA. I'm already getting hammered by the AAA, particularly on the train and airfield missions and despite a lot of evasive manoeuvres. Guess I'll have to get used to a lot more 0 XP !

yea the AA on the trains ruins my day lol

[HippyDruid]

You're a hard working bunch. Keep it up lads!   

[II/JG17KaC_Wolfe]

Thanks for the update and all your good work

[mbv]

Failing to update :/

 

yea the AA on the trains ruins my day lol

They actually gave my crew a medal for getting home injured 15 times due to flak. I said we needed more steel plate on the planes rather than medals due to the new aggressive AAA. The base commander was not impressed by my outburst

[TR3SPASS3R]

More AAA oh my God! Keep it up!

[LastRightsXIII]

Nice!

[II./JG77_Manu*]

still no FW190 FM update

[303_Kwiatek]

Yea long time no serious FM updates.

[JG4_Widukind]

still no FW190 FM update

True!

[startrekmike]

I don't really think it is reasonable to expect them to fix FM's when they are already chest deep in other things that need to be done. They have a ton of things that need to work before release and while FM adjustments are important, they are also something that they can logically put-off for after the crunch time before release.

[Finkeren]

Update is available.

 

Change log, October 11th.

 

 

- Speed of trimmer movements is 2 times lower now.

 

 

 

Whooot??!?!?

 

Didn't see that one coming, that's great. A small but very welcome change. We desperately needed more accurate trimming.

[II./JG77_Manu*]

I don't really think it is reasonable to expect them to fix FM's when they are already chest deep in other things that need to be done. They have a ton of things that need to work before release and while FM adjustments are important, they are also something that they can logically put-off for after the crunch time before release.

 

selling a premium plane for 20 bucks after release, which is broken like hell, isn't the best piece of business, one would say..

[Beazil]

Getting lots of ctd's the past week.  Post patch is no different.  I have about a 50/50 shot at actually finishing a mission due to this.  I saw others posting the same so I thought I'd share it here.  Like the new interface much better than the old one.  Back to it.

[LLv24_Zami]

A lot more stuff now on ground and air. I like it . Good improvements in changelog. Keep up the good work!

[Thaatu]

• The AAA will be getting more and more aggressive as you level up through campaign;

 

I hate to say it, but this is hardly realistic nor fun gameplay. Imagine in any battlefield simulator a script that caused more random deaths among the more experienced or better trained troops than among the inexperienced.

 

 

 

Some time later a special page with all pilots stats will be published. You’ll be able to check your progress on the game’s web page and also see your friends stats.

 

Please do not incorporate this into the game itself, or if you do, hide it so that it doesn't have to be used. I want my historical single player games without social networking.

 

 

My 2 cents of negativity.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Thaatu

[Trinkof]

I hate to say it, but this is hardly realistic nor fun gameplay. Imagine in any battlefield simulator a script that caused more random deaths among the more experienced or better trained troops than among the inexperienced.

 

 

Well, regarding realism ... any AAA improvment is good regarding what we had before Pilots feared Flak ... before today, there was nothing to be afraid of

 

The trim/stab is a very good news, At least they won't be used as a combat tool, (especially this "rotary stabilizer" you can have on the 109 AKA : "aim with thumb rather than stick")

[Feathered_IV]

Good update. I can't say how glad I am to hear that there are further plans for the campaign. The necessity to unlock features means it will be every new players first introduction to the game, and the quality will have to be very good indeed.

 

 

Great news too about the Ju-52. I know there have been a lot of people surprised by how enjoyable and challenging a supply run can be, and there has been no shortage of He's flying into Pitomnik during online missions. Here's hoping for a flyable one before to long.

[SYN_Per]

and a dserver please...

[Jade_Monkey]

Love the new UI of the campaign.

 

I'm still getting a problem when switchiing to aiming bombs in the Pe-2 and He111. This has been happening since yesterday's update.

 

Game is looking better and better.

[soupdragon]

I hate to say it, but this is hardly realistic nor fun gameplay. Imagine in any battlefield simulator a script that caused more random deaths among the more experienced or better trained troops than among the inexperienced.

 

 

 

Please do not incorporate this into the game itself, or if you do, hide it so that it doesn't have to be used. I want my historical single player games without social networking.

 

 

My 2 cents of negativity.

 

 

^^

This

 

SD

[LLv44_Mprhead]

Shame they can't invest some more cash now, build a team to put a GOOD campaign in ASAP - DELAY the release so that, when it gets reviewed by the mainstream press, the immersive campaign this sim deserves is in place and great fun to participate in, and the good reviews and plaudits will help sell this sim to the target audience in the required numbers.

 

Or, shove it out in a month in its current state, let the press give it mediocre or poor reviews and sell nothing like the numbers it deserves.

 

This.

 

I really would like to see BoS being commercial success. So we could actually get some expansions...

[Requiem]

Echoing the thoughts of others who have posted here, it is good news to hear you guys are interested in improving the campaign. The addition of the AI Ju52 is a very good step in the right direction too. With the amount of possible aircraft you guys could create in the future adding AI only planes who don't need a fine tuned FM for flying from point A to point B (such as the Ju52) will help add much more variety to the skies in a shorter timeframe rather than only building flyables which may not appeal to everyone. The precedent was of course there from RoF with the Breguet and DFW, so maybe one day the Ju52 can become flyable like those were.

 

Update is available.

 

Change log, October 11th.

• Friendly fire is now punished with x0 EXP penalty in campaign;

 

The only feedback I would have about today's changelog is that maybe a substraction of xp (according to how much the target is worth) is more in order instead of a 0x multiplier. Using a substraction of xp instead of just setting the xp to zero will account for someone who inadvertently hits a friendly during a dogfight without punishing them too far. Of course if someone shoots down their whole flight then it could end up at zero, but accidents always happen. Unless I've misinterpreted this mechanic of course, then disregard.

[EAF19_Charlie]

Great update.

 

I like the trim lowering, A must for a ground pounder.

 

Flak. Love it , hate it then love it and hate it some more, but as a ground pounder its an occupational hazard.

 

Finally, flew 3 ground pounding missions tonight, landed 3 times,and most important of all...no CTD.

 

Thank you very much.

[zippyPerrserker]

....

 

Please do not incorporate this into the game itself, or if you do, hide it so that it doesn't have to be used. I want my historical single player games without social networking.

 

 

.....

 

Agreed - one of the few things I dislike about the Rise of Flight career mode is seeing other players stats when you're in the campagin screens, it 'spoils the mood' a bit I think.

 

There's a button to hide them, but they're always 'unhid' when you go back to the campaign, just doesn't really belong in my opinion.

 

It's cool for people who are into stats and checking out what other players are up to, but just keep it in a different section, or on webpage or whatever.

[novicebutdeadly]

Well, regarding realism ... any AAA improvment is good regarding what we had before Pilots feared Flak ... before today, there was nothing to be afraid of

 

The trim/stab is a very good news, At least they won't be used as a combat tool, (especially this "rotary stabilizer" you can have on the 109 AKA : "aim with thumb rather than stick")

I have no issue with the trim/stab being tied directly to air speed (keep the adjustment rate at a correct rate for air speed).

 

However if this diminishes its effective use in combat (if it was done for that reason alone) , then the 109 Fm just became un-historic. 

 

In that many 109 pilots used the trimmer in dog fights quite often to their own detriment (trimming the aircraft into the dive = reduced elevator authority when trying to pull out of the dive = splat).

 

I can't wait for compressibility to be accurately modeled in, esp since the German fighters had a higher critical mach number to Russian planes, as well as the adjustable stab  

 

 

Edited October 10, 2014 by novicebutdeadly

[frenchfly]

Whooot??!?!?

 

Didn't see that one coming, that's great. A small but very welcome change. We desperately needed more accurate trimming.

How about being able to map any of the trims to an axes control (throttle quadrant etc..) for the love of God. If there's one thing clod got right it was the ability to map axes to most control surfaces. In this day and age give us the option to use all of our sim gear if we have it.

[dburne]

How about being able to map any of the trims to an axes control (throttle quadrant etc..) for the love of God. If there's one thing clod got right it was the ability to map axes to most control surfaces. In this day and age give us the option to use all of our sim gear if we have it.

 

We have been asking for that for quite some time, don't think they are going to oblige at this point.

Kind of like the graphic presets I guess.

[VBF-12_Snake9]

We have been asking for that for quite some time, don't think they are going to oblige at this point.

Kind of like the graphic presets I guess.

And that's one of many things they continue to get wrong. 

[mbv]

Something has certainly changed in the campaign. I've just had three of the most immersive IL-2 missions of the whole campaign so far in chapter 4. Enemy 109s are actually aggressively chasing us home now with dire consequences. With no ammo left after an airfield attack I had to listen over the radio as stragglers from the flight were picked off one by one behind me. Thought I was next, but they must have run out of ammo or fuel and turned back.

 

Then I had an airfield attack in near white-out conditions with heavy snow falling - flying in on instruments only hoping the cloud would part to see the target. Got there and we bust them up pretty good, but again we were chased home through heavy snowcloud by 109 G2's and lost the air cover.

 

Train missions are a nightmare now with the new AAA. I'm taking them out first and then going for the locomotive. 

 

Exciting and less predictable, i'm really enjoying this now    

[Rjel]

Good update. Positive update. Doesn't make everyone happy, as per usual. Still, if nothing else, it shows me the developers listen and react. I'm not going to dwell on what BoS isn't, yet. I'm going to enjoy what is, now.

[6./ZG26_Gielow]

Don't forget to install a 13mm mg on those junkers!!

[LastRightsXIII]

And thank you to those that weren't mentioned in this DD  that have put huge amounts of their time to help bring this to where it's at.

Even at their own expense.

S!

Edited October 11, 2014 by LastRights13

[Nankeen]

That's great news about the briefings. FlatSpinMan and Feathered's examples are excellent!

 

Here's the in game camera perspective of a sortie within the campaign. This mission, I needed to escort (X3) PE-2's.
I decided to leave that part out, and show when the action began engaging a Me 109. Ever had one of those day's where you couldn't hit the side of a Barn? Well, this is my example
Anyhow, enjoy the brief acrobats and fireworks.

 

[Gort]

That's pretty. Anyone can fly safely, but you fly pretty.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[unreasonable]

Adding new mission types, tweaking briefings and mission parameters are all very well, and should be expected assuming release is a success. The changes discussed by the OP, howeve, are only elaborations of the current SP campaign concept.

 

What I do not see in this Developer Diary is any acknowledgement of the community's criticisms of the basic design of the campaign.

 

The criticisms of the campaign seem to me to fall into four categories:

 

1) It is (semi)compulsory even for those MP only players with no interest

 

2) xp-unlock mechanism is an annoying immersion breaker and makes some SP player choices impossible

 

3) The is no human interest story linking missions, no "band of brothers".

 

4) The missions are limited in type and variety.

 

As far as I can see the OP only addresses point 4. There is no indication whatever that the devs are willing to reconsider the features that have given rise to criticisms 1, 2 and 3. Celebration seems premature.