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

[Trooper117]

''Done to death?''... why do people always come out with this nonsense?

 

Just because another game has covered a particular subject, that doesn't mean that another platform could not do another even better version... lets try to stop with this non sensible statement.

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Nothing was done to death, everything can get boring. I prefer to advocate for diversity, thus something new and far from the East. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Eastern Front and it deserved recognition, but staying there for almost 4 years just sounds to me ... boring. I simply would like to move somewhere else, West, South or Far East. Personally I hope for PTO or Far East.

 

Pacific does not necessarily involve massive distances, there are such examples certainly like flight from Rabaul to Henderson. But you can cut it greatly in case of Solomon Islands. There is also New Guinea which is much smaller and shows a greater diversity of terrain than plain ocean and islands. One factor to remember is that all Il-2 scenarios so far involved some ground operations (campaigns), as there has to be something happening in the background. Thus things like battle of Philippines Sea or battle of Imphal make sense. 

[LLv44_Damixu]

Actually developing next the Gulf of Finland - Continuation War theatre would pave the way nicely to Western front theatre due sharing several airplanes on that scene too. So developers very limited resources would bring most value with less development effort and thus speed to market to release new extension and getting more funds to upkeep the business.

[wtornado]

I would like to see Battle of Stalingrad and Battle of Moscow go gold with the minimum

amount of bugs.

 

The next one come out as a Stand alone if it is on another front besides the Eastern front.

[ShamrockOneFive]

I would like to see Battle of Stalingrad and Battle of Moscow go gold with the minimum

amount of bugs.

 

The next one come out as a Stand alone if it is on another front besides the Eastern front.

 

Stand alone... you mean as a separate non-merged product? That would be terrible IMHO. IL-2 1946 had it right... combining everything into one expanding package. The versatility of that experience far outweighs any downsides of which the only downsides seem to be multiplayer compatibility for folks without all of the products. And this version of IL-2 does that better than the last one.

[carve_gybe1]

carve_gybe, have you tried PWCG? Check it out here: http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/forum/99-pwcg-bos/

 

About the TS thing, I was like that but recently I stopped caring. It's just fine to fly online even when discussing contacts while also debating what would be a good dinner for tonight.

Hi Lucas_from_hell

 

Thanks for that! Didn't know about PWCG...it seemed like another acronym I didn't want to explore...

 

Will look at it. It may be what I've been missing.

 

C_G

[wtornado]

Stand alone... you mean as a separate non-merged product? That would be terrible IMHO. IL-2 1946 had it right... combining everything into one expanding package. The versatility of that experience far outweighs any downsides of which the only downsides seem to be multiplayer compatibility for folks without all of the products. And this version of IL-2 does that better than the last one.

Forgotten battles and Pacific Fighters were a Stand alone product that sold and went well.

 

You could merge it with the others as well if you wanted.

 

It was when they came out with the Pacific theatre that the game really took off with more

American and British aircraft.

 

It is when 1946 came out that you got everything. 

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

It depends on the country.

 

For example, in Russia and Brazil the game became a mainstay of flight sims right off the bat with the first edition. People really enjoyed flying the Il-2 itself for what it was, the big fat flying tank.

[ShamrockOneFive]

Forgotten battles and Pacific Fighters were a Stand alone product that sold and went well.

 

You could merge it with the others as well if you wanted.

 

It was when they came out with the Pacific theatre that the game really took off with more

American and British aircraft.

 

It is when 1946 came out that you got everything. 

 

Forgotten Battles was a merge with the previous IL-2 Sturmovik. You bought it standalone but it came with everything from before plus all of the new content. The only loss was the original single player campaign which didn't reappear until IL-2 1946.

 

Pacific Fighters was indeed standalone as an option but I don't know many who opted to do that and support went towards the merged versions almost exclusively after the first year. And then I don't know if too many people remember but there was a special pack that got us the Pe-2 and IL-10 before 1946 came out and gave us everything (plus).

 

PF did bring in a lot of new players that had been holding off on the sidelines. It's too bad that it had such gaps in the aircraft list (and flyable ones too) that were slowly remedied over time but never completely solved.

[Frequent_Flyer]

Moving to the Pacific  would generate quite a bit more interest than currently shown in this franchise, based on the lack of numbers playing on line. Considering the multiplayer folks were the target audience this would be cause for concern.

I would love to see the next chapter be the PTO, realistically they probably do not have the resources to proceed down this path.

[6./ZG26_Emil]

At the time I just wasn't interested in the PTO at all. I imagine that 777 would make it awesome if they did it but the original IL2's North Africa and PTO maps were hideous.

[senseispcc]

Why not BOB the Battle of “Bagration”.

For once a air battle where the Germans are on the defensive the soviet on the offensive the quality of the planes are nearly equal the quality of the pilots is nearly equal but the numbers are in favour of the Soviets. Can the Luftwaffe win this defensive battle? Shall this be the last stand of the German air force in the east? Can the Soviet air force support the ground forces in their rapid advances? Or help them make decisive breakthroughs?

All this in nearly the last models of the planes of each side in World War Two!

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

One of the most interesting and neglected air and land battles from that era was the Jassy-Kishinev Operation. The German and Romanian air forces were throwing everything they had to keep the Red Army outside of Romania, and you had major air engagements with hundreds of aircraft. The battle ended in a major Soviet victory when twenty-two German divisions were destroyed, including the renewed 6th Army which was - guess what - encircled. Some of the best Soviet Air Force fighter divisions including the 9th and 22nd Guards Fighter Aviation Divisions were involved in this colossal battle with great losses but also great successes.

[DD_Arthur]

 major air engagements

 

hundreds of aircraft

 

colossal battle

 

great losses

 

Sounds good on the face of it but these things are not necessarily the Digital Nature engines strong suite are they?  

 

I think the devs have made a very decent start to the series with two interesting and under-appreciated scenerios but in my opinion and to secure the financial future of this commercial product they need to invade Sicily immediately     

Edited May 7, 2016 by DD_Arthur

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

A little scaling goes a long way - the Stalingrad and Moscow aerial battles are smaller than they were and still work nicely. A group of twelve Ju-87s can stand in for a formation of fifty for example.

 

If they wanted to make money, and I quote the team, they wouldn't be making flight simulators

 

I'm placing my bet on the Eastern front with lend-lease aircraft coupled with a Western or Med map. A problem with Sicily, markets aside, is that the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica activity there was vastly hampered by Allied bombing ahead of the invasion, with most of the aircraft flying from mainland Italy.

 

Some pictures from the Jassy-Kishinev operation:

 

 

 

(16th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment - Klubov, Rechkalov, Trud and Glinka with Rechkalov's P-39. Klubov was killed in an La-7 accident, Glinka was heavily wounded when bailing out of his Airacobra shortly after assuming command of the regiment, but survived.)

 

[DD_Arthur]

If they wanted to make money, and I quote the team, they wouldn't be making flight simulators

 

Some pictures from the Jassy-Kishinev operation:

 

I'm sure the team eat well on enthusiasm but 1C certainly does want to make money and the right kind of money too.  That means dollars, euros and sterling.  I'm sure the Jassy-Kishinev operation is fascinating - for at least two dozen guys on these boards but for the wider buying public?

 

The time for Spitfires and P38's is approaching.  

[Gambit21]

I would love to see the next chapter be the PTO, realistically they probably do not have the resources to proceed down this path.

If they announced the intent right now, how many of us would pay them $80? $50?

I know I'd fork it over, and I'm sure it would bring a new crop of players to the table.

They could start with something small, just enough to get us going and expand it later.

 

Heck I'd buy 2 more Eastern Front add-ons to help them finance it.

 

I'm interested in the Eastern Front, just enough to have the sim on my drive and fire it up now and then.

I can't keep paying for Eastern Front add-on's though, I'm about at the end of that - I'll buy BOM when

I have the spare cash. (busy spending money on other hobbies right now) then I'm done.

Life is too busy, too many other interests, relationships. It's going to take something I can really sink my teeth into to get me to 

devote more stick time, let alone funds. Even if they went to the Pacific, I'd still come back to the Eastern Front for

varieties sake, and I really do like some of these planes. It's going to wear thin after a while though if that's the 

only option I have with this sim.

 

I'm sure DCS will have  WWII map and a plane set and missions with a few decades.

Edited May 8, 2016 by Gambit21

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

I'm sure the team eat well on enthusiasm but 1C certainly does want to make money and the right kind of money too. That means dollars, euros and sterling. I'm sure the Jassy-Kishinev operation is fascinating - for at least two dozen guys on these boards but for the wider buying public?

 

The time for Spitfires and P38's is approaching.

Hear Hear!

[Frequent_Flyer]

At the time I just wasn't interested in the PTO at all. I imagine that 777 would make it awesome if they did it but the original IL2's North Africa and PTO maps were hideous.

Those maps did look like you were flying over green/tan felt but, they did get the water right. I am sure 777 would do them justice.

[Chief_Mouser]

In order to be something new, crowd-pleasing and viable surely whatever comes next, wherever it is, should have coastline and ships and torpedoes. So that gives a huge amount of choice for next scenario. I mentioned Malta and Murmansk above, but for the PTO why not Midway? Historically a very short engagement, but given that it will be a very simple map then there would be spare time to model ALL of the ships? The dogfight crowd could make carrier fights, the 'co-op' crowd have a ready made scenario. A proper SP campaign might be a bit limited though. Japanese aircraft would be a bit thin on the ground as well.

Cheers.

Edited May 8, 2016 by 216th_Cat

[Frequent_Flyer]

If they announced the intent right now, how many of us would pay them $80? $50?

I know I'd fork it over, and I'm sure it would bring a new crop of players to the table.

They could start with something small, just enough to get us going and expand it later.

 

Heck I'd buy 2 more Eastern Front add-ons to help them finance it.

 

I'm interested in the Eastern Front, just enough to have the sim on my drive and fire it up now and then.

I can't keep paying for Eastern Front add-on's though, I'm about at the end of that - I'll buy BOM when

I have the spare cash. (busy spending money on other hobbies right now) then I'm done.

Life is too busy, too many other interests, relationships. It's going to take something I can really sink my teeth into to get me to 

devote more stick time, let alone funds. Even if they went to the Pacific, I'd still come back to the Eastern Front for

varieties sake, and I really do like some of these planes. It's going to wear thin after a while though if that's the 

only option I have with this sim.

 

I'm sure DCS will have  WWII map and a plane set and missions with a few decades.

I agree , now that the whether is becoming consistently nice around Chicago, it will take a scenario much more stimulating than the Eastern front to get me back in front on my monitor. Thinking about it, there really are no large cities that need to be modelled on say, Guadalcanal or New Guinea. Those programmer can focus on the much more interesting and useful capital ships, PBY Catalina, Emily etc.

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Guadalcanal or New Guinea

 

Problem with tropical climate is not making cities as you say, but proper portraying of the heat, humidity, dust and other "pleasures" of it. When I looked at that snow and opened the canopy I almost felt how cold it is outside, even though it was only game. So devs managed to get the feeling of that moment very well. Now I'd like to get similar impression when taking off in hot New Guinea, to feel the dust and heat, if they could make it, that would be something unique.

 

 

 

 

 

Those programmer can focus on the much more interesting and useful capital ships, PBY Catalina, Emily etc.

Not to mention aircraft carriers. Thats other thing old Pacific Fighters failed miserably, aircraft carriers were not really reacting to a threat and instead of trying to dodge they were just running full ahead, presenting easy targets for dive bombers and torpedo planes. Programming fleet movements and individual ship maneuvering would consume a lot of time, but benefits of it would be amazing. 

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

It should all come together soon, I hope They did a very good job with the bombers on this simulator - the old Il-2 has them flying nice and straight waiting for you to hit them, while here they bob and weave and make sure you don't get a shot no matter what, which is nice.

 

This game has a crazy amount of potential and eventually all the major factors people want will come. I feel they did a good job portraying the summer in Stalingrad, so if/when they go to a hotter and more humid theatre I believe they will do a good job too. I really get a feel of it in those summer missions with the sun right above, engine cooking up no matter how much I open the radiators and bring down the RPM and MP, and the sunburnt fields passing beneath.

 

EDIT: Wherever they go next, it will help set up the next theatre. Eastern front is likely to bring lend-lease which prepares USAAF and Commonwealth theatres, MTO/ETO/PTO/Far East brings some of the aircraft that add onto the Great Patriotic War and other theatres. Theatres that involved the West are more popular in the West, theatres that involved the Soviet Union are more popular in the countries that formed it - this is obvious and natural. Worst case scenario, if we get GPW with lend-lease it only takes a map to run a Western theatre server for the thirsty, and if we get MTO/ETO/PTO/Far East the aircraft can be added onto current maps for operations such as Rzhev, Velikiy Luki and others.

Edited May 8, 2016 by 55IAP_Lucas_From_Hell

[Frequent_Flyer]

Problem with tropical climate is not making cities as you say, but proper portraying of the heat, humidity, dust and other "pleasures" of it. When I looked at that snow and opened the canopy I almost felt how cold it is outside, even though it was only game. So devs managed to get the feeling of that moment very well. Now I'd like to get similar impression when taking off in hot New Guinea, to feel the dust and heat, if they could make it, that would be something unique.

 

 

 

Not to mention aircraft carriers. Thats other thing old Pacific Fighters failed miserably, aircraft carriers were not really reacting to a threat and instead of trying to dodge they were just running full ahead, presenting easy targets for dive bombers and torpedo planes. Programming fleet movements and individual ship maneuvering would consume a lot of time, but benefits of it would be amazing. 

I am completely with you, your preaching to the choir. If done correctly just getting back to the aircraft carrier low on fuel, damaged, possibly injured as night closes in along with a huge tropical storm. Now your trying to find the carrier which essentially is a like a cork bobbing up and down in the high seas., noticing the plane preceding you came into fast and  exploded in a firey crash on the deck. Can't land there. Nothing like it in any other theater.-Bring it on

[[CPT]milopugdog]

Because fights in the PTO were usually shorter, and usually had the same variety of aircraft, what they probably could do is combine some similarly timed battles, and make more than one map.

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Because fights in the PTO were usually shorter, and usually had the same variety of aircraft, what they probably could do is combine some similarly timed battles, and make more than one map.

New Guinea (again) solves this. Both Army and Navy were present in the area, and best time to show that would be end of 1942 and beginning of 1943 when Army was taking Navy place and both were flying joint operations. Prime example ? - first combat of P-38s in the area, when they surprised Army Oscars and Navy A6M2s, causing certain losses. 

 

Proper time and place is not a big issue to find. 

[Chief_Mouser]

New Guinea would indeed be fun. Compared to Moscow though, the map area is huge. It might be impossible to put Lae, Buna, Port Moresby and Milne Bay all on the same one, let alone Rabaul. So, do you go for Milne Bay, Kokoda Trail, or Lae and the Bismark Sea battle (which should really have Port Moresby on it)? Difficult. Interesting plane set though.

Cheers.

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Based on data from our website Moscow map is  78 300 km² (270x290 km) + there is Moscow area : http://il2sturmovik.com/s/img/bom/map_en.jpg

I remember discussion on Ru forums about future expansion and map limits, no details were given but BlackSix said that combined Crimea and Cuban is too much,  which is less than 140 000 km². Certainly presenting whole New Britain, Bismarck sea and New Guinea is beyond current restrictions (though I'm really curious why, Il-2 1946 has a massive map called Rabaul 1944 for instance), however if you would focus on main areas like Lae, Bunaa-Gona, Kokda and Port Moresby you can close that in less than Moscow map, which is 70 000 km² (I checked that on area calculator found on net), but I bet we could push the engine to 100 000 km² or even more to reach Madang or Umboi islands, or Goodenough Island if you wish. Gives enough room to play with Port Moresby operations, Wau assault, Battle of Buna-Gona and most important for Australians I think - Kokoda trail. 

 

And indeed, plane set is really nice since you got both Army and Navy. Oscars, Zeros and eventually Ki-61s against P-40s, P-38s, P-39s and potentially F4Us (if I'm not mistaken). Sounds like lot of fun. That or Burma is my main hope. 

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

Here is a thought for those who want this simulator to go to US/Commonwealth theatres: see if you can get together a list of people who would be willing to do voice acting and conduct voluntary archive research whenever needed. Most of the work goes into maps and flight models of course, but customer-supplied materials would be useful

[Frequent_Flyer]

New Guinea would indeed be fun. Compared to Moscow though, the map area is huge. It might be impossible to put Lae, Buna, Port Moresby and Milne Bay all on the same one, let alone Rabaul. So, do you go for Milne Bay, Kokoda Trail, or Lae and the Bismark Sea battle (which should really have Port Moresby on it)? Difficult. Interesting plane set though.

Cheers.

With the inti

 

Based on data from our website Moscow map is  78 300 km² (270x290 km) + there is Moscow area : http://il2sturmovik.com/s/img/bom/map_en.jpg

I remember discussion on Ru forums about future expansion and map limits, no details were given but BlackSix said that combined Crimea and Cuban is too much,  which is less than 140 000 km². Certainly presenting whole New Britain, Bismarck sea and New Guinea is beyond current restrictions (though I'm really curious why, Il-2 1946 has a massive map called Rabaul 1944 for instance), however if you would focus on main areas like Lae, Bunaa-Gona, Kokda and Port Moresby you can close that in less than Moscow map, which is 70 000 km² (I checked that on area calculator found on net), but I bet we could push the engine to 100 000 km² or even more to reach Madang or Umboi islands, or Goodenough Island if you wish. Gives enough room to play with Port Moresby operations, Wau assault, Battle of Buna-Gona and most important for Australians I think - Kokoda trail. 

 

And indeed, plane set is really nice since you got both Army and Navy. Oscars, Zeros and eventually Ki-61s against P-40s, P-38s, P-39s and potentially F4Us (if I'm not mistaken). Sounds like lot of fun. That or Burma is my main hope. 

The Slot maps are fairly sizable in 1946, not sure how it would compare to your suggested maps ?  Really like where your headed with your idea.

[Feathered_IV]

I'd love to have SW Pacific addon for single player, but only if there was some sort of quick-save function that let me complete a mission in more than one sitting. Imagine trying to do anything with only 2x time compression!

[tailwheel]

It's been always about dogfights because of all wannabe Hartmanns. But I continuously find people doing ground attack missions on WoL, its a lot of fun to fly Ju-87, Il-2 or Pe-2. So its not like there is no interest in bombing. True, bombers have a hard time in the game but so they had in reality. My advice is just to fly with buddies, its not only practical but also fun. I rarely run the game alone, always need someone to keep me company. 

ya, me too. Without proper cover, flying the ju87 or pe2 are just thirty second missions as target practice. So I stick to mainly SP. Dogfighting can be exciting, initially. If the game is just yaks and 109s in uncoordinated scrapouts , it looses its holdability as a game. I'd like to see the campaign mature. With more varied AI, and more depth in the game immersion / scenerios. CO-OP might be fun. Having the aircraft perform as close to RL as possible is good. and so is staying within the character of the theatre. Yet there needs to be enough variety, ambiance and plot progression to really hold you as a game. Well, for me anyway. I don't know if I would vote for another theatre or more aircraft. I'd like to see the game play itself take more depth. Oh, and more stability/performance improvements.

[Pharoah]

ya, me too. Without proper cover, flying the ju87 or pe2 are just thirty second missions as target practice. So I stick to mainly SP. Dogfighting can be exciting, initially. If the game is just yaks and 109s in uncoordinated scrapouts , it looses its holdability as a game. I'd like to see the campaign mature. With more varied AI, and more depth in the game immersion / scenerios. CO-OP might be fun. Having the aircraft perform as close to RL as possible is good. and so is staying within the character of the theatre. Yet there needs to be enough variety, ambiance and plot progression to really hold you as a game. Well, for me anyway. I don't know if I would vote for another theatre or more aircraft. I'd like to see the game play itself take more depth. Oh, and more stability/performance improvements.

 

If you're flying the WoL server, you'll probably spawn next to me in a bomber or attack aircraft, which is what I fly exclusively. I do notice that a lot of the time the numbers are weighted towards the Luftwaffe but as I'm in a bomber, I don't particularly mind. On the flip side though, yes it does become difficult being in an IL2 (even with a gunner) trying to do bombing missions with fighters in the air. its like trying to go spear fishing with sharks in the water lol. I find though that nothing beats having supporting fighters. I've been in a 3 ship formation of IL2s, all with rear gunners and we all got shot down by 1 guy in a 109. Yes it was great shooting (he took us out mainly by shooting the cockpits) but he wouldn't have had a chance had there been atleast 1 fighter in support.

 

Most of the time I tend to take the long way to the target....I tend to live a little bit longer

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Here is a thought for those who want this simulator to go to US/Commonwealth theatres: see if you can get together a list of people who would be willing to do voice acting and conduct voluntary archive research whenever needed. Most of the work goes into maps and flight models of course, but customer-supplied materials would be useful

Archive research ... the thing I do since last 5-7 years

 

 

I'd love to have SW Pacific addon for single player, but only if there was some sort of quick-save function that let me complete a mission in more than one sitting. Imagine trying to do anything with only 2x time compression!

I'm sure this will change at some point, especially after 64 bit architecture introduction we had not so long ago.

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

The Slot maps are fairly sizable in 1946, not sure how it would compare to your suggested maps ?  Really like where your headed with your idea.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1L6dFYUx9Uwb1crjksYa9VPWAlK4&usp=sharing

 

Here is how it looks on map, the small one is the "simple" idea which covers most important events happening in 1942 - early 1943 period. Its 70 000 km² with about 40 % of it being water. However after some talking here and there, It seems that new architecture creates possibility for larger maps and water largely reduces the labor input from developers side.

Hence why I made a larger variation, which covers 130 000 km², half of it being water since actual growth of land is no more than 17 000 km². And this option grants a lot more possibilities including Tuluvu (Cape Gloucester) and Arawe (where another Allied landing happened late in 1943). Distances might look great in some cases, but most of the time the fights continued along the coast, not that far from airfields of both sides. 

 

Just an idea, but this would be my approach to New Guinea. And if you have couple of hours you can read this : http://www.j-aircraft.com/research/rdunn/tuluvu/tuluvu_main.htm

Gives you an idea how it looked like in reality and how it may look in game. Sinking invasion fleet with Betty is something I enjoyed doing in old Il-2. 

Edited May 11, 2016 by =LD=Hiromachi

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

I think you posted it in a wrong thread m8. Try to contact Bearcat or other moderator to movie it to the other one  

[LLv44_Damixu]

I think you posted it in a wrong thread m8. Try to contact Bearcat or other moderator to movie it to the other one

 

Thx mate, I reposted it on the correct thread.

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

Problem with tropical climate is not making cities as you say, but proper portraying of the heat, humidity, dust and other "pleasures" of it. When I looked at that snow and opened the canopy I almost felt how cold it is outside, even though it was only game. So devs managed to get the feeling of that moment very well. Now I'd like to get similar impression when taking off in hot New Guinea, to feel the dust and heat, if they could make it, that would be something unique.

 

 

 

Not to mention aircraft carriers. Thats other thing old Pacific Fighters failed miserably, aircraft carriers were not really reacting to a threat and instead of trying to dodge they were just running full ahead, presenting easy targets for dive bombers and torpedo planes. Programming fleet movements and individual ship maneuvering would consume a lot of time, but benefits of it would be amazing.

Programming 2D ship movement (even coordinated flotillas) must be infinitely easier than 3D AI airplanes though?! Edited May 11, 2016 by [LBS]HerrMurf

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Programming 2D ship movement (even coordinated flotillas) must be infinitely easier than 3D airplanes though?!

In simple movements indeed, but to provide sufficient Ai that can react to different threats appearing around it is not easy for sure. Ships would have to be able to react to torpedo bombers approaching from various sides, dive bombers and whatever else they encounter. Full fleet maneuvering is not so simple, though its obviously easier from aircraft movements. 

[Frequent_Flyer]

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1L6dFYUx9Uwb1crjksYa9VPWAlK4&usp=sharing

 

Here is how it looks on map, the small one is the "simple" idea which covers most important events happening in 1942 - early 1943 period. Its 70 000 km² with about 40 % of it being water. However after some talking here and there, It seems that new architecture creates possibility for larger maps and water largely reduces the labor input from developers side.

Hence why I made a larger variation, which covers 130 000 km², half of it being water since actual growth of land is no more than 17 000 km². And this option grants a lot more possibilities including Tuluvu (Cape Gloucester) and Arawe (where another Allied landing happened late in 1943). Distances might look great in some cases, but most of the time the fights continued along the coast, not that far from airfields of both sides. 

 

Just an idea, but this would be my approach to New Guinea. And if you have couple of hours you can read this : http://www.j-aircraft.com/research/rdunn/tuluvu/tuluvu_main.htm

Gives you an idea how it looked like in reality and how it may look in game. Sinking invasion fleet with Betty is something I enjoyed doing in old Il-2.

I don't imagine the concentration of  forest and vegetation would be any higher than  on the Moscow map and as mentioned before no large cities to drain resources.  conversely I enjoyed flaming the Betty's they were shooting at a " cigar tube " filled with fuel, as long as you careful not to approach from  directly at 6:00.