What do you guys believe...

[DD_Arthur]

 

Good night then, there are still people playing

 

Sorry Lucas - and nothing personal -but you offer a vision which credits the devs with a complete lack of ambition.  More white winter maps,  plane sets mostly containing slightly different models of existing aircraft, large maps containing...nothing much really.

 

This is a game marketed globally.  It was a world war.  It's time to explore it - while there are still people playing.    

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

Is it lack of vision to do a single trio of theatres with the largest operations in terms of personnel and machinery?

[ShamrockOneFive]

There is merit to both sides of the discussion. I've written down more than a few possibilities for the next possible theater of action.

 

Part of me likes the idea of a trilogy and Kursk is a good way to do the three part Eastern Front series. Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk. Each iconic and also titanic in scale and defining moments on the Eastern Front. Also, in terms of the titular aircraft... Kursk would show off what is close to the definitive version of the IL-2. So far we've seen the earlier series but its the later ones with the built in rear gunner station that we still haven't seen yet and part of me wants to see that happen before we go elsewhere.

 

I would say Berlin is a fourth and I would love to see that too... But it wasn't so much decisive as inevitable.

 

And then there's the argument that we should go somewhere else and somewhere different. Western Front, North Africa, Italy, the Pacific or even China/Burma. There are a ton of options. I hope over the years we'll explore most or all of those in some meaningful way. IMHO... I want North Africa or Italy over going nearly anywhere else (aside from the East front) simply because it brings in some more iconic aircraft that we all know and love AND its never been done before. Not officially. It's always been tacked or added on later.

 

There's plenty of arguments about marketshare and nationalities and that sort of thing. I think though that it comes down to consumer interest as well as resources in terms of research availability and time to build the project depending on complexity.

[DD_Arthur]

Is it lack of vision to do a single trio of theatres with the largest operations in terms of personnel and machinery?

 

From a technical point of view - with a game engine notable for its inability to replicate medium size operations, yes.  From a commercial point of view - to carry on at this time with another theatre from an area of the war that might be of limited interest to the majority of your most affluent customers?

 

 That suggests cronic myopia.    

[[CPT]Pike*HarryM]

At some point the product model becomes sort of problematic, as Panzerbar indicated with possible Kuban, aircraft overlap becomes an issue, at least if you stick to the same theatre. I guess that's a good thing in some ways as it forces a change of theater, for instance to the med. It is persistent problem if it involves Germans as for example the same German planes in Normandy and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bagration . So your only option at some point would radical change in time (Battle of France) or total change in theater and combatants, such as Pacific. 

 

Maybe at some point a change in product model back to something like RoF, selling maps and planes separately. 

 

 

[Pharoah]

Oleg interviews are something I miss, the man is as blunt as one can get

 

lol...'Two weeks, be sure...' is still my favourite comment of all time. God bless you Oleg

[Frequent_Flyer]

Adding another EF map and a couple of lend-lease aircraft really does nothing to increase interest in this title. The Russian audience is not going to fly the lend-lease aircraft [Edited]. they have little or no interest . An argument can be  made that it would be worth  risking  a portion of the 17% ( if that is factual % of Russian consumers) of Russian audience to significantly increase sales by moving to the Med. or PTO.

 

Please keep current event politics out of these threads.

Edited June 3, 2016 by Bearcat

[BlitzPig_EL]

A proper depiction of the Med has never been done.

 

It's about time.

[SOLIDKREATE]

As long as it has the:

 

 

• Bf-110G-2
• Bf-109G-6 and 14
• Fw-190A-5
• Hs-129B-2 (Late w/ MG131 13mm)
• Yak-3
• Spitfire Mk.V
• La-5FN
• A-20G-1
• B-25D-25

Edited June 3, 2016 by 6./ZG1=SPEKTRE76

[Pharoah]

What we do need is maps/theatres with western a/c and especially a sea map - I quite like how BOS/BOM have redone shipping (which is moving) and there's nothing better than being able to attack shipping with either guns/cannon or esp torps. Just adds a new dimension to the game.

[Feathered_IV]

lol...'Two weeks, be sure...' is still my favourite comment of all time. God bless you Oleg

My favourite was a little celebrated one from the latter banana forum days. A guy asked a carefully worded multiple-point inquiry upon topics of great delicacy and importance. Oleg carefully weighed the pros and cons. Ruminated on the whys and wheretofors and composed his deeply measured response....

 

"Sure no"

[Pharoah]

lol that is pure gold!!! ha ha.

[unreasonable]

This ship:

 

 

 

 

 

consider Swordfish as a real torpedoe-carrier

 

Indeed it was. Nice piece about that here: 

 

http://www.kbismarck.com/article2.html

 

 

The Italian heavy ships crippled at anchor in Taranto in November 1940 by Swordfish might also have had an opinion!

[BSS_Mudcat]

If this continues on the EF I'd rather see it be half the number of AC, pick something where things overlap to build that up. Since it would be a "half" expansion, i'd rather it also be half the cost Or if they do halve it, do an EF one and something else as well.  This way you could use any already purchased planes that overlap with the EF to make it like another full expansion, but also, if you choose wisely, you can do something like Midway as well at the same time.  I only picked Midway as there is minimal land, to map out and going with the "half" strategy there wasn't exactly a wide variety of AC there.  So 5 different AC for Japan and 5 for the US wouldn't seem odd, cause that's about what was there.

 

I'd wish they'd maybe rotate theaters, 1-2 in the EF, 1-2 PTO, 1-2 Western/Med, then back again to EF, rinse and repeat.  So other theaters get some play, without abandoning further work on previous fronts.
 

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

 

 

I'd wish they'd maybe rotate theaters, 1-2 in the EF, 1-2 PTO, 1-2 Western/Med, then back again to EF, rinse and repeat.  So other theaters get some play, without abandoning further work on previous fronts.

 

This. Beauty of variety.  

[Asgar]

 Technically yes, and there was action raging all the way until the end of the battle, but the major air actions were in Spring. Either way if you add Fw-190A-5, Bf-109G-6 and Hs-129B-2, you need to come up with two more aircraft for the Axis side.

 

2 more planes for the Axis? no problem. Do 217 and Me 410 (in place of the 210, which it replaced anyway. performance is mostly the same without the unrecoverable control loss )

Edited June 3, 2016 by 6./ZG26_Asgar

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

From a technical point of view - with a game engine notable for its inability to replicate medium size operations, yes. From a commercial point of view - to carry on at this time with another theatre from an area of the war that might be of limited interest to the majority of your most affluent customers?

 

That suggests cronic myopia.

I think this engine has done a good job replicating Stalingrad and Moscow so far, so I don't see why it would fail with another theatre of similar scale.

 

Also, all areas of the war are of limited interest to one or another market, so selling things on a 'what will everyone buy' is a dead end. Having a fragmented sequence just because some people in the West don't care about Soviet history does more harm than good. If they complete the 1941-1943 trilogy which they are one series away from, they can then safely think about either following it through to the end or starting over the same period at a different part of the world.

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

2 more planes for the Axis? no problem. Do 217 and Me 410 (in place of the 210, which it replaced anyway. performance is mostly the same without the unrecoverable control loss )

Were they vaguely there though?

[Asgar]

in the south of Russia?...yes

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

I found one night bombing group used the Do-217 so you're one step closer

[Asgar]

honestly. we have a solid plane set and i think it's in everyone's  interest to expand the plane set instead of over-saturating it with more and more copies of existing planes

but that's just my opinion.

 

with new fighter variants like the G-6 or La-5F performance improvements or new armament make a big difference. but another Ju-88 with the same airframe, just to be able to carry torpedos...meh

Edited June 3, 2016 by 6./ZG26_Asgar

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

You could switch the Me-410 for the IAR 81. It was there between February and April, and diversifies the set.

 

So, Bf-109G-6, Fw-190A-5, IAR 81, Hs-129B, Do-217. Sounds good to me

[Brano]

Kuban is too important in history of VVS to by left behind. It is where Soviets passed graduation exam. Making Yak-1b/Yak-9 and La-5F should be less time consuming then making brand new aircrafts from scratch. Adding Cobra as premium fighter + A20 or B-25 as bombers. Even less work for LW side making Gustav 4 and Fw-190A5. As premium fighter long time neglected IAR-80/81 + Hs-129 as attack a/c + either Dornier or both He-111 and Ju88 in torpedo versions (maybe add some more variants for Ju-88 as night fighter?!). This way they can focus more on continuous game engine improvements,FM tweaks and gameplay elements. We all know there are plenty issues to solve

[Asgar]

You could switch the Me-410 for the IAR 81. It was there between February and April, and diversifies the set.

 

So, Bf-109G-6, Fw-190A-5, IAR 81, Hs-129B, Do-217. Sounds good to me

i'd say the IAR 81 could be premium. to keep it in line with BoS/BoM concept  or drop the Hs 129 

[6./ZG26_5tuka]

...or drop the Hs 129 

If anything could lure me into another eastern front theatre it certainly would be a Henschel (and maybe a Ju-87B.....and a Do 217...and Hs-123...and....)

Edited June 3, 2016 by 6./ZG26_5tuka

[Asgar]

if you want to you can make a PTO theater, i don't care as long as the Me 410 is in it

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

The IAR would certainly be Premium, it fits the bill for that.

 

As 5tuka made the point, dropping the -129 would be close to sinful. It would be great to have the Hs-123 eventually, particularly since it soldiered on until 1944.

 

There is a nice anecdote of when Pokryshkin was nearly shot down by a Hs-129 after disrupting a formation of Ju-87s and Hs-129s with Golubev.

[Asgar]

you guys just don't want me to get my Me 410

[150GCT_Veltro]

North Africa 1942.

[Saurer]

From which point on could the G-6 carry the 30mm gun?

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

you guys just don't want me to get my Me 410

 

I promise it's not intentional, though I believe the Kuban expansion will cost $5 extra per user to fund therapy for you missing on the Me-410 and Panzerbar for missing the Bf-110G-2

 

From which point on could the G-6 carry the 30mm gun?

 

Late autumn 1943, and I think this was with the air defence units based in Germany. That being said it would most certainly be included along with the modifications considering how common it was from then on.

 

EDIT: It will be great to see the battle of the arches, considering the P-39's M4 and the Bf-109's MK 108 had trajectories comparable to long-range artillery pieces.

Edited June 3, 2016 by 55IAP_Lucas_From_Hell

[Asgar]

hey. the MK 103 is an actual useful weapon. i saw an american pilot in an interview who said you could watch the 37mm shell of the M4 and it looked like someone threw a Grapefruit (his words)

Edited June 3, 2016 by 6./ZG26_Asgar

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

That was Chuck Yeager, I think. But while the MK 103 had a good muzzle velocity, the MK 108 was up there with the M4, throwing HE bricks at neighbouring aircraft.

 

With the Soviet Air Force the M4 was liked, even though that arch was a frequent comment. Dive through the Ju-87 formation, approach from below where the gunners can't hit, squeeze the trigger from close up and watch them break into bits.

[Asgar]

the MV of the 108 is still better than that of the M4. Plus a 30mm Mineshell has almost twice the HE filler the 37 has

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

So, we have...

 

Bf-109G-6 (for those breezy Autumn days)

 

Fw-190A-5

 

IAR 81

 

Hs-129B-2

 

Do-217K-1

 

up against...

 

P-39 (any between D/K/L/M/N works, this one is Ivan Babak's P-39D-2 from 100 GIAP)

 

 

Yak-9

 

La-5F

 

 

Il-2 - a video from 7 GShAP (7th Guards Attack Aviation Regiment) over the Black Sea in 1943

 

 

A-20

[Asgar]

and the Me 410 in the Battle of Kuban Platinum Edition

[707shap_Srbin]

Me410 was never on eastern front.

Lucas, first two fotos are f2 of ostermann and a6 of nowotny.

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

Never trust captions, ever, ever. Thanks for the heads up, I'll find appropriate photos when I'm back.

[Asgar]

Me410 was never on eastern front.

that's why it will be in the Platinum Edition

[Trinkof]

So, we have...

Exactly what I am thinking.... You can just argue for the yak, having yak 1B or yak 9 (would like the 9 more... But the two fits)