Developer Diary, Part 44

[bolox]

 

That said, I don't care about SP having this gamey feature. I just hope MP will not have it, it would be a big constraint for online wars.

And it wouldn't be a constraint for  user written SP campaigns?  or doesn't SP (ie the majority of the games customers ) matter?

 

I really do despair at this kind of factionalist comments,

[Pixel*]

Except for some specific top aces (and not in all air forces), pilots didn't decide which kind of material they will use and didn't "unlock" them... HQs decided for them, this including plane type and armament variants.

The unlock features are gamey feature, I don't see how they can be related to any historical mechanism.

That said, I don't care about SP having this gamey feature. I just hope MP will not have it, it would be a big constraint for online wars.

 

true !

[Rama]

or doesn't SP (ie the majority of the games customers ) matter?

I'm not a party leader, I don't speak for the "majority" of the game customers but only giving my own opinion, and I'm honest, so if I don't care, I tell you.... and I don't care.

Those who care about SP campaigns can speak, they don't need me to speak for them.

[RedEye_Jeroll]

Again problems with language and the amount of scattered information on the forum. I understand. There are many people interested in the game.

 

There will be campaign, Single Player, or 'missions' offline?

 

Hugs to all.

[Pointman]

I think what I would like to see as a SP player is spotting like in ROF.

That was the perfect balance, having the chance to spot the enemy before they spot you if you were observant, definitely makes it fun and a feeling your on level terms with the Ai.

 

I like the identification ranges for Ai also, sometimes my flight leader would take us off mission to check out a contact only to find it friendly, then revert.

 

More than once my flight would peel off to engage enemy I missed, while other times the whole flight got bounced.

 

In other IL2 games (1,2, cliffs) I always turned labels on (which I hate) because AI spotting/ident compared to human was way off.

(Hard spotting is fine if all is equal)

 

Hopefully this makes it to BOS and keep that "pure" feeling ROF.

[Panzerlang]

The only thing I'm interested in unlocking is the Knights Cross.

[Bearcat]

That's probably proportional to developers interaction with Russian and international community. First page in the Russian forum has 13 developer replies, this topic has 1.

There are 44 updates. The reason why there are 13 on the Russian boards has less to do with the developers and more to do with the community continuing to engabe in discussion about DDs long after they are initially released.

 

When i say consider the developers and don't be silly I mean ... Why would we even see something like stars or mushrooms in BoS? We wouldn't.. and I cannot say for sure but I am pretty certain that the unlocks are probably related to a historic timeline based on how things went on the frint' not some random arbitrary thing. I think that in this case context will be everything. I also don't see how it could work in single online missions. Campaigns yes but single missions it seems that that would create a logistical nightmare for mission designers in an online campaign with various pilots all at different stages in the unlock process.

[=RvE=Windmills]

It really depends on how long it takes to unlock these things.

 

It is not unreasonable to expect an hour or two invested into SP to unlock everything for MP. Say completing the SP campaign for either nation will unlock all there is on that respective side.

 

Anything more then that would rapidly turn into a grind though.

[Zak]

It is not unreasonable to expect an hour or two invested into SP to unlock everything for MP. Say completing the SP campaign for either nation will unlock all there is on that respective side.

Even simplier - you won't have to complete the whole line of missions in the historical campaign. You can choose planes and types of missions you like, so if you're not fond of bombers - just ignore them and stick to all variations of fighter aircraft missions.

[BraveSirRobin]

Even simplier - you won't have to complete the whole line of missions in the historical campaign. You can choose planes and types of missions you like, so if you're not fond of bombers - just ignore them and stick to all variations of fighter aircraft missions.

 

What if you're not interested in playing SP at all?  Then you're screwed, right?

[71st_AH_Mastiff]

I read somewhere that unranked multiplayer servers will have all mods and skins available without any unlocks. Not sure if this is a compromise?

 

On paper the unlock system doesn't look good, but maybe once we see it in game it will make more sense.

The reasoning for this is when you were a new rookie pilot in Russia; you got the short end of the stick. So when you arrive at your squadron, in the campaign you got to work to get these upgrades.

What if you're not interested in playing SP at all?  Then you're screwed, right?

yeep! then you can't play it if you don't want to play SP.

[JtD]

There are 44 updates. The reason why there are 13 on the Russian boards has less to do with the developers and more to do with the community continuing to engabe in discussion about DDs long after they are initially released.

You misunderstood. The discussion for update 44 has 13 replies by the developers on the first page (about 1 in 3 posts) made by the developers, whereas this discussion has 1 reply on page 1 (about 1 in 40 posts). Hence the discussion on the Russian board is way more interesting and thus has considerably more views. It has everything to do with the developers. Edited December 11, 2013 by JtD

[DD_Arthur]

You misunderstood. The discussion for update 44 has 13 replies by the developers on the first page (about 1 in 3 posts) made by the developers, whereas this discussion has 1 reply on page 1 (about 1 in 40 posts). Hence the discussion on the Russian board is way more interesting and thus has considerably more views. It has everything to do with the developers.

 

Very true.  There is a lot more interaction over on the Russian forums.  Would be nice to see a lot more input on these boards from the dev team.

[Marcomies]

Even simplier - you won't have to complete the whole line of missions in the historical campaign. You can choose planes and types of missions you like, so if you're not fond of bombers - just ignore them and stick to all variations of fighter aircraft missions.

 

So is there's no careers where you are just a regular pilot who does what he is ordered to do and fly as a part of a single historical unit (getting unlocks that represent the real availability of equipment at the time)? I really hope that is not the case here.

 

Regarding unlocks, I really think you should just give an option to unlock everything from options or something like that so people who don't want to play single player can just go fly online with all unlocked. Unlocks are there only for players to enjoy and there is a big group of people who will just hate them.

 

I personally will like unlocks in career if they are represented somewhat like "Your unit just received 12 LaGG-3:s armed with 23mm cannons" or "You are now big enough star in your unit to remove the standard head armor from your Bf-109 even though the crew chief is giving you sour looks". This should be the same for every career (presuming there are careers where you play as a single normal pilot) so that unlocks don't carry over from career to career.

 

If it's going to be like "Congratulations! You can now use bombs that have been widely available for the last 20 years" or "The enemy tanks are pushing our forces back! Too bad you ain't cool enough dude to put some bombs on your bomber" I will hate it.

 

In general I really don't like the idea of having bombs and rockets as unlockabless

Edited December 11, 2013 by Marcomies

[LLv44_Mprhead]

Very true.  There is a lot more interaction over on the Russian forums.  Would be nice to see a lot more input on these boards from the dev team.

 

I have never before looked at the Russian forums, but this made me interested. And yes, if you take a look at first 5 pages on Russian forums, there is 34 green posts there compared to 8 we have here. The difference is blindingly obvious especially in the first page. Ofc this is also quite natural, since communicating with one's own language comes more naturally, but now when this issue has been brought to your attention speed up communication on this side too, please

[Emgy]

I get the impression they put a lot of effort into mission mechanics, like the night time searchlight operators who use their ears to search for planes. It's not unreasonable that they are urging people to at least try out the SP missions.

 

Like a rescue mission where you have to land on a frozen lake, and if your sink rate is too high you break the ice (someone posted a video where this happened)... players won't see those kinds of details in an ATAG-style online server.