Battle of Okinawa

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

I think you'll see the same with Midway however. Starting from the point that in the first maps the fleets will be away from each other so pilots will need to put a good effort into finding the enemy but also protecting their own fleet from air attacks. As the fleets draw close, it's possible that one has find the enemy while the enemy is in the dark, making for some pretty cool sneaky action. Finally, auxiliary ships can be used instead of the supply truck mechanics while damage to the main fleet determines how much the fleet moves closer to the island.

[Trooper117]

With Midway, if the dev's stay historically accurate, we will all have a good idea where the opposing fleet is... (there are enough maps and diagrams)

I suppose there will have to be a measure of spawning them in different locations, otherwise, once you have flown and found the fleet, you will always know what bearing to find them on, even if you don't know the history... 

[BlitzPig_EL]

Ummm...   I'm not much of an online guy anymore, but what will stop TAW from just staying with the East Front maps and ignoring the Pacific altogether?

 

There is no reason for them to leave the ground war in the East just because another theater has become available.   This is what happened in to the original game when Pacific fighters came out. Many people stuck with their 109s, Yaks, Spits, and etc... and never bothered with the Pacific.

 

I suspect that is what will happen here as well.   The JGs will only dabble in the Pacific, and then mostly later when faster US planes become available, for example.  The entire community is NOT going to completely switch over the the Pacific, in fact I will postulate the most will stay where they are now, after the initial novelty of the new wears off.

Edited September 13, 2017 by BlitzPig_EL

[ShamrockOneFive]

But we should see a whole bunch of new players flying Wildcats and Zeros that weren't before.

 

Spitfires vs 109s and Wildcats vs Zeros were both popular servers (and by no means the only ones) at the same time.

[BlitzPig_EL]

I do expect some new guys coming in of course, I know several that simply refuse to fly anything with a red star, a black cross, or a rising sun on it, that will make the switch from the old sim, and sure, we will get some new players as well, but I don't expect a large number to jump to the Pacific from the current player base.

 

I do hope I am wrong, really I do, but I still have memories of watching players leave a sever when a Pacific map was next in the rotation.

 

Time will tell.

 

I know I am looking forward to flying the F4F and A6M again, and really hoping for the float planes too.

[Gambit21]

With Midway, if the dev's stay historically accurate, we will all have a good idea where the opposing fleet is... (there are enough maps and diagrams)

I suppose there will have to be a measure of spawning them in different locations, otherwise, once you have flown and found the fleet, you will always know what bearing to find them on, even if you don't know the history...

 

It won't be random spawning, but rather certain "what if" scenario options.

However no matter which scenario you're flying, the fleet is not going to magically swap locations between sorties.

[Pharoah]

Ummm...   I'm not much of an online guy anymore, but what will stop TAW from just staying with the East Front maps and ignoring the Pacific altogether?

 

true, however I'm assuming most will want to fly the new a/c esp if its western a/c (Wildcat, SBD, TBF, etc). When you release something new like BoMiday, you'd want people playing it regularly. However, as it is - there's nothing there to necessarily maintain 100% interest (which is why i used the TAW example which adds that extra layer of tactics, etc and the 'bigger picture'). Plus, landing crashing on carriers is going to get pretty old pretty fast. 

[Praetor]

I love the idea of carrier landings, but without a Corsair (only because I love it), I don't find the Pacific enticing -- constantly fighting over bland sea...

 

I think the community would build fastest with a 43'-44' air war over Europe campaign.  B17s, B24s, Spit 9s, Spit 14s, Typhoons, Tempests, P47s, P51s, P38s, late 109s, 190s, 410s. 

[Legioneod]

It won't be random spawning, but rather certain "what if" scenario options.

However no matter which scenario you're flying, the fleet is not going to magically swap locations between sorties.

Whats stopping the server owner/ mission maker from moving the carrier groups to a different location? I truly hope the carrier groups aren't static and that they move around dynamically.

 

Once the Pacific comes out I plan on starting up my own dedicated server and I hope I will have the ability to place my fleets anywhere I want.

Edited September 14, 2017 by Legioneod

[Pharoah]

I love the idea of carrier landings, but without a Corsair (only because I love it), I don't find the Pacific enticing -- constantly fighting over bland sea...

 

I think the community would build fastest with a 43'-44' air war over Europe campaign.  B17s, B24s, Spit 9s, Spit 14s, Typhoons, Tempests, P47s, P51s, P38s, late 109s, 190s, 410s. 

 

Is there some sort of elephant in the room re this? hell we're in eastern europe...all we have to do is move a thousand miles West. We already have the Luftwaffe a/c as well as the Spitfire. Why aren't we doing western Europe? Or is this earmarked for CloD?

[Feathered_IV]

There are three sims currently under development that are dealing with Western Europe.

[Field-Ops]

Yea you dont dive head first at the back of the line into a saturated market and expect to come out on top. Go another path less traveled and you achieve the attention of the buyer more than you would in that saturated market. I for one look forward to the pacific immensely and feel the west can wait and is practically beating a dead horse just loading up games pertaining to it. 

[Gambit21]

Whats stopping the server owner/ mission maker from moving the carrier groups to a different location? I truly hope the carrier groups aren't static and that they move around dynamically.

 

Once the Pacific comes out I plan on starting up my own dedicated server and I hope I will have the ability to place my fleets anywhere I want.

The server owner/mission maker can do whatever he wants - that wasn't my point.

Is there some sort of elephant in the room re this?

No - a dead horse perhaps.

[Royal_Flight]

If I remember correctly, polls run on this forum have consistently showed a slight preference for the Mediterranean and North Africa.

Albeit that's just a random sample of some of the users of this forum and so not representative of the whole community.

 

I remember being told as well that similar polling in the Russian-language area indicates a strong preference to stay in the Eastern Front.

 

So overall there's probably no clear consensus through the whole community for the most popular next step. The Pacific does seem like a bit of an odd move but I'm happy to go there and I don't doubt that it'll be great, and I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Doing Midway then jumping to Okinawa and stopping though isn't a smart plan, some people have proposed some brilliant suggestions about Guadalcanal, New Guinea and China/Burma/India which I'd hope to see in between.

 

We have been told (by Jason, iirc) that we won't be getting four-engines heavies in the game at all though. So as there are certain scenarios that wouldn't work without them then I doubt we'll see them.

[hames123]

We need Seafires. And RN carriers that are more or less immune to Kamakazies.

I do expect some new guys coming in of course, I know several that simply refuse to fly anything with a red star, a black cross, or a rising sun on it, that will make the switch from the old sim, and sure, we will get some new players as well, but I don't expect a large number to jump to the Pacific from the current player base.

 

I do hope I am wrong, really I do, but I still have memories of watching players leave a sever when a Pacific map was next in the rotation.

 

Time will tell.

 

I know I am looking forward to flying the F4F and A6M again, and really hoping for the float planes too.

Are some Americans really that shallow? Not playing because they need to fly Soviets, Germans or Japanese?

[Solmyr]

There are three sims currently under development that are dealing with Western Europe.

 

Could you plz develop a bit further more ?

 

 

 

We have been told (by Jason, iirc) that we won't be getting four-engines heavies in the game at all though.

 

What ?!! Why ?     

Edited September 14, 2017 by Solmyr

[BlitzPig_EL]

We need Seafires. And RN carriers that are more or less immune to Kamakazies.

 

Are some Americans really that shallow? Not playing because they need to fly Soviets, Germans or Japanese?

 

It's not just Americans sir.

[hames123]

It's not just Americans sir.

Cool. Sorry, I just assumed you were referencing them, since you seem to be American based on your profile pic. And we are getting US and Japanese air forces, we have the Soviets and the Germans, and you mentioned that some would not fly 3/4 so I assumed you were talking about the Americans. No offence meant.

[ShamrockOneFive]

We need Seafires. And RN carriers that are more or less immune to Kamakazies.

 

Are some Americans really that shallow? Not playing because they need to fly Soviets, Germans or Japanese?

 

I would love to see Seafire's in the Okinawa battle. It may just happen too. There would be some changes from the Spitfire Vb that we have but its not a total rebuild. Revised cockpit frames, revised exhaust stacks, naval gear like the arrestor hook, C-type wing... and was the landing gear reinforced? Some Seafire IIIs also had Hispano Mark V cannons fitted with higher fire rates. That'd be devastating

 

I'm sure the biggest challenge there is building another carrier. I'm assuming those will be time consuming.

 

And yes there are folks of all nationalities that I've come across over the years that only fly their nations aircraft. It's weird to me but they are out there. We've had them refuse to balance teams on servers I used to admin. They would leave when their nation wasn't available. Cest la vie.

 

What ?!! Why ?     

 

I chose to interpret what Jason said about large complex aircraft a little more optimistically. We're not likely to see a four engined heavy at least not for a while. There are multiple reasons for it but the key one is the same story for any of the aircraft. They take a lot of time to develop to the point where the A-20 has taken them a huge amount of time and its just a "light" or "medium" bomber that's fairly straight forward. I'm sure a B-17 would be a couple of years in the making. That takes resources from somewhere else.

 

The point is they have to run a business and the sales of a four engined heavy won't offset the time lost working on a variety of other things.

 

I'm still optimistic that at some point they will be able to crank out at least some of the larger medium bombers (B-25, B-26) and maybe we'll still see something like a B-17 or B-24 later on. Who knows... if the third party effort works out then maybe there is a low-risk way to develop one.

 

Never say never but lets be realistic about what we might see and what we won't for a while.

Edited September 14, 2017 by ShamrockOneFive

[hames123]

By the way, a rather good game called Steel Division came out recently(forgive the bad name, the developers are French). It, and the older Cold War games made by the same company, have the best planes outside a flight sim. You can actually give them orders that they will carry out well based on what they are. The most impressing example is the HS 129 flying away to try and get a long run on a target instead of immediately turning to get it again. Sorry if it is off topic, I got reminded of it by the mention of the B-26, which is the heaviest plane in the game, along with the Ju88.

[Legioneod]

We need Seafires. And RN carriers that are more or less immune to Kamakazies.

 

Are some Americans really that shallow? Not playing because they need to fly Soviets, Germans or Japanese?

It's only natural to want to fly your own country/sides aircraft. German and Russian aircraft and the eastern front as a whole do not interest me but I still fly because it's the only decent WW2 game out right now.

 

I for one can't wait for the Pacific, flying around that beautiful blue ocean trying to find an enemy carrier group, then finally spotting it and giving your team the location so they can attack. Also making back to your own carrier will be a fun challenge.

 

Personally I could do without Europe all together, the only real reason I wanted Europe was for the P-47 but I can still get the Jug with New Guinea or some other Pacific battle. 

[hames123]

Imagine making a torpedo run against the Japanese fleet. It might actually be suicidal.

[Pharoah]

There are three sims currently under development that are dealing with Western Europe.

 

1. CLoD (SE England, NW france based in 1940). Old. ground textures are horrible. Thank goodness for the mods. 

2. DCS Normandy - really? I have it (incl the Spit IX). Its boring as hell. Nothing has really been developed properly for it and you basically have to pay for everything. Very few a/c (4) and no twins or bombers. 

3. BOS?

 

BoX moving into western europe would kick the butts of the above sims ANY day. 

 

I know this has been discussed at length but there's still so much that can be done eg. N Africa, Med (Malta, Italy).

 

At the end of the day its us the customers who will purchase it (or not as the case may be). We need to move away from the eastern front - thats 3 packs that cover that already. 

[ShamrockOneFive]

Well it may even be that we do Midway and then Okinawa and then the beaches of Normandy. We don't know what will happen that far down the line. IL-2: BoX does seem to have a good model to go on though and we're getting into other theaters now so time will tell. A lot of that is 2020 or 2021/22 anyways.

[BlitzPig_EL]

No offense taken sir, just wanting to be accurate.

 

Cool. Sorry, I just assumed you were referencing them, since you seem to be American based on your profile pic. And we are getting US and Japanese air forces, we have the Soviets and the Germans, and you mentioned that some would not fly 3/4 so I assumed you were talking about the Americans. No offence meant.

 

 

The BlitzPigs back in the day had members from the US, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, and Israel.

And we had a lot of friends that flew with us (and still do game with us) from The Netherlands and Norway, and elsewhere.

 

Most of us would, and do, fly anything in the game.  I think most of us that play the sim still do, but people are people and have as many reasons for doing what they do as there are stars in the sky.

 

Personally I can say that I have flown every type in the old sim, including mods of the "non-flyable" aircraft, that includes the gliders and the Japanese MXY-7 Ohka suicide rocket bomb, and own every plane in this sim and have flown them all, though I do have my favorites that I pretty much use as defaults. 

 

If I wanted to, I could have reasons not to fly German, but that would be silly, for me anyway, as I like to fly the Emil and F models, and can be passable in the 190 if pressed, though my real favorite axis plane so far is the Macchi 202.  You will see me a lot in the Val and F1M when they come along, and hopefully if we get Japanese Army types at some point the Ki-43 and Ki-61.

[Feathered_IV]

 

3. BOS?

 

 

This one: http://www.wingsoverthereich.com/

[hames123]

No offense taken sir, just wanting to be accurate.

 

 

 

The BlitzPigs back in the day had members from the US, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, and Israel.

And we had a lot of friends that flew with us (and still do game with us) from The Netherlands and Norway, and elsewhere.

 

Most of us would, and do, fly anything in the game. I think most of us that play the sim still do, but people are people and have as many reasons for doing what they do as there are stars in the sky.

 

Personally I can say that I have flown every type in the old sim, including mods of the "non-flyable" aircraft, that includes the gliders and the Japanese MXY-7 Ohka suicide rocket bomb, and own every plane in this sim and have flown them all, though I do have my favorites that I pretty much use as defaults.

 

If I wanted to, I could have reasons not to fly German, but that would be silly, for me anyway, as I like to fly the Emil and F models, and can be passable in the 190 if pressed, though my real favorite axis plane so far is the Macchi 202. You will see me a lot in the Val and F1M when they come along, and hopefully if we get Japanese Army types at some point the Ki-43 and Ki-61.

I will probably fly both sides, while I wait for the RAF to come. Once they come, I may find myself always picking them when they are available.

[Alexmarine]

Imagine making a torpedo run against the American fleet. It is actually suicidal.

Post corrected for the time of Okinawa scenario

[hames123]

True. But that could be because the Japanese were actually suicidal and intended to crash anyway half the time.

[=ARTOA=Bombenleger]

Imagine making a torpedo run against the Japanese fleet. It might actually be suicidal.

if they model the proximity fuses for the american AA, even thinking about it will amount to suicide. :D

Edited September 14, 2017 by =ARTOA=Bombenleger

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

What proximity fuses? For 1942 Midway ? For Okinawa indeed but not for all guns even. Especially not for Bofors of which most are thinking.

 

Though with current AA accuracy every thing may be deadly.

Edited September 14, 2017 by =LD=Hiromachi

[xvii-Dietrich]

I know I am looking forward to flying the F4F and A6M again, and really hoping for the float planes too.

 

+1 on the hope for float planes.

 

 

 

We have been told (by Jason, iirc) that we won't be getting four-engines heavies in the game at all though.

 

Unfortunate, but understandable. The 4-engined aircraft are a lot of work, and don't suit the IL-2 engine so well. BoX is more suited to the low-level and ground attack, thus living up to its namesake. A 10-hour flight in a B-17 is about complex engine management, navigation and avionics, which we don't have in IL-2. Check out A2A Simulations B-17G AccuSim if you want to fly those sorts of missions.

 

I fully understand why IL-2 sticks to its strengths.

 

 

 

 

And yes there are folks of all nationalities that I've come across over the years that only fly their nations aircraft.

 

Or do not fly a particular nation.

 

(In my case, I do it out of respect to a senior member of my household, who was actually there during the war and suffered accordingly.)

 

 

[Royal_Flight]

The Seafire would make a brilliant addition that I would love to see. There would be a few changes though, the most likely version would be a mkIII which is similar to the Vb we have but with a few changes.

Notably the arrestor hook, if I remember correctly the mkIII was the first sort folding wings as well. It's also got a four-cannon armament in the 'C' wing and a different engine for more power at lower altitude with a four-bladed prop, and the cockpit instruments are slightly different as well. Also has provision for drop tanks.

The landing gear are unchanged though, so far plus the 'floaty' landing characteristics will make it a bit of a nightmare to land on a carrier... not that I'm not looking forward to the challenge.

[Rjel]

The BoMidway struck me with a question. To this point it's been BoS, BoM and BoK. What to use as a nickname for Midway? BoMidwayIwishthiswerereallyNewGuineaIdon'twanttogotoOkinawaafterthat?

[Stlg13/Sgt_Schultz]

Man I hope we do get the Seafire and maybe a RN carrier or two. I can imagine it being a big draw to the British crowd and lovers of the Spitfire, of which they are numerous. Myself included 

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

Man I hope we do get the Seafire and maybe a RN carrier or two. I can imagine it being a big draw to the British crowd and lovers of the Spitfire, of which they are numerous. Myself included 

Based on the Dev time schedule, which is pretty tight, I wouldn't expect RN stuff until after the main BoMI release if it will be on offer. Possible in a later patch maybe.

[Pharoah]

BoMI release

 

Kinda prefer BoMid  myself 

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

I prefer BoAF but it would be lost on most..............

Edited September 14, 2017 by II/JG17_HerrMurf

[Stlg13/Sgt_Schultz]

 

 

Based on the Dev time schedule, which is pretty tight, I wouldn't expect RN stuff until after the main BoMI ™ release if it will be on offer. Possible in a later patch maybe.

 

 

Personally I'd be content with just being able to operate the Seafire from US carriers, especially if it meant less wait time for the initial release (plus less time modeling a new aircraft from scratch). But that isn't to say it wouldn't be nice to get a RN presence at some point.

 

 

But I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't be content unless it came with a carrier? 

[Pharoah]

I'd love to fly Seafires from RN carriers. I did back in the '1946 days against targets in Burma, etc from memory. But the key here is you need land targets ie. islands or something larger. Just having the Battle of Midway would be great but for long term playability you still need some sort of land mass for mission variety (airfields, trucks, tanks, def positions, barges, shipping, bridges, etc).