Bought the game a while ago, almost didn't played until...

[Rei_Ayanami]

...until I started missing my childhood Forgotten Battles and 46 experiences (+I had Il2 46 with all the patches in Steam).

 

Is BOS much harder than original game? What add-ons are worth buying?

[Tipsi]

In a nutshell, it's much more harder in terms of complexity.

[CountZero]

6 minutes ago, Rei_Ayanami said:

...until I started missing my childhood Forgotten Battles and 46 experiences (+I had Il2 46 with all the patches in Steam).

 

Is BOS much harder than original game? What add-ons are worth buying?

no its not mutch harder, but its mutch emptyer

 

for adons i see you already have best one, BoS, so i would get Battle of Bodenplate when its on 50% off, or if your not in late west stuf then Battle of Kuban as map is best in game, and its 75% off now with promo code you should have in your profile.

 

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by CountZero

[Rei_Ayanami]

Is WW1 game worth it?

Edited April 9, 2020 by Rei_Ayanami

[CountZero]

to me no, i have rais of flight ww1. And i dont belive there will be any more ww1 stuff here, same for tanks so why invest in something that will not go forward, ww2 stuff i expect to continue.

Edited April 9, 2020 by CountZero

[THERION]

26 minutes ago, Rei_Ayanami said:

Is WW1 game worth it?

 

Yes, it is! If you are interested in WWI air warfare then this is a good choice.

[blue_max]

I really enjoy the WW1 stuff, more so than the WW2 planes sometimes. It's just a totally different experience, and dogfighting in a Dr.1 is hella cool!

[Eisenfaustus]

38 minutes ago, Rei_Ayanami said:

Is WW1 game worth it?

I'll give a third answer - it depends...

 

If you are into SP you need to be willing to fiddle with a great third party tool to get something out of it in contrast to the WWII modules that ship with an excellent ingame career

 

concerning mp others can say more

 

but vr-dogfighting in wwi crate is great and a very diffrent experience from wwii

[Lusekofte]

This game is no more difficult than old IL 2 

Game interphase are different. And of course it is much better and modern.
Old IL 2 in modded version is hard to beat in number of planes ,campaign and maps. Still a good game.  

 

[41Sqn_Skipper]

11 minutes ago, 216th_LuseKofte said:

This game is no more difficult than old IL 2 

Game interphase are different. And of course it is much better and modern.
Old IL 2 in modded version is hard to beat in number of planes ,campaign and maps. Still a good game.  

 

 

It has more complexity in regards of engine management and aircraft controls. The handling differences between the engine types are more  pronounced, like different and multiple types of cooling systems and more complex RPM and boost limits.

[Lusekofte]

34 minutes ago, 41Sqn_Banks said:

 

It has more complexity in regards of engine management and aircraft controls. The handling differences between the engine types are more  pronounced, like different and multiple types of cooling systems and more complex RPM and boost limits.

Old il 2 got the same adjustments. But they work less realistic than in this game. 
The consequences are greater in this game. 
the complexity of the system is of course greater. But operating the planes require little to none transferring from IL 2 

If any it will be ground handeling

[ShamrockOneFive]

5 hours ago, Rei_Ayanami said:

...until I started missing my childhood Forgotten Battles and 46 experiences (+I had Il2 46 with all the patches in Steam).

 

Is BOS much harder than original game? What add-ons are worth buying?

 

IL-2: Forgotten Battles and 1946 were really good at finding a balance between as much high fidelity modeling as possible at the time and not sweating some of the small stuff and making sure that it was also accessible. IL-2: Great Battles Series, of which IL-2: Battle of Stalingrad is part of the package, still maintains that. They have slightly more complex and detailed engine modeling (its an option, you can turn it off in the difficulty settings for single player) but on the whole IL-2 is accessible. There are no complex start-up procedures for example.

 

I've written a full review on the latest release which is also a good overview of the entire series to date if you want to dive a little deeper into the subject:

https://stormbirds.blog/2019/12/03/il-2-battle-of-bodenplatte-full-review/

 

IMHO, I think all of the titles are worth buying but it depends on how interested you are in the different aircraft in each set.

[Lusekofte]

2 minutes ago, ShamrockOneFive said:

I've written a full review on the latest release which is also a good overview of the entire series to date if you want to dive a little deeper into the subject:

This blog/ site you should bookmark. 
I find it very calming reading it. Passion to a game can make me and other aggressive. 
Reading this blog opens the eyes for other perspectives and better understanding  

All interviewed there is articles of good reading. 
@ShamrockOneFive. I hope you know it’s appreciated 

[mazex]

After I got a new 1440p monitor I had problems running the old IL2 on my computer and did not have the motivation to get it running any more with BoX beeing so good. 

 

So after reading your post I did get it running by disabling some DPI Scaling etc and upgraded to version 4.14.1. And what a trip down memory lane - it was fortunate that I was seated as my legs got a bit weak

 

Anyway - after getting my Virpil Hotas setup working and flying around for a while in some QMB missions etc I realized that IL2FB really just is nostalgia today as BoX is so much better in almost all aspects. It's like starting my old Pentium with DOS to run Aces over Europe or Falcon 3. It's probably the game I have spent most time with to date so it will be on my computer forever. 

 

When Battle of Stalingrad came out I had pre-ordered like all other FS nerds that where flying and enjoying Rise of Flight. But that first version of BoS really did not get me hooked for some reason. The flight models where a bit "rough" - especially on the edge of the envelope, I did not like to just have a few planes to play around with, unlocks and no good SP campaign. And that intensive snow blind white Stalingrad map got "old" pretty quick... 

 

But just like with the first version of the original IL2 with a few planes, BoX today is something completely different from that first BoS experience. We have a really nice plane setup, lots of maps, a nice dynamic campaign mode and many great scripted campaigns. And the flight model now is soo much better than the first version of Stalingrad. As an IRL pilot (mostly gliders) I have to say that the IL2 BoX engine is the one that feels most right to me now. Yes - it is harder (more realistic) to fly than the original IL2, especially the engine management. But it really does not take that long to get a hold of it. And after that it is very satisfying to nurse home a damaged plane to base and manage to nail that landing, just as the engine quits out. 

 

And if you get the opportunity to get a nice VR setup it goes to another level. Those cockpits are just jaw dropping awesome in VR, and the immersion of actually beeing in a real plane is second to none. Impossible to describe for someone that has not tried it in VR. It probably is the best VR simulator but DCS does a good job as well. 

 

In my opinion there is no discussion - this IS the best WW2 simulator hands down. Just as IL2 FB/46 was back in the days. But this is a new level. And after understanding how to fiddle with manifold pressure, RPM, mixture and prop pitch it really is not that much harder to fly than IL2 FB. Start with the German planes where you mainly just need to keep an eye on the "ATA" meter (manifold pressure). As an example for the 109 F2 - think of ATA 1.2 as full throttle and 1.3 as WEP. And don't think about the actual throttle position. Why not start off with the "Ten days of autumn" campaign where you fly the F2 - you will have a blast!

 

 

[Oyster_KAI]

If you are a WWII fan, BOX(Great battle) series is definitely the only one you need.
To be honest, bobp and FC vol.1 are incomplete, we also have some performance problem and a little too much bugs in the second half 2019(as Jason said, QA problem etc....)

but that was past, we'll see "Revenge of Devs" in 2020.
I bought all content and colector planes in spite of something that is incomplete.take U-2VS for example, I believe that someday female pilot model and usable bombsight will come.

[Eisenfaustus]

53 minutes ago, Oyster_KAI said:

To be honest, bobp and FC vol.1 are incomplete,

In what way exactly is bobp incomplete? The only thing really missing are intro movies for the career chapters - but gameplaywise everything is there...

[LLv24_SukkaVR]

7 hours ago, CountZero said:

And i dont belive there will be any more ww1 stuff here, same for tanks so why invest in something that will not go forward

 

Well, if people don't invest in those products they can be sure we won't see more WW1 and Tank products. Continuation depends how well those titles sell.

[CountZero]

49 minutes ago, LLv24_Sukka24 said:

 

Well, if people don't invest in those products they can be sure we won't see more WW1 and Tank products. Continuation depends how well those titles sell.

True, and thats why i think they will not be able to make them.

[Redwo1f]

1 hour ago, LLv24_Sukka24 said:

 

Well, if people don't invest in those products they can be sure we won't see more WW1 and Tank products. Continuation depends how well those titles sell.

 

Yes indeed. But the developers are 100% caught in a catch-22, imho (especially regarding FC).

[novicebutdeadly]

On 4/9/2020 at 5:50 PM, Rei_Ayanami said:

...until I started missing my childhood Forgotten Battles and 46 experiences (+I had Il2 46 with all the patches in Steam).

 

Is BOS much harder than original game? What add-ons are worth buying?

Is BOS harder than the original il2 series?

I can only speak for myself because I don't know what your skill level is.

I found crossing over at first to be very frustrating mainly because of my skill level, but I ultimately found it to be rewarding. 

When the current series was released the first aircraft that was released was Russian, and so required prop pitch adjustments to even take off (which didn't occur to me at first....) didn't help because of my skill level.

The other 2 issues that I found were:

In the old series I flew in external pit which this game doesn't have.

And I also discovered what numerous people said in the old series that the planes "feel like they are on rails", as the plane now in the new series actually feels like it is flying (from my non-pilot POV), which required my to "re-learn how to fly"







 

[Voyager]

On 4/9/2020 at 3:50 AM, Rei_Ayanami said:

Is WW1 game worth it?

 

On 4/9/2020 at 4:35 AM, Eisenfaustus said:

I'll give a third answer - it depends...

 

If you are into SP you need to be willing to fiddle with a great third party tool to get something out of it in contrast to the WWII modules that ship with an excellent ingame career

 

concerning mp others can say more

 

but vr-dogfighting in wwi crate is great and a very diffrent experience from wwii

 

I'm going to second that. While Rise of Flight does have more aircraft, there is something absolutely visceral about flying an open cockpit in VR. 

 

Also, for what ever reason, I have just found that the FC user interface has been much more understandable than I ever found Rise of Flight to be. 

 

Lastly, even if it is the only FC, because it is part of the GB system, it will continue to get architecture updates along with the rest of the GB games. I know they've hired on an AI engineer to work on the overall AI, and if they are able to identify and resolve the core AI bottlenecks that cap out the number of active units we can have, that will apply to both FC as well as the rest of the GB series. 

[Sybreed]

On 4/9/2020 at 12:14 PM, Eisenfaustus said:

In what way exactly is bobp incomplete? The only thing really missing are intro movies for the career chapters - but gameplaywise everything is there...

 

Career mode feels half done though. Launch a BF-109 career and all you'll have to do are free hunts and the occasional bomber intercept. Hell, even when the free hunt pops up, I'm getting set aside by my commander and all I can do is click "proceed" and watch the next day come xD

[ShamrockOneFive]

9 hours ago, Sybreed said:

 

Career mode feels half done though. Launch a BF-109 career and all you'll have to do are free hunts and the occasional bomber intercept. Hell, even when the free hunt pops up, I'm getting set aside by my commander and all I can do is click "proceed" and watch the next day come xD

 

The missions you get in Career mode are determined by the unit and the historical circumstances.

 

Free hunt and bomber intercept is basically what you expect a Bf109 fighter unit to be doing at this time. Pick one of the Fw190A-8 units flying fighter-bomber missions and you'll have a different experience.

[Sybreed]

3 hours ago, ShamrockOneFive said:

 

The missions you get in Career mode are determined by the unit and the historical circumstances.

 

Free hunt and bomber intercept is basically what you expect a Bf109 fighter unit to be doing at this time. Pick one of the Fw190A-8 units flying fighter-bomber missions and you'll have a different experience.

I guess you're right. It just doesn't make for the most interesting career. 

[ShamrockOneFive]

36 minutes ago, Sybreed said:

I guess you're right. It just doesn't make for the most interesting career. 

 

That's the challenge to produce A) A historically accurate career experience that focuses purely on the history of the event versus B) An engaging single player experience.

 

I think you'll find the opinion around here divided as to which is the better direction forward. Arguably... both. And then everyone would be unhappy

 

Career mode is not perfect but it does at least a decent job of creating a playable single player experience that takes you from day to day of a campaign. It's just that some units and some points in the campaign are going to be filled with less diversity in operation. Having flown many missions in career mode, I can say that though the setup is often the same, the actual execution tends to be different as there are enough random variables.

 

You can transfer from one unit to another so maybe transfer your pilot to another frontline unit and see if the experience is different. It might be!

[Sybreed]

7 hours ago, ShamrockOneFive said:

 

That's the challenge to produce A) A historically accurate career experience that focuses purely on the history of the event versus B) An engaging single player experience.

 

I think you'll find the opinion around here divided as to which is the better direction forward. Arguably... both. And then everyone would be unhappy

 

Career mode is not perfect but it does at least a decent job of creating a playable single player experience that takes you from day to day of a campaign. It's just that some units and some points in the campaign are going to be filled with less diversity in operation. Having flown many missions in career mode, I can say that though the setup is often the same, the actual execution tends to be different as there are enough random variables.

 

You can transfer from one unit to another so maybe transfer your pilot to another frontline unit and see if the experience is different. It might be!

 

Yes, that's something I didn't think of, so thx for the suggestion. Still, I wish the devs tinkered with career mode a bit for BoBP. Bomber formations going at 2000m still feel off to me when it was known it was more around 5k or so. Maybe climbing for so long is not really feasible with the size of the map? I don't know. I'm not a MP kind of guy so career mode is pretty much all I have and that makes me more demanding I guess!

[ShamrockOneFive]

3 hours ago, Sybreed said:

 

Yes, that's something I didn't think of, so thx for the suggestion. Still, I wish the devs tinkered with career mode a bit for BoBP. Bomber formations going at 2000m still feel off to me when it was known it was more around 5k or so. Maybe climbing for so long is not really feasible with the size of the map? I don't know. I'm not a MP kind of guy so career mode is pretty much all I have and that makes me more demanding I guess!

 

I'd have to look up the operational details to be sure, however, I suspect what they have is correct. RAF 2nd TAF Mitchells were flown in support of tactical operations rather than strategic and so lower altitudes and more precise bombing attacks were more common. 2000 meters might be too low but 3000 meters or 10,000 feet would probably be about right.