IL2 roadmap

[ACG_PanzerVI]

Posting this after Shamrock 15 on purpose, as he is typically the best source for all things FlightSim roadmap related.  Appreciate his update posted on Stormbirds recently.  However, with the release of Tank Crew, I am curious what direction IL2 is going next?  I assume that TC complete frees up developer resources to focus on BoN, and am eager and hopeful that despite Covid we may see a bit of acceleration there.  The G6 Late was an example of an unanticipated bonus and highly appreciated.  Player controlled flak guns is another.  I'm curious if Jason would be willing to put a bit more out there on what we should anticipate though.  I'm more asking about direction and less about 'when does this plane come out?'  Things I wonder about:

- Additional collector planes beyond the BoN releases

- Server development tools to permit more immersive changes to MP servers

- Engine changes/adjustments or any significant 'under the hood' tweaks

- 1C hosted MP servers? Ever?

- Events; why not have a Sturmovikfest again, like maybe twice a year?

- Ideas on what is after BoN - does IL2 GBs continue to yet another theater, or do we transition to another series?

 

I know you want to under-promise and over deliver and not turn customers off, but I think I speak for many when I say we'd all like a little tease.  

[Trooper117]

You do know that TC was produced by DigitalForums, an outside agency?

Jason and team are heavily involved with Normandy, so nothing has been freed up for them to take on anything else.

[BlitzPig_EL]

I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and postulate that Digital Forms may be heavily involved in producing correct ground units for Normandy.

Proper, non Lend Lease, later Shermans, the Brits need a tank of course, so possibly a Churchill, as they were used by the Russians as well, armored cars for all combatants, etc...

[ShamrockOneFive]

On 11/29/2020 at 12:22 PM, ACG_PanzerV said:

Posting this after Shamrock 15 on purpose, as he is typically the best source for all things FlightSim roadmap related.  Appreciate his update posted on Stormbirds recently.  However, with the release of Tank Crew, I am curious what direction IL2 is going next?  I assume that TC complete frees up developer resources to focus on BoN, and am eager and hopeful that despite Covid we may see a bit of acceleration there.  The G6 Late was an example of an unanticipated bonus and highly appreciated.  Player controlled flak guns is another.  I'm curious if Jason would be willing to put a bit more out there on what we should anticipate though.  I'm more asking about direction and less about 'when does this plane come out?'  Things I wonder about:

- Additional collector planes beyond the BoN releases

- Server development tools to permit more immersive changes to MP servers

- Engine changes/adjustments or any significant 'under the hood' tweaks

- 1C hosted MP servers? Ever?

- Events; why not have a Sturmovikfest again, like maybe twice a year?

- Ideas on what is after BoN - does IL2 GBs continue to yet another theater, or do we transition to another series?

 

I know you want to under-promise and over deliver and not turn customers off, but I think I speak for many when I say we'd all like a little tease.  

 

Hi Panzer. Some good questions in there and a few I can probably either guess at or answer directly.

 

First, Sturmovikfest, yes I want to do it again next year at roughly the same time. It took a lot of effort to organize and at the time I had the capacity to do that. Right now I'm working overtime at work to get a 2-year project done while working remotely and it's all pretty exhausting. Holding the line with new content at Stormbirds right now is pretty much all I can do for the moment. I'd of course support any big community initiatives if they come up. That said... Sturmovikfest 2021 is high on my list of things to start preparing for.

 

It sounds like Battle of Normandy is going to occupy much of 1CGS resources and time for the year. They, like my team at work, are working remotely and while that's not the worst thing for a digital team, it still slows things down a bit. Someone did ask Jason about additional Collector Planes elsewhere on the forum and it sounds like they have their hands full with what's planned in 2021. If they do more, and I'm sure they will at some point, it'll be much further down the road say 2022 sometime.

 

In my podcast with Jason earlier in the year, we did talk a little at the end about the future and he's said a few things on the forum too about the need to eventually transition to a new engine. IMHO, I don't think they are quite done with what they are working on just yet. If Japanese planes are still an issue, I could see them doing a Battle of Berlin to complete the East Front experience (which some would be happy with and others not). They could go elsewhere in WWII. There's a lot of potential but I think we're a good ways out from there before we see what they are planning.

 

There could be something new with their partnerships with Digital Forms or Ugra Media as well. We may get word of that before year's end but maybe not. COVID-19 has slowed them down, it's slowing a lot of folks down worldwide. As things recover in 2021 (I have high hopes) I think we'll see things get better for everyone. Kind of a miracle things went as well as they did for us in the community here.

 

 

[Styx13]

On 11/18/2020 at 11:17 AM, I./JG1_Baron said:

Well, I would like not only tropicalized versions of aircraft, but the entire North African and Italian battlefield in IL2: GB quality - and especially Italian beauties, from Fiat Cr.42, G.50, G55, through Mc.200, 202, 205, Reggiane Re.2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, to Savoiu Marchetti SM 79 and the Air Force of Vichy France. Well, I can dream, can't I?

... but the biggest dream remains the Battle of France 1940 ...

... and maybe sometime sometime in the distant future there will be IL2: Battle of the Night with night fighters Bf-109G4, He-219, Ju-88, Do-217, Beaufighter, Mosquito, etc. against Lancasters, Stirlings, Wellingtons ... Well - I was kidnapped, please forgive me for deviating from themes ? and back to the last (great) update.

 

Dear I/JG  1 Baron, 

 

I fully agree with you, especially with the requested nigth fighter campiagn. This can be easily modelled and there has been already created the required map: Rheinland, which covers the main battlefields and also the airfields (St. Trond, Venlo). 

 

Only the german fighter controll system has to be modelled (which is similar, when the ground troops tell you where the enemy is in the game), and the board radar system of the planes. No need to update the still obsolete and ridiculous WWI-style plane-to-plane communication and combat coordination system, because the night fighters were hunting alone.

 

A couple of years ago there where a mod for the classic Il-2 (Kamhuber-linie), which was great (but not professional). The Me 110 G4 modelled, with the Shräge musik, having created an amazing sim experience. Find the bombers, fly below unattendedly, fire up. 

 

I do not understand why the creators of this brilliant sim insist on every plane has to be flyable. It will take ages when we get viermots (B-17, B-24, Lancaster, Halifax), and more ages needed for solving this tragic WWII air combat AI.

 

Best,     

 

On 12/1/2020 at 1:22 PM, ShamrockOneFive said:

 

Hi Panzer. Some good questions in there and a few I can probably either guess at or answer directly.

 

First, Sturmovikfest, yes I want to do it again next year at roughly the same time. It took a lot of effort to organize and at the time I had the capacity to do that. Right now I'm working overtime at work to get a 2-year project done while working remotely and it's all pretty exhausting. Holding the line with new content at Stormbirds right now is pretty much all I can do for the moment. I'd of course support any big community initiatives if they come up. That said... Sturmovikfest 2021 is high on my list of things to start preparing for.

 

It sounds like Battle of Normandy is going to occupy much of 1CGS resources and time for the year. They, like my team at work, are working remotely and while that's not the worst thing for a digital team, it still slows things down a bit. Someone did ask Jason about additional Collector Planes elsewhere on the forum and it sounds like they have their hands full with what's planned in 2021. If they do more, and I'm sure they will at some point, it'll be much further down the road say 2022 sometime.

 

In my podcast with Jason earlier in the year, we did talk a little at the end about the future and he's said a few things on the forum too about the need to eventually transition to a new engine. IMHO, I don't think they are quite done with what they are working on just yet. If Japanese planes are still an issue, I could see them doing a Battle of Berlin to complete the East Front experience (which some would be happy with and others not). They could go elsewhere in WWII. There's a lot of potential but I think we're a good ways out from there before we see what they are planning.

 

There could be something new with their partnerships with Digital Forms or Ugra Media as well. We may get word of that before year's end but maybe not. COVID-19 has slowed them down, it's slowing a lot of folks down worldwide. As things recover in 2021 (I have high hopes) I think we'll see things get better for everyone. Kind of a miracle things went as well as they did for us in the community here.

 

 

 

Dear All, 

 

That is the point. I also do not understand why the devs fragments their capacities in various endless project like Flying Circus and Tank Crew instead of finishing the original purpose, which is Il-2, a high-tech WWII air combat simulator. 

 

This fragmentation will always result a halfly or even quaterly finished products. This is the sad true. I came to Il 2 regularly, giving a chance yearly, try a campaign, but the obsolete issues remain the same. WWI style AI, communication system and campaign management, unfinished products, like BoN. :-(

 

Hope the devs will think on it. I am ready to pay the duoble price, if they can finish just only one part of the orignal package. 

 

Best, 

 

[oc2209]

On 12/1/2020 at 5:22 AM, ShamrockOneFive said:

I could see them doing a Battle of Berlin to complete the East Front experience (which some would be happy with and others not).

 

I can't imagine who'd be unhappy with finishing the Eastern Front. Granted, I have a hard-on for Yaks, but nevertheless... the game's called Sturmovik after all... that kind of implies a focus leaning more towards Eastern than Western.

 

For multiplayer purposes, it'd also be great to have a 1945 map (not necessarily Berlin) where all 4 major powers could fly their absolute best planes. Right now Russia's confined to '43. For historical purposes that's just unacceptable to leave them hanging while every other major ETO nation will have '44 and '45 well-represented.

 

All that aside... I would guess that the reason the devs haven't already made a '45 Eastern Front map is that they don't expect it would sell as well as the Western Front ones do. Or as well as a Mediterranean likely would. I'm further guessing that makes it low on their list of priorities for the time being. But I would at least hope they'd include it as their final installment of the game, if nothing else.

[6FG_Big_Al]

5 hours ago, oc2209 said:

 

I can't imagine who'd be unhappy with finishing the Eastern Front. Granted, I have a hard-on for Yaks, but nevertheless... the game's called Sturmovik after all... that kind of implies a focus leaning more towards Eastern than Western.

 

For multiplayer purposes, it'd also be great to have a 1945 map (not necessarily Berlin) where all 4 major powers could fly their absolute best planes. Right now Russia's confined to '43. For historical purposes that's just unacceptable to leave them hanging while every other major ETO nation will have '44 and '45 well-represented.

 

All that aside... I would guess that the reason the devs haven't already made a '45 Eastern Front map is that they don't expect it would sell as well as the Western Front ones do. Or as well as a Mediterranean likely would. I'm further guessing that makes it low on their list of priorities for the time being. But I would at least hope they'd include it as their final installment of the game, if nothing else.

Well I would try see it from different point of view. There is a huge crowd in the russian forum that's already demanding a late war eastern front scenario instead of Normandy. All in all we got 3 eastern front expansions in a row. And we already now that sooner or later there will be another eastern front expansion 44/45 since they save up the last of Germanys fighters (like Fw 190 A9/Bf109 G10 etc.) for this.

Besides this, we also got three collector aircraft for the eastern front (Yak-9,Yak-9T&Hurricane) to give this part of the series something new.  So I don't think that the dev's see this as uninteresting or not profitable enough. Instead I'm really happy that we're getting a channel map that is (kind of) able to represent the time of 42-44 on the western front were we really have a lack of stuff + it fills up the ranks of the west allied plane sets that's really welcome.

The next expansion will be probably in the East anyway. A bit less likely is the Mediterranean and the hope that never dies...the Pacific^^ But this is a topic for a different thread.

[Noisemaker]

4 hours ago, 6FG_Big_Al said:

The next expansion will be probably in the East anyway. A bit less likely is the Mediterranean and the hope that never dies...the Pacific^^ But this is a topic for a different thread.

 

Depending on the map, the Med could be both East and Western Front.

[oc2209]

7 hours ago, 6FG_Big_Al said:

Well I would try see it from different point of view. There is a huge crowd in the russian forum that's already demanding a late war eastern front scenario instead of Normandy. All in all we got 3 eastern front expansions in a row.

 

I see your point, but I only count 2 Eastern Front expansions. Kuban and Moscow. Bodenplatte counts as Western Front. I consider Stalingrad the core, not an expansion (at least because it works that way on Steam).

 

Overall, I think Normandy is just as desirable as another Eastern Front map; I'll buy it when it's finished, for sure. The only question is what order they're released. Bodenplatte was a great service to Western Front fans, covering virtually all they could want in one package. But now because of Normandy, Russian fans (or fans of Russian planes) will have to wait a long time to get parity with Bodenplatte's plane selection. It can be argued that Normandy is redundant as it overlaps with many of Bodenplatte's planes. Therefore, as a redundancy, it should get lower priority than a late Eastern Front map, which represents the largest hole in the game's lineup.

 

If you want to put a finer point on it, Russian fans have a very good reason to clamor for late war Russian planes. The reason is that Russian planes got better as the war progressed. German planes got worse. Both the 109 and Fw-190 got heavier and less agile as greater demands than dogfighting were placed on them. American and British planes didn't suffer from this problem. So, the best performing and most agile planes for these nations are already in the game. German planes peaked in '41-'42. Allied planes peaked in '43-'44. All of that is covered now. Only Russia's left flying second-tier technology now. As much as I like the Yak-9, it's still underpowered and underarmed. A Yak-3 would be a quantum leap forward. Ditto for the La-7. And the IL-10, the greatest iteration of the series' namesake, would be a demigod of ground attack planes.

[[CPT]Crunch]

Wouldn't go so far as to call them quantum leaps, lets call them what they were, refinements.  No risks, no rewards.  Give em the latitude and freedom to stay employed, and your chances of getting what you want improve.  At some level they're quite aware by now their future is ultimately in our collective hands.  I'm in favor of all of this stuff and more, but it isn't happening overnight.

[357th_KW]

It’s also worth noting that the Karelia map option showed up in the mission editor in one of the recent patches.  You can’t see the map yet, but this seems like a strong indicator that a Battle of Finland type expansion is progressing.

[oc2209]

22 hours ago, [CPT]Crunch said:

Wouldn't go so far as to call them quantum leaps, lets call them what they were, refinements. 

 

I respectfully beg to differ. The Yak-3 and La-7 were finally(!) built to truly modern specifications in '44. That is to say, less wood, more metal, stronger and lighter frames overall.

 

The Yak-3 would get an extra .50 cal to make it competitive with the 109 (at last) in terms of armament. Its top speed would increase approximately 30 MPH. This would also, of course, increase acceleration. I classify that as a quantum leap for any plane within the same family, like the difference between the 109F and E, or G14 and G2.

 

The La-7's performance wouldn't be as dramatically different from the La-5FN, but having 3 nose-mounted 20mm is an unrivalled concentration of firepower for a single-engine fighter (not counting German guns that were bolted on the wings and destroyed performance). That alone would be worth the price of admission.

 

Ideally a Yak-9U could be squeezed in too, maybe as a collector plane. That would offer an almost absurd ~60 MPH top speed gain over the basic Yak-9. That most certainly qualifies as a leap forward in performance.

 

22 hours ago, [CPT]Crunch said:

 I'm in favor of all of this stuff and more, but it isn't happening overnight.

 

That's the whole point. Russia will have to fly '43 technology as its best planes for the next 1-2 years (minimum) because of Normandy. This could have been avoided by going Bodenplatte -> Eastern Front '44 -> Normandy; instead of Bodenplatte -> Normandy -> Maybe Eastern Front '44.

 

If they'd just wrap up late war parity sooner rather than later, there'd be one less thing for people to whine about. Western audiences would still whine, of course, about another Eastern Front expansion. But Western audiences would be flying the P-51, the Me-262, the Fw-190D, and the Tempest while impatiently waiting for Normandy to come out. Russian fans have no such balm, as they tool along with their stubby wooden wings at sub-400 MPH speeds.

[migmadmarine]

3 hours ago, -332FG-KW_1979 said:

It’s also worth noting that the Karelia map option showed up in the mission editor in one of the recent patches.  You can’t see the map yet, but this seems like a strong indicator that a Battle of Finland type expansion is progressing.

Well, that the community map project is progressing. Last statement I've seen from them in their thread was that their hope is to have the map released free, and at most have a couple of collector planes for the Finns made to go with it (things like the Brewster 239, as well as maybe one or two other options), but I don't think we should expect it to be a full module in the same sense of BOS/M/K/Bp/N. 

[sevenless]

6 hours ago, -332FG-KW_1979 said:

It’s also worth noting that the Karelia map option showed up in the mission editor in one of the recent patches.  You can’t see the map yet, but this seems like a strong indicator that a Battle of Finland type expansion is progressing.

 

Yes I also saw this on the board. See posts of LLv44_Kanttori here IL-2 Battle of Finland - Suggestions - IL-2 Sturmovik Forum.

 

Absolutely fantastic if that would become reality.

 

3 hours ago, oc2209 said:

Ideally a Yak-9U could be squeezed in too, maybe as a collector plane. That would offer an almost absurd ~60 MPH top speed gain over the basic Yak-9. That most certainly qualifies as a leap forward in performance.

 

That´ll be great!

 

As for Eastfront modules:

 

Timeframe 8/44 - 01/45 would work for Prelude to Vistula Oder Operation:

 

 

And/Or Timeframe 12/44 - 5/45 would work for Goetterdaemmerung

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by sevenless