Developer Diary 298 - Discussion

[Jason_Williams]

Quote

Dear Friends,

 

The team is on a well-deserved extended weekend and Jason is lost in the middle of America on a research mission, so today’s DD is very straightforward. Behold the jet powered Arado AR 234 B-2 bomber! What sleek lines she has! As you saw last week, the Arado’s unique cockpit is also in development. We are working as hard as we can to make her operational as fast as we can.

 

Full text and visuals HERE. 

 

Jason

[AndyJWest]

Gunpod!

[76IAP-Black]

Baaam! 

[Elem]

Fabulous!

[354thFG_Panda_]

The material work on that and the detail look absolutely amazing, good job!!!

[Asgar]

4 minutes ago, AndyJWest said:

Gunpod!

also RATO!

[=RS=Funkie]

1 minute ago, Asgar said:

do you mean this? those are RATO pods

 

 

 

Check the centreline

[Asgar]

Just now, =RS=Funkie said:

 

 

Check the centreline

i forgot the smiley in the first attempt, to make the joke obvious, then i thought it's stupid and deleted and just went with..."also this" ? 

[ShamrockOneFive]

Should be a fascinating aircraft to fly around!

 

The RATO pods are nice and the gunpod unexpected. I'll take it

[[F.Circus]sith1144]

Im very curious how useful the periscope will be in practice

[[CPT]Crunch]

Under nacelle bomb racks, under water periscope, and a Tesla recharge plug under the tail, very cool.

[sevenless]

Magirus Bombe! Love it!

 

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by sevenless

[DN308]

Superb!

And a very nice information about the research mission!!!

It means that we would have a real good surprise if not an announcement (I really hope so)

[Avimimus]

Question:

 

Will the Lofte7 be optional? I gather that many aircraft didn't have it or had it removed - and removing it would improve downward visibility while lining up for a bomb run with the periscopic sight. So it'd be a really nice option to have.

 

Also... I have to say this shocked me so much that I... jumped out my chair and cackled!

 

[ROCKET_KNUT]

Is this a view of Dover in BON blocked by that "Look-at-me!"-234? ?

 

[Jade_Monkey]

Stunning!! ?

 

Very detailed and I see there are a few armament options ?

[AndyJWest]

3 minutes ago, ROCKET_KNUT said:

Is this a view of Dover in BON blocked by that "Look-at-me!"-234? ?

 

 

Not Dover. One of the French ports, I think.

[Asgar]

6 minutes ago, ROCKET_KNUT said:

Is this a view of Dover in BON blocked by that "Look-at-me!"-234? ?

 

I'm not sure, but I'd say that's the Kuban map

[Guest deleted@191198]

My god...

[Chief_Mouser]

9 minutes ago, ROCKET_KNUT said:

Is this a view of Dover in BON blocked by that "Look-at-me!"-234? ?

 

 

Tuapse. 

If England or France come out looking like that the map will be a crime against cartography. 

 

 

PS Looking forward to the Blitz very much, chuffed about the RATOs but that gunpod - NO NO NO!  ?  Unless the next module is IL-2 GB '46.

Edited November 5, 2021 by 216th_Cat

[40plus]

2 minutes ago, Asgar said:

I'm not sure, but I'd say that's the Kuban map

It's definitely the Kuban Map. 

[Jade_Monkey]

4 minutes ago, AndyJWest said:

 

Not Dover. One of the French ports, I think.

That's is Tuapse in Kuban map, just checked to make sure because I had the same thought.

[Voidhunger]

What a beauty!!!

[Enceladus828]

We should have known last week that the Arado 234 exterior was very close to being shown off if the WIP images of the interior were ready to be shown.

 

13 minutes ago, Asgar said:

I'm not sure, but I'd say that's the Kuban map

Yeah, and there are mountains/hills behind the port so it's obvious that it's not on the BoN map.

[Avimimus]

25 minutes ago, 216th_Cat said:

PS Looking forward to the Blitz very much, chuffed about the RATOs but that gunpod - NO NO NO!  ?  Unless the next module is IL-2 GB '46.

 

Well... the gun pod was designed for the Ar-234B and a few were even completed.

 

There is also some reports Ar-234 carrying a gun pod as a field modification in the daylight role (but the evidence seems thin). So there it is possible that 20mm cannons were carried operationally (and it was certainly intended as an option for this variant), in addition to the night-fighter experiment.

 

Philosophically speaking, this aircraft was sufficiently rare that almost any modification to it is 'common' - in other words, the chances of encountering an Arado were sufficiently low in the first place that even three to five aircraft carrying a gunpod would make that modification more likely to be encountered on an Arado than several of the other modifications we have ( LaGG-3 with 37mm, Albatross with Lewis gun, let alone aircraft with Becker cannons).

 

Also, to be fair - the fixed rearward firing guns were likely just as rare or even rarer than the gunpod!

 

As for your '1946' assessment - Arado did keep pitching multirole, armed recon, heavy fighter and night fighter variants into 1945... but their likelihood of being developed declined as more radical swept wing and tailless solutions became more popular - so the gunpod would've been more plausible if the Arado had entered service six months earlier in larger numbers and was being sent against recon aircraft... so alternate history wise, it better sits as an 'early' alternate history  -  rather than a late one.

 

But as mentioned - the gun pods were probably sitting in a warehouse or a hanger during 1944 - and were certainly intended for this variant - and may have been used on one or two occasions.

Edited November 5, 2021 by Avimimus

[Diggun]

29 minutes ago, Avimimus said:

 

Also... I have to say this shocked me so much that I... jumped out my chair and cackled!

Anyone got any information on that thar gunpod? There's nothing about it on Wiki...

 

EDIT @Avimimus got in there real timely like.

Edited November 5, 2021 by Diggun

[Willy__]

As someone said....

"The rollercoaster of emotions, being happy for getting the guns, feeling sad it'll be almost unflyable in MP"

 

?

[Pollux]

A beautiful bird ! 

[Jaws2002]

Sleek and sexy. And fabulous clouds.

[Diggun]

2 minutes ago, Avimimus said:

But as mentioned - the gun pods were probably sitting in a warehouse or a hanger during 1944 - and were certainly intended for this variant - and may have been used on one or two occasions.

We can file these under 'single player fun' then. Phew.

[Avimimus]

5 minutes ago, Diggun said:

Anyone got any information on that thar gunpod? There's nothing about it on Wiki...

 

I believe it is a WB-151 inside a custom fairing. That is what the design documents state (if I recall correctly). I think that is 2x20mm cannon with 200 rpg.

Edited November 5, 2021 by Avimimus

[ZachariasX]

Gunpods! Walter HWK 109-500 takeoff boosters! That is one Arado that no combat sim ever had, a beauty!!

[Jason_Williams]

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of late-war German jets like some folks are, but seeing the 234 at all these cool angles may have made me a fan. It's much larger and sleek than I thought it was in my head. Phil has done a great job on the external model.

 

Jason

[Avimimus]

 

  

3 minutes ago, Diggun said:

We can file these under 'single player fun' then. Phew.

 

Yeah. A chance to use the Arado as an interceptor for reconnaissance aircraft... a chance to see the original multirole armed-recon concept Arado had envision in the early design studies... even a chance to experience why the night fighter experiment failed - but something unlikely to be in a campaign and best locked in historical multiplayer servers.

 

I do think it'd be interesting to try in one of the more relaxed multiplayer servers though... the Arado has a lower wing loading and an unswept wing - so it should actually be able to hold its own in some flight regimes and will certainly be a different experience relative to the Me-262.

[I./JG1_Baron]

Arado Belle ???

[Chief_Mouser]

7 minutes ago, Avimimus said:

 

Well... the gun pod was designed for the Ar-234B and a few were even completed.

 

There is also some reports Ar-234 carrying a gun pod as a field modification in the daylight role (but the evidence seems thin). So there it is possible that 20mm cannons were carried operationally (and it was certainly intended as an option for this variant), in addition to the night-fighter experiment.

 

Philosophically speaking, this aircraft was sufficiently rare that almost any modification to it is 'common' - in other words, the chances of encountering an Arado were sufficiently low in the first place that even three to five aircraft carrying a gunpod would make that modification more likely to be encountered on an Arado than several of the other modifications we have ( LaGG-3 with 37mm, Albatross with Lewis gun, let alone aircraft with Becker cannons).

 

As for your '1946' assessment - Arado did keep pitching multirole, armed recon, heavy fighter and night fighter variants into 1945... but their likelihood of being developed declined as more radical swept wing and tailless solutions became more popular - so the gunpod would've been more plausible if the Arado had entered service six months earlier in larger numbers and was being sent against recon aircraft... so alternate history wise, it better sits as an 'early' alternate history  -  rather than a late one.

 

But as mentioned - the gun pods were probably sitting in a warehouse or a hanger during 1944 - and were certainly intended for this variant - and may have been used on one or two occasions.

 

If we had the toastrack on the nose and a working on-board radar system then the guns would make slightly more sense to me - 2 aircraft as opposed to one (?) ?

But I agree, it's going to have be filed along with the Becker cannon and hopefully never encountered online.

?

[ilmavoimat]

Is it me or have they left the props off the C-47??? Seriously though, the Arado looks superb but is there  any news on the Dak?

 

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by ilmavoimat

[Avimimus]

Just now, Jason_Williams said:

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of late-war German jets like some folks are, but seeing the 234 at all these cool angles may have made me a fan. It's much larger and sleek than I thought it was in my head. Phil has done a great job on the external model.

 

Jason

 

It really is the quality of the team isn't it? They make things live. I wasn't excited about the Ar-234 (cockpit is cramped and has poor visibility) - but now that I see it... I'm very excited. I also think it'll make the Me-262 more interesting to have another jet to compare it with. Kind-of makes me want a He-162 someday.

 

That said, the wonderful work fleshing out the mid-war and early-war with aircraft like the IAR-80/81 is what I'm most excited about. Even having a few more AI aircraft would push the existing theatres towards completeness. I remember thinking about the possibility of releasing anniversary edition upgrades (a kind of super-premium edition) as a way to make that possible, but hopefully the person doing the IAR art will stay on for a few more collector planes. Anyway, I can't help but to be in love with these products given the attention to detail.

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, AndyJWest said:

Gunpod!

 

Looks like a camera loadout too. ??

[Sobilak]

P-51B/C ???