ENGLISH Interview with IL-2 GB team In October 2022

[Feldgrun]

11 hours ago, Jade_Monkey said:

 

4 engined bombers are not an engine limitation, it's a resource limitation where they could build a full BoX in the same time it takes to make a good bomber

Best seller premium planes were mostly western (Spitfire V, P-40, P-38). 

 

I got the impression they were addressing a flyable B-17, but many of us are interested in AI heavy bombers, to attack & defend at altitude. I'm not a developer, but I'd hope it would only be a little more work than an AI B-25/26. Two more engines and a few more guns.

 

If the Spit 5, P-40 and P-38s are the most common... Maybe we'll get a Tropical Spit, P-40F, and P-38F/G in a Sicily map? It would make financial/business sense.

 

10 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

I’m curious who’s been telling Enigma that 4 engine bombers are a game engine limitation when we’ve clarified on here endlessly that this isn’t the case. ?

 

It's been spouted here frequently that the engine can't handle heavy bombers, even after Jason said they can build anything they want, including heavy bombers. It's quite clear that it's not that they can't, but that it doesn't make business sense. It would be too costly and time consuming to build a flyable B-17. However, they didn't address AI.

 

9 hours ago, ww2fighter20 said:

I got the impression Moscow was the least popular but it seems to be around equally popular compared to Kuban, Bodenplatte and maybe even Normandy

 

Moscow has the Bf 109 E-7, one of the most popular versions of that plane, and is the main reason I bought Moscow.

[Gambit21]

21 minutes ago, Feldgrun said:

 

 

 

 

It's been spouted here frequently that the engine can't handle heavy bombers, e

 

Yes, and corrected just as frequently.

 

 

[Guest deleted@83466]

 

1 hour ago, MajorMagee said:

Sure, they can do anything they want because it will be new to all the 14 year olds... ?

That was rough, man. ?

[JG1_Vonrd]

I think the Finland Winter War might be most plausible but I hardly ever win betting on the horses...

 

[=gRiJ=Roman-]

6 hours ago, Enceladus said:

 

• They narrowed it down to 5 candidates that meet their criteria, and finally picked one.

In regards to this statement, here are 5 candidates which based on this alone would be potential to cover next: Finland, Sicily, Bagration, Berlin and Guadalcanal or another Pacific battle.

• Will not have heavy urban scenery and will be piston based

With that, Berlin is out as the area from Western Poland to the Eastern part of the Rhineland map would be a heavy urban area but more importantly, as an He-162 would likely be in a Berlin installment as a Collector plane and the next installment is piston engine based then Berlin is out.

• Will bring something new to the sim scene

Doing a Finland installment would bring Finnish planes and could add Soviet planes like the I-153, early Yak-1, and some more bombers such as the IL-4 and SB-2; Sicily would bring the MTO and Italian planes as well as torpedoes; Bagration wouldn't really bring anything new so it's out; Guadalcanal would bring the Pacific... nothing more to say about that save for that there won't be carriers. One could argue that you can't do the late war Western front without 4 engine bombers, well, the devs have been able to do just that without 4 engine bombers so therefore you can do Guadalcanal or another land-based battle without carriers. Oh, and just because a carrier battle like Midway is out doesn't mean that the PTO. The PTO is not out in my mind until it's clearly stated by the devs that they won't do the Pacific or when the next installment is announced and it isn't a PTO battle.

 

The podcast between Enigma and Sneaksie states that the Pacific won't be next.

 

Final candidates: Finland and Sicily and Guadalcanal.

 

In Finland, you habe big urban área... Leningrad

[150GCT_Veltro]

So, it could be really Husky? I don't think so but it would be a new battle for sure.

However, without Seafire and carriers Husky would be (is) probably a "no go" for Developers i'm afraid. The carriers limitation is a big problem here, as for torpedo, fuel tank ecc., if not a strategic limitation for the future of this serie.

 

No PTO because of these limitations, no Italy or MTO because of these limitations and the gentlement agreement with TF.....really. 

 

So, the next one is Star Wars?

 

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by 150GCT_Veltro

[Eisenfaustus]

Why are people claiming Finland would be „something new“? Forgotten Aces introduced it already to the IL-2 franchise. 
Just like I wouldn’t consider anything late eastern front or Manchuria related something new for the same reason…

Italy on the other hand hasn‘t been done by any professional team as far as I know - so maybe…

[fergal69]

I'm just grateful for what ever the developers decide to do next, especially if they continue to provide the odd non-mainstream plane such as they did with the AR234 & ME410.

[Ala13_UnopaUno_VR]

B17

[Missionbug]

Thank you very much for the interview Enigma, really appreciated.

 

It is always interesting to hear directly from any development team to get their thoughts on things.

 

Take care and be safe.

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[Art-J]

17 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

I’m curious who’s been telling Enigma that 4 engine bombers are a game engine limitation when we’ve clarified on here endlessly that this isn’t the case. ?

 

 

I think it's more about what current engine can do in practical gameplay terms... or rather cannot to be honest. Anyone can see it by making a mission with a realistic formation of B-25s in the air, trowing in some enemy fighters and watching what happens when bombers start tracking and shooting at fighters - ie. a clusterfeck of flight modelling and game performance, with planes jumping erratically and dilation kicking in. I believe that's what Enigma meant and it's not a myth but unfortunate reality.

 

That doesn't mean, however, that devs cannot work on their engine further to be capable of coping with such aircraft and scenarios, since there's still some "flexibility" in it - and that's what they were pointing out in the interview I suppose.

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by Art-J

[Muddy]

CBI? Or Flying Tigers??

[EAF19_Marsh]

1) Sicily / Malta: no major urban areas, historical, piston-engines, 'new' major maritime element and possible CV extension

2) Korea: can avoid urban areas, historical, popular 'end-of-time' piston-engine and possible CV extension

3) Guadalcanal: no major urban areas, historical, piston-engines, very new and possible CV extension

4) Some further EF module: err, yeah

5) Total left-field like Spanish Civil War: probs not

 

Niche-ness of Korea and issues of Japanese side and CV part of Guadalcanal count against them while New Guinea etc. there is not a lot to 'do'. Interest in another EF likely diminishing and though BoF or Spain or Khalkin-Gol would be interesting the market simply does not exist.

Edited October 8, 2022 by EAF19_Marsh

[AEthelraedUnraed]

7 hours ago, 150GCT_Veltro said:

So, it could be really Husky? I don't think so but it would be a new battle for sure.

However, without Seafire and carriers Husky would be (is) probably a "no go" for Developers i'm afraid. The carriers limitation is a big problem here, as for torpedo, fuel tank ecc., if not a strategic limitation for the future of this serie.

I think you're confusing battles. Carriers were a major factor in Operation Avalanche (Salerno), not Husky (Sicily).

  

14 hours ago, Enceladus said:

• They narrowed it down to 5 candidates that meet their criteria, and finally picked one.

In regards to this statement, here are 5 candidates which based on this alone would be potential to cover next: Finland, Sicily, Bagration, Berlin and Guadalcanal or another Pacific battle.

• Will not have heavy urban scenery and will be piston based

The fact that the next module won't feature heavy urban scenery is exactly the reason that Berlin won't have been one of the 5 final candidates

 

21 hours ago, Jade_Monkey said:

Key takeaways for next battle:

• will not have heavy urban scenery
• Will be piston based
• Will bring something new to the sim scene

I think with careful listening, we can add a couple more:

- Not Pacific, even without carriers: "The Pacific is not totally off the table forever of course, [just not] for the very next project". I do suspect though that the Solomons were one of the final 5; they even seem to hint towards that.

- It's a theatre where four-engine bombers did fly: "[4-engine bombers] might come, even in the next project, we haven't yet decided". So if they haven't decided yet, there must be *something* to decide on. Of course, "four engine bomber" could be a TB-3 or Pe-8, it doesn't have to be B17s.

 

If we take all this together, we can construct some kind of confidence measure of all the possible modules. This is what I came up with:

The final score is all the orange columns multiplied together (the 4-engine bomber column counts half). I've chosen to take the "no pacific" part literally and excluded all pacific modules but included Korea, China and Burma, but I did give them a 50% penalty. For the "no heavy cities" requirement, I used a maximum of ~1M as that's the approximate population of Brussels at the time of BoBP. Values between 0 and 1 are given if it would be possible with some compromises (e.g. BoF until Dunkirk). For the "Novelty" columns, I gave an (admittedly subjective) score as to how different the map and many of the possible aircraft are from what we've got already. I also added a popularity measure, which consists of the average daily pageviews of the English Wikipedia page about that particular topic, as any module has to be marketable (yes, the English-language wikipedia does introduce some bias).

 

Of course, there is some subjectivity and bias in this result. But it's clear that a Sicily module would be highly likely given what we already know. Tunisia is likely too, as well as the Spanish Civil War (it surprised me how popular that is on Wikipedia). Next in line are many of the Eastern Front campaigns.

Edited October 8, 2022 by AEthelraedUnraed

[Chief_Mouser]

45 minutes ago, EAF19_Marsh said:

1) Sicily / Malta: no major urban areas, historical, piston-engines, 'new' major maritime element and possible CV extension

2) Korea: can avoid urban areas, historical, popular 'end-of-time' piston-engine and possible CV extension

3) Guadalcanal: no major urban areas, historical, piston-engines, very new and possible CV extension

4) Some further EF module: err, yeah

5) Total left-field like Spanish Civil War: probs not

 

Niche-ness of Korea and issues of Japanese side and CV part of Guadalcanal count against them while New Guinea etc. there is not a lot to 'do'. Interest in another EF likely diminishing and though BoF or Spain or Khalkin-Gol would be interesting the market simply does not exist.

 

 

Epirus! Italy-Greece-Albania. Four air forces - RHAF, RA, RAF, Luftwaffe - (although the Luftwaffe would just be collector planes as we have a lot of them already) and some really unique aircraft we've not seen before. The early Italian planes would act as a springboard for Malta then develop into Sicily and the Italian mainland. There's a whole series here ?

 

The only problem is that it is very unlikely to happen ?. Especially as I'm the only one that ever goes on about it... ?

Edited October 8, 2022 by 216th_Cat

[EAF19_Marsh]

6 minutes ago, 216th_Cat said:

Especially as I'm the only one that ever goes on about it...

i would love something a bit novel, but such is the way of thongs: no customers, no product…

[Bando]

I just don't care.
Whatever they make, if it has aircraft on it, I'll buy it. No hesitation at all.
Bought the tanksim as well, but not a fan of that. 
Any theatre, any plane, with Jason, Han and the team, I'll be throwing money at them.
Love the fact they're still on it, after ROF, where the niche almost died.
 

[Sneaksie]

15 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

This is what I came up with:

Wow, just wow. You're really interested:)

[DD_Crash]

But is he close?

[354thFG_Panda_]

4 minutes ago, DD_Crash said:

But is he close?

 

[DD_Arthur]

20 minutes ago, Sneaksie said:

Wow, just wow. You're really interested:)

We’re ALL really interested!

[CountZero]

40 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

I think you're confusing battles. Carriers were a major factor in Operation Avalanche (Salerno), not Husky (Sicily).

  

The fact that the next module won't feature heavy urban scenery is exactly the reason that Berlin won't have been one of the 5 final candidates

 

I think with careful listening, we can add a couple more:

- Not Pacific, even without carriers: "The Pacific is not totally off the table forever of course, [just not] for the very next project". I do suspect though that the Solomons were one of the final 5; they even seem to hint towards that.

- It's a theatre where four-engine bombers did fly: "[4-engine bombers] might come, even in the next project, we haven't yet decided". So if they haven't decided yet, there must be *something* to decide on. Of course, "four engine bomber" could be a TB-3 or Pe-8, it doesn't have to be B17s.

 

If we take all this together, we can construct some kind of confidence measure of all the possible modules. This is what I came up with:

The final score is all the orange columns multiplied together (the 4-engine bomber column counts half). I've chosen to take the "no pacific" part literally and excluded all pacific modules but included Korea, China and Burma, but I did give them a 50% penalty. For the "no heavy cities" requirement, I used a maximum of ~1M as that's the approximate population of Brussels at the time of BoBP. Values between 0 and 1 are given if it would be possible with some compromises (e.g. BoF until Dunkirk). For the "Novelty" columns, I gave an (admittedly subjective) score as to how different the map and many of the possible aircraft are from what we've got already. I also added a popularity measure, which consists of the average daily pageviews of the English Wikipedia page about that particular topic, as any module has to be marketable.

 

Of course, there is some subjectivity in this result. But it's clear that a Sicily module would be highly likely given what we already know. Tunisia is likely too, as well as the Spanish Civil War (it surprised me how popular that is on Wikipedia). Next in line are many of the Eastern Front campaigns.

Also Sicily have big conection to random M8 picture from DD ?

 

[354thFG_Panda_]

7 minutes ago, CountZero said:

Also Sicily have big conection to random M8 picture from DD ?

 

yeah it was a bit odd there was a random pic of an M8 when it only talked about the IAR and the interview in the post...

[Youtch]

21 hours ago, ww2fighter20 said:

Around the 10 minute mark it's mentioned other modules (except for Stalingrad) are around equally popular.

This is quite an surprice since I got the impression Moscow was the least popular but it seems to be around equally popular compared to Kuban, Bodenplatte and maybe even Normandy (Not sure if Normandy is counted here since it was only recently released so it's likely too early to judge it's popularity with the rest).

People buy module to get access to the planes. So i bet that even if Moscow is the less played map, people got the full box for the planes.

[Lofte]

1 hour ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

This is what I came up with:

Man, you're real scientist ))

[rogueblade]

Thanks to the YouTube channel The Operations Room, I've come to learn a fair bit about the royal navy and their air wing ops.....to see that in the future of the GB series in either the Nordics or the Med would be orgasmic to say the least and would scratch that carrier ops itch that so many crave

[szelljr]

...i need the B-24 (AI).  I want to make 50 skins , then to shoot down all.     (?)

[Feldgrun]

 

23 hours ago, Jade_Monkey said:

Key takeaways for next battle:

• Will bring something new to the sim scene 

Edited October 8, 2022 by Feldgrun
Pretty Pink Dot

[BFBunny]

While I enjoy the bf 109 and fw 190 platforms it would be nice to cover some other planes. We've got a decent set of german, british, american and russian planes to use.

 

Maybe the italian airforce next if there is enough information about the planes to make high quality flght models and a campaign in the desert would be a real contrast.

[Hien-0_1*]

still atlantic battle ?

 

will not have a heavy urban landscape --- only two medium-sized cities: Bristol (arrival port for convoy from USA) & Brest (submarine home port) little land - lots of water ?

Will bring something new to the sim scene --- submarine hunt, torpedo & bomb attack on convoy ships, patrol plane battle (realistic use for Ju88C6!!!)?

Will be piston based --- Bristol Beaufighter, Bristol Beaufort + torpedo for Mosquito / Do 217, Ju 188 + torpedo for He111 and Ju88

4-engine bombers could come, also in the next project --- RAF Coastal Command: B-24 / Luftwaffe: He177

Future packs may have fewer standard aircraft and more premium aircraft.
Makes sense since some planes are already present: Mosquito - Ju88C6 - Me410 (you can also offer them separately as premium products!)

[CountZero]

29 minutes ago, Hien-0_1* said:

still atlantic battle ?

 

will not have a heavy urban landscape --- only two medium-sized cities: Bristol (arrival port for convoy from USA) & Brest (submarine home port) little land - lots of water ?

Will bring something new to the sim scene --- submarine hunt, torpedo & bomb attack on convoy ships, patrol plane battle (realistic use for Ju88C6!!!)?

Will be piston based --- Bristol Beaufighter, Bristol Beaufort + torpedo for Mosquito / Do 217, Ju 188 + torpedo for He111 and Ju88

4-engine bombers could come, also in the next project --- RAF Coastal Command: B-24 / Luftwaffe: He177

Future packs may have fewer standard aircraft and more premium aircraft.
Makes sense since some planes are already present: Mosquito - Ju88C6 - Me410 (you can also offer them separately as premium products!)

This is even bigger fantasy then Norway or Murmansk, all of that can be done in Sicily with same airplanes + you can sell fighters there (main reason why game exist), and map dont have to be so mutch bigger then any map in game now and you atleast have Malta on it for one side to use as closer base.

Also comparison of BoN map to that area you proposed:

and ppl have problems with fly time on BoN map,

 

Only question at this point from what devs said is what wrong 10 airplanes they gona select for Sicily and what airplanes they should have selected ?

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by CountZero

[Avimimus]

51 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

The final score is all the orange columns multiplied together (the 4-engine bomber column counts half). I've chosen to take the "no pacific" part literally and excluded all pacific modules but included Korea, China and Burma, but I did give them a 50% penalty. For the "no heavy cities" requirement, I used a maximum of ~1M as that's the approximate population of Brussels at the time of BoBP. Values between 0 and 1 are given if it would be possible with some compromises (e.g. BoF until Dunkirk). For the "Novelty" columns, I gave an (admittedly subjective) score as to how different the map and many of the possible aircraft are from what we've got already. I also added a popularity measure, which consists of the average daily pageviews of the English Wikipedia page about that particular topic, as any module has to be marketable (yes, the English-language wikipedia does introduce some bias).

 

Of course, there is some subjectivity and bias in this result. But it's clear that a Sicily module would be highly likely given what we already know. Tunisia is likely too, as well as the Spanish Civil War (it surprised me how popular that is on Wikipedia). Next in line are many of the Eastern Front campaigns.

I suspect that SCW is very unlikely, and that the Mediterranean may also be a bit unlikely for the next module.

 

I'll definitely admit that listening to the interview I had a similar thought - the SCW sprung to mind as meeting the criteria. It would be very unlikely though. I always thought an alternate history scenario where the war happens in 1936-1938 could be interesting - Bf-109D vs. Gladiators, TB-3, SB-2, D.510, early I-16... probably doesn't require altering history that much actually.

 

Thanks for the explanation of the 'popularity' measure. I agree it should be taken with a grain of salt... especially as a lot of views are children writing assignments for classes, and a lot of people want exposure to something new. IMHO, narrative makes a huge difference - leaning into 'alone, unarmed, and unafraid' and the strategic importance of reconnaissance... or taking Operation Jubilee and depicting it as the prelude to D-Day where Germany won, and an attempt to lure the Luftwaffe into a trap (as some histories claim was a goal of the operation - generating a giant air battle at the Coast to produce attrition)...

 

 

2 hours ago, Sneaksie said:

Wow, just wow. You're really interested:)

 

Yes, he's not alone. I have spreadsheets for figuring out which aircraft would contribute the most to a Battle of France module etc.

 

You see - you guys actually have to develop sims - we on the other hand only have to speculate... so it becomes a game in itself.

 

Last year I produced this - uses a different approach... looking at how the development of modules could support the development of subsequent modules (and what major blockers exist). That said some possibilities that people like on the forum but seemed unlikely (SCW) or would be very unbalanced (1944-1945 Pacific scenarios) were left out:

[Fritz_X]

18 hours ago, CountZero said:

Also Jason is probably doing reserch in Italy on Italian airplanes so thats why hes not on forums so mutch ?

 

 

Not sure if you're just joking, but I am not: This thought came to my mind a few days ago just as well.

 

My bet is that the team is going to Sicily 43. And here is why I think why:

 

1. On polls on what theatre people like to see next, Sicily/ Italy 43 was ranked second, only beaten by PTO. Interest is definitely there.

 

2. Quite some time ago Jason stated in one of the DD's that the team is both modeling an Italian pilot model and including Italian voices. I feel like they wouldn't do this just for the single plane we have now, in the very limited scenario we can use it.

 

3. It would finally bring more diversity to the Axis' plane set: No more Bf-109s and FW-190s as fighters, but Italian Series 5 birds. And yes, I have seen critical voices that stated that these planes were also powered by the Bf-109's engine, but come on: Nobody would agree on the Me-410 and the Do-335 being the same plane, just because both were powered by the same engines.

 

4. It would fit the clues given by Han in the latest interview. This is a weak arguement though, since quite a few scenarios do. Yet, Sicily definitely fits on what was said.

 

5. The "random" picture of the M8 Greyhound in the latest DD. As many people already stated, the vehicle saw its' first use in Italy in 1943. This information in combination that the team both likes to tease us and being very deliberate in doing so leads me to believe that adding the picture definitely serves a purpose. And I don't think it has to do with the M8 becoming a playable vehicle in TC: When they posted a detailed ingame picture of a Sd.Kfz. 234 ("Puma") the question, if this would become playable vehicle, was answered with a clear "no". I have a hard time believing that they would add the M8 for TC, with simultaeneously ruling out the Puma.

 

Of course all of this is just me guessing and maybe alot of wishful thinking, because Sicily would be my favourite scenario of all the options we've got left.

 

Whatever will come next: I'll be looking forward to it.

Edited October 8, 2022 by Fritz_X

[Voidhunger]

Yeah Bf109 with filters, thats sexy!

[Guest deleted@83466]

13 minutes ago, Voidhunger said:

Yeah Bf109 with filters, thats sexy!

I guess it depends on how it’s marketed and to whom?

 

 

[Enigma89]

I have friends from out of town so I am just circling back on this but thanks for the kind words. Glad that people found it interesting and liked the questions.

[BMA_FlyingShark]

5 minutes ago, Enigma89 said:

I have friends from out of town so I am just circling back on this but thanks for the kind words. Glad that people found it interesting and liked the questions.

Yeah, from me too, thank you for the interview, very interesting.

 

have a nice day.

 

[Alexmarine]

21 minutes ago, SeaSerpent said:

I guess it depends on how it’s marketed and to whom?

 

 

 

Smh, the team should bring us the PTO by making a collaboration with some Japanese anime girl publishing companies/studios as to bankroll the needed documents. I am sure official anime skins are not worse than the already fantasy MP's scenarios most servers runs with 

[Hien-0_1*]

Yes, the map was a fantasy (but the blue framed area is realistic / an MTO map with Sicily - Tunisia including Malta would be about the same size / with Tunisia heavily cropped - coast only).

Yes, we need hunters (it gets very tight)

- for the axis: MC200 / Re2000 / Re2001 / Fw190A4 + a couple of medium bombers

- for the Allies: P-40 long nose / A-36 / Beaufighter /P-38 first versions + ... ???

 

Then rather east front with (winter 12.44-03.45 & spring 03.-05.45)

- Bf109G-10 / Fw190A-9 / He-162 / Ta-152 ... (Do-335)

- La7 / Yak9K / Yak9M / Yak9U / Yak3 ...

for the "ENDKAMPF" for Pomerania and on the Oder River!

There are enough hunters here / and you can avoid the big cities (without Berlin, Breslau, Dresden / only with Stettin and Poznan)

A TC-environment is also available (on the Oder River / between Küstrin and Seelow) !!!

[Muddy]

“Something New to the sim scene”

I some how think more European fighters on a new European map is nothing new.

think out of the box guys.

CBI=

Over the hump in C-47, bombing Japanese airstrips and harbors in a fly able B-25.

A-36, P-61, Zero,Oscars etc.

No Carriers, mostly jungle terrain  

 

“NEW Material.”