IL-2 To somebody who hasn't flown it in a while.

[parkerc341]

With all the negative going around, I thought that I would talk about how IL-2 feels to someone who has had to step away for a while and is just now coming back.. and honestly to me it feels great. Flying around on the Moscow Front in a MiG-3 intercepting German Heinkels or JU-88s, or ground striking convoys in the mountains of the Kuban in a U2V, the game is exhilarating again if you just step away for a little bit and allow yourself to crave flying. In fact, even though I'm in the minority on this, the large break I took actually gave me a craving for late war Eastern Front combat. I do so wish we could've gotten some 44/45 Soviet airplanes, LA-7s, Yak-3s, More lend lease, against the best German airplanes that they can offer, or even maybe a cheeky jet being shot down so you can pretend you are  Ivan Kozhedub. They could've even played around with the idea of involving soviet and western planes if they set the battles very late in the war. Anyways, this is how IL-2 looks to someone who hasn't flown in a while. Peace. 

(Credit to Stormbirds for the great image)

 

[senseispcc]

It is a great picture from a great game, thanks. 

[danielprates]

I'll side with this. Just reinstalled after 2-3 years, to test a new joystick, and I'm impressed with the ammount of fine-tuning the game has gotten over the years. There's even some rudimentary map drawing tools!

 

The Mosquito night flying career was my happiest surprise. The spotlights chasing you around look great. Dead reckoning in the dark is super fun. I only wish your flight mates would use formation lights, at least during the safer parts of the flight plan.

[Lusekofte]

I love this game for the PO 2 , JU 52 , HS 129 and C 47 with its Russian twin. 
PO 2 I never gotten close to a target without getting shot down in mp and the ground texture really shows it faults while flying low in it. But I love flying it. 
The fact that they built it just tells me there is dedication involved not only economy 

[Avimimus]

Honestly, I think a lot of people could do with taking a break occasionally. It is much easier to see the unique features of the planeset, the strengths of the terrain engine, the overall advancements in quality - if one hasn't gotten overly accustomed to it. I think we get used to the good things and tend to only notice the imperfections after a while.

 

If I get annoyed by the little details... well, my solution is to take two weeks off and maybe fly some European Air War or Red Baron...  Then combe back... it is a lot easier to see the things that are right (or exceptional)

[danielprates]

5 hours ago, Avimimus said:

It is much easier to see the unique features of the planeset, the strengths of the terrain engine, the overall advancements in quality - if one hasn't gotten overly accustomed to it.

 

The opposite is also true though. I got surprised to see that so many things are still an issue! Just to name one, flight orders still SUUUUUCK. I started a bomber career and to my surprise, as flight leader I still can't order the other bombers to drop as I do during level bombing. There's been advancements, but at the same time, a lot is still lagging behind.

[IckyATLAS]

On 10/18/2023 at 6:36 AM, parkerc341 said:

With all the negative going around, I thought that I would talk about how IL-2 feels to someone who has had to step away for a while and is just now coming back.. and honestly to me it feels great.

The above phrase has two sides. Let's start with the positive side:

 

1) "just now coming back.. and honestly to me it feels great".

Yes true. I agree. I had also long periods where when I came back I had exactly that feeling.

Hope this continues. I consider IL2 still has a lot of potential. 

 

2) "the negatives going around"

This is due to a major change in the dev team with the leaving of Jason. After so many years he had used the community to a certain way of communication and marketing.

His way of doing had positive and negative effects but overall it was positive. Yes he did not always delivered, or very lately, but recognized problems and kept a very lively communication and interaction level with the community. He had a logic of a kind of permanent "Early Access" communication style where you need to have the community always hooked even if sometimes you could create frustrations. That way of doing probably put also the dev team under pressure but I think this is a good thing up to a point because you develop for a community of paying customers.

 

His leaving has created a major anxiety and coupled with the the very different communication strategy of the new "producers" did indeed create this negatives floating around. Now to give them credit they do continue to deliver what was promised long ago and have added more campaigns. There is a roadmap at least for WWI enthusiasts, but for WWII it is much more foggy. It seems that ROF has overtaken IL2 in a way. For the fans of Tank battles probably it was also a delusion as it is not continued. This not being my case I will not comment. But having  quality tanks and vehicles on the battlefield is a must. On the graphic, visual technology improvements we see nothing too.

 

When the last Normandy map was delivered and mentioned by the devs as being the absolute maximum that their technology could do I have been very worried. Why? because when our eyes and brain start to get too used or spoiled by the visual rendering of the latest technologies around then we might start to appreciate less the IL2 Map visuals, and by that I mean, terrain, vegetation, lakes and sea, as well as the map related effects like fires and smoke in conjunction with wind etc. There is still a community playing around with IL2 1946, but even if I have had all the versions from day one IL2 up to IL2-1946 I cannot come back to them anymore.

[parkerc341]

16 hours ago, IckyATLAS said:

The above phrase has two sides. Let's start with the positive side:

 

1) "just now coming back.. and honestly to me it feels great".

Yes true. I agree. I had also long periods where when I came back I had exactly that feeling.

Hope this continues. I consider IL2 still has a lot of potential. 

 

2) "the negatives going around"

This is due to a major change in the dev team with the leaving of Jason. After so many years he had used the community to a certain way of communication and marketing.

His way of doing had positive and negative effects but overall it was positive. Yes he did not always delivered, or very lately, but recognized problems and kept a very lively communication and interaction level with the community. He had a logic of a kind of permanent "Early Access" communication style where you need to have the community always hooked even if sometimes you could create frustrations. That way of doing probably put also the dev team under pressure but I think this is a good thing up to a point because you develop for a community of paying customers.

 

His leaving has created a major anxiety and coupled with the the very different communication strategy of the new "producers" did indeed create this negatives floating around. Now to give them credit they do continue to deliver what was promised long ago and have added more campaigns. There is a roadmap at least for WWI enthusiasts, but for WWII it is much more foggy. It seems that ROF has overtaken IL2 in a way. For the fans of Tank battles probably it was also a delusion as it is not continued. This not being my case I will not comment. But having  quality tanks and vehicles on the battlefield is a must. On the graphic, visual technology improvements we see nothing too.

 

When the last Normandy map was delivered and mentioned by the devs as being the absolute maximum that their technology could do I have been very worried. Why? because when our eyes and brain start to get too used or spoiled by the visual rendering of the latest technologies around then we might start to appreciate less the IL2 Map visuals, and by that I mean, terrain, vegetation, lakes and sea, as well as the map related effects like fires and smoke in conjunction with wind etc. There is still a community playing around with IL2 1946, but even if I have had all the versions from day one IL2 up to IL2-1946 I cannot come back to them anymore.

Yeah it is quite a shame that Jason did leave, but in a way I am happy about it because he now is making his own sim. There is also Han and the rest of the IL-2 team creating their sim, so I suppose the light at the end of the tunnel is that we now have two sims being developed by teams/individuals that have been shown to be capable. In conclusion, despite my doubts, I have hope that the future holds greatness for us who fly the virtual skies.

Edited October 23, 2023 by parkerc341

[Gambit21]

On 10/21/2023 at 9:18 AM, Avimimus said:

 

If I get annoyed by the little details... well, my solution is to take two weeks off and maybe fly some European Air War…

…and realize what an immersive GUI really is, with period correct music, graphics and briefings etc, and what was lost and won’t be seen again until hopefully Jason brings it back with Combat Pilot? 
 

I hear you on graphics, ballistics, flight model etc, but looking at EAW will also make you miss some things.

EAW made you feel like you were flying a WWII aircraft in WWII. That’s something that hasn’t been grasped with any iteration of IL2.

[Guest deleted@83466]

1 hour ago, parkerc341 said:

Yeah it is quite a shame that Jason did leave, but in a way I am happy about it because he now is making his own sim. There is also Han and the rest of the IL-2 team creating their sim, so I suppose the light at the end of the tunnel is that we now have two sims being developed by teams/individuals that have been shown to be capable. In conclusion, despite my doubts, I have hope that the future holds greatness for us who fly the virtual skies.

 

I just read what you wrote aloud in a bad British accent.  That seriously sounds like a speech some English officer would give his troops before they attempt to cross over No Man’s land.

[JG27_Steini]

1 hour ago, Gambit21 said:

…and realize what an immersive GUI really is, with period correct music, graphics and briefings etc, and what was lost and won’t be seen again until hopefully Jason brings it back with Combat Pilot? 
 

I hear you on graphics, ballistics, flight model etc, but looking at EAW will also make you miss some things.

EAW made you feel like you were flying a WWII aircraft in WWII. That’s something that hasn’t been grasped with any iteration of IL2.

 

Starting IL2 GB for the first time, i was shocked. I could never understand how plenty of WW2 enthusiasts and senior developer/artists could have do this. Immersion is in my opinion one of the most important things and it is pretty simple achievable. After preparing for the first career in BoK with Black Cross Red Stars, playing the bad career mode, i left GB for years. They really missed a chance. And i learned the hard way that games like Red Baron, EAW were milestones in immersion and not a simulation standard.

Edited October 23, 2023 by JG27_Steini

[ST_Catchov]

3 hours ago, SeaSerpent said:

 

I just read what you wrote aloud in a bad British accent.  That seriously sounds like a speech some English officer would give his troops before they attempt to cross over No Man’s land.

 

I'm not gettin' that vibe to be honest. Let me doobie do and I'll get back to you Jojo.

[Avimimus]

7 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

…and realize what an immersive GUI really is, with period correct music, graphics and briefings etc, and what was lost and won’t be seen again until hopefully Jason brings it back with Combat Pilot? 
 

I hear you on graphics, ballistics, flight model etc, but looking at EAW will also make you miss some things.

EAW made you feel like you were flying a WWII aircraft in WWII. That’s something that hasn’t been grasped with any iteration of IL2.

 

I agree. I particularly miss the first Red Baron (i.e. not Red Baron 2/3d). There are a lot of interesting features and design choices in old sims that have been lost completely from the genre.

[parkerc341]

8 hours ago, SeaSerpent said:

 

I just read what you wrote aloud in a bad British accent.  That seriously sounds like a speech some English officer would give his troops before they attempt to cross over No Man’s land.

"Well chaps, were all about to charge the Fritz over the hill here in the Somme. I'm sure we'll all be alright, who's ever heard of the Somme anyway?"

[Trooper117]

''Damn... I've lost my swagger stick. Must find it, I'd hate to rush a Hun machine gun nest without it''...