Dev Blog #369: Odessa and Leningrad News

[Stryker07]

All about that Yak-3 with 2x12.7mm MG!!! I was a  bit disappointed when the earlier DD showed only the single weapon. Part of the reason why the current Yak-7 is the one I fly most often of USSR aircraft is the increased armament. Also seeing the 3x B-20 for the La-7 is quite nice, wonder if the added weight will make me choose the more traditional 2 weapons over 3. 

[MDzmitry]

13 минут назад, Stryker07 сказал:

Part of the reason why the current Yak-7 is the one I fly most often of USSR aircraft is the increased armament.

Wait until you hear about Yak-3P with a similar 3x B-20 armament. But, unfortunately, that modification arrived too late to see action, let alone not in 1944.

But regarding La-7 with 3x20s - part of the reason they even went with such armament was that B-20 proved to be quite lighter than the ShVAK, meaning more punch could be packed into a single airframe for more or less the same weight. The only concern might be the amount of ammunition per gun, or maybe a loss of a couple of km/h from the 3rd gun affecting the aerodynamics a bit.

[I./JG52_Woutwocampe]

I reckon many of the new early planes will be added to battle of Moscow?

[Burninator6502]

Unfortunately there is zero about this new map or planes that I’m interested in.

 

Oh well, can’t win them all.

[KodiakJac]

I'm most interested in the Yak-3, La-7, and the Bf109 E4!  The E4 will be a better match against British fighters in the 1940-41 period over the Channel in PWCG campaigns!

[Jackfraser24]

9 hours ago, KodiakJac said:

I'm most interested in the Yak-3, La-7, and the Bf109 E4!  The E4 will be a better match against British fighters in the 1940-41 period over the Channel in PWCG campaigns!

I am also looking forwards to these planes, especially the Emil-4, as it is the most iconic Bf-109 that will ever be in the game. I mean there's the E-3, which was built in greater numbers but I made a promise not to suggest anymore content for Great Battles. 

 

But yeah, I am also looking forwards to the Yak-3 and La-7 coming out. I'd like to fly them against the contemporary versions of the Bf-109 and Fw-190, as well as the Spitfire, Tempest, P-38, P-47 and the P-51 as well. 

[Kubert]

On 4/1/2025 at 10:45 PM, I./JG52_Woutwocampe said:

I reckon many of the new early planes will be added to battle of Moscow?

I hope they will be added. At least Yak-1. Maybe I-153 and LaGG if there were any at this time.

[Jackfraser24]

8 hours ago, Kubert said:

I hope they will be added. At least Yak-1. Maybe I-153 and LaGG if there were any at this time.

It would be nice to have more aircraft for Moscow, but again, I have to refrain from suggesting content for Great Battles. Development is basically over once Siege and Liberation is complete. Maybe several aircraft after that but, I also have to restrain from speculating too. I promised.

Edited April 4 by Jackfraser24

[Colonel_Snoot]

On 4/1/2025 at 9:33 PM, Burninator6502 said:

Unfortunately there is zero about this new map or planes that I’m interested in.

 

Oh well, can’t win them all.

Both new maps?  Between Leningrad and Odessa, with the early/late war swaps, there's a lot of WWII covered here.  I'm going to wait for a sale, as always, but I'm really interested in this module and it'll definitely be an eventual buy.

[KodiakJac]

10 hours ago, Colonel_Snoot said:

Both new maps?  Between Leningrad and Odessa, with the early/late war swaps, there's a lot of WWII covered here.

 

^ This.  With new Pilot Careers, PWCG, and Community built Campaigns for this new content, there is still a lot to look forward to in IL-2 Great Battles!

[Avimimus]

On 4/2/2025 at 7:24 AM, KodiakJac said:

I'm most interested in the Yak-3, La-7, and the Bf109 E4!  The E4 will be a better match against British fighters in the 1940-41 period over the Channel in PWCG campaigns!

 

I think it is also worth being quite keen on the I-153. Twice the firepower of a WWI fighter and twice the speed... the agility, use in ground attack and great ability with evasive manoeuvres should make it a very distinctive experience and quite useful. Something to be excited about.

 

The visual quality seems to be improved on the new Yak-1 and LaGG-3 variants as well... and the Ju-87D-5 should be interesting in the night attack role (although they were apparently used in daylight in 1944 on occasion). The additional wing area an 20mm cannons are well suited to night-time interdiction.

[Kubert]

17 hours ago, Colonel_Snoot said:

Both new maps?  Between Leningrad and Odessa, with the early/late war swaps, there's a lot of WWII covered here.  I'm going to wait for a sale, as always, but I'm really interested in this module and it'll definitely be an eventual buy.

For me is IL-2 GB only game series where I don't hesitate to pay a full price at day one. And I played and still playing a lot of games... 

[sevenless]

6 hours ago, Avimimus said:

I think it is also worth being quite keen on the I-153. Twice the firepower of a WWI fighter and twice the speed... the agility, use in ground attack and great ability with evasive manoeuvres should make it a very distinctive experience and quite useful. Something to be excited about.

 

Yep looking forward to that one and the rest of the announced lineup. Still a pitty the Hs-123 didnt make the cut. O well, so many nice planes and so few dev ressources.

 

[Jackfraser24]

8 hours ago, sevenless said:

 

Yep looking forward to that one and the rest of the announced lineup. Still a pitty the Hs-123 didnt make the cut. O well, so many nice planes and so few dev ressources.

 

It was a nice plane. Oh well, maybe it will be among the list of planes in the new series for all we know. 

Edited April 8 by Jackfraser24

[Blitzen]

Any ballpark time for release yet?

[Jackfraser24]

On 4/1/2025 at 11:24 PM, KodiakJac said:

  The E4 will be a better match against British fighters in the 1940-41 period over the Channel in PWCG campaigns!

I agree with you right there. I'm glad that we are finally getting a Bf-109 E-4 because it is such an iconic variant of the Emil and probably the Bf-109 period. I'd like to try it against the Hurricane Mk.II. 

[the_emperor]

With the advent of the La-7 (very much looking forward to it) will its engine timer and that of the La-5fn be corrected?

Manuals have been submitted over the years in th FM and FM-Bug section in the correct way.

many thanks✌️

[Jackfraser24]

16 hours ago, the_emperor said:

With the advent of the La-7 (very much looking forward to it) will its engine timer and that of the La-5fn be corrected?

Manuals have been submitted over the years in th FM and FM-Bug section in the correct way.

many thanks✌️

I have no definite answer for you as I am not qualified to give you an answer, but knowing how much work and detail the IL-2 dev team put into their aircraft I wouldn't lose hope.

 

Very much looking forwards to the La-7 too by the way. Would like to see how it goes against the Bf-109 G-6AS, a contemporary Bf-109G variant that entered service at a similar time to the La-7. I will admit that Soviet aircraft had come such a long way since Operation Barbarossa. 

Edited April 10 by Jackfraser24

[BigC208]

On 4/2/2025 at 2:24 AM, KodiakJac said:

I'm most interested in the Yak-3, La-7, and the Bf109 E4!  The E4 will be a better match against British fighters in the 1940-41 period over the Channel in PWCG campaigns!

The E4 is the meanest looking 109 with its angular lines. 

[Jackfraser24]

9 hours ago, BigC208 said:

The E4 is the meanest looking 109 with its angular lines. 

Agreed along with the E-3.

[ST_Catchov]

5 minutes ago, Jackfraser24 said:

Agreed along with the E-3.

 

I want them all. A world without every single 109 variant is not worth living in.

[sevenless]

3 hours ago, ST_Catchov said:

 

I want them all. A world without every single 109 variant is not worth living in.

 

Lol! Well we have still the G10 and a late G14/AS missing for the late war (Bodenplatte 44/45) period. E4 will fit perfectly for early 1941 timeframe (Odessa), but other than that, its´s pretty much collection complete with the 109s.

[Bell]

7 hours ago, sevenless said:

Well we have still the G10 and a late G14/AS missing for the late war (Bodenplatte 44/45) period.

I wanted to point out as early as 2022 that G-6/AS is exactly G-14/AS.https://il2sturmovik.com/news/776/dev-blog-336/

 

Spoiler

 

 

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[sevenless]

8 hours ago, Bell said:

I wanted to point out as early as 2022 that G-6/AS is exactly G-14/AS.https://il2sturmovik.com/news/776/dev-blog-336/

 

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I know. But it is not a late G14/AS with the ASB/ASC engine. That´s what I was meaning.

 

Edited April 12 by sevenless

[MDzmitry]

22 минуты назад, sevenless сказал:

 

I know. But it is not a late G14/AS with the ASB/ASC engine. That´s what I was meaning.

Pardon me if I'm wrong, but isn't there lack of evidence that these engines were operated in frontline units?

 

I really can't remember where from, but I got this thought somewhere, likely even Il-2-related.

[sevenless]

2 minutes ago, MDzmitry said:

Pardon me if I'm wrong, but isn't there lack of evidence that these engines were operated in frontline units?

 

I really can't remember where from, but I got this thought somewhere, likely even Il-2-related.

 

Nope. They were produced. That is documented. Even 1,98 ATA settings is documented.

 

See here:

 

and here:

 

[MDzmitry]

17 минут назад, sevenless сказал:

 

Nope. They were produced. That is documented. Even 1,98 ATA settings is documented.

 

See here:

 

and here:

 

Ok, thanks for info, the late-war German engines and ratings shenanigans is a blank for me.

I'm also not really willing to dwell in it due to trying to distinguish clarifications and real use of specific settings.

Usually it takes a while to adapt, for example 2 months between the clarification of +25lbs boost (march 1944) and its first use in a frontline unit in may 1944.

 

So yeah, for now I'll stick with the proverb "The less you know the better you sleep"

[sevenless]

1 minute ago, MDzmitry said:

So yeah, for now I'll stick with the proverb "The less you know the better you sleep"

 

Yep. That whole late war G10 / G14/AS topic and AS / ASM / ASB / ASC engine topic is PhD stuff in its own...

[ST_Catchov]

6 hours ago, sevenless said:

Yep. That whole late war G10 / G14/AS topic and AS / ASM / ASB / ASC engine topic is PhD stuff in its own...

 

It's a beautiful thing. There should be mandatory PhD courses on 109 engines in all Universities and Higher Education Facilities. We'd all sleep better at night knowing stuff like that.

[Zooropa_Fly]

Catchov, you're a very naughty boy.

[Bell]

17 hours ago, sevenless said:

But it is not a late G14/AS with the ASB/ASC engine. That´s what I was meaning.

I'm surprised, I've never heard of this before.

[Trooper117]

Let's bin all this 109 rubbish and push forward on what really matters... more and more Spitfire's  are what's really needed.

[BlitzPig_EL]

Toss in some late P40s, the P39Q, and an Allison Mustang for good measure.

[Jackfraser24]

3 hours ago, BlitzPig_EL said:

Toss in some late P40s, the P39Q, and an Allison Mustang for good measure.

I would have liked that. I would expect them to do a range of Pursuit fighter aircraft ranging from the early variants of the P-38 to the latest of the P-63 in the next series when they do the Pacific.

Edited April 13 by Jackfraser24

[Stromboli]

There should be mandatory PhD courses on 109 engines in all Universities and Higher Education Facilities. We'd all sleep better at night knowing stuff like that.

 

It would just be another course for me to flunk.

 

Yours,

Stromboli

[Calos_01]

5 hours ago, Trooper117 said:

 more and more Spitfire's  are what's really needed.

Yes!! Mark XII please...

 

As you can see, it's not that hard to make it from the models we already have in the game.

 

[Kurfurst]

On 4/12/2025 at 7:22 PM, sevenless said:

 

I know. But it is not a late G14/AS with the ASB/ASC engine. That´s what I was meaning.

 

 

Basically what happened that the engine ratings were increased, which also changed the designations for the engines;

 

the AS that was previously called ASM when running at 1,7 ata was now called ASB when running at an increased boost of 1,8 ata, and ASC when running on 1,98 ata. Same with the D series engines. 

 

But it was physically the same AS / or D / engine, just running at different boost levels.

Any one of these could be set up for any of these manifold pressures. The only change was in the boost regulator, fuel flow regulator, and supercharger regulator. The highest ratings also required high octane fuel and different type of spark plugs.

[ST_Catchov]

6 hours ago, Stromboli said:

There should be mandatory PhD courses on 109 engines in all Universities and Higher Education Facilities. We'd all sleep better at night knowing stuff like that.

 

It would just be another course for me to flunk.

 

Yours,

Stromboli

 

Maybe so, but it would be the best experience of your life. Meeting new friends and talking about engines and stuff. Having a laugh over a beer about whether the DB 605ASCM was really an improvement over the DB 605ASM and other such controversial topics! I couldn't think of a better way to spend my time. It's not about the PhD friend, it's about the journey.

[Aapje]

That's what he said:

 

[LukeFF]

Guys, we're getting off-topic.