Is Oleg going to let SimHQ have an exclusive on the in game screen shots for SOW that we are getting in September?

I wouldn't count on September....

You forgot to include the word "hope" in your question Tree

well if we haven't any screenshots of the game by september... then we will be still a very long time away from seeing the game(again).

Well Oleg did say that we will get in game shots in September, but then again we were supposed to be getting systems specs in May, a dedicated website in December 2008 etc etc, but this time i believe Oleg will finally deliver something that shows us what he has been doing for that last 4/5 years.

I hope your right.
It would be nice to see some concrete progress.


Wheels

Like a screenshot of a nicely modelled bunker?

I think they might be off on the actual date, but they'll definitely start showing more things sooner or later. Come to think of it, part of the secretive attitude is due to uncertainty of what will be in the final product and part of it is due to other flight sims and how they might compare.

As for the first one, in the SimHQ interview Maddox said that all that's left to do is finalize some of the aircraft models and the ships, so it's pretty much a done deal as to what will be inlcuded. As for the "competition", this has also been revealed. True, other modern sims might focuse on different eras and they are not exactly competing products, but everyone wants his sim to look like it's ahead of the rest regardless. Well, Black Shark is about to get the A-10 addon, RoF has been released and MS closed down their Aces studio, so there's not really any mystery surrounding this aspect either.

I guess that leading up to winter we'll start seeing what all is really about.

I would be happy with just a nice view of an English field with the right shade of green (pleaaaaaase, no Ukrainian green).

im thinking we will get a very pretty shot of a high detailed windsock if were lucky

Would that be September of 2013 ?

September would be nice but always remember guys that something unforseen can always come up and screw up his plans. No plan survives contact.

I have my fingers crossed that we will start to get more and more in game stuff soon. I know he is working hard at it.

Something unforseen has been the storey for the last 4 years so i suppose there is nothing to stop it happening again.

1+

It's my understanding that Oleg said after the SimHQ interview that he plans to show actual in shots of the game from September on, with the game being already 80% complete at the time of interview then a few screenies should be no problem, it would be nice if for just once Oleg did manage to deliver, after previous let downs.

well...im not holding my breath tree

I'm not holding my breath either, but eventually we will be seeing ingame screenshots and someday even flying the sim. Although I think I'm losing interest in combat sim flying, even ROF hasn't given me much insentive to fly.

Yep.
We're only a month away ....





... from another "Early next year!11!!" announcement ....

Oleg logged into the 1C forums this morning @ 7:25. The last time he had logged in was the 24th of June. I've been stalking him for a few years =P

Everytime he logs in its either when he does an update or answers a bunch of posts.

News coming I can feel it? lol

Well he hasn't posted anything of any significance on 1C for quite some time, and the Oleg questions and answeres thread is just questions with no input from Oleg since it started. Still i hope you are right.

No actually he has answered many of the questions in that(previous questions) thread and the ROF thread on there..

Don't worry, he'll def be giving us some more info very soon.

and you know that how?...no offence to you mate but you just made that up...no one knows

Which will happen first, the release of SOW or the second coming of Christ? I will be happy with either.

I would not expect anything till after Birds of Brey launches. I would doubt 1c wants to release 2 games so closely themed and related in a way to steal thunder from each other. Incidentally, any one know if SoW and BoP share resources? I wonder if we can see these BoP videos as previews of SoW.

Any link between BOP and SOW has been strenously denied by the Oleg camp, despite the fact that the ground detail in BOP looks suspiciously similar to that seen on the SOW DVD that came with Forgotten battles, this was back in the day when Oleg told Mystic Puma (on video) that he was hoping for a late 2007 realease. We have however since found out that it was an Oleg impersonater at that Birmingham convention, because the real Oleg has stressed recently that work did not start on SOW until late 2007, and i believe him.

tree...you not found the sarcasm smiley then?

Work started on SOW in 2004, with only a handfull of the development team. Oleg stated that the full development team didn't start work on SOW until 2007, after Pacific Fighters, IL-2 1946 etc were completed.

Birds of Prey lauches in Sept this year with a different developer with their own game engine. SOW will hopefully be released sometime in the latter part to 2010. Oleg let the BOP developers use the FM from IL-2 game engine. Oleg's SOW will be far more detailed on a new and different game engine. Although BOP could spawn some console users to take the plunge into more complicated and detailed flight sims. I know many PC users are contemplating buying consoles if they don't already have them to play BOP, atleast until SOW comes out.

Sorry Chivas, I'm just trying to be positive.

Historically though Oleg has released news like this, sporadically I mean, that's why I expect something soon. I haven't posted for awhile and I don't constantly say things like this. =/

I believe this is correct Chivas, which proves that Oleg telling Mystic Puma he hoped to release in late 2007 was utter madness!!

It may have been utter madness Tree. Personally I believe the vision of SOW changed and is constantly changing due to technical and multidude of other factors.

Nothing to be sorry about Omphalos. I'm trying to stay positive aswell. I'm sure we will see the next combat flight sim benchmark in SOW someday. All the mashing and grinding of teeth will be forgotten after we get SOW in our grubby hands. Then the real whinning can begin.

He he, so true

To say that BOP hasn't had an effect on the release of Olegs BOB seems just bonkers.

From the videos BOP seems to have IL2 flight models, externals and cockpits. As others have said the terrain looks very similar to the stuff Oleg showed years ago. The console porting may have been done by another team but I suspect all the other stuff is Maddox. I don't seee Maddox slapping the IL2 name on a product that they didn't have a large ammount of control over.

Anyway, ROF is well out of the door now if that mattered. Oleg seems to be concerned with competition and not showing his hand too ealy, he must realise that its time for some BOB in game screens now though. More 3D models in the builder wont do.

+1

+7 1/2 = thats just how feel

My goodness! C'mon Tree, you've forgotten a couple of paragraphs in the interview that explained what happened.

I have never understood how showing your progress could possibly help a competitor. I have never expected to see screen shots of the code itself. Don't they both have reality to base their work on?

Nope, i dont see anything in the most recent interview that explains what happened in 2007, please point me in the right direction.

So-this sim is NEVER gonna be released,right?

Interesting perspective Tree.


Wheels

Well not long now and we should see some screenies!!

yep...hes been working very hard so we have been told!...and im sure we will see something great in September!

im thinking we will get a brilliant shot of that working windsock plus a highly detailed screenie of some cattle.

Well, only 5 days left.

I call "dibs" on declaring SOW "DBA" (Dead Before Arrival) if there is no word or pictures from Oleg before 08/26/09 at 03:03 AM, OK?

LoL! Gluttons for punishment, every one of ya!

Well over at the yellow site i have been told many times that i am too negative, a 'glass half full type of guy', so i have turned over a new leaf and i am now going to start believing in what Oleg says. Previously I did not believe that we would get a dedicated SOW website by the end of december 2008, neither did i believe that we would get system spec's in May and i also found it difficult to swallow a September 2009 release date. Thats all changed now, i truly believe Oleg will deliver some in game screenshots this September, just like he said he would, I am a born again Maddoxian.

Me too Tree!...all hail Oleg!

Cool, two new converts and both potential challengers to my claim to be the first to declare the demise of SOW, life is good!

Well, it was good, I just noticed that the topic was launched on the 26th of last month and Sept is still 10 days away, plus there are 30 days in Sept, did Oleg give a date or do we have to wait till Sept 30th at midnight?

Bummer, by then you two guys will probably have fallen off the "OLEG RULES!" wagon and I will have to be quick to win the "SOW IS DEAD" race.

I'm going back to bed!

Im afraid Oleg didn't give a specific date, or indeed a year.......

lol Its pretty entertaining to go through this thread and read everybodys comments..

All this waiting makes us a bunch of zombies- or a bunch of peeps with SOW-Cabin fever.

Anyways, I have a lot of confidence in Oleg.

I can't wait to see what BOB looks like...<3<3<3

=P

LOL excellent. Being a fan of old movies and TV programs...some of the TV was hilarious, this little sample nips things in the bud perfectly. Anyone have any Donna Reed?

No kudos necessary.. just something I thought of off the cuff..

Standing by for reprimand by Ming..

That brings back memories Boilerplate.
My grandmother was "hooked" on that show.


Wheels

Well here we are in September, If Oleg is has good as his word then we should see some in game screenies anytime now!!

Thirty days hath September....

I wonder, does that indicate "a glass half full" or "a glass half empty"?

Oh well, SOW can wait, I think the entire IL2 1946 kitchen is about to be flooded, glasses full and sunk in 3 feet of 4.09 official, new Channel maps from various sources and heaps of planes and other goodies from those mod sites.

Oleg, by intent or luck has had much pressure, (present company excluded ) removed from the SOW release timetable.

Many of us are still 2 computer upgrades away from IL2 1946 in all its' glory anyhow.

Yes Oleg should thank the modders because they have done a teriffic job in keeping us all still interested in WW11 flight sims.

The final two weeks!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA............

Well, yes, the modders deserve a lot of credit but let's not forget the skinners, mission and campaign makers, etc., there has been a lot of non mod stuff released since modding became all the rage too, eh?

I wonder, is there any interest in gathering a bunch of townspeople for the purpose of storming Olegs castle at midnight on Sept 30th if we do not see some screens before then?

I have a pitchfork and can probably borrow a couple more if we need them.
We should decide quickly though, if we are going to do this I need to leave soon, it's a really long walk to Russia.

cool...il bring my box of matches

Way to go Tree, you and BKHZ_Furbs made Olegs hair fallout!

Matches are good, BKHZ_Furbs.

T minus 28 Oleg, slap on some rogain and get back to work, OK?

Well only 9 days left, is Oleg going to come through or is it going to be the same old BS.

He has had time enough to come up with some new BS!

I just "re-installed" Wings Of Victory. I must say its still a good game. Got my interest up again.


BUT, where can I find ANY information about Storm of War?
I tried UBI Soft, and a few searches, but not much out there. Even GameStop doesn't show it coming up soon.

Any help is appreciated.

BTW, if UBISoft is involved, I have had many not-so-good experiences with them. Just ask any Ghost recon gamer.

Sorry if this has been asked before. Just curious about this game.I know it still in production, right?

It's been in development since 2004 but has yet there is no in game footage to see mate, there are no system spec's and neither is there a dedicated website, theres no marketing and no regular updates and Ubisoft pulled out of the project a long time ago. Other than that its all moving along nicely.

come now Tree we have had a great update only 4 months ago! and it had some fantastic goodies including a shot of a British fort AND news of a working wind sock!!
who could ask for more!!

Ooooooleeeeeeeeg!

Help us. we are dying over here.

4 days left until October.


Wheels

Its not looking good, On the plus side at least Oleg is getting predictable!!

Oh no! Play.com has cancelled my pre-order!
Does this mean SoW:BoB is cancelled too?!!

--------Edit------
No they hadn't... Strange, it turned up again when I refreshed the page...

2 Days left, C'mon Oleg my son, you can do it, its just 'copy and paste'!

At least Foo'bar is still on it

http://fooblog.mexxoft.com/pwg14/

Well, I guess tomorrow is the big day! In game screens and vids! Oh, I can't wait! I won't even be able to sleep tonight. .

ROFLMAO that video is awesome!

Thanks BP.
It had been a while since I saw that one...


Wheels

Well its the last day of September, I guess he's gonna miss the deadline to prove he's not full of #%&*$#!!

LoL @ the vid BP. No update...well anyone who has been paying attention shouldn't be too surprised or disappointed. Oleg has adopted the strangest PR program I have ever seen. Last year he said in July we would see vids in the new engine. This year he said September. Oh well, maybe he was just being too optimistic.

I really am begening to think that the reason we are not being shown anything is becuase he has nothing to show, If SOW was anywhere near completion would Oleg's right hand man move to the USA?, seems very strange to me. Just come clean Oleg and tell us whats going off before you lose too much respect.

At least Foo'bar is still on it smile

=====================================================================================================

I always really like Foo'bar's skins

I'm sure the Maddox team has plenty to show but for whatever reason(s) they are not ready to show it. One understandable reason is they just enjoy annoying Tree.

I do actually still have faith in Oleg.

I'm just extremely patient.

=)

Sorry Tree but that just struck me as funny.


Wheels

Me too lol.

Maybe 'PR' stands for "Private Reserve"??

Now that would explain a whole lot.

Well its now Oct 1st, so we have a whole new month with which to be 'only a month away' with.

It's the Duke Nukem forever of flight sims.
I'm just glad i didn't pay for a pre-order...

At least it's free to pre-order from Play.com
They don't charge you before they deliver.

Hopefully the next SimHQ interview might be a little more aggressive so we dont keep getting fobbed off with old news and false promises.

http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/214/Oleg-Maddox-On-IL-2

Hey, at least he is alive as of 9 hours ago.

This thing is the "new" "Fighter Ops."

Oleg wont be happy with that interview, it claims he was the brains behind BOP, after going to such lengths to deny his involement in the project he's not doing such a good job of it now.

Mhhh, interesting, thanks for the link fc.

I thought he had been claiming he had nothing to do with it.


Wheels

Interesting interview. Gaijin Games is the developer of IL-2 BOP and Maddox Games isn't mentioned in the credits. Gaijin Games is a good size game developer with over sixty high tech employees so it probably could hold its own in the development department with Maddox Games. I'm sure Oleg gave some help to the Gaijin team in the BOP project, but not sure he was that instrumental in its development.

I was hoping he sold Gaijin the IL-2 FM code to generate some monies for Maddox Games, but rumor has it that it was given for free. The freebee may have given him access to some of the Gaijins developers new tech ideas for sim development.

Either way I doubt it effected the timeline of SOW. I think one of Maddox major problems, [he probably has many] is getting this very ambitious SOW project to run effectively on todays computers.

I agree Chivas, I wonder if parts of what would of been SOW ended up as BOP, the terrain detail was very similar to what was seen on the DVD that came with IL2FB.

Hey Tree! They're getting mighty upset with you over at the 1C forum!

I know, It is the church of Oleg though, and they dont like folk singing the wrong hymm's.

I believe the official statement was that only parts of the physics and flight model from Il-2 were used (nothing from SoW:BoB). However, I wouldn't really be surprised if Oleg is watching closely or exchanging other information with the team.

Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if Oleg was actually behind QTim as well. It would be an interesting experiment on his part.

[quote=Tree I agree Chivas, I wonder if parts of what would of been SOW ended up as BOP, the terrain detail was very similar to what was seen on the DVD that came with IL2FB.
[/quote]

I agree the terrain detail was very much like the terrain detail we seen in early [and only] SOW WIP shots, and its similiarity was the first thing that jumped out at me. Although I think Maddox terrain will be more detailed than BOP terrain especially in low level flight. The PC can be more powerfull than a console and the PC owner can easily upgraded and use more terrain options. Of course both teams have a very good terrain artists doing the same terrain so it should be very similiar.

Personally I wouldn't have a problem if Oleg were a partner in the BOP's development. Especially if it makes Maddox games money and access to new sim tech ideas he could use in SOW. On the down side I ain't getting any younger and starting to loose my youthfull zeal for sims.

Either way Maddox games doesn't answer to us. I'm a huge fan of the Maddox team and have enjoyed their sim since the early Beta test days. The players and modders owe him a dept of gratitude otherwise we'd still be flying and modding the CFS series.

Someone should start an online "pot" for SOW. If 1C gets SOW out the door before 2012, 1C wins the pot. If not, everyone keeps their money. We could do it on the honor system and track the total pledged.

Maybe you could gauge interest..of course I think anyone and everyone who is into flight sims is interested in seeing SOW come out.

Kind of appropriate given that flight sims trying to make money with the current game business model tend to be money losers.

Sounds like a good idea, if we had all done this in 2004 the interest on the savings would have been such that we could of built a real spitfire.

But I'd lobby for a Hurricane.

no way!...109E please

Hurricane!

Ha, you got banned there now!

Yep Im banned, funny isn't it. Oddly enough I didn't break any of the forum rules, It was a personal ban from one of the mods, but to be honest it is difficult for the mods trying to defend Oleg's honour, and he dont help them much when he makes statemnets that he constantly fails to keep, or by not even logging in to his own forum for months. Some at 1c forum dont want to hear this though, they are happy with the lack of updates, news and BS and dont want to question why it is happening. Each to there own I suppose. However there are alot of folk out here who are a little bit tired of all BS we have had about SOW from 2007 onwards, sure we can wait another 2 years or whatever it takes, all we want is a little bit of truth for once.

You could be right Tree about possible deception. Personally I think its more a matter of a myriad of technical and business difficulties with hope expressed by Oleg that things were going to go smoother. In my experience most complex projects hardly ever meet deadlines unless the developer has deep pockets, strong problem solving, and a large quality work force.

I dont think there is any deception per-se Chivas, I just question why statements are made with absoloutly no follow up. Obviously there are going to be set backs there must have been many since the project started in 2004, but the man has said himself that the game is 80% finished (June). Even a dedicated SOW forum would be a great leap forward instead of lost teasers and utter silence. On a seperate note I was reading an article today where Oleg said he was planning to do paid add on's like ROF, maybe this will be a good thing for the longevity of the sim and future patches and projects.

That's interesting because Oleg has said he doesn't agree with ROF's business plan. Although he has been doing paid addons to the IL-2 series for years. It all depends on what constitutes a paid addon. Olegs paid addons were quite extensive while ROF's could be just an aircraft.

Personally I think we've been very spoiled over the years with all the free content. A business model that would make quality combat flight sim development more profitable would be advantages to us all. Unfortunately the market base is small, but on the good side people who pursue this hobby usually have deeper pockets.

Here you go chivas, http://www.freewebs.com/heinkill/stormofwarnews.htm

Thanks Tree. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out. Hopefully it will become a very profitable business plan. In the end it will depend on the quality of the product. Oleg's past attention to detail bodes well for another successfull project.

So long as he doesn't use ROF's multiplayer. It's seriously horrible compared to IL2.

why is there a countdown of 353 days for the SOW's release?
where did they get that info ?

If their add-ons are reasonably priced it should be no problem. RoF's problem is not the business model per se, i think the add-on planes are cheap for the quality of work involved. It's the other baggage that's coming along with it, forced updates, the way the copy protection works and a lack of things to do with those planes after you've spent a few hours on them, that's making it seem unattractive. If they had an engaging dynamic campaign, a sufficient number of AI planes to help model it correctly and an option to run the game offline after the initial authentication it would be no problem. But as far as price goes they are ok.

Think about it like this, you could get a boxed add-on with new flyables and maps for $40 or so a la pacific fighters, or download it all for free with the planes as AI and then buy just the ones you want online for $5 per plane, it would add up to more or less the same. Of course, if you divide the price with the number of planes in pacific fighters i guess they are cheaper than what RoF offers and BoB will offer in the future, but then again these new sims take more time to model stuff. I think Maddox once said that making a SoW aircraft with a complete FM/DM and graphics model takes about twice the time it took to do the same plane in IL2, so the price will jump up somewhat.

All in all, i wouldn't object to it as long as they offer the end user enough alternatives. If you can fly online with people that have different flyables and not face incompatibilities, if the add-ons are reasonably priced and if this whole thing only needs to authenticate online once for each time you add new content, it will work. Heck, keep the options open and let people buy a boxed set with all the flyables too, instead of downloading and having to authenticate it, some people still prefer it the old way.

A direct port of the RoF model would be a huge mistake, as the only really useful thing in it for the end user is to fly online with people that have different planesets and not have their versions be incompatible. This is something they could copy for BoB:SoW, the rest is simply technical overhead. I hope they don't change their minds, as Maddox himself pretty much said on a SimHQ interview that he's not a fan of the recent protection methods and they want to use a different one. The thing is, a Maddox title might be a flight sim but it won't be obscure, so it will attract attention from pirates and if other blockbuster titles are any indication, when that happens the game is leaked even before the official release date. If they use an activation model that drives away the fans their sales will suffer double damage, if they keep it simple some people will steal it from the internet but at least the fans will buy original versions.

I'm still a fan of the "traditional" way, buying a boxed add-on that goes in a merged installation with what i already have, but i wouldn't mind having an extra option down the line to buy a couple of interesting planes here and there without having to buy the entire theater of operations. For example, say i don't like the eastern front much, but i buy 4 planes that are in my favotire server's planesets, just so i can fly both teams when an easter front mission comes up on the map rotation.

I agree, very good post Blackdog.

Hoot, I would pay $40 for an update that would include all lot of what moders have made.

I would buy IL2-1938, or IL2-1916. JUST make an improvement in the AI and add dynamic campaigns. Then I would buy Storm of War.

I hate pay-as-you-go business models for games, I prefer substantial packages like the GTAIV DLCs, rather than say the Forza 2 DLCs where you might have to buy individual cars etc.

I'd also REALLY hate this in a flight sim, but it also depends a lot on the pricing.

One thing that I hate is when PC games limit modding potential in order to be able to charge more for their own DLCs, and I really hope SoW doesn't go down this route.

Though I get the feeling it will, at least with aircraft.

But as long as SoW(the main game package) itself is fairly content rich and is of the same quality as the IL-2 series in terms of bugs, stability etc, then I will most certainly buy it.

I know what you mean. It's not that i don't want to pay for it, it's just that i want the option to get the whole deal for the sum of the price in one go. Having an option to buy single flyables would be good in a way i described in my previous post, that is for someone who doesn't want to have the entire list of flyables for a certain air force but would want to try his luck with a couple of them.

Which means, limited DLC packages is a secondary marketing option for the guy who won't buy your pacific add-on but wants to try some carrier landings once every 10 days or so. It's not the prime money-mover and developer companies should wake up to that fact. It might work in other game genres, but there's one thing that is so deeply embedded in a combat flight sim by design that will never let it take off: the demand for a level playing field in an online match, while still maintaining historical accuracy.

I mean, how is that supposed to happen and how does the online community get a kick-start when half the people quit the servers every 3rd mission in the rotation, because they lack a necessary flyable and the rest of the slots are taken for example?
Bundled packs for add-on content usually appear after the initial sales surge has been milked dry, so pay-as-you-go for 10 flyables will probably be more expensive than a bundle of the same flyables coming 4-6 months later. Sure, these guys need to make some money and pay their bills, but there's a small caveat here.
Let's face it, even if the price of buying everything separately is as low as a bundled pack, when the only option is to pay-as-you-go there will be a lot of people who will skip certain aircraft.
In today's flight sims with long development cycles, that equates to a realistic DF server with limited planeset choices being unable to run a realistic mission rotation properly, because all the hot-shots bought the Spitfires and 109s but almost nobody bought the Hurricanes and Stukas to fill out the rest of the slots for the mission, and all this happening for as long as it takes to get some new flyables out and renew interest. Temporarily renew might i add, as simply a pretty plane is useless in a combat sim if you can't shoot things with it, it would be good for FSX though. That could take as much as 6 months or more, while your online base slowly withers away and dies, or moves to other competing titles.

So, because of the special feature set demanded by a combat flight sim, there are some design elements that don't work well with a strictly pay-as-you-go method. Lack of options is putting all your eggs in one basket and to take the prime flight sim example of such a business model, that's one the reasons Rise of Flight is hurting at the moment. They are a smaller company with other worries to attend to first and the weakness of such a model might not be apparent right now, but when DF servers become available there could be some renewed gnashing of teeth.

I'm not a software developer or have the money to fund one, but if i was any of the two that's the way i would do it:

1) Base game ships with a minimum of 10 flyables plus a lot more AI to make sure one can flesh out the important scenarios with accurate planesets.

2) Sufficient single player content in the form of the required maps, missions and campaigns, even if they are scripted at first and dynamic ones will be made available later (just like IL2 was through the years).

3) DF and coop mode for multiplayer.

4) At least two ways to buy the game and the addons. Digital download version requires a one-time initial online activation and subsequent re-activations for any add-ons/DLC. Boxed version ships with regular copy protection. Updates and patches are common and interchangeable between versions. Boxed and downloaded add-ons can work on either a boxed or downloaded initial version and they activate just like the original game (serial and cd-check for boxed ones, one-time online activation for downloaded ones). Of course, purchasing single flyables as boxed add-ons is not practical, which leads us to the final point.

5) All-inclusive packs, shipping no more than 3 months after the release of the last part of the pack. Say they do the pacific, 3 months after the last PTO flyable is out, there should be a complete pack that features everything, both as DLC and as a boxed set. This way, everyone could get up to speed easily and in their preferred method and it would form a solid common ground of content to use online.

This last one is the crucial bit for long term spotlight coverage. IL2 had many more offline than online pilots, but most of them used the internet in some form or another (skins,missions,campaigns,etc), even if they are not joining multiplayer events.

If the game's content is fragmented between users, even without compatibility issues, the online community becomes fragmented too and this back-and-forth that kept IL2 alive for so long is missing. The guys in charge of developing flight sims should get wind of this fast, otherwise it won't be long before we have squads that fly dedicated planesets on dedicated servers, in dedicated theaters and time periods only. Which means, more things to coordinate between players before a simple multiplayer event can occur. This is not the way to propel a game to the hall of fame, no matter how great it is in other aspects. It's certainly a good way to kill it before it has a chance to take off though. And before someone starts lecturing me on the merits of pre-arranged multiplayer sessions, let me just say that sometimes real life means that all you've got time for is to jump into a server and hurl yourself to the closest furball for half an hour or so.Keeping it simple is an art form that's almost lost to game designers in general nowadays. You can have as much of an elaborate and engaging game as you want, but for it to succeed the process of reaching a point where you can actually start playing should be as hassle-free and fast as possible.

Just my 2 cents as usual

And very good two cents at that IMO.

And I agree wholeheartedly with your first point, I don't mind the smaller DLC packages, if they gather them up in periodical complete packages(that perhaps offer a bit of a discount since you purchase all of'em together)

The multiplayer fragmentation isn't that big a deal for me since I've never even tried the IL-2 series in MP!*Hides face in shame*

I've never even tried the IL-2 series in MP

Our C.O. is a Swedish chap Gargantou, you should try joining an online squadron there's nothing quite like it, and get into flight-training early for Oleg's Battle of Britain:The Definitive BoB

I can tell that you're a squadron-type person by your estimable modesty, it's what they pay me for almost

Ming

Well sadly I do not have a HOTAS these days, had a big computer crash last year and lost all my carefully tuned custom profiles for my Saitek HOTAS+rudder pedals, I got so angry I sold it.

Been pondering rebuying it though, both for flight sims and because I've started playing old space sims again(Like Freespace 2 for example), so we'll see!

Besides, I was never any good at IL-2, I still am not, only thing I was decent at was groundattack missions etc, but I am worthless at air-to-air combat!:(

I do appreciate the offer though, if I get a HOTAS I'll definitely take you up on it, hopefully you guys can help me get better.:)

Hmmph. Never stopped me.

I just don't want to drag my team down by my poor performance

If if wasn't for the time difference, I'd have you fly with us. Our squadron is well known for crappy pilots.

Okay, mostly for my crappy flying.

Never let a lack of skill get in the way of having a good time.

Besides, the bad guys will chase you and allow the people you're flying with score big kills.

Yup, i'm with Dart on this one. I fly online for a few weeks every 3-4 months,which means i have to re-learn most of it everytime i restart.

The only thing you need is knowledge of your own abilities. If you know that, then you know what kind of situations you can get into and how to help your team, even if it means cutting in front of a hostile and catching a few rounds to save a better pilot,who in turn will save you.

I'm not that good at maneuvering fights, so i usually fly boom and zoom birds with good armament. Thankfully i'm a decent shot and think things through before getting into a fight, so it somewhat evens out. This way,i can fly with some of the best pilots around and still not be useless, i just follow them around and learn from them, hanging back and waiting till they need some help, at which point i'm diving down to clear their tail. After a while your skills will improve (takes me 6-12 hours to get back to a decent level after a long break from online flying), at which point they are more comfortable in letting you make the opening moves while keeping a watchful eye on your six.

The only thing that matters is to accept that there will be a lot of guys who are much better than you. If they are on the enemy team neutralize them in any way possible, even if you can't shoot them down you can tie them up. If they are on your team, follow their tactics and example and make yourself useful with the smaller things, until you learn the ropes. It's quite fun actually and i'm itching to get back into it since the new mods got released, but i've got massive ISP problems lately that prevent me from getting a stable connection.

FWIW, SOW is now due for release on the 30/04/2010 at Play.com (UK)

Out of morbid curiosity I check my original pre-order for SOW at Play.com and it was on the 13/10/2006

With a smile on my face, back to the Cryotank tank I go