Questions for Oleg Maddox regarding Storm of War: Battle of Britain

SimHQ will be publishing a Q&A with Oleg in the next few weeks.

Beside the obvious questions of "when will it be released", "who is the publisher", and "what is the DRM", what questions on the product do you have?

Please include one question per post.

Please post only your questions and refrain from discussions in this thread.

The thread is open until Friday, November 12th.


EDIT: More response than I anticipated. If you would like your question considered for the interview, please submit it and I will try to get as many addressed as Oleg has time to answer.

Is mr. Maddox offsetting parts of the calculations to PhysX or OpenCL, if the user's PC supports one of those? If so, both or which of them?

(Trying to avoid enigmatic answers. )

What does the total map area look like? (If it's not covered in the last Friday update)

Will users with cockpit gauges driven by DeviceLink be able to use them online?

In IL2 they could not, because of "fear" of "cheating" users would use DeviceLink to get flight envelope data.

Part 2 of the question: Will gauges that get damaged in the game in cockpit, receive zero data in DeviceLink and make the needles go dead?

What do 3rd party developers have to offer, to get access to development tools, so they can make expansions for the SoW franchise? Area they want to focus on, aircraft and battles, time-line? Only paying developers or is there a plan for the modding community?

In IL2 the AI moves like independent leader-wing man, two plane groups instead of coordinated squadrons. Will BoB have more realistic looking AI maneuvers?

Is it still planned to have dynamic weather that can change during a mission as was in the early preview video included in the IL2 1946 box?

Will the player be able to switch between radio frequencies to contact different flights, or will all friendly aircraft be on the same radio channel?

Will it be possible to bounce AI unseen as in real life or will they always have radar vision like IL2?

The recommended computer spec's RAM; CPU[Intel or AMD]; Video-card[Nvidia or ATI] and OS [64 or 32bit, XP/Win7].
Lot of sim-pilots have delayed there PC upgrading only for SOW!!!

edit: and the DirectX version

Will shape and height of waves change due to different weather or are they always the same?

Will there be a delay between the Russian release and other territories, if so do we know how much roughly?

Will SoW BoB make use of Hyperthreading technology or will this cause problems or decrease the performance?

What is the maximum number of bombers we will see in a raid at the same time?
How will the multi player servers work? There was talk about it working "in a new way" - will there be a master server in some way?
Tell us about the different multi player modes that will be available!

Oleg,

is the dynamic campaign engine able to run 24 hrs 7 days per week continuously over a few weeks/months, with player being able to join at any point and have an unfolding battle scenario that is progressing meanwhile ?

hope it is something close to this

Oleg,

What will the main online mode by like?


Will we see moving frontlines, capture of bases and territory? How about flying recon, rescue, and resupply missions? I am really curious to know what gameplay will be like.

Oleg, did you get to meet the girl in the cowboy hat?

You mentioned FMB tools that would allow the creation of maps might be released at a later date.
IIRC, the terrain Height in IL-2 is limited to 4,000m.

Will this height limit still apply for SOW:Battle of Britain or will we be be able to make more realistic mountain heights of 6,000 to 7,000 meters when necessary for the map being created ?


Wheels

There's been speculation that the SoW engine might be used as a basis for other sim genres such as tanks, or surface ships and submarines, is this a possibility you envision?

If it is, is it anticipated that players on one sim (driving a T-34, for example) could co-op with players in a different sim (flying an Il-2) in a combined arms battle?

Thanks,
C_G

Dedicated server qestions

Will there be a dedicated server?

If so:
Will the dedicated server be able to run as a service under Windows?
- Will the dedicated server be able to run 64bit?

Will a dediceted server be able to run under Linux?

Will we access to the dedicated server with a API?

Will there be a GUI for the dedicated server?

Will it be possible to split load on a dedicated server?
(In such a way that one server can be manage skindownload, one can manage mission download and one can manage movements ).

Will there be a dynamic campaign where the war goes on without user intervention?
(Like Falcon 4 and EECH)


Non server question:
How will SOW manage mods?
Will we be able to use Hyperlobby with the game?

Is the game engine 64bit?

Regarding using bombers, will the bombardier seat be a sepearate position in multiplayer, or still only available to the pilot?

You mentioned FMB tools that would allow the creation of maps might be released at a later date.
IIRC, the terrain Height in IL-2 is limited to 4,000m.

Will the water height be able to be set at a height other than zero to make a realisitic waterfall effect ?


Wheels

Can you ask what will be the next arena after the Battle Of Britain? Will it be North Africa?

What will be the maximum time acceleration available?

This one has already been answered, x86_64 will have a different exe file. See here: Linky

W.

Will the AI use the same flight model as players or do they "cheat" as in some versions of IL-2 (allways fly with maximum power, no engine heating etc.)?

Is there a noticable difference of tactics between AI controlled RAF and Luftwaffe (RAF using Big Wing, turning, LW using zoom & boom, Schwarm)?

Does the LW fighter AI know to turn back home in time when low on fuel?

How customizable will the GUI be?

Clarification: In Il-2 all you could do was change the backgrounds and I suspect you can do that as well in SoW. The GUI looks a bit like it took some ideas from Windows Aero and there you can tweak opacity, colours and intensity and a few more things. I do not think that you can totally change the GUI (i.e. by modding the graphics) but I'd like to know how much rookm I have to make the game look like I want it to look.

Thanks Winger, I must have missed that one.

Cheers

What is the name of the farm girl?

Do I get better performance when playing SoW BoB with a 6 Core Cpu instead of a 4 core Cpu?

How does the Multiplayer work, do we have to use Hyperlobby or is the server list right ingame?

Any chance of visiting Flying Legends 2011 Airshow. This is on of the largest WW2 flying displays and would be a superb chance to show people who are already interested in WW2 aircraft & history what a Combat Flight Simulation can offer.

Ha.. if its not out by then everyone will be claiming the game is just a flying legend!
Would be great though if we could get Oleg and crew over here..

How much and in which situations does SoW BoB make use of tesselation technology?

Can you see if he'll describe what the single player campaign will be like?

Any hints about "Battle of Moscow"? The Mig-3UD needs a home.

Any guesses on how long it will take before the SDK is released? What will be in it?

When in the release schedule (for example, original release or subsequent patches) will DX11 features (particularly Tessellation) be implemented and to what extent.

will there be AI radar controller in both coop and dog fight mods that will give you vector to the battle

Will radio guidance be employed for Luftwaffe night raids? I believe the Il-2 4.10 is making use of this.

Will radar controlled AAA be made use of? I know that the Luftwaffe Trip A batteries splashed a few Brit bombers in zero visibility in the beginning of the war according to A. Galland in The First to the Last.



Lastly, can we buzz Herr Meier when he is looking through those massive binoculars across the channel towards Britain?

I tried to find a picture but couldn't.

Will the Lysander, He-59 and Cierva be in a patch or in the addon?

Tell us about the damage model for ships - will it be possible to light fires on the deck through strafing (but obviously not sink the ship)?

Will AI return to base if separated or outnumbered?

Will the AI be open to modification?

Have AI conga lines been eradicated?

Will we be able to pilot and run numerous missions in torpedo bombers?

Will we have fully voiced mission briefings etc. for campaigns?

Mr. Maddox. Do you have any plans on expanding the Storm of War engine to Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) arena, where the battle could carry on online 24/7 with propably hundreds if not even thousands of players?

What about developing Combined Arms MMO simulation having player controlled ground, air, and naval troops and equipment? (like WW2 Online: Battleground Europe)

Does SoW BoB include 3D bomb craters instead of normal texture?
If yes, how big and deep will they be?

Will the aircraft have individual and realistic G-limitations and suffer progressive damage and lowering of the airframe's G-tolerance rather than Il-2's model of instant failure at one G-limit?

What kind of crew-management options will there be for multi crew aircraft, and will AI crew members (not just gunners) be programed to do their actual jobs.

Also from Feathered_IV:
Will navigators guide us to a target and home again?
Will bomb aimers give us instructions on the bomb run?
Will gunners report a contact or report damage etc?

Will the regularity of the sea waves be disrupted by an impact of a plane/wing/parts and so produce real (not overlayed) circular waves from the impact spot?

Thanks for your contributions. The thread is now closed. Look for the interview with Oleg in the next few weeks.