This was an interesting thing that I was mulling around in my head. The IL-2 patches since 2022 have been great but the game feels so bad right now, that's odd, so I wanted to talk about why. IL-2 Devs if you are watching this, I love your game, we just want to know what the plan is - give us a reason to believe. Thanks 🙏
I think one thing which leave me from IL2 and took me to DCS was the Multi core Update and the Cold war Server(no front😅). But all in all, DCS has Not and May will reach the beloved gameplay from IL2.
Man, servers! You mentioned you hopped in during beginning of Covid. I started in 2017 and there was a server even better than TAW and Finnish combined. It went down in May 2019 :( due to the one-man-show of the server operator. Wont mention the name, as I think, my reputation for the love of this down server may be seen greatly, if you scroll back in time in the forums. Anyway, nowadays the game becomes a dogfight simulator only. There are only few servers which are playable and to be honest - they are not that good either. Nor Finnish is realistic and certainly not the warm up server called Wings of Liberty. You want to play exclusivly only on Rheinmald / Normandy ? Go than for Combat Box. You want P38 Lightnings over Stalingrad and a ground target cluster with tank garages? Go than for Finnish. You want to never fly with your buddies together? Play on TAW, if you get a seat there. On which server, beside on TAW (all 2-3 months if you are lucky and the crew did not just split up) can you fly during night - at cloud overcast of 400m during a snow storm? Nowhere, right? Where is Air Marshal project? Where are recon flights and recon planes? Drop tanks? Different fuel tanks switches? Mine shells? Flying the old prop planes is more than just a sunny safari without clouds. Its more than dogfighting. Ground attackers and bombers did not got big love - not from the devs, not from the server creators. There are no events, not a dedicated very good server from the developers, in fact - they should care with such a MP server for the community.
Why does it feels worse than e.g. a year ago? It works the same, MP works the same, career works even better. Does every game has to develop fast all the time? Earlier games were often released and that's it, maybe some small patch, and people played them for many years.
Man! I miss covid times! I was “between jobs” and just started multiplayer flightsims for the first time. It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.
I appreciate you going over the golden days of IL2. Combat Box in its prime was such a special experience. Nothing will match dogfighting someone in a full server, and realizing “I’m pretty sure I know who this is, and I think I’ve got them by the balls.”
Il-2 will always have a special place in my heart, whether it's 1946, Cliffs of Dover or Great Battles. I barely fly those anymore mainly due to lack of available time but I can very much pinpoint the moment where i started losing interest in the Great Battles series. When Normandy was announced and no more flyable bombers were included, I knew the game was going in a direction I didn't want. I've always been a "bomber boy" at heart, and there was just no way to get these big bomber wings without having huge performance issues. The cooperation between fighter escorts and bombers is an aspect I really loved since you had the impression of being part of a real mission with actual stakes instead of always going for basic air-to-air or air-to-ground engagements. I could tell the Il-2 GB decision makers did not want to work on more bombers due to the complexity of the aircraft (meaning: increased costs when compared to a fighter) and the limitations of their sim engine. This is what killed my interest in the GB series; it just wasn't possible to re-create these "Band of Blennies" nights anymore since allied bombers were mostly an afterthought. I wanted to fly the B-25, B-26, B-17, Lancaster, Stirling or even the Halifax with player-flown escorts... but it wasn't meant to be.
Probably will not get much for at least several years. I mean considering that Jason only left 1 year ago and started his game, there is a lot of ground work needed to make the game. Its no more than a concept right now as the developers are trying to figure out how to make it.
Haven't flown IL-2 months, though my trigger finger is getting itchy. Do agree that lack of visibility is suffocating the franchise. They need to announce something substantial, and soon.
@@waltergreif4836personally what drove the refreshed interest in IL2 for me and perhaps others is the announcement of the next mainline project a handful of months after the final release of the current one. Without that for the past year it feels stagnant. Without that announcement if feels like there is no progress, no hope, no future for the game. Say what you will about Jason but he knew how to run a publicly favorable product through communication. If this current Dev teams plan is to stay silent until they are finished with the next major installment then I’m sorry that’s a mis-step to what this community has experienced and come to expect for many years.
I'm not that into WWII stuff but I have followed a few IL-2 UA-camrs for a while, more content has been cropping up recently so perhaps there's a small shift in the tide that's already started, fingers crossed this video gives it a boost. We need DCS's competition to thrive in order for ED to maintain motivation improving things, no progress without risk, and no risk without competition. That said, the IL-2 damage modelling has always looked amazing and if there's any chance they might stretch things to Korea, adding Sabres and MiGs, I would be over there in a heartbeat.
A lot of people I know are bored of DCS and want to get into IL-2. The servers in IL-2 are simply just better. It is fun, it's just on a really precarious position right now because the public pipeline is empty.
Great video. Players come and go, and in order to sustain a multiplayer community, you have to bring new players in or the game dies. I believe that is what we are watching now - people are gradually shuffling towards the door as no new meaningful content has been announced for over a year. Thank god we still have Combat Box Apollo - without it, I wouldn't still be playing this game.
I gave up on it because I can't compete. Something about my monitor set up and PC just means I can never see people before they are right on top of me. All the meta shit made me give up.
Peak was such a special time, flying with such great groups of people in the discord, the insane near suicide runs with the ryanair guys. Its been a while since i have been il-2 and would love to get back, but the devs need to get more visibility out there, it seems like they are putting much more work into flying circus rather than a new addition to great battles. I hope that one day we can get back the the golden days. Wingleader425
Covid was weirdly a great time for IL2 and us in the 332FG... it was the golden days. I remember a good 20-30 of us being full time pilots for a bit when everything was on lockdown. I believe Ryanair and 332 did a few ops together?
Interesting thoughts. I played Il-2 a lot, and I love the variety it offers - I really miss that from DCS. But I'm quite a plane nerd, and after having a taste of the high fidelity warbirds in DCS, Il2 never felt quite the same ever again, and I couldn't enjoy it that much anymore. Plus, as you said, the DCS mission editor is amazing, and allowed me and others to set up missions, campaigns and scenarios that you can't dream of in Il2. I'm happy to hear about Combat Pilot, I love the PTO, however I'll wait and see what it will be like. A more "accessible" sim with stop watch based engine management, or a proper, high fidelity sim. And of course, what kind of mission editing tools will it have. Until then I'm just waiting for the DCS PTO to roll out, we have the Corsair and the Marianas coming, the Hellcat promised, the Zero hinted. It's all very promising, but it can also fail miserably if they take years and years to roll out enough modules and assets that allows us to create something meaningful. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for both projects!
100% agree , the Fidelity of DCS is like an addition , hard return to previous sims after experiencing such quality aircraft. I think DCS will eventually provide a lot more for the ww2 timeframe, especially with the help of third parties.
Want to add, this is what CloD felt like every day on ATAG server about 10 years ago, especially when you said youd know who you were flying against, always regulars and always a full server, was a great time for combat flight sims
Cliffs was awesome. I'll never forget flying over the channel only to have have people cursing at me because I was noob and didn't know how to help out lol. The dogfights were a rush.
I love IL-2 and every point in this video is a reflection of how I feel with the game. Haven't played in a while but I hope something new comes to the game to get me back into it. Good memories flying on the multiplayer servers
The IL-2 GB devs actually did announce their own Pacific Theater DLC project many years ago. But then reneged on that later on, claiming it wasn't possible due to insufficient aircraft documentation. A huge let-down, for which BoB and BoN never really filled the void. Now Combat Pilot is claiming to be able to do it from scratch. I hope they do, but we shall have to wait and see. IL-2 seems to be focused on WW1 going forward, cranking out mostly FC1 and FC2 planes these days. Despite their multiplayer server population largely panning on the WW1 genre years ago.
I’ve been wanting to get into great battles mp for a while now and this gave me some info I feel like I was missing to get into. Hope this brings more visibility for others like me to get involved
I didnt really get into IL2 until later on but what honestly blows my mind is that there is no b17 or Lancaster. Sure there is HE 111 and a20 but a ww2 flight sim without b17 seems like a massive missed opportunity
What about Your silence about Tactical Air War server? 😮 if You look for immersion and high competition try that one. If You tried and dont like it tell me why? Cant belive that You never heard of it...
@@Enigma89 well You played it on its worst time and even then it was more immersive than flying P51 vs 109 on Stalingrad map on finnish server...give it a go one more time. It is about to start new season on moscow new redesigned map. It will be a blast!!!
Blackheart nearly destroyed TAW. It is worth playing. Especially as they have reduced the death penalties to reasonable levels and the work they've put into the supply system. TAW is coded unlike any other il2 server. Give her a run and you'll see what I mean.
This was really well done! And given the strength of your Channel has real potential to produce change/ have an impact! It's nice when someone who has a platform hits the hammer on the head of the nail!
@@DerSheriff idk Jason did leave shortly after being two years late to the boddenplatte joke, some would call that influence... before I came to il2 I found your videos an incredible resource for learning how to do more than just take off with certain planes. Thank you for those, I know they take passion and effort to put together!
I have been playing IL2 since the original, before IL2 1946, however I think it's too far behind DCS at this point and IL2 needs a whole new engine. Combat pilot might be great but it's too soon to tell.
I do find myself playing less & less IL2 GB. I'm hoping Combat Pilot becomes excellent. If anyone can do it, it's Jason Williams. I'm also secretly cheering for IL2 Cliffs of Dover/Desert Wings, who just announced a flyable FW-190 & B-17!
I lived those times with my squadron III/JG52. It was amazing and as you, one of the highlights of my gaming life. I don't have time to fly right now due to real life, but my squadmates still do but it seems things are less populated currently. They still have tons of fun and I want to come back so badly. I don't agree though about Normandy not adding anything. The map added the possibility of 1941-1945 battles, more plane variants are always interesting and I like to have the appropriate ones for each battles. I think that Jason leaving the team made a huge impact and feels that the sim doesn't have a clear direction now. It is still amazing sim and nothing will change that, but the lack of engagement with the community from the devs did a lot of harm. I am also really hopeful about Combat Pilot. Jason has a clear view and direction about what a fun and realistic simulation should be, and the guys from Barbedwire Studios are great. I really think that Gates of Hell is one of the best WW2 games that we had in a good while among all genres.
Dcs is kept alive (barely) by ongoing hype over module releases and the absolutely Herculean efforts of the community to script compelling gameplay via the mission editor. This can only go so far to fill the void left by ED’s inability to add compelling gameplay to DCS over the past several years; and at some point that community will also burn out like has happened with IL2. You already see some content creators burning out and dropping from the DCS community. DCS needs a dynamic campaign and competent AI to work within it, and agree that IL2 needs an engine overhaul to provide scale, and either branch out into the pacific, the very early war or heavy bombers.
Yesterday I flew a mission in IL-2 FC in a Gotha G.V to bomb an entente Army HQ on the Flugpark server. The weather was rather lousy for bombing, with a broken cloud layer from 1000m to about 3500m. I was only able to transit at 3000m due to heavy bombload. Escorts were unavailable due to their covering low-level bombers/recon, so I hoped that my meager altitude would keep me safe enough. Navigation was a nightmare due to very inconsistent ground reference. Through dead reckoning and a few lucky breaks in the clouds I was able to find my target, and set up my bombsight calculations. Bombs released and every single one carpeted the HQ. Started the long flight back home, FLAK bursting all around as I now tried to use clouds to cover my egress. To my surprise, I made it home and landed that monster without getting jumped by entente scouts. That is an experience almost completely missing from WWII IL-2 Great Battles... flying a heavy bomber in a hectic combat environment. I really miss flying the B-25 in IL-2 1946, and even having AI-only heavy bomber formations is VERY important for immersion... but this is something that the IL-2 developers don't seem to understand or care about. It is very limiting, and feels completely out of place to have battle of Normandy without doing any sort of strategic bomber escort. And now, Team Fusion's new DLC for IL-2 CloD will be a 1942 "Battle of Normandy" (Dieppe) which will include the B-17... apparently as a flyable aircraft. This will hopefully light a fire under the IL-2GB devs to improve their game, because the older Maddox developed engine for CloD is starting to make them look a bit foolish.
I've been thinking those same thoughts for the past year...Don't get me wrong, I still fly it a fair bit, but I have been devoting more and more time to DCS and Cold War Jets. I'm also somewhat annoyed by the DM in IL-2. The rate of pilots being instant killed is a bit much, from ridiculous angles, both allied and LW sides. The silence from the Devs on what the future holds is indeed quite deafening. I have been wanting to know the future of IL-2 and have been wishing for an Italy or Korea Great Battle, which could be easily accomplished.
Would the company going out of business seriously stop you playing? I get it in the modern age we all want instant gratification. I guess it's age cause I recall an era whereas a game was released and you were lucky if you got a patch after that. I do agree the focus has drifted into an "Air Quake", and the real enjoyment came from the friends made, and lost along the way while on bomber missions.
Great video, enigma. I think you nailed it. No development news has really sapped my interest in the title. I discovered Great Battles multiplayer late and fell in love with it; I bought the premium edition of every module, and really enjoyed Combat Box. Very well done server! So sad to see the long silence on the part of the developers. For myself, I wanted a flyable Mitchell, B-26 and even more -- 4-engine bombers like the Fortress and Liberator. I don't think that's gonna happen and I was probably crazy to hope for it. Just waiting and watching from the sidelines now for any signs of life now. Funny but I feel there is definitely an excitement and energy present when a development team communicates it direction and goals. It's just not there anymore.
As far as the single-player experience goes, Reflected's WW2 campaigns for DCS feel far more substantial and immersive than anything produced for Il-2, even more so since Normandy 2 was released.
If Il2 were to fix optmizations when it comes to air units, add the mission system from 1946 where tons of Ai are actively doing REAL tasks with consequences, it'lll beat DCS hands down. The problem with sims is that we have a big map that feels empty. Every game turns into a GS server, Hop on to kill each other, with afew people doing ground targets that otherwise dont impact the server.
il2 back during lockdown was peak. miss it already man if we had to lose everything released or updated since then to have that experience back, id go back
Great assessment. ACG member, and we are riding the train for our dedicated weekly campaign. First, my delta between DCS and IL2 is that I feel like IL2 invested in the full theater experience. Directly contemporary aircraft, believable terrain and secondary effects, and immersive feel - but sacrificed damage and flight modeling and the game engine (hence no big bombers) - DCS sacrificed everything for full fidelity, and is now trying to patch together all of the other things they ignored to make an actual sim experience. Plus, their collaborative development model, while it briefs well, seems to be part/parcel of the nightmare of updates, bugs, betas, etc.... I am a consumer of flight sim time - I have zip interest in anything half-baked or in spending hours on end troubleshooting and fine tuning. I notice you didn't say a thing about a particular land war going on in Asia right now, and wonder if that is having an impact on our IL2 team - would only be speculation, but I can't think its without effect. The silence is indeed stark. They announce the RU version of the C-47 like its a big deal, and hope that WWI updates will hold our combined attention. Looking forward to Jason's effort in PTO, but know that is years from a credible experience. I will hold out hope that ALL THREE succeed, though realizing that none will likely do so as quickly or effectively as I'd wish. Oh, and I notice that your rides in the vid were almost exclusively Axis - swing by ACG and do a drop in with us for a Sunday mission sometime!
The massive consumption in COVID + the war in Ukraine which slowed down development is a big culprit. I went deeper on this topic here ua-cam.com/video/bvmhJth4_3A/v-deo.html
I left near a year ago, but in my case for personal reasons, my squad still flying at top5 of fighters and Jano missions in axis. Il2 needs battle of Berlin to close circle, and begin with mini updates, Kursk, beginning of war at Europe etc.
@@Enigma89 in full disclosure, I’m not a PVP player. I was! I loved it! I’m 90% offline or pve now because it’s just more my speed. So, that said, my position is that MP on/off numbers aren’t the only factor. I think there’s a larger portion of the community today that is in that group than there was years ago. I love your videos, and I get the argument you’re making. I just think it’s great for me.
I've seen it before with RoF. This kind of slow death of the multiplayer side of things happened there too. I think GB is going down the same path RoF did.
My squad slowly shifted over to DCS WW2. Not sure how IL2 lost its momentum so fast but it did. I still love it but without something on the horizon for it I can see why interest is lost. Another variable for their lack of the announcement is probably the on going war. It's hard to know how that has impacted their business
Great video! While the silence is deafening, I think a second huge factor in the player base decrease is the lack of variety in mission design. I’m glad you pointed this out. The DCS mission editor is MUCH easier to learn, and scripting gives multiplayer missions so much potential. Persistence across rounds and a moving front line give people a reason to work with their teams. I for one got tired of air quake, which led me to stop playing IL-2 multiplayer. I miss the days when Tactical Air War was king, and teams cooperated to accomplish the objective. Death was penalized severely, so players took fewer risks. I agree that the largest factor affecting community engagement is silence from the devs. It’s been a year since the new project was announced, and we have no idea what they’re working on. They don’t seem to understand that the community needs to be hyped to stay engaged. The gaming community is not what it was 20 years ago. There is a certain amount of transparency that is expected, and now we see the consequences of not listening to customers. We all told them this new approach to project announcements was a bad idea.
The video was certainly an eloquent appeal to the Devs. We, indeed, need a new module for IL-2 other than the WWI setting, which, frankly, isn't as popular (I do enjoy it, though). A 1944-45 Eastern Front with a plane-set that includes a La-7 and Yak-3. I think that would work well to put muscle back on IL-2. I'm mostly into single-player/Co-op, I don't have the time or energy to compete in PvP, so my time is a couple of Career missions occasionally. Everything has a cycle, and with Jason being gone, perhaps, this's a positive change. He can do his work and the IL-2 Devs can do theirs, either way we can have both of them, including DCS. I equally support them all. IL-2 has me more now then it did 10 years ago--so much tireless dedication and work, and artistry. Such a great selection of planes, and amazing maps! I adore the Kuban map, so beautiful, and the air war that took place there lights my imagination. IL-2 is an amazing piece of artwork! They have my dedication because they've earned it time and again. I can't get enough of it. I'm sure something lovely will come forth from the long wait, if not IL-2 currently is still an incredible flight sim, flaws and all.
I sold my pc back in February of this year, but I was an avid flyer on Finnish (and combat box to a lesser extent). Even though Battle of Normandy brought a bunch of sub variants instead of new airframes, I enjoyed it as much as Battle of Bodenplatte (I am now obsessed with the P-51 B and P-47 D22 because of it) and the introduction of the channel map was great. I’m sad that Il-2’s community is dying out, but regardless of when the next announcement comes, I think the community will come back (currently building a PC again so I can come back). Here’s to hoping for a 1944 or 45 eastern front expansion!
I'm still enjoying IL-2 very much and fly multiple times every week. But then again, we fly in a squadron and focus on improving how we fly as a team, which is great fun on its own (and there is still much to improve 😄). Just meeting up with the guys online, flying some missions in VR, relaxed but also thinking how we can do things better, still very satisfying for me 👍
It's still a really good game, and it's better than it was before, that's the crazy thing. It's just the lack of news has sucked the motivation out of a lot of people
Something that is missing is the massive downgrade in damages. Hydraulics are invulnerable as guns are (jamming? Gun broken by ennemy fire?), no more gears falling, no more 1 gear landing. Engines can run forever with a coolant leak. You can do what ever you want with your engine, idle full idle full... it won't break. Feels like war thunder damage model. You can't damage a plane so that it has to go back. Either you obliterate it or it will come back to you no matter the punishment it took. Took the fun out of me...
I've been thinking of getting back into Il-2 1946 again myself. Great Battles looks to be a little more than my internet and PC can handle unfortunately.
Talking about immersive campaigns and dedication on Finnish servers, and not even mentioning TACTICAL AIR WAR campaigns? Shame on You, TAW is a league ahead of Finnish and CB if it comes to simulated combat enviroment
Yet no one plays it as much as Finnish, I think it speaks volumes, it use to be the best thing, but it’s become stale with the same objectives and layouts. Also kind of killed yourselves when you got rid of Eastern front plane sets
@@Cody-od2fr Same objectives and layouts? Seems You haven't been there a long time, now every target is custom made and unique, no more "three patterns of defence position" ;) Also new season will be on Eastern Front. Also, I'm not a dev, I just fly there
i know this is an old comment but it took me 2 months to get back into it, it was just so suffocating to not hear anything from the devs or anything substantial from the community at all finally got back into 1946 and remodded it to fit everything i want, its a blast flying mitchells out over the channel which you cant do in GB
I’ve found it frustrating that since late 2021 a collision with an object on the ground is far too sensitive - almost always results it being fatal for everyone on the plane - and there are magic bullets and phantom bullets (bullets which fly past you and for some reason explode on your plane) which usually results in you frequently dying. I’m fed up with this and gave up on a Battle of Moscow Hurricane career.
I'm really interested in Combat Pilot. But it's also a game I cannot play *today*. In the meantime I'll just float around between IL2 and DCS depending on what I want on a given day.
I'm betting he left because of creative differences....I am looking forward to Combat Pilot, IL2 Korea, and of course the continuing releases for DCS. Great times on the horizon for combat flight simmers.
I been curious about flying as well as been watching DCS UA-cam videos since I built my PC early in '21, and I am just discovering IL-2's existence ... like within the last 2 months. Caught a good steam sale that made a sizable package of excellent product very affordable. Seems a content bomb and rerunning a high value sale to provide easy entry to said new content, might be a good play?
IL-2 has some real nostalgia for me, however the pull of full fidelity in DCS won me over. That being said I recently went back to IL-2 for the flying cirus. The WW1 planes have so little in the way of levers and switches that I didn't really feel the loss compared to more complicated aircraft. I absolutely love the old bi-planes, and flying around in an open cockpit in VR is incredible. I'll keep coming back to IL-2 for that alone.
I’m a huge WWII tank fan, and I would love to see some new armor added for ground battles as well as some better maps? They put so much detail into what is in the game now, seems like a shame to not be able to use it to its full potential.
I've always thought Il-2's engine would do well for a Korean map, which also opens the door to DLC potential for all of the various militaries involved. It also opens the door to the carrier operations that were rumored before the Pacific was apparently cancelled due to lack of resources. But there are still fun areas in Il-2 that could be done, much like the original Il-2 did. Forgotten Battles was one of my favorites. Things like the Finnish wars would be a good place to expand with a DLC, and the Mediterranean and Africa would open up some new fronts as well. All with cool new settings that are a change of pace from Europe.
do youhave to bet on one "horse"? i love DCS for being this modern jets sim, and i love it exactly for its dedication to high fidelity. i know it slows things down, but im getting enjoynment for realistic flight checks and all systems and clicks. but at the same time i love to hop into something that faster and have more focus on action than fidelity. so its hard to say honestly, i really like all of them for different reasons, and dont want to drop any single one in favore of another because they all scratching different itches
Nope you do not, but it is just interesting to think about if you had to pick one which would you think would take off the most. I think in general, people should play ALL the games. BMS is the best gen 4 sim, DCS is the best cold war sim and IL2 GB is the best WWII sim. I play all of them.
Yeah, in real life You actually have to choose on of these games. When You have job, relationship, household, possibly children there is not that much time left, and You can't split that even more, because both of these games are time consuming, and dedicating all the time to one of them is more beneficial than tipping toes on both of them and not actually enjoying the full potential of either
@@Szopen715 well you sii there is this "full potential" thing that overhyped a bit. like im also have a family and a job, but im aslo have a free evenings every now and then, and on each of them i can easily play different games. today i maybe want to play some F18 action, doing all pre-flight checks and everything, but next one i want to fly in IL. and if you really have only few hours in a week to play, then lets be honest - you will be playing WT, where you can just jump in and out, instead of all that complex sims
Finnish virtual pilots at its prime was the best MP experience i have ever had. Thanks to this server i bought all DLCs including tanks + AAA. This game also pushed me to VR. There were so many things happening when server was full. 20 tanks fought for CP, supply runs, bombing runs, paradrops and never ending dogfight. I played allieds the most of the time but when i was axis (usually for balance) I remember i always escaped from dog fight when i saw P-39 and Krupinski was online. It is didfferent today. I see MP server online stats e.x. 30/84 and i dont log in because maps are huge and i want some action. I can imagine that there are many people doing the same and if we log in without thinking to much server could be full again. Little offtopic now. There are some VR headets very popular in flight sim comunity. Some of them are supported by WMR (e.x.reverb g2). Microsoft will remove WMR in next big update for WIN 11 (24H2) and all those WMR headset will not work anymore... It can be another hit for IL2 in the future. Maybe it will change but this is the last info i have now. Players with WIN 10 are still fine..
I saw the MagzTV video and I was immediately shot back in time. Really was an amazing era, he's lost most of his eyesight for the most part now, and most of the other IL2 creators such as Bismark(Military Aviation History) or Bo time and others have moved into different directions with their content. Do miss it, such a fun time for IL2 and aviation games as a whole.
Yeah it's crazy to think about the content creators and how many there were for IL-2 GB and how many moved on. There are so few left and the population of the game is drying up
@@Enigma89 yeah, finally got myself a decent pc to play Load up il2 aaaaaaand, completely dead. Just been spending most my time either back in WT doing tanks or flying the 21 on your server tbh. Do sometimes have a strong want to fly some 190’s sometimes but no good servers anymore on il2 and i dont really like flying on WT anymore. Genuinely a shame, death of a complete community.
Ironically, the one non flight module in IL2 has me the most excited. Personally, I'm not into huge PvP dynamic wars, since I don't feel like my actions have any impact. The IL2 editor could really use a bit of love, so I could make better missions.
There are things outside the sim itself. Over Covid, it was a way to spend free time and way to hang with people online. After that, you get somewhat saturated and focus on other things you could not do that time more. I still play it, just not as much and so regularly and may have times focusing on something else neglecting it for periods of time.
I remember when i had an actual bomber formation going on with a few guys and it was fucking awsome fighting off other people and completing the map missions, sad to see it fall like this
Here I am thinking about building a setup and dipping my toes back into 1946 to see if it still has magic for me. Before going all out into the newer games.
I was flying back when we used voip I was on warbirds of prey server full real. Callsign bendover. Was such a great time that even though I havent been on in 12 years I still come back to take a peak.
Totally bummed to hear of the demise of this game. I got on at the tail end of COVID, my guess is that most people like myself have limited time and resources now to dedicate to the hobby. During COVID everyone had unlimited amounts of at least the former. During the quarterly sales IL2 is a great value. For me I’m hoping the franchise makes a comeback because although I own a couple DCS modules the investment in time and $ just doesn’t isn’t there for me.
@@Enigma89 This is what is confusing me.... People will come back to a game if there is "News", and leave if there is "no news"? The game is the Game. All the titles are tools in the SIMers tool box. Heck I still fly Rise of Flight on the regular.
I didn't knew this was happening, I started flying MP on Finnish in January with my beloved Hurricane and I had a blast, flew for 6 hours straight one day and I loved every moment, my virtual squadron that motivated me to play and train disappeared (DCS mostly) and IL-2 felt like home, even tried to create some content but I'd didn't had any traction so I started playing less until I stopped. Now I simrace most of the times but I miss IL-2. Is kinda sad because IL-2 fills a scratch that DCS can't for me, immersion and man-plane connection, as I don't have Track Ir IL-2 is easier for me for SA, and to be honest the times I tried to hop MP lately servers were less populated. Now I see a lot of people upset with the devs due to some political opinions they had on X, don't know if this is affecting the game too.
What drives me absolutely nuts is the fact that people complain about IL-2 not being full fidelity. You can bind every single control to your HOTAS. I think their flight model for piston engines and their damage model is leaps and bounds ahead of what DCS has. Good video, homie. I'm burnt out on flight sims in general so hopefully we get something new and exciting soon.
The joys of dcs aren’t very apparent coming from IL2 initially. The absence of the depth of the modules is painfully obvious coming the other way. It’s less about clicking switches, rather than learning why you click the switch. DCS kinda forces you to learn about how the aircraft works and it’s quite a rewarding rabbit hole. Like you start wondering what the boost lever on the p47 does and how can I use it to the maximum without blowing the engine. So you start looking into how it works, finding out what the waste gate does and following the flow of air in the engine, turbospercharger and the intercooler. Eventually you figure out how it effects the carb air and then you work out what you can get away with in the dogfight. DCS will punish poor habits that I don’t think you need to worry about too much in IL2. Like if you dive to fast in the p47 with the rpm high but you don’t leave say 30 manifold pressure on, the engine will seize because of some oil feed issue when the prop runs the engine instead of the engine running the prop. In il2 you just know that you can push the levers forward and you have this much time till she blows. Even starting up becomes fun too as you fly through the switches and get quicker every time. Dcs ww2 has massive limitations though, especially in the spotting department and the lack of incremental upgrades to the airframes that il2 has is a real shame. I’d love a razorback. The il2 planeset is awesome. So many 109s to use and see it’s evolution. DCS planeset really needs a G6. My biggest issue every time I go back to IL2 is firstly hotas binding issues (it sucks remembering devices using a different usb port) And of course the flight model is so different. Energy retention seems magical in il2. You can just keep cranking high G turns for so much longer. Or stomp on the rudder hard and it seems like you lost little energy. It makes the planes feel so floaty to me and it’s hard to go back. DCS planes feel like bricks if you don’t fly coordinated so it’s a lot harder to recover from a violent jink. Also managing torque in DCS confused the hell out of me when I came from IL2. If the dogfight gets slow rolling right without cutting throttle becomes a nigh impossibility. It sucks because the scale of il2 battles is so attractive, I’d love to play it again. I just get turned off
The flight models are no where near as fleshed out in IL-2 as they are in DCS. It's not even close. For example torque is pretty much non existent in IL-2 which leads to some "questionable " slow speed abilities of several of the aircraft in the game. Also, none of the systems in IL-2 are modelled as indepth as they are in DCS, hence you can have the infinite hydraulic fluid leaks in Il-2 that are nothing more than visual damage effects
@@dberaupilot I can take the 109 in DCS and have infinite energy and nose authority at slow speed so long as I have MW50 and can run the engine full open with no consequence for 10 to 15 minutes while the ambient temperature is like 33C. I disagree with your assessment.
@@Enigma89 Me either, I'm forever installing and uninstalling games but I always keep IL2 and DCS, I tried DCS WW2 but its pretty dead, the thing is, I map all important keys to HOTAS so I don't even notice full fidelity, I mean using the RB-15 on the Viggen is cool and all but in all honestly I don't want to be sitting pushing buttons for 10mins to program the thing!
From a livery maker's perspective, we could slowly see the interest in Il2 slowly dying off due to the lack of new liveries coming out on a regular basis. When BoBP and BoN came out all the new aircraft got tons of new liveries from many great artists see the light of day and as the interest is waning livery makers are pumping out less and less skins.
This year is a right off abandoning WW2 players. I take that back there will be a new glider an C47 release with multiple WW1 plane additions. Sincerely, The Stepchild 😢
Il-2 will always have a special place in my heart, sad to see its decline. I am rather excited for Combat Pilot, I think it will be a worthy successor.
I still remember days of original IL2 and VEF (virtual eastern front). That gave feel of dynamic war with moving frontlines althought the mechanics on the background were quite simple. I play IL-2 GB and DCS, but both lacks that multiplayer experience of what I used to get on those early days. Nowadays I play them just in single player mode and spend my multiplayer time in WT. WT itself is awful in many ways but at least it gives easy access to multiplayer game right from the box.
You guys need to try the ww1 in il2 i know the ww2 need something new but in the mean time you got the nost interesting plane coming out for ww1 right the 1916 plane set is based asf
It is not to subvert expectations, they just do not deliver, but tried to convince us, that they do not want to overpromise thing. It is tough to invest time into a game with an uncertain future and no info about what they still do with BoX or won't (even though the lack of any worthwhile patches after a year convicted me, that they just make plane models and recycled Rice of Flight content and nothing much else). Feel sorry for guys using their time to do feedback/ bug reports, when there is the big possibility now, that they won't give a damn anymore.
It is fair for the devs to want to keep their cards close to their chest when Jason left, but it has been a year now. Lack of communication does not create confidence and if they say they have things underway by now, wouldn't now be a good time to announce it? I wouldn't say the game is dying but it is personally frustrating to not know where the sim is going, especially as a video maker for the game.
A group I am part of talk about IL-2 GB's issues and would like to add them to the list. We are a group of flight sim collectors, we all played the original IL-2 by Maddox and to be brief this sim missed the quality mark that IL-2 stood for. It was never about cockpit fidelity it was about the actual simulation, accurate flight models, accurate weapon ballistics, formidable AI and damage modeling. The damage model in IL-2 GB when compared to the original IL-2 series or even cliffs of Dover is far from the depth they have. Yes GB has the very convincing wing/ tail brake off physics, and better collision physics but when it comes down to bullet and flack damage the original IL-2/ Dover is very detailed. Bullet holes are actual holes showing the inside of the fuselage and frame, flack can blow your engines clean off, direct flack hits in the wings or fuselage results in a massive hole you can see through. Dover also has unmatched engine damage, all of the components of the engine is modeled, fuel governor, fuel lines, oil pan, oil reservoir, manifold, exhaust pipes and much more it's amazing. Great Battles doesn't have this simulated, it's very watered down in this area of the sim and it just doesn't feel like a true IL-2 sim. It may have other things going for it, but for it to truly live up to the IL-2 name it needs to live up to the standard of the others. I honestly think the devs of GB should take the good things they have going and use it to help the Dev's of Dover to bring back IL-2 as the definitive WWII combat flight sim. As for content, they need to bring on iconic campaigns like battle of Britain and stop with the small battles and also feature a dynamic campaign similar to what CFS 3 did.
Really appreciating your thoughts about this matter. I was always asking myself, why I stopped playing IL2, because it was never bad. Finish server was a blast and felt like a second home. I switched to dcs because of the fidelity and the graphics but the gameplay never reached the Level from IL2. I was loving the stat system and the ongoing war at finish. Once I was shot I took it nearly personal. 😂 A feeling which I miss in the current days. But let's see what the future brings with it.
Bought into IL2 a few years ago. My warbird flying was seriously rusted, so I decided to practice some in SP. I quit after a few hours, because I couldn't turn down the AI voices.
You are absolutely right, official interest in 'Great Battles' seems to be waning which is such a pity. The new release of a Russian 'Dakota' is quite underwhelming I'm afraid - A JU188, HE 177, B25 or B26 would have been outstanding so perhaps it is time that we look toward this new title 'Combat Pilot ? ( First that I've heard of it). I utterly suck at Online combat flying but keep coming back for more. A shame but 'Great Battles must evolve or die.
I care a lot about how things look, sound and feel that makes DCS overall the better sim for me (MUH Immersion) and I also enjoy jets more than props something about dumping flares and slinging that fox 2 makes me feel like a badass, and it also just feels cooler to experience a bit of what is going on IRL right now. But I do still hop on IL-2 sometimes when im bored and need a change or DCS servers aren't populated. An engine update for IL-2 would do wonders.
This was an interesting thing that I was mulling around in my head. The IL-2 patches since 2022 have been great but the game feels so bad right now, that's odd, so I wanted to talk about why. IL-2 Devs if you are watching this, I love your game, we just want to know what the plan is - give us a reason to believe. Thanks 🙏
I think one thing which leave me from IL2 and took me to DCS was the Multi core Update and the Cold war Server(no front😅). But all in all, DCS has Not and May will reach the beloved gameplay from IL2.
Man, servers!
You mentioned you hopped in during beginning of Covid.
I started in 2017 and there was a server even better than TAW and Finnish combined.
It went down in May 2019 :( due to the one-man-show of the server operator.
Wont mention the name, as I think, my reputation for the love of this down server may be seen greatly, if you scroll back in time in the forums.
Anyway, nowadays the game becomes a dogfight simulator only.
There are only few servers which are playable and to be honest - they are not that good either.
Nor Finnish is realistic and certainly not the warm up server called Wings of Liberty.
You want to play exclusivly only on Rheinmald / Normandy ? Go than for Combat Box.
You want P38 Lightnings over Stalingrad and a ground target cluster with tank garages? Go than for Finnish.
You want to never fly with your buddies together? Play on TAW, if you get a seat there.
On which server, beside on TAW (all 2-3 months if you are lucky and the crew did not just split up) can you fly during night - at cloud overcast of 400m during a snow storm?
Nowhere, right?
Where is Air Marshal project?
Where are recon flights and recon planes?
Drop tanks?
Different fuel tanks switches?
Mine shells?
Flying the old prop planes is more than just a sunny safari without clouds.
Its more than dogfighting.
Ground attackers and bombers did not got big love - not from the devs, not from the server creators.
There are no events, not a dedicated very good server from the developers, in fact - they should care with such a MP server for the community.
Therein lies the stumbling-block, The elephant in the room if you like...
Why does it feels worse than e.g. a year ago?
It works the same, MP works the same, career works even better.
Does every game has to develop fast all the time?
Earlier games were often released and that's it, maybe some small patch, and people played them for many years.
Man! I miss covid times! I was “between jobs” and just started multiplayer flightsims for the first time. It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.
I appreciate you going over the golden days of IL2. Combat Box in its prime was such a special experience. Nothing will match dogfighting someone in a full server, and realizing “I’m pretty sure I know who this is, and I think I’ve got them by the balls.”
Hated Talvisota tbh 🤣
glad it resonated
@@jean-edouardmailhot2980 LMAO loved that dude
Il-2 will always have a special place in my heart, whether it's 1946, Cliffs of Dover or Great Battles. I barely fly those anymore mainly due to lack of available time but I can very much pinpoint the moment where i started losing interest in the Great Battles series. When Normandy was announced and no more flyable bombers were included, I knew the game was going in a direction I didn't want. I've always been a "bomber boy" at heart, and there was just no way to get these big bomber wings without having huge performance issues. The cooperation between fighter escorts and bombers is an aspect I really loved since you had the impression of being part of a real mission with actual stakes instead of always going for basic air-to-air or air-to-ground engagements. I could tell the Il-2 GB decision makers did not want to work on more bombers due to the complexity of the aircraft (meaning: increased costs when compared to a fighter) and the limitations of their sim engine. This is what killed my interest in the GB series; it just wasn't possible to re-create these "Band of Blennies" nights anymore since allied bombers were mostly an afterthought. I wanted to fly the B-25, B-26, B-17, Lancaster, Stirling or even the Halifax with player-flown escorts... but it wasn't meant to be.
The new Cliffs of Dover DLC that’s coming with have flyable fortresses, although I don’t think there’s a set release date yet.
theres no way im shifting bets over to combat pilot without seeing more than the little 3d model previews we've seen.
fr
Probably will not get much for at least several years. I mean considering that Jason only left 1 year ago and started his game, there is a lot of ground work needed to make the game. Its no more than a concept right now as the developers are trying to figure out how to make it.
its IL-2 with Zeroes and Wildcats. Simple as that. Yes it'll take some time to make but its not like they need to break new grounds.
Beggars can't be choosers :(
Well it's not like it's on sale yet, I expect more information will come out before and when it releases
Haven't flown IL-2 months, though my trigger finger is getting itchy. Do agree that lack of visibility is suffocating the franchise. They need to announce something substantial, and soon.
True that
What would you consider substantial. Please specify??
@@waltergreif4836personally what drove the refreshed interest in IL2 for me and perhaps others is the announcement of the next mainline project a handful of months after the final release of the current one. Without that for the past year it feels stagnant. Without that announcement if feels like there is no progress, no hope, no future for the game. Say what you will about Jason but he knew how to run a publicly favorable product through communication. If this current Dev teams plan is to stay silent until they are finished with the next major installment then I’m sorry that’s a mis-step to what this community has experienced and come to expect for many years.
I'm not that into WWII stuff but I have followed a few IL-2 UA-camrs for a while, more content has been cropping up recently so perhaps there's a small shift in the tide that's already started, fingers crossed this video gives it a boost.
We need DCS's competition to thrive in order for ED to maintain motivation improving things, no progress without risk, and no risk without competition.
That said, the IL-2 damage modelling has always looked amazing and if there's any chance they might stretch things to Korea, adding Sabres and MiGs, I would be over there in a heartbeat.
A lot of people I know are bored of DCS and want to get into IL-2. The servers in IL-2 are simply just better. It is fun, it's just on a really precarious position right now because the public pipeline is empty.
that was one hell of a guess
Great video. Players come and go, and in order to sustain a multiplayer community, you have to bring new players in or the game dies. I believe that is what we are watching now - people are gradually shuffling towards the door as no new meaningful content has been announced for over a year. Thank god we still have Combat Box Apollo - without it, I wouldn't still be playing this game.
Well said and thanks for mentioning combat box, a GREAT server
I gave up on it because I can't compete. Something about my monitor set up and PC just means I can never see people before they are right on top of me. All the meta shit made me give up.
hopefully this video makes a big enough impact on the community to kickstart the game again
youtuber is too small for it
@arash2236 😰
im in.
it hasn't gone anywhere lol, playing right now 30v30 combat box
Peak was such a special time, flying with such great groups of people in the discord, the insane near suicide runs with the ryanair guys.
Its been a while since i have been il-2 and would love to get back, but the devs need to get more visibility out there, it seems like they are putting much more work into flying circus rather than a new addition to great battles.
I hope that one day we can get back the the golden days.
Wingleader425
😂 30% of the time, we made it back everytime! Ryanair Squad.
Covid was weirdly a great time for IL2 and us in the 332FG... it was the golden days. I remember a good 20-30 of us being full time pilots for a bit when everything was on lockdown. I believe Ryanair and 332 did a few ops together?
You pulled the thoughts straight out of my head for this video. Thank you for putting a voice to what many of us have been wondering.
Thanks for watching and leaving a comment
during covid every pc gamer has a beautiful beautiful moment
Interesting thoughts. I played Il-2 a lot, and I love the variety it offers - I really miss that from DCS. But I'm quite a plane nerd, and after having a taste of the high fidelity warbirds in DCS, Il2 never felt quite the same ever again, and I couldn't enjoy it that much anymore. Plus, as you said, the DCS mission editor is amazing, and allowed me and others to set up missions, campaigns and scenarios that you can't dream of in Il2.
I'm happy to hear about Combat Pilot, I love the PTO, however I'll wait and see what it will be like. A more "accessible" sim with stop watch based engine management, or a proper, high fidelity sim. And of course, what kind of mission editing tools will it have. Until then I'm just waiting for the DCS PTO to roll out, we have the Corsair and the Marianas coming, the Hellcat promised, the Zero hinted. It's all very promising, but it can also fail miserably if they take years and years to roll out enough modules and assets that allows us to create something meaningful. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for both projects!
100% agree , the Fidelity of DCS is like an addition , hard return to previous sims after experiencing such quality aircraft. I think DCS will eventually provide a lot more for the ww2 timeframe, especially with the help of third parties.
Want to add, this is what CloD felt like every day on ATAG server about 10 years ago, especially when you said youd know who you were flying against, always regulars and always a full server, was a great time for combat flight sims
I miss those days. What a fine group it was.
Cliffs was awesome. I'll never forget flying over the channel only to have have people cursing at me because I was noob and didn't know how to help out lol. The dogfights were a rush.
So right, some of the best times, with the best people, best rivalry, that game had was something special.
@@bernardthefourth what was your name in clod? did you play on atag?
@@71Splinter I always just used Bernard. I played on atag
I kind of wonder what the future holds for Great Battles since IL-2 Korea has been announced and would presumably be released (hopefully) next year
I love IL-2 and every point in this video is a reflection of how I feel with the game. Haven't played in a while but I hope something new comes to the game to get me back into it. Good memories flying on the multiplayer servers
Thanks for leaving a comment
The IL-2 GB devs actually did announce their own Pacific Theater DLC project many years ago. But then reneged on that later on, claiming it wasn't possible due to insufficient aircraft documentation. A huge let-down, for which BoB and BoN never really filled the void. Now Combat Pilot is claiming to be able to do it from scratch. I hope they do, but we shall have to wait and see.
IL-2 seems to be focused on WW1 going forward, cranking out mostly FC1 and FC2 planes these days. Despite their multiplayer server population largely panning on the WW1 genre years ago.
I’ve been wanting to get into great battles mp for a while now and this gave me some info I feel like I was missing to get into. Hope this brings more visibility for others like me to get involved
I didnt really get into IL2 until later on but what honestly blows my mind is that there is no b17 or Lancaster. Sure there is HE 111 and a20 but a ww2 flight sim without b17 seems like a massive missed opportunity
so true
What about Your silence about Tactical Air War server? 😮 if You look for immersion and high competition try that one. If You tried and dont like it tell me why? Cant belive that You never heard of it...
I played TAW. It barely had population and it was short lived. Blackhart was also sort of a knob. There wasn't really anything special about TAW.
@@Enigma89 well You played it on its worst time and even then it was more immersive than flying P51 vs 109 on Stalingrad map on finnish server...give it a go one more time. It is about to start new season on moscow new redesigned map. It will be a blast!!!
Blackheart nearly destroyed TAW. It is worth playing. Especially as they have reduced the death penalties to reasonable levels and the work they've put into the supply system. TAW is coded unlike any other il2 server. Give her a run and you'll see what I mean.
This was really well done! And given the strength of your Channel has real potential to produce change/ have an impact! It's nice when someone who has a platform hits the hammer on the head of the nail!
We will see, this channel is still small but I like to think that it punches slightly above its weight.
My experience tells me that youtubers have zero to very little impact
@@DerSheriff idk Jason did leave shortly after being two years late to the boddenplatte joke, some would call that influence... before I came to il2 I found your videos an incredible resource for learning how to do more than just take off with certain planes. Thank you for those, I know they take passion and effort to put together!
I have been playing IL2 since the original, before IL2 1946, however I think it's too far behind DCS at this point and IL2 needs a whole new engine. Combat pilot might be great but it's too soon to tell.
Same here 20 years of Il2 and yes the game need a new Engine... But I prever still only Ww2 for the future
I do find myself playing less & less IL2 GB. I'm hoping Combat Pilot becomes excellent. If anyone can do it, it's Jason Williams.
I'm also secretly cheering for IL2 Cliffs of Dover/Desert Wings, who just announced a flyable FW-190 & B-17!
I lived those times with my squadron III/JG52. It was amazing and as you, one of the highlights of my gaming life. I don't have time to fly right now due to real life, but my squadmates still do but it seems things are less populated currently. They still have tons of fun and I want to come back so badly.
I don't agree though about Normandy not adding anything. The map added the possibility of 1941-1945 battles, more plane variants are always interesting and I like to have the appropriate ones for each battles.
I think that Jason leaving the team made a huge impact and feels that the sim doesn't have a clear direction now. It is still amazing sim and nothing will change that, but the lack of engagement with the community from the devs did a lot of harm.
I am also really hopeful about Combat Pilot. Jason has a clear view and direction about what a fun and realistic simulation should be, and the guys from Barbedwire Studios are great. I really think that Gates of Hell is one of the best WW2 games that we had in a good while among all genres.
I found you from your Naval Action review and your content is great,keep up the good work!
Awesome, thank you!
If this gives anyone hope, I just got into IL-2 and am loving it!
Dcs is kept alive (barely) by ongoing hype over module releases and the absolutely Herculean efforts of the community to script compelling gameplay via the mission editor. This can only go so far to fill the void left by ED’s inability to add compelling gameplay to DCS over the past several years; and at some point that community will also burn out like has happened with IL2. You already see some content creators burning out and dropping from the DCS community.
DCS needs a dynamic campaign and competent AI to work within it, and agree that IL2 needs an engine overhaul to provide scale, and either branch out into the pacific, the very early war or heavy bombers.
i stopped really when they refused to fix the jug, and the devs said the jug was never that great of a fighter to begin with.
Yesterday I flew a mission in IL-2 FC in a Gotha G.V to bomb an entente Army HQ on the Flugpark server. The weather was rather lousy for bombing, with a broken cloud layer from 1000m to about 3500m. I was only able to transit at 3000m due to heavy bombload. Escorts were unavailable due to their covering low-level bombers/recon, so I hoped that my meager altitude would keep me safe enough. Navigation was a nightmare due to very inconsistent ground reference. Through dead reckoning and a few lucky breaks in the clouds I was able to find my target, and set up my bombsight calculations. Bombs released and every single one carpeted the HQ. Started the long flight back home, FLAK bursting all around as I now tried to use clouds to cover my egress. To my surprise, I made it home and landed that monster without getting jumped by entente scouts.
That is an experience almost completely missing from WWII IL-2 Great Battles... flying a heavy bomber in a hectic combat environment. I really miss flying the B-25 in IL-2 1946, and even having AI-only heavy bomber formations is VERY important for immersion... but this is something that the IL-2 developers don't seem to understand or care about. It is very limiting, and feels completely out of place to have battle of Normandy without doing any sort of strategic bomber escort. And now, Team Fusion's new DLC for IL-2 CloD will be a 1942 "Battle of Normandy" (Dieppe) which will include the B-17... apparently as a flyable aircraft. This will hopefully light a fire under the IL-2GB devs to improve their game, because the older Maddox developed engine for CloD is starting to make them look a bit foolish.
I've been thinking those same thoughts for the past year...Don't get me wrong, I still fly it a fair bit, but I have been devoting more and more time to DCS and Cold War Jets. I'm also somewhat annoyed by the DM in IL-2. The rate of pilots being instant killed is a bit much, from ridiculous angles, both allied and LW sides. The silence from the Devs on what the future holds is indeed quite deafening. I have been wanting to know the future of IL-2 and have been wishing for an Italy or Korea Great Battle, which could be easily accomplished.
Would the company going out of business seriously stop you playing? I get it in the modern age we all want instant gratification. I guess it's age cause I recall an era whereas a game was released and you were lucky if you got a patch after that. I do agree the focus has drifted into an "Air Quake", and the real enjoyment came from the friends made, and lost along the way while on bomber missions.
Great video, enigma. I think you nailed it. No development news has really sapped my interest in the title. I discovered Great Battles multiplayer late and fell in love with it; I bought the premium edition of every module, and really enjoyed Combat Box. Very well done server! So sad to see the long silence on the part of the developers. For myself, I wanted a flyable Mitchell, B-26 and even more -- 4-engine bombers like the Fortress and Liberator. I don't think that's gonna happen and I was probably crazy to hope for it. Just waiting and watching from the sidelines now for any signs of life now. Funny but I feel there is definitely an excitement and energy present when a development team communicates it direction and goals. It's just not there anymore.
Thank you for the thoughtful comment glad you found the video relevant
As far as the single-player experience goes, Reflected's WW2 campaigns for DCS feel far more substantial and immersive than anything produced for Il-2, even more so since Normandy 2 was released.
If Il2 were to fix optmizations when it comes to air units, add the mission system from 1946 where tons of Ai are actively doing REAL tasks with consequences, it'lll beat DCS hands down. The problem with sims is that we have a big map that feels empty. Every game turns into a GS server, Hop on to kill each other, with afew people doing ground targets that otherwise dont impact the server.
I tend to agree
il2 back during lockdown was peak. miss it already man
if we had to lose everything released or updated since then to have that experience back, id go back
It was fun, I miss being able to pop in and just have unlimited targets to shoot at
Great assessment. ACG member, and we are riding the train for our dedicated weekly campaign. First, my delta between DCS and IL2 is that I feel like IL2 invested in the full theater experience. Directly contemporary aircraft, believable terrain and secondary effects, and immersive feel - but sacrificed damage and flight modeling and the game engine (hence no big bombers) - DCS sacrificed everything for full fidelity, and is now trying to patch together all of the other things they ignored to make an actual sim experience. Plus, their collaborative development model, while it briefs well, seems to be part/parcel of the nightmare of updates, bugs, betas, etc.... I am a consumer of flight sim time - I have zip interest in anything half-baked or in spending hours on end troubleshooting and fine tuning. I notice you didn't say a thing about a particular land war going on in Asia right now, and wonder if that is having an impact on our IL2 team - would only be speculation, but I can't think its without effect. The silence is indeed stark. They announce the RU version of the C-47 like its a big deal, and hope that WWI updates will hold our combined attention. Looking forward to Jason's effort in PTO, but know that is years from a credible experience. I will hold out hope that ALL THREE succeed, though realizing that none will likely do so as quickly or effectively as I'd wish. Oh, and I notice that your rides in the vid were almost exclusively Axis - swing by ACG and do a drop in with us for a Sunday mission sometime!
The massive consumption in COVID + the war in Ukraine which slowed down development is a big culprit. I went deeper on this topic here ua-cam.com/video/bvmhJth4_3A/v-deo.html
Asia, you say? 🤔😲🗺️
Misstyped. Eastern Europe, how bout.@@PappaBear_yt
@@pnzrldr Nah, too late. 🤭😉 Just kidding, no hate. Valid points in your op comment, Asia kinda threw me off.
Cheers! 🙋🏼♂️
CombatPilot looks superb, cannot wait
I left near a year ago, but in my case for personal reasons, my squad still flying at top5 of fighters and Jano missions in axis. Il2 needs battle of Berlin to close circle, and begin with mini updates, Kursk, beginning of war at Europe etc.
I’ve been addicted to this genre since MSCFS….and I think IL2box is great.
MSCFS2 player here...yepp I fully agree
It is great but it IS suffocating
@@Enigma89 in full disclosure, I’m not a PVP player. I was! I loved it! I’m 90% offline or pve now because it’s just more my speed. So, that said, my position is that MP on/off numbers aren’t the only factor. I think there’s a larger portion of the community today that is in that group than there was years ago.
I love your videos, and I get the argument you’re making. I just think it’s great for me.
I've seen it before with RoF. This kind of slow death of the multiplayer side of things happened there too. I think GB is going down the same path RoF did.
😔 Let's hope their announcement breathes some life back into the game
My squad slowly shifted over to DCS WW2. Not sure how IL2 lost its momentum so fast but it did. I still love it but without something on the horizon for it I can see why interest is lost. Another variable for their lack of the announcement is probably the on going war. It's hard to know how that has impacted their business
Bad graphics and non-clickable cockpits is why they went to DCS. See ya over at 4YA Project Overlord Normandy
@@Tuscarora I love that server. Cya there
Visibility secured
Great video! While the silence is deafening, I think a second huge factor in the player base decrease is the lack of variety in mission design. I’m glad you pointed this out. The DCS mission editor is MUCH easier to learn, and scripting gives multiplayer missions so much potential. Persistence across rounds and a moving front line give people a reason to work with their teams.
I for one got tired of air quake, which led me to stop playing IL-2 multiplayer. I miss the days when Tactical Air War was king, and teams cooperated to accomplish the objective. Death was penalized severely, so players took fewer risks.
I agree that the largest factor affecting community engagement is silence from the devs. It’s been a year since the new project was announced, and we have no idea what they’re working on. They don’t seem to understand that the community needs to be hyped to stay engaged. The gaming community is not what it was 20 years ago. There is a certain amount of transparency that is expected, and now we see the consequences of not listening to customers. We all told them this new approach to project announcements was a bad idea.
Thank you for pointing out the horrible disaster that the IL2 mission editor is. it's ****ing atrocious.
The video was certainly an eloquent appeal to the Devs. We, indeed, need a new module for IL-2 other than the WWI setting, which, frankly, isn't as popular (I do enjoy it, though). A 1944-45 Eastern Front with a plane-set that includes a La-7 and Yak-3. I think that would work well to put muscle back on IL-2.
I'm mostly into single-player/Co-op, I don't have the time or energy to compete in PvP, so my time is a couple of Career missions occasionally.
Everything has a cycle, and with Jason being gone, perhaps, this's a positive change. He can do his work and the IL-2 Devs can do theirs, either way we can have both of them, including DCS. I equally support them all. IL-2 has me more now then it did 10 years ago--so much tireless dedication and work, and artistry. Such a great selection of planes, and amazing maps! I adore the Kuban map, so beautiful, and the air war that took place there lights my imagination.
IL-2 is an amazing piece of artwork! They have my dedication because they've earned it time and again. I can't get enough of it. I'm sure something lovely will come forth from the long wait, if not IL-2 currently is still an incredible flight sim, flaws and all.
I sold my pc back in February of this year, but I was an avid flyer on Finnish (and combat box to a lesser extent). Even though Battle of Normandy brought a bunch of sub variants instead of new airframes, I enjoyed it as much as Battle of Bodenplatte (I am now obsessed with the P-51 B and P-47 D22 because of it) and the introduction of the channel map was great. I’m sad that Il-2’s community is dying out, but regardless of when the next announcement comes, I think the community will come back (currently building a PC again so I can come back). Here’s to hoping for a 1944 or 45 eastern front expansion!
CombatPilot will bring the community back together
Im just getting going
I'm still enjoying IL-2 very much and fly multiple times every week. But then again, we fly in a squadron and focus on improving how we fly as a team, which is great fun on its own (and there is still much to improve 😄). Just meeting up with the guys online, flying some missions in VR, relaxed but also thinking how we can do things better, still very satisfying for me 👍
It's still a really good game, and it's better than it was before, that's the crazy thing. It's just the lack of news has sucked the motivation out of a lot of people
Something that is missing is the massive downgrade in damages. Hydraulics are invulnerable as guns are (jamming? Gun broken by ennemy fire?), no more gears falling, no more 1 gear landing. Engines can run forever with a coolant leak. You can do what ever you want with your engine, idle full idle full... it won't break. Feels like war thunder damage model. You can't damage a plane so that it has to go back. Either you obliterate it or it will come back to you no matter the punishment it took.
Took the fun out of me...
I've been thinking of getting back into Il-2 1946 again myself. Great Battles looks to be a little more than my internet and PC can handle unfortunately.
That friendly fire at 9:00 was tragic lmao
So… 6 months after this video, has anything changed ?
Not really
Talking about immersive campaigns and dedication on Finnish servers, and not even mentioning TACTICAL AIR WAR campaigns? Shame on You, TAW is a league ahead of Finnish and CB if it comes to simulated combat enviroment
Yet no one plays it as much as Finnish, I think it speaks volumes, it use to be the best thing, but it’s become stale with the same objectives and layouts. Also kind of killed yourselves when you got rid of Eastern front plane sets
@@Cody-od2fr Same objectives and layouts? Seems You haven't been there a long time, now every target is custom made and unique, no more "three patterns of defence position" ;) Also new season will be on Eastern Front. Also, I'm not a dev, I just fly there
Crazy that I haven't played Il-2 GB since April 2022, I keep it updated but just haven't felt like flying much for no particular reason.
i know this is an old comment but it took me 2 months to get back into it, it was just so suffocating to not hear anything from the devs or anything substantial from the community at all
finally got back into 1946 and remodded it to fit everything i want, its a blast flying mitchells out over the channel which you cant do in GB
I’ve found it frustrating that since late 2021 a collision with an object on the ground is far too sensitive - almost always results it being fatal for everyone on the plane - and there are magic bullets and phantom bullets (bullets which fly past you and for some reason explode on your plane) which usually results in you frequently dying. I’m fed up with this and gave up on a Battle of Moscow Hurricane career.
I'm really interested in Combat Pilot.
But it's also a game I cannot play *today*.
In the meantime I'll just float around between IL2 and DCS depending on what I want on a given day.
With Jason gone it's hard to see things improving in the long run.
I'm betting he left because of creative differences....I am looking forward to Combat Pilot, IL2 Korea, and of course the continuing releases for DCS. Great times on the horizon for combat flight simmers.
I been curious about flying as well as been watching DCS UA-cam videos since I built my PC early in '21, and I am just discovering IL-2's existence ... like within the last 2 months. Caught a good steam sale that made a sizable package of excellent product very affordable. Seems a content bomb and rerunning a high value sale to provide easy entry to said new content, might be a good play?
IL-2 has some real nostalgia for me, however the pull of full fidelity in DCS won me over. That being said I recently went back to IL-2 for the flying cirus. The WW1 planes have so little in the way of levers and switches that I didn't really feel the loss compared to more complicated aircraft.
I absolutely love the old bi-planes, and flying around in an open cockpit in VR is incredible. I'll keep coming back to IL-2 for that alone.
I’m a huge WWII tank fan, and I would love to see some new armor added for ground battles as well as some better maps? They put so much detail into what is in the game now, seems like a shame to not be able to use it to its full potential.
I've always thought Il-2's engine would do well for a Korean map, which also opens the door to DLC potential for all of the various militaries involved. It also opens the door to the carrier operations that were rumored before the Pacific was apparently cancelled due to lack of resources.
But there are still fun areas in Il-2 that could be done, much like the original Il-2 did. Forgotten Battles was one of my favorites. Things like the Finnish wars would be a good place to expand with a DLC, and the Mediterranean and Africa would open up some new fronts as well. All with cool new settings that are a change of pace from Europe.
do youhave to bet on one "horse"? i love DCS for being this modern jets sim, and i love it exactly for its dedication to high fidelity. i know it slows things down, but im getting enjoynment for realistic flight checks and all systems and clicks. but at the same time i love to hop into something that faster and have more focus on action than fidelity. so its hard to say honestly, i really like all of them for different reasons, and dont want to drop any single one in favore of another because they all scratching different itches
Nope you do not, but it is just interesting to think about if you had to pick one which would you think would take off the most. I think in general, people should play ALL the games. BMS is the best gen 4 sim, DCS is the best cold war sim and IL2 GB is the best WWII sim. I play all of them.
@@Enigma89 fair, that’s actually very interesting mental question. Thanks for the vid, as always its interesting and informative!
Yeah, in real life You actually have to choose on of these games. When You have job, relationship, household, possibly children there is not that much time left, and You can't split that even more, because both of these games are time consuming, and dedicating all the time to one of them is more beneficial than tipping toes on both of them and not actually enjoying the full potential of either
@@Szopen715 well you sii there is this "full potential" thing that overhyped a bit. like im also have a family and a job, but im aslo have a free evenings every now and then, and on each of them i can easily play different games. today i maybe want to play some F18 action, doing all pre-flight checks and everything, but next one i want to fly in IL. and if you really have only few hours in a week to play, then lets be honest - you will be playing WT, where you can just jump in and out, instead of all that complex sims
Isn't the Combat Pilot Pacific Theatre a successor of the IL2 Great Battles series?
No it's a completely separate project from an entirely new company
getting this vid recomended after seeing what dev blog 5 of il2 korea is intressting
Thanks for this great overview.
I really hope there will be the possibility to fly the He 177 in a modern simulator one day
The only channel I don't regret subscribing to is yours
Don't worry, i am sure I will screw up like all the other channels :D
5:53 I am not people.
Finnish virtual pilots at its prime was the best MP experience i have ever had. Thanks to this server i bought all DLCs including tanks + AAA. This game also pushed me to VR. There were so many things happening when server was full. 20 tanks fought for CP, supply runs, bombing runs, paradrops and never ending dogfight. I played allieds the most of the time but when i was axis (usually for balance) I remember i always escaped from dog fight when i saw P-39 and Krupinski was online.
It is didfferent today. I see MP server online stats e.x. 30/84 and i dont log in because maps are huge and i want some action. I can imagine that there are many people doing the same and if we log in without thinking to much server could be full again.
Little offtopic now. There are some VR headets very popular in flight sim comunity. Some of them are supported by WMR (e.x.reverb g2). Microsoft will remove WMR in next big update for WIN 11 (24H2) and all those WMR headset will not work anymore... It can be another hit for IL2 in the future. Maybe it will change but this is the last info i have now. Players with WIN 10 are still fine..
Doesnt this mean the game is now fully released?
its complete.
I saw the MagzTV video and I was immediately shot back in time. Really was an amazing era, he's lost most of his eyesight for the most part now, and most of the other IL2 creators such as Bismark(Military Aviation History) or Bo time and others have moved into different directions with their content. Do miss it, such a fun time for IL2 and aviation games as a whole.
Yeah it's crazy to think about the content creators and how many there were for IL-2 GB and how many moved on. There are so few left and the population of the game is drying up
@@Enigma89 yeah, finally got myself a decent pc to play
Load up il2 aaaaaaand, completely dead.
Just been spending most my time either back in WT doing tanks or flying the 21 on your server tbh. Do sometimes have a strong want to fly some 190’s sometimes but no good servers anymore on il2 and i dont really like flying on WT anymore. Genuinely a shame, death of a complete community.
Lately, I've actually been flying mainly on the TWC server in Cliffs of Dover.
How populated are the servers? Are peak times typical (evenings/weekends North American time zones)?
Ironically, the one non flight module in IL2 has me the most excited. Personally, I'm not into huge PvP dynamic wars, since I don't feel like my actions have any impact. The IL2 editor could really use a bit of love, so I could make better missions.
There are things outside the sim itself. Over Covid, it was a way to spend free time and way to hang with people online. After that, you get somewhat saturated and focus on other things you could not do that time more. I still play it, just not as much and so regularly and may have times focusing on something else neglecting it for periods of time.
I remember when i had an actual bomber formation going on with a few guys and it was fucking awsome fighting off other people and completing the map missions, sad to see it fall like this
Here I am thinking about building a setup and dipping my toes back into 1946 to see if it still has magic for me. Before going all out into the newer games.
I was flying back when we used voip I was on warbirds of prey server full real. Callsign bendover. Was such a great time that even though I havent been on in 12 years I still come back to take a peak.
Totally bummed to hear of the demise of this game. I got on at the tail end of COVID, my guess is that most people like myself have limited time and resources now to dedicate to the hobby. During COVID everyone had unlimited amounts of at least the former. During the quarterly sales IL2 is a great value. For me I’m hoping the franchise makes a comeback because although I own a couple DCS modules the investment in time and $ just doesn’t isn’t there for me.
They just need to announce what the plan is and i am sure life would come back if it looks interesting
@@Enigma89 This is what is confusing me.... People will come back to a game if there is "News", and leave if there is "no news"? The game is the Game. All the titles are tools in the SIMers tool box. Heck I still fly Rise of Flight on the regular.
So what are you guys playing then
I am really exited for Combat Pilot, always dreamed of a pacific focused combat sim.
Very interesting thank you
Hi Enigma, can you share your graphics options please?
It's on my discord
Thank you!
I didn't knew this was happening, I started flying MP on Finnish in January with my beloved Hurricane and I had a blast, flew for 6 hours straight one day and I loved every moment, my virtual squadron that motivated me to play and train disappeared (DCS mostly) and IL-2 felt like home, even tried to create some content but I'd didn't had any traction so I started playing less until I stopped. Now I simrace most of the times but I miss IL-2.
Is kinda sad because IL-2 fills a scratch that DCS can't for me, immersion and man-plane connection, as I don't have Track Ir IL-2 is easier for me for SA, and to be honest the times I tried to hop MP lately servers were less populated.
Now I see a lot of people upset with the devs due to some political opinions they had on X, don't know if this is affecting the game too.
What drives me absolutely nuts is the fact that people complain about IL-2 not being full fidelity. You can bind every single control to your HOTAS. I think their flight model for piston engines and their damage model is leaps and bounds ahead of what DCS has. Good video, homie. I'm burnt out on flight sims in general so hopefully we get something new and exciting soon.
For real, I never understood the full fidelity complaints in IL-2.
The joys of dcs aren’t very apparent coming from IL2 initially. The absence of the depth of the modules is painfully obvious coming the other way. It’s less about clicking switches, rather than learning why you click the switch. DCS kinda forces you to learn about how the aircraft works and it’s quite a rewarding rabbit hole. Like you start wondering what the boost lever on the p47 does and how can I use it to the maximum without blowing the engine. So you start looking into how it works, finding out what the waste gate does and following the flow of air in the engine, turbospercharger and the intercooler. Eventually you figure out how it effects the carb air and then you work out what you can get away with in the dogfight.
DCS will punish poor habits that I don’t think you need to worry about too much in IL2. Like if you dive to fast in the p47 with the rpm high but you don’t leave say 30 manifold pressure on, the engine will seize because of some oil feed issue when the prop runs the engine instead of the engine running the prop.
In il2 you just know that you can push the levers forward and you have this much time till she blows.
Even starting up becomes fun too as you fly through the switches and get quicker every time.
Dcs ww2 has massive limitations though, especially in the spotting department and the lack of incremental upgrades to the airframes that il2 has is a real shame. I’d love a razorback. The il2 planeset is awesome. So many 109s to use and see it’s evolution. DCS planeset really needs a G6.
My biggest issue every time I go back to IL2 is firstly hotas binding issues (it sucks remembering devices using a different usb port)
And of course the flight model is so different. Energy retention seems magical in il2. You can just keep cranking high G turns for so much longer. Or stomp on the rudder hard and it seems like you lost little energy. It makes the planes feel so floaty to me and it’s hard to go back. DCS planes feel like bricks if you don’t fly coordinated so it’s a lot harder to recover from a violent jink. Also managing torque in DCS confused the hell out of me when I came from IL2. If the dogfight gets slow rolling right without cutting throttle becomes a nigh impossibility. It sucks because the scale of il2 battles is so attractive, I’d love to play it again. I just get turned off
The flight models are no where near as fleshed out in IL-2 as they are in DCS. It's not even close. For example torque is pretty much non existent in IL-2 which leads to some "questionable " slow speed abilities of several of the aircraft in the game. Also, none of the systems in IL-2 are modelled as indepth as they are in DCS, hence you can have the infinite hydraulic fluid leaks in Il-2 that are nothing more than visual damage effects
@@dberaupilot I can take the 109 in DCS and have infinite energy and nose authority at slow speed so long as I have MW50 and can run the engine full open with no consequence for 10 to 15 minutes while the ambient temperature is like 33C. I disagree with your assessment.
@@Enigma89 Me either, I'm forever installing and uninstalling games but I always keep IL2 and DCS, I tried DCS WW2 but its pretty dead, the thing is, I map all important keys to HOTAS so I don't even notice full fidelity, I mean using the RB-15 on the Viggen is cool and all but in all honestly I don't want to be sitting pushing buttons for 10mins to program the thing!
From a livery maker's perspective, we could slowly see the interest in Il2 slowly dying off due to the lack of new liveries coming out on a regular basis. When BoBP and BoN came out all the new aircraft got tons of new liveries from many great artists see the light of day and as the interest is waning livery makers are pumping out less and less skins.
This year is a right off abandoning WW2 players. I take that back there will be a new glider an C47 release with multiple WW1 plane additions. Sincerely, The Stepchild 😢
need B17 and/or B24!! Still great!! looks like IL2 is not going Pacific any time soon since Jason left!!
let's add Heavys from Italy (15th USAAF) before Korea. Those Alpine views would be breathtaking!!
Il-2 will always have a special place in my heart, sad to see its decline. I am rather excited for Combat Pilot, I think it will be a worthy successor.
Let's hope
Il2 VEF circa 2000-2003 was PEAK Il2
How is Il2 Tobruk doing? Are all the Il2 games experiencing the same player count decline or mostly great battles?
I haven't really put any time into it. There just isn't population
@@Enigma89 thank you for the response. You have a great day
I still remember days of original IL2 and VEF (virtual eastern front).
That gave feel of dynamic war with moving frontlines althought the mechanics on the background were quite simple.
I play IL-2 GB and DCS, but both lacks that multiplayer experience of what I used to get on those early days.
Nowadays I play them just in single player mode and spend my multiplayer time in WT.
WT itself is awful in many ways but at least it gives easy access to multiplayer game right from the box.
You guys need to try the ww1 in il2 i know the ww2 need something new but in the mean time you got the nost interesting plane coming out for ww1 right the 1916 plane set is based asf
To our squad of dedicated bomber pilots the Patch which overcorrected the aiming of the AI gunners actually was something bad that happened.
It is not to subvert expectations, they just do not deliver, but tried to convince us, that they do not want to overpromise thing. It is tough to invest time into a game with an uncertain future and no info about what they still do with BoX or won't (even though the lack of any worthwhile patches after a year convicted me, that they just make plane models and recycled Rice of Flight content and nothing much else).
Feel sorry for guys using their time to do feedback/ bug reports, when there is the big possibility now, that they won't give a damn anymore.
on top of that i heard that there will be no any news until November but i guessing it might not be until Christmas
It is fair for the devs to want to keep their cards close to their chest when Jason left, but it has been a year now. Lack of communication does not create confidence and if they say they have things underway by now, wouldn't now be a good time to announce it? I wouldn't say the game is dying but it is personally frustrating to not know where the sim is going, especially as a video maker for the game.
A group I am part of talk about IL-2 GB's issues and would like to add them to the list. We are a group of flight sim collectors, we all played the original IL-2 by Maddox and to be brief this sim missed the quality mark that IL-2 stood for. It was never about cockpit fidelity it was about the actual simulation, accurate flight models, accurate weapon ballistics, formidable AI and damage modeling. The damage model in IL-2 GB when compared to the original IL-2 series or even cliffs of Dover is far from the depth they have. Yes GB has the very convincing wing/ tail brake off physics, and better collision physics but when it comes down to bullet and flack damage the original IL-2/ Dover is very detailed. Bullet holes are actual holes showing the inside of the fuselage and frame, flack can blow your engines clean off, direct flack hits in the wings or fuselage results in a massive hole you can see through. Dover also has unmatched engine damage, all of the components of the engine is modeled, fuel governor, fuel lines, oil pan, oil reservoir, manifold, exhaust pipes and much more it's amazing. Great Battles doesn't have this simulated, it's very watered down in this area of the sim and it just doesn't feel like a true IL-2 sim. It may have other things going for it, but for it to truly live up to the IL-2 name it needs to live up to the standard of the others.
I honestly think the devs of GB should take the good things they have going and use it to help the Dev's of Dover to bring back IL-2 as the definitive WWII combat flight sim.
As for content, they need to bring on iconic campaigns like battle of Britain and stop with the small battles and also feature a dynamic campaign similar to what CFS 3 did.
What's your opinion of IL-2 COD? Team Fusion just announced more aircraft including a B-17 that they are intending to be player controlled eventually.
I wish them well but I have never seen any server carry any meaningful population. I take no joy in saying it.
Really appreciating your thoughts about this matter. I was always asking myself, why I stopped playing IL2, because it was never bad. Finish server was a blast and felt like a second home. I switched to dcs because of the fidelity and the graphics but the gameplay never reached the Level from IL2. I was loving the stat system and the ongoing war at finish. Once I was shot I took it nearly personal. 😂 A feeling which I miss in the current days. But let's see what the future brings with it.
I appreciated your comment, feels like it hit home and that you are of the same mind. Let's hope things get better soon
Bought into IL2 a few years ago. My warbird flying was seriously rusted, so I decided to practice some in SP. I quit after a few hours, because I couldn't turn down the AI voices.
You are absolutely right, official interest in 'Great Battles' seems to be waning which is such a pity. The new release of a Russian 'Dakota' is quite underwhelming I'm afraid - A JU188, HE 177, B25 or B26 would have been outstanding so perhaps it is time that we look toward this new title 'Combat Pilot ? ( First that I've heard of it). I utterly suck at Online combat flying but keep coming back for more. A shame but 'Great Battles must evolve or die.
need B17!!
I care a lot about how things look, sound and feel that makes DCS overall the better sim for me (MUH Immersion) and I also enjoy jets more than props something about dumping flares and slinging that fox 2 makes me feel like a badass, and it also just feels cooler to experience a bit of what is going on IRL right now. But I do still hop on IL-2 sometimes when im bored and need a change or DCS servers aren't populated. An engine update for IL-2 would do wonders.
I agree with your take. Myself, haven’t flown for four months. Just been busy livin outside. Us Canadians gotta get while the gettin’s good ya know?
Feel ya