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[Stainless]

Also, and I know that others have said it, extremely dynamic campaigns. Such as: "Your mission today is to knock out such and such a Panzer division, if you succeed, such and such an area is open for attack"

and, with every mission, effect the outcome of the war. If you never do any damage to the Germans, the axis will creep up on the UK again and invade. Something like that would be sweet!

Yes this is a key point to me.

I am actually seriously considering writing the AI and logic as a separate game first, then incorporating this code into the flight sim.

My initial thoughts are going around a region based system. A map is split up into areas. These areas have links with other areas (rail,road, river, etc.), industry which requires supply, production which requires transport. Troops, aircraft, need ammo fuel etc.

So you end up with a dynamic mesh of supply and demand which can be affected by player actions.

My problems at the moment are ones of scale.

Say you fly a bomber mission. Your target is a busy train depot. You drop your payload spot on target and it is out of service. This is easy to apply into the dynamic mesh, and the effects of your actions directly relate into the game.

However, in a war a country doesn't fly one sortie a day. Hell there can be thousands. So how do I solve that problem?

Not sure yet.

At the moment I am working on the theory that when I get around to writing this code I will be able to study history to come up with a set of high level tactics, and apply them.

In effect I would model key people from history and give them control of strategy. So the British could have Bomber Harris, Germans Hermann Göring.

The same would have to be created for other time periods.
 

[tomoose]

Stainless;
ref the 'scale' aspect.  I'll draw your attention to an older bomber game, B-17 the Mighty Eighth.  IMHO it was (and to some extent still is) an outstanding bomber sim.  The graphics are waaay outdated now but the game still has playability.  You could be on your 5th mission and pass a damaged target (still damaged) from your second mission with craters still visible and your success (or not) determined how your campaign progressed.

I'm not suggesting you incorporate actual items from that game but I would recommend it for possible methodologies in mission planning etc.  At the very least it might give you some ideas.

One thing I'll toss out as food for thought with regard to bombers (and I know it would be a tough nut to crack).........
A bomber mission by it's very nature is a long mission which is fine for offline single-player.  Online bombing missions are "rushed" affairs in that everyone wants to get to the bombing part and not be online for hours just to get to the target.  So you either have air-starts or the target is relatively close and the altitude is lower than historic.
What's my point?.......
If you can figure out a way for MP bombing (or any long missions for that matter) to incorporate time-compression similar to an offline mission I think you'd be on to something.  It would bring a whole new dimension to online play in the sense that one could go through the details of the whole engine start-up, take-off, form-up etc but then perhaps accelerate to altitude and past the boring "transit" phase (e.g. crossing the channel where nothing happens so to speak).  In my mind I see the 'host' controlling any time-compression aspect with time-compression stopping (as in offline) when reaching a waypoint or when the bad guys show up.  Obviously this would only apply to coop type games.
I'm not sure if I explained it clearly but I hope you get the idea.  As an example of what I mean, a 'short' B-17 mission using the Western Front map from take-off to landing is approx 90 minutes or more by the mission clock.  In offline mode, I can warp at just about any point but it is particularly handy when crossing the Channel where nothing is going on other than gaining altitude.  It would be great to be able to do something similar online thereby keeping the missions relatively short in real-time and avoiding dead-air so to speak just flying across the Channel.  This would maximize online time.
Does that make sense or am I smoking stuff? 

[c22552255]

Also, and I know that others have said it, extremely dynamic campaigns. Such as: "Your mission today is to knock out such and such a Panzer division, if you succeed, such and such an area is open for attack"

and, with every mission, effect the outcome of the war. If you never do any damage to the Germans, the axis will creep up on the UK again and invade. Something like that would be sweet!

Yes this is a key point to me.

I am actually seriously considering writing the AI and logic as a separate game first, then incorporating this code into the flight sim.

My initial thoughts are going around a region based system. A map is split up into areas. These areas have links with other areas (rail,road, river, etc.), industry which requires supply, production which requires transport. Troops, aircraft, need ammo fuel etc.

So you end up with a dynamic mesh of supply and demand which can be affected by player actions.

My problems at the moment are ones of scale.

Say you fly a bomber mission. Your target is a busy train depot. You drop your payload spot on target and it is out of service. This is easy to apply into the dynamic mesh, and the effects of your actions directly relate into the game.

However, in a war a country doesn't fly one sortie a day. Hell there can be thousands. So how do I solve that problem?

Not sure yet.

At the moment I am working on the theory that when I get around to writing this code I will be able to study history to come up with a set of high level tactics, and apply them.

In effect I would model key people from history and give them control of strategy. So the British could have Bomber Harris, Germans Hermann Göring.

The same would have to be created for other time periods.
 

Maybe make it not so intricate. So, you break it down to so many campaigns in each theater. Each campaign leads to another. That next campaign can be 2 different things, depending on how the previous went. Like those books that you choose what happens and it brings you to a certain page number, just not so instantaneous. Then add some more detail. You get what I'm saying?

[glynn007]

My request is a fairly simple one after a long winded explanation:

We have developed a really good community that has benefited from a huge amount of voluntary hard work available for free, and our biggest challenge has always been we have had to rely on a commercial company being kind by giving free updates as and when they can.

My request is that the new game engine caters specifically for those people who want to contribute. I would like to see that the game can be enhanced by people of different skill sets & levels.

One example of this is open source software that is free and easy to access, learn and use. If the new sim can have 3d models accepted by say Blender, then anyone can contribute from complex aero models, to simple static objects.

It is no coincidence that open source projects seem to have large a following and good support: many of them have the same ethos as we do.

I think the two biggest assets your new venture should have is accessibility and inclusion.

Glynn007

[SAS~GJE52]

It is no coincidence that open source projects seem to have large a following and good support: many of them have the same ethos as we do.

... although the "open source" element of IL2 may not have been the creator's original intention .....   ???   that is exactly why we are still here on this site improving and expanding an "outdated" game...... 

Sims that have a high degree of "eye candy", immersive/interactive and imaginative game play plus also allow community involvement and additional content creation can flourish, those that don't .. die ... simple.

.... If I was to give any advice... that would be it 

G;

[adambegg]

Just an idea that occurred to me today.

In IL-2 currently, we have lots of new aircraft for some theaters and air forces that obviously don't show up in the original campaigns.  It would be cool if in the new sim, the campaigns (if any and if possible) could be editable, so that if future relevant aircraft become available, they can be added in retroactively.

[Ghost129er]

Remember that mod where you could walk around and hop into different aircrafts?

I'd that, and think it'd be great for people who crash land and need to desperately get up when there's an Aircraft close by.. OR, for parachuting over a base, stealing and aircraft, and getting it to base...

I'd be happy to be rig models, and do FPS views and such, and if wanted, probably arm the player with a pistol...

...
Too crazy an idea? I know there'd be a lot of people, who'd strongly dislike this idea... Perhaps it can be a mod.

[tomoose]

On the multi-player aspect...again.
With co-op missions particularly, one limitation is that a player, once shot down, has no option but to sit and watch the rest of the gang while they carry on with the mission.
I'm sure this has probably already been discussed.......

It would be nice if a "shot down" coop player had some options other than simply watching from the sidelines for the remainder of a mission.
Some suggestions:
a.  access to radar or visuals that "fliers" don't have in order to play ground-control or sector-control for the remainder of the mission
b.  the ability to get into another aircraft back at base (e.g. air-sea rescue) OR
c.   the ability to jump into another aircraft in the flight (i.e. replace one of the AI) and carry on with the mission (or jump into another crew position in the case of a bomber)
d.  the ability to jump into anti-aircraft defence (i.e. flak guns) back at base  OR
e.  the ability to request 'rescue' (e.g. mayday) and let the computer "roll the dice" on whether it will be successful or not

I seem to remember an older flight sim (B17??) where you had an option upon being shot down on seeing whether you would be a POW or whether you made it back to base.  I think it was just a simple button click and the game decided and there was a splash screen for one situation or the other.  Does anyone else remember that or is my memory playing tricks on me?

I don't think we need to have an FPS aspect for a shot-down pilot trying to get back to base.  That IMHO would be a bridge too far and doesn't really lend itself to the online side of the house.  I do think that something "extra" could be implemented for the bail-out/crash-land aspect.  The current IL-2 sort of already has that with the pilot hitting the ground and running for cover.  I would suggest keeping something like that but perhaps just a bit more control on where the pilot runs (i.e. avoiding running ON to the runway and guiding the running pilot to a relatively 'safe' spot, LOL).

[Stainless]

Too crazy an idea? I know there'd be a lot of people, who'd strongly dislike this idea... Perhaps it can be a mod.

No. In fact I already have a thread up here asking for animators who can skin meshes. I intend to have a skeletal animation system in and allow this sort of thing.

In fact the display code is already written.

It would be nice if a "shot down" coop player had some options other than simply watching from the sidelines for the remainder of a mission.

I had planned to have the ability to fill an empty seat. I.E. act as any position currently filled by AI.

Might be interesting to have the ability to do other things as well though.

[pierre118]

In my opinion, this is how I see the best simulator:

First of all it is a question of point of view, in combat flight simulator 3, you play as a pilot, in il2 1946, you play as an aircraft, me, I agree with cfs3, you create your pilot, his face, his unifrom (like in Cliff of dover) and with all flight, he will improve skills, about G force resistance for example

Display (like cfs3):

In scramble, campaign/single missions or multiplayer, you  spawn next to the aircraft, walk in airfield if you want and get in the aircraft



Maps

Don t forget it s a flight simulator, don t spent too many time on, it's not battlefield or arma, I imagine something like the dcs wwII map about details and texture





What I hate in il2, runway, taxiway, everything is over the map, the main objective should be to mix materials, grass, concrete, earth in one bloc, not different object

Campaign

What about a dynamic campaign ( like in cfs3 again  ), your action have an impact on the campaign and add some historical missions for keeping a kind of reality.

Aircraft

I'm not severe about 3d, but I prefere having the choice between 20 excellent 3d,FM aircraft, than 200 unfinish aircraft with bad FM, and second point, damage model, like rise of flight or cliff of dover, 1 bullet = 1 impact

I hope I helped this brain storming

[Alex840]

My suggestions:

- Correct seasons and climate for the southern hemisphere. One thing I disliked for some time in Il2 is that southern hemisphere had northern seasons, like snow in december/january (here the winter is in june and summer in december). In 4.12 the sun position is dependent of date set in mission, we can set the Month = 6 in load.ini to prevent snow, but in previous patches make summer with correct sun position and no snow in SH were a big headache.

- Correct star and constellations positions in night sky. Until modern radionavigation aids net and GPS navigating and getting lat/lon position data using astronomic determinations was very common. Until recently, early versions of 737 had a upper window in the cockpit for celestial navigation. For long range bombing raids of WW2 (Pacific in particular), it can add a lot to immersion.

[spartan18a]

Blood splashing effects inside the cockpit.
Pilots inside the cockpit in first person mode