Combat Flight Sim (DCS, IL-2, RoF, CAP2, and a bit of WT)

Spoiler: IL-2:BoM dev blog 108 and P-40 screenshots

Hi Everybody!

P-40 is coming really soon. The team is finalizing the textures and the flight model as this dev blog is being posted. The plane turns out to be pretty specific and definitely interesting to fly. And it's particularly notable for the armament - six Browning machine guns. Yes, it may not be enough to intercept a heavy bomber fast and easily, but a fighter won't last a moment against their massive firepower. The effectiveness of two .50 cal machine guns have been introduced to you in the previous update that featured another premium BOM fighter - MC.202. This time you're about to equip at least three times more of the firepower. At least - because the Brownings are also notably more advanced than the Bredas.

Also you'll surely notice that P-40's dimensions are outstanding - it actually looks huge comparing to German and Soviet fighter planes. Maybe Americans just prefer everything big and comfy vehicles. On the one hand it gives the pilot some extra room and provides for more armored elements, on the other hand - these dimensions sure make you an easier target. So stay vigilant and check your six more often.

 

Both the Aircraft of my People!

 

It's DCS way of telling you to buy it.

 

Spoiler: DCS

The L-39 is on the beta client.

DCS 1.5 is on the beta client. It's abit unstable at the moment with lots of crashes.

Other then that it's looking amazing. Lots of visual improvements and changes. It's a massive step in the right direction.

2.0 will come later this year and add some features like being able to choose between different maps; multiple players in the same aircraft. A ride along version is already avaible which can be tested with the L-39.

Spoiler: IL-2: BoM

For IL-2: BoM i have this:
P-40E is avaible
Bf 109 E-7 is avaible
Bf 110 will be avaible in November.
Plus this surprise video.

 

Belsimtek have confirmed that they are working on a Northrop F -5E Tiger II for DCS.

 

Petty dictators and cheap buyers around the world will rejoice knowing their favorite target for US missles will fly in DCS!

 

You speak of the F-5? Because you know that's actually a "MiG-28" if you paint it black... and the red stars, of course. And if you're Tom Cruise.

Otherwise it's just an American Trainer/Interceptor with probably the highest success rate vs initial missile defeats in the world of aviation.
Meaning to say it turns so hard it will bury you brain in your seat (just below your ass) if you're not careful.

 

Also used as the main fighter for some nations.

It's also meant that the MiG-21bis and F-5E will fight against each other

 

IL-2 BoS is on sale until 3rd November.
Summer and autumn season maps will be released this week. As well as the new campaign that takes place during the early stages of the battle of stalingrad

 

Did some one say napalm?

 

IL-2: Player Controlled Tanks

Part 1. How did they appear in the first place
Tanks in our engine appeared even before we committed to Battle of Stalingrad project as a demonstration of its capabilities for simulating various machines. A tech demo has been created to showcase this, including a sophisticated (especially for that time) physics modeling engine for ground vehicles. Modern tanks were chosen for this demo and you may have saw it already since we published it in the developer diaries, but here it is in case you've missed it:



We found that developing this in our engine has great potential; at the same time we considered the possibilities of increasing map detail at the cost of reducing its total size to better suit ground warfare and the results were good as well. All in all, it was a very interesting experience and we learned how we can use the engine for different tasks. After that, we started Battle of Stalingrad and the work on ground warfare prototype has been suspended until the base of IL-2 sim has been released.

Some time ago it turned out that we have a spare time in 3D modeling department (there is usually a fine balance between the tasks of 3D and Engineer departments which works on FM, but creating FM takes more time, so sometimes 3D modelers have spare time) and we decided to use this opportunity to try player controlled ground vehicles in Battle of Stalingrad. High detailed 3D models of T-34-76 made by Stalingrad tank factory and PzKpfw III Ausf. L were created. The technology has been upgraded somewhat as well to make handling and damage modeling more realistic, since in the modern tanks prototype shown above a more casual approach has been used. At the moment, controllable tanks are in beta state and will be added to the game in 1.105 if everything goes well.

Part 2. Degree of realism and handling
Base engine lets us to create reasonably realistic tanks. At this stage, everything has been tuned to correspond to the references. Here are some highlights:

1) Engine and suspension. Engine physics model, transmission, tracks/ground friction, movement modeling - all these things are modeled at the same level of fidelity our planes are, resulting in believable tank behavior during its movement, reached speeds, acceleration and braking, turning and gradeability limits.

2) In spite of the advanced physics model, tank movement can be controlled with just 4 cursor keys or a joystick thanks to control system that translates these limited signals to forces applied to gas, clutch and brake pedals, gearbox selector and steering clutch levers (it's like driving a vehicle with a robotic gearbox).

3) Armament: main gun and coaxial MG for now. Ballistics, armor piercing capabilities, rate of fire - all such things were modeled with the same detail level as for a plane. There are two types of shells currently modeled: AP and HE.

4) Armor model includes all main armor sheets placed at correct angles.

5) Tank is considered destroyed when ammo racks are hit. It can also be immobilized by damaging engine or tracks and the crew can be knocked out.

6) You can control a tank either single-handedly (switching between driver and gunner) or with another player who will occupy gunner seat.

7) Gun sights are modeled to a reasonable degree of realism, including their field of view, authentic reticle marks, sight adjusting (vertical for both tanks, T-34 sight also has the horizontal adjustment ability), correct optics. At this stage, gunner sight can be considered minimally adequate.

Part 3. What we want to achieve and the future possibilities
You may have noticed that modeled tank systems are reasonably realistic, however not everything has been created yet (although there are some things not to be found in other recent projects about tanks). This can be explained by what we want from adding the tanks to our sim.
We made basic functionality to show potential possibilities of controllable tanks in our project and understand the player reaction to them. Mainly, would you like them? We demonstrate our approach (realism over balance, cooperative play in one vehicle, detailed systems modeling) in some kind of a Kickstarter-esque manner. If the existing community and new players would like the new toys, we'll assign more resources to improve and expand on the basis we have now, adding new systems, more detailed damage modeling, other features, and new vehicles.

 

I WANT IT! GIB!

 

GIB NAO!!!

Seriously, it's looks awesome.

 

It will come in the next patch which will be released atleast before end of November

 

IL-2 BoS V 1.105 was released today. It adds the Bf 110 E-2, mouse aim and tanks.

The Bf 110 is nice to finally have. It's the plane that I wanted the most.

They added mouse aim in hope of being able to attract more players. It have several limitations though so joystick will still be the way to go.

The tanks are nice. I only had some limited time to test. The initial controls are weird but that's mostly to do with most of the keys already being occupied with stuff for airplanes.

The driving felt pretty good but to little time played to be able to tell properly.

Never got to test the damage model. I did lose my gunner to a plane (I think) but that doesn't say much and I only got to fire my co - axial.

More testing will be done.

 

IL-2: BoS is currently 50% off on steam.

Spoiler: DCS: Spitfire Mk IX cockpit

Spoiler: DCS: Gazelle Progress update 3

Dear Simmers,

our Pilot made it in the cockpit. We're pleased to say that "almost" everything is done. We made a few changes to the FM whch feels really cool now. We got very much inputs from real Gazelle Pilot's

Prepare for more

 

Vargyr, GET!

 

DCS 1.5.2 is out of beta and have been released.

M-2000C is in open beta since 25th December.

A new campaign have arrived for the A-10C called "The Enemy Within"

Nevada Test and Training Range map for DCS World 2 Open Alpha have been avaible to download for some time now.