Last Module?

[wiscstar]

What's this that I hear about Odessa and Leningrad being the final expansion for IL-2 Great Battles?  You still have the last year of the war (1944-45) before you can have the full wartime experience.  You'll need a map of Eastern Europe, including eastern Germany, to do that.  I was also hoping on a map of the Mediterranean for use with the Greek Fire campaign.  Please reassure me that this isn't the end.

 

[AndreiTomescu]

Well, @wiscstar, my colleague, one can only hope. But i wouldn't hope that high. The GB engine is showing his age. And sales are what drives the cat. 

There is still some chanse regarding third party developers, see how a great job the finnish game force did with the Finnish map, still under development, and us still waiting for some finnish airframes.

In the meantime one can only do with what's at hand:

- Jaegermeister's Greek Fire still is a masterpiece

- there are very good MODs available.

All that for free, thanks to some generous enthusiasts 

[Kubert]

Some 1945 Eastern front map would be nice, but in my opinion, Mediterranean for GB would be waste of potential. There were aircraft carriers and big formations of bombers as well. To me it seems more like material for upgraded engine of Korea.

Edited March 6 by Kubert

[sevenless]

I highly doubt that. Although we don´t know about their plans for 2027, my guess is that apart from collector planes for Finnland and perhaps one or the other odd niche plane or modification of existing already airframes, they wont invest in a new Great Battles map + career anymore.

[Avimimus]

We can't know, but my guesses are:

- Maps take a tremendous amount of labour. Both Odessa and Karelia/Leningrad were in work for years prior to release. It is very likely that anyone starting on a new map today would want to make use of the improved terrain possible with the 4th generation engine (Korea) and the new map making tools that were developed alongside it.

- Features like the new texture technology, new flight models, new sound engine, and new damage models are unlikely to be ported back because they'd require reworking a lot of existing content. The only plausible scenarios are things like AI or maybe a system like the new infantry system... things which would require no new assets or entirely new assets. However, even this is unlikely in my opinion.

- We may well see a few additional aircraft and career improvements. Most of the relevant aircraft for Korea have already been modelled, so there won't be much for third parties until the next module after Korea is underway - and a lot of theatres still won't be modelled... so there is a potential market for small additions (aircraft and campaigns) during 2026 and even 2027.

That said, a very small Germany map with a He-162, Ju-188, and Tu-2 would be a lot of fun. Maybe something on the scale of Velikiye Luki?

[AcesDarthBubu]

How about north africa ? The amount of work could be theoretically lesser. And allow for Allied campaign beginning of war till end of war from battle of Britain to north Africa to Germany. 

[Calos_01]

11 minutes ago, AcesDarthBubu said:

How about north africa ? The amount of work could be theoretically lesser. And allow for Allied campaign beginning of war till end of war from battle of Britain to north Africa to Germany. 

An important part of the North African campaign was attacks on shipping or, conversely, the defense of ships. And, of course, torpedo bombers. Both seem more meaningful to me in the new engine.

[FAW_Tromplamort]

Another nice expansion would be operation dragoon with the landing in Provence South of France. It would open for italian aircrafts and some forgotten allied aircrafts such as the beaufighter... The map would have a great potential with thé south alps, corsica and thé North of Italy.

Edited March 6 by FAW_Tromplamort

[BlitzPig_EL]

We would need USS Texas to cover the landings.

BB 35 USS Texas off the coast of Southern France.

Edited March 6 by BlitzPig_EL

[Qcumber]

I'd love to see a Malta map. 

[Enceladus828]

From what Avimimus said, full fledged maps take years to build. The Karelia map got underway in 2018, the Odessa map I believe started in 2016, and only now are they ready for release. Best case scenario is that somebody makes a small map like 100x100 or 150x150km. 

[PaperPilot]

9 hours ago, Avimimus said:

We can't know, but my guesses are:

- Maps take a tremendous amount of labour. Both Odessa and Karelia/Leningrad were in work for years prior to release. It is very likely that anyone starting on a new map today would want to make use of the improved terrain possible with the 4th generation engine (Korea) and the new map making tools that were developed alongside it.

- Features like the new texture technology, new flight models, new sound engine, and new damage models are unlikely to be ported back because they'd require reworking a lot of existing content. The only plausible scenarios are things like AI or maybe a system like the new infantry system... things which would require no new assets or entirely new assets. However, even this is unlikely in my opinion.

- We may well see a few additional aircraft and career improvements. Most of the relevant aircraft for Korea have already been modelled, so there won't be much for third parties until the next module after Korea is underway - and a lot of theatres still won't be modelled... so there is a potential market for small additions (aircraft and campaigns) during 2026 and even 2027.

That said, a very small Germany map with a He-162, Ju-188, and Tu-2 would be a lot of fun. Maybe something on the scale of Velikiye Luki?

I was hoping for a late 1944-45 map to fill the Eastern Front chronological arc in the likes of East Germany/West Poland map, or a Battle of Hungary map. But I have to give it to the dev team that I am happy with all the content us buyers got over the years. Heck, I am even suprised that they did a Ta-152 H-1 for Great Battles. 

[sevenless]

51 minutes ago, PaperPilot said:

I was hoping for a late 1944-45 map to fill the Eastern Front chronological arc in the likes of East Germany/West Poland map, or a Battle of Hungary map. But I have to give it to the dev team that I am happy with all the content us buyers got over the years. Heck, I am even suprised that they did a Ta-152 H-1 for Great Battles. 

I bet that if the Korea engine will be commercially successful, we will see them returning to either Battle of Britain or Eastfront with the new engine. Patience.

[PaperPilot]

1 hour ago, sevenless said:

I bet that if the Korea engine will be commercially successful, we will see them returning to either Battle of Britain or Eastfront with the new engine. Patience.

Honestly, I would really like this new IL-2 game to be as plane and map-diverse as IL-2 1946, Cliffs of Dover, Rise of Flight, and Great Battles put together, plus somewhere where they have never been before. I would like the fourth generation to be the ultimate IL-2 game that will be unforgetable for generations (or at least for decades to come).

[sevenless]

7 minutes ago, PaperPilot said:

Honestly, I would really like this new IL-2 game to be as plane and map-diverse as IL-2 1946, Cliffs of Dover, Rise of Flight, and Great Battles put together, plus somewhere where they have never been before. I would like the fourth generation to be the ultimate IL-2 game that will be unforgetable for generations (or at least for decades to come).

Yep I´m with you. That would be the ultimate dream of every flightsim enthusiast. 

[PaperPilot]

1 hour ago, sevenless said:

Yep I´m with you. That would be the ultimate dream of every flightsim enthusiast. 

It would be nothing short of awesome. Hopefully we see at least two decades of development and an exponential growth of the IL-2 dev team. 

Edited March 7 by PaperPilot

[PaperPilot]

I would have like to have seen some collector maps for the Eastern Front, like Greater Kursk and Kharkov, and Smolensk. 

[Enceladus828]

Well then better get started on those because it takes years of dedication to make one 🤪

As Luke said on the old forum anyone is welcomed to make a new map but one may be more inclined to make one in the new Korea engine with up to date technology and enhancements than in this engine which is over 10 years old.

[CatteMoto]

North and East Africa, the Levant, Crete, Malta, Italy... there are many options for new maps 

 

I also think these settings in the new engine would be preferable but who knows what the future holds. It may make more sense to be packaged with whatever holds the Pacific experience, whether that is Korea or a standalone product

Edited March 21 by CatteMoto

[PaperPilot]

3 hours ago, CatteMoto said:

North and East Africa, the Levant, Crete, Malta, Italy... there are many options for new maps 

Oh absolutely, but I think by then I would have weaned myself off of Great Battles and transitioned by preferences over to IL-2 Korea by the time they have finished with the Pacific, or at least take a hiatus from the PTO and decide to go somewhere like the Eastern Front, Western Front, the Meditteranian or North Africa. Still though, I think that Great Battles could do with the following aircraft as collector planes:

Axis

• Bf-109 G-10 
• Bf-110 F-2 
• Do-217 E-5 
• Ju-87 B-2
• Ju-188 E-1
• Mc.200 Serie 13
• Me-210 Ca-1

Soviets

• IL-4 Model 1942, 43 and 44
• LaGG-3 Series 66
• Pe-2 Model 1944
• Pe-3Bis
• Su-2
• SB-2
• Tu-2

Finnish 

• Blenheim Mk.IV
• B-239 Buffalo
• D.XXI
• G.50Bis
• Hawk 75A

However, I know we can't have everything in Great Battles. I tried to keep this list short, but I realized that this would be a virtually never ending process to achieve near-pure perfection in terms of historical accuracy. 

[PaperPilot]

I would have liked to have seen a map of the Greater Kursk area which would have covered many battles, not only of Kursk, but also the Battles of Kharkov and the Belgorod Offensive, but that's probably not going to happen unless the dev team can spare the money, time and resources to the map as well as the aircraft needed in the game. Mind you though they will probably do this in the future anyway in the new engine, so I can wait til then.