New Great Battles content in 2026: AI B-17 finally?

[Avimimus]

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

The issue has always been the number of gunners, not the engines. RoF after all has a 4-engine plane. 

Although I do think, at one point, it was stated that doing the physics calculations and engine calculations for the flight was part of the problem? If we're talking 48-72 bombers in a formation that is over 200 engines... and the flight model elements several times per second... then throw in an effective fire rate of somewhere upwards of (what is it? I calculated it on the old forums) ...90,000 rounds per minute or something like that? It gets prohibitive.

But clearly, with perhaps a modest increase in system requirements, the gunners aren't going to be a deal-breaker for the B-29 formations... although, it looks like the effective number of AI will be smaller as several turrets will be remote controlled by the same gunner station... so perhaps it is the number of bots, rather than the number of bullets which is the big drain?

[Bell]

This fall we'll have the news about new winged engines, and there will be more engines than usual.

I think it's winter now.

https://il2sturmovik.com/news/889/dev-blog-371/?_gl=1*1q1sm90*_ga*MTE1MjY3OTIzOS4xNjc5MDE0MzI0*_ga_M3ND9NY3EC*czE3NjQ4Mjk2OTYkbzE4MCRnMSR0MTc2NDgzMDQwOCRqNTEkbDAkaDA.

[Reisen]

17 hours ago, Bell said:

This fall we'll have the news about new winged engines, and there will be more engines than usual.

I think it's winter now.

https://il2sturmovik.com/news/889/dev-blog-371/?_gl=1*1q1sm90*_ga*MTE1MjY3OTIzOS4xNjc5MDE0MzI0*_ga_M3ND9NY3EC*czE3NjQ4Mjk2OTYkbzE4MCRnMSR0MTc2NDgzMDQwOCRqNTEkbDAkaDA.

No, you don't understand. The news was actually the announcement of the new forum 😅

[Bell]

They don't want make aircraft with too many positions,maybe it would be Beaufighter?

[BlitzPig_EL]

One would hope for at least an A20-G, though an A26 would really be cool!

[sevenless]

On 12/4/2025 at 7:45 AM, Bell said:

This fall we'll have the news about new winged engines, and there will be more engines than usual.

I think it's winter now.

Winter starts with solstice on So., 21. Dez. 2025.

The Seasons, the Equinox, and the Solstices

[Hakman]

1 hour ago, sevenless said:

Winter starts with solstice on So., 21. Dez. 2025

So they have 2 more weeks to make the announcment haha

[sevenless]

Just now, Hakman said:

So they have 2 more weeks to make the announcment haha

Yep 🙃

[Bell]

6 hours ago, sevenless said:

Winter starts with solstice on So., 21. Dez. 2025.

The Seasons, the Equinox, and the Solstices

Are you serious?😅

[Avimimus]

It very much depends on what culture you are in and what the local environment is like. In Canada we have 5 or 6 seasons in most places for instance... the start date of winter definitely varies a lot depending on where you live.

[Aapje]

They can just say that it is Australian winter. See you on June 1st.

[Hakman]

7 minutes ago, Aapje said:

They can just say that it is Australian winter. See you on June 1st.

I hope they mean central european winter! (moscow calendar)

[Mm1ut1]

We have winter and road repairs.

[AndyJWest]

15 hours ago, Avimimus said:

It very much depends on what culture you are in and what the local environment is like. In Canada we have 5 or 6 seasons in most places for instance... the start date of winter definitely varies a lot depending on where you live.

Here in England, we can do six random seasons in a week. 😛

[Avimimus]

7 hours ago, AndyJWest said:

Here in England, we can do six random seasons in a week. 😛

I don't know, by Canadian standards Manchester feels like 8-10 months of November (maybe a bit of the last week of October and the first week of December at random). But I suspect the locals have a more refined sense and can tell many different flavours of greyness and rain.

[GrumpyGnome]

Here in the Ozarks(USA) we have cart full of seasons. Let's see, there is Squirrel season, Dear season, Opossum season, Whistle Pig season, Moonshine Season, Turkey season, Catfish season, and many more. Oh, and our favorite,  Revinnuer Season. 

[357th_KW]

It seems exceptionally unlikely that we'll see an AI B-17 or B-24 this late in the game.  But if we do, I've got multiplayer missions running right now in a mixed PvP/PvE environment that they would drop right into.  I'd love to be wrong about this - especially since we are unlikely to see another ETO themed WW2 flight sim for many years to come.

 

Server discord: https://discord.gg/mA58nP6YjG

 

Edited December 10, 2025 by 357th_KW

[AcesDarthBubu]

It will be a missed opportunity to make IL2 GB "complete" without heavy bombers and be amongst the great modern sims.

[Tiberia]

10 hours ago, AcesDarthBubu said:

It will be a missed opportunity to make IL2 GB "complete" without heavy bombers and be amongst the great modern sims.

Agreed. I completely understand the development challenges and the need to balance resources.

but still…the bomber formations are sorely needed to complete the experience. 

It’s easy to love this sim and still envision the greater heights it could reach!

[Avimimus]

On 12/10/2025 at 7:34 AM, AcesDarthBubu said:

It will be a missed opportunity to make IL2 GB "complete" without heavy bombers and be amongst the great modern sims.

I'd question how it is not among the great modern sims. There are only three combat flight simulators that have been released which are anywhere close to the fidelity of the Great Battles series... so it has to be in the top three (and I'd say it takes top place personally - but that is due to what features one personally values, a case could be made for the others as well e.g. if wanting four engined AI bombers with simplified flight models and a damage models is your priority)... but it still has to be in the top two or three!

[Czech693]

I think that "more engines than usual" comment was meant to imply more engine choices per aircraft.  An example is the Bf-109E4 which has two additional engine upgrades over the default engine.

[Nickkyboy99]

28 minutes ago, Czech693 said:

I think that "more engines than usual" comment was meant to imply more engine choices per aircraft.  An example is the Bf-109E4 which has two additional engine upgrades over the default engine.

The way they wrote it is clearly meant to tease us. I doubt they would phrase it that way if they were referring to fighters, especially since we already know we’ll be getting more fighter aircraft in 2026.

[Avimimus]

5 hours ago, Czech693 said:

I think that "more engines than usual" comment was meant to imply more engine choices per aircraft.  An example is the Bf-109E4 which has two additional engine upgrades over the default engine.

Some of the WWI aircraft could really benefit with more engine options. The F.E.2b would be easier for the E.III to catch if it had the weaker engine... the Camel could do with an engine variant. Unfortunately, such variants would also require significant changes to the 3d models (WWI aircraft not hiding as much)... so I suspect it is very unlikely.

Part of me still imagine an F.E.2 pack with options for a weaker engine, a version with a fixed forward firing gun, and a cannon armed variant... using a couple of Collector Planes to cover the costs of the 3d model changes... but I'm dreaming of course.

[AcesDarthBubu]

On 12/11/2025 at 8:54 PM, Avimimus said:

I'd question how it is not among the great modern sims. There are only three combat flight simulators that have been released which are anywhere close to the fidelity of the Great Battles series... so it has to be in the top three (and I'd say it takes top place personally - but that is due to what features one personally values, a case could be made for the others as well e.g. if wanting four engined AI bombers with simplified flight models and a damage models is your priority)... but it still has to be in the top two or three!

Fair enough. It should be top 1 as a ETO WW2 combat flight sim unquestionable if heavy bombers aspect of the air combat is covered, that my thought. 

Edited December 13, 2025 by AcesDarthBubu