career mode Recon mission problem in career mode - F-51D

[hawax270]

Hello !

I have now been playing an F-51D career for a little over two weeks, and I have noticed a fairly significant issue with reconnaissance missions, or more generally with any mission that relies on searching for targets, such as traffic interdiction missions behind the ennemy lines.

If possible, I would also really appreciate some clarification from the developers on how the different Career Mode mission types actually work, what their limitations are when it comes to spawning and placing ground units and other objects, and whether the situations I described below are an intended consequence of the mission generation system or if I may simply have been unlucky with the missions generated during my career.

I think having a better understanding of how these missions are generated would help determine whether this is actually an issue with the system or simply something that can occasionally happen because of the random nature of Career Mode.

My carrer setting was that : 
-Mission start : Parked
-Power balance : Enemy inferiority (for realism)
-Air Force and AAA : Numerous
-Ground Force : Numerous 

1. Reconnaissance areas feel too empty

Most of the time, absolutely nothing happens in the reconnaissance area.

Of course, I understand that it can be realistic for a reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines to find no activity in the area assigned by command. Sometimes, finding nothing should absolutely be possible.

However, at the moment, these areas feel completely empty far too often.

Example: traffic interdiction mission

I recently flew a traffic interdiction mission. The briefing stated that our objective was to search the designated area and destroy any enemy targets we encountered, such as vehicles, convoys, or other traffic.

Several markers were already visible on the map, including two trains located inside the designated area. That, by itself, is not really a problem for me.

However, just outside the area there was also a marker for an armored column and another marker for a vehicle convoy.
And it's bugged : 

The problem is that apart from these already marked targets, there were absolutely no other vehicles in the reconnaissance area — not even a single isolated truck.

The reconnaissance aspect becomes pointless

This makes the actual “search” part of the mission feel almost pointless.

Instead of having to patrol the area, watch the roads, search for enemy movements and potentially discover unexpected targets by yourself, it essentially becomes a matter of flying toward the markers already displayed on the map and destroying whatever is there.

I think reconnaissance and interdiction missions would be much more interesting if there was some dynamic traffic in the area: small groups of trucks, isolated vehicles, occasional convoys, or other movements that are not necessarily marked on the map.

There should still be a possibility of finding nothing, but right now the balance seems too heavily weighted toward completely empty areas outside of the predefined targets.

2. Lack of small AA positions behind the front

Another thing I find a little disappointing is the lack of small anti-aircraft positions around villages and other locations behind the front line.

I am not suggesting that every village should have AA protection. That would probably become excessive and predictable.

However, having a few small AA positions around certain villages, road junctions, bridges, supply routes, or other strategic locations would make these missions much more believable and interesting.
 

More interesting mission planning

This would also give the player something else to think about during mission preparation.

Instead of simply flying directly through enemy territory knowing that there is very little threat outside of clearly identified target areas, you would have to think about:

• your planned route,
• your altitude,
• which villages or strategic locations you want to avoid,
• and how you intend to approach the reconnaissance area.

The AA positions would not even need to be everywhere. Just knowing that some villages or road junctions might contain a few light AA guns would already make flying behind enemy lines feel much less predictable.

Conclusion

For me, the main issue is that reconnaissance missions currently do not really encourage reconnaissance.

The player already knows where most of the interesting targets are because of the map markers, while the rest of the area often feels almost completely lifeless.

Adding more unmarked ground traffic and a few scattered defensive positions behind the front would make these missions far more immersive, unpredictable, and rewarding to fly.

 

Edited Thursday at 10:59 PM by hawax270

[YoYo]

Remember, however, that adding significantly more units also increases the load on the computer, and currently, it's far from ideal in career mode (primarily CPU, where processes are the bottleneck for IL-2 Korea). What you're saying makes sense, but you also have to find a compromise. In one of their blogs, the developers were asked about this and indeed confirmed that the main focus should be the objective area. Having many units here already causes FPS drops, sometimes significantly. If there are even more, the game can become simply unplayable. I would also like more life in the career and more different objectives, objects, vehicles, smoke, etc., but if this were to come at the expense of performance (which is currently the case), I wouldn't touch it.

I would, however, divide the reconnaissance missions into true reconnaissance missions (where one plane is sufficient and the goal is simply to determine the enemy's location) and reconnaissance - harassment missions. Only in the latter option should it be possible to attack targets. In the last DD, the developers added that more mission types are on the way and we will also get them for the career.

[hawax270]

First of all, thank you YoYo for your reply and for providing some important details about how the career mode handles units and performance. That helps put the issue into perspective.

Quote

Remember, however, that adding significantly more units also increases the load on the computer, and currently, it's far from ideal in career mode (primarily CPU, where processes are the bottleneck for IL-2 Korea). What you're saying makes sense, but you also have to find a compromise. In one of their blogs, the developers were asked about this and indeed confirmed that the main focus should be the objective area. Having many units here already causes FPS drops, sometimes significantly. If there are even more, the game can become simply unplayable. I would also like more life in the career and more different objectives, objects, vehicles, smoke, etc., but if this were to come at the expense of performance (which is currently the case), I wouldn't touch it.

I understand your point, and I agree that performance has to remain a priority.

However, my main issue is that even inside the reconnaissance area, there is often almost nothing to find apart from the units already shown by markers on the map. That makes reconnaissance missions feel strange, because in the end you are not really searching for anything.

Of course, this is only my experience and point of view. What would be really helpful would be for a developer to clarify how enemy units are generated, how armed reconnaissance missions work, and more generally how the different career mission types are populated.

I'm not asking for hundreds of additional units or huge concentrations of troops. Even something simple, like a few trucks travelling alone or in small groups, some small positions in villages, or occasional vehicles on secondary roads, could already make a big difference.

For me, the important thing is simply to have something to discover outside the marked objectives.

This is also why I wonder about the purpose of the density settings. On my system, IL-2 Korea runs very well with Ground Forces: Numerous and Air Forces/AAA: Numerous. Players with weaker systems could keep lower settings, while those with stronger CPUs could choose a more active battlefield. A small amount of additional activity like this should hopefully not have the same performance impact as massively increasing the number of units.

Ultimately, only the developers, or people who have closely studied how the career mode works internally, can really clarify this.
 

Quote

 would, however, divide the reconnaissance missions into true reconnaissance missions (where one plane is sufficient and the goal is simply to determine the enemy's location) and reconnaissance - harassment missions. Only in the latter option should it be possible to attack targets. In the last DD, the developers added that more mission types are on the way and we will also get them for the career.

Regarding the idea of separate "true reconnaissance" missions, I can see the appeal.

I don't find the idea ... particularly interesting from a gameplay perspective, although I agree that it could be immersive. Historically, I'm also not sure that a standard F-51D from a fighter-bomber squadron would be the most appropriate aircraft for that kind of dedicated reconnaissance mission, especially since specialized reconnaissance aircraft such as the RF-51 were used for that role.

I'm much more interested in armed reconnaissance, where you are assigned an area or a route and actually have to search for enemy activity yourself. You might find a few trucks, a convoy, a train, tanks or perhaps nothing at all, and then decide whether to attack what you discover.

I'm also not sure about the idea of a "reconnaissance/harassment" mission against a target that has already been located. If you already know that a vehicle column, train or armored group is there and your mission is to attack it, then to me that sounds more like an interdiction or strike mission than reconnaissance.

For me, what makes armed reconnaissance interesting is precisely the uncertainty: you know where to search, but you don't know exactly what you're going to find.

Edited Friday at 02:33 PM by hawax270

[hawax270]

An interesting post : https://tallyhocorner.com/2026/08/korea-il2-review-part-2/

[LukeFF]

I've passed along this feedback to the team, thanks. 🙂 

[hawax270]

Thank you so much! 😊

[YoYo]

Of course, if we're talking about true reconnaissance missions (recon), it would be nice to have a suitable DLC and a mission type dedicated to these aircraft (possibility of reporting position via radio). This solution already existed in the RoF, in the IL-2 GB (Flying Circus), and it would be nice to have it in the IL-2 Korea as well. Such a plane could be the Bird Dog for the UN side, and for Korea/China, for example, the Po-2.

[FF*Stid*15]

21.08.2026 в 02:55, hawax270 сказал:

And it's bugged : 

Do you still have the file data\Missions_gen.Mission? Or tell me where on the map it is.

Edited yesterday at 06:07 AM by FF*Stid*15

[hawax270]

Are you referring to this file?

_gen_mission_file.zip

[FF*Stid*15]

4 часа назад, hawax270 сказал:

Are you referring to this file?

Yep, but it needs to be saved immediately after the problematic mission. Since the file is overwritten after each mission launch in the career or Task editor. Overall, I’ve already found the bug with the bridge and the house from the screenshot. Thank you.

Edited yesterday at 02:36 PM by FF*Stid*15

[Viking1]

Really agree that the KOREA world only feels alive in a narrow area of play. This is where a dynamic campaign would help - but I suspect they can improve it somewhat for the career. (well designed campaigns are the answer until then) I hate having ammo left and looking for targets and the world is empty, cant find sny supply trains heading for the front. And never see another incoming or outgoing strike mission. Remember how dynamic Mig Alley was or F4. Lots of room to improve. Meantime ill fly campaigns.

Edited 11 hours ago by Viking1