The day has arrived! IL-2: Battle of Kuban and patch 3.001 has arrived and with it brings a collection of new aircraft, new gameplay features, and a huge list of changes and updates to what is fast becoming the premier World War II combat flight simulator.

This changes everything

It is clear, looking through the list of changes and new content added in version 3.001, that this update to the series is the biggest and most expansive updates experienced in the history of the second generation IL-2 series. Now called IL-2: Great Battles, the Battle of Kuban official launch is not one just for owners of the Kuban pack but owners of the previous Battle of Stalingrad and Battle of Moscow titles as well.

Here are some of the key updates in this patch pulled from the release notes:

• New Career single-player mode replaces the old dynamic campaign
• The new Cooperative multiplayer mode is available along with the classic Dogfight
• A-20B flyable
• P-39L-1 flyable
• Yak-7B flyable
• Bf109G-6 flyable collector plane
• La-5FN flyable collector plane
• New historical static campaign ‘Sea Dragons’ designed by Alexander -BlackSix- Timoshkov telling the story of an IL-2 mod. 1943 pilot is added to the project and all Battle of Kuban owners can play it now
• Terrain visibility distance has been increased from 40 to 150 kilometers with Settings option
• New raindrops effect on the cockpit and pilot glasses
• Completely redone texturing of summer and autumn Stalingrad maps: overall steppe look was made more authentic, fields tiling has been removed
• ‘Blazing Steppe’ updated to new mission standard
• ’10 Days of Autumn’ campaign has been completely reworked

There are so many more changes but these are just some of the highlights.

A moment of victory

This is a great moment for the IL-2 team and particularly for IL-2 Lead Producer, Jason Williams, who has been at the helm of the series for about a year and a half now. Under Jason’s direction, the series has gone from one filled with potential but with some critical flaws to one that has dramatically moved forward on many different and crucial areas.

There’s much for the series still to accomplish but today is definitely a victory for the team. Here’s part of their statement:

We are proud and excited to announce that the Battle of Kuban development cycle is completed and Battle of Kuban is officially released! As Producer of the Sturmovik product series it is always a pleasure to announce major milestones to the community and this one is very special. Battle of Kuban was a technical challenge from start to finish, but the team has once again proven why they are the best. When I took over as Producer I promised you a new and improved Sturmovik experience. A Sturmovik with a more hardcore feel with more classic flight-sim features for both single-player and multiplayer modes along with other touches that remind you of past Sturmovik titles while embracing new genre-leading technology. In the past 18 months we’ve done just that and transformed this generation of Sturmovik into a real leader.

For the rest of the statement, some gorgeous screenshots, and a huge list of changes, visit the official announcement on the IL-2 community forums.

The patch is still downloading for me and I’ll have initial impressions out later this evening!