IL-2 team launches new feedback system

1–2 minutes

One of the successes of the IL-2 series, particularly over the last couple of years, is that the team has been responsive to community feedback. A lot of major changes that have shown up in the series have been at least in part based on feedback from the community (the Career mode is chief among them). Now, 1CGS has a new way to gather feedback via a new form and they have a nice 25% off code for people to help sweeten the pot.

Give feedback, get 25% off

IL-2feedback

Log in to your account on the IL-2 website (not on the forums), click Profile, and then click on ‘Feedback’ on the menu on the right to get access to the form. 1CGS is currently asking only a couple of questions. In short, 1CGS wants to know what the most important issue concerning the IL-2 series is right now. They also want to know what your favourite feature is. The other item that 1CGS wants to know is if you’re a Steam or IL-2 website customer (or if you use a mix of the two).

Now, if you want a 25% off code you’ll need to fill one of these forms in before November 16 and then plan to use that 25% off code before the 20th. The only thing the code can’t be applied to is early access products (i.e. Tank Crew, Flying Circus, Battle of Bodenplatte). The code is also only good on the IL-2 website and doesn’t apply to Steam (I don’t think Valve enables developers to offer discounts like that).

For more information, check out the announcement from Jason or visit the IL-2 website and send in some feedback.

10 responses to “IL-2 team launches new feedback system”

  1. Mischiew Rithe Avatar
    Mischiew Rithe

    On the negative side, it’s definitely the AI for me, and due credit to the awesome apparence of realism and immersion. Even if the system modelling is partial, if there is no clickable cockpit and no start-up procedure, the sounds, the animations, the damage model and the graphics are way ahead of the competition, they really contribute to a great experience.

    I wish the scripted campaigns were able to allow for more variety, like DCS they are mostly limited to bomb and chase missions with a unique take-off/action/land pattern. Perhaps even more so, after all, we have a helicopter transport and training campaigns in DCS.

    On the other hand, the career mode and PWCG are very good additions, I can’t wait to see a dynamic, persistent campaign in DCS! If any of them threw persistent aircraft state and limited maintenance in, that’d be awesome.

    Anyway, now for the important part, I’m wondering what to do with the 25% discout. This looks like a very clever way to get feedback *and* entice people to buy something when they normally wouldn’t, am I the only one feeling that way? 😀

    I need a piece of advice, is the Ju-52 interesting? Or is that a curiosity which quickly becomes boring? Are they really supported in the career mode now?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Francesco Kasta Avatar
      Francesco Kasta

      I agree (even though my biggest wish would be a manual start-up and shut-down sequence, even a simplified one).

      I had fun with the Ju-52, for about half an hour, then I never touched it again. I kinda regret buying it since I could have invested the money in a better way, like the umpteenth book about WWII for instance.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Mischiew Rithe Avatar
        Mischiew Rithe

        I know the feeling 😉 Except that now, I have enough books to keep me reading for decades! Thanks for the feedback, I’m not surprised. The Ju-52 is tempting but I’ll do my best to resist, and save the money for Flying Circus… or maybe another WWII or airplane book.

        The non-clickable cockpit and the lack of manual handling has bugged me from the beginning. I suppose it saves them enough development time to justify those simplifications, and if it allows them to take care of the rest then it’s probably not a bad trade.

        Like

      2. ShamrockOneFive Avatar
        ShamrockOneFive

        The no-click cockpit was a design decision made at the start of IL-2’s development (by the previous Producer) and it’s really really hard to switch course on that is what the team has told us.

        DCS full click pits are lovely but I don’t find myself missing them too much with IL-2.

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Francesco Kasta Avatar
        Francesco Kasta

        I don’t miss the clickable cockpits that much either to be honest, it is just kind of immersion breaking to have a super realistic combat experience and then starting and shutting off the engine by a single button press.

        I am no programmer but I am lead to believe that implementing just a few more keystrokes in the sequence like “magnetos > mixture > fuel pump > batteries > primer > starter” shouldn’t be a titanic task. Something simplified and standardized like this should be enough to give the player a feeling of achievement.

        Like

      4. Mischiew Rithe Avatar
        Mischiew Rithe

        The problem if you want to transform an “automated and eye-candy-only” startup with a more manual one, is that you have to create a model of the new elements and how they are interconnected.

        So for example when the engine should start, check whether one/both magnetos are on (not connected to the ground) and the relevant plugs can ignite, provided you have enough priming depending on the weather conditions, that the fuel valve is open, and that the oil does not block the cylinders if that’s a radial engine, or is not too cold, and so on…

        I’m not sure how far their current model goes, but they look like pragmatic guys and we can assume they didn’t create a model for elements that are not accessible. So for all we know, right now it could simply be cinematics and nothing more. Building, tuning and testing the new model for each airplane in all conditions vs a cinematic could take a serious amount of time.

        Actually I ran into those problems a little bit when I was testing the “Fire and Ice” campaign. Using the auto-start on both engine made them start, but in one mission the first engine would quit right after the startup sequence, because the temperature was a very freezing below -40°C and the initial RPM/throttle settings were quite low. So the sequence was obviously not taking all paremeters into account, and once the engine model took over, it realized that oops, it should stall. (using individual startup solved the problem by rising immediately the throttle on each engine once it started).

        Liked by 2 people

      5. ShamrockOneFive Avatar
        ShamrockOneFive

        I didn’t know you could do a separate engine start in IL-2. I’m about to check out the Fire and Ice campaign and that’s very good to know!

        You make a really good point about how its all modeled. It’s not just the startup that needs to be programmed but the things that can make it go wrong or the screw ups that a player can introduce that need to be taken into account. It’s what can make DCS aircraft startups fun… but it requires lots of extra time.

        DCS is more study level and IL-2 is a bit more survey level, albeit at a very high level. I honestly think this is a good differentiation between the two.

        Like

      6. Mischiew Rithe Avatar
        Mischiew Rithe

        Yes, I found out that you could start the 1st engine (‘RCtrl’+’1’ by default), then start the 2nd (‘RCtrl’+’2’) and directly select the 1st engine (‘1’) to adjust the engine settings while the 2nd is being started. Otherwise you have to wait until both have started before touching anything or it does funny things.
        It gives a tiny feeling of doing something more in the startup procedure 😉

        Liked by 2 people

      7. Francesco Kasta Avatar
        Francesco Kasta

        Very valid points there. I never thought there was any hope for a manual start up in IL-2, at least now I understand why.

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Novice-Flyer Avatar
    Novice-Flyer

    Clickable cockpits in Cliffs of Dover are good; it’s the only IL-2 game with them. Regarding the 25% off deal, the only thing for me would be the Yak 1B because I have all the battle packs, some collectors (I’m going to get Tank Crew this spring) and Campaigns. The collector planes that I don’t have are planes that I don’t believe should cost $20 USD, maybe $5-15. Note: none are Ju-52, P-40, Hs 129, and La-5FN.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply to Francesco Kasta Cancel reply

Trending