IL-2: Great Battles fans have been waiting anxiously for the launch of the Me262 for IL-2: Battle of Bodenplatte and as of earlier today, it has arrived! It comes with an 80 point change list including Flying Circus aircraft in the form of the S.E.5a and Albatross D.Va and a new tank for Tank Crew in the form of the T-34-76 UVZ. There’s lots to be excited about!
Patch highlights
With a patch log with 80 points on it there’s a lot to digest and so I encourage you to reach the full notes if you want to know everything. For my part I like to give some highlights so here are some things that stand out for me:
- New 4K textures for Bf109F-4 and FW190A-8
- Active reprojection won’t cause a rotating propeller to flicker for VR pilots
- A long list of AI updates that make the AI fly and fight better/more realistically
- New visual effects for tanks including smoke in the cabin, visible vapour from tank exhaust when the tank engine is overheating
- A bug affecting all Flying Circus aircraft propellers gave them more power than they should have.
- New gear options for tanks with maximal gear limits and transmission damage causing gear difficulties
- Engine throttle positions now matter during start-up for all aircraft
Of course in addition to these features are the aforementioned new aircraft and the new tank.
I’ve already written about the Me262 here and the S.E.5a and Albatross D.Va here. I hope to get more into the T-34 at some point soon too.
I was very pleased to be able to meet IL-2 community member Requiem at FS Expo 2019 this past weekend and he walked me through a lot of the features of the Me262, how to fly it, how to start it, and some of the details that the team has built in that really bring this aircraft up to new levels of simulation standard that just weren’t there in the original IL-2.
I highly and strongly recommend you check out his tutorial on how to really fly the Me262 if you want to fly it seriously. It needs some know-how before you get going with it.
Full patch notes are here so make sure you check out those and if you haven’t already… open up your IL-2 Launcher or Steam to get the latest patch.
Hi. I’m an old new IL2 player. Just want to say that tanks are looking fantastic but a little disappointed crew doesn’t do anything.. I thought that like in Arma while you drive the gunner would fire.. Maybe in a future update? Do you know anything?
Also I want to say I love your blog. Great work
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Thanks Martin! The Tank Crew features including active AI in each tank is still getting work done on them. It’s still very much a work in progress.
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Haven’t had a chance to check yet, but did the new engine overheating mechanics replace the timers, or are they just added on top of them?
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They seem to be separate. If you advance the throttle too quickly, the temperature will rise and you get a warning (if they are activated). If you push the throttle gently all the way to military power, you are in the time-limited range. If you do both a harsh increase of the throttle to full military power at the same time, you get a lot of warning and the engine won’t last long 😉
I don’t know if they’re using timers or an internal state variable of the temperature in critical locations in the engine.
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Did some testing last night and they appear to be on top of each other for piston engines. The effect seems to be that now it goes direct from boost mode to engine damaged with sending out a timers exceeded alert.
And that was keeping the cylinder heads in the green and the oil at 90c.
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That Me 262 is an interesting machine!
Make sure the runway is long enough, especially with a loaded aircraft, it takes a while to build speed.
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Yes, the patch is here!
I sat half the evening at it yesterday and had at least already seen Requiem’s video to look forward to it 😀
– The 262 is a lot of fun, even if it took me a while to start it. The sound of the bird is great and the abundance of modifications are nicely chosen.
– Even if the Pz. IV is missing I think there is enough new stuff for Tank Crew. The interior of the T-34 looks great and in the short test drive it was a nimble beast. I can’t wait to test it in multiplayer with a few friends!
– The Albatros and their counterpart are, as usual, beautifully realized and the skins are great! I think that they will become my favorites from time to time 🙂
In general, I think the change at the start (where you even have to think a little bit now) is very nice. This should also appease the “we want more than just an E pressing faction”. The only thing that “annoys” me is that one of the 262 skins is not there, because I found this one very cool ;( But maybe it will come later.
I also have the feeling and hope that the next patch with the P-51 will also bring the Pz. IV with itself, so I’m looking forward to it and jet around a bit until then 😀
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts bigalrico! There’s quite a lot in this patch even if there’s a few things were still waiting for. We’re always waiting for something more 🙂
I would also guess that the P-51 and Pz. IV are due in the next patch. I think we’ll see things speed up a bit as we come into the home stretch for Bodenplatte. We’ll see!
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This patch is simpily Great! I still have yet to really mess with the SE5 and Albatross I’ve been flying the 262 so much! Thanks for the write up and thanks for your coverage of the FSexpo! Keep it up!
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You’re welcome!
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The patch is great! Keep up the good work 1CGS !
And: i love you blogs!
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Thanks Robbie! Yeah this patch is certainly a very exciting one!
Lots of momentum going into what I think is the home stretch for Bodenplatte.
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