Stormbirds.blog has and will always be a work in progress. Although the focus of this site remains unchanged in 2024, there has been some work underway to improve some of the supplemental content and, in some cases, rethink the site. Here are some updates that are currently underway.

Updates to the roadmap section

One of the more popular areas on the site, outside of news, are the roadmaps. To date I’ve only kept up roadmaps for the IL-2 Sturmovik series and the DCS World series. My updates are infrequent but take into account big picture changes across the series. As with most roadmaps, there’s a fair bit of guessing and speculation. I’ve just revamped both sections over the last several days with a series of updates taking into account the latest information.

I am planning to add a Microsoft Flight Simulator section as well. Keeping tabs on all third party efforts is near impossible, however, the big picture roadmap for the series on the whole plus some third party highlights are on my todo list.

New Getting Started section

Getting started

One of my key goals for Stormbirds has always been to encourage the adoption of this hobby to as many interested people as possible. Making flight simming open and available to large numbers of people is difficult as we’ve got a niche hobby and interest here, still, we’ve seen interest grow over the last decade to levels not previously seen. If you’re just getting started, I hope that the new page will be helpful.

New Patreon section

Patreon Supporters

If you’re a Stormbirds Supporter Plus member, one of the perks on offer is to have your name listed on the site. I used to put that list in the footer, however, the presentation has looked worse the longer the list got so I’ve carved out a specific call-out section. These folks help keep the blog going so I want to offer thanks however I can!

Changing the Aircraft Gazetteer

Aircraft Gazetteer

Back when the IL-2 series had just a dozen planes, it was easy for me to write up briefings about all of the aircraft and present them as part of a guide. Its not my focus area and I haven’t updated the section in many years now.

I’m considering retiring the section in favour of something else. A dedicated buyers guide section for aircraft, modules and scenery is what I’d replace it with but I am still working out what that might look like. I also need to find some time to do it. Stay tuned for some bigger changes there.

Podcasts?

Back when the pandemic hit I started up doing some special edition podcasts as part of my content plans for Stormbirds. I’ve interviewed some interesting people and done some interesting episodes. However, my heart really hasn’t been in doing that type of content over the last year or so and I’ve not recorded any new episodes.

I’ll definitely be preserving the section will I figure out what I’m going to do in the future. I would like to do some more at some point but I haven’t figured out a streamlined process that would make it go more quickly than they have to date. Something to think about in 2024.