One airplane and two maps are the focus of the latest IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles developer news update. We’ve got Odessa information, Karelia map updates and we’ve got an early look at the Yak-3. Let’s go!
Maps in development
1CGS report that two maps will ship with the next module for Great Battles. You’ve heard previously about both Odessa and Karelia maps. I’ve even done an interview with the Finnish team behind the initial efforts on the Karelia map. Today’s update give us new updates on the status of the map with the latest screenshots being focused on Kotka and the surrounding islands. In addition to Kotka itself, two Baltic Fleet Air Force airstrips, Lavansaari and Seiskari, are also in progress.
The team behind the map have made their own video showing off an air raid over the harbour.
Even more information has been shared by the Finnish based map team. The team have indicated that they are aiming to have their part of the map complete by roughly January 2025 and then the 1CGS map team are going to come in and do the Russian side of the map. The overall size of what’s planned is quite large with darker 30km no-fly zones on the edges of the map and a medium shade area indicating a zone that they would still like to populate at some point.
Check out the recent updates in this thread for more information on the map.
Meanwhile we’re learning more about the in development Odessa map. It reportedly covers most of modern Moldova and small parts of Ukraine and Romania. More than 200 settlements have been added to the map recently, the transportation network is finished, and terrain textures and airfields are in progress.
Yak-3 first look
We’ve got our first look at the Yak-3 for the upcoming update. This is a Series 9 version of the Yak-3 fighter and eagle eyed community members have already noted that this specific version is among the earlier variants with just a single UBS 12.7mm machine gun in the nose. Later models, that you may be more familiar with, have two heavy machine guns. It’ll be interesting to see if that becomes a modification for the airplane.
Stormbirds 
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