One of the more common complaints about the IL-2 Great Battles Series, especially once it moved to the Western Front, was the lack of large scale bomber intercept scenarios. Massed formations of B-17 and B-24 bombers were a common sight in the skies over Europe but they were nowhere to be found in Battle of Bodenplatte or Normandy. There are a bunch of reasons why and some new solutions in place for the new IL-2 Korea title that look to solve that problem. Let’s check it out.
Solving the large scale bomber mission problem
A new dev blog from 1C Game Studios is focused on large bomber formations. Specifically, in this case, the B-29 which saw quite a bit of service during the Korean War.
The Great Battles Series, as they explain in the dev diary, ensured that all aircraft used the same flight and systems model. This prevented aircraft from behaving in unusual ways thanks to simplified settings in the past, however, it also incurred a heavier hit on system performance. Now they say, through some simplification measures, that large bomber formations are now possible.
Two B-29 versions, a standard model with all systems and featured enabled for smaller scale scenarios, and a simplified airplane is used for the larger scale scenarios.
Externally, the model of such a heavy, simplified aircraft is as detailed and high-quality as those of conventional ones. However, it has a simpler damage model inside. This simplifies its structure and makes it possible to simulate such a large bomber formation.
Simplified models will reportedly have a more generalized engine model and won’t as precisely replicate takeoffs, landings, stall, or complex maneuvre behaviour.
They still have quite a bit going on so that they aren’t just fixed models in the sky but they simplify it enough that they say that 200 AI aircraft have been used in testing with 50-60 in a close formation.
They may even use a variation of this on AI fighters if they can still make for a believable experience for the player attacking them. That last part sounds like its still a work in progress but it is interesting to see how this might affect the experience with both pros and cons.
Stormbirds 
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