A new Brief Room episode is out talking about how some of the game features of IL-2 Korea works. Time skipping and large bomber formations are parts of the new experience. Plus a new developer diary focuses in on the ships of the new sim and how they differ from the ones from Great Battles.
The game side of the sim
This was a very interesting episode because they talk about some core features for IL-2 Korea that may prove to be more of an impact than the improved graphics or better damage modeling. One of the first big points they are talking about is a new system that lets players, in single player, jump from point to point in the mission. So you’d fly the takeoff, get formed up, then you get to choose if you want to fly the mission entirely or skip to the next point in the mission. Maybe that’s a target, or a combat air patrol zone, or some other key point. Then, once everything is sorted out, you can jump to the end of the mission and do the landing.
1CGS say that IL-2 Korea will track what happens to aircraft in the intervening time period. If a wingmate’s aircraft was on fire or leaking a lot of fuel, it wouldn’t likely be there by the time you’ve done the 2-hour flight home. Damage states are preserved between the points. In other words, there’s a kind of internal consistency to otherwise jumping between the points.
It’s reminiscent of flight sims of old which also did that sort of thing. One of my personal favourites, Aces of Pacific and Aces Over Europe, operated exactly this way.
The diary also has more talk about large bomber formations and how that system work. It covers some materials that we’ve already heard about with how they’ve optimized the system so that they can make these work but its interesting.
Ships take the stage
Meanwhile, a new developer diary focuses on the ships of IL-2 Korea. The diary notes that many of the ships are hold overs from World War II with familiar Gleaves destroyer, Liberty transport, G5 torpedo boat, and LCVP and LCM landing craft.
Civilian ships including two cargo ships, tanker, seiner, barge and a sloop are also being included. Some of these are militarized variants as used by North Korea.
The other thing that the update is touting is the enhancements to the ships. The visuals, obviously, have seen updates from Great Battles versions but 1C Game Studios are touting that they’ve optimized their models and AI systems. The guns now are clustered into batteries and a battery director is responsible for targeting and firing – presumably saving some CPU cycles.
They’ve also increased the details of damage to the ships. Ships can now fracture, bulkheads can break, and various pieces can fall off of the ship – they mention smokestacks and masts. Interesting.
All of these details and more are here on the latest diary.
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