Colslaw wrote:If it wasn't for the 'garbage' Oleg and team put out we woudn't even have IL2 now. . I always find it funny when someone cries it is all Oleg's fault. He gave us a starting point. . what have you given us?

If you have given us a mod, than my hat is off to you. . if not .....

Actually.....I've given alot to this community over the years but you wouldn't know that or my contributions to the community. I've been flying this sim since day one of the original release IL-2 Sturmovik and I try not to use my wording in the wrong light when describing the butchery and unhistorical representation of the aircraft plane sets that were originally created by inept Russian programmers for a Russian customer base to enjoy. I've seen countless threads and hundreds of complaints over the years from flight sim enthusiasts from around the globe all cry foul over the product that Oleg handed to us. Yes, we owe Oleg a lot and its hands down from previous sims like CFS 1 -3 but we have come a long ways in this current sim as far as repair work with the different patch upgrades and the efforts that have gone into creating a more historically accurate product through AAA.

The plane sets we had in game before the creation of AAA were totally inaccurate regarding the FM, DM, Sound files and weapons characteristics to just name a few. One such problem area that is quite infamous was the M2 .50 Caliber HBMG. Needless to say, the original code for the ingame M2 wasn't modeled to represent the M2. It was something completely different and of a much smaller caliber.

S~
My thought is that even in the un-modded form, it is still the best as far as flight models and value per online and offline. As opposed to having, say 75+ kills in CFS2, with this game I could manage only perhaps 5 half way through a campaign, the AI is stellar and I think the guys that came up with the game were on the right track, as far as 50 Cals. go, even modded forms today don't touch the true power of the weapon, nor is the sound anywhere remotly close to the ole 50.

~S~ George..

I think you will be pleasantly surprised once you see the upcoming Universal Switcher v. 1.2 and later 1.3 roll out especially with the new aircraft and other cool stuff. In this game, your not going to hear the exact sound of the M2 firing as you may know it out on a live fire range but it definitely won't be the nerfed weapons system that we had in previous versions of IL-2.

Flying with AI is good up to a certain point in my opinion like with the Zuti mod, provides more immersion and generates that virtual sense of action into the game but the flip side is the AI tended to go dumb on you when certain commands were used to control their behavior. The tactical situation dictating ofcourse. Thats always been a problem and a lot has gone into fixing that issue. Flying against the AI in "combat" is a challange as well. You just never know if you are flying against AI that is considered rookie, veteran or ace until you decided to maneuver on the bandit. Thats why a lot of veteran sim pilots out there tend to practice against say an AI pilot in a QMB scenario then practice certain skills like target acquisition / gunnery against a human pilot under a similar setting.

Looking at how the game has evolved, I really appreciated each version for what it provided the player based on the previous problems that existed. What we have now in game is a breath of fresh air with more nice surprises with the UI 1.2 and later 1.3 so stay tuned.

If you are really interested in seeing this game become more historically accurate regarding, flight models, bomber realism, aircraft gunnery, weopon loadouts, ground/sea units, infantry, AAA gunnery, tank gunnery, tracer fire, smoke effects, etc., you need to try History SFX 3.21. Soon there will be HSFX 4.0. I do not wish cast a negative light on the other available mod packages and I enjoy them all, but if you have not tried HSFX, you are really missing something special.