I had a little trouble getting into the site to view this, so I copied it to our site from http://forums.ubi.com/messages/message_view-topic.asp?name=Olegmaddoxreadyroom&id=zxyeg
Author:  Oleg_Maddox  
Rank:  Creator of IL-2 Sturmovik  
Date:  11/14/02 08:02AM  
   
 


Yes, I need to do this that to explain why it isn't simple add-on.

I will not tell about all the new features that will be present in FB (look for development updates in the past and in future that to understand that it is completely re-worked product, if not to say new)

I will tell about general only features. Probably everything will be clear.



The Forgotten Battles consists 20 single-player missions, 10 multiplayer missions, new maps, dynamic campaigns, that are working on all existed maps of IL-2 and IL-2:FB.

Forgotten Battles offers all the gameplay of IL-2 Sturmovik, plus new general features. These include (but are not limited to):

· At least 30 new flyable aircraft
· At leasrt 15 new AI-controlled aircraft
· New AI ground objects and vehicles for each new map area, with new 3D building models
· Ranking and award system for Finnish and Hungarian pilots
· Selectable custom user-made skins in single play mode for players and all AI aircraft
· All IL-2: FB aircraft available in Quick Mission Builder, except seaplanes and gliders
· Improved flight dynamics
· More realistic AI to create more realistic battles
· New engine management relating to radiators, superchargers and fuel mixture control for different altitudes corresponding to real aircraft flight manual
· Online track recorder (you even don't know what this means!)
· A New system of single play track recording (possible to keep old IL-2 system and use online system for re-recording just part of the track. In other words you may save the part of the say full mission track in to a small separta file that will show only one important for you schene.
· Search lights and barrage balloons (including intercommunication with AA cannons.
· New ships including the Russian battleship Marat, Russian cruisers Aurora and Kirov and German AA cruiser Niobe (but not limited to)

New Maps.

There are 5 new main gameplay maps: Gulf of Finland summer, Gulf of Finland winter, Hungary summer, Hungary winter, and L’vov summer.

Gulf of Finland maps include large area that covers cities of Helsinki (capitol of Finland), Tallinn (capitol of Estonia), Lenigrad, the Finnish Gulf itself, Kronstadt island and other islands fortifications, the great lake Ladoga. The city of Helsinki and Leningrad designed using old 1939-1940 years real maps and contains the number of unique well-know buildings and objects.
Both maps of Finnish Gulf designed that to cover the historical battles of 1941-1944 years of that area.
Hungarian winter and summer maps are present with the great lake Balaton and the area around this lake, including small part of Slovenia.
L’vov map include the parts of Soviet Ukraine, small parts of Poland and Slovakia.

For online gameplay we prepared several maps with different gamplay. One of them has large mountains and high altitude airfields.

Dynamic Campaign Generator.

There are two kinds of campaign in IL2 Forgotten Battles – static branched and dynamic. Static branched campaigns are created manually and equal to IL-2 campaign with very minor changes. Missions in these campaigns are made in Full Mission Builder and then united into campaign. There are several historically correct static campaigns made by 1C:Maddox Games. Other static campaigns, made by game fans are available for download from the web. You can design your own static campaign in accordance with your taste and imagination, and events in every mission will be exactly as you want them to be.

IL-2: Forgotten Battles introduces dynamic campaign. Dynamic campaign is automatic. You select your nation, a squadron, and planes that you want to fly in every operation. You decide, when you want to join the war. After that the first mission in campaign is generated and offered to you. When you finish the mission, the results will be processed, and another mission generated – and so on, till end of war. Missions in dynamic campaign will never repeat, because many conditions, targets, time of day, weather, opposition and almost everything else are random.
In any operation, your forces will advance or retreat. The frontline moves historically, but you can speed it up or slow down in limited degree. If you destroy an object - it will stay destroyed for time that depends on it's nature. Every destroyed plane, friendly or hostile, reduces number of planes of this type on the theater, making their appearance less likely. Lost trains and transport columns will affect supply rate. If you kill or capture an enemy ace, he will not appear in the future battles.
One of the most important features of dynamic campaign is your squadron. Every pilot has a name, photo (is possible to replace the default photo by your own or you friends photos) a rank, medals, sorties and kills. His skill level is defined by combat experience. Pilots can be killed, captured, promoted, awarded or transferred. Your losses are replaced, but new pilots will likely have less or none of combat experience. Your squadron has limited amount of combat ready planes, and if it drops below some point, you will fly shorthanded until re-supplied.
You may choose to play from any time of 1941 to 1945.
You may choose to play for Germany, Russia, Finland or Hungary.


New Aircraft.
In additional to all IL-2 and IL-2 add-ons aircraft there are:

Flyable

Ju-87D-3 – Two seat dive bomber / ground attack aircraft
Ju-87G-1 – Two seat tank buster / ground attack aircraft
Bf-109G-14 – fighter.
Bf-109G-10 – fighter.
Bf-109K-4 – fighter.
FW-190D-9 – fighter. 1944 model
FW-190D-9 – fighter. 1945 model with MW50
FW-190F-8 – fighter-bomber.
FW-190A-9 – fighter.
He-111H-2 – multi-crewed bomber
He-111H-6 – multi-crewed bomber / torpedo bomber
Me-262A-1a – jet fighter.
Me-262A-2a – jet fighter-bomber.
B-239 (Brewster Buffalo F2A) – fighter. Finnish Air Force
Hurricane Mk I – fighter. Finnish Air Force
TB-3 – multi-crewed bomber.
La-5 – fighter.
La-5F – fighter.
La-7 2x20mm ShVAK cannons – fighter.
La-7 3x20mm B-20 cannons – fighter.
I-153 M-62 – fighter.
I-153P – fighter.
Hurricane Mk IIB – fighter.
Hurricane Mk IIC – fighter.
Hurricane Mk II with Russian cannons and MGs – fighter.
P-47D-10 – fighter / fighter-bomber.
P-47D-27 – fighter / fighter-bomber.
P-40E – fighter.
P-40M – fighter.
P-40 field mode with Soviet M-105P engine – fighter.

AI

Bristol Blenheim MK I – bomber. Finnish Air Force
Bristol Blenheim MK IV – bomber. Finnish Air Force
Fiat G.50 – fighter. Finnish Air Force
Morane MS.406 – fighter. Finnish Air Force
Morane MS.410 – fighter. Finnish Air Force
Mörkö Morane – fighter. Finnish Air Force. Equipped with Soviet engine M-105P, captured by Germans and sold in Finland
DB-3 - long rage bomber
DB-3T - torpedo bomber
DB-3M - long rage bomber
IL-4(DB-3F) 1940 – long rage bomber.
IL-4 1942 – long rage bomber / torpedo bomber.
SB-2 M-100 – bomber.
SB-2 M-103 – bomber.
Bf-110C – heavy fighter and fighter bomber.
Bf-110G – heavy fighter and fighter bomber.
Me-210Ca-1 – heavy fighter and fighter-bomber. Hungarian Air Force
Me-210Ca-1 Zerstörer - formation destroyer / ground attack. Hungarian Air Force. In additional to standard cannons 1x40mm, 2x3 150mm rockets
P-51D – fighter. USAAF.
Ar-196A-3 – Sea plane.
Catalina - Sea plane.
Su-2 - Close support bomber.

Complete list of IL-2 aircraft.

Flyable: IL-2 Single seat early, IL-2 Single seat, IL-2 Single seat late, IL-2 Field modification with rear gunner, IL-2M Type-2, IL-2 Type 3, IL-2 Type 3M, IL-2T, IL-2I, I-16 type 18, I-16 type 24, LaGG-3, LaGG-3-IT, LaGG-3 Late, La-5FN, MiG-3, MiG-3ud, MiG-3 AM-38, MiG-3 (2x12mm MGs), MiG-3 (2x20mm cannons), MiG-3U, P-39N-1, P-39Q-1, P-39Q-10, Yak-1 Early, Yak-1B, Yak -7B, Yak-9, Yak-9D, Yak-9T, Yak-9K, Yak-9U, Yak-3, Bf-109E-4, Bf-109E-4/B, Bf-109E-7/B, Bf-109E-7/Z, Bf-109F-2, Bf-109F-4, Bf-109G-2, Bf-109G-6 Early, Bf-109G-6 Late, Bf-109G-6/AS, FW-190A-4, FW-190A-5, FW-190A-8, Ju-87B-2, PZL P.11, BI-1

AI: R-10, U-2 (Po-2), Li-2, MBR-2 seaplane, Pe-2 1st series, Pe-2 84 series, Pe-2 110 series, Pe-2 359 series, Pe-3, Pe-3bis, Pe-8, Tu-2s, He-111Z, Hs-129B-2, Hs-129B-3/Wa, Ju-52, Ju-52 seaplane, Ju-88A-4, Fi-156 Storch, FW-189, Me-323, Me-321, He-162A, IAR-80, IAR-81

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In total of IL-2:FB you’ll get 125 aircraft, at least 80 of which are flyable!
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Realistic/Complex Engine Management.

Controlling Multi-Engine Aircraft

When flying a multi-engine aircraft, you have an option to control its engines separately.
You may choose the engines you wish to control using engine selection keys found in the Controls menu.
Your current engine controls (e.g. throttle, prop and mix positions, radiator set-up, e.t.c.) apply only to the engine(s) you have selected.
Note that if you enabled the Separate Engine Start key in the Difficulty settings, you will not be allowed to start all of the engines simultaneously, and have to select them for ignition one by one.

Advanced Engine Controls

The engine control routines have been reworked and expanded for the Forgotten Battles; you now have more detailed control over your engines, with more realistic feedback. However, some tasks (like engine start-up procedure) remain simplified and usually performed with a single keystroke.


Throttle Control

Throttle control remains essentially the same it was prior the Forgotten Battles. Yet now you may push it farther than Combat Power (100%) to force you engine into the War Emergency Power (Emergency) mode (up to 110%). Note that there is no Power 110 keyboard shortcut, so you’ll have to use Increase Engine Power control key (keyboard + by default) to gain War Emergency Power (Emergency) when controlling throttle with keyboard.


Emergency Power

A number of aircraft modeled in the game have special systems allowing an engine to gain advanced performance over a short period of time (alike the notorious nitrous oxide injection system). These systems vary the principle of operation, but for all aircraft so equipped they may be engaged using the Boost (WEP) On/Off control button:

- Special Emergency Power for such as FW-190A-8, FW-190A-9, FW-190F-8 FW-190D-9 1944
- MW-50 (Water-Methanol injection) for such as FW-190D-9 1945, Bf-109G6/AS, Bf-109G-14, Bf-109G-10 and Bf-109K-4.
- GM-1 (High-altitude nitrous oxide injection system) for such as Bf-109E-7/Z
- Water injection device for cooling down engine of P-47D-10 and P-47D-27 at emergency power of engine.


Supercharger Control

High-altitude engines are equipped with superchargers or turbochargers of different design. While many of those are automatic, others have manual control.
In this case, you have to use “Supercharger Next Stage” and “Supercharger Prev. Stage” to adjust the supercharger gear as the flight altitude changes. Most of the chargers are 2-stage, and only require one shift up of the gear when passing altitude at around 2500 meters.
This function will not work for the planes, that had fully automatic pitch or stages of superchargers (for Example Bf-109 or FW-190).


Mixture Control

Most of the engines allow the pilot to adjust mixture richness manually. While the nominal position of this control (Auto Rich) should provide normal engine operation in all flight configurations, some input may be required on high altitude or when the engine has taken battle damage. It is common to use increased (Full Rich) set-up during take-off or as a means of Emergency Power.

Radiator Control

New to the Forgotten Battles is advanced radiator control. In Advanced Engine Controls difficulty mode you now have 5 cowl or radiator flap positions to provide more accurate control over it, plus, on the aircraft so equipped, you may put the radiator flap in automatic mode.

Propeller Pitch Control

The way of controlling the Prop. Pitch and keys used remain the same as before the Forgotten Battles, with the addition of Increase Prop. Pitch and Decrease Prop. Pitch control keys for a more convenient and accurate propeller control.
However, the propeller governor routines has been reworked to achieve a more detailed and accurate model, plus several governor mechanism types were added.

Fixed Propeller

Some older airplanes found in the game (like TB-3) are equipped with simple fixed pitch wooden propellers. Those, of course, have no automation or control, and require no pilot input.

Variable Pitch Propeller

These propellers have variable airscrew blade incidence. In this case, Prop. Pitch Control directly varies the airscrew blade pitch, and needs to be adjusted constantly as the airplane speed changes. Note that setting the blades pitch too low may result in engine over revving.
Note that there was special equipment on the Bf-109 (F, G and K series) and FW-190 fighters providing automatic propeller control, however the pilot may input the changes of pitch and adjust blade angles manually whenever he finds necessary.

Constant Speed Propeller

The most advanced, yet most common through the aircraft of the WWII era was the Constant Speed Propeller. In this case, pilot uses the Prop. Control to set desired engine RPM, while the propeller governor attempts to maintain the set RPM.

Aeromechanical Screw

This type of airscrew uses balance of aero dynamical forces and propeller inertia to maintain optimal blade incidence. Thus, it requires no input from the pilot.

Propeller Feathering

Some propellers provide an option to ‘feather’ its blades that is to turn the blades parallel the airflow to reduce the drag. That becomes essential when an engine fails in-flight.


Magneto Control

Piston aviation engines use magnetos to drive the spark plugs. There are two magnetos, left and right, and normally both operate. However, you may set which is working using Magneto Next and Magneto Prev. control keys, or switch them off to shut down the engine.


Extinguisher Control

A number of aircraft, mostly large airships, had build-in fire extinguishers in the engine compartment. On the aircraft so equipped, you may fire the extinguishers on the selected engines using Fire Extinguisher control key. However, this doesn’t guarantee to put out the engine, and the extinguisher has only a limited number of charges.

Level Bomber bombsights for multi-crewed aircraft of the Forgotten Battles

The Forgotten Battles introduces the level bommber bombsights. With the release there will be present Lotfe 3D bombsight of He-111H-2 and H-6 and OPB-1 optical bombsight for Soviet early war bombers, like TB-3.



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All old features of IL-2 are present in FB.

Please remember about upcoming third party planes and probably other objects add-ons.


Importnant notice:
As I told in the past, the IL-2 add-ons 1.2 and 1.2ov were the last add-ons for Il-2 simulator, because we simply will be not able to track two DIFFERENT SIMULATROS that have SO great different program code. We'll track only FB after the release with new add-ons, etc.

The only thechnology for modeling of planes we keep the same for third party modellers in FB(except more stronge quality!). However with new damage model of internals we'll need to spend more time for programming them, sad but we simply can't give third party that work. Its too complex and should correspomds to a lot of real details of real aircraft.





Oleg Maddox
1C:Maddox Games


S~
TX-Cage
Black 5

So do you think the wait will be worth it? I've been playing for 7 or 8 months waiting for the D9....Febuary will make that almost a year. I'm discouraged about the pushed back release date. Some people on the forums made some pretty sharp remarks about justifying the price increase compared to what we are really getting.For me though, the biggest thing is having to wait. I was beginning to get really excited over the new planes and now its kind of like having Christmas put on hold. I suppose in the long run it won't matter, Febuary will come regardless but I'm still miffed. TX-Zen"Black 6"TX Squadron CO

I too am discouraged by the wait.  However, I have maintained a mental 'tude that it was not going to be released until 18 FEB 03 anyway.  I will stand fast in my wait for FB.As for price range, it doesn't really bother me either way.  I have paid more for less, and probably always will.For me, Christmas wasn't going to be FB anyway...but I am putting together a sweet box...which is my Christmas.I am looking forward to the bombers, the multi-engine control, and the more complicated in flight features.All in all, the wait will be worth it, for me.S~TX-CageBlack 5

I noticed the P-51D is in the list of AI aircraft.   Good thing we have the "java-scripted TX-Cuda AI Cockpit Loader" to make it flyable.TX-Deck out.