I was just reading through PCGamer interview with Ilya and Oleg
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/02/08/il-2-sturmovik-cliffs-of-dover-interview-we-talk-to-oleg-maddox-and-ilya-shevchenko/ and thought I'd post a few items that I found very interesting AND thought would be of particular interest to my squadmates here at TX.
PCG. What makes Cliffs of Dover’s flight model better than Il-2’s?ILYA: Simple. The formulas process more variables and are therefore more precise. Il-2 was pretty darn close to the real thing, so the flight model in Cliffs of Dover doesn’t feel drastically new.
You will see the most differences at low speeds and in adverse conditions such as stalls and spins. Basically, in Il-2 we calculated simpler physics at fewer points around the aircraft. In Cliffs of Dover, we look at more parameters in more places. In reality this means a codebase that’s many times larger.
Our engine model alone is over 20 times the size of that of Il-2.OLEG: All the above doesn’t mean you will need to learn to fly again. In normal flight, behaviours will be comparable to the original Il-2 series.
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PCG: Part of the joy of Il-2 was flying the so-called ‘crap planes’ – the I-16, B-239 etc. What does Cliffs of Dover have to offer pilots that like their aircraft slow, ugly, and outclassed? ILYA: We love crap planes too.
From a certain point of view, every plane in the Battle of Britain is a crap plane. Early Mk I Spitfires are horrible. Stukas are deathtraps when coming up against fighters. The Italian Fiat G.50 is an embarrassment in a dogfight. All in a good way of course. I personally get a great sense of enjoyment out of flying these online, especially the Stuka. Yes, I’m usually dead the second an enemy spots me, but in the rare cases I manage to get him with the rear gunner, or when I do get through to hit my target, the satisfaction is immense. Much more so than if I had barrelled in with a heavily armoured jet and flattened half the landscape.
OLEG: Agreed. In my opinion the crappiest plane from the current set of flyable aircraft is a Stuka with a heavy bomb load.
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PCG: There’s a Su-26 amongst the flyables. How did this modern aerobatics plane end-up in the sim? ILYA: We thought it would be a great way to prove the fidelity of our flight model. Not too many people can get behind the controls of a Heinkel and say “Yes, this handles just like the real thing.”.
There are a lot of people who fly the Su-26 or similar aerobatics planes. Besides, a few of our modellers actually worked for Sukhoi back in the day, and one of them was even a member of the Su-26 design team. He designed the landing gear for the real thing, and then recreated it for us! OLEG:
Another reason we included the Su-26 is pilots from real aerobatic teams requested it. They used Il-2 for the training in the past. In Cliffs of Dover they can fly a real sport plane.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PCG:
I’m bounced by a Bf 109 and my Spitfire takes a few cannon rounds to the wing and engine. What damage may have been caused?ILYA: Whoa. Lots of things can happen. To put things into perspective, we have
over 10 times the number of damageable components that Il-2 had. A wing of a Spitfire has a few dozen things that can be damaged: the wing surface itself, control surfaces and control lines, spars and internal structure, landing gear struts, wheel, locks, and other components, the hydraulic system, brake lines, oil cooler, the flap, flap piston, a pneumatic hose driving it, three machine guns with associated lines, ammo boxes, and so on.
So depending on where your rounds hit, any number of those items could get damaged or destroyed, with expected results. A round could fly right through leaving just two insignificant holes in the skin, it could hit a spar and detach the whole wing, it could detonate the ammo box and destroy the entire plane – or a million other possible combinations.
OLEG: And there’s no difference between flyable and AI aircraft in terms of complexity for damage modelling.
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These were the highlights that I thought would be most interesting to our members, and as they are the "heart and soul" of the sim - the most significant.
I'd caution all who have not followed the development of Il2:Cliffs of Dover (formerly Storm of War) very closely over the last several years - be careful of what you read on the forums. There's a lot of the usual disinformation and basic BS over very silly things, like DRM - lack of DCG and loads more.
S!
Gunny
