Vampyre

Actually, it's been my experience that anyone "new to aviation and/or flight sims" usually says 'a what?' simply because they know almost nothing about it. Having heard of a Spitfire or a Bf-109 before is the incentive to purchase those modules and will bring the most revenue. The game and one aircraft are free, the modules are where you make your money. The Thunderbolt is the perfect free aircraft as it is good at both air to air as well as air to ground and you dont have to baby it on the ground as much as a Spit or 109. It is better to showcase the basic game with an aircraft that was not quite as famous as the other two for that simple reason. A lot of WWII sim fans have their favorite rides and will not fly anything else and the Spit and 109 are the two most popular planes on any WWII aircraft list which creates a want. The Thunderbolt on the other hand would draw far fewer profits than either of the other two. The goal is to sell modules to keep the development going and the most revenue can be made with the most popular aircraft.

Indeed! That is the point.:thumbup:

Interesting, that is the exact reason to not offer the 109 as free. The idea is to acquire revenues from the project to keep it profitable by creating future modules to populate DCS WWII with. It makes more sense to offer a free flyable that will be used as a hook to get potential customers to purchase other, more popular, modules. This is the draw currently in use by ED and it works well from what I have seen.

A T-6 Texan with guns is no more a combat aircraft than the AT-38B was in it's time. It is meant to teach basic gunnery and basic tactics and is nowhere near the capability of the combat aircraft in use in 1944. It would not be competative. Further, there were no combat squadrons in Normandy so equipped in 1944. to get the sales needed new pilots have to have a true taste of what could be. I would rather have a dedicated ground attacker like the Hs-129B-2 or A-20G Havoc for a free plane but those are not even on the list...yet. A trainer is a bad idea.

Voted P-47 free as there are far more fans of the Spitty and 109 than the T-bolt which equates to more actual sales.

True, I for one believe the hook for this project to be a free flyable COMBAT aircraft. I will tell you that if I were trying out a new combat sim and the best I can hope to to accomplish is take off and land and hopefully not get shot down then I wouldn't bother with the rest of the game. If I don't even have anything to compete with when trying it out then i will go elsewhere. The free aircraft in DCS World (Su-25T) is a combat type. If you have a combat arena that is touted as such, you need a combat type to fully explore that world and have the full experience to make the decision to purchase other combat types that one would find of interest. I still fly the Su-25T even though I have most of the other modules as well. A trainer is of limited use in combat and will only draw the most hardcore of sim pilots which equates to low sales. The capture the flag and flashing objects idea... I surely hope not.

I will admit, when I want to get someone interested in the DCS series then I show them a Glowing AMRAAM video to stoke the fires. He does some of the best videos I have seen for flight sims. Changing rewards has created a lot of confusion in the past although I have always felt that three free flyables was a bit much. I would definatly offer only one flyable, namely the P-47. The other two aircraft have huge fan bases to tap to bring in extra revenue on release or extra pledges for the KS. It was said earlier and I will repeat, Paypal is a no brainer. Definatly do this.

The map is the more important piece to this endeavor. The planes will come in time as long as the sandbox has all the sand to keep things interesting.

I consider those planes to be mid war fighters. Early war planes like the I-153, PZL-11 and P-26 are crap planes. They can be a real hoot and hollar when you get them into huge furballs.

That will be up to the individual server mission designers to sort out what amounts work best to keep people coming back. In multiplayer servers, it's been my experience that unlimited planesets tend to be a server killer because everyone ends up flying the best performing aircraft that the side has available and nothing else. This makes the server boring quickly and the guests move on to other servers. It takes a lot of trial and error to truely figure out what works and what dosen't work. For WWII most sim pilots prefer mid to late war time period scenarios although there is a vocal minority that likes early war crap planes. I will admit, crap planes are fun for a change of pace though.:joystick:

You guys can have your Sabre's and MiG's. I want the F4U-5NL Corsair, F4U-4B Corsair, F7F-3N Tigercat and F9F-3 Panther.:pilotfly:

N/AW A-10B... That would be a riot. I'd buy one.

Same here and I too threw my coin in to support the project. The gifts are nice but I just really want to see this succeed and hopefully the multiplayer will eventually be worked out.

Heavy bombers, medium bombers, attack and fighterbombers as are my favorite planes just for the reasons you listed above. I have flown directly under or over many a dogfight on my way to target without being noticed by the stick yankers. Getting damaged and making it back to home base gives one a great sense of accomplishment. Good times!:pilotfly:

It is true that the B-17 will require a pretty complex AI to fly effectively if you don't have 10 other guys to fly with.

The A-5 was a far better dogfighter than the A-8 which many FW fliers will appreciate. Mossy FB has only two seats the other being operated by the Navagator/radio operator. Agreed! For what has been announced, my list goes like this- 1. Mosquito FB mk VI 2. Me-410A Hornesse 3.A-26B Invader of course my real list goes like this- 1. F4U-1A/C/D 2. F4U-2 3. F4U-4 4. B-26 Marauder (all varients) 5. He-219A-7 Uhu 6. Hs-129B Panzerknacker 7. Mosquito FB mk VI 8. Me-410 (all varients) 9. Me-210A 10. Bf-110 (all varients) 11. FW-190 (all varients) 12. TBM-3 Avenger 13. SB2C Helldiver 14. PBY-5A Catalina 15. Ju-88 (all varients) 16. B-29A Superfortress Hopefully in a few years I'll see them

As often as other types. I prefer medium bombers but I will take the B-17, B-24 and B-29 out for a spin as well. I learned how to level bomb with the B-25J and I have always wanted to fly a B-26B Marauder in il-2. I know that there was a modded B-26 built but I fly almost exclusively online (except when I'm training on new A/C) and it was never included in any of the mod packs. The A-26B being offered in the stretch goals is the solid nose version with the eight .50's... I wonder how much harder a glass nosed version would be to make? I'd like to see a Mosquito B mk IV bomber as well.

I would be happy with an Hs-129B-2 as the only free flyable. A trainer aircraft I would have no use for as the actual combat aircraft are more useful in game and there is no real negative effects for smashing them into little bits inside a glorious smoking crater when you screw up anyway. The virtual squadron guys will want them but personally, I have no use for them. Moving the B-17 a little further down in the stretch goals seems like a good idea.

I wish I could see the videos. I have a few more weeks before I fly home and can't wait to see what I've been missing.

I actually expected a slowdown after the first day due to all of the forum posters jumped in with donations early. Now the trick is to get as many of our fellow simmers onboard as well by spreading the word about the KS. We are already 1/3rd of the way to the goal after just 2 days and the more people who pledge the more likely we will have this project ready for release in a year.

Il2 has a map of almost exactly this size. It is a great map for a tactical air war and can also be used for fighter bombers and medium bombers. I can see german ground formations and depots being the primary targets here. I believe the Amiens Prison is also included within this area for all you Mossy fans out there. There are also a lot of radar stations and V-weapon sites in this area as well. Heavies don't have many of their traditional targets on this map but when/if it is extended a bit further to the east the Ruhr Valley could be in the equation as well. I personally will be satasfied with this map for quite a while when it is released. Who knows, when the team gets into building it they might be able to add just a bit more if they get really good at it. Bring on the 2nd ATAF!

Cool... I've always wanted to bomb Canada with their beady little eyes and flippy floppy heads:megalol:.... er... its not Costa Rica is it?:noexpression:

I assume, from what I have read, the area we have initially will be able to be expanded upon and has the potential to be expanded to include all of Europe and western Russia.

There is an FW-190A-5 planned already in the first stretch goal. It's not an FW-190A-8 but being an important type in the theatre I don't see the A-8 never being included in the flyable plane list. If you really want the Griffon Spitty, Gustav and Tempy and will not fly DCS WWII without them then start working on them now and maybe you can have them done by this time next year when this project is released. Keep in mind that this project will probably be a work in progress for a while (5-10 years) and will never be complete in some peoples eyes. I have high hopes for this project.

Perhaps you should do a little more research before posting. The planes you want will probably make it in there at a later date.