The whole poll is based on the assumption that many of the more complex features will already be available in SOW, if only in 3rd party aircraft. See Oleg's posts in the "Answers" thread quoted above, also linked in the initial post:

As I have understood this, 3rd party modelers can implement complex start up procedures, fuel tanks management etc. in their aircraft, just Maddox Games isn't doing it because they lack the resources.

I've made the mistake that I did not consider that anybody could believe a clickpit would be anything else than another option to control the aircraft. Also I was surprised that most of the more hardcore fans, who visit this forum regularly, seems to be just interested in playing air Quake, thus I did not formulate the poll questions to incorporate such thoughts.

Clickpits seem to be a "do-once" thing too. The feature has to be programmed only once just as any other control method and than modelers can assign functions while building the cockpit.

IMO even out of the box falcon 4's provided a lot better experience then the IL-2 one did. However falcon 4 had the advantage of modelling a fictional conflict which BoB won't have. In the end, in a realistic campaign, the germans have to lose (or more not win as I understand the conflict). Now if you don't have a problem with a unrealistic outcome ok, another point being that a single pilot won't be able to influence the outcome of a campaign. I think in a recreation of a real life campaign a semi scripted campaign can do but I think it will stand or fall with how things play out during the mission. If it is totally scripted then it can get boring really fast. If playing the same mission twice leaves you with a different experience both times it could be fun.

In the end I will still buy BoB with or without clickable cockpits or a dynamic campaign just to see if I like the game. If I don't I wont be buying any sequels etc. I buy a lot of flight sims/games (girlfriend might think too many ;) ) over the last year and a half, and including 1946, I still think FSX (and the acceleration addon) is the best and most entertaining yet.

Which is an extra work for M:1C cockpit modelers...
And I don't think it's that easy to built 3D "click" area that must move with the different commands (like pitch lever for example) with different kind of assignable fonctions. It probably would take some non-negligible programmers time (once) + extra work for cockpit modelers.

In any case, when playing FSX, players use the mouse to control the command mostly on 2D-panels, and rarelly with the 3D-"virtual"-pits (just because it's a pain in the ass with the 3D-pits...; I know, I tried).... and you must remember that neither IL2, nor SoW have 2D-panels...

For myself and a lot of other IL2 players that will play BoB, We use the TIR from the start to the end, just like a "natural feature".... and imagine using the mouse to click commands in a 3D-pit which is constantly moving... a real nightmare...

I hav found the perfect solution for myself, which only need keyboard commands (interfaced with a virtual keyboard)....

http://www.edc-fr.net/LC_fichiers/console.jpg

Of course, it would be even better with a direct access to the commands and parameters through and improved "devicelink"

P.S. I forgot.... I also use a Hotas + rudders + TIR to handle everything without needing to type anything on the keyboard...

A hardware solution is surely ideal, but the problem is it's extraordinary price. Such a panel costs several hundred €, not everybody can or wants to spend that amount of money for his hobby.

In FSX the clickable VC works very well for me, I use it almost exclusively. I change view just with my joysticks hat-switch. Hitting the buttons is usually no problem, they are not that small. Most aircraft have additional pre defined fixed views available, that give me quick access to all relevant parts of the cockpit. By default the A key switches between them, if you're in the VC. No problem to start an engine in less than a minute. However I mostly fly classical single or small twin engine prop. planes, more advanced airliner cockpits might be something different.

Yes, the above solution is quite expensive (but that much compared for example to a modded Cougar)... but there are other solution wich also works and who are quite cheap (with a little hand work). I remember for example peoples using old keyboards, painting and re-labelling the keys. It can give a nice result.

Now try to click the VC commands with TIR active....

Right.... and that's something you don't have in IL2 and will not have in SoW (and that would cost extra work to do)

Blackshark clickable cockpit using a touchscreen:
That's what I call immersive!

http://www.leftside-limited.com/projects.html

I can certainly see the deal about limited resources. That's why i'm not demanding anything. I'm simply advocating it. ;)

I'll still buy the game anyway, heck, i'll buy a brand new PC just to be able to run the game when it's ready. That doesn't mean we shouldn't ask for some things if we do it in a nice manner.

As someone said before (i think robtek) and it's a very good point, clickpits and a bit more detail in the functions of each aircraft are not mutually exclusive. It's just that if a higher number of functions is modeled, it would be nice to have alternative control methods.

The only issue is the money issue to be honest. If BoB has an increased/more realistic pilot workload the amount of controls to bind to input devices will rise. I don't have a TIR, so i guess i'll be able to click the buttons just fine. If someone has a TIR and an entire panel of switches then he has no reason to complain, because he doesn't need to click anything anyway. If someone has a TIR but not an extra panel, he will have to use a HOTAS or the keyboard.

It's about options to suit every possible gamer, because let's face it, in the end this is not a gaming genre that gets massive attention. I doubt we can afford to be "elitist" (for lack of a better word, i'm not accusing anyone here) among ourselves.

Now if Maddox and co. can't do it in time, no problem. If it's as simple as EcoDragon says, the community will.

Maybe we could get a blank template text based file for each cockpit and do it ourselves. In order for this to work, it would have to start things out pretty simple, by only adding clickable switches and not movable throttles/sliders/trim.

For example, something like a conf.ini for instrument panels that will look like this

Just an idea here. The thing is that this would need a way to open the cockpit models in a 3d viewer/editor to obtain the correct coordinates, much like it's done with skins in IL2. I don't know if Maddox Games would like this, as it could potentially lead to radical modification of the cockpit panels.

But then again, it doesn't have to be that way, someone could come up with a dedicated cockpit viewer-only application that would provide the coordinates when you mouse over the switches (and if it does that much, i guess it can map the desired function directly to the clickspot in the cockpit, like a joystick profile manager utility).

I know all this takes time, but it's simple ideas like these that got IL2 going for so long. Did anyone of us know when we got hold of the first IL2:FB box about water=3? No, but the option was open in the code for someone to add it later on ;)

That's all i'm saying in the end. I hope we get a working sim first with some decent customization potential to use down the road, just like it was with IL2 but with a few new ideas thrown in the mix.