Well obviously the whole ground vehicle concept is for the Eastern front. The Luftwaffe and the VVS were tactical airforces and their original purpose was to support ground units.

If you want to simulate the Eastern front properlu you have to have the ground vehilces in the mix.

I'm guessing it will be as mentioned that you will have AI tanks with you and you give them instructions just like we are 'supposed' to have with radio commands for our AI wings.

I'm also guessing that mission builders can build AI tank battles and if you want you can jump into a tank just like we can do with aircraft, or you can just let the AI battle it out.

This could be interesting as it's going to encourage more divesity in the air as we'll have more people willing to get into ground pounding, and they'll need escort cover. So rather than dogfighting for the hell of it, air superiority will actually be the aim of the fighters so that the bombers and fighter bombers can get through and anhilate the objective.

You can say that we have this already but I reckon it's more enticing to players when they know that a vehicle may be manned by a human rather than AI. So you are more tempted to get into your Ju 87 or IL2 and go drop a few bombs on the guy! :-D

Pretty much what we have today with the spitII in place of the Tiger.
Reality teaches us everybody wants to fly the best plane.

Everyday business in IL2 too. CF in the air. What you want requires the players too change - it's not the games fault.

The thing with tanks and mobilized ground vehicles, is that they were in all theater's. Why assume that the only way to include tanks to game play is to have a tank battle. Being able to drive or man a gun in the ground vehicle, is the important part here. There are countless possibilities! Whether a gunner, or a staff car driver in a truck convoy, gunner on a supply train, rogue tank taking out whatever is put in his sights...just think "Halo":-P, flying above or on the ground in a tank, its all good!

You just described the average DF server in CoD AND old IL2. And yes even the FR servers like Warbcloud and Zeke_vs_Wildcat etc.

Maby controlling AI forces on the ground will be possible to, who knows

This. I think it's really cool to be there fighting in a tank whilst human aircraft try to bomb your tin can.

For me the only role a tank plays in CloD is bomb bait. A target for my plane, nothing more. If it is AI or some poor sod sits in it doesn't matter to me anyway. I will not play as a tanker, when I could fly a warbird. Simple as that.

And when the human tankers realize they are at the mercy of the IL2s, Stukas, JU-88s hopefully later on the Jugs, Typhoons and Tempests they will quit the game real fast. :-P

Do you actually play any FPS, or other, games with super short life expectancy?
My average LE in AA3 is around 80sec, k/d ~.7:1. Sux, yet I still like it.
Furthermore you should not expect the tanks to stand still and wait for you to bomb them.

@ swiss + baron

I know that my description also fits most DF servers, but that actually underscores my doubts about the possibility to incorporate ground vehicles. If only because of one basic fact (which nobody can discuss away and which no amount of wishful thinking can gloss over): The most successful advances by german Panzer Divisions were around 100 to 120 km per day. An aircraft makes that distance in perhaps twenty minutes (if we're dawdling, that is). There's a fundamental difference in scope when it comes to piloting as opposed to driving a tank and that difference makes for very different layouts of missions.

Frankly as one that will probably never sat in any ground vehicule in CoD unless I have to per mission design, I still think that devs are building here something cool that will certainly found its place in the gaming universe.

Regarding aerial bombing of tanks may I remind you that a specific 1944 US studies concluded that ionly 2 to 4% of bombs scored a direct hit ;)

One thing is for sure, the interaction btw grd player and flyers would be huge with dozen of sorties to claim a single kill.

"Tanks plinking" became a "reality" much more latter ;)

Yeah right! So easy, have you noticed how hard it is to spot a single vehicle/tank in CloD especially when you don't even know exactly where to look? I remember making a train busting mission in CloD where I put like 3 seperate trains with wagons in a certain area on the English countryside. After flying all the way from Calais in my Bf-110 and spent like 20 mins looking for any of those trains and didn't find anything even though I knew the approximate area where they were supposed to be.

Also, if you saw that video in the last Friday update you could hear the planes buzzing above from the ground. If I'm in a tank and hear that sound I'll be sure to drive under some trees and sit still, good luck spotting anything.;)