good to see DCS and luthier are already making good progress on their ww2 flightsim project
to obtain extra funding by using kickstarter is a good idea, but i really hope they concentrate on getting their initial game out the door first (the normandy map)
they have one huge advantage in this project,
DCS already provides a working flightsim environment for the main game elements that are usually very time consuming to develop. eg, the gfx and game engine, the physics of the flight models, ballistics for munitions, the ability to move ground troops/vehicles in a game environment, dynamic campaign, stable multiplayer netcode, etc... there is even already a p51 aircraft created by DCS, and a near finished fw190 soon to be released.
imho
DCS and luthier should focus on quickly creating a single new map (normandy) and integrate all the great DCS working elements that already exist: then add some new ww2 objects, use the already existing p51 and fw190 as flyable planes, add a few new AI aircraft (so external models only), and
quickly release their initial game. this will attract an initial group of customers/players that inject further funds, and create a working game environment for them to expand on. there are a large amount of DCS customers who have been asking for a ww2 flightsim expansion, and this is illustrated by the part of their customer base that was willing to buy a single ww2 aircraft (the p51) that didnt even have a ww2 environment for it to be used in.
the worst possible scenario right now is this "stretch goals" business (if i understood it correctly), where you get ever
bigger ideas that keep expanding and result in slipping time lines (as it did with SoW)
use the kickstarter funds to start creating a few additional aircraft (and a 2e map) that otherwise might take an additional 12 months to develop after the first game is released, yes, but
to use kickstarter to delay releasing the initial ww2 sim (which integrates all the working DCS element that already exist) i'd say is a big NO !! if luthier and DCS waste the huge advantage they already have right now by being able to use the already working DCS elements, you might as well bring out the singing fat lady right now.
a huge amount of goodwill was lost in the ww2 flightsim community by the ever slipping deadlines of SoW, and i dont think the bulk of the community is going to put up with lots of hype and promises of great things to come somewhere in the distant future, it would be a huge miscalculation for them to do so.