Some new official info from ubi forums

[Acid]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

Nevertheless, when the dynamic campaign is ready it would be a cool feature to be able to select the desired aircraft density.

If there is one, might not be for awhile, this game needs a dynamic campaign system along with a good pilot career mode, similar to what there adding to rise of flight.

[Tacoma74]

Originally Posted by philip.ed

I understood that part; hence me feeling that as a base-line it was still quite low (IMH), and that I hoped the user could easily increase this

Well as with most things to do with this sim, given time this will be something to be increased/included down the road. I can't even imagine how powerful hardware will be in a couple years. Just gotta stay optimistic for now.

Oh yeah,

I can't wait to see 100 bombers in action.

[addman]

Although we probably won't see hundreds of planes in the air at the same time on a mid-range machine we can still create missions with triggers. Let's say a formation of 30-40 bombers approaches, your squadron shoots down about 50% of them -such kill rates were rather uncommon though- the loss of a certain amount of planes then triggers a second wave of bombers which you are vectored to by ground control. Now, I don't know if this will be possible but if that's the case then we might no be able to have huge single formations but several "smaller" ones in portions. That happened quite often, the luftwaffe sent out several "smaller" bomber formations against different targets to screw up the RAF fighter command as much as possible. Also they sent formations in delay so one came in first and maybe 20-30 mins after that a new one would come in so that the RAF fighters wouldn't have enough time to land and refuel/arm. Super large formations weren't as common as many would like to believe. Personally I don't care so much for hundreds of planes in the air at the same time, sure it looks fantastic but I wouldn't be able to shoot down more than a couple anyway

[The Kraken]

Originally Posted by addman

Although we probably won't see hundreds of planes in the air at the same time on a mid-range machine we can still create missions with triggers. Let's say a formation of 30-40 bombers approaches, your squadron shoots down about 50% of them -such kill rates were rather uncommon though- the loss of a certain amount of planes then triggers a second wave of bombers which you are vectored to by ground control. Now, I don't know if this will be possible but if that's the case then we might no be able to have huge single formations but several "smaller" ones in portions. That happened quite often, the luftwaffe sent out several "smaller" bomber formations against different targets to screw up the RAF fighter command as much as possible. Also they sent formations in delay so one came in first and maybe 20-30 mins after that a new one would come in so that the RAF fighters wouldn't have enough time to land and refuel/arm. Super large formations weren't as common as many would like to believe. Personally I don't care so much for hundreds of planes in the air at the same time, sure it looks fantastic but I wouldn't be able to shoot down more than a couple anyway

You can use triggers to spawn planes on random paths in case the player gets close, which reduces the overall amount of planes that show up in the mission at the same time. Not the best approach though if radar and ground vectoring are implemented. But triggering waves of new enemies when the first wave is shot down? Sounds closer to Space Invaders than a realistic mission setup...

Anyway it's all speculation until we know how many planes a high-end CPU can cope with. For sure not all BoB missions were multi-wave attacks with several hundred bombers. But being tasked with attacking a lone recon flight on September 15 would be a bit strange

[Chivas]

Originally Posted by addman

Although we probably won't see hundreds of planes in the air at the same time on a mid-range machine we can still create missions with triggers. Let's say a formation of 30-40 bombers approaches, your squadron shoots down about 50% of them -such kill rates were rather uncommon though- the loss of a certain amount of planes then triggers a second wave of bombers which you are vectored to by ground control. Now, I don't know if this will be possible but if that's the case then we might no be able to have huge single formations but several "smaller" ones in portions. That happened quite often, the luftwaffe sent out several "smaller" bomber formations against different targets to screw up the RAF fighter command as much as possible. Also they sent formations in delay so one came in first and maybe 20-30 mins after that a new one would come in so that the RAF fighters wouldn't have enough time to land and refuel/arm. Super large formations weren't as common as many would like to believe. Personally I don't care so much for hundreds of planes in the air at the same time, sure it looks fantastic but I wouldn't be able to shoot down more than a couple anyway

Good idea....especially if there is a refuel and rearm option where you could catch the some of the later enemy formations going to or returning from target.

[Chivas]

Originally Posted by philip.ed

I understood that part; hence me feeling that as a base-line it was still quite low (IMHO), and that I hoped the user could easily increase this

I have to admit I figured the base line would be much higher. I knew the developers would be having frame rate issues with all the highly detail content, but didn't think it would be this bad. The good news is it can only get better. I will have a fairly high end system to allow for more bombers, but really don't care that much, as we will be lucky to shoot more than one or two down. It was nice to see hundreds of bombers in the sky but that view doesn't last that long before your more than busy with the few bombers and fighters around you to notice anymore.

[Feathered_IV]

Originally Posted by philip.ed

A bomber-formation of 21? I understand if the user can increase this, but that is just pathetic.

I agree. Imagine Adler Tag as a pissy little skirmish.
Over the last couple of weeks I've seen every feature I've been hoping for is actually going to be absent. Cliffs of Dover is looking like nothing more than Il-2 with a new pair of tits.

[Avimimus]

Inconstant wimps

Seriously guys, if our fantasies have run wild for the past half-decade and we are disappointed we need to take some responsibility for this.

The sim will be better than Il-2. It will be the most detailed WWII sim in history. It will have much higher standards than any commercially oriented developer could produce. It will be imperfect. It will have limits. It will have elements which don't feel right.

Part of it is taking it like an adult - not seeing the glass as 10% empty.

Although I must say that I was really looking forward to the Yaks and the La-7, but could never get into these aircraft in Il-2. Also, Oleg really neglected ground attack after the initial release (buildings, trains are all too vulnerable, rockets had laser like accuracy, ships had simplistic damage models). Plus, you can't fly high enough for the contrails to work (despite contrails being added as feature and heavily advertised).

I could go on - but I eventually learned to look at the positives and to respect Oleg's dedication. He isn't perfect, but he is a cathedral builder and a sim pilot.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by philip.ed

A bomber-formation of 21? I understand if the user can increase this, but that is just pathetic. I hope there is an easy way for the user to select formation sizes in order to increase them for the campaign.
I was hoping, with the improvement in technology, that it would be possible to have huge formation sizes like in BoB2. Of course, this could all change, but I was hoping for a larger size than this as a baseline.

Agreed, a bit underwhelming. User made will campaigns will fix it, to bad most of us wont be able to run it for a year or two (or maby we can, time will tell)

At least we know its due to PC restrictions and not the game itself.

Would be intresting to know what the maximum numbers are as it stands now. In game "if pc isnt an issue" kind of thing.