Talk about how to include the tanks gameplay

[Les]

I can imagine at least two combined-arms mission types, with four objectives to choose from, that could make use of tanks or other ground vehicles or artillery.

1. Attack and capture a position.

2. Defend and maintain control over a position.


3. Get from point A to point B.

4. Stop opposition from getting from point A to point B.


With the current state of the AI control capabilities (and come to think of it, even if they were perfected), these game-modes would be most playable in some kind of co-op mode with re-spawn available.

Each team would have enough tank and plane slots to allow the players to make a tactical decision about what ratio of planes to tanks (or other vehicles or artillery) they want to use.

The maps would be large enough to force the planes to have to fly from distant spawn points, so they don't spawn directly over the tanks or the objective being fought over. But the tanks would spawn closer to the objective so they don't have to drive for too long and so the tanks and planes will converge roughly in the same area.

I don't see map-balance issues being any more difficult to achieve than with any other kind of game-play. If the map is well made and you make the wrong choices as a team, or don't work together to achieve the map objective, you lose, nothing new there.

Having played ground attack missions in the original IL-2 series (online and offline), and having played territory-capture tanking maps in the original Red Orchestra game, I think the inclusion of tanks and other vehicles and playable artillery in the new IL-2 series opens up the potential for some of the most engaging ground and air combat ever.

And no, on a macro scale, I doubt we'll have the player numbers to recreate any historical scenarios, but on a micro scale, from the point of view of the tank driver or pilot who has a specific limited mission to accomplish, I think the potential is there to show very realistically how difficult it would have been to have done what they did in real life.

Ground pounding is hard and requires skill, and with human opposition in the air with you, it's even harder. Intercepting ground pounders is also difficult, especially if they have escorts.

Taking and holding (and/or defending) territory in a tank is also difficult, especially against human players. It's a tactical affair, even when it gets down to one on one. Having to consider the possibility the opposition might get through and attack you from above adds a whole other level to your tactical considerations.

I do think though the potential is there for the ground aspect of the game to become the best of it's kind and draw in new players to the IL-2 series.

I think if the developers cover a few certain basics in the implementation of ground vehicles and artillery it will be up to the players to make of it what they will. It may turn out people find the tanking or ground-pounding too hard to do with realistic settings, but if using easier settings helps overcome limits of the computer-gaming medium itself, so be it.

The devs may also have to introduce some new game features though, in order to get planes and ground vehicles working together properly. I'm thinking along the lines of new map features (to help with capturing territory etc.) and new re-spawn features (giving, for example, the ground-pounders an option to re-arm at a closer base than the one they would spawn from at the start or if they were destroyed). That's all to be seen though.

To be honest, I have no expectation that the potential of the game will be fully realized, on the ground or in the air, but only because I don't want those expectations to lead to dissappointment. I'll definitely keep an eye on developments though, and support the team in their efforts to fix and refine and add new features to the sim, because you never know, as long as they keep trying they just might succeed.