Italy folder campaign

[sniperton]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

... there is enough Italian equipment to create some decent campaigns.

The main problem is the lack of good maps for North Africa, Southern Italy and Greece.

I agree, but there's another problem here. The Il-2 game is made to recreate aerial battles fought by both parties with similarly advanced equipment, while the Italian OOB consisted of many types still belonging to the Spanish Civil War era. Many of them are not modelled in game (Ba.65, Ca.310, Ca.13X, Ro-37), and probably with good reason: they would be bare cannon-fodder even for 2nd line British fighters.

I experimented quite a lot with creating a proper Italian DCG campaign in the Med without the Germans in the first scenarios. A large Italian numerical advantage was needed to keep the play balance. Medium bombers and the Macchi fighter are adequate crates, but biplane Falcos and Freccias do lack the horse- and firepower to effectively intercept fast Blenheims and/or robust Beauforts. Any attempt at using Italian light bombers (represented by hack SBs) ended in a catastophe.

In RL, even 2nd line planes had their role, which they fulfilled with more or less success, but the compressed maps of present-day Il-2 do not make it easy to separate the paralel realms of air war. Il-2 is not a hide and seek game. We would need larger maps, reconnaissance features, triggers and/or a decision-making air control to widen the scope of the game in that direction.