Hey guys,

I know, I'm a whore for flight sims.

I promised myself that I wouldn't buy the newest thing from those IC guys over in Russia...but after getting the email saying that the early release beta for "Battle Of Moscow" was available (and the prospect of flying the Ju-88, the Me-110, AND the P-40 came with it), I caved and hit the BUY button.

I got to spend about :45 in it before leaving for work, so I have no idea what the "Moscow" campaign is like, etc, but I did log a few minutes in the Junkers, the Messer and the Warhawk.

Here are a few sample screenies...

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The Ju-88:



Launching in the Junkers. The Luftwaffe thought of it as a "dive bomber", but I'm not sure I would want to be in a 70 degree dive in this bad boy! I have the "HD" and motion blur on in this shot (I turned if off later).

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The cockpit has amazing visibility! You can almost see too much. Remember, in this sim, you can fly as the pilot, then change to any of the gunners and the machine flies straight and level all by itself. In multiplayer, you can join the machine as a pilot  OR a gunner. The cockpit it NOT mouse clickable (like the stuff in DCS), but I'm not a huge nut about farting with mixtures, radiators, etc...I just want to hit "E", let the bastard start itself up and go kill something!

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I'm flying in a "Quick Mission" scenario that offers all sorts of ground targets. Here, I found a dirty, commie train that needs to die. You can move to the Bombardier's station, and level bomb the bastard, but what fun is that?

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Hehe...."Kaboom!"....You can see the "motion blur" in this shot. Within the sim, it looks MUCHO better than in a screenie...but I still prefer it off.

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Inbound to land. You can see that the gunners on the train blew off my rudder...no problemo...unless I lose an engine...then BIG PROBLEMO!

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The Me-110:



A really cool machine to fly. I've downloaded a user-made skin (the sim doesn't have the swastika....but skinners have taken care of that B.S.).

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More motion blur stuff...

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You can adjust the loadout to all sorts of fun. Here I have 12 X 250 kg bombs, plus the guns in the nose, and you can order the gunner to attack ground targets if you like.

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Commie train has to die! Fun shooting trains in this sim. You can poke holes in the locomotive, and see white steam plumes shooting out of the holes...just like in the WWII gun camera films!

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On the way home, I decided to shut down an engine and see how she flies on one motor (I setup my HOTAS Warthog throttle to allow for separate engines, mapped some toggles to "feather" the engine I had selected...it worked like a charm). Most people don't know, but we're taught in early multi-engine training (I got my multi-engine rating in a 1959 Cessna 310 while at the aviation college in Oklahoma in 1977...the old "Sky King" airplane for us old farts), but when you lose 50% of your engines, you actually lose almost 80% of your available thrust...due to drag, etc. Feathering the prop is HUGE...and this thing flew fine once you got that prop to stop in the feather position.

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I remember the first time I saw this for real (in that old Cessna 310 in college)....it's a bit disconcerting, but  you get used to it....hehe.

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Part of the key to a single engine landing is not throwing out all the other drag crap (flaps, gear, etc) until you're sure you have the runway made. Going around on one engine is  NOT a fun thing to do. We do it in the 757/767 on checkrides all the time, and it can get "interesting" in a heartbeat....

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Made it!!!! It's bier und brat time!

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The P-40:



I downloaded an AVG "Flying Tigers" skin....IMHO, I think it looks awesome!

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To FINALLY have a cockpit that's in English feels really good! If these asshats EVER get on to making the ETO Western Front stuff (P-38, P-47, P-51, Spit, Typhoon, etc., with the appropriate maps), then this could be a monsterously fun WWII thing!

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You can see that I've turned off the motion blur crap. Man is this a good looking machine....would LOVE to tangle with some Jap Ki-43s over Burma in her!


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The modelers did a magnificent job with all of these machines (you also get some new Migs, and some funky Italian machine...but who gives a crap about flying that weird stuff?          )

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I strafed a vehicle column and got my ass handed to me! Here's the "before" pic...

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And the "after"....lol.

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I get home from the road tomorrow...hope to log some time in BOM this next week....I"ll keep you guys updated.

Have a great day all.

Awesome pictures BBall...now I have to finish my build and get my "asshat" in gear...lol

I've got to get back into BoS. Pretty nice eye candy. thanks for the post!

Thanks guys.

Yep, Flyer, get that thing done, and get your ass back in the virtual skies! I'm 100% happy with my new build (with the help of Griff), and so far, it's taken everything I've thrown it's way.

Yeah Jav, it's a very good sim (not great IMHO, but very good). Our old LAN group here in the MSP area spent many years flying the legacy "IL-2 Sturmovik", and I can personally attest to many a LAN coop mission that was fun and challenging. That seems to be the one area where this needs to get better (again, just my humble opinion). The MP world is essentially a DF thing. I would LOVE to see more COOP stuff, but with the M.E. the way it is, it's a bear to make those kinds of missions (too bad really, the old IL-2 M.E. wasn't perfect, but it was easy to learn and easy to use...this one is neither).

Maybe someday. Until then, it's back to the SP world (mainly), and clearing the skies over Stalingrad (and Moscow) of the Red menace.

Why-oh-Why did I read this thread!  I'm just trying to get into the A/229 Huey thing then you toss this candy into the dish!  I 'spect I'll pick this one up too - against my better judgement!    Death approaches, I better git on the stick!
Thanks for the post - I've been considering pickin 'IL' up since 2006+/-.

Sorry bro. (as the old drug dealers used to say..."first time's free...I'll even do it with ya!"....at least that's what I HEARD they used to say...lol)

I logged a bit of time yesterday in the BOM SP Campaign, and I must say that I'm liking what I saw (for the most part...remember, it's a BETA, so it's got some issues).

IMHO, one of the coolest things about the missions I flew (two in the -110, and two in the "Freidrich" -109) is the sense of a "greater war" going on around you. There were LOTS of other machines flying around, doing their own A/I missions, and it was fun to see. I do use labels (I know, I know....that's blasphemy....I turn them on and off continually so I can have some S.A.)

On one of the -110 missions, I was tasked with taking out some Rooskie arty (I had three wingmen, and a flight of 4 -109s escorting me), and over the target area, a bunch of Red I-16s, P-40s showed up to tangle with us. As the fighters were doing their thing, a flight of IL-2 came bumbling into the area, and before I knew it, the entire sky was full of airplanes. Fun as hell...

The negatives seems to be that the A/I commands to my wingmen seem to be ignored (so what else is new in an SP world...right?), and I'm not sure if it's a bug or not (seems like it has to be), but when you run out of MG ammo, your "other" gun (cannon, other cal MG, etc) seems to become inert... Kind of a pain in the ass...

Plan to log more time in the campaign in the coming days....I'll have more later...

Il2 BOS (didn't try moskow) is good looking and fun. I really enjoy to be gunner and enjoy the scenery while scanning. Downside, nothing clickable in the cockpit and you start your plane by pressing a button on the keyboard. If you manage to not get crazy on taxiing you good to go