Originally Posted by
PhilHL
Hello Oleg Maddox!
I have a question for you. The damaged planes look very similar to the ones in IL-2 (lot of Alpha-Channel use). I have seen many very good damage models in other games which look much better as on your screenshots. For example many racing games. or the damage model of rise of flight, i knew your answer, but SOW will be released way after ROF and it should be better in my eyes.
Is the damage model in SOW again relatively simple as in IL-2? Like having tree different damage models for every part of the plane and if this particular part is hit by bullets it will always look the same?
I have the feeling, also in other new games that some parts are not really beeing improved. More poygons, highter res of textures and more effects.. yeah thats nice, but thats not a game mechanics improvement.
Originally Posted by
Avimimus
Hi, as Luthier is off for the weekend and Oleg is on vacation I thought I'd pass on what I've gleaned.
The damage model won't include the type of warping/bending seen in Rise of Flight. WWII aircraft tended to be made out of metal cantilever structures which would snap and fragment before they would bend (in most cases) and it wasn't felt to be worth the effort (last I heard anyway). However, the new model will include structural weaknesses and failures. So damaged aircraft may break up in flight some time after being damaged (or even after the combat has ended) depending on how sharply they turn etc. This is similar to the modeling in Rise of Flight. The damage model is based on a system similar to that used in Il-2, but more detailed. The main advance is much more detail to internal modeling (eg. more parts to the engine, more complex engine failures). Oleg also seems to have stated that it will include modeling of wing spars - so the type of unpredictable damage seen in Rise of Flight, where a luck shot can sever a wing is possible. Finally, bullet holes will appear at the exact points where machine-gun bullets hit. However, damage from cannon shots will be much like in Il-2 and always appear in the same spot (the reason is that this can allow much more realistic detailing by Oleg's artists then any automatic system could)
As a basic principle I wouldn't expect radical differences in art or style from Il-2 (it is after all, being made by the same people). However, expect a lot of very interesting surprises and very real improvements to AI, weather, ground target details and many other areas. The sim will also allow much more end user modification - so terrains, smoke, new aircraft etc. can be made.