Hellshade 110 Posted November 17, 2017 It was announced on the official IL2 Sturmovik forums by Jason that they are taking the first steps towards (hopefully) recreating RoF within the much newer BOX engine. It will be called "Flying Circus Volume 1" I, for one, am very excited to hear this even though the first stage is essentially going to be basically 10 planes on a map with no career or campaign mode attached. What are your thoughts? Full text pasted below: Flying Circus – Volume I Flying Circus will finally give our loyal and patient Rise of Flight customers a new way forward into the future! Our eventual goal is to essentially re-build ROF inside of the Sturmovik universe and give WWI all the latest technology like VR, 64bit, DX11 and improved visuals. We will start by focusing on re-furbishing ten of our existing WWI airplanes and providing a partial map of France to fly and fight over. Subsequent Flying Circus products will further expand content and we’ll work to integrate Flying Circus into our Campaign and Career systems over time. Volume I is merely the first important step and it will be a lot of fun! If Flying Circus proves popular we can eventually fire up the Great War assembly line and break out the canvas and timber once again to make some new crates! Guynmere, Fonck, Coppens, McCudden, Bishop, Rickenbacker and von Richtofen shall fly again 100 years later! FlyingCircus_Artwork_SPAD_EN.jpg Planned to be Included in Flying Circus – Volume I Flyable Aircraft and Content (Tentative List): - SPAD 13 C.1 - Sopwith Dolphin - Sopwith Camel - RAF S.E.5a - Bristol Fighter - Albatros D.Va - Fokker Dr.1 - Fokker DVII - Pfalz D.IIIa - Halberstadt CL.II - France map (100 x 100km Approx.) - Several airfields, cities, towns and villages. Summer textures are planned - No Man’s Land - Entente and Central Powers Ground Units and Scenery. Pre-Orders for Flying Circus will be available sometime first half of 2018 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hauksbee 103 Posted November 17, 2017 Certainly seems promising. I'd buy a copy just to support the project. It's been sad watching a beautiful flight sim like ROF slowly die from neglect. 2x My 'cup of tea' seeing as I've always been a Quick Combat pilot. Never have flown Campaigns. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellshade 110 Posted November 17, 2017 34 minutes ago, Hauksbee said: Certainly seems promising. I'd buy a copy just to support the project. It's been sad watching a beautiful flight sim like ROF slowly die from neglect. Indeed. My only concern is if they haven't upgraded the AI since RoF. No matter how 64 bit, DX11ish the graphics and performance is, if it's the same old "Split S to the deck and then turn circles until shot down" AI routine, it will be boring as hell. Here's hoping it isn't just the graphics engine that's been upgraded. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellshade 110 Posted November 17, 2017 I have been looking at some of the IL2 Battle of Kuban videos and I have to say the scenery doesn't look sterile anymore like it did in RoF and the eye candy in general is certainly taken up several notches. But I can only seem to find MP videos. Doesn't seem like - for whatever reason - people are capturing video of the Career / Campaign mods. Hopefully that's not a sign of the quality of the AI. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JFM 18 Posted November 22, 2017 Since we're speculating, maybe they're just waiting to video SP until the massive campaign upgrade arrives in December? The one that brings it up to the ROF-style SP career. That's what I'm waiting for. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted November 27, 2017 On 17.11.2017 at 7:39 PM, Hellshade said: I have been looking at some of the IL2 Battle of Kuban videos... Afaik, "Battle of Kuban" is not even released yet, Hellshade. What you have seen must be videos which were made in MULTIPLAYER servers of "Battle of Stalingrad", where they have a Kuban map already. As for "FLYING CIRCUS": I see the old stupid approach happening again here. There are many late war aircraft in the first set, but no Albatros D.II or D.III, or D.H. 2 or Sopwith Pup, which were elementary. The other aircraft will later be sold to us - again - which raises the price for such a sim quite a lot, if you want to have several them. When the new sim is more or less the old sim in "new clothing" and with new landscape, then such a sales policy is - IMHO - pretty cheeky. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellshade 110 Posted November 28, 2017 (edited) Olham, No doubt it's a minimalist approach. The things I find exciting about it though are that in the 64 bit, DX11 engine, they will be able to put a lot more assets in the air than before, for the potential to create a good dynamic single player campaign. Of course, a ton more planes, vastly improved AI and a lot of historical research also needs to be done before that is a real possibility, but at least its a first step. The other thing I find exciting is I hope there will be a "halo" effect for WOFF UE. If 777 is advertising Flying Circus as one of it's BoX "options", then people who fly it and don't like it might start doing some Google searches for a better SP WWI Campaign sim. I believe that happened plenty of times with RoF so it may well happen again. Edited November 28, 2017 by Hellshade Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeanba 1,920 Posted November 28, 2017 It is good to see that Jason's team is going back to wwI, but the planeset does not interest me I wish I had a "Battle Of Verdun" planeset, with Nieuport 11/16, french early two-seater, german Fokker EIII, Albatros CIII ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZiggyZiggyStar 0 Posted November 30, 2017 The most exciting thing about Flying Circus is the VR support. With VR you are in the cockpit. (You might even really need to wear the silk scarf!) Once you have played in VR, there is no going back. I can't play ROF or WOFF now, not until VR is implemented. I can't wait. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hauksbee 103 Posted November 30, 2017 On 11/27/2017 at 5:24 PM, Olham said: Afaik, "Battle of Kuban" is not even released yet, Hellshade. What you have seen must be videos which were made in MULTIPLAYER servers of "Battle of Stalingrad", where they have a Kuban map already. What you're seeing is the "Pre-Release Battle of Kuban Premium". If you buy that package, you can have it now. I just bought "Battle of Stalingrad". I was hoping to see the Henschel-129 in there, but, no go. Neither is the Junkers-52 though it is available in the "Collectors Planes". I posted a querry on BOS Forum and the word is that the Henschel (and BOK) will be available early next year. One guy even said "next month". BOK Premium is still available and I think I'll go for it. It will feel odd not having an extra wing over my head. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted November 30, 2017 7 hours ago, Hauksbee said: I was hoping to see the Henschel-129 in there, but, no go. The Henschel is announced for "Battle of Kuban". But careful! As fa as I could see, "Battle of Kuban" can already be pre-purchased - but it is NOT available yet. At least not in Germany. Quote It will feel odd not having an extra wing over my head. Not only that. The whole cockpit view feels terrible, compared to the vision on the Albatros! Secondly, everything happens in double speed - you may feel like Charly Chaplin - almost dizzy! Here are 2 videos I made in IL-2 "Battle of Stalingrad" (Kuban map on a MULTIPLAYER server...) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hauksbee 103 Posted November 30, 2017 Olham: was it you that said, that in Germany, it was always "Bf-109", never "Me-109"? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted November 30, 2017 3 hours ago, Hauksbee said: Olham: was it you that said, that in Germany, it was always "Bf-109", never "Me-109"? Well, the confusion about the fighter series correct name came from a change of the company name. Here is WIKI about it: "It was commonly called the Me 109, most often by Allied aircrew and even among the German aces themselves, even though this was not the official German designation. The designation "Messerschmitt Bf 109" was issued by the Ministry of Aviation (German: Reichsluftfahrtministerium) and represents the firm that originally built them, the "Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW - "Bavarian Aircraft Works"). The confusion arises because design work began in 1934 at the BFW firm and, as was customary, the model was designated by the prefix Bf. On July 11, 1938 the company was renamed Messerschmitt AG due to Willy Messerschmitt becoming its new owner, and the prefix Me was applied to all new models after that date, whilst existing types retained their Bf prefix." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hauksbee 103 Posted December 1, 2017 On 11/30/2017 at 10:26 AM, Olham said: The confusion arises because design work began in 1934 at the BFW firm and, as was customary, the model was designated by the prefix Bf.On July 11, 1938 the company was renamed Messerschmitt AG due to Willy Messerschmitt becoming its new owner, and the prefix Me was applied to all new models after that date, whilst existing types retained their Bf prefix." Thanks, mate. That was my understanding: It was "Bf" until Willy took over the company. By the way...nice dogfights. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted December 1, 2017 6 hours ago, Hauksbee said: By the way...nice dogfights. Thanks, Hauksbee! How does it feel for an American to hear the Russian national anthem, now that you seem kind of arch enemies? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hauksbee 103 Posted December 2, 2017 21 hours ago, Olham said: Thanks, Hauksbee! How does it feel for an American to hear the Russian national anthem, now that you seem kind of arch enemies? Good question. Unfortunately, one I can't answer. I know the Soviet Union chose "The International" as their anthem. (On reflection, it dawns on me that you used it in Video #1. A pretty good, stirring piece of music.) I have no idea what the modern Russian state uses. In any event, I don't think it would bother anyone. Americans aren't touchy about such things. Putin is being aggressive these days, but it's nothing like the old days of Stalin/Krushchev/Breznevh. Speaking of National Anthems, does Germany still use "Deutchland uber alles", or did the National Socialists ruin that for you? ps: After buying "Battle of Stalingrad", I went and bought "Battle of Kuban". (Gotta get that Hs-129!) I'll probably buy "Battle of Bodenplatte" when it releases. Recently, I have developed a lust for a P-38. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted December 3, 2017 4 hours ago, Hauksbee said: I know the Soviet Union chose "The International" as their anthem. That was their anthem only until 1944. After that, this anthem which I used in the video, was introduced. And, with a changed text, is again used for the nowadays' Russian Federation. Quote Speaking of National Anthems, does Germany still use "Deutchland uber alles", or did the National Socialists ruin that for you? Yes, we sing this verse still today. One verse was dropped tough, which described the old frontiers of Germany, which shrunk after WW2. And yes - the Nazi regime DID ruin a lot of the feelings, with which we would sing our anthem. Any other nation is singing their national anthem with much more pride than we Germans do. Quote Putin is being aggressive these days, but it's nothing like the old days of Stalin/Krushchev/Breznevh. Well, my honest opinion is, that the US politics are often much more aggresive than Putin ever was. A lot of any Russian moves are getting very much distorted in Western media. For example, Russia did not "occupy" the Crimean pininsula. They had always been there - it is their Black Sea Naval base. They didn't have to occupy it - the majorityof the Eastern Ucraine people have stronger relations to Russia, than to far away "western" Kiew. But that won't get told on TV. While the American interests are always being understood by our anchormen, the Russian interests are not even regarded. But we are getting on the thin ice of politics here, and I don't want to start a looong debate about all that. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellshade 110 Posted May 9, 2018 Has anyone heard anymore about updates on Flying Circus? A release date, expected release time frame, changes to aircraft lineup? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeanba 1,920 Posted May 9, 2018 Nothing They are working on Battle Of Bodenplatte first ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellshade 110 Posted May 9, 2018 Jeanba, Their new Digital Warefare engine certainly looks visually amazing. It's too bad OBD couldn't move WOFF UE into that engine. It'll never happen, of course, for both financial and personality reasons...(and probably even technical reasons) but the quality of those visuals matched with the deep SP campaign and historical reverence of WOFF UE and then adding in Multiplayer on top of it...would probably be the perfect trifecta for getting people back into WWI Flight sims. /sigh. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeanba 1,920 Posted May 9, 2018 (edited) 38 minutes ago, Hellshade said: Jeanba, Their new Digital Warefare engine certainly looks visually amazing. It's too bad OBD couldn't move WOFF UE into that engine. It'll never happen, of course, for both financial and personality reasons...(and probably even technical reasons) but the quality of those visuals matched with the deep SP campaign and historical reverence of WOFF UE and then adding in Multiplayer on top of it...would probably be the perfect trifecta for getting people back into WWI Flight sims. /sigh. Indeed, for the moment, I am very happy with RoF, WoFF and FE2. The planeset of flying circus does not interest me as I am mostly interested in French vs German air battles As a side note, I am reading this book : It is actually a sum of reports of the French Army levels and Army Corps level HQ on the use of air power during "Nivelle Offensive" in April 1917 to Malmaison Battle (September 1917 ?). Very interesting as it explains that though the French Air Force was not perfect at this time, its main reason for failure was that the offensive preparation started at bad weather with lot of consequences : - delay in arrival of Fighter Squadrons - losses and damages by accident -efficiency of artillery spotting and reconnaissance It is interesting to read that the German used jamming against artillery spotting missions. The French air force were ok in terms of fighters (most of them were Spads), but for 2-seaters, they still had Caudron G4 and Farman F40, which were outdated. They also used Salmson Moisneaux, but they were unreliable. The Caudron R4 was very dangerous against potential attackers. Tactically, the main problem was that the 2-seaters operated singly and at this time, it was rated as very difficult to coordinate escort operations (differences in performances of the planes, lack of communication ...), having 2 two-seaters or more (one performing the mission, the other providing close protection), as did the german was better. A single plane mission meant that whenever it was involved in combat (and even victorious), the 2 seater had to give up the mission. Only Army levels missions were given close escort and in this case, they were usually "safe" The french method of protection was actually similar "sweep" or "cap" : it consisted in having fighters patrolling a sector and attacking any ennemy plane especially those attacking 2 seaters "at work". Edited May 9, 2018 by jeanba 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
