Hello Everyone,

A quick update on all that we are working on at the moment. We are preparing version 4.703 for release for middle of next week. Assuming, of course, no last-minute show stoppers arise.

Update 4.703 will include three large planes – the JU 88 C-6, Gotha G.V. and Handley Page O/400. This brings some heavier metal to BON and some err… heavier lumber to FC2 I guess you could say. 

The Gotha, as it was in ROF is a handful to fly. See if you can master it! The Sopwith Tripe is also entering its later stage of development and will be in our next update.

4.703 also includes 40+ smaller tweaks and improvements including items such as:

• New sky technology and improvements to lighting. Should see a reduction in overall blue tint.
• Improvements to the appearance and lighting of snowy landscapes.
• The position of heavenly bodies now depends not only on time and date, but also on geographic coordinates (including when moving around the map).
• Quick Mission GUI now includes the ability to set any time of day with clues as to Sunrise, Daylight, Sunset and Night-time scenes.
• AI with mixed cannon and machine gun armaments shoot more accurately.
• Fix to the landing lights that are visible from far away issue.
• Added the Ju-88 C-6 to Stalingrad Career mode with III./KG76 and for the Battle of Kuban 7.(Eis)/KG 51 and 9./KG 55.
• Squadrons II./JG 3 and II./KG 76 for (Battle of Moscow and Battle of Stalingrad) moved from AI to player controllable.

After much research and bug chasing, our engineers discovered clear issues with our modeling of some aspects of the Bf-109 airframe, which in some situations made their performance quite unrealistic. So, we have made some changes to most Bf-109 variants relating to the over-modeling of propeller performance and aerodynamics. Version 4.703 will include the following changes.

• On all Bf-109 aircraft (except for the E-7) the aerodynamic characteristics of the propeller have been changed to eliminate the unrealistic behavior of the aircraft in the wake of the propeller and the possibility of "hovering on the propeller". The airframe aerodynamics of these aircraft has also been corrected so that the maximum speed, rate of climb, turn time, and acceleration time better corresponded to the reference values.
• On all Bf-109 aircraft (except for the E-7) the effectiveness of the ailerons at high speeds has been changed (increased) (the "clamping" of the ailerons has been reduced at speeds over 400 km/h).

The goal was to be more accurate overall, so in some cases speeds may be bit lower at sea level, but higher at rated altitudes and climb-rate may be a bit slower. But in some cases, turns may be quicker, but acceleration a little slower.  As usual, we have used a mix of German and Soviet sources to try to get a more accurate picture.

Also, Fuel System work has progressed to a late stage and has been in Beta testing, but the Beta testers continue to find issues that need addressing, so work continues. Its very frustrating, but we continue to work on it.

And before we sign off for the week, here are a few pics of the Churchill Mk.IV tank being tested and tweaked in our virtual proving grounds.

We hope you will like version 4.703.