Today’s Dev Blog is entirely devoted to the upcoming game version which goes straight to Early Access. But some important news comes first. The Early Access servers will be open 24/7 starting this week. Two weeks of challenging tests and daring debugging sessions showed us that we can handle it now and you can actually play it. Game and specifically multiplayer access will be permanent with exceptions for short updates or maintenance breaks. The number of MP servers will remain limited for some more time - we still may need stress tests which are only possible while the number of servers is limited. However, one extra server has been started earlier this week - it’s the Duel Server with a proper duel mission running on it. By the way, thanks again to those in the community who helped make this community request a reality.
Today we give you the Pe-2, the first two-engine aircraft in the project. I bet this is something you’ve been looking forward to, because there’re so many bomber fans on our forums. The plane is pretty much complete, but the bomb sight is not ready yet and it will be added later. Note that it shouldn’t stop you from using it as a dive bomber which the Pe-2 was. Of course, the Peshka will be offered with all her unlocks available. It will also be put into multiplayer missions, so get ready to gather your own crew including navigator and radio-operator.
Please, read more on our forum.
This has been quite a hardworking week, but also a useful and important one. First of all I’d like you to pay attention to the site maintenance earlier today. We’ve added an improved customer support helpdesk. All answers to your frequently asked questions have been gathered here, and you’ll be able to submit your own ticket as well so we could help to resolve your issue ASAP.
As it was said on Wednesday, we present you the multicrew MP feature today. This means that you won’t be alone in you IL-2 or Stuka anymore, and your trusty friend – is a real person, not AI who will be protecting your six o’clock. Note for the future: turret guns in BOS are as effective against your own plane as they are against the enemies. So it’s wise to be picky when choosing a fellow traveller. Speaking of gameplay, multi-crew works pretty simply and intuitively: you enter a server, look at the mission map and choose to spawn in somebody’s plane as a crew member.
First of all, a couple of words about the recent 17th session of Early Access. Thanks a lot once again to everyone for taking part in that very first test of multiplayer over a wide audience. The test was successful, data was gathered, conclusions were made and new goals appointed. We’ve been keeping an eye on the entire test and we’re fully aware how smooth it was (or was not) for all of you. Technical issues are being cared for, and you know, it’s great for the whole team to work knowing that the servers were full on the day one of the MP test. Which is an optimistic event, isn’t it?
The past week hasn’t brought any changes to the early access version, and you’re going to have the same one for at least one more week. We need to fix the known bugs first and get ourselves onto some new ones second. About the Yak-1 in multiplayer - well wait until the Bf 109 G-2 enters the scene, since we’ve settled a tradition to release planes in pairs. LOFT and ZAK are ready to answer your questions about the upcoming plans for IL2BOS next week in a new official live stream. Next Wednesday you’ll see Pe-2 in its grace and hear some of our comments about this first bomber in the game.
And this time we give you the Quick Mission Builder for Early Access. Now it is time for you to build your own gameplay: you may start exploring faraway corners of the map, or try any time of the day, or play a combat scenario you want most. We hope you’ll find its interface easy enough to use.
Read the full dev blog and discuss it on the forum
As we stated last week, the key element of this early access session is multiplayer. We tried to do as much as we could to make this test successful and to let you not only feel involved in the project development, but also enjoy the process.
Of course, multiplayer is different from the single player experience that you’ve already had because live players are just not like the bots. On the one hand, players make mistakes and get distracted more often than AI. On the other hand, true aces are born in these battles and they can turn dogfights into some sort of deadly sport as if a real life was at stake. Kill or be killed! Well, you can become such a sportsman or join other pilots and find yourself in another role – it’s up to you. Anyway, the game modes are not yet complete, there’re only a few tips and helpers that can assist you. So you are very welcome to use your imagination for your entertainment.
We will open 4 servers. 2 of them will be hosted in the Americas, and 2 more will be placed in Europe. So, both main groups of players will be able to play with minimal latency.
For more details about the 17th week of early access, please, visit our forum.
Well, this weekend will not go as we planned. We are not ready for a public test of multiplayer scheduled for today. This was a hard decision, which made only an hour ago, and we had to go through intense debate to get to it. But we're sure that such test would have been useless for us and wouldn't be enjoyable for you. Some of connections inside the project must be properly tested. At the same time, the fresh changes and updates may not only influence the multiplayer mode itself but also may lead to failures of the early access version, including broken login procedures, content unavailability, etc.. Today's version has not been tested yet, and we can't take such a big risk. It's even bigger than with weekly published early access builds, and you trust me here - that risk is always high. Thus, I decided to postpone the public multiplayer test for 1 more week minimum. We'll devote all that time to testing and quality assurance.
As a substitution of the delayed MP test, we'll unlock Yak-1. It's not how we planned to release it as well, it's too early for it but luckily we can afford that now. Some of you may be extremely disappointed, some - slightly upset and others may be delighted with this new addition to the early access - a whole new plane, and a good one, I might add. Game access will be granted at usual time later today. Thanks a lot for your support and understanding. Looks like we'll need to work even harder to speed up development of this module. Well, hardships harden the character.
You can discuss the news in this thread.
