IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad News

Hello, comrades!

Today, we will continue the discussion about the new module, "Odessa and Leningrad. Siege and Liberation," which Daniel and Viktor recently discussed in a Dev Brief:

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We plan to open pre-orders and early access to the new module as early as next week.

As you know, the module will include two maps, "Odessa" and "Gulf of Finland," which were created by teams from the respective locations. A small group of enthusiasts from Odessa and Mariupol is working on the Odessa map, and a group of Finnish enthusiasts is working on the Gulf of Finland map. The latter group has set itself the goal of reproducing that region during World War II. We assisted both groups in the development process, but they came up with the idea, took the initiative, and did most of the work.

We decided to accompany both maps with two stages of a pilot's career mode, in keeping with the name of this module. The first stage recounts the heroic defense of Odessa and Leningrad in 1941, and the second stage recounts the liberation of these "hero cities" in 1944. Incidentally, "hero cities" is not just a figure of speech, but an official title given to such cities by a state decree in 1965, 60 years ago. These stages of a pilot's career will cover significant periods. For Odessa, they are June–October 1941 and April–August 1944. For Leningrad, they are September 1941–April 1942 and January–September 1944. Combined, they will comprise the longest career mode of any World War II module; only the 1916–1918 aviator career is longer.

Siege and Liberation will feature eight new planes, four for each period of the war. Three of these aircraft are brand new and designed from scratch, while two are significant modifications of earlier aircraft. The remaining three will not differ significantly in terms of flight characteristics, but their visual quality will greatly surpass that of the prototypes. We discussed the characteristics of these planes in detail in Dev Diary #369, and today, we can show new screenshots demonstrating our progress on these aircraft.

The Siege and Liberation pre-order and early access program will progress as follows.

[h3]End of spring[/h3]
In a few days, the program will launch. You will have early access to the Odessa map and the I-153 and LaGG-3 Series 4 planes.


[h3]End of Summer
[/h3]Early access to the Yak-3 series 9 and the Yak-1 series 23.


[h3]First half of Fall
[/h3]Early access to the Bf 109 E-4 and Ju 87 D-5 aircraft.


[h3]Winter[/h3]
Official release including the Gulf of Finland map, pilot career mode, the La-7 series 1, and the IL-2 mod. 1944 aircraft.

Please note that the Early Access discount is more significant the earlier you make the purchase. As we add more planes and get closer to the official release date, the discount will decrease.

To conclude today's dev blog, we would like to mention that the development of the Great Battles game world will not end with Siege and Liberation. Soon, we will announce our plans for 2026, and we hope they surprise and delight you!

Stay tuned!

Dear friends, to commemorate 80 years since the Allied victory in Europe in World War II we at 1C Game Studios would like to give you a gift worthy of this date - not a picture, not a postcard, not even an airplane - but a whole module dedicated to one of the hardest-fought battles of this war, the heroic defense of the capital of the USSR and the subsequent counter-offensive of the Red Army.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Moscow is part of the IL-2 Great Battles series and is not just a flight sim, it is a living history:

• 8 aircraft with detailed cockpits: four fighters (I-16 Type 24, MiG-3 Series 24, Messerschmitts Bf 109 E-7 and Bf 109 F-2), IL-2 ground attack aircraft mod. 1941, heavy fighter-bomber Bf 110 E-2 and bombers Pe-2 series 35 and Junkers Ju-88 A-4
  
• Huge Moscow and Kalinin regions map as of 1941
  
• Pilot Career mode - join one of the real squadrons, advance in rank and receive awards
  
• Fierce battles - in single player mode or with other players

[h2]How to get the module for FREE?[/h2]
The counter on the special page on our website shows the time until the start of the giveaway. Don't miss it - it will only run for 48 hours since 9pm UTC May 7th till 9pm UTC May 9th (2pm PDT May 7th - 2pm PDT May 9th). When it starts, click on the button that appears to receive Battle of Moscow to your IL2 account permanently.

Tip: check that you can login to your account on the website in advance so you can just pick up your gift on the day of the giveaway without the hassle! Register if you don't have an IL2 account yet.

[h2]80% OFF Sale[/h2]
In honor of the anniversary, all IL-2 Great Battles modules are available at 80% OFF from May 6 to May 20. This includes Western front modules Battle of Normandy and Bodenplatte, the Tank Crew module dedicated to the largest tank battle in history near Prokhorovka, World War I Flying Circus modules, many historical campaigns and Collector Planes.

Dear friends,

We have just released update 5.507, which improves and fixes the following:

1. Stalingrad, Normandy and Rhineland maps texturing optimized for better video memory usage, texture mapping errors fixed;
2. Flying Circus Career: German pilots are issued parachutes since January 1918;
3. Career: fixed a bug in Armed Reconnaissance missions where the pilots from the player's group were not defending against enemy attacks;
4. Career: fixed a bug in transport escort missions when transport planes were far away from the player's airfield (runway start mission option);
5. Career: corrected II/KG.51 progression in the third phase of the Bodenplatte module career;
6. Career: corrected taxiing routes of Deanland and Chailey airfields (Normandy map);
7. Career: fixed a bug with dropping wing bombs on Mosquito bombers in Intruder missions;.
8. Career: fixed bug in transport missions in Bodenplatte module career from December 26, 1944, when the mission point was placed outside the map;
9. Career: corrected conditions for getting British awards (Distinguished Flying Medal, Bar to the Distinguished Flying Medal, Second Bar to the Distinguished Flying Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross, Second Bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross);
10. Updated the historical campaigns “Hawks over the Bulge” (16th mission) and “Lightning Strikes” (22nd mission);
11. Sopwith Strutter and Sopwith Strutter B: fixed cockpit compass animations;
12. Sopwith Strutter: animated bomb release handles in the cockpit;
13. Albatros D.Va: added missing trigger for the second machine gun;
14. Fokker D.VIIF: fixed a bug with the visual disappearance of the right stabilizer strut;
15. P-39L-1: fixed cracked windshield texture bug;
16. Ju-88C-6: altimeter corrected;
17. Fixed physical models of coastal batteries bf_n_batterybig_block and bf_n_batterymid_block;
18. Tournament liveries in red, blue, green and yellow colors are available for P-38J-25, Spitfire Mk.XIVe and Bf 109G6AS (they are in the Custom Paint Schemes section);
19. Added new visual pointer objects (animated ring and arrow) for air races.

Dear friends,

Today we will continue to tell you about the development of our new module - Odessa and Leningrad - Siege and Liberation. Last time we told you about the development of the Odessa map, today we will show you how the development of the Gulf of Finland map is going. The Gulf of Finland map has been developed for a long time by a group of enthusiasts from Finland, and a lot has been done during this time. The realization of the landscape and map scenes on the Finnish side of the Gulf is almost complete, and a unique visual style of both surface textures and building models has been created. The nature and architecture of the north have a significant impact on the appearance of the landscapes of these places, and all of this is taken into account in the new map.


The size of the new map is 204 x 277 kilometers, or 56 thousand square kilometers. The following has already been implemented on the Finnish side:

• Large city: Vyborg
  
• Small towns: 5
  
• Villages: 150
  
• Sea ports: 8
  
• River ports: 3
  
• Bridges: 480
  
• Aerodromes: 20
  

To create a scene for the Finnish side of the map, the Finnish development team created completely new building models in a style appropriate to the terrain, as follows:

• Rural and urban houses: 309
  
• Unique buildings: 10
  
• New airfield buildings: 10
  
• Assemblies of building blocks of various shapes and layouts for map development: 184
  

We have also prepared buildings and building blocks for the development of the central part of Leningrad.


In May, we plan to start developing the Soviet (southern) side of the map, as well as the city of Leningrad, which is located at the intersection of these two regions. We plan to finish this work by the end of the fall, as well as the development of all planes of "Siege and Liberation", as well as the modes of the pilot's career, which are planned to be implemented in 4 timeframes (1941 and 1944 on each of the two maps).

Speaking of airplanes, we wanted to tell you more about them today. So, about the planes of 1941:

I-153 "Chaika" (Seagull). It was a biplane fighter designed by the Polikarpov Design Bureau, a version with an enlarged oil tank, whose serial production began in November 1939. The aircraft was equipped with M-62 and M-63 (as a modification) engines. The undercarriage and landing gear release system was pneumatic, which distinguished it from another Polikarpov Design Bureau model, the I-16. Armament consisted of 4 synchronized 7.62 mm SHKAS machine guns, or (as a modification) one 12.7 mm UBS machine gun and two 7.62 mm SHKAS machine guns. The aircraft could carry up to 8 82 mm ROS-82 unguided rockets and two 50 kg bombs. It could also carry four 50 kg FAB-50 bombs or two 100 kg FAB-100 bombs, making it a good option for attack missions at the time.

LaGG-3 of the 4th series. A fighter jointly designed by Lavochkin, Gorbunov, and Gurevich and produced in June-July 1941. Early modifications of the LaGG are characterized by the presence of two 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns in the engine cowling, in addition to the 20 mm ShVAK cannon and the synchronized 12.7 mm UBS machine gun. In addition, the aircraft can be armed with eight 82 mm ROS-82 rockets. It was not armed with bombs. It was equipped with an unboosted M-105P engine, five fuel tanks, retractable landing gear, and hydraulically operated landing flaps.

Yak-1 of the 23rd series. The Yakovlev Design Bureau fighter was produced in June-July 1941. It differed from later modifications by more complex glazing of the canopy, which provided better visibility, as well as a slightly different design of the landing gear flaps. It was powered by the M-105P engine. A variant (modification) was the M-105PA engine with a modified carburetor and special control of the maximum boost. Early production aircraft did not have radios fitted, but could be equipped with them (for us this will also be a modification). The undercarriage and landing gear release system is pneumatic. Armament is standard for the Yak-1: 20 mm ShVAK automatic cannon, two 7.62 mm synchronized ShKAS machine guns, and up to six ROS-82 rockets can be carried.

Bf 109 E-4 "Emil". A German all-metal monoplane fighter designed by Willy Messerschmitt. The E-4 variant went into production in the spring of 1940. The aircraft was equipped with the Daimler-Benz DB-601Aa engine, and a variant (modification) of the DB-601N engine running on 100-octane gasoline was also installed. The plane's flaps had a mechanical chain-driven exhaust system, and the landing gear had a hydraulic system. The stabilizer of the aircraft was repositionable, which facilitated control at different speeds. Armament consisted of two 20 mm MG-FF/M drum-fed short-barreled wing cannons and two synchronized 7.92 mm MG-17 machine guns. The aircraft could carry bomb armament on special pylons - one 250 kg bomb or four 50 kg bombs.

New aircraft for the 1944 timeframe, developed for the Defense and Liberation project, are also represented by four new models:

La-7 series 1. Compared to the last La-5FN series, the Lavochkin Design Bureau aircraft produced in May-June 1944 had longer landing gear struts and, most importantly, significantly improved aerodynamics: the oil cooler was moved under the fuselage and the carburetor intake was placed in the wing root. The M-82FN engine, armament (two synchronized 20 mm ShVAK cannons and the ability to carry two bombs), airframe, and cockpit design remained the same. As a result of these changes, the plane obtained a 30-40 km/h higher maximum speed, and the rest of the flight characteristics were also slightly improved. One modification was the fitting of three synchronized 20 mm B-20 cannons.

Yak-3 series 9. An aircraft of the Yakovlev Design Bureau, a continuation of the Yak-1 fighter development. Serial production of this aircraft began in May 1944. The aircraft was equipped with the M-105PF2 engine with slightly improved performance characteristics, and its aerodynamics underwent significant changes: the oil cooler was moved to the centerline, and the carburetor intake, as on the La-7, was moved to the wing root. The wing was modernized - its area was reduced. In general, as a result of all the improvements, the takeoff weight was reduced by 300 kg, the speed increased by 30-40 km/h, and other characteristics were also improved.

IL-2 mod. 1944. By the end of 1943, the Ilyushin Design Bureau had worked to improve the stability characteristics of its attack aircraft. Earlier versions of the aircraft had a very low stability margin in the longitudinal channel, and to solve this problem, the wing was significantly modernized, receiving a small sweep of 15° along the leading edge, which shifted the aerodynamic center of gravity to the rear. This normalized the stability and handling characteristics. The new wing was again all-metal, which had a positive effect on the performance and combat survivability of the aircraft. The new wing carried only four rails for unguided rockets and could no longer be equipped with 37 mm cannons.

The Junkers Ju 87 D-5 "Stuka" was one of the most advanced modifications of the famous aircraft, which went into production in the summer of 1943. The D-5 variant received a wing with increased span and area, which was necessary to reduce wing loading. Two 20 mm MG-151/20 wing cannons with 500 rounds each were installed instead of the normal machine guns. This variant could also be equipped with a Stuvi 5B sight (as a modification). There was a modification with a more powerful Jumo 211P engine. As on the earlier Ju 87 D-3, which had a G-1 modification with 37 mm cannons, on the D-5 there was a G-2 modification with BK 37 cannons. They even added a landing gear jettison system for emergency landings on land and water. Interestingly, as the war progressed, the installation of sirens on Ju 87s of later modifications was abandoned.


The development of "Odessa and Leningrad - Siege and Liberation" continues. We expect to be able to complete this work during 2025. It is planned to launch pre-order and early access when the first map ("Odessa") will be in a sufficient state of readiness for it - at least three out of eight planned aircraft should be ready at that time as well.

Stay tuned!

Hello everyone!

Today's Dev Blog is dedicated to the development progress of the Defense and Liberation module, which will be the main innovation of 2025 for IL2 Great Battles. It will be the biggest we have ever created for the project, because if everything goes according to plan, it will include not one, but two maps (Odessa and Gulf of Finland), 4 pilot careers (1941 and 1944 on each of the two maps), and 8 aircraft.

The map of Odessa is already in a high state of completion (here you can see its topographic map, but please note that clicking on this map image would download a big 24Mb file). The development of the Gulf of Finland map, which is being worked on by a team of Finnish enthusiasts called KarttaKomppania, is also well advanced. Pre-production work on the pilot career mode for both maps began last year, and development will be in full swing this year.




Three of the seven aircraft are now complete, both visually and physically, and the others are in some stage of completion. The current plan is to launch pre-order and early access in late spring 2025, with a full release at the end of the year - we will only open pre-orders when we are fully confident that everything is going according to plan. In any case, we can show you the screenshots of the finished aircraft today.


Due to the fact that German aircraft are well represented in Great Battles (of course, there are much more of them than Soviet or Allied aircraft since they are included in every module), the emphasis in this Eastern Front module will be on Soviet aircraft. However, there will also be new modifications of the German aircraft - the Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-4 fighter (for the 1941 timeframe) and the Ju 87 D-5 dive bomber (for 1944). The Soviet aircraft are I-153 "Chaika", LaGG-3 series 4, Yak-1 series 23 for 1941 and Il-2 mod. 1944 with swept wing and the legendary Yak-3 series 9 and La-7 series 1 for the late stage of the war.


We also want to show you a picture of a part of Odessa, which has a whole story behind it - the location of a concealed airfield at the Chubaevsky lot (it is 5th Fontanskaya Station at modern times), which the Odessa residents prepared themselves and which the Romanian forces never discovered before they conquered the city. In mid-September 1941 the ring around Odessa was narrowed to a critical size, the regimental airfield was under constant fire, and Soviet pilots suffered many losses. A new airfield was created at the intersection of Fontanskaya Street and Admiralsky Avenue - a runway for fighter planes was built on the avenue. Women and teenagers performed a huge amount of work in just one week. The airfield was covered with camouflage nets so that the planes would not be visible to the enemy from the air and 69th IAP, which later participated in the Battle of Stalingrad, was stationed there. You can spot this airfield on the right of this screenshot.


Please follow our Dev Blog - we will continue to report on the progress of work on the new module.


We would like to remind you that second round of the duel online tournament will take place tomorrow, Saturday 22nd. Tournament table: https://tinyurl.com/562v5afc As in the first round, the coordination of flights at the tournament will be done on the official IL-2 TeamSpeak server (address: 65.108.206.8 password: il2series). If you're participating in the second round, please check your email and confirm the time slot if you haven't done so already!

In addition, we're collecting questions for the next video Dev Brief about the Korea. Il2 Series. If you have questions about the IL-10 ground attack plane, please submit them here: https://forms.gle/YqEeM3BmEipCN2v5A