IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad News

[p]Hello Comrades![/p][p]Today we want to update you on the Great Battles project. The main thing, of course, is the development of the new Siege and Liberation module. We have taken on a considerable task, and there is still a lot of work ahead related to the map and pilot career mode. But progress is being made: by the end of winter, we plan to complete the core of the module, including all aircraft, both maps, and one pilot career timeframe for each of them. At that point, the product release should take place. But, as always with our continuous development approach, the improvements never stop with the release, and by the end of summer 2026, we plan to complete all four careers, two for each map, as it was announced earlier. Right now, we're doing final tests on the German Bf 109 E-4 and Ju-87 D-5 aircraft. The development of the visual model of the Il-2 model of 1944 has been completed, and the development of its flight model has begun. The last aircraft will be the La-7, but we plan to complete it by the end of this year.[/p][p][/p][p]Work on the Leningrad map is in full swing. During the historical research of air combat operations, which in itself will take more than a year including the time spent on it already, it turned out that for the full implementation of the career for 1941 and 1944 we need to implement an additional 40-kilometer strip on the southern side of the map - this is extra 11,000 square kilometers of territory that need to be prepared and built up. This extra strip includes 180 additional settlements and 11 more airfields, which are necessary for recreating the historical scenario of the career. We had to work hard to find a solution to this problem without pushing the release date into the future, but we succeeded.[/p][p][/p][p]In addition, the development of the Leningrad map includes the work on landscape and textures, such as improving the texture set and landscape diversity, touching up the main shores, ensuring ships can travel where they should be able to, and addressing other important details. Airfields on the Soviet side, as previously on the Finnish side, are recreated using aerial photography data from the war years. Work on recreating the city of Leningrad itself is also underway: this is the first time we are creating such a large city in Great Battles. In Korea, special technologies were made for this, but in Great Battles, everything is based on the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the artists who solve this problem. At least, performance tests show reasonably sufficient parameters for the simulation in such a busy map scene. An unprecedented set of historical buildings is being created for Leningrad, made possible by the excellent cooperation of freelance artists: we established contact with some of them through the Finnish group of map developers, while others we know from the work on the Odessa map.[/p][p][/p][p]However, the Siege and Liberation module is not the only thing we are already doing and planning for Great Battles this year and next. This fall we'll have the news about new winged engines, and there will be more engines than usual. There will also be news for those who are especially interested in the Great War - unexpected and pleasant additions to the map and the aircraft, huge aircraft! Please follow our news and stay in touch![/p]

[p]Dear friends,[/p][p]Update 6.002 has been released. In addition to other improvements, it includes two Soviet fighters, the early Yak-1 from 1941 and the nimble Yak-3 from 1944, which are part of the Odessa and Leningrad module.[/p][p]After flying and comparing them, you will see the progress achieved under the harshest conditions of war and industrial evacuation, as the Yak-3 is a heavily modernized Yak-1. Although it was equipped with a slightly more powerful M-105PF2 engine, the main advantage was achieved through improved aerodynamics (improved exterior finish, rearrangement of the oil and water radiators), reduced wing area, and overall reduction in weight. These measures yielded significant results: the base version of the aircraft, with one cannon and one UBS machine gun, was 300 kg lighter, and 250 kg lighter with the addition of another UBS machine gun (we have such a modification), which made it much more maneuverable and faster than its predecessor. According to the GKO decree that ordered its mass production, the Yak-3's speed had to be at least 570 km/h at ground level and 650 km/h at altitude, and it had to climb to 5 km in 4 minutes or less. These characteristics made it a very dangerous opponent in aerial combat.[/p][p][/p]

1. [p]The Yak-1 s.23 fighter is available to all owners of the Odessa and Leningrad module;[/p]
2. [p]The Yak-3 s.9 fighter is available to all owners of the Odessa and Leningrad module;[/p]
3. [p]Odessa map: the topographic map has been updated, and errors in the location of objects have been fixed;[/p]
4. [p]The 180 mm B-1-P coastal battery gun has been added;[/p]
5. [p]Coastal battery No. 411 has been added to the Odessa map in Quick Mission mode. When the player selects ships as a ground target, the coastal battery (square 1825-5) will fire at the enemy's naval convoy.[/p]
6. [p]Added the ability for AI aircraft to use rockets when attacking aerial targets: instead of firing the rockets to reduce weight and drag before the fight, the AI will try to launch them at the enemy on the first approach;[/p]
7. [p]I-153 and Hurricane Mk.II: added Finnish Air Force paint schemes and tactical symbols;[/p]
8. [p]Gotha G.V Career mode: corrected the start time of night bombing missions;[/p]
9. [p]Moscow map: fixed a bug in the terrain mesh (“invisible obstacle”) on one of the taxiways at Vnukovo airfield;[/p]
10. [p]Western Front map: trees interfering with takeoff and landing have been removed from the Ochey and Cernon airfields;[/p]
11. [p]Normandy Career mode: take-off from Funtington airfield corrected;[/p]
12. [p]I-153: fixed a bug with the inability to launch rockets in single mode with the engine off.[/p]

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:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
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.