[David603]

I see you're trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. But in this question they get a chance to speak about the best things they have added to the FMB/mission engine. And what's the best feature he can think of to speak about? "Copy-Paste". Whoopty-doo. He didn't say "We have implemented a comprehensive trigger system" or "You can now assign how many point rescuing a downed human pilot is worth". Even just a "Planes can be assigned as escort and then re-assigned ground attack later in the mission" would be welcomed. Copy-Paste is a only a time saver, it adds nothing whatsoever to the Gameplay.

The problem I'm highlighting here isn't just evident in this interview, it's been apparent in every SOW article to date. When asked about any other aspect of the new game they always speak in glorious sweeping tones about the vast improvements they've made.

Sounds: "Completely new 3D sound engine"
User Interface: "Absolutely new GUI. Nothing common with IL-2"
AI: "way more complex AI than in IL-2"
Graphics: Obviously, off the chart.

But for mission complexity and immersion, the first thing they've had to say is:

FMB Interface: "keeping like in Il-2"

If I sound alarmist, go look at Rise Of Flight. Game developers are perfectly willing to totally ignore Gameplay and focus solely on graphics.

In the short history of flight sims, the ones most fondly remembered had the best campaign engines or the best mission editors. It's never about the graphics; it never will be.

Well, I doubt that Oleg is going forget to develop one of the most crucial aspects of the sim, but honestly I don't think the FMB and its features are finalised yet, and I think Oleg is avoiding talking about it now so that at release he doesn't have people clamouring "hey, you said we would be able to do X, so where is it?".

Anyway, that could be an over optimistic view, but like you said, I am willing to give Oleg the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

Also regarding mission complexity and immersion, Oleg is clearly aware of the need for improvement in this area, and a while back Luthier had an open thread entitled "Give me some "holy sh... did that just happen" ideas" which got some brilliant replies, the more practical of which will hopefully make it into the finished sim.

Keeping the interface similar is definitely a bonus, the Il2 FMB might be good for such an old game but I would hate to have to start learning an even more complex system from scratch.