Worth it in 2022?

[iDunno]

Am going back and forth between this game and the newer il2 game, and honestly am not sure which one i should buy possibly

[shadowgravy]

LOL, a couple of days ago you could have gotten this game for $2.49. You also just missed a big sale for the IL-2 Battle of Stalingrad series (85% off for the main game and 75% off for most of the DLC). Don't worry though, the sales for BOS are somewhat frequent.

IL-2 1946 is 15 years old and the graphics are practically cartoonish compared to current sims but it still offers a lot of play value. One advantage 1946 has is its huge variety of content right out of the box including aircraft carriers in the Pacific. It also has a large body of mod content. Go to https://www.mission4today.com/ for missions, skins, mods, etc. I recommend the Enjoyr campaign patches -- his series for No Addons[www.mission4today.com] will keep you busy for a long time. If you are new to WWII air combat simulations and you want to feel your way around within the genre with minimal investment, 1946 is still a solid choice.

That said, the Battle of Stalingrad series is sweeeeeet in VR. I've been playing WWII air combat sims for more than 20 years (name a title and I probably owned it) and IMO the Battle of Stalingrad / Great Battles series in VR is the most fun I've ever had with this genre. Even in flat screen mode, the visuals are just better than old 1946. The trade-off is there is less content available for BOS even with all its DLCs than you get in 1946. On the other hand, BOS now has driveable vehicles and a WWI offshoot.

[Hijong park]

one bad thing about this game is that many parts of the cockpits (like flap wheel, prop pitch switch, tail wheel lock lever in BF-109) are not animated, making it frustrating to play with no HUD.

[iDunno]

Originally posted by shadowgravy:

LOL, a couple of days ago you could have gotten this game for $2.49. You also just missed a big sale for the IL-2 Battle of Stalingrad series (85% off for the main game and 75% off for most of the DLC). Don't worry though, the sales for BOS are somewhat frequent.

IL-2 1946 is 15 years old and the graphics are practically cartoonish compared to current sims but it still offers a lot of play value. One advantage 1946 has is its huge variety of content right out of the box including aircraft carriers in the Pacific. It also has a large body of mod content. Go to https://www.mission4today.com/ for missions, skins, mods, etc. I recommend the Enjoyr campaign patches -- his series for No Addons[www.mission4today.com] will keep you busy for a long time. If you are new to WWII air combat simulations and you want to feel your way around within the genre with minimal investment, 1946 is still a solid choice.

That said, the Battle of Stalingrad series is sweeeeeet in VR. I've been playing WWII air combat sims for more than 20 years (name a title and I probably owned it) and IMO the Battle of Stalingrad / Great Battles series in VR is the most fun I've ever had with this genre. Even in flat screen mode, the visuals are just better than old 1946. The trade-off is there is less content available for BOS even with all its DLCs than you get in 1946. On the other hand, BOS now has driveable vehicles and a WWI offshoot.

i am new to this genre so probably better then start of with this since its cheaper and has alot of content, also thanks for telling about that patch

[iDunno]

Originally posted by Hijong park:

one bad thing about this game is that many parts of the cockpits (like flap wheel, prop pitch switch, tail wheel lock lever in BF-109) are not animated, making it frustrating to play with no HUD.

yeh kinda immersion braking

[Delta Dagger]

The new one is a mess, to be honest. An honest to god embarrassing mess. I can't say much on CloD Blitz, I haven't played it in a while.

[Hijong park]

Originally posted by MiG-21bis Fishbed-L:

The new one is a mess, to be honest. An honest to god embarrassing mess. I can't say much on CloD Blitz, I haven't played it in a while.

I played bos some hours and can agree. Flight model, Graphics and cockpits are better but AIs and career mode are dull as hell compared to 1946.

[iDunno]

Originally posted by Hijong park:

Originally posted by MiG-21bis Fishbed-L:

The new one is a mess, to be honest. An honest to god embarrassing mess. I can't say much on CloD Blitz, I haven't played it in a while.

I played bos some hours and can agree. Flight model, Graphics and cockpits are better but AIs and career mode are dull as hell compared to 1946.

interesting

[Stuka White]

I recently picked 1946 up a few weeks ago for the first time since I was in middle school lol. I was so happy that it boots up on Win10, widescreen friendly, acknowledged my X52 logitech hotas and had to do zero compatibility shenanigans...another persons milage may vary of course, but id be confident in saying it shouldnt act up on modern setups.

In terms of the immersion department, the cockpit is animated but the functions are all hotkey based and theres not really alot of them. Like for example your flaps are just a press of 2 hotkeys to shift up or down between presets...so its not gonna be like DCS or anything super high fidelity.

Gameplay wise, the combats solid. Plenty of difficulty and assists you can turn on and off, 1946 for me has always been that GoTo oldschool air combat simulator that was great for long hours either from a procedural campaign or historical one with a clear end or some instant action within the ezpz mission editor thats in...plus the iconic early jet fighters are an aesthetic and vibe all of their own and its a shame 1946 has been an idea thats been left in the mid 2000s because of those jet fighters. The AI is decent, but it will do silly sh*t at times...I sat on a B25 bellygun position while the AI flew to conduct a bomber mission, and it decided to release the bombs from a barrel roll in progress which was pretty hilarious looking take on the toss bombing theory lol, but it its not common.

[iDunno]

Originally posted by Stuka White:

I recently picked 1946 up a few weeks ago for the first time since I was in middle school lol. I was so happy that it boots up on Win10, widescreen friendly, acknowledged my X52 logitech hotas and had to do zero compatibility shenanigans...another persons milage may vary of course, but id be confident in saying it shouldnt act up on modern setups.

In terms of the immersion department, the cockpit is animated but the functions are all hotkey based and theres not really alot of them. Like for example your flaps are just a press of 2 hotkeys to shift up or down between presets...so its not gonna be like DCS or anything super high fidelity.

Gameplay wise, the combats solid. Plenty of difficulty and assists you can turn on and off, 1946 for me has always been that GoTo oldschool air combat simulator that was great for long hours either from a procedural campaign or historical one with a clear end or some instant action within the ezpz mission editor thats in...plus the iconic early jet fighters are an aesthetic and vibe all of their own and its a shame 1946 has been an idea thats been left in the mid 2000s because of those jet fighters. The AI is decent, but it will do silly sh*t at times...I sat on a B25 bellygun position while the AI flew to conduct a bomber mission, and it decided to release the bombs from a barrel roll in progress which was pretty hilarious looking take on the toss bombing theory lol, but it its not common.

ye i have heard the ai does silly things sometimes :D, thanks for telling your experience

[shadowgravy]

Originally posted by Hijong park:

Originally posted by MiG-21bis Fishbed-L:

The new one is a mess, to be honest. An honest to god embarrassing mess. I can't say much on CloD Blitz, I haven't played it in a while.

I played bos some hours and can agree. Flight model, Graphics and cockpits are better but AIs and career mode are dull as hell compared to 1946.

I gave up on both Cliffs of Dover and the superior Cliffs of Dover Blitz Edition a long time ago. Team Fusion is doing admirable work but I don't like the mechanics of the game especially the controls setup and the cockpit interface. I haven't tried the Tobruk expansion. Maybe if I like the VR capability that is coming to Blitz I'll try the expansion.

As for the career mode in Stalingrad vs. DGen campaigns in 1946, I don't see much difference between the two once the planes are lined up on the runway. You take off, fly a pattern, encounter enemies, RTB, see your score and earn some medals. All generated campaigns are dull unless you enjoy flying the aircraft. I do like that in 1946 I can speed up the autopilot to blazing fast and pretty much skip right to the combat, otherwise there'd have been many times I would have clawed my eyes out in boredom. The sorties in Stalingrad's career mode are agonizingly repetitive, but rank progression allows some squadron management between missions. I also like reading the weekly newspapers.

I've never much liked the AI in 1946 and how it flies endless aerobatics at the edge of its flight envelope without any penalty. Stalingrad's AI also has faults but there have been improvements that I think make it act sufficiently human.

My bottom line is: Stalingrad is to me more immersive and therefore more enjoyable than 1946 because I play it in VR. I can't emphasize enough what a game changer it is to have the battlefield all around in 360-degrees. "Head on a swivel" is literally that--I turn my head or lean toward the gunsight instead of using my joystick's HAT switch to change views. In addition to having a better awareness of aircraft above and behind me, I also have a better sense of spatial distance and speed. My gunnery is better in VR too.

Referring back to the original question, I just installed the B.A.T mod packs[www.sas1946.com] and I'm impressed by what it adds and amplifies. The new maps are really good and I'm enjoying the enhanced detail at some of the airfields.

[Hijong park]

Originally posted by shadowgravy:

Originally posted by Hijong park:

I played bos some hours and can agree. Flight model, Graphics and cockpits are better but AIs and career mode are dull as hell compared to 1946.

I gave up on both Cliffs of Dover and the superior Cliffs of Dover Blitz Edition a long time ago. Team Fusion is doing admirable work but I don't like the mechanics of the game especially the controls setup and the cockpit interface. I haven't tried the Tobruk expansion. Maybe if I like the VR capability that is coming to Blitz I'll try the expansion.

As for the career mode in Stalingrad vs. DGen campaigns in 1946, I don't see much difference between the two once the planes are lined up on the runway. You take off, fly a pattern, encounter enemies, RTB, see your score and earn some medals. All generated campaigns are dull unless you enjoy flying the aircraft. I do like that in 1946 I can speed up the autopilot to blazing fast and pretty much skip right to the combat, otherwise there'd have been many times I would have clawed my eyes out in boredom. The sorties in Stalingrad's career mode are agonizingly repetitive, but rank progression allows some squadron management between missions. I also like reading the weekly newspapers.

I've never much liked the AI in 1946 and how it flies endless aerobatics at the edge of its flight envelope without any penalty. Stalingrad's AI also has faults but there have been improvements that I think make it act sufficiently human.

My bottom line is: Stalingrad is to me more immersive and therefore more enjoyable than 1946 because I play it in VR. I can't emphasize enough what a game changer it is to have the battlefield all around in 360-degrees. "Head on a swivel" is literally that--I turn my head or lean toward the gunsight instead of using my joystick's HAT switch to change views. In addition to having a better awareness of aircraft above and behind me, I also have a better sense of spatial distance and speed. My gunnery is better in VR too.

Referring back to the original question, I just installed the B.A.T mod packs[www.sas1946.com] and I'm impressed by what it adds and amplifies. The new maps are really good and I'm enjoying the enhanced detail at some of the airfields.

AIs in Il-2 1946 are so challenging that cover my hands and joysticks with sweat, but also can be easily destroyed when I fired MG151 and MG17.

But AIs in BOS are often gets stupid and just repeat turning, but they have ridiculous bullet sponges that they never gets destroyed even if I put massive amount of bullets. they create white smokes but that's all, they keep flying like normal.

this is the reason why I found BOS dull, along with the fact that I have to waste so much time waiting and clicking 'proceed' and 'next day' just to start the next mission.

also, In 1946 I can give various orders to individual planes but such thing lacks in BOS.

[shadowgravy]

You've made good points that I agree with. I suppose I'm less critical of Stalingrad's game mechanics because I primarily enjoy the immersion of VR and the feeling of being in a cockpit and piloting the aircraft. The career mode is just a means for experiencing that.

[Radzui]

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[Darklyt750]

Originally posted by shadowgravy:

You've made good points that I agree with. I suppose I'm less critical of Stalingrad's game mechanics because I primarily enjoy the immersion of VR and the feeling of being in a cockpit and piloting the aircraft. The career mode is just a means for experiencing that.

There is the software called VorpX that makes flat/non vr games "VR", some people have made a guide for how to use it in 1946. I haven't personally tried it yet but I plan on it.

Personally I prefer 1946 because of the amount of planes and locations, super excited to get VR working in it.

[Sypher]

There is no real way to convey how many planes are in the BAT mod compared to BoS, and yes the graphics look dated as expected for a 2004 game but you can really crank them up and look almost new This is what I have mine set to, no reshade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPUpl6LYWjk&ab_channel=CVNDelta