The idea of IL2 air combat and RO ground combat in one huge online game makes me want to cry.
Running on a 500 player server...
Actually I will post about RO 3 (and did just a short search with ArmA)
RO as it is (based on Unreal 2 engine) is a really good War game (not just FPS shooter) and following Red Orchestra 2(?) will be based on unreal 3 engine , hopefully again Eastern front in even better form.
Imho unreal engines are only good enough. Although we have seen that skilled developers can push game engines to their limits. Unfortunately there are some limits not to be crossed i.e. player and map size limits. And that leads to discussions like favourite sniping and MG-spots and in urban maps you always look certain roofs and windows. In really large maps it is more likely that individual rounds don't go over and over again in a certain way.
Like tripwire has told things just before Steam contract was that they almost went bankcrupt. Hopefully after Red Orchestra 2 Tripwire is still motivated in game development and are also financially independent enough. What then? Unreal 3 engine might be so good (despite certain limits) that you can in fact build even another game on that. What comes to my mind is to cut ties for unreal stuff and buy rights either for ArmA2 or Operation Flashpoint 2 engines. And then there comes
Imo IL2 level for planes is not necessary, current RO tank level is good enough. I know many will argue that RO is not about air combat. Maybe planes could be added just to the Capture the Island-multiplayer mode. In RO-case that "island" could be Europe starting from Berlin and ending to Moscow. Game starts from the middle, say year 1942. Then as the fight moves either to east or west time changes and with respawns you get newer tank/hand gun options. To avoid planes all the time chasing poor infantry and tanks we need enough AA-placements and a special cap zone that is only in the air and that forces planes to fight against each other. Most multiplayer missions could be without planes but way bigger than current RO-maps. Of cource modders would do what ever they want.
RO is realistic and more freedom adds realism. Just keep weapons accurate. At first it surely will feel that "you are not home anymore" but as time passes some1 will make a good massive multiplayer game which has RO-feeling/level in infantry and tank combat.
The only way we'll conceivably see something like this though is for multiple development teams to get together and come up with a decent scaling engine that can handle ArmA-like terrain detail at ground level but scales to IL2-like detail at range.
- Slings, never seen a game implementing them (properly)
What do you mean by sling? The thing that makes it so that you can carry the gun on your back or something?
Wrapping a sling around you hand does NOT make it more stable.
In fact when you fire a weapon the fwd stock is only resting on your hand. You don't actually grip it at all. You've been watching too many films mate. If you grip it tight then there's a tendency to pull it off centre & any movement from your left hand (in most cases military weapons are only right handed) will be transfered to the weapon. So you grip with the rear hand & just rest it on the front hand.
Guess the British forces are wrong then. These are hunting rifles not assault weapons. Meybe there's a difference but i've been taught by both the British Army & Air force to fire military weapons & the front hand is only used to support the weapon.