Yet the IL2CoD pre-release publicity promised that up to 128 players would be able to join online battles in IL2CoD – could that dream ever be realized? The answer is yes. IL2CoD servers using the unmodded netcode started to choke at anywhere from 70-90 players. The challenge of course is that the more complex the simulation, the more aircraft systems, weather systems and landscape elements it is modeling, and the bigger the strain that each player aircraft is going to put on the server. But those games aren’t simulating every bone in the player’s bodies, and the chariot they ride in, as players move around the game world.

In the world of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games maps allowing between 200 and 500 players are now possible for games like Planetside, Mount and Blade and Eve.