Hi HeinzBar and welcome,
Yes, SEOW is entirely coop-based, and yes it provides you with a persistent battlefield environment at a far more detailed level than anything you have previously encountered. Maximum player numbers are limited by IL2 to 32 per mission. Can't be changed unless Oleg releases a new patch to do so. SEOW is also supported by rnzoli's coop server technology, so you CAN automate the hosting of SEOW coops 24/7 using rnzoli's technology.
But as much as SEOW offers, it makes real demands on the players. Unlike every other campaign system for IL2, SEOW does not autogenerate movement of ground, sea or air units. Instead, all movement of military units is the responsibility of human players, known as "commanders". Commanders must plan and plot all movements. If no commanders plot flights for the next coop mission, there will be no pilot slots available in the game. If no commanders issue movement orders to their armies, all their tanks will be motionless (but still active and hostile) on the ground. If no commanders tell their aircraft carriers to move, then naval aircraft will have to take off from motionless decks. As a teaser, have a look at the Statistics records from RAF74's recent "Malta" campaign at
http://209.11.245.106:8074/scorchedeart ... or=Okinawa .
So the demands placed on commanders are essentially this: the commanders are responsible for everything to do with executing the battle. A couple of good commanders will ensure a gripping and realistic campaign. If no-one wants the command responsibility of planning for EACH coop, then forget SEOW and use a set-and-forget campaign generator like NGEN or DGEN that yields coop after coop much more easily.
There is a wealth of information at this forum, at the SEOW Wiki (
http://seowwiki.swil.fr/index.php?title=Main_Page ) and the software home page at seow.sourceforge.net . There is also a reasonably active TS server at SEOW HQ (72.51.47.203:8801 password "seow") where you can come, hang out, join other people's demo or real campaigns, and ask questions etc). As a newcomer, I would urge you to talk to experienced users before embarking on a full installation, if only to confirm in your own mind that this SEOW thing really is attractive to your needs.
Cheers,
4Shades
