Online the games range from between 8 players and 32 players. There are certain servers that I only play because they offer the hardest/best difficulty options that I like to play on. They also rotate maps based on certain scoring criteria. How many planes are lost on one side, pilots killed on one side, vehicle or armor % destruction etc. Most of the combat is fairly concentrated either around the bases or over specified battlefields that have ground targets to destroy to cycle the maps. The maps also feature planes that were over that area, Normandy has 43 to 45 US, UK and German planes. Hungary has Hungarian, German, and American planes, and etc. Actual combat occurs between 6000 meters down to the deck. Average is around 2000 to 3000meters.
If you have any questions or want some screenshots of something specific, lemme know.
-SW