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Flight Sim Advice


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Back "in the day" I used to play Warbirds, a big online flight sim.  I recall a pretty active community, good flight models and decent graphics.   Wondering if anyone is currently playing this sim?  If so, how is it these days?  Graphics are secondary but I really need a first rate flight model and a good number of people online.  I looked online but didn't get the warm and fuzzy that's it's still viable. Looks like it may have been dumbed down. 

 

Any recommendations?   I was going to reboot Rise of Flight but after not using it for over 2 years, the program has conveniently forgotten my password and since the account is linked to a long discontinued email account, I guess I need to either purchase the sim all over again or just move on.

 

Any other recommendations for a good online sim (WW2 genre preferred)?

 

Thanks,

 

John

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Most of the principles behind the original Warbirds left ICI, formed a new company and created Aces High. Same concept, WW2 online combat simulation. I can't speak to the latest version as I've been away from that scene for some time. Seems like AH is still kicking though.

 

A long time ago I was very active in the WB community (and it's predecessor Confirmed Kill). Co-founded the Flying Pigs, good times.

Edited by CJ Martin
clarity
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16 minutes ago, CJ Martin said:

Most of the princes behind the original Warbirds left ICI, formed a new comp and created Aces High. Same concept, WW2 online combat simulation. I can't speak to the latest version as I've been away from that scene for some time. Seems like AH is still kicking though.

 

A long time ago I was very active in the WB community (and it's predecessor Confirmed Kill). Co-founded the Flying Pigs, good times.

Do you happen to be one of the guys from the old Jane's outfit?

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1 hour ago, ESzczesniak said:

If you’re looking for combat, the top of the game is DCS World. There are several WWII era aircraft and a Normandy map available. It is a “study level” sim and highly realistic. 

 

I'd love to go with this this sim, if nothing else, just to putter around in the Huey, which was an old ride of mine "back in the day" and is still near and dear to my heart.  Alas, that will have to wait for my current PC to fail, I'm only running a 32-bit machine, DCS needs 64 to run.   Sad.....

 

 

Edited by 11bee
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For ww2 theater new Il-2 series is the way to go. Created by the same authors behind Rise of Flight, it features great graphics, very nice flight models and damage models and currently consists of 3 packs - Battle of Stalingrad, Battle of Moscow and Battle of Kuban. In 2018 they will add western front theater as well as ww1 one.

 

Also on sale at 50% at the moment - https://il2sturmovik.com/

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be forewarned... DCS (the base game) is free, but addon aircraft usually cost the price of a new game themselves... and unless you've got some pretty beefy specs on your memory and video card, the game will bring your PC performance to it's knees.

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CJ - I remember you, you were a legend in the flight sim world.    Made the best sims bar none.    Longbow2 was my favorite.    Sad day when Janes closed down.    

 

Skull - I agree on DCS, my system didn’t come close to what is required.   I ended up getting Rise of Flight for free, great graphics, runs fine on my older machine.   Only get three aircraft w the free version but other planes are pretty cheap.  Will also get IL-2 in the near future, just a bit confusing with all the patches, extras that are needed.   

Edited by 11bee
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I watch a sim player on YouTube and while IL2 has good flight model for the German aircraft, the Russian planes are wacky. Made of Stalinium and have 4,000 hp engines and don't care if the flaps are up or down. They can literally turn on a dime and don't know the meaning of induced drag.

 

if you wish to watch a few battles, look for ralfidude on the utubes.

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17 hours ago, 11bee said:

CJ - I remember you, you were a legend in the flight sim world.    Made the best sims bar none.    Longbow2 was my favorite.    Sad day when Janes closed down.    

 

 

Yikes! Well thanks for the kind words, hard to believe those glory days were 20ish years ago now. It was a cool gig, the money and benefits were great, but the hours and stress level sucked. The Jane's Combat Simulation brand was doomed as soon as Paul Grace retired - he set that deal up and was a constant champion for flight sims within corporate EA. That and the rise of shooters, games that were capable of generating huge initial sales with lower cost of goods (no big manuals, fancy key cards and other cool little babbles) for the same investment...it was a no brainer for EA to exit that niche when they did. We had a great crew in Baltimore and losing that was the worst part.

 

And speaking of DCS, the Executive Producer Matt Wagner used to work for me - we hired him from a three letter government agency to be an associate designer after we shipped F-15. He built pretty much all the campaign missions in F/A-18 and did a host of other stuff. He's done well for himself since those days and we are still in touch.

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5 hours ago, CJ Martin said:

Yikes! Well thanks for the kind words, hard to believe those glory days were 20ish years ago now. It was a cool gig, the money and benefits were great, but the hours and stress level sucked. The Jane's Combat Simulation brand was doomed as soon as Paul Grace retired - he set that deal up and was a constant champion for flight sims within corporate EA. That and the rise of shooters, games that were capable of generating huge initial sales with lower cost of goods (no big manuals, fancy key cards and other cool little babbles) for the same investment...it was a no brainer for EA to exit that niche when they did. We had a great crew in Baltimore and losing that was the worst part.

 

And speaking of DCS, the Executive Producer Matt Wagner used to work for me - we hired him from a three letter government agency to be an associate designer after we shipped F-15. He built pretty much all the campaign missions in F/A-18 and did a host of other stuff. He's done well for himself since those days and we are still in touch.


Wags is great..he's a massive asset to ED and his relationship with the community is a treasure. 

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Heh, I used to fly WB back in the day. That $2 per hour used to soak me for the equivalent of a car payment. I dropped out of the scene back in 2002 or so. I recently had a big computer built and logged back into WB with my original account. The S3s and some Friday nights have about 20+ people in it, and it is only 2 colors at a time, instead of the old 150+ people and 4 color maps. During the week, I have seen as many at 12 people and as few as 3. I still fly occasionally, but only as an afterthought.

 

As for Aces High, I downloaded it as well. There seems to be quite a few more people flying it at any time, but I was never able to master the keyboard controls for it, and I wasn't too interested in remapping.

 

WB has the drivable tanks and ships now, only because Wild Bill had no choice but to get on board. Sadly (or for better) after he had driven off all of the talent. A case of too little, too late. And its still the same in the fact that flight models get tweaked to whoever cries the loudest based on "whatever fact they read in some magazine about a P-40 running down a -262".... Right now, it seems that the Spit 19 is top of the heap till jet day comes out.

 

If you want nostalgia, fly WB on a Friday night. If you want instant furball action, look elsewhere.

 

-boss-

I/KG200

IV/JG80

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If you search for a compromise of sim and fun go for the Third wire Strike Fighter 2 series.

The site have some already good sim that cover Vietnam,Israel and ipotetic cold war scenario in Europe plus WW!.

The games also are easily moddable,and since last spring I joined the CombatAce community:

Here I've downloaded and installed some mods that expanded the sims from new campaign ( like Desert Storm or even El Dorado Canyon) to new planes.
One of my best decision of all time....

 

Gianni

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  • 1 month later...

If You're into WW2 stuff I've heard a lot of good things about IL2 series.

 

I enjoy Strike Fighters 2. It's really nice to get to fly an F-4B, F-8E or a F-105. How many sims got that? The big plus is the fact You can add a lot of mods - new airplanes, terrains, weapons, and such. Only Single Player though. Thetradeoff is that there are a lot of simplifications. No clickable cockpit (feature I loved in Jane's F/A-18), basicly no manual radar operation. 

There are some mods on combatace.com to make it into WW2 game though. So most of the drawbacks would be gone. I guess no radar, no problem ;)

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