Anyone have any experiance with Flightsims ?

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Originally Posted by Beirut

Yes and no. The graphics are remarkably similar but have been refined to a cutting edge. The original demo is a plain hamburger compared to the 24oz Rib Eye with all the trimmings, a great beer, and huge chocolate cake that is the IL2-FB series.

As I mentioned, the sheer size and variety of this sim is astounding. I think we're up to 100+ flyable planes, 30+maps, dozens of ships including battleships and aircraft carriers, hundreds and hundreds of armour, vehicle and artillery types, as well as hundreds more placeable ground objects to build your own... anything.

All this for $40 Cdn. It's the best deal going. You could probably get the original IL2 for about $5. Get it, load up the patches and try that out. You'll love it and you'll want more. :evil:

And the new Mosquito is cool! ~:smoking:

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In all likelihood, I'm going to get the FB gold / PF combo- I just asked about the demo since I could d/l it immediately to take a look whereas Im going to have to order the actual game on the Internet (no local places seem to have it).

After playing the demo, I am clearly lacking experience on realistic flight sims. It took me 2 tries to even take off and after half an hour of messing around, I still can't land properly. :dizzy2:

Hopefully, the training segment of the actual game (not available in demo) will get me past such formalities.

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

In all likelihood, I'm going to get the FB gold / PF combo- I just asked about the demo since I could d/l it immediately to take a look whereas Im going to have to order the actual game on the Internet (no local places seem to have it).

After playing the demo, I am clearly lacking experience on realistic flight sims. It took me 2 tries to even take off and after half an hour of messing around, I still can't land properly. :dizzy2:

Hopefully, the training segment of the actual game (not available in demo) will get me past such formalities.

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True flight sims are Awesome,
Like aces high. It took me 2 weeks to learn how to land in aces high.
and i still haft to leave propeler pitch/attack angle on auto.
or i crash.
I have progressed to where i turn ff stall limiter.
So now if i make a mistake il fall out of the sky like a rock.

this game IL2-FB
Sounds just like aces high.
apart from you dont get the game for free.
and yo dont play vs 200-400 people at once in the same room.. (unless of course you do)

I would definatly avoid any of Microsofts combat flight sims though.
also id avaoid any MP game which your alowed to mod and patch. Like microsofts combat flight sim.

Theres nothing worse than uping your mrk V spit fire.
banking round 1 corner.
Then geting shot from 3 miles away by some 15 yearold who moded his game so he has an apatch helecopter hovering just above tree level within the saftey of his feild guns.

random IL2/ACE/PF merged screenshot of Yak 1B

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v373/zerg/Yak1.jpg

I now have FB Gold / PF. I love the graphics, but I still stink. :embarassed:
I got thru 2 carreer missions without dying so far, but I havent shot anything down on them yet either.

For gunnery/landing practice Im using quick battles against a B17. I try to whack it in as few passes as I can and then safely land. I've had good fun a few times trying to land with a seized up engine and a near blacked out canopy due to a lucky tailgunner shot. :2thumbsup:

The missions are hard, and long.
Putting your determination to the test, and when the dog fights start you always end up shot down by the first enemy plane that comes your way, or don't manage to hit anything and let your allies shoot down all the enemies...that's speaking from personal experience though, I never did get the hang of those carreer missions...

I always just played custom battles attacking a mixed force of fighter planes and slow bombers, with an experienced group of allies,usually attacking an enemy airport.

That I found was a lot of fun, diving after that enemy ace under fire from every enemy AA gun in the area to then shoot him down and land successfully feeling exhilarated and pleased with yourself :yes:


:balloon2:

People have been bitching about the flight models in the IL2/PF series since the first installment hit the shelves. I don't frequent the official forums that much but it seems the lion's share of flight model complaints are regarding the FW-190, particularly its fighter variants. History has shown the FW-190 to be Germany's best dogfighter of the war. While not a true 'turn n' burn' fighter like the Spitfire or La-5FN the FW-190 was far superior in turning, rolling and diving to the Bf-109 and yet in IL2/PF even the earlier variants handle like pigs, so much so that very few people bother to use them in multiplayer. In IL2/PF the FW-190's famous snap rolls cause a stall even under ideal conditions (let's not even talk about a snap roll followed by an inverted dive, the FW-190's trademark tactic during the war). The accusations against Oleg run the gamut from subconsciously projecting his own nationalistic tendencies on the game to erroneously relying solely on flight data taken from Soviet testing on the FW-190, which many assert was probably the heavier 'F', ground attack variant (typically loaded with lots of armor and bomb racks). The FW-190 in IL2/PF draws a stark contrast to the U.S./British assessment of the plane. In his biography Chuck Yeager mentions that he got to test a wide variety of Axis and Allied planes after the war. He firmly believed the FW-190 was the second best fighter of the war with his beloved P-51D taking top honors.

The lack of moddability is perhaps the biggest complaint about the IL2/PF series. Oleg's concerns about hacks and their negative impact on multiplayer are valid but just how much of that has been in a factor in combat flight sims? I simply cannot see the average sim fan resorting to hacks and the like in the same fashion that impetuous teenagers with something to prove do in shooters and mmorpg games. It's not as if anyone can simply jump into a game like IL2/PF and expect to dominate purely based on their twitch skills and hacks. Talent and skill aside, combat sims also require patience, discipline and maturity in order to excel.

Is there any word on whether we can expect another WWI sim to hit the market? About a year or so ago I recall reading/hearing about one being made by a small time developer but I fear it was cancelled.

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

I now have FB Gold / PF. I love the graphics, but I still stink. :embarassed:
I got thru 2 carreer missions without dying so far, but I havent shot anything down on them yet either.

For gunnery/landing practice Im using quick battles against a B17. I try to whack it in as few passes as I can and then safely land. I've had good fun a few times trying to land with a seized up engine and a near blacked out canopy due to a lucky tailgunner shot. :2thumbsup:

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Glad you're enjoying it. :balloon2:

Get into the Full Mission Builder and start fooling around. After an hour or two you'll have the swing of it and then the replayability is endless. I spend as much time I the FMB as I do flying. Always finding new tricks to make things interesting.

Check out http://www.pacific-fighters.com/en/home.php for tips and tricks and skins and missions. Good site. And you must get the patches. All kinds of new planes (including Mosquitos and Tempests!), maps, ground objects, improved graphics and fixes. This should help with how to do it. http://forums.ubi.com/groupee/forums...5/m/5581083643

As for the B17s... get a few thousand feet higher, get right over them, roll inverted and dive straight down through them. Pick one out and blast him. They are pretty much defenceless to this. Then use all that lovely energy to climb back up and do it again. After a while, you should be able to down several without a scratch.

What flightstick are you using?

I'm using the Cyborg Evo as my flightstick and I use the builtin throttle.

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And you must get the patches. All kinds of new planes (including Mosquitos and Tempests!), maps, ground objects, improved graphics and fixes. This should help with how to do it.

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Yup, I read that thread and dl'ed the patches while I was waiting for the game to get delivered- installed them before I even played. I followed their order, so hopefully everything went in ok. I assume it'd be easy to tell if it didnt?

I did my 3rd career mission today (German fighter pilot) and managed to catch a I-16 slow and low and lit him up. I got a few shots into his buddy too- then one of my guys swooped in and finished him. Felt good to land back at base after taking one down. :2thumbsup:

I do have some newb questions though... When is it a good idea to use "combat" flaps? Also, alot of the AI fighters seem to like fighting at almost treetop level, is that normal? Lastly, I've noticed B17's seem to go down really easy... It seems if I set fire to or disable even one engine, it goes down. I wouldve thought that it could stay in the air with 3 of 4 engines and that they had extinguishers builtin for engine fires. Of course, maybe Im basing too much of that on Hollywood BS. ~;)

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

I'm using the Cyborg Evo as my flightstick and I use the builtin throttle.

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Oh brother, if you have the cash, buy a second one a make a HOTAS, it's great fun and your flying will improve instantly.

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

Yup, I read that thread and dl'ed the patches while I was waiting for the game to get delivered- installed them before I even played. I followed their order, so hopefully everything went in ok. I assume it'd be easy to tell if it didnt?

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When you load the game and get to the splash screen. It should read 4.03 in the lower left had corner. Also, just see if you have the Mosquito, if yes, then all is well.

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

I do have some newb questions though... When is it a good idea to use "combat" flaps?

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I don't use them much, but they're good for getting a bit tighter on the turns and lowering your speed ever so slightly. They're also good for strafing work. Lower your throttle, hit combat flaps, and glide in a bit steadier for your gun run on ground targets.

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

Also, alot of the AI fighters seem to like fighting at almost treetop level, is that normal?

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That's probably just the way the game is coded. Start up about 3000 meters and you should be able to keep them up there with you. Also, online flyers tend to get into these ultra-low level bee swarm dogfights. I just sit a few thousand meters overhead and dive on them over and over (Boom & Zoom). Drives them nuts. I have to remind them it's an airplane sim, not a tank sim, I'm allowed to fly high and they're welcome to join me.

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

Lastly, I've noticed B17's seem to go down really easy... It seems if I set fire to or disable even one engine, it goes down. I wouldve thought that it could stay in the air with 3 of 4 engines and that they had extinguishers builtin for engine fires. Of course, maybe Im basing too much of that on Hollywood BS. ~;)

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Some planes have glass jaws, others don't. Try them all out and see which are tough and which aren't. Also, what are you hitting them with? Just a few rounds of 30mm cannon will bring down most anything. Try the Bf-109 F4. Nice plane and no heavy guns. That will give you challenge against a B17.

(Hee-hee, another poor soul lost to the Dark Side of flightsims. :evil:)

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Originally Posted by Beirut

Oh brother, if you have the cash, buy a second one a make a HOTAS, it's great fun and your flying will improve instantly.

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Bah, I picked up an X52. :2thumbsup:

It's a great controller, but I actually flew quite a bit worse for a bit until I got used to the better controls. Now.... Im still not that good- but I'm having more fun. I did actually manage to take out 2 more I-16s during a career mission, but I'm pretty convinced it was more a matter of being in the right place at the right time than any skill on my part. :dizzy2:

Now I'll have to look thru my library and drag out some other HOTAS compatible games now that I got a proper one. ~D

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

Bah, I picked up an X52. :2thumbsup:

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Sweet. Lucky guy!

I'm looking at getting a TrackIR 4 Pro in the not too distant future. Looks like great fun.

Check out the demos of how it works. This thing is wild.
http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/...ct-videos.html

I played all of the classics when I was younger - Red Baron, Aces over Europe/Pacific and so on, Flight Simulator - older ones...from the new ones I played vanilla Il-2 Sturmovik, and I adored the whole game but couldn't really play it well because I don't have a controller...I played with keybord, and God that was frustrating...but couldn't make myself buy the stick for just one game...and I'm generally a strategy games type, so...

Anyone here tried Total Air War? It's flight model is a bit simplified (F-22) but the dynamic campaigns are fantastic, really deep stuff - like a more relaxed version of Falcon...

And there's a strategic side to the game too, because you can manage most aspects of the air war from the awacs (if any are airborne and if the radar network is still intact), tracking the action at the same time through a dynamic, intelligently programmed camera window (it's sometimes like you're watching dogfights in a high budget action movie).

And to top it all off if you feel like it, you can leave the awacs strategic interface at any time and jump into any of the F-22's that are airborne...

The only problem for me is that all of the warring nations have a seemingly neverending supply of warplanes - so you have only limited success if you destroy the enemies airfields.

I thought F-22 TAW was great. Lots of fun. Good depth and the stealth element was very cool.

Would love to see that sim brought up to Lock On standards. Falcon 4 as well. If F4 had Lock On graphics it would truly be the Holy Grail of jet sims.

Oh how I wish i'd never seen this thread. :shame: I used to play a lot of flight sims and still have them all, Red Baron, AOE, AOP, Jane's Navy Fighters, Jane's Longbow I & II and some others I'm sure.

I then moved onto racing sims with my favorite of all time being Grand Prix Legends, them moving into the strat games for quite a long time now.

Now moving into middle age I'm going to get my pilots license and have been thinking about flight sims. Seeing this thread pretty much cinched the fact I'll have to clean of the computer desk, dig through my computer grave yard and dust off my, rudder, throttle, and joystick.

Like I didn't spend enough time on the PC, my wife is going to kill me. :skull:

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Originally Posted by Eternal Champion

...my wife is going to kill me. :skull:

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No she won't. Do what I do.

Get a beer, open it, take a loooong swig. Locate wife. Crawl across the floor towards her with a look of deranged passion on your face. When you get to her, prop your beer on one of her knees and your other hand on her other knee and look her in the eye and say, "I'd like to _________________! Twice!"

If she let's you - you win. If she does what mine does and says "Get the hell away from me you idiot!" - you still win. 'Cause then you can go fly as long as you want and she won't say one - single - word.

Happiness is the art of the possible. :bow:

I guess you fly-guys have seen the new 2-weeks-free Aces High II?
http://www.hitechcreations.com/frame...l?../main.html