Simulations

[Sjakihata]

Im interrested in simulations, so please list all the simulation games that you know of. Especially, helicopter and tanks sims have my interest.

[Kekvit Irae]

Operation Flashpoint
Infantry, helis, tanks, and planes all in one

[Sjakihata]

Operation Flashpoint
Infantry, helis, tanks, and planes all in one

Yes, I have ofp with all expansions, and played it to death. What Im looking for, isnt an infantry sim - but a REAL sim.

[Divine Wind]

I was going to mention T-72 Balkans on Fire, but you already got round to doing that Those battlefront guys are always making little gems. I was really impressed by the demo so ill be pre-ordering soon me thinks.

[Shahed]

I guess you know all the ones I'm going to mention but here's some:

-LOMAC "2": This will include a fully integrated Kamov 50 Hokum simulation. You will be able to fly a Su-27, Mig-29 etc as top cover while your buddies do the low down with Hokums, ALL in the SAME game. This simulation will be awesome, one of a kind. Now we are talking LOMAC flight models, detailed aerodynamics. As it is LOMAC has one of the best flight model engines out there, with the Ka-50, if they pull this off, just imagine it, with LOMAC grafics. It will be spectacular.

-Allied Force: Falcon 4 is back ! Gfx look close to LOMAC so that's a big plus. But anyway Falcon was never about graphics. This sim has a complete theater of war where you are just one aircraft among many in the theater, something that LOMAC failed to achieve completely, a dynamic campaign. And hey, remember how I was working on the airfield maps for LOMAC , well not in this one. I already got the maps:



It even tells you which way to taxi from parking ! LOL ! I remember how many times I formed up on a flight in LOMAC and people did'nt know which way the runway was :D. That was funny, well anyway I love these small touches I see in Allied Force.

I remember a great mod for LOMAC which allowed you to import stuff on your notepad. AF does this for you without any mods, keyword = detail


-Steel Beasts: Though outdated graphics and sound this remains a top nothc tank simulation complete with platoon tactics.

Here's a good article about helo sims:
http://www.simhq.com/_air3/air_113a.html
Article on EECH:
http://www.simhq.com/_air4/air_150a.html

Actually heres a good page with a long list of air sims:
http://www.simhq.com/_air/air.html#reviews

Check out T-72 Balkans on Fire, a new tank sim (looks promising):
http://www.battlefront.com/products/t72/

You can download the demo here:
http://www.gamershell.com/news/23562.html

And ohhh yeah ! don't forget Battlefield 2 !

Game on !

[Geoffrey S]

Silent Hunter III, a submarine sim, is rather neat.

[Dutch_guy]

Well . I don't know any good tank sims, but a good flight sim like IL2: forgotten battles is great, and definatly worth the money.

[Beirut]

Well . I don't know any good tank sims, but a good flight sim like IL2: forgotten battles is great, and definatly worth the money.

What he said.

You can buy the entire IL2 series, Il2-Forgotten Battles + the ACE Expansion Pack + Pacific Fighters and a flight stick for under a hundred dollars combined.

The three IL2 series sims merge together and create an uber-WWII flightsim with dozens and dozens of flyable planes and maps from France to Mumansk to Hawaii to Nagasaki. There are hundreds of placeable ground objects allowing you to build incredible scenery, plus armour for land battles and lots of ships for some serious naval action, including carrier takeoffs and landings, battleship big gun barrages and Kamikaze attacks.

The graphics are top shelf and the flight modelling is very good (as if I know what P-47 feels like) but not always easy. You can fly a boatplane, a biplane, a ground attack aircraft, a dogfighter, or as bomber (including manning the gun turrets). There is plenty of air armament available: machine guns, cannons, tank busting heavy cannons, air to air rockets, air to ground rockets, iron bombs form 15kg to 5000kg, glide bombs, cluster munitions, napalm, anti-ship rockets, all sorts of goodies.

On the ground you can have almost anything that was used in WWII. APCs, light tanks, heavy tanks, rocket launchers, light and heavy artillery, bulldozers, trucks, buses, cars, all able to move and fight, all kinds of AAA, from machine guns to German 88s. The list is almost endless.

This isn't just the grand super enchilada of WWII flightsims, it's a whole history lesson. And with the series of patches that have come out, there are plenty of new maps and planes available. There are few other games or sims that offer this much value for the money.

[Sjakihata]

I probably should have mentioned the games, that I did play. They include: IL2, LOMAC, EEAH, EECH, Silent hunter, EAW.

What I really need, is a _hardcore_ sim. Which I don't think games like IL2 is. Preferably one dealing with helicopters. So far, Sinan's suggestion look promising. And thanks all for your replies.

[Shahed]

The real thing:

http://www.flightlevel350.com/viewer.php?id=2729

[amritochates]

If you wanted a truly hardcore sim, you could try this:

Sub Command: Seawolf-Akula-688(I) (PC)

http://archive.gamespy.com/reviews/d...r01/subcommand

Sub Command is a new, but also a mature product. Sonalysts, the development company, worked before on the 688(I) Hunter/Killer sub sim and Jane's Fleet Command. They clearly added lessons learned from those experiences to their already extensive naval warfare knowledge. The combination results in a product that's both authentic and elegant. The realism factor is high and requires players to simulate, or at least understand nearly every aspect of submarine command. Users access several stations to operate such things as sonar, helm, periscope, weapon, and radar functions. Menus and keyboard shortcuts enable quick access to stations and each panel is crisp and legible.

These panels, of course, don't require some massive 3D acceleration to drive their graphics. Video hounds don't have to worry because the Sonalysts folks were good about making some concessions for all types of players. Although the most realistic experience comes from playing Sub Command entirely at the internal stations, there is a 3D representation of the world displayed in an optional window.

That view is purely a gimmick, however, because it has no tactical significance during play. Sub Command is staunchly hardcore and players must learn much about real submarine operations if they want to succeed in the dozens of single and campaign missions. Some of this material, like performing target motion analysis (TMA) is tricky. There's depth to some of this learning; the concepts of sonar and stealth are similar across all submarines, but Sub Command even models differences in the station panels and technology of the four included in the game, the American 688(I) and Seawolf, and the Russian Akula and Akula II.

Sonalysts tried to make this learning curve scalable. There's a two hundred-page manual for the game, though it's unfortunately a digital copy rather than a printed one. There are also the excellent interactive tutorial missions, but the three included are not enough for a sim of this complexity. More useful are the difficulty settings that allow computer crewmen to handle many of the intricate and manually intensive tasks. Played in this mode, users issue commands and the crew follows them, adding to a sense that the player is truly the commander of the boat. More than just a nice feature, this is a great alternative way to play. It also ties in to the optional voice command feature that comes in form of a Microsoft utility. I did not test this, so I can't comment on how well the Microsoft voice piece works, but similar functionality could probably be rigged via utilities like Game Commander.

Gameplay itself is also different from that of other sims. As a good submarine sim should be, it's about patience and stealth. Victory is a matter of being the sneakier and more careful commander, and players used to the frenetic pace of action games, or even some flight sims, might find Sub Command an uncomfortable departure. In some missions, the goal isn't to shoot anything at all, but to merely serve as a deployment vehicle for SEALs, or rendezvous with a rescue team. Sub Command's slower pace doesn't necessarily translate into an unexciting game.

I used to play this obsessively before I broke my second CD -It has the additional benefit of driving your entire household mad with the continious pinging of the Sonar.

But as the above review states it is a hardcore sim, in that you need a hell lot of patience(A typical game is usually 5-7 hours long) and a new pair of Hi-Fi headphones in case you intend to act as your own sonar operator.

[Shahed]

That's one I always wanted to try out.

[Shahed]

Got some new High Res 1600*1200 screenshots of Black Shark here:

http://www.simhq.com/_air4/air_153a.html

[Sjakihata]

Thank for for the review amritochates, sounds very interresting. And thank you Sinan - Im definately going to try Black Shark.