Posted: 3/24/2005 5:49:49 PM EDT
|
Anybody know any good online flight sim sites, the ones where you can fly warplanes in dogfights? Thanks, Ric |
|
Lock On is a good sim of an A-10, F-15, and five different Russian Fighters and Close Support attack jets. Pretty detailed, with a significant amount of time to learn to fly each plane and use weapons for air to air, or air to ground missions. It's been out for a while, I usually see it for around $20 at Comp USA these days. |
If you can make it work. |
Not to nitpick, that looks like a cool sim...but when did P-38's square off againt IL-2's? |
That's a P-38L that I used to smoke a Ki-61 Tony. I was lazy and didn't change the markings, I normally fly Bf-109 against Russian birds. |
|
Forgotten Battles + Ace Expansion + Pacific Fighters (installed as expansion) = LOTS of planes. Should get a few more in the next patch, too. My squad, II./JG1 : www.jg1.org |
Now that's a bit of a long shot. I personally think they suck (todays standard), but they're just fine for a game that's more about physics and multiplayer than just shallow eyecandy like most games out today (only about a dozen games out within the past year AREN'T just eyecandy and quake'ish gameplay). |
|
Falcon 4.0, though an older title not available in stores anymore, is the flight sim that every other flight sim wishes it was. It's F-16 based. Get it off of ebay and then go find the online community for it (Frugalsworld.com) and start investigating the options. Download all the patches and updates that are recommended, install them with care, and you'll have a high fidelity simulation experience that knows no equal that runs on a PC. When the community has been improving the sim for seven years, and keeping it current the whole time, then you can imagine that the latest editions are fantastically realistic and faithful.  I could put up screenshots all day long, most of which are better than this in SOME respects. I've got thousands of hours in Falcon 4.0. And I've managed to spend a few hours in F-16 cockpit simulators, too. Those simulators felt like I'd come home. Everything was familiar to me. I knew where everything was and what it did. If you're after realism, Falcon 4.0 (patched to current) is still the best overall flight sim for a sim that is focused on one specific type of plane. (But now, many types of planes are flyable in Falcon. That's a fairly recent development.) The new king, currently in development, should be Fighter Ops. It should be completely mind-boggling. CJ |
| how the hell do you guys manage to actually fly in flight sims??? I have BF 1942 and I can just barely keep most of the planes airborne! Is the key to have a joy stick or what? And from the little bit that I know about flight sims I have been told that X Plane is the best flight sim out. Although its not combat based. |
+1 on Falcon 4.0. I miss it. My 4.0 CD disappeared. It is not with the manual. I have not been able to play since my last HD crash. 
|
|
I've never played any others other than this one: fighterace.ketsujin.com/ It's Fighter Ace. All WWII era planes. There is currently a two week free trail. Download the game from the website and install. A WWI (biplanes) sim will also be offered soon by the new owners of this game. There are several arenas u can fight in. A couple of dogfight arenas with physics from easy to hard. It also has arenas where nations fight each other. You can fly bombers or fighters from different countries. You can see a short training film I made here: http://www.hellcatz-squadron.com/HELLCATZ%20VIDEO'S.htm It's about 28 megs. I plan on making more videos. This is the second one. I recommend a joystick with twist for rudder. I use a saitek Cyborg. About $40 bucks. Logitech usually sucks for fighter ace. I joined a squadron that communicates by voice using Teamspeak as we play. It's pretty fun. You need a headset with mic for this. About $20 bucks. Our little squad has players from their 20's to 70's. Most of us over 30. Email me if you want to do the free trial and I'll help get you acquainted with it. I'll help you with joystick settings etc. Fighter Ace also has live help rooms for help. You will get your ass kicked repeatedly when you first start. There is a learning curve. It's not that bad though. fighterace.ketsujin.com/Information/images/Jan03_3.jpg |
|
Is IL-2 free to play online? I've been wanting a good flightsim and the IL-2 gold pack (Forgotten and Aces together for $29) seems like exactly what I'm looking for. But, I might have to upgrade my hardware, my joystick is a MS ForceFeedback Pro, so I have to remove my hand from the keyboard to type. Now I might have to spring for CH rudder pedals, throttle and a new joystick... Kharn |
|
I eventually went whole hog and bought the Thrustmaster Cougar HOTAS system. It's 300 bucks, but it makes all the difference in jet simulations at least. It's modelled very accurately after the stick and throttle in an F-16, and it's all cast metal parts. Very heavy, very sturdy, and very moddable and upgradable for even greater performance. It IS a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes, but I wouldn't want to go back to any lesser joystick and throttle, and all others ARE lesser models. CJ |
Maybe give fighter ace a try for the free trial. No Credit Card needs to be given for the trial. Most people fly in the arcade physics arena. You just hit the gas and go. Do go to the help room or training room to learn the tricks to make it more enjoyable. You will need to get used to switching between padlock (locks view on to nearest enemy) and forward view. It's odd at first but easy to get familiar with. Necessary to keep and eye on the guy trying to kill you. |
IL2 has scaleable realism, so you could basically play it from a beginner "arcade" mode all the way to the expert mode that is extremely realistic. |
|
As you get better, it gets MORE fun at the higher realism levels. No ace level sim pilot will really get into playing a sim at kiddie settings. When you've been doing it for a while and have learned what you need to know, there's no more intense fun to be had on a PC than to set up dogfight mode against AI opponents with their skill level cranked, and grudge it out until your hand are numb. If you can trade kill for kill, one for one, at that skill level, and against equal or superior aircraft, you're pretty good. Back it down to arcade levels and I'll run out of missiles and bullets before I get killed. The real fun comes when you've paid your dues at max realism for a long time, and then you get a chance to fly one of the Air Force's own F-16 simulators, the kind that costs millions, and you grease your first landing in and demonstrate skills that draw compliments from the simulator chief/pilot instructors. On one of the two occasions I was able to get such access, I asked the instructor pilot if he thought that I could actually fly and land the real jet without killing myself, based on what he's seen of me in the simulator...and that I'm a private pilot in training. He said, yes, I think you'd be able to land just fine, and better yet, be able to walk away and not get the crew chief pissed off as no damage was done. I took that as a compliment.  CJ |
I can't seem to be able to find your video... |
I love my Cougar... It replaced my FLCS and TQS... The only problem is that it arrived the day my daughter was born and though it has seen a few flights since I have never gotten into programing it and it sits sadly unused on my decktop (under my neato covers the guy on Frugalsworld was selling!).
|
|
Also try Warbirds 2004. It has the most realistic flight model of the online flight sims. Two week free trial plus you can cruise around offline. www.ient.com  Fritz |