What is your favorite Combat Flight Sim?

Kptlt. Neuerburg · 08-23-12, 08:56 PM

I'm surprized that someone hasn't made a thread like this so here goes.

For me I'd have to say that Rise of Flight has top be one of my faves. Its realistic, the AI tend to be as skilled as the player, great graphics and multiplayer,tons of aircraft to fly and is in a very overlooked period as combat flight sims go. A very close second would be CFS3, while not the greatest in terms of graphics it has a true dynamic campaign where the players action do effect the course of the war, damage modelling is great, highly moddable, and the player can change certian pilot skills like how much Gs the players pilot can take. Third is IL-2 1946, it has great graphics, good multiplayer, and a great selection of aircraft. But theres a lot of things that in my opinion need to be fixed,updated and added to make IL-2 my most favorite CFS.

So what are your fave CFS's?

CCIP · 08-23-12, 09:06 PM

Good choices!

I think mine will forever have to be Falcon 4.0, in its latter-day modded state. No game has ever even attempted a dynamic campaign on the same scale (10s of thousands of ground units, hundreds of air units constantly engaged in real-time 3D battlespace? Integrated command and air defense systems? Supply, infrastructure and logistics having real effects? Yes sir!), and the fidelity of the simulation is still second to none, even 14 years after release. When you combine those two things, the immersion factor is unbeatable. You really feel like a small part of a big war.

Similar things could be said for Battle of Britain II, which I heartily recommend to everyone. It's often overlooked against IL-2 and CFS 3, especially for lack of its multiplayer, but its newer versions are absolutely outstanding. It has some of the best flight modeling, and by far the best AI out of the current WWII flight sims. Its campaign is also brilliant and more truly dynamic than its direct competitors - and you can even play it as purely a strategy game, controlling the whole air war if you want to and jumping in to participate at any time.

And finally, a worthy game to this day is B-17 II, which no other can still touch all these years later as far as bomber sims. It is very much the SHIII of flight sims, with its immersive crew and squadron management features, and near-suicidal difficulty - the real challenge, as in SHIII, is to survive. And to this day, it has some of the best sound design in any game. Of all flight sims, it's the one I would most like to see a true sequel to.

Cybermat47 · 08-23-12, 09:11 PM

Birds of Steel. World of Planes as it is called on PC. The amount of customization, levels and planes make it the undisputed king of flight sims.

Kptlt. Neuerburg · 08-23-12, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCIP

Good choices!

I think mine will forever have to be Falcon 4.0, in its latter-day modded state. No game has ever even attempted a dynamic campaign on the same scale (10s of thousands of ground units, hundreds of air units constantly engaged in real-time 3D battlespace? Integrated command and air defense systems? Supply, infrastructure and logistics having real effects? Yes sir!), and the fidelity of the simulation is still second to none, even 14 years after release. When you combine those two things, the immersion factor is unbeatable. You really feel like a small part of a big war.

Similar things could be said for Battle of Britain II, which I heartily recommend to everyone. It's often overlooked against IL-2 and CFS 3, especially for lack of its multiplayer, but its newer versions are absolutely outstanding. It has some of the best flight modeling, and by far the best AI out of the current WWII flight sims. Its campaign is also brilliant and more truly dynamic than its direct competitors - and you can even play it as purely a strategy game, controlling the whole air war if you want to and jumping in to participate at any time.

And finally, a worthy game to this day is B-17 II, which no other can still touch all these years later as far as bomber sims. It is very much the SHIII of flight sims, with its immersive crew and squadron management features, and near-suicidal difficulty - the real challenge, as in SHIII, is to survive. And to this day, it has some of the best sound design in any game. Of all flight sims, it's the one I would most like to see a true sequel to.

Yes I have to agree on Battle of Britian II in terms of AI and single player. As for B-17 II are you talking about B-17 Flying Fortress The Mighty Eighth or a different game?

CCIP · 08-23-12, 10:07 PM

Yup, The Mighty Eighth is the subtitle I believe. Still got it installed. It's kind of a shame there hadn't been more mods etc. for the game - it definitely does have its limits, weaknesses and glitches. If it ever got the same level of community support and mods as, say, the other two sims I mentioned, it would've been amazing.

Kptlt. Neuerburg · 08-23-12, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCIP

Yup, The Mighty Eighth is the subtitle I believe. Still got it installed. It's kind of a shame there hadn't been more mods etc. for the game - it definitely does have its limits, weaknesses and glitches. If it ever got the same level of community support and mods as, say, the other two sims I mentioned, it would've been amazing.

Ah, well as you mentioned in the Microsoft Flight thread that A2A has the rights for The Mighty Eighth I've got fingers and toes crossed that they do revamp that game. Its a classic game that needs to be brought back as theres nothing that can compare to it.

Sledgehammer427 · 08-23-12, 11:42 PM

For CFS's I find it hard to say anything wrong about Rise of Flight, it's amazing and the dev team is probably one of the most motivated and dedicated I've ever seen!

But, I have IL-2 1946 with the HSFX mod 4.1 (apologies if theres still something against posting IL-2 mods)
and the amount of offline campaigns is amazing, I'm flying in the White Sun-Blue Sky campaign that focusses solely on the Flying Tigers (Which I have some strange attachment to) with all the settings set to hyper realistic.
that being said, I feel great for having 15 kills and counting

DCS World looks to outdo anything on the market in terms of depth and playability though, I like the module options and I put in my pre-order for the Mig-21 Fishbed module

Red October1984 · 08-24-12, 04:50 PM

IL-2 1946 and CFS3 by far. I do enjoy Jetfighter V too.

Cybermat47 · 08-26-12, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCIP

Similar things could be said for Battle of Britain II

Never, EVER, mention that game again

CCIP · 08-27-12, 01:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cybermat47

Never, EVER, mention that game again

Oh but I will. Have played through the campaign twice and plan to come back again. It has its downsides, but it's been excellently supported and, IMO, could still be a valid contender the best single-player WWII sim out there. Sorry if you had a bad experience with it. Mine has certainly been good though

Oberon · 08-27-12, 05:40 AM

IL2 1946 for its online quality
BOBII:WOV for its offline quality
A-10c/BS for its complexity
Rise of Flight for its beauty
Freefalcon for its community added content
Wings over Europe for its theatre and eras (We need more Cold War Gone Hot Combat Flight Sims set in Germany)
Comanche vs Hokum for Nostalgia

Oberon · 08-27-12, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCIP

Oh but I will. Have played through the campaign twice and plan to come back again. It has its downsides, but it's been excellently supported and, IMO, could still be a valid contender the best single-player WWII sim out there. Sorry if you had a bad experience with it. Mine has certainly been good though

It has some of the best AI in a flight sim. It actually makes mistakes, unlike the IL2 AI which bounces between idiotic and cheating.

danzig70 · 08-27-12, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCIP

Yup, The Mighty Eighth is the subtitle I believe. Still got it installed. It's kind of a shame there hadn't been more mods etc. for the game - it definitely does have its limits, weaknesses and glitches. If it ever got the same level of community support and mods as, say, the other two sims I mentioned, it would've been amazing.

I found a website when I was looking for aerial photographs where someone had made maps of different targets for missions for the game. Here it is: http://glewis.us/v7th_Recon/ Its a great site.

Cybermat47 · 08-27-12, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCIP

Oh but I will. Have played through the campaign twice and plan to come back again. It has its downsides, but it's been excellently supported and, IMO, could still be a valid contender the best single-player WWII sim out there. Sorry if you had a bad experience with it. Mine has certainly been good though

Eh. Glad to see at least somebody has had a good experience. Might as well try it again. I would recommend to you Birdds of Steel, or the pc version of the game,World of Planes. In it, you can play as British,American,Russian,Australian,German,Italian ,or Japanese. You can add 2 emblems on any part of your aircraft, select loadout realism and much more. You receive missions like combat air patrol, ground attack, head to head dogfight, tank bombing, city bombing, escort missions, and 2 main campaigns with 14 different dynamic campaigns. Here is the website:http://birdsofsteel.com/ I've got the Xbox 360 version of the game!

HunterICX · 08-28-12, 04:46 AM

Played my share of the original CFS, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe and other Combat Flight sims on the DOS and Pentium I PC back in the day, I think where I spend the most time in is IL2 1946 playing online.

Can't really name a favorite as I like all of them for their qualities and what they have to offer in gameplay but there are also things I don't like about them.
Example: I hate IL2's AI and non-existent campaign that makes the game interesting to play offline or co-op for a long period of time as it becomes rather repetitive and don't offer that much variety.
Wings of Victory II: Battle of Britain on the other hand does but doesn't offer multiplayer support to play it coop with friends but iirc they said they where working on a Multiplayer but not sure how far that has gotten so far and it begs that this idea of a campaign and AI was implemented into other Theathers of operations.

And I can go on and on for ages about this subject what I like and dislike about the Combat Flightsims.

I like them all for what they have to offer and I enjoy(ed) playing them.
And that's for me what it is all about.

HunterICX

08-23-12, 08:56 PM	#1
Kptlt. Neuerburg Admiral Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Florida Posts: 2,244 Downloads: 54 Uploads: 0	What is your favorite Combat Flight Sim? I'm surprized that someone hasn't made a thread like this so here goes. For me I'd have to say that Rise of Flight has top be one of my faves. Its realistic, the AI tend to be as skilled as the player, great graphics and multiplayer,tons of aircraft to fly and is in a very overlooked period as combat flight sims go. A very close second would be CFS3, while not the greatest in terms of graphics it has a true dynamic campaign where the players action do effect the course of the war, damage modelling is great, highly moddable, and the player can change certian pilot skills like how much Gs the players pilot can take. Third is IL-2 1946, it has great graphics, good multiplayer, and a great selection of aircraft. But theres a lot of things that in my opinion need to be fixed,updated and added to make IL-2 my most favorite CFS. So what are your fave CFS's? __________________ "When you're born into this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show. If you're born in America you get a front row seat." - George Carlin

08-23-12, 09:06 PM	#2
CCIP Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 8,700 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 2	Good choices! I think mine will forever have to be Falcon 4.0, in its latter-day modded state. No game has ever even attempted a dynamic campaign on the same scale (10s of thousands of ground units, hundreds of air units constantly engaged in real-time 3D battlespace? Integrated command and air defense systems? Supply, infrastructure and logistics having real effects? Yes sir!), and the fidelity of the simulation is still second to none, even 14 years after release. When you combine those two things, the immersion factor is unbeatable. You really feel like a small part of a big war. Similar things could be said for Battle of Britain II, which I heartily recommend to everyone. It's often overlooked against IL-2 and CFS 3, especially for lack of its multiplayer, but its newer versions are absolutely outstanding. It has some of the best flight modeling, and by far the best AI out of the current WWII flight sims. Its campaign is also brilliant and more truly dynamic than its direct competitors - and you can even play it as purely a strategy game, controlling the whole air war if you want to and jumping in to participate at any time. And finally, a worthy game to this day is B-17 II, which no other can still touch all these years later as far as bomber sims. It is very much the SHIII of flight sims, with its immersive crew and squadron management features, and near-suicidal difficulty - the real challenge, as in SHIII, is to survive. And to this day, it has some of the best sound design in any game. Of all flight sims, it's the one I would most like to see a true sequel to. __________________ There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers. -Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)

08-23-12, 09:11 PM	#3
Cybermat47 Willing Webfooted Beast Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Australia Posts: 5,386 Downloads: 293 Uploads: 22	Birds of Steel Birds of Steel. World of Planes as it is called on PC. The amount of customization, levels and planes make it the undisputed king of flight sims. __________________ Historical TWoS Gameplay Guide: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=2572620 Historical FotRSU Gameplay Guide: https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho....php?p=2713394

08-23-12, 10:07 PM	#5
CCIP Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 8,700 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 2	Yup, The Mighty Eighth is the subtitle I believe. Still got it installed. It's kind of a shame there hadn't been more mods etc. for the game - it definitely does have its limits, weaknesses and glitches. If it ever got the same level of community support and mods as, say, the other two sims I mentioned, it would've been amazing. __________________ There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers. -Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)

08-23-12, 11:42 PM	#7
Sledgehammer427 PacWagon Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Drinking coffee and staring at trees in Massachusetts Posts: 2,901 Downloads: 280 Uploads: 0	For CFS's I find it hard to say anything wrong about Rise of Flight, it's amazing and the dev team is probably one of the most motivated and dedicated I've ever seen! But, I have IL-2 1946 with the HSFX mod 4.1 (apologies if theres still something against posting IL-2 mods) and the amount of offline campaigns is amazing, I'm flying in the White Sun-Blue Sky campaign that focusses solely on the Flying Tigers (Which I have some strange attachment to) with all the settings set to hyper realistic. that being said, I feel great for having 15 kills and counting DCS World looks to outdo anything on the market in terms of depth and playability though, I like the module options and I put in my pre-order for the Mig-21 Fishbed module __________________ Cold Waters Voice Crew - Fire Control Officer Cmdr O. Myers - C/O USS Nautilus (SS-168) 114,000 tons sunk - 4 Spec Ops completed V-boat Nutcase - Need supplies? Japanese garrison on a small island in the way? Just give us a call! D4C!

08-24-12, 04:50 PM	#8
Red October1984 Airplane Nerd Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Texas Posts: 6,241 Downloads: 115 Uploads: 0	IL-2 1946 and CFS3 by far. I do enjoy Jetfighter V too. __________________

08-27-12, 05:40 AM	#11
Oberon Lucky Jack Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 25,976 Downloads: 61 Uploads: 20	IL2 1946 for its online quality BOBII:WOV for its offline quality A-10c/BS for its complexity Rise of Flight for its beauty Freefalcon for its community added content Wings over Europe for its theatre and eras (We need more Cold War Gone Hot Combat Flight Sims set in Germany) Comanche vs Hokum for Nostalgia

08-28-12, 04:46 AM	#15
HunterICX Rear Admiral Join Date: May 2006 Location: Malaga, España Posts: 10,749 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 0	Played my share of the original CFS, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe and other Combat Flight sims on the DOS and Pentium I PC back in the day, I think where I spend the most time in is IL2 1946 playing online. Can't really name a favorite as I like all of them for their qualities and what they have to offer in gameplay but there are also things I don't like about them. Example: I hate IL2's AI and non-existent campaign that makes the game interesting to play offline or co-op for a long period of time as it becomes rather repetitive and don't offer that much variety. Wings of Victory II: Battle of Britain on the other hand does but doesn't offer multiplayer support to play it coop with friends but iirc they said they where working on a Multiplayer but not sure how far that has gotten so far and it begs that this idea of a campaign and AI was implemented into other Theathers of operations. And I can go on and on for ages about this subject what I like and dislike about the Combat Flightsims. I like them all for what they have to offer and I enjoy(ed) playing them. And that's for me what it is all about. HunterICX __________________ Last edited by HunterICX; 08-28-12 at 09:48 AM.