If you are prepared to wait about ten days, the best one is likely to be the new Battle of Britain-themed one 'Storm of War' made by the people who did IL-2.

Other than that, you've got:

IL-2 (in any variant, but probably 1946 version), best all rounder and probably best value, some questionable single player AI, but brilliant against human opponents. Models virtually every plane ever built including some that in fact were never built. The '1946' element is more like a fantasy than an extrapolation of real prototypes that would have made it into action by that year, with things like a V-Tailed Me262 instead of real, planned - and existing - variants of the Me262, such as the version with a bomb aimer in a clear nosecone, and a hybrid BMW-powered rocket/jet interceptor version which did actually fly. It would have been better with things like that in it. Nevertheless, every flight sim fan should own this.

CFS3, much maligned, but very customisable and fun, pushes the envelope in terms of interesting gameplay, will also allow you to use the Over Flanders Fields freeware WW1 add-on, which is superb.

BoB2, a bit quirky, and not easy to play a pilot campaign, but has a lot of depth and allows you to play either side as a controller as well as a flyer, missing some very important aircraft types from the Battle though, and not easy to fly on realistic settings.

B-17 2 The Mighty Eighth, Bloody great game, very immersive, you can play as a German fighter pilot if you like, or an escorting Allied fighter pilot, or all three if you like. Best implementation of missions for any WW2 flight simulator ever, requires genuine navigation and piloting skills that other flight sims do not model, such as wind-drift on bomb runs etc. also models the human side of things, like CFS3 does, and will allow you to manage an entire bomber wing, as well as just a single plane and crew. A much-underrated classic that is still very playable.

:D Chock

10 days? More like two weeks for another year. There is no way it will come out before Summer 08.

I remain hopefull.... This game, if it is everything they say it will be, is just going to be so amazing.... :o

I would not recommend IL2 for SP. Personally I bought the original release, as well as FB, Aces and Pacific Aces, but to my shame I could never really like it. The graphics are nice, but I found it to be more of an an online game, the AI and campaign are dissappointing, and I personally did not I repeat NOT like the terrain graphics. I did not like for the following reasons: map borders, no satellite terrain, repetitive effects (rivers) and worst of all, 3d objects popping into view.

Imo it's great if you play online but its not that great for SP. CFS3+OFF, BoB2 are examples of better SP games.

IL-2 MP is great, but I've yet to get 1946, which is where the real action seems to be.

I still haven't played a better single-player campaign than Red Baron 3D, mind :D

IL-2 1946 is a must have, sure the basic campaigns are a bit.....dull. BUT you CAN download LOADS of stuff from the net, like campaigns and skins, and their hilariously easy to install. (even I can do it).

Also, MCFS 3 is a good game, a bit dated maybe, and not all to many planes. However, the campaign is more interesting, and the OFF mod really, really, really is the best WWI simulator out there.....and it's free!

But it doesn't work with the latest video cards, that is, any video card that doesn't support 8-bit graphics. To get it to work requires a bit of stuffing around (either using old card, old drivers, or a "hack").

Patched to 2.06.01 I think it's quite stable - never CTDed on me.

Have you seen the SPC beta? Makes playing RAF flyer campaigns much easier.

Also a nice feature in IL2 1946 is the Mission Creator

pick a landscape and fill it up with stuff to be flat out easy.

but with that mission creator you can very good things....
1st you pick a landscape
then you think of what you want to do for each side.
like for example : I want fly in Normandy with a Tempest (as it could represent a Typhoon) and arm it with rockets and attack the moving armor of the germans after the D-Day. you can put some AI patrolling enemy airplanes where the armor is about located so you would have some air resistance.
then you can either save this a SP map or a MP map to play with friends you can invite on your own hosted server which is Easy and you just need to send ur friend your own IP adress and they are joined easy as that.

the mission creator itself is easy to learn if you spend time in it.
I've been making mission for a while now and I enjoy to play them online with the regular clowns I fly with :roll:
:rotfl: J/k

if you have IL2 1946 Mush, and you want to give it a go for some online fun just give a shout :up:


HunterICX

Ok so I bought it and I am much impressed. Wow good advice team.

Next question where are all the mods?
are there any modding tools available for it?
I would love to put some supercharged merlins into
a P-38j

Regards
MM

:huh: Eh, havent people mentioned it?

IL2 1946 is unmodable apart from the Campaign scripts & Skins
if you where looking for a modable game you should have gone with CFS3 which you can mod about anything as MS released its SDK.
Maddox games, didnt allow the game to be modded the reason why, I dont know but if you look at the game , it really doesnt need much apart from the campaign. the flight model is very good, the planes damage model is good as it really is when you lose something or get holes it effects your flight.

also patch it up too 4.08m
and test if it runs without the DVD(it does seem in some cases it will work without the DVD inserted)

Oh yeah all patched up and out practicing
attack runs on destroyers.


How do I put a ship in I am having trouble with
the Main Mission builder?

To insert a object in the mission editor

press CTRL + mouse click on a place
then click&hold and drag him to the right position :up:

if you want to make it move around (waypoints)
CTRL + click on the place where you want it to go
you can asign multiple waypoints so you can let it move anywhere you want.

notice: you have 2 ship category's in the Object list
Stationary ships : cant move but will open fire at any enemy plane that comes near
Ships: can move and will open fire at enemy planes that comes near.

hope this helps a bit

edit: I found a online tutorial about the first use of the mission editor
this helped me out a lot. and contains more info about the mission editor.

http://www.il2-fullmissionbuilder.com/first-mission.html

I thought I was the only flight simmer that didn't care for IL-2? I have the Aces expansion, everything, but never 'enjoyed' it. I do however 'love' EAW. I have yet to try BoB2 though.

-S

:up: I have been asking myself exactly the same question. Imo a lot of casual / SP players never got into it, but the online / hardcore community is so vocal that everyone must believe they're the only one ...

I have bought BoB2 recently and I play it atm, with 2.06 patch, multiskin, and the newest terrain mod. Excellent aircraft model, skins, cockpits, sounds, radio comms. Terrain is still a bit dissapointing but looks nice enough from altitude. With 2.06 there are no more stability problems. One thing I must say is that it is much harder than other flightsims I know. The AI is light years ahead! I have yet to play a campaign, but it looks really deep. There are some small problems but I would absolutely recommend it, especially as the community and developers are very supportive and this game deserves some support.

Well I disagree as I must be one of the few Il-2 players who only recently got online. I have found many 3rd party static campaigns and a campaign generator (DCg) that can work around AI limitations. Honestly I have never found "brilliant" AI but can't stand the MS version. Smart mission makers can work around that anyway. All just IMHO (which is correct of course). :rotfl:

I'd get BoB2 if the subject wasn't so limited and overdone, same reason I'll wait before getting into Maddox's BoB.